ă€ŠIn Naruto: Reborn With Talentă€‹


 -1 - Auxiliary

    <h4>Chapter -1 - Auxiliary</h4>

    Rei''s appearance.

    long pale-blond hair mostly in one massive braid, usually lying on his chest

    emerald-like eyes

    pale-skin

    aristocratic face with high cheekbones and well-defined jaw

    a slim and athletic body

    ---------

    Harem:

    Konan

    Tsunade

    (Nope, won''t reveal the future ones!)

 Chapter 1 - Ch1. Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 1 - Ch1. Awakening</h4>

    The soul opened its eyes with a long gasp as if wanting to take as much air as possible. It was definitely a painful experience and something not worth repeating.

    Its eyes fell on small... hands.

    Of course, the soul noted as in an almost broken window nearby, it could see its reflection.

    Pale blonde short hair, emerald eyes, pale-skin and... worn-out clothes.

    I really did transmigrate, didn''t I?

    The soul, no. The boy was looking out of the window with an expression filled with mixed feelings. He remembered the talk with the cosmical entity that called itself TUFAP...

    He was not allowed to get OP powers. He was only allowed to pick three talents, not even being told how useful said talents will be!

    It was the saddest day of his existence...

    When he asked if he would be able to choose the world, the answer was.

    You already did...

    Apparently his inner wish he didn''t even know he had... or some other bullshit. He was not amused when he was told he is going to Narutoverse.

    When he asked if he could choose a n?

    Random.

    When he asked if he could choose the vige?

    Random. But he could always change in-gam, eh, life.

    When he asked if he will be a ninja or civilian?

    Random.

    When he asked which timeline?

    Random.

    He was getting quite irked by that point.

    So, he asked onest thing, half-expecting the same generic answer. He asked if he will be even reincarnated during the Shinobi Viges era.

    The answer was... yes.

    At least some hope sparkled in his mind.

    He could absentmindedly hear a loud ''boom'' and quickly jumped up on his feet, only to flop back down onto the ground with a killer headache. The memories of this body. ''His'' memories shed through his eyes as he, the new Yotsuba Rei, ''remembered'' the memories of the boy he took over. The boy, who died of grief after his parents died a day before.

    He remembered where he was. Ame no Kuni.

    He also remembered when he was. Kinda. He overheard people talking about Hanzo the Smander. Start of the second shinobi war. The viciousness of Iwa and Konoha shinobi towards the popce. He also remembered the boy''s parents died by the hands of shinobi. His mother was r.a.p.ed by shinobi while his father was tortured.

    The previous Rei found their dead bloody bodies on the edge of the forest when he came to look for them. His childish mind broke and as he came home, he died of grief, of all things, due to losing his loved ones.

    The new Rei could see more into the situation. The bodies were found near trees with Konoha symbols on the trees. Clearly, Konoha''s enemies are trying to raise an uproar and make Amegakure fight against Konoha. He didn''t grieve for these people. They might have been the parents of the previous boy residing in this body but that boy was not ''him''. He only found it sad that shinobi didn''t mind killing, raping, and stealing through a country that has nothing to do with their war. All because the country was caught in the middle of their conflict and presented a perfect battlefield.

    Rei was lucky though. He had a house. Well, as much as a one-room wooden shack can be called a house, anyway. But it was still much more than normal orphans. He still had a roof above his head. And while the crime rate was going up, it was not yet as dire to force the people trying to steal from a kid. He was safe. For now.

    He also had enough food for a month or so. He could make do with that.

    Thankfully, the memories contained the teachings of how to read and write in Kanji so that was not a problem either. His handwriting was also naturally neat. Unfortunately, his family was a in non-shinobi poor civilian one.

    With a sigh, Rei sat cross-legged on the floor of his shack. He started meditating, focusing inwardly...

    And surely enough, his twenty-something years as a normal human without any supernatural energy in his body showed. Not even five minutester, Rei found and unlocked his chakra. It started as a small spark of warmth in his lower abdomen, something unnatural to him. He slowly coaxed it, led it to open, and spread through his body. It was resistant. It didn''t want to leave his abdomen. But... the more he pushed, the easier it got. His will exerted over the energy, the chakra, it was enough to make it course through him. Enough to... make him scowl. It was pathetic. The amount.

    Rei was seven years old. And he had, what he thought was, a civilian amount of chakra. It was not something he could use to defend himself.

    With a sigh, he sprawled his limbs on the floor, looking at the ceiling, resisting the urge to groan. He knew kids had it tough in this day and age. He needed more chakra. More power. More... control?

    Control!?

    His body sprang up, back into a sitting position as he again focused on his energy. He tried to make it circle his body. Slowly, ever so slowly the energy started to flow through it, dragging itself as if it had a viscosity of honey. The energy did not want toply. But Rei, with a grin, noted his control was impable.

    He stood up and walked closer to the wall. Putting his foot on it he tried to channel a minuscule amount of chakra on the soles. It quickly slid down.

    Rei scowled as he understood the amount was not enough. He again put his foot on the wall and put more chakra into it. He tried to gently part the leg from the wall only to be happy when the sole stuck on the wall. He looked the entire twenty seconds as his sole was glued to it, the fact that he was currently in a supernatural world finally seeping in.

    "Well, shit."

    Rei cursed at the realization. He was in a very dangerous world without any strength. Why the heck did his ''inner desire'' pick this world? He really wondered about it. Really hard and deep!

    His mind finally came with a time-worthy conclusion. The only reason why he could have wanted toe to naruto was.

    The girls.

    There was really no freaking other reason! Either that or TUFAP screwed him over!

    Rei had no want for being all-powerful. Wealthy? Maybe. But if he wanted some supernatural power, he would reincarnate as a pure-blood devil in DxD, thinking about b.o.o.b.s. He was sure that somehow could grant him immortality, the ability to convert rocks to gold, and of course, it would also attract females. The women in DxD are weird like that.

    So... instead of magic, he is in a world of chakra, knives, and fists. Not a good bargain. Really, Kaguya could create dimensions with chakra but... Kaguya is on the level of a deity.

    F.u.c.k, TUFAP did screw me over, didn''t he?... Rei cursed inwardly.

    Rei noted his chakra reserves were getting dangerously low and stopped his musings as he cut the flow of his chakra to his foot. Hested two minutes. No, correction.

    He had enough chakra to stick ONE of his feet to a wall for two minutes. And even then, it was only thanks to his Supreme Chakra Control trait which enabled him to not waste even an ounce of chakra. His reserves were that low...

    This trait basically gave him better chakra control. Nothing else was told to him. No information. No description. Rei didn''t even know what ''better'' meant exactly. He picked it because, in the list of talents, there were only five things with the adjective Supreme and only two with the adjective Godly. He obviously chose the two godly talents and one supreme.

    His Supreme Chakra Control seemed to really be ''supreme'' as he felt every single bit of his chakra and instinctively knew he could manipte it.

    Rei wondered... If he could unlock his chakra in five minutes with his control, then how long would a normal child take?

    What Rei didn''t know was that the children DO NOT unlock their chakra alone. They get a kind of a jumpstart from their teachers. That was the reason why the shinobi academy was a thing. Otherwise, the world would be roamed by civilian shinobi wannabe who unlocked their chakra on their own by fluke. Many civilians tried to meditate and unlock it, yetˇ­ Only really talented and determined individuals managed it on their own.

    Rei shrugged as he decided not to care about other kids. He was here now. Others didn''t matter. He had to think about what he should do from now on. Hmm, he could...

    A smile spread through his lips as he remembered what he saw the previous day. Something he was sure the previous ''Rei'' deemed unimportant.

 Chapter 2 - Ch2. First companion

    <h4>Chapter 2 - Ch2. Firstpanion</h4>

    Rei stood up. His chakra might be only ten percent full and he might be kinda tired because of that but he could still move. He had to get to his target first!

    Rei exited his shack and found himself on a muddy road, soft drizzle falling onto the streets, preventing them from drying up. He saw more worn-out wooden shacks all around, clearly, the area was for the poor. Rei quickly walked along the street, noting an old man with a dog, a young housewife leaning out of one of the windows as she tried to reach herundry hanging on a branch, kids ying in the mud with a ball. It was poor but quite a nice view of such a war-torn, depressed, rainy country as Ame.

    Rei suddenly turned to the left and walked into a side-alley.

    The nice view... waspletely destroyed. The entire side-alley was strewn with starved shivering forms of homeless people. They eyed Rei with their hopelessness-filled eyes, looking for any valuables on his person. It was only when they saw his torn clothes they disregarded him with a woeful sigh. They realized it was just another homeless orphan. Not worth even talking to, much less steal from.

    Rei disregarded these people as well. He could not and would not help them. He came to the middle of the alley when he saw a shivering form of a small six years old girl, lying in the mud clutching her hands closer to her chest, trying to find warmth as the rain fell on her. Her cheeks were sunken and she was thin as a twig but her cautious amber eyes followed him warily as he stepped closer to her.

    Rei crouched down in front of her and smiled.

    "Hello. I am Rei."

    He introduced himself and the girl was observing him for a minute, shivering, curling into herself before she decided to answer.

    "Ko-Konan."

    The girl whispered in a quiet, unsure voice as she was unsure of Rei''s intentions for approaching someone like her. Someone who had nothing to offer. It was quite a sad spectacle. Six years old but already wary and suspicious of others.

    "Would you like toe with me?" Rei asked her as he reached his hand towards her in the invitation.

    The people around looked at the pair of children and shook their heads. In this god-forsakennd, children had to band together. Shruggingly, they ignored them as this was quite amon urrence. Just... more violent usually. If it was an older girl, she would be beaten to submission to serve older homeless teenagers. After all, no matter how low they were, even they had their hierarchy.

    But the girl was but a child, and her body could not be sold for food or money. No elder kid was interested in making her serve them. At least a.d.u.l.t women could sell themselves willingly to earn money for themselves rather than some opportunistic kid. Boys didn''t have it any better though. The strongest were leaders and the weaker ones were underlings. But nobody was interested in dead-weights like the starved shivering girl. Except, other deadweights. That''s why the sight of Rei inviting Konan was really nothing out of the ordinary. The others just wrote them off as the next unfortunate corpses they would see a few dayster.

    Konan was torn. On one hand, her current spot was quite nice. It provided at least some cover from the rain, no matter how muddy it was. She was also close to dumpsters where the other people threw their trash. It provided some food for her. She would loathe to leave it, only to find it already takenter.

    In the end, it was the boy''s warm eyes that made Konan timidly take his hand. She didn''t know what her future with him held but she knew at worst she would finally die. In her mind, it was worth the gamble.

    As Konan took Rei''s hand, he pulled her up and started slowly, gently dragging her back to his shack. He was no saint to provide the girl shelter for nothing. Konan was... investment.

    Even Konan, after her time on the streets, knew nothing in this world is free and if the boy really gave her something, he would want something in return.

    Rei took her because he knew exactly what the girl would offer him in return for his kindness.

    Herself.

    Konan was worth the trouble. She might have been just an underappreciated side-character that died off to further the plot and didn''t really have much screen-time but...

    She gave Yahiko and Nagato everything she was. No matter their dreams. No matter their methods. She followed.

    And when a girl like her is willing to be an S-ranked murderer, a worst-sort of a killer to support a friend in his dream...

    Yes, Konan would give herself to Rei. He would make sure of that.

    He won''t exploit her gratitude. Instead, he will make sure she gets stronger and lived a happy life. But life by his side, nevertheless.

    He wanted to secure the loyalty of the only paper-user in the entirety of Elemental Nations. A paper-user who he knew would die for him and adore him if he cared for her. If he showed her she was important. If he made her feel appreciated.

    Rei finally pulled Konan into his shack and was amused at the wide-eyed girl.

    She didn''t think the boy would have a house! She meekly looked at the floor, shuffling her legs nervously.

    "What''s wrong?" Rei asked her.

    "I... I am dirty."

    Rei looked over her muddy form and nodded. With some difficulty, he brought a bucket of rainwater to the girl.

    "Strip and wash." He took out his father''s old cloak and put it near the girl.

    The shack only had one room so Konan was inly visible as she washed with an old sponge and the water from the bucket. Rei could clearly see bruises on her body and could only shake his head with a wince.

    Really, what madness gripped me to wish for living in this world... He wistfully thought.

    But... he could only soldier on, harden his heart and survive. If it meant making others suffer... so be it.

    He also stripped, startling Konan momentarily. Rei''s mature mind knew he was acting childish. He should blush, be bashful and yetˇ­ he was a child now. Their n.a.k.e.dness didn''t bother him at all.

    When Konan saw him take another sponge out, she bashfully made a ce for him near the bucket. Rei, instead of washing himself, started to wash Konan. The girl looked at him in confusion but then just shrugged it off and started washing him with her sponge, a small smile marring her face. Even she didn''t know when shest smiled.

    ...

    As the kids were done washing each other. Rei handed Konan a slice of hard bread and watched as she gulped when her hands sped it. She looked at Rei, her eyes expectantly asking for permission. Konan started nibbling on the slice only after Rei nodded at her and Rei smiled as he started eating his slice. He could not afford to waste food but Konan looked as if one slice of bread per day was a heavenly meal. Maybe... his provisions wouldst her half a year if she ate frugally like this. But he was a man from the modern era! He needed his three meals a day!

    "Why?" Konan asked Rei timidly as they finished eating, tears of happiness starting to fall from her eyes.

    Seeing Rei tilt his head, she asked more in detail as her eyes repeatedly darted from Rei to the ground.

    "Why take me in?" Konan looked to the floor and tried to wipe her tears.

    "I want you to be mine!" Rei eximed. In hindsight, maybe not the best-worded answer.

    Konan lived on the streets. She knew... saw what it meant for a girl to belong to a boy. She was always frightened by the screams. But no matter how she tried to close her eyes or cover her ears when night came, many older girls did... things with boys. For money. For food. Or... other reasons.

    "Uuuuu." She clutched her head in embarrassment and Rei could only wonder if the steam would starting from her head.

    Konan decided. No one was so kind to her. Her childish mind decided she will give herself to the boy, not even understanding what it meant. She may be mature and saw many things on the streets but she was still a child. In her mind, if she received a slice of bread and a roof over her head, she wouldn''t mind... doing that painful-looking thing with Rei!

    Rei slowly realized the girl was somehow misunderstanding him. So, when he had his fun due to her embarrassment and actually saw the resolve flick through her eyes, he borated.

    "Of course as a friend!"

    Konan blinked at Rei, her mind stopping short. She slowly nodded, her eyes trying to avoid Rei.

    But even if this meant she wouldn''t need to do... that with Rei... yet, Konan gained her resolve. It was inly obvious to Rei. In her eyes, he started to be someone important. He doubted she even realized it yet, but for Rei, that was a start. A start of getting his first loyal S-ranked ninja.

    And have no doubts, Konan was more than capable of bing much stronger than just an S-ranked ninja. Rei decided he would make sure of that...

 Chapter 3 - Ch3. Chakra Strings and Paper Folding

    <h4>Chapter 3 - Ch3. Chakra Strings and Paper Folding</h4>

    Rei and Konan slept cuddled to each other for additional warmth on the small bed in the shack.

    The next morning, Rei stood behind fidgety Konan as she sat cross-legged on the floor.

    "Focus." He ordered and Konan instantly closed her eyes, but her body was still fidgeting from the nervousness. Rei sighed and put his hands on her shoulders as he pushed a small amount of his chakra into her abdomen through her shoulders. He could feel Konan sigh in relief as her body shuddered, relishing the feeling.

    "Focus." He repeated, a little more sternly and felt her body tense for a second before she rxed and again started meditating.

    He helped her as she found her chakra, helped her guide it. Rei saw that Konan''s chakra control is very good even without practicing. Something to be happy about. Especially since she had even less chakra than him. It really drove home the point just what kind of monster Naruto was.

    Rei stood and approached the wall while Konan, her eyes still closed, felt the warm chakra in her body, and yed with it. It made Rei smile as she saw her slightly curled up lips. Even as a child, Konan wasn''t very cheerful. But the more she warmed up to Rei, the more she opened up.

    "Konan," Rei softly called her. e here."

    Konan quickly opened her eyes and crawled towards him. Rei thought it was quite cute.

    "Put ayer of chakra on the sole of your-"

    He saw her uprehending gaze and cracked a smile.

    "Chakra is the warm thingie in your body, alright?"

    Konan gave him a small determined nod.

    "Now, put a smallyer on the sole of your foot and try to stick it onto the wall."

    Konan obediently listened and then tried it. She raised her left foot and put it on the wall. Her face looked focused as she cutely nibbled on her lower lip. Then she tried to yank her feet away from the wall, only for it to be stuck there. It imbnced her and with a shriek, Konan started iling her arms in the air.

    Rei quickly came behind her and hugged her body from behind, making her regain stability.

    "Don''t be impatient." He chuckled as he told the blushing girl.

    Seeing her nod and her foot leaving the wall, he released her from his hold.

    "Practice. Try to find the smallest amount of chakra that can stick you to the wall." Rei told the girl as he sat down, leaning on the wall as he tried to stick slices of paper on his fingers.

    "Later." He told the girl who was curiously peering at his fingers and the paper. "When you find the smallest amount of chakra to stick your foot onto the wall."

    Konan nodded, and with a renewed vigor, put her all into training.

    ...

    A few days passed. Rei and Konan got even closer to each other but Konan didn''t get any more vocal. Rei thought that the Konan from canon that saved Nagato must have spent quite a bit of time with Yahiko already to be that cheerful. The Konan cuddling to him thought... she was fearful, desperate to please, desperate for even the smallest of affection, desperate to be praised, but she outwardly appeared mostly impassive.

    Yes, it got better. Around him. But with others?

    Yesterday they went to the market and Rei spotted that Konan was always clutching his sleeve and her face always stayedpletely stoic. Even as the shopkeeper praised Konan for being well-behaved, she only looked to the floor with a nod but her expression didn''t change.

    Well, at least they bought more food and some paper.

    After Rei saw Konan could stick a paper on each of her fingers, he told her to fold it only with her chakra. He had a lot of fun watching her as she intently gazed at the unmoving slice of paper on her palm in frustration!

    Rei also made Konan exercise with him. Not much. They did not have enough food for it to be beneficial but they still decided to get at least some push-ups in.

    Their chakra was rising by the day. Rei surmised, it was still not even on the level of an academy student but daily emptying of their reserves until they had around ten percent remaining helped in increasing it.

    Funnily enough, Konan''s skinny figure also got better. The chakra apparently could make humansst more without food and water. She confessed she felt stronger. Her belly also became somewhat t instead of dented inwards. Rei was quite surprised at the change. Chakra was really awesome. It would take weeks for a malnourished child to put some weight on but Konan went to bed and rose up a bit better every day. Chakra basically tried to keep the body in the optimal state.

    But the disadvantage was that Rei and Konan felt hungrier.

    ...

    Rei watched Konan as she was folding paper in half while nibbling on her lower lip. It still took her a lot of concentration. He instead trained to form chakra strings. As thin as possible.

    It was quite challenging but his supreme chakra control was very helpful. He could form them by the nonsensical exnation he found in one fanfic. Draw your chakra from the tenketsu in your finger and make it into a thin thread.

    "Whoa." Konan watched with a wide-eyed gaze of awe as a paper started ''flying'' above Rei''s palm. Rei moved it from the left to the right and chuckled as Konan''s eyes intently stared at it.

    He put his free hand on the head of the cute girl.

    "Don''t worry, I will teach youter. For now, focus on folding. Okay?"

    Konna bobbed her head up and down but didn''t leave to practice. She firmly stood, leaning her head into Rei''s hand.

    "Okay." He again chuckled. "Sit down.

    Konan happily sat in between his legs and leaned her back on his chest while trying to fold the paper as Rei patted her head while his other hand was manipting two slices of papers on two thin chakra threads. Anything heavier than that was beyond him. For now.

    ...

    Rei started suspecting Konan had a bloodline. That her paper-bullshit is not just a superb chakra control and dedication to paper maniption.

    He gaped when the girl made the slices of paper fly with a giddy giggle. Why was he surprised? Because he did not teach her the chakra threads yet! The girl just wanted them to fly so she imbued them with her chakra and they... flew.

    It was bullshit. Really.

    Chakra did not work that way! Not for him at least! Hence, he really started suspecting it was a bloodline.

    She was living with Rei for a month already. After he allowed her to sit in hisp, Rei quickly found out the girl liked to cuddle and hug. She almost always sat in hisp as she practiced her folding technique, expecting him to pat her head. It was jaw-dropping seeing her just after a week of practice create a paper airne. But when she started creating some simple flowers after two additional weeks? Rei stopped caring.

    Rei used this little head pat addiction of hers to practice his chakra strings while making the folding harder for her. He connected the strings to her paper and moved it around in front of them while Konan tried to fold it while it was moving and away from her hands. She first had to imbue the paper with her chakra but then she could mold it mid-air. It only required focus. That was what Rei tried to train her in since he was not only forbidding her to touch the paper but also do it while it was moving. The cute munchkin was following the paper with her amber gaze, trying to make her chakra fold it.

    His chakra strings also tried to make her lose focus as he connected them to her feet, her fingers, and his favorite, the tips of her hair, asionally gently pulling. It was fun making her hair stand with his strings. It was also incredibly hard as he had to multitask and create many strings to do it. s, it was worth it. Rei was always smug when he heard Konan giggle and lose her focus and then pout at him.

    But... this month was enough. They needed more food and now that he had chakra strings and Konan could make paper fly, they could... ''borrow'' some.

 Chapter 4 - Ch4. Stealing

    <h4>Chapter 4 - Ch4. Stealing</h4>

    "Are you sure this..." Konan unsurely and frightfully looked at the target.

    Rei and she were standing in a side-alley near the market, d in ck hooded cloaks, and watched a butcher trying to sell meat. Next to him was a stall with fruits. And on the other side were clothes. The quality was as one would expect from a war-torn country but at least it didn''t rain today...

    "Yes, Konan. Do you think you can help me?" Rei asked her patiently.

    The chibi Konan nodded her head in determination.

    "Do you remember the n?"

    Another bout of eager nods and Rei cracked a smile.

    "Then, here we go."

    He gave her a stack of papers. Konan took it and imbued each piece with her chakra, giving each enough tost the distance between her and the stalls.

    Nodding at each other, their n started.

    Rei focused. His ten invisible chakra strings stretched towards the stall and connected to various sacks with light things inside. He took a deep breath and signaled Konan to start.

    Just as the owner of the stall with clothes turned his back on the butcher, Rei made a few good-looking clothes fall into the mud. The clothes merchant quickly twisted his body around and his eyesnded on the now-muddy pieces of his wares. They coldly shifted to the only man around. The butcher.

    As the men loudly shouted at each other, they attracted attention. The fruit stall owner came closer to them, trying to defuse the situation only for his foot to be yanked back by an invisible string as he wasing towards them. The two bickering merchants suddenly found their faces full of mysteriously floating paper, obscuring their vision. They could only hear a loud crashing noise. It was when they finally got the paper from their faces they found... The butcher''s stall was toppled over, a lot of meat in the mud. In the middle of it was a disoriented fruit stall owner, still seeing stars while the butcher was ring at him, seeing red and holding his knife. The clothes stall owner was on the other hand frowning at the butcher, his eyes demanding money for the ruined clothes.

    People gaped at what happened and started toe closer. Rei among them. He quickly used his chakra strings to get pouches with money. He targeted those away from him and used his height to his advantage. It is hard to notice someone in a crowd who barely reaches your waist after all.

    If someone noticed his pull, he would throw the pouch upwards. The crowd quickly became crazed as the money started spilling from various pouches and Rei had an easier time pickpocketing.

    Deciding enough was enough as the people started calming down, he walked towards the alley with a battered-looking sack full of purses. As he was in the alley, Konan sent another flurry of paper into the crowd, straight at their faces. Rei quickly attached chakra strings at unopened sacks of meat and fruit and pulled them to the side alley. He also took two bundles of clothes as theirs were already worn out.

    The crowd was still fighting with the paper-storm that mysteriously tried to stay in their faces as the two kids were happily hopping home. Eleven sacks of rightfully stolen loot ''floating'' behind them on Rei''s chakra strings.

    ...

    Their first operationted them nice new clothes. Konan quickly took it to herself to pick the best pieces for her Rei. She didn''t even know when she started to think about Rei as hers but she knew she liked her friend. She didn''t want to steal. But... there was nothing she wouldn''t do for Rei. Rei was kind to her. And she promised to be his, right?

    Both now sported better clothes.

    Konan was astonished at the stacks of Ryo they acquired. Apparently, Rei focused on merchants more and tried to get their purses. Rei stole 50 000 Ryo. That was a lot!

    The best part was the meat and fruit though! They ate their fill in celebration of sess and Konan finally, for the first time in years, ate until her stomach was full! Not for once did she regret taking Rei''s hand. Rei taught her. Filled her belly. And patted her head! He hugged her good night too!

    Konan decided she will train hard and protect Rei! Her time on the streets taught her that only the strong survive. She had her reservations but she already stole...

    Only the strongest can abuse and kill the weaker. Konan decided she will make sure she is strong enough to not be ''the weaker''. No matter who, she will kill anyone trying to harm Rei!

    Slowly, the resolve in the girl and her goals, dreams, and values started shifting. Her mind became set in its path as it approached the mindset of her older counterpart. The counterpart that let a sweet girl like her be an S-ranked killer.

    Unknown to Rei, his desire to make the girl into his loyal follower was almost fulfilled. But, not unlike one Hiruzen Sarutobi in the not-so-distant future, he also had no idea that one should not try to manipte attention-starved children who lived through hell. Not when you are the person who saved them. The results can be... unpredictable. Rei had no idea that his friend was bing a tad bit too fanatical. Even if she could hide it well behind her mask of stoicism.

    In years toe... he will be grateful as well as annoyed at this change. As for Konan, she will always reminisce fondly on this day while serving tea to Rei. As this was the day, her heart finally found her life goal.

    Rei suddenly shuddered as a cold chill passed through his spine. His head snapped towards Konan only to find her amber eyes stare at him with a minuscule smile. Rxing, thinking it was just his imagination, he smiled back at her.

    "So, Konan-chan. How much did you steal?" He asked her with a yful smirk as the girl went beet-red.

    While Rei was in the crowd, stealing, Konan''s small slices of paper were floating in the other part of the crowd, getting to a close proximity with the purses and sharing the chakra in them, imbuing the banknotes with Konan''s chakra. She had a lower haul, but she had it nheless.

    "I got a little over 10 000 Ryo."

    Konan meekly offered the stash of banknotes to Rei.

    "Keep them." Rei told her, making her bewildered.

    "I am more interested in this..." Rei raised an apple with his chakra string. "Can you feel the thread?"

    Konan looked at him weirdly but shook her head.

    "And now?" Rei put more chakra into it. The string was still invisible though.

    He didn''t need her to put the answer into words. Her wide eyes were enough. It never came up because his control was always enough to not put so much chakra into them but now that he consciously raised the output, Konan could clearly feel it. Her eyes raised between the apple and Rei''s hand, clearly trying and failing to see something her mind was telling her was there.

    "You are a chakra sensor." Rei cut the chakra flow and spotted Konan attentively listening to him.

    "Well, it is not really that surprising. To be able to imbue the paper with your chakra, you would first have to feel it. So, there." Rei chuckled. "I just never made the connection, you know? Until I saw you maneuver the banknotes through the thick crowd without the need for seeing them, that is. Then and there it hit me. You have this talent too. We will have to refine it, kay?"

    Konan nodded enthusiastically.

    Rei knew there was no shinobi around. His second talent. Godly Nature Energy Attunement made him able to feel his surroundings much more. He felt only two above civilian levels of chakra in the town. Him and Konan. It was still only the start of the war and barely the first skirmishes started.

    He had time, but he needed to make Konan into a capable sensor too.

    Unconsciously, Rei started to care for Konan. He slowly started seeing her as more than just a possible loyal follower. Neither of them was aware of it, but they already trusted the other with their lives.

    s, chakra works in mysterious ways when ites to maturing. After all, the belovedst Uchiha did have hordes of babies-craving-kids, called fangirls, after the contents of his brooding mini-me every day of the academy!

 Chapter 5 - Ch5. The war intensifies and the first fight

    <h4>Chapter 5 - Ch5. The war intensifies and the first fight</h4>

    A few months have passed since Rei''s and Konan''s first thievery. Since then, they repeated it three more times, making sure there is almost a month between them and also did their best to spend some of their money, so they will be seen in the market buying things. Just in case somebody got suspicious.

    During these months, Rei''s and Konan''s chakra skyrocketed. They now could walk on walls for fifty minutes before their chakra depleted. It was all thanks to the food, especially meat that their chakra increased. It also helped with their muscles. While they were still kids, their bodies now were more of t and toned variety rather than skinny and starved. Both of them started running around the nearby forest to increase their speed and also did various exercises.

    Konan was not much of a physical type but she did try to run with Rei. She made it even tougher for herself as she focused on folding two papers in her hands as she ran. They were changing shapes from cranes, to various flowers, to shurikens, kunais, and so on.

    Rei wasn''t much of a physical type either. That much was obvious from the way both him and Konan were huffing and puffing at the end of the day. But he was getting better. They were getting better.

    Rei was not really used to exercise in hisst world and was a kindazy person. He loved just chilling and ying games or reading novels. But right now, he somehow started to get used to this life.

    Wake up, Kiss Konan''s cheek, Eat, Practice with Chakra with Konan in hisp, Lunch, Exercises, Dinner, Practice With Chakra with Konan in hisp, Cuddles with Konan, Sleep. Rinse and repeat.

    What astonished him was Konan. She didn''t have the mentality of an a.d.u.l.t yet she could keep with him just fine. No, she made a visible effort and actually tried to overtake him. When he asked her why she was trying so hard, he got a ''well-duh'' stare and was told ''to protect you''. It really ignited his motivation somewhat fiercely.

    Rei mostly focused on chakra strings to be able to hurl humans or human-sized boulders with them as if he was using slingers. And while it was quite inurate, it was at least something.

    Rei also focused more on the stickiness part of Tree-walking. He could now stick and unstick himself whenever he wanted, either with his hands or soles of his feet. This also helped with attaching the things on the end of his chakra strings and making them ''stick''.

    Konan was practicing the hardening of her papers and sharpening the edges. It was not really a wind chakra but it always made Rei sweatdrop. These things she called paper were slowly bing as dangerous as shurikens! Especially since Konan could make up to twenty of them on the fly by now.

    Both of them learned how to enhance their bodies with chakra which made them able to exercise for the entirety of the afternoon. Which in turn made them even stronger physically, increasing their chakra and stamina. They were really pulling each other ahead.

    All in all, they were no Kakashi or Itachi... but then again, they did not have teachers, technique scrolls, money, nor special food. If there is one thing the viges and ns were good for it was good learning opportunities. Without knowledge of Jutsu creation, chakra theory, or at least some Jutsu, Rei was not about to try creating his own Jutsu. Who knows what could go wrong.

    For the resources they had, they did good! Un!

    ...

    Rei and Konan were running through the forest when Rei suddenly stopped. His sensory abilities told him there are three ninjas nearby. Thankfully, they did not feel special or strong. While they were a lot stronger than both Konan and Reibined, they were heading straight at them so...

    Rei stopped Konan with a gesture and they promptly hid in the foliage. They didn''t know how to mask their chakra but they could disperse it. Meaning, Konan imbued 30% of her chakra into thirty papers and made them hide all around into the nearby trees and bushes. They knew this could momentarily fool sensors because Rei''s senses could be fooled too until he focused more in-depth. As for Konan... she had no chance of finding out unless she spent minutes in the vicinity. Her chakra sensing was kinda a work in progress.

    "What are we going to do?" Konan whispered.

    "We gotta fight." Rei resignedly told her. "They are heading straight for us. That''s no coincidence. They probably have a chakra sensor. But he should not be a particrly strong sensor."

    "Surprise attack?" Konan nodded.

    "Surprise attack."

    And with that Konan pushed fifty percent of her remaining chakra into fifty small, shuriken-like origami, hardening and sharpening them.

    From the bushes, they could see three Iwa shinobind exactly where Rei and Konan stood when Rei sensed them. They were looking around warily.

    "Genin Kazubo! Where are the shinobi you told us about?"

    A small annoyed man barked.

    "I don''t know Kbi-sensei! But I do sense someth-"

    That was as far as the sensor-nin got when the man called Kbi jumped away. Konan''s shuriken origami instantly flew straight at the two Genin. They wanted to jump away too but Rei quickly stuck a chakra string on each of their feet and pulled, making them fall onto the ground. The paper-shurikens shredded the poor men.

    "Tch. Stupid Genin." Kbi snarled as his eyes started drifting all over the trees and bushes.

    Rei thought he would not find them but it seems he underestimated experienced shinobi a bit. He barely managed to lift a rock with his string to block a kunai heading at Konan. He saw Konan freeze as she saw the men she killed and he did not have time for making her snap back to reality. He had to engage the man.

    Knowing well he did not have any chance without cheating he gave a kick to Konan and jumped out of the bush. He did not see her blink, take a deep breath, and nod with determination. Konan stayed hidden.

    "Who are you!" Rei eximed and he pointed at the Kbi as if the man just offended him. Kbi''s eyebrows raised into his hairline at the sight.

    "A kid? These two idiots died to a f.u.c.k.i.n.g kid?"

    He startedughing but Rei could see the man visibly rxed.

    "Well, I am Kbi, chunin from Iwa. The man who is gonna kill ya~ kid." The man leisurely twirled kunai on his fingers and stared at Rei as if he was his prey.

    "Ok." Rei nodded seriously, making the man do a double-take.

    "But shinobi-san? Could you tell me why?" Rei asked.

    "Why what brat?" Kbi stopped twirling the kunai.

    "Why are you so fine with yourrade''s death?" Rei aske curiously.

    Kbi chuckled.

    "These two idiots... I wanted to get rid of them eventually anyway. I enjoy having a female in the team more... if you know what I mean."

    "Ah! You are just amon pervert!" Rei screamed at him, his finger again pointing in usation on the man.

    The kid was really making Kbi mad. The respectable chunin he was, decided to get this over with and gut the kid good. There was an entire vige. He could perhaps choose a woman to enjoy there afterward. This shitty war had at least some advantages!

    He jumped at the kid, seeing his frightened widening eyes, Kbi''s smirk became bigger the closer he got.

    Rei knew he couldn''t evade Kbi. The chunin was too fast for him. As he saw Kbi approach, his eyes widened and he did the only thing he could. He flung himself to the ground.

    This momentarily stopped Kbi as his kunai didn''t stab the kid and instead hit the air. He tsked at the lucky evade and he aimed the kunai downwards about to skewer the annoying brat.

    Unfortunately, Rei had him at close range, and his chakra strings that could hurl human-sized boulders, yanked Kbi forward, towards the bushes where Konan was hiding. The man couldn''t avoid the ten incredibly sharp slices of paper aiming at his throat as he was mid-air. His head was sent flying before he realized what happened.

    Konan quickly scurried towards Rei before Kbi''s body could even hit the ground.

    "Are you alright!?" She shrieked as she looked all over him.

    "Yes. We were lucky." Rei panted from the fear and killing intent he felt as the chunin jumped him.

    "He was fast." He stated a matter of fact.

    "Way too fast." Konan nodded and hugged Rei tightly.

    "We gotta get better."

    "Yes, Rei."

    After they calmed down and enjoyed a few more reassuring warm hugs, they searched the bodies and scavenged a few kunais, shurikens, money, and storage scrolls. Kbi even had two special papers that could gauge chakra nature. He was probably tasked to give them to the two dead genins.

    After gathering everything of value, Rei and Konan scrambled away... They wouldn''t enjoy being attacked by another shinobi. Rei only thanked the god that their vige was so out of hand and the chakra sensors were quite rare.

 Chapter 6 - Ch6. The Third Talent!

    <h4>Chapter 6 - Ch6. The Third Talent!</h4>

    Konan yed with the pointy metal. This was the first time she had one in hand and it gave her an example of how sharp and hard her paper should be. She was excitedly waving it around while her other hand held a paper-kunai, visibly changing to resemble the normal one.

    It was a cute sight since she nibbled her lower lip in concentration.

    Rei chuckled and returned to his own musings. He was sitting above the storage scroll.

    The scroll was empty and even Konan gawked when Rei just casually hit the trigger to empty it without even seeing a storage scroll previously. He grinned.

    His Godly Nature Energy Attunement Talent is giving him sensing ability. For now. He actually CAN feel senjutsu chakra too but never tried to take it in. Too dangerous. Too little chakra in his system to bnce it. While yes, he theoretically should have total control over it... but better safe than sorry. But... the talent worked wonders.

    As Rei saw the seal, his third andst talent he picked, worked wonders too. Hisst talent was Godly Sealing Talent.

    Rei didn''t know what to exactly expect but the second he saw the seal, he somehow instinctively understood how to work with it. He could... maybe copy it but not tweak. He did not have the knowledge. But the storage seal provided an enormous amount of discoveries to him.

    He understood some underlying principles by reading the kanji and how they worked! He was SO disappointed too!

    To exin simply what he found out...

    Rei did not have knowledge of the inner workings of the seal but he could still read the kanji that made the seal.

    Space. Withdraw, Intent. Store, Intent.

    And some equations alongside it.

    Correction. Some nonsensical equation alongside it that held it all together and described the parameters of the space. The trigger was obviously chakra and the space holder was the scroll.

    Rei put one and one together. He also brainstormed for any ''possible'' theory...

    Rei was not sure but his mind yed with a theory. Quite idiotic theory. A theory that said that sealing is basically using a Kanji, imbuing it with chakra, and waiting for the ''magical'' effect the intent in the chakra provides when it collides with the Kanji. He also noticed that two of the storage scrolls had a different set-up. It was as if they were written by a different...

    Oh... Rei opened his mouth into a silent ''O''.

    "I see! They use different sealingnguages!"

    It made sense, kinda. Both scrolls were in Kanji but the way they were written was different. Meaning a different maker and different nguage''.

    Where one had ''Space'', another had ''Storage'' and so on.

    But then... why did they function almost the same?

    Rei took out a paper and let his instincts lead him.

    He wrote on the paper while pouring his chakra into the ink.

    He wrote ''Space. Withdraw, Intent. Store, Intent.'' and added parameters. Exactly the same from the first scroll. The catch was, he did it in English.

    He took a rock and put it on the paper with his English storage seal. He took a distance while pulling Konan with him and with a chakra string activated the storing function.

    The rock disappeared in a puff of smoke.

    "Phew. So it works that way too? Neat! I just discovered my own Sealingnguage that this world won''t be able to decipher!" Rei almost jumped from giddiness as Konan looked at him in confusion.

    In the end, she just shrugged, sat down, and returned to her origami kunai.

    Rei then used his chakra string to activate the Withdrawal function and imagined the rock. Needless to say, it worked.

    The problem though was the parameters...

    Rei groaned and promptly facepalmed. Imagine addition and subtraction in kanji. Now, this scroll was a quite standard one and Rei suspected it was a very simple piece of fuinjutsu. So, subtraction and addition didn''t even need to be used as it only needed a definition of the created space.

    But... what about spatial fuinjutsu? Containment one? Barriers? Heck... Bijuu seals?

    The shit hits the fan and the seal is as long as an entire f.u.c.k.i.n.g scroll. Not to say ineffective as heck since this world was a feudal one. They had some electrical appliances and technology but higher mathematics? Pfft. Shinobis were d when they knew the multiplication table. It just wasn''t needed for their job.

    Rei knew the shinobi probably developed the sealing arts in a way that mathematics were not needed but unless he saw it... He really doubted it would be efficient though. At least these storage scrolls were definitely not! Rei could make one in English and better equations with one-tenth of the space that was needed for the one in Kanji.

    Rei suddenly had a very nasty sinking feeling that Minato Namikaze actually did manage to create a teleportation seal with only addition and subtraction, moreover in kanji... and suddenly he wanted to puke blood.

    ...

    Rei decided to ''widen'' their arsenal. He started to experiment. It didn''t take a week for him to create a working Exploding tag. If it even can be called that since one of Konan''s small slices of paper was enough to hold it with a lot of free space. The point was, Rei could not create much of them and certainly not powerful enough. His best shot was only half as strong as the single explosion tag he found on Kbi. That stuff really needed much more knowledge on seals and Rei was taping into it head-first without having a book or teacher. It took time.

    Nevertheless, even if it was only half of the power of the generic shinobi exploding tag, it was enough to cause injuries. With Konan''s ability, it was so worth it!

    To create even one tag capable of hurting somebody would cost him 50% of his chakra reserves. He now had the three idiots who attacked them asparison and he understood that while Konan was on the border of very, very low Gennin, he is a mid-level academy student when it came to reserves. She somehow overtook him while he was busying himself with fuinjutsu!

    Sigh, at least my control is much better than even Konan''s... He thought.

    So far, he was capable of creating one small storage seal and exploding tag.

    He then spent the next few days developing a simple stasis seal.

    All of his experiments, of course, needed Konan so neither of them made much progress in their own chakra practice but they both knew this could give them the necessary edge to win their fights.

    The stasis seal was a very helpful thing but they had to tweak, retweak, and thenpletely overhaul it so many times, even Konan was a bit fed-up. The point was if they wanted Konan''s paper kunais to keep their chakra-sharpened or chakra-hardened state while in the storage seal, they had to put them and the chakra affecting them in stasis until they were released. Otherwise, the chakra would run out in the storage scroll and the paper kunai would just turn into, albeit crumpled, still only a normal paper.

    They finally seeded on the fifth day and a few of Konan''s small papers contained a new storage seal tweaked for battle. She could activate it whenever at will since the activation needed only her chakra and the paper was literally soaked in her chakra. What it needed was only her intent to set off the seal.

    The seal was a storage one with an inbuilt stasis seal. Inside were contained hardened and sharpened paper shurikens and the trigger had a feature that gave the projectiles a ''push'' sending them flying in multiple directions when the seal triggered. Fast. The best part was that the speed and the directions were somewhat adjustable on triggering the seal so it was a really nice surprise weapon.

    Rei kept some of these papers with this seal because even he could use it. But Konan? She had already ten stashed away for emergencies and always bugged Rei to create more of them for her.

    Rei also made quite a lot of Exploding tags as every day before he went to sleep he was able to create two, almost depleting his chakra.

    Konan had seven and he had three. It was not really a question. Konan could remotely activate them whenever she was, as long as she could feel them with her sensory ability. She was born to be a carrier for seals, dammit! Her paper maniption is golden when in conjecture with a seal master.

 Chapter 7 - Ch7. Chakra Nature

    <h4>Chapter 7 - Ch7. Chakra Nature</h4>

    Konan took the chakra paper into her hand.

    "You gotta push a small amount of chakra into it."

    "Okay, Rei."

    Konan did so and the paper was torn into three pieces. One of these pieces was over half of the entire chakra paper big and was promptly shredded to small pieces. Wind.

    One of the remaining pieces waspletely soaked, signalizing water, while the other turned to dust. Earth.

    Konan looked at Rei with an expectant and excited gaze at Rei who released a soft exasperated sigh.

    "You have a main wind affinity. A strong one, at that. Well figures, this is probably what helps your bloodline to fold the paper and sharpen it? Mah, just my guess."

    Konan nodded attentively.

    "Next you have Earth affinity. I would say this is what makes your paper durable and capable of hardening? Maybe, maybe not."

    Konan only relocated her gaze to the soaked part. She looked kinda like a puppy. Wide-eyes pleading for an exnation.

    "Ah... thest is Water affinity. I must say I dunno... ah! Maybe it helps you keep the shape of your paper in the water? I mean it gets wet alright but I never saw it soaked. It''s as if it was made of something unable to absorb water or something. Can you even consciously control that?"

    Rei meant that. This was Ame no Kuni. Most of the year, the rain never stopped. Yet, Konan''s paper stayed intact even under the rain when they ran through the forest. He always thought it was due to her chakra and looks like he was partially right.

    Konan took his words to heart and filled one of her papers with her chakra. She sunk it into a bucket full of water and watched as the paper held its form. Suddenly, she started to get ideas on how to exploit it in battle. She was, after all, in a water-filled country. If she could shoot her shurikens from water... Ehehehe.

    After she was done contemting the best way to murder someone, Konan tried to actually control this attribute of the paper and the paper got soaked. She stared at it... giddy at learning something new about her capabilities and tried to un-soak the paper.

    Rei could only stare in surprise as the paper expelled the water, still sunk deep in the bucket, and became yet again a properly t form. A secondter, he saw Konan start folding it into an origami under the water.

    I call bullshit... He thought.

    Three main elements and all helping in her paper maniption. Rei knew what this was. It was obvious. No matter how much denial he was in. The girl didn''t have a Kekkei Genkai. No. She had yet unregistered Kekkei Tota.

    Now... why the hell Jiraya in the canon never noticed?

    Because it is bullshit! That''s why! Kekkei Tota is rare as f.u.c.k! In the entire world, only Onoki is supposed to have it at the moment and it is very destructive!

    Even if you find somebody with three chakra natures it could be called lucky but wouldn''t mean that person has Kekkei Tota. Heck, It would not mean that person has Kekkei Genkai! To have Kekkei Genkai, one has to have two chakra natures capable of working in tandem to create a new, special type of chakra, in case of elemental Kekkei Genkai, or a special type of chakra, mostly derived from elemental chakra, that does something... not elemental. And then there are dojutsu.

    Anyway, Konan is certainly in the second category as it was proven that her chakra natures indeed DO affect her paper maniption.

    As for why Rei called it bullshit... even he could fold paper with his chakra. He bet even Jiraya could! That was most likely why Jiraya disregarded it as a talent for chakra control when it came to making origami. But he can not make the paper fly, sharpen, harden, cut... etc unless he directly imbued the elemental chakra into it.

    Konan can. On instincts alone. Jiraya surely just disregarded her the same as he disregarded Naruto. He saw Rinnegan, a candidate for the prophesied child, and anything else was a moot point for him.

    Rei had problems with creating two exploding tags yet Konan is able to divide her chakra and manipte up to fifty paper shurikens so far. Simultaneously at that. That''s multitasking at its finest. If it was not instinctive, there is no way her mind would be able to do it! He called hax!

    "Rei?" Konan pulled him out of his reverie. "Your turn." She pointed at the chakra paper in his hand and Rei sighed, wishing for something good. Like... dunno. At least two natures would be nice...

    He casually pushed a sliver of his chakra into it. There was really no need to be tense. The result would not change anyway.

    What happened next made Konan and Rei widen their eyes.

    The paper split into five identical parts.

    One was torn to shreds.

    One was turned to dust.

    One was soaked wet.

    One was crumpling with sparks.

    One was set on fire.

    "Oh... I have all five chakra natures..."

    Rei stood there stunned, thinking about how it could happen while Konan was beaming! She was happy her friend had so much potential!

    "Congrattions, Rei!" Konan excitedly jumped next to him and took his hands into hers as she expressed her happiness by spontaneously kissing him on the cheek and tightly hugging him.

    "Thank you." Rei sincerely told her as his arms sn.a.k.e.d around her small frame and returned the hug.

    "Let''s y?" Konan innocently asked and Rei didn''t want to destroy the atmosphere between them.

    "Sure..."

    They then proceeded to spend the afternoon together, ying with each other. Either doing dodgeball with kunai, a tag on the ceiling or tug-of-war with a paper, Konan with her paper maniption and Rei with his chakra strings.

    It was onlyter that night when Reiid on the bed, Konan snuggled into his side, fast asleep, he thought about his chakra natures.

    His mind had a few solutions. His Supreme Chakra Control Talent or his Godly Nature Energy Talent. Or these two talents mixed together. He just had to know because it might be information capable of giving him an idea of how to exploit it further!

    A task for another time, perhaps. Rei sighed as he felt very tired. Konan can be incredibly energetic when ites to ying a tag...

    Rei looked at the peaceful sleeping face of the girl and his hand rested on her head as a slight smile appeared on his face.

    He closed his eyes and focused on the natural energy around them. Carefully pulling a strand into his own body, dissolving it in his muscles, bones, blood, and organs, feeling them get slightly stronger as his body felt as if it was just pampered and massaged. He then did the same for Konan who melted into him with a satisfied expression because of that.

    Afterward, his consciousness was engulfed by the darkness. Night and exhaustion imed him.

 Chapter 8 - Ch8. Leaving Home

    <h4>Chapter 8 - Ch8. Leaving Home</h4>

    Rei and Konan stood in the woods, both clutching a slip of paper between their palms as they trained their nature transformation.

    Konan was trying to cut the paper in half while Rei trained his zap-ability first. But damn was it hard to make the paper wrinkled.

    They trained for months on this alone. Rei really had no idea how the twerp of Uchiha learned Chidori in a month... Kakashi had to be a helluva good teacher for that to happen! A pity that was only when he actually wanted to teach something to someone. After all, he was ANBU captain and DID train new recruits. Saying he didn''t know how to teachˇ­ yeah, sure.

    s, Rei was in a severeck of a teacher and had to wing it.

    Konan had simr problems but Rei''s advice of ''try to make your chakra sharp'' helped... somewhat. She could already cut the leaf after three months but now she wanted to learn to control her wind chakra and actually coat the paper in it instead of cutting it. It was still a work in progress.

    Rei could actually create lightning chakra. It was no Jutsu, alright. But he could numb, or give a slight jolt to others. He tried. He had a lot of unsuspecting test subjects in the marketce. It was nothing much so far but this was Ame no Kuni. There was water everywhere so it would prove useful. Especially since he could conduct his lightning chakra through his chakra strings!

    Rei mostly focused on his fuinjutsu. After these months, Konan had hundreds of exploding tags on her person and he had a few tens. Same with the storage seals filled with paper shurikens. He had ten while Konan had around a hundred.

    Rei was very curious why the seals work even though they have no real chakra sustaining them. Surely the seals should cease their function as the chakra dissipates, right? No way a seal could function years...

    He found the answer when he left one storage seal near his bed when he was about to fall asleep and focused on the natural energy to strengthen his and Konan''s body. He spotted a very, very minuscule amount of natural energy sustaining the seal. It was so small it seemed like an asional flicker and even Sage Mode Naruto would have a hard time spotting it even if he was looking straight at it. But it was there. He once again thanked God for his Godly Nature Energy Attunement Talent.

    The day after that, he started consciously putting natural energy into his seals the same way he did with his and Konan''s body, and... his exploding tags effectiveness improved by a factor of two. They were now slightly stronger than the tag stolen from the Iwa shinobi. Considering Konan had more than a hundred of them...

    Thanks to natural energy and being older, both their bodies improved tremendously. They didn''t have any taijutsu style but often sparred together.

    Rei''s body was stronger though. Thanks to his talent, he could take much more senjutsu chakra into his system to passively boost his body over time and it showed. He was faster, stronger, and more durable. It all became a moot point the second Konan started to use her paper.

    It really put into perspective just why bloodline ns and n shinobi are so much more valued in shinobi viges. With the same amount of training and in the same conditions, Konan could trash him because he did not have anything special. No technique. No bloodline.

    The strength of his body could get him only so far.

    Thankfully he had his talents. He knew exactly how strong fuinjutsu and sage-arts are inter stages. For now, he would endure and be stronger.

    "Rei," Konan suddenly called out to him, pulling him out of his thoughts. He looked at her, and instantly spotted her wary look. "check."

    His eyes widened. Konan could leave her paper around and use them as a kind of extension of her chakra sensing. The entire town and the woods had pieces of her paper scattered just in case.

    ''Check'' meant she discovered something wrong.

    "House." Konan thinned her lips.

    Rei quickly started sensing the area through senjutsu and froze.

    "F.u.c.k. Ten squads. 30 feels simr to Genin. 15 Chunin. 5 higher."

    Rei used the shinobi from Iwa as a measuring scale so he could at least feel amounts of chakra.

    "They are ughtering people." He cursed. This was not how he imagined his afternoon to go.

    Thankfully, their supplies were stashed in storage scrolls they had always on themselves.

    "Orders?" Konan looked at Rei.

    While Rei thought it was cute how she started to act as a subordinate, especially since they both were eight but...

    "Activate the exploding tags scattered around the town when a shinobies into their vicinity. I will alert you when they get into the forest, we will do the same. We can''t outrun them and will have to outsmart them and hide. For now, let''s run in the opposite direction of the town."

    Rei didn''t know if they had a chakra sensor or anyone who could track them but he was not really inclined to find out. Both Konan and Rei started running away.

    ...

    The town was a mess.

    Blood, guts, and gore-filled the streets as men, women, and children were being ughtered left and right by Konoha shinobi.

    Why?

    Because it was a good ce for an outpost. Surrounded by woods so rare in the Ame. Konoha-nin were used to woods. It was their home field. There was no way they would not try to acquire this town. s, the people were quite useless for them.

    "Hey, Daiki!" A woman screamed at a man nearby who was tearing clothes from a young teenage girl. "No ****!" She barked, showing her canines. Clearly an Inuzuka.

    The man grumbled but obeyed and instead slit the girl''s throat in annoyance. He wanted to say ''f.u.c.k you'' to the Inuzuka bitch but she was jonin and he was still a genin...

    Misa Inuzuka looked around with a cold gaze. Deep down, she could sympathize with the people but... she had her orders. She could only watch in apathy as her subordinates kill children, women, and the elderly. She was long used to scenes like this.

    That''s when it happened.

    Daiki was approaching her and out of sudden, he... wasn''t.

    A loud ''boom'' resounded through the town as the exploding tag tore Daiki to shreds, sending his torn limbs flying apart as his guts painted the ground red and shitty.

    Misa could only curse. This was a trap!

    "Regrou-" Before she could give that order, a series of other loud booming sounds resounded all over the vigeˇ­

    ...

    The Konoha-nin finally met with each other, uncaring about the people who were running away as their orders were to leave nobody alive in the town. If somebody manages to outrun shinobi, no qualms there. Laughable thought. Who would believe itˇ­

    Misa and her ninken sat in the corner as she saw three of her jonin-ranked colleagues.

    "That''s all of us." A man, Aburame, told them, making them astonished.

    Four jonin, 9 chunin, and 18 genins. They lost 19 people so far. Misa couldn''t help but curse. This mission was swiftly bing one of those fabled troublesome rank-ups...

    "Okay," Misa sighed as she heard the man who had themand. Sazo Hatake.

    "We will stay here and secure the ce. Misa, you will take five chunin and go scout the forest. Mukuro," He nodded at the Aburame man. "says there is a chakra trail there. Be careful, we have no idea how the exploding tags are hidden from his bugs. Especially since there seems to be no dy between activation and explosion. If you find hostiles, kill them!"

    Misa and her five chunin came to the edge of the forest, all feeling uneasy. That''s when ninken barked at her, that he found the smell of humans.

    The group quietly hopped from tree to tree, keeping some distance between them.

    Ikaru, a chunin, was about to spring himself away as his feet impacted the thick branch when...

    Are? What?... Were hisst thoughts as his mind didn''t even manage to register the pain as he was literally ughtered by a flurry of paper shurikens enhanced by wind chakra.

    Misa could only watch in horror as one of her chunin was made into a swiss cheese instantly. She gestured to the group to stop.

    "Guys. Careful... I have no idea what this shit is but obviously, we are against a very skilled fuinjutsu master! The explosive tags have no dy and the traps are enhanced with elemental chakra!"

    Rei didn''t know that his stasis seal was a masterpiece in the eyes of the ninja. No stasis or storage seal was able to hold chakra infused into the weapons, much less if that chakra was elemental one.

    The group scattered, getting even more distance between themselves in fear of being caught up in the traps together.

    The hopped from tree to tree, following the ninken. Misa could swear she could asionally see two running figures far away through the trees but as she was about to focus more on them...

    Kira, the man in the position next to her was sent flying to high heavens... and fell near bushes

    Misa could only curse. Her instincts red and even if Kira was a slight distraction, surely intentional, she managed to jump backward, just in time to avoid another flurry of futon paper shurikens. Shended on the ground and noted that the branch waspletely shredded. She cursed again. A powerful wind user! A groan tore through her throat.

    With the corner of her eyes, she could see shaken Rika staring at Kira, her fiance, and wobbly approach his corpse while tears streamed down her face. Misa was about to admonish the girl when she took the charred body of her man into her arms but...

    A whirl of papers flew out of the bushes, sticking onto terrified Rika. Misa will never forget the horror-filled eyes as the chunin under hermand looked at her pleadingly just a split of second before the papers exploded, torn both her and her already deceased fiance to shreds, leaving only a bloody smear and charred ground behind.

    Suddenly, Misa and the two remaining chunin didn''t feel like...

    Correction. One remaining chunin.

    Mika watched as Kaguro fell prey to yet another storm of futon paper shuriken.

    Yes, Misa and Muko, thest chunin, really did not feel like following.

    "Retreat." Misa ordered in apathy and Muko obeyed with a gulp.

 Chapter 9 - Ch9. Mistake?

    <h4>Chapter 9 - Ch9. Mistake?</h4>

    Misa entered the house that was chosen as a make-shiftmand center and found Hatake-taicho sitting behind a table.

    The man spotted Misa''s distraught expression and suddenly had a sinking feeling.

    "Jonin Misa, what''s the situation?"

    "Hatake-taicho," Misa sadly shook her head. "Kira, Rika, and Ikaru are dead. The forest is packed with explosive tags and traps. All high-quality without dy or any signs before activation. The enemy has a skilled futon user as the weapons were infused with futon chakra. We first..."

    She proceeded to exin the entire situation to the slightest of detail.

    "Any visuals?"

    "No," Misa denied. "Only two running kids but even then it was a fleeting thing from far away. I, however, don''t think a kid would be able to-"

    "You would be surprised." Sazo interrupted her with narrowed eyes. "Paper shurikens you say... It may be some new Kekkei Genkai. We have to report it." He sighed and dragged his hand through his tired eyes.

    "This is a disaster, Misa."

    "Yes... Sazo."

    The two knew each other as both had a thing for ninken. They just hated to let it be known.

    "22 casualties on a mission to take over a civilian town. It couldn''t get any wors-"

    Just then Konan''s explosive tags in the forest, that was the entire reason the town was being taken over, went off. Misa and Sazo had to brace themselves as a hundred explosions rattled the forest and created a small earthquake.

    Sazo hurriedly ran to the window and what he saw made him swear worse than a sailor.

    The forests around were... burning. The sky was painted orange as the mes quickly spread through the trees, reaching far above the treetops, irreparably destroying the forest.

    Sazo could only bitterly watch as the strategic advantage of home-field turned into dust. This mission was an utter... failure.

    ...

    Both Konan and Rei panted from the long run as they saw the forest burn.

    "Good. We managed to make the trackers turn around." Rei smiled slightly.

    Konan, hearing him, hugged his arm to her chest in relief as her forehead rested on his shoulder. They are alive. For now.

    The two kids proceeded to trek through the stony fields away from the edge of the forest. Their direction... unknown.

    ...

    Night fell and both Rei and Konan were shivering under a make-shift roof made of Konan''s papers. The air was still shivering though and even huddled together it was very cold.

    Rei sighed and took out a paper and started drawing with his chakra-infused ink.

    ''Warmth''

    He then made a few additional numeric parameters and activated the seal. Putting it on himself, he could feel warm again, as if he was under the sun. It was not hot but it was incredibly pleasant.

    He swiftly made another seal for Konan who smiled at him for it.

    Before he could smile in return, he found Konan''s lips pressing into his for the first time in the time they lived together.

    Flushed Konan flopped back into the spot next to him and meekly looked to the ground as she fumbled with her fingers. Rei also had red cheeks and he couldn''t help but think...

    Girls really do mature sooner, don''t they?

    He scratched his cheek with his left hand and with his right he cupped Konan''s cheek, raising her head so her eyes would meet his. As the second their eyes met, Rei pressed his lips onto Konan''s cheek.

    After a few seconds, he pulled away with a small smile.

    "Thank you."

    "Thank you too."

    They slept, embracing each other, feeling warm and safe.

    ...

    The next few weeks gave Rei a hard lesson. Life without a home, ''on the run'' is not easy. Konan could take care of finding, or better said, creating a shelter and he could create nifty runes to provide warmth. Water was abundant in the Ame no Kuni but... he still missed bed. A ce he felt safe.

    Slightly, during these weeks, the meaning of home shifted in his mind. He no longer associated it with a building or vige. He now associated it with Konan.

    He could feel at ease and protected when he was with her. The same could be said about Konan. The two kids quickly learned how to fend for themselves in the wild and avoid skirmishes of shinobi. Needless to say, Rei and Konan only stayed out of sight and range.

    They were getting more and more daring. Learning by doing. As they came to witness more and more battles, scavenged battlefields for money, seals, and weapons, their chakra senses caught on many shinobi and the way they controlled their chakra. Rei could detect hiding shinobi easily thanks to his natural energy sensing and through that, he managed to ''create'' chakra hiding technique. He found out that if he adds a sliver of natural energy on top of his chakra signature, he is basically invisible to chakra sensors as they were unable to sense it.

    At the end of the third week, both Konan and Rei were bunking in a small cave, holding hands as Rei still thought about a method for teaching Konan the chakra hiding technique. No matter what, he was sure, the girl would be able to use natural energy for it. It was an external technique and as such, not dangerous. The problem was she could not sense the natural energy. If she could sense it, she could learn how to control it. Not entirely. But masking her chakra would be enough for now.

    He was racking his brain about it when suddenly Konan shook him.

    "Are you thinking about a new seal?" She asked with excited eyes. Rei quickly found out the girl loved it when he showed her his seals. Anything he showed her, really. By now, Rei knew that Konan was his for life. The girl would never even think about betraying him and it warmed his heart. In only a slightly over a year, he managed to inspire enough loyalty in the girl as Yahiko did after ten years of living with her. Of course, he was smug about it! He just didn''t like her tendencies and her way of thinking. She would dly be left behind if it meant Rei would survive.

    That''s the main reason why Rei decided to make them stronger, subtler, invisible. He did not want to encounter such a situation. Konan was his and he would be damned if he let anyone take her from him!

    "Ah? Seal?"

    Konan expectantly bobbed her head up and down.

    But... seal. Hm?

    Rei thought as he was patting delighted Konan''s head. The cute girl became his pir of support in this dangerous world. He remembered how she alerted him of the shinobi and smiled to himself. He had to focus on sensing. Konan sensed in a limited way unconsciously and could channel it through her papers. It was a very useful thing. Her sens-

    Ah!

    An idea shed through Rei''s head. Lately, any problem of his had one solution. Seals. So, why not this time too? He only had to make sure Konan was able to sense the natural energy for a bit until she learned how to control it to hide her chakra! He didn''t need to make her into Sage or something!

    Rei whipped out sealing supplies and furiously started writing.

    ''Senses'' ''Link'' ''Time''

    He set parameters and the seal that would link his and Konan senses for a few minutes was created.

    Rei didn''t even think much about it. He was too ignorant to think more in-depth about what linking senses would do to two people or even how exactly would it be aplished. Even if for a second.

    s, the path to hell is paved with good intentions.

    He gripped one side of the paper, where one end of the link was and smiled at Konan.

    "Here. This should help me teach you how to hide your chakra!" Rei excitedly told Konan.

    The girl trusted Rei with her very life and much more. She nodded excitedly and with a determination took a hold on the other side of the paper, right on the other end of the link.

    The two children instantly froze, their eyes wide as their mouth opened in a soundless scream.

    The seal did exactly what it was supposed to do. It... linked.

    And their souls... shed.

 Chapter 10 - Ch10. The Consequences of said Mistake

    <h4>Chapter 10 - Ch10. The Consequences of said Mistake</h4>

    Rei''s and Konan''s souls sh started to intensify but both children were far too gone. Pain, pleasure, senses. None of that reached their minds that were being overloaded, stretched.

    Their chakra red up, swirling around them, sending blue wisps all around the cave. The two chakras started to get closer, push against each other until... they started to entwine. Strands made of chakra started to merge as if being knitted together.

    Once a strand of two chakras was done, it snapped. But wisps of Rei''s chakra stayed in Konan''s, simrly as some of Konan''s stayed in Rei''s. And the process started all over again.

    Hundreds, thousands of strands were merging and snapping again and again until nobody could determine where Konan starts or where Rei ends. And yet... they were both singr. Both... separated.

    On a deeper level, the change was even more insane. Their very souls were shing against each other. Konan''s eight years old small quivering soul and Rei''s over twenty years old soul were forcefully pulled together. Merging, exchanging something. Something vital. They were creating a... link.

    As Rei''s soul tore a chunk of Konan''s. Konan''s soul absorbed a chunk of Rei''s of the same size. In multiple ces were these two souls ripping apart the other and absorbing it but not in one moment was one less than the other. They were getting in perfect sync, taking and ripping only as much as was taken and ripped from them.

    Konan and Rei could only stare at each other in horror as they felt their entire existence being overhauled. They felt every rip in their soul. They felt every fulfilling absorption of a piece of the other''s soul. They felt their chakra change, re, grow... their reserves were getting lower and lower as the chakra produced in their coils was getting denser and denser the more their souls exchanged matter.

    And when they were getting more and more tired, on the verge of chakra exhaustion, the timer ran out and the seal ceased to work. The chakras pulled away from each other. The souls stopped shing.

    The final product was an amalgamation of both souls and chakras and yet. Both Konan and Rei didn''t be one entity. They were clearly still two separate beings with their respective bloodlines, skills, personalities, minds... souls.

    But their souls were no longer resembling a human. They were a patchwork of two. As was their chakra. Nobody will ever be able to find out where one started and the other ended.

    The second the seal ceased its action, both exhausted kids started falling forward. They gently fell into each other''s embrace and their foreheads gently met. Rei and Konan started shuddering in euphoria. Their very existence was happy at the touch. Their hearts fluttered and their souls couldn''t help but shudder with their bodies as the two patchwork amalgamations connected, no longer fighting but somehow creating one, bigger soul. At least, until the two children again separate...

    While Rei and Konan blissfully slept in each other''s embrace, their connected soul was unconsciously pressurizing their bodies, connecting their chakra in a simr way as their souls. Suddenly, their chakra coils had a need to widen. They had to contain these two, no, this one connected amount of chakra and had no space! And that is what their bodies and chakra coils did. They started... growing. Slowly, ever so slowly. But... the chakra created was dense, heavy,pressed.

    The pressure on their bodies was barely being mitigated as the natural energy flooded their bodies, reinforcing them, soothing them, toughening them while keeping them alive. The destruction and recreation of the cells were faster than normal human eyes could process and both Rei and Konan physically aged by two years. Their bodies looked like ten years olds.

    As their minds started to be caressed by the energy, they started to increase in proficiency, processing speed, capacity... they gained something akin to perfect memory and enhanced mind.

    But... for all the advantages, Konan and Rei could never separate. They now belonged to each other. This connection... was far more severe than any magical marriage bond could be in a distant world of wizards...

    Unknowingly to them, no human being could survive such a sh of souls, chakra, and the flood of natural energy. The Supreme Chakra Control Talent and Godly Natural Energy Attunement Talent barely managed to keep the kids alive... changing them irreversibly.

    ...

    Somewhere near Amegakure:

    Hanzo''s boss smander summon suddenly stopped as if struck. Its eyes wide and mouth agape. Only Hanzo recognized the shock of his old friend and got worried as he never saw him in such a state. The summoned animal was visibly shivering as a poisonous cloud was leaving its mouth.

    Hanzo decided it was not worth it to keep fighting if his summoned smander was in such a state. He looked at the three idiots who challenged him and were now bloodied, messy, and barely standing while supporting each other. Sigh, youngsters these days. So rash.

    He sneered behind his mask at them, his eyes looking at them in contempt. The two men were alive only because the weak female was an extraordinary medic. Without her, they would be but a smear on the ground or keeling over from the poison in a minute. Exactly like their summoned animals. Heh, smanders rocks!

    Manda and Gamabunta were both barely swaying from side to side, a little away from the battlefield as they had to put a supreme effort to stay on their feet... or belly, in Manda''s case.

    Katsuyu was already out of it but then again, she was the one without any damage as poison managed to only knock her out. It wouldn''t hurt her in any other way.

    Tsunade felt despair. She knew exactly how much chakra she had left and it didn''t look very promising. Hanzo was much, much stronger than her idiotic teammates thought! He was ying with them! Three on one and he was standing on his smander looking at their battered form with a raised eyebrow! It was a very painful wake-up call.

    But then she felt it and her head snapped to the east. The boundless energying from... somewhere. She could only feel it on the corner of her senses. Not fully. But she knew where she felt something like this thest time.

    Hashirama-jii... Her mind faltered.

    She didn''t know it was senjutsu chakra, an amountrge enough to topple boss summon, that she was sensing. But this feeling ingrained itself in her soul and will stay in her mind for years toe. Making her unable to forget. Unable to get it out of her mind. Unable to focus on anything else. She was a Senju and Senju had a peculiar body. Connected to nature. Sensitive.

    Tsunade was too close to not be affected.

    Jiraya''s mind was reeling even though his body could not move anymore as Tsunade supported him. He could feel the boundless nature energy. But... He had more important things to think about!

    Tsunade! B.o.o.b.s! Squishy! Ehehehehe!

    Orochimaru... had only one thought as his eyes darted from side to side with a frown, ying cool despite his blood literally covering his body.

    No little boys anywhere... Meeeh.

    "I will now withdraw." Hanzo told them regally even though he was mentally rolling his eyes. The trio was happy they stood on their feet. What withdraw! If they will really believe such bullshit and lousy acting... ah, they are Konoha-nin. Of course, they would believe it!

    "You fought well, cough, weaklings, cough, younglings." Hanzo''s eyebrow twitched as he impassively continued as if it was a rehearsed script in a bored tone. "I will now bestow a title of three ordinar-, ahem, Sannin! Yes. You are from now on Sannin of Konoha! Wear it as proudly as you stood today in front of me and enterta-, ahem, managed to fight me. Un!"

    The trio that was barely standing, happily flopped onto the ground, and Hanzo sweatdropped.

    I am still here, you know?

    He thought awkwardly and then noted the white-haired man was already soundly sleeping while his hand was squeezing a boob of the ticked-off blonde female who was barely restraining herself from punching the idiot to his early grave. The ck-haired girlish boy was sighing in disappointment.

    At least one smart man!

    Hanzo mentally praised but then he saw the wide, disturbing perverse smile on Orochimaru''s dreamy face and his long tongue rolling out of his mouth with drool as his eyes zed over, dreaming about research, boy-toys, and... ugh. Hanzo shuddered.

    Whelp... better get the f.u.c.k outta here!

    And with that Hanzo turned around, disturbed, and ran! His mind conspiring, tears streaming down his face as he thanked it was raining.

    Maybe... Konoha really did know what they were doing. Sending those three against me! I feel scarred for life...

    The huge spike of natural energy was forgotten by all but Tsunade who, in that instance, found a new life-goal for herself.

 Chapter 11 - Ch11. New connection

    <h4>Chapter 11 - Ch11. New connection</h4>

    Konan opened her eyes and groggily sat down. She felt Rei''s hand in hers, squeezing it gently and her cheeks reddened. She looked at Rei and saw his peacefully sleeping face. His older face. She didn''t know what gripped her but her heart fluttered at the sight and she wanted to be with him. She wanted to...

    Rei opened his eyes only to see an older form of Konan looking at him with an expectant, gentle, and loving gaze. He also saw a flicker of love in her eyes but wrote it off as his wishful thinking.

    "Hello." Konan quietly whispered.

    "Good morning, Konan." Rei yawned and rubbed his tired eyes.

    It was then that both of them remembered what happened the... ah. How much did they sleep? Hour? Day? Week?

    The duo looked at each other awkwardly until Rei shrugged.

    "No need to worry about it anymore. It happened."

    Konan nodded and quickly pecked his lips, leaving him staring at her,pletely bbergasted.

    "I love you, Rei." She told him cheerfully.

    Rei didn''t even manage to process what he just heard but his heart moved his lips for him.

    "I love you too, Konan."

    They continued to smile at each other.

    "Well, we should probably start training." Rei rubbed the back of his head and redirected his stare to the ground, beet-red.

    "Un." Konan agreed as she also couldn''t help but look towards her fumbling hands with crimson cheeks.

    The duo distracted themselves with running, sparing, and training their chakra natures for the day.

    The evening quickly came and both Rei''s and Konan''s feelings were already calm. They knew what they felt for each other. They also knew they would eventually end with each other. It was inevitable. That was what their minds and hearts were telling them. But neither of them was ready for anything more than a peck on the lips. No matter how explorative they felt. They instead channeled the energy into the training and thankfully it helped.

    With a calm mind, Rei remembered why he made the linking seal in the first ce.

    "It''s such a pity the seal didn''t help you feel the nature energy."

    "Oh?" Konan stopped nibbling on her jerky and gulped down what she had in her mouth. "But... I somehow sense the world differently now."

    "What?"

    Rei looked at her bewildered and then a theory appeared in his mind. What if...

    He started to conduct many tests and told Konan to do many things and tell him how she felt and found out a very staggering result.

    Konan had a more diluted version of his Godly Nature Attunement Talent. She could sense nature chakra but then...

    "Konan! Quickly look at your chakra control!" Rei giddily jumped up and down.

    Konan nodded and a few secondster... squealed.

    "It''s almost perfect!" In the excitement, she smashed her lips to Rei''s, and the kids kissed for a few moments.

    As they separated, Rei gently patted bashful Konan.

    "Kissing is ok." He told her in a whisper.

    Konan raised her head hopefully, her eyes met his as she chewed on her lower lip.

    "But nothing more than that."

    Konan nodded profusely in happiness and pecked Rei again.

    "Now, will you tell me what exactly changed with your chakra control?"

    "!" Konan''s face morphed to seriousness.

    "I need a lesser amount of chakra for better effect. I can better circle it. I became better at manipting it. And..."

    "And?"

    "And I have five times the chakra I had before but my control is even better than it was."

    Konan finished unsurely and Rei''s eyes widened as he instantly felt his own chakra.

    He also had five times the amount of what he had before and his control stayed the same. It was still perfect. A lopsided grin appeared on his face.

    "Well, Konan-chan. looks like we are on the level of low-chunin with chakra amount!" Rei eximed giddily and Konan instantly hugged his torso in happiness. Rei smiled at her and thought.

    Guess that means a somewhat diluted version of his Supreme Chakra Control. Check.

    After a few moments of relishing their fast growth by patting Konan''s head, Rei took a deep breath.

    "Now, thest one."

    Rei took the storage scroll he first learned on and gave it to Konan.

    Konan had slight problems with reading and Kanji but Rei did his best to teach her during the year they were together. She knew enough. As she saw the seal and read through the kanji on it, Konan blinked at Rei.

    "I understand it." She whispered to herself.

    Konan tried to imitate Rei and learn how to do exploding tags. Even with Rei''s help, she has still been dubbed a Godly Clutz Talent when it came to seals by Rei. It had nothing with her penmanship or knowledge. She had a natural problem or predisposition to f.u.c.k-up infusing her intentions with her chakra. It was something that COULD NOT be taught by anyone to her. Konan already epted she will never learn anything Fuinjutsu rted unless she spends supreme effort, resources, and time. And even then she would need teachers, books... She just gave up and decided to focus on her futon.

    But now...

    Now she looked at the seal and knew... she knew what she did wrong previously. Her mind as if... clicked and she was able to...

    Oh, God! She was able to, she knew how to do seals!

    Konan shrieked in happiness and Rei found himself toppled to the ground as Konan rubbed her head on his chest.

    "Huh, sealing talent. Check." He mumbled as he tried to regain his breath. "Well, now you will be able to produce your own explosion tags." He quipped and enjoyed the childish pout on Konan''s face. Rei pinched her cheek with a heartfeltugh, making her pout more.

    With a long ''Muuuuuu'', Konan nibbled her lower lip in embarrassment.

    "Wait... you now feel nature energy, right?" Rei asked for a confirmation.

    Konan tilted her head in confusion.

    "The energy that is not chakra in the air, nts, everywhere, really. Focus on it. Don''t take any of it into your body but make her senses perceive it."

    Konan nodded and did as Rei told her. She smiled wide when she could feel the world around herself. It was just so... beautiful. She never thought the dull, grey, and rainy world could be so gorgeous. Her hand squeezed Rei''s.

    "It''s beautiful." Konan hugged Rei.

    "Yes. I guess it is." He chuckled. "Now. Up to learn how to hide your chakra?"

    Konan nodded enthusiastically. Rei started to exin the principles about coating yourself with nature energy, wearing it as clothes around your chakra and Konan was nodding from time to time.

    Then her mind started focusing on the energy around her and she tried to manipte it.

    "Muuuu, I can not move it." Sheined.

    "Haha, just keep trying." Rei encouraged her while making sure to move more nature energy closer to Konan to make it easier for her.

    His giddy mind had only one thought and it brought him joy from the future possibilities.

    Guess that really meant she had a lesser Nature Talent Attunement Talent!

 Chapter 12 - Ch12. Tree? Its fake! ... Well, figures.

    <h4>Chapter 12 - Ch12. Tree? It''s fake! ... Well, figures.</h4>

    It took Konan three days to learn how to ''move'' the nature energy around.

    In that time Rei found out their bodies were strengthened quite a bit and could now crack the bark of a tree with his punch. He also managed to coat a kunai in the lightning chakra, making the chakra vibrate at high speed for better sharpness and prability.

    He now trained with a chokuto he scaven-, ahem, found lying on the ground without an owner. Correction, without an owner who would care.

    He could only sh and sh again since he knew nothing about kenjutsu but... slowly, he found out when and where to put more strength and how to handle the sword. Even if it was just waving it around. The second he added lightning chakra, it became a deadly weapon even without any skill with it.

    "Rei, Rei!" Konan approached Rei, a question all over her face.

    "Hmm?"

    "Do you know if I could coat my paper in the nature chakra to make them also invisible to chakra sensors?"

    Rei''s mind stilled. Possible but...

    He instantly held his chokuto in front of him and coated it in his lighting chakra.

    "Konan. I am going to do something possibly stupid." Rei smiled brightly at her, making Konan want to smack him.

    Rei pulled the raw nature energy and fed it into the raiton chakra without having it go through his body. The lightning instantly grew, the chirping sound was now ferociously reverberating through the woods and the ground under the de of his chokuto was cracking every time a stray lightning bolt struck it.

    The most surprising was the color though. The lightning was pure abyssal ck. Not like the one used by 3rd Raikage or Darui. That could be described as light ck. This was the ckest of ck and Rei had to gulp as he felt the danger from it.

    He instantly ceased channeling the nature energy and the lightning simmered back into a controlled blue coating around the de. He nodded to himself.

    "Yes. It is very possible, alright." He told Konan and praised her for the idea with a head pat.

    Konna smiled and put a paper on the ground, taking a few steps away from it in case it had a dangerous reaction.

    In hindsight, that''s what I should have done.

    Rei thought with a sweatdrop...

    Konan started channeling the raw nature energy into the paper. It was messy and half of her chakra mixed with the nature energy and was absorbed by the ground instead of the paper. But the paper was now simmering with the wind, pulsing with sharpness. It was no longer just a coating of blue futon chakra. It was a translucent wind-like coating that looked extremely sharp.

    Konan flung it into the nearby tree and...

    Both Rei and Konan were gaping. The paper was so fast it was hard to follow! Moreover, it didn''t pierce through the tree as expected. Itpletely felled it into two pieces on impact and went on, felling ten more trees behind it until the futon chakra dissipated, making the nature energy disperse!

    Rei looked at Konan and patted her head with a sigh.

    Demolition master, indeed.

    Then his eyes fell on the spot where Konan channeled the raw nature chakra mixed with her chakra into the paper.

    His jaws dropped again. He yanked Konan towards the ce.

    Konan was confused. She was full of ideas on how to use her new findings to decimate Rei''s enemies. What could be so important he had to interrupt her? She was on the verge of pouting!

    But when she saw a small budding sapling slowly growing out of the ce the paper was previously on, she tilted her head.

    "Mokuton." Rei watched the sapling stop growing when it reached 4 feet because of insufficient chakra. "What did you do?" His head snapped to Konan who nervously fumbled with her fingers.

    "I mixed my chakra with the nature energy and wanted futon chakra..." Konan trailed off, not knowing if she did something wrong.

    "Of course!" Rei pped his forehead and started tough hysterically.

    "You have Wind prevalent with Earth and Water secondary! You just pushed your earth and water natured bits that were still mixed with raw nature energy to the ground while leaving the futon mixed with nature energy in the paper!"

    He still chuckled as he exined what just happened and started to mix an entire fifth of his chakra with nature energy and pushed it deep into the ground.

    Konan and Rei had to jump away as a tall thick tree quickly rose from the ground. It was not a giant tree that could be found in Konoha but it was still a full-grown tree.

    "Oh, well... looks like I gained a ''Kekkei Genkai'' too. Even if it is a fake one. Well, figures the Mokuton is not really a Kekkei Genkai of Senju. Instead, it is their attunement to the nature chakra and Hashirama just mixed his elemental chakra with nature chakra. He was supposed to be an incredible sensor, after all." Rei chuckled. "The only Mokuton reproduction is through his cellsˇ­ yup, it makes sense since his body would get used to channelling itˇ­"

    "Rei?" Konan asked, not understanding as he mumbled to himself..

    "Listen, Konan. This..."

    Rei exined. He exined about Hashirama Senju. The Senju n. Konoha. And how dangerous it would be to show anyone this ability.

    Konan furiously nodded. She had no intention of going to Konoha! Konoha-nin killed her parents! She still held a grudge. That''s why when she found out it was Konoha-nin attacking the town, she may or may not have used more exploding tags than she should and made sure lots died! But... Konan was sure Rei noticed. After all, he was creating these tags. She was happy when he decided to say nothing about it. She really loved Rei!

    "We will have to train Earth and Water maniption." Rei sighed. "Thankfully my absolute control means that unless I mean it, no tree will grow no matter how much chakra and nature energy I push into the ground... Really now. I would never know I could do this without a coincidence like this." Rei started chuckling again. It was quite hrious. He wondered how many Senju actually were able to do Mokuton only to fail at the most basic of things. Intent. They unconsciously didn''t believe they could since not once during childhood they unconsciously raised a tree. So, no tree was ever created by them...

    Konan never heard of Mokuton so for her creating the tree was nothing extraordinary.

    It was a huge mind-opener for Rei if nothing else.

    "Well, you Konan will have to train hard to not unconsciously call forth trees." Rei patted her head with a proud smile, making Konan happy. "Your control is pretty much iron-d but mistakes do happen. We will work on it, kay?" Rei kissed her cheek, determined to train Water and Earth control alongside Konan.

    ...

    A weekter, Konan sat cross-legged with a serene smile on her lips and her hands outstretched to the sides, her elbows bent toward the ground and above her palms, a paper floated. On her right one was a paper brown as earth, a clear sight of mastered beginner exercise for Earth nature, and on her left was a paper soaked, dripping cold water onto her palm. For two hours straight, the water didn''t stop dripping from the still to the brim soaked paper. A clear sign of beginner level mastery of Water maniption.

    Rei could only sigh as he sullenly watched the soaked paper in-between his palms.

    Yes, Yes. I managed only one nature in seven days. F.u.c.k you too.

    He thought depressingly. He could not fault Konan though. He knew what his problem was. He might have all natures but Konan was unconsciously using Earth and Water chakra since she learned how to harden her paper or make it not be soaked underwater. From there, it took only slight tweaks to master the first exercises of elemental mastery.

    Yet again, the superiority of the elemental Kekkei Genkai holders was thrown into his face. They just could, so they did. They instinctively knew how to do this after using their Kekkei Genkai long enough. No wonder they could reach FAR ahead of the normal ninja. Their minds were geared to master their own element in the quickest time possible. Rei was sure this was not the only time Konan would overtake him in Wind, Earth, or Water. But he knew she had nothing on him in Lightning and most likely Fire too once he started to train it.

    Rei, on the other hand, had to do the entire process by ear from start to the end and even then it was possible only due to his exceptional control.

    But... If a normal ninja saw himining about mastering the first exercise of his element in a week, he would choke on his blood. People train years to do so...

    But Rei couldn''t help but smile at his observations during these three days as his mind swirled in giddy thoughts.

    We now have Mokuton~. The raw nature chakra leads our Earth and Water natured chakra to form the tree. It is the known pinnacle of Earth and Water chakra maniption and we can do it unconsciously! All we have to do is find out how our chakra does it and BAM! Hehe~...

    Oh, Rei was very excited about finally having an elemental Kekkei Genkai Holder advantage, alright!

 Chapter 13 - Ch13. Tsunade Senju, the Sannin 1

    <h4>Chapter 13 - Ch13. Tsunade Senju, the ''Sannin'' 1</h4>

    Konoha Hospital, Tsunade''s office:

    Tsunade reminisced with a bottle of sake about her recent time in Konoha, on the verge of a breakdown.

    Tsunade returned to Konoha a week ago and a lot of things have happened since then.

    First of all, she and her teammates were hailed as heroes for keeping Hanzo at bay during the sh of the Ame and Konoha army, leaving Ame''s military in quite the precarious state.

    Tsunade could see the proud smug look of Jiraiya as he eyed big-b.r.e.a.s.ted females with apparent l.u.s.t as if he was about to choose which pouch is the right one to stick his kunai into. Tsunade found it gross. And they wonder why she never ''fell'' for such a gant figure!

    Tsunade loved Jiraiya... as a friend. But a lover? She would rathermit seppuku.

    Oh, she couldn''t even remember the number of times Jiraiya asked her to ''scratch'' the itch when they were in the field together. Tsunade had her urges too as every self-respecting twenty-plus years old woman but... Jiraiya? Really? Bleh.

    Her status as a kunoichi from the Senju n made her shielded from receiving seduction missions and she was not about to give her v.i.r.g.i.nity to anyone, much less a pervert who sticks himself to every hole he finds on the road.

    Unlike the general poption of shinobi who are informed that yes, chakra indeed does prevent them from getting a venereal disease, she was one of the best medic-nin in Konoha. She knew better. Chakra was not omnipotent.

    But it was her pride. Most of her academy year ssmates already lost their purity years ago. Some of them as young as twelve. It was a sad thing but the current reality. Tsunade was pure. She just was not innocent. Not since she plunged a kunai through the throat of a bandit on her first C-rank mission. And she will never regret it. Not for a second.

    She had to sigh when she spotted that even Orochimaru''s lip was twitching upwards at the praise they received. She was disappointed. She thought him smarter...

    To be honest, this was the first really big achievement for her teammates. Jiraiya is good at spying and sealing and Orochimaru at research and Jutsu. Not really something Konohacked or something that could bring them fame. This was the first time both orphans of her team were under the limelight since Sarutobi-sensei took them under his care.

    Her? Not so much. She was Senju. Always praised, coddled, where she went people treated her like a princess. And it was great! Until she was six. Since then it has be utterly annoying. So, when she came from Suna front after she single-handedly pushed Konoha forces into a victory, and received the praise, Tsunade was apathetic to it. Instead, she remembered all the blood that flowed through her fingers. All the blood of her allies. Those she couldn''t save. Sad sight but the current reality indeed.

    The exact same thing as she was experiencing now.

    What... heroes! What... held Hanzo long enough to win! She was not a stupid idiot! She saw the manpletely fine after the fight with them and their summons! He let them go and even gave them a disparaging title for it! Yet, her teammates took it as praise.

    Idiots.

    They couldn''t even notice when they were being mocked...

    Tsunade couldn''t, no, didn''t even want to count how many times she had to use her experimental technique, Creation Rebirth, and how much life force she was forced to use. Tears streamed down her cheeks every time she realized that one fight cost her Fifty years of her life. Fifty years in exchange for saving her teammates and herself from a continuous lethal dose of smander poison. No matter how she pleaded, her teammates refused to retreat.

    Were Jiraya and Orochimaru even worth it? Jiraya took thirty and Orochimaru took at least twelve years from her. Her body was freaking seventy! Only her medical transformation and the vitality of Senju kept her looking the same or her performance from dropping. Nobody even realized...

    Sensei was too busy being Hokage.

    Orochimaru had his research and wanted recognition. He was already on a mission with her brother.

    And Jiraiya... he didn''t care. He would soon leave again to Ame in order to train three orphans. The idiot thought he finally found his ''chosen one''.

    Oh, why does he have to sound so much like Orochimaru when he starts to talk about finding a ''prophesied'' little boy!

    Tsunade quietly sobbed into her arms, as the bottle fell onto the ground, spilling the contents.

    Unknown to the Sannin, their break up was set in stone in the exact battle they received the title from Hanzo. Their medic was forced to do too much for the team. Too much sacrifice to keep two childish idiots alive. Neither Jiraiya or Orochimaru were yet the fabled incredible Sannin from cannon.

    Tsunade just couldn''t. Fifty years. She was well aware of what that meant for her. It meant Nawaki was the only one who could restore the Senju n. She never cared for it. But... This was one blow too many for Tsunade. Orochimaru may be a poison expert but he waspletely out of his league when it came to rare Smander''s poison. She only had to use eight years of her life to keep herself alive through the poison thanks to her medical expertise and various drugs in her system.

    Forty-two years were squandered through Katsuyu to a white-haired idiot who cared only about f.u.c.k.i.n.g whores and to a research-addicted justu-crazed smug bastard. Not even a single meaningless thank you.

    Tsunade was a realist. And the reality was, Hanzo could singlehandedly f.u.c.k up the entirety of Konoha force. Tsunade REALLY doubted even the ''God of Shinobi'' Hiruzen Sarutobi woulde out of that fight alive. Hanzo was indeed a ninja from the generation of her Grandfather. It showed, alright. He could make a bloody smear out of the Konoha shinobi force and wouldn''t even need to approach! His poison was better than anything Suna could evere up with. It''s just, he found it more amusing to y with the pupils of the current ''God of Shinobi''.

    They did not fight a war with Iwa in Ame. They were ALLOWED to fight a war with Iwa in Ame. A very distinct difference. Tsunade only hoped Amegakure didn''t join the fight... She had enough of meeting Hanzo for one lifetime. She would most likely not survive another...

    Tsunade snorted when she realized she was a seventy-years old v.i.r.g.i.n. It actually brought quite the humor into the entire situation.

    Her eyes trailed to Nawaki''s photo and a charming smile spread through her face.

    As long as Nawaki survives... The n can still go on. I am not needed anymore.

    She sadly noted but was happy it was that way. No forced marriage to recreate the Senju n. No political schemes. No, she was now supposed to live her remaining life in the hospital, helping the vige. She chuckled as she remembered THAT discussion with her sensei.

    Telling the man she was now physically older than him... Both had to get drunk under the table. Hiruzen because she was apparently his first choice as sessor and Tsunade because she just didn''t want to have a mental break-down in front of her sensei. Tsunade of course tore him a new one. Spending her life in the hospital... Ha! As if.

    Tsunade remembered the spike of... nature energy. Yes, she flipped through the books of her grandfather and was surprised when the Sage Arts, the thing Jiraiya-baka was so enamored with, were a chakra diluted form of raw nature energy. Tsunade deeply desired the war to end so she could use her new privileges as one of the ''Sannin'' and retire due to ''old age'', hehe, and start looking for the source of that spike.

    Her very own adventure! She didn''t even know what for! She only knew, her instincts, her heart deeply longed for anything that was produced by that spike of energy. Illogical but... it was the first and truest feeling she held after her love for her brother. It was precious.

    Tsunade yed with a bottle of sake, her head lying on the table, half-drunk as she did kissy faces at the photo of her cute lil'' bro.

    Suddenly the door flew wide.

    "Tsunade!" Jiraiya shrieked.

    "What Jiraiya!" Tsunade screamed in annoyance. He was the veryst idiot she wanted to see this fine alcohol-filled evening! "I won''t go on a date with you! Now go!"

    Jiraya quieted down, his face serious. Tsunade blinked as a really bad feeling sneaked into her heart.

    "Tsunade, I am sorry... it''s Nawaki. He..."

    Tsunade palled to ghost white and didn''t even wait for him to finish, she rushed out of the room. Her heart, breaking.

 Chapter 14 - Ch14. Tsunade Senju, the Sannin 2

    <h4>Chapter 14 - Ch14. Tsunade Senju, the ''Sannin'' 2</h4>

    Tsunade rushed through the hospital, heedless of the shrieking doctors or nurses, her mind focused only on her destination.

    The ce where her brother was. She burst through the door and stopped in her tracks, her wide eyes wavering. Tears started pouring down as her wobbly steps finally reached the charred remains of her... brother.

    She looked at the still body. And thepletely intact Ne of her Grandfather. She could only stare in shock at it, her mind nk.

    Orochimaru looked at hispletely distraught teammate and couldn''t help but to feel bad. It should have been a simple mission. He shouldn''t have even been the leader! He was only a casual observer! But... they just had to be ambushed! The stupid Senju boy just had to get out of sight when he was admiring the other boy, ahem, the skill of the other boy in the team, and walk onto an exploding tag!

    As he watched what remained of the Senju n, Orochimaru yet again couldn''t help but ponder about his mortality. He knew the kid shouted about his dreams everywhere he went. But... he ended up as a corpse.

    Will I have the same fate?

    Somehow, that thought frightened him out of his wits.

    "Tsunade, I am sorry. It was a trap..."

    He stopped himself as he saw Tsunadepletely non-responding with a horror-filled expression. She needed time. Orochimaru sadly nodded and left. His disgust for Konoha''s higher-ups increased. It was they who sent them there for a mon reconnaissance''. Even going as far as saying it was apletely safe thing. That they already checked with ANBU and are sending three genins, one Senju, one Uchiha, and one Kurama, and him right under the ambush of five jonin! This could have severely hurt his chances of bing the Hokage! He sensed something smelly and it was not Jiraiya for once!

    ...

    The funeral was a quick affair.

    Tsunade was used to those. She attended a few every year. Her n was now... only her. A shudder ran through her body. Only her. Only a woman who is utterly unable to recreate it. Only... god. The Senju n is dead!

    A traitorous thought started to fill her mind. She mostly wondered why was Nawaki personally requested for that mission right after she talked with her Sensei about her inability to have children. Why wasn''t thest fertile Senju kept inside the vige? Why...

    But she waved them away. Her sensei would never... Stupid girl, she admonished herself. These days, shepletely disregarded the hospital. All she had to do was sign off the dead at the end of the day. The dead that could survive if she could bring herself to look them over. But... she didn''t care. She spent her days sitting in front of Nawaki''s grave. Pondering... what to do. In the end, it was all meaningless. Her life was meaningless.

    Then her eyes brightened as she remembered the energy spike. She promised to Nawaki. She promised him she will look forward and fulfill her own dreams.

    With a broken smile and hitched sobs, Tsunade decided. She will find out what caused the spike and she will find out why she was so drawn to it. Nawaki would want her to. To live. To fulfill her dreams. The sadness in her mind cleared and she started to look forward. A new determination filling her.

    Tsunade suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and barely restrained herself from killing whoever dared to touch her.

    "Are you fine?"

    Tsunade jerked her head toward the voice and found a light-blue haired man.

    "Dan..." She murmured, making the man astonished that she remembered him.

    What the heck is this annoyance doing here? He is stalking me again? Geez... Trying to approach me when I am at my lowest?

    Tsunade frowned. Canon Tsunade would be moved that someone cared. But then again, canon Tsunade was emotionally so down she literally wouldn''t mind dying. This Tsunade, however, had a goal. Determination to live.

    The man was trying to get closer to her for two years straight! She would understand if he had a crush but... He didn''t! As a medic she could see his body reactions! Tsunade really didn''t know what the man wanted from her.

    "I am fine." She politely smiled, albeit a tad bit too forcedly for her taste.

    "Ah... okay." Dan didn''t think he would find her like this. Hokage told him to approach Tsunade and make sure she is feeling fine. He fancied himself a somewhat smart man and knew the underlying meaning of these words. If he got closer to her and got the support of the head of the Senju n, meaning Tsunade, bing a Hokage would be easier than ever. Hiruzen really wanted to desperately give someone the hat. Dan resisted the urge to chuckle in order to appearpassionate.

    "What about..." He tried to start a conversation.

    Tsunade stood up, ignoring him, and brushed past him before he could even finish the sentence.

    Dan could only look at her leaving back with his cold gaze as a loud colorful curse left his mouth, making the nearby grandmas look at him threateningly while raising their garden hoes.

    "Did I approach too abruptly?" He asked himself quietly. "F.u.c.k. The bitch! Two years and she still doesn''t give me even a second of her time..." The flowers in his hand were violently thrown onto the ground as he ruffled his hair in annoyance. "If I ever get her I am going to f.u.c.k her silly until she won''t be able to think about anything else than me!"

    Dan calmed down as he stomped onto the flowers for a few times from the sheer frustration he felt.

    "The worst part is that I really do start to like her." He sighed with a bitter grimace as he calmed down. "I would probably desperately fall in love with her with enough time... Hiruzen, you sly fox." Dan muttered and shook his head as he decided to pay his respect to the deceased since he is already at the cemetery.

    Tsunade marched on into the Senju Compound and entered the library. Her library. It all now solely belonged to her. She had money. She had knowledge. She had privileges. Shecked only family. They were all dead. Sigh.

    Now, if only the war ended and she could leave this hellhole of sad memories and self-imposed bastards who would never give money to save lives.

    Oh, she understood that Hiruzen-sensei was not to me. Even though it was him who always rejected her medic per team proposal. It was the elders who always whispered into his ear. The trusted elders that were Hiruzen-sensei''s teammates. The same greedy bastards that would rather people die than their pocket change to suffer. The same people he trusted more than his own pupils!

    Tsunade was fed-up. Fed-up with politics. Fed-up with funerals. Fed-up with Konoha. She wanted to leave and she WILL leave. She will find what caused the spike that is filling her mind and she will die happy, taking the Senju n with her to an early grave. That was the n.

    Nodding to herself, she approached the shelves.

    "Now... let me see. Nature energy, nature energy..."

    She browsed through the books, looking for anything even remotely helpful for her future endeavors.

    "Sigh. If only I didn''t take Shizune Kato as my apprentice." She mumbled, not even realizing that Dan was also called Kato.

    "Ah, screw it. That girl can form medical chakra as six years old! I can take her with me when I leave and then deposit her back in Konoha after her training is finished." Tsunade ruffled her hair and with ''Un.'' her decision was made.

 Chapter 15 - Ch15. Training in Mountains

    <h4>Chapter 15 - Ch15. Training in Mountains</h4>

    A year passed since Rei and Konan found their Mokuton ability. They both decided to abuse the shit out of it and spammed trees whenever possible. Whenever they were sure that nobody watched. This also made them evade any and all towns or viges as they entered the Ame mountains and didn''t leave them for the entire year!

    It was a very quiet area. Nothing important. Nothing really advantageous. The shinobi didn''te here. They encountered one lone Kumo spy but Rei and Konan made the spy meet his maker swiftly.

    Surprisingly the loot was quite good!

    Most of their time was spent on affinity training though.

    As Rei thought, this tree spamming made them unconsciously better at Water and Earth affinity.

    They didn''t know the exercises for the affinities other than the one with the paper so they trained what they found hard.

    Both Konan and Rei could float a boulder while sitting on it for three hours until their chakra depleted. This was what they found hardest when it came to Earth affinity. They had to continuously mold earth chakra and supply the boulder with it to make it float through gravity.

    Rei started to seriously suspect that Onoki was not floating himself but the specks of dust on the soles of his feet and in his clothes that pushed him up. Or maybe he just used his rock-hard brain for it? Who knows.

    This exercise though... They could not do it with smaller rocks while sitting on them yet. Nor with something bigger and heavier than an a.d.u.l.t human. That would take an enormous amount of chakra from them. They still needed more practice... More perfection.

    As for water release... They focused on the feeling of water in the atmosphere.

    Both Konan and Rei could even feel the water in the clouds! But pulling it outta them? Meh...

    Thankfully in Ame no Kuni water was supplied very frequently. Their first exercise that took them three whole months was all about standing in the rain and making sure the droplets evade them. They simply had to stay dry. Which was a freaking chore when you are walking in a downpour! They had to ALWAYS supply water chakra and coat themself with it. It was like a human-shaped make-shift umbre or aura around them. It waspletely invisible but it worked!

    When they were both sure they could stay dry even under a waterfall, they tried something more... challenging.

    They tried to pull water out of the surroundings. Easy, right? They were in a country where Water ALWAYS fell from the sky. But...

    But no. They tried to pull the water in the surroundings and add it to the clouds! It was a back-breaker but their improved mid-chunin reserves barely managed it! It was more about water chakra control anyway than the amount of their chakra. This made sure there was ALWAYS a downpour in their location. But no worries they had their umbre no Jutsu!

    The downpour was not the result. Only a step. When they finally managed to make a downpour they had to... stop it. Make the rain in their location stop. Keep it in the clouds. Both Rei and Konan felt as if the heavens were pushing onto them during that excercise. The rain WANTED to pour down onto the earth but they held. They held insane amounts of water in the sky. Until... the clouds started to get charged with lightning and instead of downpour, a lightning storm started.

    Rei used this for his lightning chakra training as he made sure to try and use his raiton chakra to redirect the lightning strikes where he wanted to. Mostly on the trees Konan was creating. She became incredibly proficient in it.

    No wonder though. Konan found a new cheat for herself. Rei was quite fed-up with her Kekkei Tota when he found out. It was yet another bullshit in his opinion!

    Konan could change the tree into slices of paper. They didn''t even need to be made by mokuton! Just mokuton chakra supplied to a very normal tree and ''bam''. One tree could be changed to thousands of slices of paper. The best part? The chakra used for that was actually minimal if she raised the tree herself via mokuton. Konan now had ALWAYS thousands of papers soaked in her chakra. She just had to grow them from the ground.

    Rei vowed he would train hard when he saw it... Fortunately, his Water maniption was a helluva lot better than Konan''s. As for Earth, they were about the same.

    Rei always added nature chakra into the water, increasing its volume and density. His chakra nature maniption was leaps and bounds above Konan. Where she could potentially create a house-sized ball of water in ten minutes. Rei could create an entireke in five. And then there was his lightning affinity... Hehe. Zap-zzzzap.

    Their biggest problem was, they still had no Jutsu so they could notpare what they could do with actual ninjas.

    Rei found a few kenjutsu scrolls on the poor Kumod and he trained with his chokuto. Konan just shrugged them off and said her futon paper is enough for cutting power.

    But they both knew she was kinda behind in her futon. By now it was more effective to maul her enemies with doton-hardened paper than cut them with futon-enhanced paper. The damned paper was hard as steel. If she stacked enough, she could even block her futon-enhanced paper and that was telling something since these could literally fly through three trees and then make a hole through a half of a boulder. Hell, the thickness of that paper shield was not even an inch!

    Yes... maybe they really overdid their doton affinity training a little. Considering they were ten while their bodies looked twelve years old.

    Konan was actually able topletely soak up an entireke with her papers and make them still look as if they didn''t even have a drop of water on them. The more her water affinity improved the more bullshit that aspect of her Kekkei Tota became.

    Rei started to see why it was so rare and people were so amazed by it. Her papers may not have the destructibility of Dust release but the sheer utility? Konan was carrying ake with her everywhere and it didn''t even burden her.

    When she learns to change her body into paper like her canon counterpart? She will literally HAVE ake inside of her body and could potentially also harden it to the levels of her doton-hardened paper shield that blocked the futon shuriken. Rei shuddered at the future prospects.

    Rei on the other hand could not carry so much water with him. Hepensated. He could pull enough water to create a ball of the size of a small house almost instantly. Most of the time it was enough but he knew it was nowhere near Hoshigaki Kisame or the best Water users.

    He also used doton chakra on his clothes to make them harder to prate while retaining their flexibility. A trick learned from Konan. But his doton enhanced with nature chakra was much tougher.

    His kenjutsu with raiton chakra was getting better and better by the day and he was even able to use a minuscule amount of nature chakra to make his lightning a shimmering greyish ck. But nevertheless, it was much more powerful than the blue one. He barely controlled it as his lightning affinity was the least trained so far. A pity that his Supreme Chakra Control talent worked perfectly only for regr chakra. In elemental chakra, it helped a whole lot but it was still far from perfect.

    Rei was the proudest of his body strength. He left Konanpletely in dust in this department. She was still very powerful in taijutsu but Rei was even more so. The nature chakra he pulled into his body each night enhanced him leaps and bounds, making him faster, stronger, more durable. He was quite sad that Konan was having at most one-third of his enhancement since her body was unable to use the nature chakra to its fullest extent. s, she just did not have the godly talent for it.

    Rei was shaping up to be quite the swordsman. It would certainly be helpful when he finally starts Senjutsu training...

    But slowly, their training time ended and they decided they had enough of the mountains. It was time to leave and get some experience... and loot.

 Chapter 16 - Ch16.Bandits? Really now.

    <h4>Chapter 16 - Ch16.Bandits? Really now.</h4>

    Pa treon - 15 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    Rei and Konan were going down the mountains, hand in hand. Rei was leisure while Konan was outright skipping. She didn''t really care where they were as long as she was with Rei...

    They were almost in the closest vige to the mountain and finally reached a road frequented by merchants that want to avoid shinobi skirmishes.

    Konan suddenly stopped skipping and was about to raise her free hand, her papers about to burst from her sleeve, but Rei squeezed the hand he held. Konan looked at him questioningly only to find him minutely shaking his head.

    Shrugging they continued.

    ''Suddenly'' a band of ten men jumped out of the bushes! They barely scrambled out of them with scratches all around their bodies and barely managed to ''surround'' Rei and Konan in a very loose formation. They held... weapons. More like gardening tools really. Their clothes were torn and their expressions distraught as they panted. The men weren''t even burly. More like starving. The leader even had to catch his breath for a few seconds before he looked ready to let out a sound again...

    How... underwhelming.

    Thought Rei as he was deadpanning at the men.

    Tsk.

    Thought Konan as she rolled her eyes, infusing her paper with futon chakra. Only one gesture from Rei and she was ready to ughter these nuisances.

    "Y-you! Su-surrender a-and we wi-will not har-harm you!"

    "Har har, hardly." Rei dryly uttered.

    The bandits looked at the twelve years old looking boy as if he was an idiot. He was being threatened by a bunch of scrawn-, ahem, powerful men and was openly mocking them?

    "Yo-you should know wha-what''s best fo-for you!" The leader shouted.

    He was getting more and more uneasy about these two kids by the second. Normal kids would be already pissing themselves but these two looked at him as if he was insane! He chose them as a target because their clothes looked expensive! They looked wealthy! At worst he could probably ask for a ransom from some wealthy merchant who was most likely their father! But...

    "Look, man," Rei slowly but purposefully puffed his chokuto into existence, making the men freeze. "we can do this your way, or... we can do it my way."

    The ''bandits'' froze. They have never seen a ninja in their life. Ninja''s were rare! But they did hear about the might of theirs! After all, their country was ravaged by shinobi! The merchants sang the atrocities these, these... things did. Whole towns disappearing... Yes, shinobis were a scary existence for themon folk. Especially during a war.

    "I am sorry!" The leader threw himself on his knees, straight into dogeza. "We didn''t mean to shinobi-sa, no, shinobi-sama!"

    "We didn''t mean to!" The rest of the bandits quickly followed.

    Rei almost did a double-take. He could only awkwardly look at snickering Konan.

    "Look, man. If you wanna y a bandit, at least get the mannerism right, kay? Now, lead us to your vige."

    Rei rubbed his forehead in exasperation at these idiots while Konan slightly pouted that her paper shurikens won''t be used. For now.

    Rei and Konan quickly found themselves sitting in the kitchen of the vige Elder who was ''coincidentally'' the father of the idiot ying a bandit.

    The bandit group was ten farmers who thought to make their lives better by stealing. They never thought about the consequences, really. They were currently in seiza as their spouses and parents were berating them while Rei only sat behind the table, his chin supported by his hands as his elbows were on the table. He happily watched, beaming every time one of these idiots was smacked.

    Serves them right! Haha.

    "What were you thinking, you, you, you!" With every ''you'' the wife of the leader delivered a painful swat on his forehead with a roll of paper. The man was growing quite a bruise on his forehead.

    "I am sorry dear!" He eximed with tears and snot streaming down his cheeks.

    The woman looked as if her anger was sated after beating the man but... Rei was a petty person, too petty to let it go.

    "You know, if it was any other shinobi you would be all dead." He eximed cheerfully, attracting attention as he started to exin his reasoning. "It was obvious they were not bandits but farmers from some vige around. This is the only vige around though. Hence, your actions could have cost this vige its life." He told them with a fake-cheerful eye smile, still beaming at them.

    The woman brokenly turned back to her husband, snarl on her face as she gripped the knife in her hand tighter.

    Oh shit...

    Rei excitedly thought as he used his chakra string to get the knife from the woman, making her turn to him.

    "No butchering your husband. You can beat him senseless though." Rei eye smiled.

    "With pleasure." She cracked her knuckles as the terrified man let out a manly high-pitched squeal!

    Rei just watched in amus.e.m.e.nt as the idiot suffered a beating or two... or ten. After all, he was the mastermind and every man in his little group had a spouseˇ­ or motherˇ­ or father that wanted to tear him a new one.

    Ah, what a fine way to spend an afternoon~! Nothing beats watching some well-deserved justified violence!

    Rei grinned from ear to ear.

    The vige they were in was a very out of hand, peaceful if a bit too poor one. They didn''t need the outer world much. They could make enough clothes, grow enough food, and even had some cattle. They were not affected by the war much except that more merchants were passing by their vige in recent months. Which was a good thing.

    The reason for ''banditry'' was that their crops for this year were very, very poor. This happened at least once per decade so it was not a new situation. The men would just need to go to the town and find some work there for a few months in order to buy enough food for their household. Nothing new.

    The problem was the war. The towns would not let them get work. They were barely able to function as it was. They could not take new workers. The vige would starve. It was an apparent and very distinct possibility for the vige and it was looming over their heads, getting closer by the day as their food supplies dwindled. But the vigers knew they indeed do have a way out. But...

    The merchants who passed usually had enough money. And they more often than not looked for apanion on a cold night. If men could not make enough money, women could. That was what drove the man to try his hand on banditry. He just didn''t want his wife to sell her body in order to ensure their daughter will have enough to eat.

    It was clear the vigers were mostly resigned and one of them was rumored to even start offering his three daughters to the merchants for a night. Rei could believe it, the girls did not look happy when he saw them. Gloomy and resigned.

    But... this was the reality of this world. And yet, here they were. The vigers sharing their food with him and Konan. He couldn''t do anything but shake his head at the kindness of these people.

    That''s why he was now, in the middle of the night, standing with Konan on the edge of their field. They surprisingly grew potatoes! He and Konan connected their hands and focused on molding chakra.

    Apparently one could use chakra without molding. They could grow a tree without molding. But if one adds molding, it bes a Jutsu. Because molding gives the chakra a kind of a manual direction. It strengthens the effect exponentially and makes chakra possible to affect the world more.

    For example, Hashirama had a lot more chakra than Rei and Konan together. But even he would be able to raise at most thirty trees with his chakra supply alone. But when one added molding and made it into Jutsu? He was suddenly able to raise forests and gigantic statues, capable of restraining a bijuu. That is why Jutsus were so revered. The growth of strength rose exponentially while the cost decreased even more. That was what determined the rank of a Jutsu. How much stronger it wasparable to its cost. Of course, higher rank needed higher destructibility.

    Also, one can not spit the ocean like Hoshigaki Kisame with water chakra alone. Oh, Rei tried. But... after he produced only an ordinary spit over hundred times he gave up. He could only gather water from his surroundings and affect it with his water chakra. Like he and Konan did with the clouds.

    But once one creates the chakra in his throat and MOLD it? It suddenly became possible. Same with fire. Same with earth. Same with any element. It was almostughable and Rei understood that hand signs were nothing but pre-learned sets of molding. One of the Iwa-nin had a book about it but it made no sense to Rei until he realized that simple single thing about molding. Kids are taught hand signs and how to mold their chakra instinctively ording to these signs in the academy. Some are better, some worse. But if one wanted to be shinobi he had to know how to mold his chakra. That''s why some people could skip some hand signs. They just could mold the jutsu without them because they were very proficient in it.

    That''s what Rei and Konan wanted to do. But it was hard. Learning to mold their chakra without a crutch. But they preserved! By now, after an entire half-year of on and off of trying, they could still only instinctively mold chakra ording to one hand sign. It was a long run, indeed.

    They molded the chakra, slowly, kneaded it, and interwove it into their Jutsu. It took them thirty minutes of continuous molding and focusing but finally, they had what they wanted.

    "Mokuton: Gift of Mother Nature." They quietly whispered together.

    A small tree rose in front of them and as it reached 4 meters in height it stopped growing. Instantly tendrils of wood burst from the ground around it and started to enwrap the tree in a spiral-like motion, leaving not even a bit of the original tree visible. When they were done, it looked like a weird thick tree with a spiral-like bark.

    This tree had enough density and the ability to channel nature energy. It did it in two ways. First, the outer shell strengthened itself with the energy. It would take at least B-ranked jutsu or chakra metal to prate the bark. Impossible for the vigers. It was a precaution from having the tree chopped down by some greedy schmuck. It also looked incredibly ordinary and was masked from the senses of a ninja. Unless it was a Senju or Sage in sage mode, both would have to be close, nobody would be able to realize what it was.

    The inner tree though, that was a masterpiece they were able to do only thanks to a year of continuous use of Mokuton and learning about it. It gathered nature chakra and dispersed it into the ground, revitalizing it and enriching it. The fields around the tree would grow crops at an insane rate and it will be very healthy too. The harvest could be done once per two months all year long. Even the dreary weather or winter would not impede it. Ah, the wonders of chakra!

    "Well. That done..."

    Suddenly they heard leaves shuffling from the direction of the forest. They didn''t need to be caught using Mokuton! They chose the night to not be, dammit! They quickly turned around and saw...

 Chapter 17 - Ch17. Konans feelings

    <h4>Chapter 17 - Ch17. Konan''s feelings</h4>

    "You..." Rei and Konan stopped in their tracks as the small seven years old girl timidly walked out of the woods.

    "What are you doing here?" Konan coldly asked, her eyes narrowing.

    The girl just looked to the ground as she clenched her old battered plushie to her chest.

    "I couldn''t sleep so I went on a walk."

    Rei raised his eyebrow.

    "And do your parents know you ''went on a walk''?"

    The girl blushed and shook her head, making Rei chuckle.

    He came closer and patted her on the head, neither he nor the girl noticing the murderous re Konan gave the girl.

    "What''s your name?" He smiled at the girl.

    "Rena."

    "Ah, Rena-chan, is it?"

    Konan''s re intensified as her eyes narrowed.

    "So, Rena-chan, we are helping your vige but for the magic to hold, you will have to keep this secret. Can you do that?" Rei squatted in front of the girl and looked directly into her eyes.

    "Un." Rena timidly nodded.

    "Ah, pinky promise?" Rey reached his pinky to her.

    "Pinky promise!" Rena happily hooked her pinky around his.

    "It will be our little secret, then."

    "Un!"

    He stood up and patted her again.

    "Good girl."

    Rei''s body instantly stiffened as he felt the minuscule amount of killing intent from behind him. He slowly turned around and saw Konan with an impassive expression, only her eyebrow slightly twitching as her eyes were dangerously set on the girl.

    "Ahahaha!" He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Konan, let''s go and take this girl home, shall we?"

    Konan finally tore her eyes from the girl and looked at Rei with a pout but nodded.

    Later that night, they were in their room as Konan still sulked. Rei approached her and put his hand on her head, ruffling her hair.

    "You should know that I intend to have more women. I already told you." He gently told her.

    "I know." Konan hugged his torso. "It''s just... I won''t allow you to take any useless girl!"

    "Useless?" Rei tilted his head.

    "Un!"

    "Ah, now you are just trying to be cute."

    Konan blushed and buried her face into his stomach as heughed.

    "If you want another woman, it will be Kunoichi. A strong kunoichi or someone with potential." Konan mumbled.

    "May I know why?" Rei asked as he stroked her hair.

    "Because I want to be special." Konan ashamedly whispered.

    "Special?"

    "Yes. I want to be the only civilian girl you took under your care and nurtured from the scratch. I want to be special." Konan said with determination burning in her eyes.

    "So, let me get this straight," Rei groaned. "you don''t mind I will make a harem as long as you are the only girl who joined it as a civilian? Seriously?"

    "It''s dumb, I know." Konan bit her lower lip cutely. "But it is my reason."

    "You will be always special to me, Konan." Rei told her softly.

    "I know. The connection through the seal is iron-d." Konan nodded. "You don''t even know how many times I wanted to have s.e.x with you."

    She put her finger to Rei''s lips, preventing him from interrupting.

    "I can hold myself until we are at least thirteen. Three more years." She said it with such longing and need, Rei almost faltered but his mouth spoke on instinct.

    "Fifteen."

    Konan pouted but gave a whiny reluctant nod before she continued.

    "But I know we won''t be able to separate anymore. You gave me something that day. And I was insufficient. That much I know. I stopped seeing other males as something desirable. They are but strangers. Just thought of kissing one of them disgusts me."

    "I didn''t know, Konan." Rei told her and got a weak smile in return.

    "I know you don''t feel that way. My soul... it was too smallpared to yours. I took what I could take. Those... talents as you called them. And in exchange, I gave you the entirety of what I am. However insufficient it waspared to what I received from your soul." Konan looked to the ground. "I am notining. I love it. I love you. I know you love me. That you will always love me. It is kind of freeing, really. Not having to doubt it since we are bound... even beyond death."

    Konan softly sighed but then her eyes went hard.

    "But if you want another girl, she WILL join us in this bond. She WILL be a strong kunoichi. And due to my pettiness, she WON''T be a civilian. If you want a civilian to join, make her into kunoichi first and then, fine." Konan strongly told him. "But in exchange, you have to agree that you are my master!" She blushed and whispered quietly. "Danna-sama."

    Rei rubbed his forehead in frustration.

    "Shit. I knew telling you the story about Grayfia Lucifuge was a bad idea..." He mumbled to himself, making Konan snicker.

    "FINE." He sighed in exasperation but then chuckled, bemused. "Guess, these are eptable terms, Konan-chan~."

    Rei started patting Konan''s head and saw her closing her eyes in delight as she put her head on hisp and enjoyed the care.

    "Good girl." He whispered to her, making her shudder.

    He sat there for a few minutes, just enjoying Konan''s silky hair, thinking about what he just heard. Yes, he had his suspicions. The small changes in their rtionship after the mishap with the link seal were a big tell. Especially since both vividly remembered what happened. He never thought it seemed like that to Konan. He knew they were linked. But he didn''t know his soul took so much from Konan''s. But it made sense. His soul was older and had even these talents. Hers? It had only itself.

    The most I could do... is to make her as happy as possible.

    He thought as he watched his almost purring girl.

    "Why did you let the girl walk away?" Konan suddenly asked, her eyes still closed.

    "Yes?"

    "The girl. She saw our Mokuton." Konan''s ambers softly opened and peered to Rei''s emeralds.

    "Ah... she is small." He moved his hand dismissively. "Even if she started screaming about people growing trees... Civilians mostly do not know about Senju unless it is in a capital city or some very wealthy and knowledgeable merchant. Even then, nobody would believe her. There is also no proof as the tree would need a Senju or Sage to be in close proximity to verify it. It would take either a very hopeful and determined person or aplete idiot to believe her."

    "I see, you basically let her see important information without any danger to us even if she babbled. She is a child... I see. True. Nobody is as delusional as to believe another Mokuton user emerged. Much less two..."

    And with that, Konan tackled Rei to the bed, cuddling with him as they both fell asleep.

    It will be only yearster when the small girl, Rena, finally breaks her promise for the first time. Coincidentally it will be, as Rei put it, a very hopeful and determined person. A very hopeful and determined person who was on the verge of despair as for years she taped in the darkness, having no clue about the spike of nature energy she felt in Ame.

    That person wille to the tree, and her determination will grow exponentially as she will break down crying due to receiving the first clue in years. That person will be able to fully feel the overpowering life force permeating from the tree to the ground because that person will be Senju and since she felt the spike of nature energy, her feeling for nature energy started slowly growing. She will feel finally at home, feeling the chakra in that tree. And she will bepletely aware of what kind of a powerful Mokuton technique this was as the nature energy will engulf her senses. And as Konan put it, she will be delusional enough to believe two Mokuton users emerged. And Tsunade Senju will be damned to not find them!

    Without their knowledge, this small act of kindness toward the vige will mark Rei and Konan as a target, no, an obsession for a very determined kunoichi who won''t stop at anything to find them. Even if she had to turn the Elemental Nations upside down, rock by rock.

    For, the sensitivity of Senju works in both directions. As she could somewhat feel the nature energy. The nature energy could feel her too. While not sentient, it could carry intent. Tsunade was too close to the linking and the intent clearly connected. It made her soul tremble as it felt the connection that was made. Even Tsunade didn''t know why, but she wanted it. She craved it. And, unknown to her, a minuscule part of her soul... was already not hers.

 Chapter 18 - Ch18. Offer

    <h4>Chapter 18 - Ch18. Offer</h4>

    Rei and Konan woke up at noon, cuddled together, only to find out that the vige is teeming with life. A particrly big caravan arrived in the morning and vigers were helping to unpack the tents, set a camp, and whatnot.

    Rei and Konan clothed themselves and went out with the intention to go to the woods to train.

    On their way, they were stopped by a man. One of the merchants. He was a burly thuggish looking man a little under 2 meters with shaggy ck hair. He ogled Konan''s body as if she was a piece of meat.

    "Girl, wanna earn something?" He grinned at her.

    The worried Vige Elder was about to intervene when the man blinked and then froze. The tip of Rei''s chokuto was right under his neck, as Rei coldly said.

    "Try anything with my girl and your head will fly. Understood?"

    The man started quivering. He might be strong but the boy in front of him was fast!

    "I asked if we understand each other." Rei asked, his lips curling into a chilling menacing smile as the tip of his chokuto stabbed a little into the man''s neck, just enough to draw blood.

    The man wanted to fervently nod his head from the sheer fear he was feeling but then he remembered the sharp pointy de on his neck and gulped. It hurt!

    "Ye-yes!" He shrieked.

    "Good." Rei smiled sweetly at the man. "And don''t forget. This was your only chance. Next time I won''t be so lenient."

    He took his chokuto away from the man''s throat and the man nodded fervently.

    "Come on." Rei turned to Konan and gestured to her to follow with a slight gentle smile.

    ...

    Rei and Konan returned to the vige in the evening, exhausted from their training. They entered the house of the Vige Elder, heading to the room that was given to them for 500 Ryo a day. Their insistence. The man needed it and they didn''t n to stay longer than three days. Tomorrow they will be off.

    As they neared the staircase, one of the merchants suddenly approached them.

    "Excuse me." He smiled amiably. "May I talk to you for a while?"

    Konan looked at Rei who noted with the corner of his eye that the merchant spotted their little exchange but didn''tment. Rei felt something fishy about the man but... he was clearly a civilian.

    Shrugging, Rei nodded and continued up the stairs with Konan. The merchant getting the message followed silently behind them.

    They entered their room and Konan quickly flopped onto the bed. They were exhausted, not dirty. When one learns to draw water from the atmosphere, creating a bath is easy. Konan was always giddy when they bathed. After all, both Konan and Rei long ago forsake the propriety and started bathing together, going as far as making out during it. They wouldn''t have s.e.x until their bodies were physically ready and both were fine with that much intimacy. A bit of touching and kissing though...

    Rei, seeing that Konan was already in the world of her own as she hugged her pillow to her chest with a blissful smile and daydreamed, decided to entertain the merchant.

    He gestured to a chair in the corner and sat on the edge of his bed.

    "So? How can I help you?"

    The merchant rubbed the back of his head.

    "Ah, I am Karubo Sazaro. Nice to meet you."

    "Rei Yotsuba." Rei smiled and nodded.

    "Actually, I wanted to ask if it would be possible to hire you to act as my bodyguards. I am actually heading out of the Ame as my business is concluded, you see. I am afraid to meet bandits along the way. I saw you handle Munuro this morning and immediately decided to try..." Heughed awkwardly.

    "Hmmm." Rei pondered. The man was going out of Ame. That meant... they may be able to cross the border if they will be checked as his bodyguards.

    Sure, they could cross it even without it but it would be much more dangerous if they were caught by either the country they were leaving or the one they were entering. This basically gave Rei a valid and legal reason to do so!

    He smiled at the man and decided to ask more.

    "I am tempted. But tell me more. How long would you need our service, the pay, you know, the usual." Rei told him casually.

    Karubo, seeing Rei basically agreed if the conditions are good enough, decided to be quite generous.

    "I offer you 500 Ryo each per day."

    Rei raised his eyebrow at that. While not much, alright. But if they ept they would tag along at least half a month and that''s without crossing the border as the civilian speed is very slow. That would be 7 500 Ryo for half a month.

    500 Ryo per day may seem a little insufficient but it is quite generous in this day and age. Especially since there is no vige backing him and Konan.

    This would be a ssic C-rank mission. Meaning they should get 50 000 Ryo if they were from a shinobi vige. Well, not really since Ame is a war-zone but Rei doubted the merchant wanted to walk into a skirmish. Anyway, that amount would be divided between teammates and the vige... Let''s say, the vige takes ten percent... who was he kidding. It would be more...

    Anyway, hypothetically ten percent. That is 5 000 off.

    Assuming it is a standard jonin, three genin team from Konoha, the jonin would get a lot more than genin. 20 000? 15 000? Maybe. The genin would be left with 10 000 each or less. More likely than not, less.

    So, Karubo''s offer of 7 500 for each Rei and Konan was fair. Incredibly so. They looked like children but showed skill. Karubo probably didn''t want to spend the entire 50 000 Ryo for a proper team and wanted to save some money for himself.

    Now, if he wanted Rei and Konan to apany him further... their paycheck would only get fatter and if they left Ame... that would be considered a win in Rei''s books.

    "Okay. How long and to where would you need us to tag along?" Rei asked carefully and observed the man''s mannerisms. It would not do for him to lead Konan into a trap, after all.

    Karubo weakly smiled.

    "I am going to Mizu no Kuni... uh, if you prove to be good, I would like you to apany me there."

    Rei froze. This was starting to sound fishy. Mizu no Kuni... fishy indeed.

    That would take them to cross multiple borders and at least three months of travel bynd to reach a port town and another few days on a boat. The paycheck was also big but most importantly...

    "Ah, don''t worry! You will be able to leave whenever you want!" The man started nervously waving his arms around.

    Rei nodded.

    "We can apany you. But one of these days, you WILL tell me your real reason for approaching us." Rei told the man sharply, making him stiffen.

    Karubo could only stiffly nod with a broken smile.

    "I promise it is nothing detrimental to you nor yourpanion but I must know if you have skill first. If you don''t, excuse me for mynguage, then it wouldn''t matter."

    Rei could feel the seriousness in his voice and epted the answer.

    "Fair enough."

    "We are setting out tomorrow at noon."

    "We will be there."

    And with that Karubo left, leaving Rei alone. Thinking about this encounter. In the end, it is beneficial for him and Konan. If they managed to cross to othernds... Especially one of the Big Five where almost no skirmishes were happening, they could let loose more in their training. Right now they always trained and slelt with one eye open to avoid ambush...

 Chapter 19 - Ch19. Bandits/Mercenaries/Idiots

    <h4>Chapter 19 - Ch19. Bandits/Mercenaries/Idiots</h4>

    Konan was not very eager to travel with the caravan. She grumbled that her alone time with Rei was interrupted when Rei was not around. She could see the mocking gazes of other guards who didn''t see Rei handle the big thuggish man. They were looking at them as if they were baggage. In the end, Konan didn''t care about their opinion but she thought it would be much better for her to travel with Rei alone. Not to say, faster! She didn''t understand why Rei epted the job since they had enough money from stealing. But she did not voice herints to Rei. She long ago decided to follow him. She would tell him only when she felt him doing something bad for his health.

    Rei, contrary to Konan''s beliefs, knew well enough how she felt. He even told her that this would help them legally cross the border but she didn''t care. He knew Konan wouldn''t mind blowing a few outposts to smithereens in order to cross the border with ''bang''. He could just exasperatedly shrug and cease caring.

    ...

    Konan and Rei sat on Karubo''s wagon, holding hands and just rxing. It was a week since they started their journey with Karubo and so far, only a few bandits popped up that were handled by the other merchant''s guards.

    But today, just an hour ago, they left the caravan as Karubo was heading towards the Land of River as crossing to Land of Fire was easier through it.

    Karubo was humming a song when Konan''s hand suddenly tensed. Rei noticed it and instantly knew her papers were disturbed and activated his nature sensing... they were chased by a few people from the caravan. All of which were guards that looked at them mockingly. Rei sighed and nodded wearily at Konan.

    He wanted to try his kenjutsu anyway so this was a good thing.

    ...

    Twenty men suddenly jumped out of the foliage. Rei and Konan were watching them inplete disinterest since the men were as obvious as the sun in the sky as they tried to sneak around.

    "Karubo! You better leave all your money here!" A blonde man with a katana shouted in a mocking and loud tone.

    "Kaito! What is the meaning of this! My fath-, ahem..." Kurabo blushed but continued after clearing his throat. "Why are you doing this!?"

    "Eh? Money... isn''t it obvious? You made it so easy when you picked two children to protect you!" Kaitoughed while his group of misfits followed and also startedughing.

    "Boss!" One man with a crooked nose pointed towards Konan and Rei, making Kaito nod.

    "Boy! We can let you leave unharmed. But the girl stays. She is old enough to entertain us!" He condescendingly remarked.

    It only proved to make Rei madder and his eyes grew cold.

    Rei sighed as his cold eyes didn''t leave Kaito and hopped down from the carriage. It was time to y with these guys. His hand held the chokuto as he approached the men.

    He stood in front of the wagon, directly opposite Kaito and his goons, prepared for the fight.

    "Will it be alright?" Karubo leaned towards Konan and asked quietly. "There are twenty of them!"

    "It''s fine." She rolled her eyes as her feet excitedly dangled from the wagon.

    "See that, boys! The twerp wants to cha-" Kaito taunted but Rei already disappeared from his previous spot.

    Rei channeled raiton chakra into his body. Not much but it helped to raise his speed. He appeared in the middle of the twenty thugs, his chokuto at the ready as he swung it in a circr motion, slicing through three of them at once.

    The other thugs saw what happened and quickly jumped back warily.

    Rei stood in the middle of their encirclement, holding his chokuto leisurely in his hand with a bored expression. Those men were no shinobi. They were mercenaries. But even then...

    He sidestepped a sword swipe from the left and twisted his body to the left into a small jump as another sword approached him from the right side. As his feet touched the ground, he jumped up, raising his legs into crouch mid-air as weapons skewered the air where his torso previously was.

    His feet dropped onto the bunch of collided weapons and with a spin, two men lost their heads. The other ten men who were holding the weapons, and therefore, in the range of his chokuto quickly let their weapons go and retreated backward, unsheathing their spare knives, katanas, or whatever they had. The weapons fell to the ground but Rei justzily hopped down the second they were released from the hold of the thugs.

    Kaito and four of his best were looking at the remaining ten of their subordinates, cursing that they already lost five to someone they called a child.

    "Good. Let me handle this." Kaito sneered and took his katana out, charging at Rei who was looking at him in apathy.

    Does the idiot even realize, I am not even using any chakra except the initial raiton dash?

    He thought as he saw the man approaching.

    Kaito saw Rei frozen in his spot as a winning smile spread through his face. He had the little shit! He will...

    Rei coated his sword in raiton chakra and before Kaito could sh at him, he bisected both Kaito and his katana.

    "And this is why you never fight against shinobi unless you are a skilled samurai or shinobi yourself." Rei shook his head with a ''tsk. tsk. tsk'' noise.

    "Shinobi..." The remaining fourteen men looked at their fallen leader and muttered surprised at what just happened.

    Rei dashed into the group of four men who were Kaito''s best and as he came closer, he swung his chokuto, parrying a sh. His body was still advancing and with a half-turn, it harmlessly passed the sword of his enemy and his chokuto dislodged from the parry, getting inside the guard of the attacker, cleaving through him.

    Rei didn''t stop. As his sword went through the man, he took out a kunai, twirling it through his fingers until it was high enough and he grabbed it tightly, blocking the sword of another man. Rei pushed his body towards that man, evading yet another sh from the third enemy, and as his body entered the personal space of the man whose sword he was blocking with his kunai, he pushed the sword aside, getting a clear path towards the man''s neck with his kunai. The man didn''t live long after that.

    Rei stabbed the kunai up to the handle to the man''s neck and let it go, grabbing the shoulder of the man, spinning his almost lifeless body into a sh, using it as a shield. The man who shed was bewildered that he just killed arade and Rei''s chokuto found a quick purchase as it pierced his head through the eye, right over the shoulder of the man he used as a shield.

    Rei''s other hand sn.a.k.e.d around the neck of the man, grabbing the handle of the kunai still embedded in his neck and ripped it out, letting blood gush like a waterfall, the man who was used as a shield finally died while Rei flung the kunai to the forehead of thest man who was frozen from horror, killing him.

    Ten seconds passed since Kaito died and none of his four lieutenants were still standing.

    "Konan. Rest is yours." He shrugged, not really interested in fightingmon mercenaries.

    Konan nodded and ten high-speed, thin paper slices flew right into the chests of the other ten men, killing them.

    Karubo could only stare in bewilderment. He was expecting it, alright. He knew the power of shinobi. But to see twenty men felled in under thirty seconds was still something chilling. Especially when done by kids around twelve!

 Chapter 20 - Ch20. Karubo and his proposition

    <h4>Chapter 20 - Ch20. Karubo and his proposition</h4>

    Karubo, Rei, and Konan just exited the Land of Rain and entered the Land of River a day ago.

    Rei was at ease. He was out of the Land of Rain! The biggest battlefield in this conflict!

    While the Suna battlefield was vast, it was still smaller than the battles in Ame. It has to be noted, Suna was more straightforward as the two armies met and shed, Suna tried to spread poison while Konoha wanted to rake up the kill count. Tsunade really saved Konoha there as her skills mitigated most of Suna''s offensive when she found the antidote.

    Hence, Suna was out of the war already and at most did some guerri warfare to chase Konoha-nin out of their territory.

    Kumo and Konoha... They didn''t sh much during this war. Kumo was mostly tied up with Kiri in naval warfare. They did attack Konoha but it was more on the hit and run basis. No really big skirmishes happened.

    Rei was incredibly surprised at the amount of military knowledge Kurabo, the utterly ''normal'' and ''not-out-of-ce'' merchant, had. His suspicion of the man only rose. But there they were. The man was willing to part with this knowledge. Both knew that this meant he was meaning well. There was no need to antagonize him over it.

    Kiri... they had it best. As the reason for the war was the forceful expansion of territory with force, Kiri as an ind didn''t have much surroundingnd to force under their rule. Therefore, they only fought with Kumo over some inds in the Kaizoku Sea.

    And that led Rei to thest battlefield. Ame.

    Konoha versus Iwa. The ninja had no regard for civilians and made Ame their spanking boy. They ran rampant over the ENTIRE country while doing various guerri attacks, skirmishes in towns, it was a massacre at its finest. The tactic was foregone due to the hate between the two and the shes were only intensifying. Medics were in short supply, corpses piled up, and most often than not, the civilians paid for it.

    The shinobi were way past the point of caring. Especially the Iwa as Iwa-Kiri-Kumo attacked Uzu at the start of the second shinobi war and thousands of theirs died. Konoha redirected their hate to Iwa and showered it upon innocent Ame. Iwa had insufficient forces so they employed brutal tactics topensate.

    The sole reason the country was standing was Amegakure forces and Hanzo that were looming over Iwa and Konoha in Ame like some shinigami, asionally killing out entire squads. Shinobi of both countries were understaffed. Simple as that. That was the sole reason why Iwa and Konoha did not raze Ame to the ground yet and employed at least some restraint. But Hanzo was far from a benevolent or even caring ruler. Kurabo told Rei that he was being paid for ''providing'' a battlefield. He only acted when somebody was acting WAY over the top.

    Thankfully, Konoha versus Suna was fought exclusively on Suna territory and for the most part, it was over so the Land of River was quite peaceful. And damn, the Daimyo of the Land of River had to pay a lot of Ryo for that too.

    ˇ­

    It was evening and the party sat around the fire as they cooked a few rabbits.

    "Karubo, I think it is time to tell us your ''big secret'', don''t you agree?" Konan asked impassively as she yed with a paper crane. A paper crane that suddenly gained a bluish hue as she said it.

    She is way past amused and entered an annoyed mode... Rei mused inwardly.

    He was not about to intervene. Karubo should have told them while they were still in Ame but he always had some excuse. Rei just sped his hands under his chin and listened with a soft innocent smile. Somehow, seeing Konan trying to threaten the man was making her look very s.e.xy to Rei. Plus they were outta Ame. Karubo was no longer needed to vouch for them on the borders. It was time for him to start speaking.

    Karubo shifted nervously as his eyes carefully stayed on the paper crane. He saw how these things shredded people into pieces. He was not about to be the next!

    "Ah... understand that this is hard for me too... Hiii"

    He stopped when from the ground, papers started to swirl around him and stick to his body. In under two seconds, all but his head was covered by Konan''s paper.

    "Ah... understand," She red at him. "I had enough... Spill or die."

    Karubo gulped as he shook under Konan''s killing intent. It was nothing extraordinary but for a civilian? Especially when said civilian recognized he is covered from neck to toes in exploding tags? He started to spill like a broken ss.

    "Y-yes! I-I work for Kiri!" He shrieked, making Konan stop.

    "Kiri?" Rei joined the conversation.

    Karubo started to fervently nod his head.

    "I recruit bloodlines and unaffiliated ninjas to join Kiri!"

    Rei almost face-faulted. Kiri... recruiting Bloodlines.

    "What?" He mumbled, weirded out as it shed with his knowledge of Kiri.

    "Why?" Konan though asked the million Ryo question. Karubo only stumped down as he knew he was not in a position to refuse to answer.

    "During the first war, Kiri employed civilian merchants to go through battle-zones. Dangerous work, sure. But it paid well. They were told to recruit Kekkei Genkai ns or individuals willing to join Kiri. Many of these merchants died by the hand of those they tried to recruit. Hence my hesitation..." He chuckled dryly.

    When Konan nodded in calmness and loosened slightly the papers, Karubo released a massive sigh of relief. At the very least, he was not going to die today. He continued the story with his newfound courage.

    "The amount of Kekkei Genkai in Kiri doubled during that time. Yuki from Snow country. Hoshigaki from the Kaijuu ocean. Hairan n from Wind country. Kaguya from the border of the Land of Fang and the Land of w. We even managed to get shinobi from as far as Iwa! These merchant recruiters hired by the previous Daimyo rose the shinobi forces of Kiri by ten percent alone! Sure, Kiri had to be careful and screen all of them to discover any spies but in the end? They were stronger for it." He chuckled in good humor.

    "Konoha fancies itself heaven for Kekkei Genkai users. Yet, it is Kiri that holds almost twice as many of them as Konoha does. Thirty percent of Kiri forces have some Kekkei Genkai when before this tactic at the start of the first war, not even five percent did and the ns were sparse."

    Rei nodded. He somewhat understood where his understanding failed him. Kiri will hate Kekkei Genkai. In the future. But now? They adored and coveted them, it seemed.

    It was always suspicious how Kiri, an isted ind nation, had so many of thempared to the other, biggernds, that they were able to actually have a civil war against them. It was also suspicious that Kekkei Genkai Holders and their forces won the civil war. Realistically, by looking at the numbers, that was utterly impossible! Most of the shinobi since the forming of Shinobi viges were, after all, civilians born. The ns just DID NOT have enough people to win. Even if some non-n shinobi joined them... most would not. They were paid by the vige, after all. Why would they join resistance when it would mean giving up their job, family, etc?

    "I joined because of my father." Karubo pulled Rei out of his reverie. "He was the man who was solely responsible for forming the Terumi n! Haha! He was assigned to Iwa and managed to smuggle a Lava user from there. She was called Rumi." Karubo fondly reminisced. "As they were on their way to Kiri, they passed the Land of Hotsprings and managed to convince a family of three toe with them. They had Boil Release." He shook his head. "My father was one lucky fe, I tell you! Anyway, Rumi fell in love with the boy from the family and they decided to create a n together. And so, Tero and Rumi created the Terumi n. It''s so cringy!" Karuboughed boisterously as any nervousness fell from him.

    Konan just rolled her eyes with a chuckle at the man as she removed the paper from him and looked at Rei to decide what to do.

    Rei didn''t have to think much. He only had to make sure, he and Konan would be far, far away from Kiri by the time Obito decided to f.u.c.k things up.

    "We will join Kiri." He nodded, making Karubo gleeful.

 Chapter 21 - Ch21. Kiri 1

    <h4>Chapter 21 - Ch21. Kiri 1</h4>

    Pa treon - 19 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    The journey to Kiri was peaceful. With Konan and Rei masking their chakra with nature energy, no shinobi saw them as anything but normal children apanying a merchant. As they entered the Land of Fire, the war-like atmosphere evaporated. The people were cheerful and lively. The streets were full of children ying with a ball... it was a nice sight.

    Except, Rei had to hold Konan''s arm as he saw her clutching her fist hard seeing it. He knew how hard it was for her as a child. He also knew she had enmity with Konoha for killing her parents. And while she didn''t desire revenge, it must have been hard to see children happy and carefree in the Land protected by Konoha when Konoha shinobi were killing and ravaging the country she was born in.

    Rei didn''t try to console her. This was important for Konan to solve herself. The answers she will form may very well affect her entire life. He would not let her be some Avenger but he was not averse to let her horizon widen. To learn to look at things from different angles.

    Konan didn''t feel hate for the children or civilians. She only felt disgusted. So much blood flooded Ame, and yet...

    It irked her immensely. But the second she felt Rei''s arm... She didn''t care anymore. She had a new life. She worked hard to have a new life. To be strong. Her priority was Rei. These people could burn or be happy, she had no care for them. But... she decided to be even stronger so the people she loves will be able to live like these children. Carefree and happy. While her enemies will feel like herself during childhood. Painful and miserable. That she promised to herself.

    ...

    Their journey continued towards the Land of Noodle until they arrived in the capital. There, Karubo led both Konan and Rei to an abandoned warehouse.

    As they entered, they saw two people with Kiri hitai-ate, lounging on a chair,pletely rxed.

    When the men looked at who was approaching, they groaned.

    "Karubo-san... kids? Seriously?" A pale man with blue tear marks under his very tired-looking eyes asked the merchant.

    "Well... as long as they are useful. Keke." Another man who was twirling kunai on his finger, trying to appear menacing, rolled his eyes while snickering. "You kiddies wanna join Kiri? Heh? Are you of any use?" He condescendingly asked.

    "Spar then?" Rei quipped before Karubo could interrupt, shrugging down the coat from his shoulders,ing forward.

    "Ooh! Look at him. This one is spunky!"

    "Kid, sigh." The tired-looking man turned to hispanion. "Don''t fight him too seriously. We finally became chunin. The Mizukage won''t be thrilled if you beat the shit outta them. They are kids, Kiribaro."

    "Ah, shut up, Mizuru. I will be gentle."

    The man, still ying with his kunai, stood up and walked leisurely towards Rei with a mocking expression.

    Rei could only sigh. These two idiots had as much chakra as the chunin, Kbi, they killed in Ame. To be honest, Rei had at least five times than them by now. He was already on low-jonin reserves with Konan. But to be underestimated due to his age? He smiled widely.

    The tired-looking man, Mizuru, was observing the kids. One was an impassive girl. Very beautiful girl, he offhandedly noted. That one will definitely be a looker in the future. His uncaring eyes looked at the c.o.c.ky boy and slightly widened. That smile. He saw it. On one of the Kiri seven swordsmen right before...

    Bam...

    Kiribaro found himself thrown into the wall, cracking it as the kid appeared in front of him, his foot raised at the level of Kiribaro''s stomach.

    "You are just a chunin and you wannapare notes with me? Seeking death!" Rei shouted condescendingly as he was inwardly fanboying!

    Hehehe! Always wanted to y big bad cultivator bully! ˇ­ He was mentally bouncing up and down.

    He wasn''t in a warzone anymore and could let loose his more mischievous side!

    Konan snickered while covering her mouth with her gloved hand and walked forward.

    "My turn." Her expression turned stoic as she impassively said, looking at Mizuru.

    Mizuru sweatdropped as he felt the killing intent the girl was releasing straight at him.

    "I-I''ll pass." He gulped.

    "Ah, Muzuru-san. I forgot to tell you. These two are from Ame. They are strong." Karubo sheepishly rubbed the back of his head

    Say so sooner, bastard!... Mizuru''s eyes twitched at him and Kiribaro groaned, still on the ground.

    From there it was smooth sailing. The men started asking questions... name, former vige, country, age...

    "Say what now?" Kiribaro asked, irritated at what he just heard. He was still holding his stomach as he sat on the chair, his headid on the table.

    "I said we are ten." Rei nonchntly responded.

    "Kid, you loo-"

    "Jutsu ident. Made us grow." Rei shrugged.

    Mizuru ever so slowly nodded. He was weirded out, alright, but he heard of weirder cases. As he was about to write it down, Rei suddenly added.

    "Oh, don''t forget to write that we are connected because of it. We can''t separate otherwise it would be detrimental to our health."

    Konan nodded eagerly and Mizuru only sighed and nodded. He was not about to say no to a kid that could wipe the floor with him.

    "Really now..." Kiribaro grumbled.

    Then it came to any known diseases, living family, and finally skills.

    "Karubo said the girl had some paper Kekkei Genkai..." Kiribaro stated, unsurely looking at Konan.

    "No. She does not." Rei quickly attracted the attention and took a paper slice from his pocket, folding it with his chakra.

    "It is a chakra control skill. She uses her chakra to fold it into shapes and her futon to make them fly."

    Rei was not about to let them know it was Kekkei Genkai, much less Kekkei Tota. Konan knew what she held and that was enough.

    Mizuru nodded.

    "So, any affinities other than futon?" He didn''t miss that little tidbit. Ten years old proficient with futon? The kids in front of him were true monsters. Both of them.

    Rei and Konan looked at each other, Konan bit her lip and took a step back, letting Rei deal with it. She knew he didn''t want to reveal the full scope of their skills. But she had no idea what she was allowed to reveal.

    Mizuru, seeing that little gesture, resisted a groan. He knew that he won''t get a full ount from the kids now. s, he was already used to something akin to this. Did not make it any less annoying though.

    Rei sighed as his head swirled with ideas about what to reveal.

    "As for me... Raiton, Doton, and Suiton plus kenjutsu... well, somewhat. It''s all self-taught." He told them. He was not about to tell them that Konan and he were able to enhance their attacks with nature energy, nor was he about to reveal his sealing arts. He made tens of seals that he would never reveal to someone who he didn''t trust. Also, he didn''t tell them just how good he was with the Affinities nor that he was starting to train Katon.

    Kiribaro almost dropped the doc.u.ments when he heard the kid could do three elements. His jaw dropped.

    "Did I hurt my ears when I impacted the wall?" He mumbled, hitting his ears gently.

    Rei didn''t care and just continued, gesturing at Konan.

    "She is good at Futon, Doton, and Suiton. Trained thest ones together. Oh, and her specialty is origami."

    Again, Rei didn''t tell them she could harden, sharpen, soak up water... Origami. That told them literally nothing of her real skills other than she uses paper. They had absolutely no clue that she could manipte hundreds of paper slices at once. Plus Konan always had at least a thousand explosive tags made by Rei in a storage scroll on a paper she had always IN her body. She was starting to learn how to change herself into a paper. Plus she also started learning to draw explosive tags. And while her fuinjutsu was looking to be abysmal at best even with the talent, it improved very, very slowly. There was so much Rei didn''t tell them.

    "O-okay, then..." Mizuru nodded.

    "Oi. Are you sure you wanna the report to be like this? You know, you will have to prove it to Mizukageter on!" Kiribaro barked out.

    I am sure." Rei smiled, making him groan and bang his head on the table.

    "Whatever. Your funeral..." The man grumbled sullenly.

    And with that, they were registered as immigrants. The second the Mizukage approved of their immigration they would be taken as people of Land of Water. Sure, they would have a lot of scrutiny and it will take years until they get a promotion but... Rei wanted ess to their Water Jutsu. He could bear with a few years offort in Shinobi vige while fending off any secret-seekers if it meant ess to Jutsu library. Plus peace wasing. It would be much more beneficial to spend that time in a vige than by themselves.

 Chapter 22 - Ch22. Kiri 2

    <h4>Chapter 22 - Ch22. Kiri 2</h4>

    Rei and Konan arrived in Kirigakure. It was all shrouded in a thick mist on the outer parts, most likely due to seals. The closer to the vige they got, the sparser the mist became. As Rei and Konan followed Karubo through the gates, giving their doc.u.ments to the guards, they noted that no mist was inside the vige. The air was very humid and the vige looked... militaristic. It was a dreary ce with gloom in the air.

    Surprisingly, the merchants and civilians still bustled through the streets, happily trying to sell their wares. They didn''t seem to fear shinobi. A healthy dose of respect could be spotted in their eyes every time a shinobi passed by. It was coexistence. The people here saw the shinobi as their protectors.

    Shinobi, on the other hand, were the reason for the gloomy atmosphere. They still attempted to look dangerous and stern-faced but it was obvious their mood was down. The vige probably lost in a skirmish, Rei surmised. None of his business though.

    The ce was exactly as one would expect from a vige full of killers. After all, Kiri took the most assassination request out of the great five. This was where hunter-nin and assassins thrived.

    ...

    Rei and Konan stood in the office of the Mizukage, looking at a neat, pale man of forty years old with ck hair, brown eyes, and a mustache. He wore the Mizukage Robes and the Hat and watched them impassively.

    This was the third Mizukage. Rei and Konan slightly bowed in respect but didn''t leave each other''s side.

    "You say you need to be together..." He trailed off as he out of the bat pointed his problem with them. He would call bullshit but then again... he was a leader of the vige and had to keep appearances.

    "Mizukage-sama," Rei calmly smiled. "All you need is to have a sensor-nin look at our chakra."

    "Ah... yes." Mizukage drawled. "Your chakra..."

    He narrowed his eyes. The kids didn''t have more than a civilian amount of chakra. Yet, his ninjas in the capital of Noodle were beaten by them.

    "We will now loosen our chakra hiding, okay?" Rei asked, making the Mizukage nod slowly.

    The Mizukage signaled the ANBU on stand-by and marveled as the chakra of the kids in front of him rose to the levels of low-chunin. He narrowed his eyes.

    "You... have more than this, right?"

    "Yes." Rei bluntly answered.

    "... you won''t show how much, will you?" The Mizukage stated.

    "No." Rei nodded.

    The ANBU in the room were staring at the boy talking so bluntly to the Mizukage but... they saw the Mizukage was serious and was nodding in approval at the boy''s answer.

    "Would you be inclined in teaching that chakra hiding technique? Say, for money? Maybe, women?"

    The Mizukage was amused. The kids in front of him were interesting. Boasting of three chakra natures at the tender age of 10? Monsters. If what they say was true then he just acquired two potential future S-rank shinobi. Even if not! The chakra hiding technique was invaluable! Even he could not feel their chakra! Granted, he was not using his chakra sensing actively but his passive senses should be enough to tell him their general reserves. It was mind-boggling for him.

    "No." Rei''s smile turned sheepish. "Sorry but that is not possible."

    The Mizukage''s eyes narrowed further.

    "Why not." He threateningly asked.

    "Ah... when I tried to teach it to Konan, we ended up connected for life."

    The Mizukage frowned. He didn''t believe in their so-called ''connection''.

    "Agai-"

    "Just have a sensor-nin look at us, Mizukage-sama."

    The ANBU tensed. Interrupting Mizukage was not a good thing! But Rei saw that the man was too interested in him and Konan to do anything about it.

    "Fine. I will look." Mizukage told them somewhat sullenly and activated his senses. He instantly nched. "What the f.u.c.k." He quietly swore to himself.

    What he saw was their chakras merging, intertwining, knitting together, it was as if there were two people sewn together in front of him. It was... disturbing, to say the least. He had no idea what to think of it.

    "You... say you can''t separate?" He resignedly asked in the end.

    "Oh, we can." Rei let Konan''s hand go and the Mizukage could see their chakras disconnect. "But not for long."

    The Mizukage slowly nodded. He had no idea what was going on so he could not judge if the kid was telling the truth but... Even disconnected their chakra was a patchwork of the two. Honestly, he found the sight quite... distasteful. Not because of its appearance. It looked like their aura was made of two colors to him. Two colors forcefully kneaded together in the most brutal way. He shuddered at the image of that happening to him.

    The Mizukage had no idea that what he saw was the result of nature energy forcing the chakras and souls to merge. It was erratic, chaotic even. But it had no bad effects on Konan or Rei. On the contrary, this provided them with a lot of benefits. It just didn''t look prettiest in the senses of a chakra sensor. It didn''t look like a... human. That was what disturbed the Mizukage most.

    "I suppose you will b-,... marry in the future?"

    Shit... I almost said breed! ... The Mizukage sweatdropped and was d he had his hat on so he could cover his face.

    He would be a fool to not see the benefits of such a chakra hiding technique. They definitely had to produce offspring if it meant the technique would stay in the vige.

    "Yes." Konan nodded stoically.

    "What are the chances of joining the n Creation Act?" The Mizukage carefully probed. He could force them but that would be a fast-track to create nuke-nins. He tried to keep the force out of anything he could. But he would be damned if he didn''t try to make a n out of them! And for a n they would need more membersˇ­ The boy would have to get more wifes...

    "I..." Rei was stumped at the Mizukage.

    The Mizukage smiled knowingly. He couldn''t help but mentally scold himself. The boy was just a kid yet he was talking about giving him a harem to produce kids. He almost snorted at himself as he felt stupid.

    "Only if the woman is suitable." Konan took the reins, surprising the Mizukage. Thankfully he prevented himself from gaping.

    "And the conditions?" He decided to entertain the girl.

    "Kunoichi, strong, beautiful, and most importantly, Rei must fall in love with her!"

    The Mizukage was about to nod in approval when Rei decided that enough was enough.

    "Oi. Stop trying to y a matchmaker for me!" Rei swatted Konan''s shoulder with a scowl.

    "Mizukage-sama, forget what she just said." Rei turned to the 3rd Mizukage. "I will live here, and if a woman that I like is willing to join us, then why not. But that''s only when I am older!" Rei petntly and very childishly burst out while wildly gesturing.

    Rei knew exactly who he would like to have in his ''harem'' from Narutoverse. But he wasn''t about to woo a girl only because she was a canon character. He decided to first gauge the personality and if he found it likable and they clicked, he would go for it.

    The third Mizukage smiled. He could work with that. He was Mizukage and giving a few females a mission to woo the boy when he is older was of no consequence to him. Underhanded... maybe. But if the boy actually does sleep with them then he would have no excuses. It''s not like they would be ordered to genjutsu the shit outta him!

    s, that was still far away in the future.

    "Okay, now, you said both of you are proficient in three chakra natures?"

    The Mizukage was disbelieving of this fact but when both of them took out three papers, making one wet by just a slight touch, the other crumbled into dust, and then Rei wrinkled thest paper whereas Konan shredded hers...

    F.u.c.k... the following years will be indeed a pain!... He resisted the urge to groan as he realized the amount of effort he would have to exert to make these kids feel ''at home'' in Kiri.

    Three trained affinities at the age of 10. No, three insanely proficient affinities. He knew what the speed which they showed meant. They were already masters at this exercise and most likely had a way to train their chakra natures further. He would actually call bullshit! And thought they were spies except, no idiot would let someone with such a potential do a spywork! And no idiot was ever made a Kage. No matter how the Raikage looked.

    Troublesomeˇ­ He mentally whined.

    Mizukage was no fool. The kids either had to create their own n or join already existing ones. Nobody would teach someone who was not ''family'' their every secret.

    A n started forming in his head. A n he decided to go with. A n that will inevitably decide much of Rei''s future during his stay in Kiri.

    "This will be A-ss secret from now on." He growled at his ANBU who straightened up.

    "You will be provided a middle-ss t, free of charge." There were a lot of empty ts since many died in the war. "Your rank will be genin but you won''t have a jonin supervising you. We can''t spare anyone for that."

    Mizukage was not about to put these two through the genin test. If one of them died, the second would be most likely lost too. No, he would keep them in the vige as much as possible, make them loyal, and then make sure they are strong enough before sending them on any mission. As for the instructorˇ­ the kids got this far by themselves. He was interested if they could improve further without one.

    "Mizukage-sama," Rei nodded. "we would like ess to genin and academy student areas in the library then. We will teach ourselves."

    "Sure, sure." The Mizukage rubbed his forehead. "You probably do not know kawarimi, henge, nor any regtions and things like that anyway. You will be given half-year to learn it. Then you will be tested on your knowledge of regtions and the basic Jutsu."

    Rei nodded.

    "That''s all. If you have any problems, my secretary can ry it to me."

    And with that, they were ushered out of the office.

    s, Rei didn''t care what schemes the old man had. He would go through it at his own pace and if not? There was always defection. Being hunted can not be worse than living in the middle of a war-zone, could it? Especially since he knew what will happen to Kiri in the future.

 Chapter 23 . First Six Study Months in Kiri

    Chapter 23. First Six ''Study'' Months in Kiri

    Rei and Konan were shown their apartment. It was quite big with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a toilet. It was obvious that the Mizukage really saw potential in them otherwise they would never get such good amodation for free. They even received a deed to the t!

    s, the most important thing for Rei was not the t but the slip that would allow him into the library. He could ess academy, genin, AND chunin rank material. Yet another show of trust. He was d about that. This would push them forward quite a lot.

    ...

    The first month in Kiri...

    Konan and Rei spent the time looking over Kawarimi and Henge and tweaking it.

    The Kawarimi was nice. Just reach with your chakra and swap. s, the mass had to be somewhat simr to yours for it to work. That''s why logs. God, the shinobi were dunces.

    Rei opted to learn Mizu Bunshin and use them for swapping. Especially one with at least five exploding tags on them that would go off during swap. Why destroy nature by chopping logs when you can just gather water into a clone!? One of these days, the Lord of Logs would punish the insolent mortals by making them logged instead of the log!

    Using the water clone had many advantages. Not only was he basically quickly transporting water towards his enemy. Water that could be used since he was good at Suiton. But really, these clones do not ry memories and are only one-tenth as strong as the original. Making them go all suicidal by bombing the enemy is apletely valid move! The same goes for ying Shukaku only, instead of sand, using water! All it would need was a horde of Mizu Bunshin surrounding the target and dissolving back into a water source for Rei!

    As for henge... he really didn''t see the use against anything other than civilians. Oh, he knew why it was mandatory Jutsu. It was a go-to tool for infiltration. There was nothing better than that to fool civilians. And to be honest, during missions, fooling civilians is quite a prevalent activity. Henge had various uses. None of them useful in a battle since an attentive enemy and ''puff'', ya dead. But when it came to performing missions?

    Banditse. Henge thirty clones... bandits run.

    Need to seduce a man? Kunoichi puts a henge of gorgeous courtesan and done.

    Need info from a merchant? Henge into his friend and bam, done.

    It was one of the most useful things ninja''s ever learned but it was utterly useless in battle. Genjutsu could havesting effects on the affected. These effects could be discovered. It was much better to just use Henge when dealing with civilians.

    Konan also learned kawarimi and henge. Especially Kawarimi since she saw the merit of Rei''s idea. She saw a cloning technique for the first time when she opened the bunshin scroll. A day after that, she was already able to form paper clones. Oh... Konan also liked having a st with her clones. Literally at that.

    She even made Rei teach her these seals in English! She didn''t know any English other than the words and numbers needed to make the storage seals, stasis seals, and exploding tags but for her, it was enough. She definitely made it into a deadly weapon!

    Rei could only bitterly smile. He knew making these three kinds of seals was the limit for Konan. Teaching her just that took an incredible amount of time and these were very elementary seals. She just didn''t have the mentality for seals. Except exploding tags. That she could do. She was already devising her own exploding tags.

    Konan, in her sadistic streak, mixed clones with the storage seals filled to the brim with her futon paper shurikens. Then made a paper clone made purely out of exploding tags and then whatever mix of the two. Not one of her paper clonescked at least one exploding tag inside.

    The best part? Her paper clones could actually draw seals. Rei used this insight and tweaked Water Clone Technique to be able to do the same. Since then two Konans are drawing exploding tags, storage seals, and stasis scrolls out of real Konan''s paper supply, and five Reis who were trying toe up with new more advanced seals. The second bedroom of their t finally saw some use.

    ...

    The second and third months.

    Rei also found a lot of fuinjutsu theory in the library. Nothing extraordinary but enough to push his knowledge forward. But he didn''t dare to borrow these books and instead studied them in the corner, trying to be unassuming. He didn''t want to tick off anyone that he could make seals. It was a slow process as even if the knowledge was the basics of sealing at most... he was able to find some neat Uzumaki scrolls. This signified that Kiri indeed acquired some scrolls form Uzu.

    Rei was mostly interested in Uzumaki battle fuinjutsu but he only got an inkling. He would need a pass to jonin library if he wanted more...

    Konan... The more paper clones she made, the more her body became familiar with the prospect of pulling paper together to make a body. She... unlocked her ''logia'' powers and became a paper human!

    Well, in reality, she just learned how to make her body into paper and how to reverse it. But with the chakra control boost she got by connecting with Rei? With focus, she could do something simr like logia users in One Piece. She, however, had to prevent herself from being hit. But changing the middle of her stomach to paper and make it move ''out'' of the strike mid-fight? That was a nasty thing. Or changing herself into a flurry of paper and reforming elsewhere? Or making her torso ''disappear'' when she was about to be bisected?

    Rei was so annoyed he devised a seal that would prevent her to use it by slightly messing up her chakra control! Nope! No one will pull Crocodile on Rei!

    ...

    Thest three months.

    Konan''s body changing technique stopped being overpowered the second Rei learned how to mold Suiton Chakra into Jutsu. Apparently, her paper can soak up water but it can not soak up water made with Suiton Jutsu unless her water chakra is more concentrated in it. Sucks to be her since Rei was the better one at Suiton from the two.

    Rei focused on making his own Suiton Jutsu rather than learning the Jutsu in the library. He learned only a few he found really useful. Konan on the other hand tried to make her futon chakra sharper by molding it in a simr way as some Futon Jutsu did.

    Both learned consciously molding chakra for the Monkey hand seal, to make Kirigakure no Jutsu sealless as their nature sensing gave them a clear view inside the mist.

    They both also managed to mold their chakra in the way of Dog hand seal. As this one was associated with Water and most Suiton Jutsu needed it. It also helped that their Mokuton practice made it incredibly easy to learn it.

    As for the Snake hand seal, they already knew it. It was the only molding of chakra they learned without a hand sign in Ame because it was mostly associated with Earth and Wood. They had tons of Wood creation under their belt and molding their chakra in the way this hand sign did was nothing hard for them.

    Konan focused on the Bird hand sign next, for better Futon while Rei started with the Tiger hand sign, which went incredibly well as not only Katon, it was also used for Doton. But it would be months until both of them learn how to do these properly.

    s, they never learned Jutsu for that reason. They refused to learn hand signs. They knew that once they fix it in their brain that they need hand signs and learn to instinctively mold chakra ording to them, it would be hard to unlearn it. No matter how big of a crutch they were. Rei couldpare them to a wand for wizards in Potterverse. It was easy to learn them and their bodies got quickly used to them. But it was insanely hard to start molding the chakra consciously on your own once you did get used to them.

    It was better to choose the harder route...

    Theirst week was spent reading various regtions to pass the test. When you are in the library full of Jutsu... you have no time to read these... things.

 Chapter 24 - Ch24. Test

    <h4>Chapter 24 - Ch24. Test</h4>

    The test was in front of the Council of the vige. Apparently, they have those here but it is really only advisory. s, the Mizukage deemed it fit to fulfill their desire to see ''kids with three chakra natures'' do the test.

    The first, written test was easy as their enhanced minds had a hold on the knowledge after reading the books and they passed.

    Then they were tasked to show kawarimi and swapped with each other. Konan swapped with Rei first and then Rei did with Konan to end up in their starting position. The council was quite astonished as it was advanced to be able to swap with other humans.

    As for clones, they showed Water and Paper clones respectively which instantly caused murmuring and promises of ''training their n prodigies more''.

    And so, at the tender age of eleven, both Konan and Rei earned their genin rank.

    The test was not over though. They relocated to the training ground covered by a thin mist. A spar with a jonin was scheduled as the Council and the Mizukage wanted to gauge Rei''s and Konan''s strength.

    The Mizukage picked one of the seven Swordsmen to gauge Rei and Konan. Rei was inwardly cursing the petty man to hell! Konan only looked at her dark bluish nails while giggling. Since Reiplimented it yesterday, she vowed to never use other colors!

    "Come at me whenever." Arge man, holding Kubikiribocho smirked at them. It was two versus him and the man didn''t feel like losing to two kids.

    Rei nudged Konan and nodded in the direction of therge man, Maduro, making her pay attention. She raised her eyes to the swordsman and scowled fiercely. She was almost past the date about to get into bed with Rei in her daydream!

    Maduro took the monkey position.

    "Kirigakure no Jutsu."

    He was a typical wielder of Kubikiribocho. Silent assassin of the Mist.

    The 3rd Mizukage watched the rxed figures of Konan and Rei. What made him frown though was not their careless posture. It was the sealless Kirigakure no Jutsu they both employed, making the mist so dense, seeing even an inch was a problem. It was definitely aplete overkill as normal Kirigakure no Jutsu provides at least some limited visibility. But this? Even Hyuuga would be as blind as mole.

    He could see the council members asking those with chakra sensing abilities to tell them what''s going on but... the Mizukage knew that out of the sensors present, only him and Himeno Yuki were able to ''see'' or rather sense what was going on in such thick, chakra-heavy mist.

    His n for being a matchmaker for Rei and one orphan from one extinct n was bing even more important in his mind as he saw the mist.

    Hmmm, I wonder. How will they fight the master of silent assassination? They surely won''t be able to see even an in-...

    His mind froze.

    F.u.c.k! These kids must be sensors too! Why the f.u.c.k did I not think ''bout that!? Hiding chakra and sensing on the level where they can perceive things in such a mist? Damn... jackpot! Ha, see that Onoki! My vige is still bettah!

    The 3rd Mizukage wanted to jump from happiness at the realization!

    "Mizukage-sama?" Himeno Yuki, the ever-loving cutie, worriedly nced at him. He was aware she was miffed with him for having the kids fight with Maduro. Sigh, women...

    "Ah, Himeno-chi!" He nodded to his childhood friend and his mind reacted the same as ever, he ducked under her punch.

    Wow... busty! Maybe I really should retir-... No. Bad boy! Stop ogling her, dammit! You have two prodigies fighting a skilled killer! Focus!

    "Are you fi-" A man asked worriedly.

    "YES!" The Mizukage straightened.

    The Mizukage suddenly went rigid. He felt... tens, hundreds even, of chakra signatures in the mist.

    Clones... neat. That might work on someone with less experience.

    He praised mentally. But he was still able to sense which ones were real as they had more chakra. Until...

    Shit! Did they just lower their chakra signature to be on the level of their clones? Damn... I wouldn''t want to face these two when they gain really lethal techniques...

    He sweatdropped. He could not differentiate between clones and the originals anymore. He could only differentiate between the clones of Konan and Rei as Konan''s clones packed a slightly more chakra.

    What he didn''t know was that as Rei and Konan mixed into the swirl of the chakra signatures they did not only lower their signature. Theypletely covered it with nature energy, making it utterly invisible as they retreated. They were no longer in the mist.

    In the mist, Maduro focused his hearing as he could hear hundreds of sounds. He was used to seeing white. A thicker mist... that didn''t bother him at all!

    Oooh, clever! Making clones... I should praise themter. Now, let''s KILL these pests one by one. Sigh. I just hope I won''t kill the originalsˇ­ Mizukage would be pissed!

    "Did you really think this would stop me? You are naive!" Maduro''s voice resounded through the mist.

    He swiftly set on killing the clones, one by one.

    The Mizukage felt the biggest chakra signature, Maduro on the move. He sensed him approach the closest clones, one of Rei''s.

    Well, Maduro is too experienced to freak out from being surrounded by clones. But nice tr-...

    As the Mizukage felt Maduro''s de approach the head of the clone, a loud ''BOOM'' resounded through the clearing, and Maduro''s body was flung backward like a ragdoll due to the explosion. Mizukage''s and Himeno''s jaw dropped.

    "This... are they all..." Himeno asked wide-eyed as she looked at the Mizukage.

    He knew Maduro was fine, but his body was uncontrobly flying in the direction of another chakra signature. This time it was one of Konan''s. The Mizukage could feel Maduro twist in the air and aim a sh at the girl when...

    ''BOOM''

    An even louder boom reverberated through the clearing, making Mizukage wince. The kids were using Maduro''s sense of hearing against him. He could sense Maduro''s body being yet again flung away as the explosion impacted himˇ­

    "I thinkˇ­ that answers it, Himeno-chan." The Mizukage answered as his eye-brow twitch.

    F.u.c.k! Since when was this life and death battle! To bring hundreds of exploding tags. Crazy bastards ˇ­ He inwardly cursed.

    In the mist, Maduro was mad! Only his Doton: Rock Body saved him from injuries! He kicked towards the ground mid-flight, sending his body uncontrobly stumbling across the ground. He rolled to his feet and tried to focus his hearing when he heard loud whistling sounds. His eyes widened and he barely managed to duck...

    The Mizukage facepalmed as Himeno cheerfully exined what was happening in the dense mist.

    "Maduro is... evading. Uh. Evading tens of futon enhanced things looking like shurikens. Ah... he just bought it into the leg... Auch. His arm... Ooooh, that was close to the crotch! He almost lost a chance at daddyhood! Damn, lucky him for having that Rock Body Technique or he would be a swiss cheese without it! ... Eh, finally! He started to block the projectiles with his de! Dunce, I tell you!"

    The Mizukage almost face-faulted. He could only groan in exasperation. Two eleven-years olds were totally wrecking one of the Seven Swordsmen in his own home-field, using his own senses against him.

    Maduro was panting. His leg was useless and one of his hands was injured too. His body... looked like one of his training dummies! F.u.c.k.i.n.g cut up! He gained control over his breathing as he killed another clone by kicking it away as it was about to explode. He quickly shielded with his Kubikiribocho.

    But the clone of the boy didn''t explode. It changed to water, making him confused. He stopped for a moment and instantly cursed himself for that when through the water the clone dissolved to, suddenly a water jet shot at him at insane speeds from the mist behind it! He barely managed to duck but his sword...

    "AH! The Kubikiribocho!" Himeno eximed suddenly.

    "What, Lady Yuki?" One of the n heads asked impatiently.

    "It kinda... broke?" Himeno tilted her head.

    The Mizukage''s eyebrow was twitching. A strongly pressurized water jet, gathered from the mist itself cleaved through the Kubikiribocho like a knife through butter while someone focused on strengthening the mist, ensuring it won''t lose density. Their teamwork was seamless, Mizukage happily noted. That''s when his eyes widened.

    He could see all chakra signatures stop and start running in the direction of Maduro''s injured body.

    Maduro was gaping at his swo-, correction, at the HALF of his sword he held in his hand when suddenly he heard sounds of multiple footsteps closing in on him. He quickly...

    As the clones were close to Maduro, the Mizukage and Himeno widened their head and quickly started weaving hand seals.

    "Suiton: Water Wall!"

    "Hyoton: Freezing!"

    3rd Mizukage created a Wall of Water and Himeno quickly froze it solid as both could feel all clones explode. Even though the wall, they could still feel the whish of the wind as it sailed around its sides, sending their hair iling from side to side. The shockwaves were hitting the ice wall as it trembled under the pressure while Mizukage and his council had to brace themselves as a small earthquake shook the ground. The mist long ago dispersed due to the wind created by the explosion.

    Mad kids...

    The Mizukage''s mind trailed off as he had to remove a strand of his hair from his face since the wind messed up his hair-do and his face was full of hair that should be on the OTHER side of his head!

    He heaved a sigh of relief when he sensed Maduro still alive.

    Maduro barely managed to use Doton: Iron Rock Dome. His strongest omnidirectional defensive Jutsu and used Doton: Iron Rock Body to harden his skin to weather the raging concentrated explosions of over a hundred clones.

    As the aftereffects ceased, the Mizukage and the council could only see Maduro flop on his knees and slowly fall down face-first into the ground, unconscious.

    The gaping audience was interrupted as a bitter-looking Mizukage who didn'' know if he should jump from joy or facepalm at one of his strongest jonin being bested by two genins.

    "So... did we pass?" Rei''s cheerful voice sounded from behind them.

    Do you even need to ask, twerp?... The Mizukage thought,pletely fed-up.

 Chapter 25 - Ch25. First Mission

    <h4>Chapter 25 - Ch25. First Mission</h4>

    The war finally ended. There were still some asional skirmishes but the full-blown war was finally over.

    This increased the influx of escort missions as the number of people trying to profit from the conflict by turning to banditry was high even in the Land of Water. And so, Rei and Konan found themselves on their very first mission.

    D-rank, escort to a merchant, heading to the capital of the Land of Water. The ranking was different than when Rei remembered from canon. There were very little ''chore'' missions. Most of these were not approved since it was after war and ninja were in low supply, stretched thin.

    "Hurry up, hurry up, load it!" A pudgy man hurried Rei and Konan as they entered his warehouse. He was pointing at a pile of goods he wanted to be loaded onto the cart.

    Rei looked at the man with a raised eyebrow.

    "Hurry! I didn''t hire you to lose my time!" The man stomped his foot to the ground.

    Rei shook his head in disbelief. The merchant saw it and was about to deliver a proper verbal thrashing to what he perceived as lowly genin when Rei disappeared.

    Enhancing his body with raiton chakra, Rei appeared behind the man with a burst of speed, holding a kunai to his throat. Thepanions of the merchant froze with their eyes bulging out.

    "You hired us to protect you from bandits. Not as an errand boy." Rei coldly stated, pressing the kunai deeper to his throat, drawing blood. "I could slit your throat and be done with it. So, you WILL shut up and stop ordering us around."

    The merchant quickly understood his position.

    This was not Konoha that put civilians first. Clients were important but even Konoha, the ''gentler'' of the big five, had fail-safes in case the clients were too unruly. Merchants could be grumpy, mocking, even condescending. Ninja would bear with it. But every ninja had his limit that when reached, he could say f.u.c.k it. For example, no merchant could s.e.x.u.a.lly harass or ask for s.e.x unless it was a part of the mission. After all, merchants were merchants, not nobles.

    Unless they were connected with Daimyo which would most likely be a B-rank mission done by jonin or high-rank chunin. But even then the vige had a list of willing kunoichi if the man was known for desiring entertainment during the mission. After all, these missions paid a lot more than the standard.

    But unless it were these merchants, then it didn''t matter even if theypletely bombed a D-rank. All it would do was a ck mark in their records that nobody would care about. Not even a fine would be administered. D-ranks are for those that can''t pay. It shows the low social status and nobody important would pay for one unless that person CEASED to be important and wealthy. Hell, some nobles even pay C-ranks for babysitting, all to show their importance!

    "Next time you want to ask something of us, you will ask it nicely. Are we clear?" Rei asked with steel in his voice. He may be young but no two-bit barely above average merchant is going to boss him around! He survived in a war-zone and he didn''t do it only to be looked down upon.

    It was not that he had something against the menial work. It was the attitude of the merchant that irked Rei.

    "Yes." The merchant fearfully admitted as sweat was flowing down his forehead, his legs shaking. Rei''s killing intent made the man see himself die numerous times already and it was the worst experience of his life!

    Rei put the kunai away from the merchant''s throat, making him flop down onto the ground with his eyes shaking and teary. Rei casually walked closer to Konan as she was floating the goods with her paper and put it on the wagons.

    They sat on the edge of one wagon, Konan''s head leaning onto Rei''s shoulder as she sat in hisp, both on guard.

    Needless to say, the journey was mostly quiet after the little show in the warehouse.

    ...

    The journey was boring. Rei just created twenty water clones who killed off any bandit in the vicinity. He didn''t even need to care if they are guilty or not. The peasants were poor but they were not so poor as to not be able to afford food. The current Daimyo was selfish and greedy but he was not as bad as to make his subjects starve.

    ...

    The capital of the Land of Water was... unexpected. It showed the wealth of the country. This country was in the exact same situation as Ame before the war, just... bigger. The capital was rich while anything else was poor. Both situations were created due to the leaders. While yes, Daimyo of Water would dly pay for ''recruitment'' of new ninja and Kekkei Genkai by hiring merchants and promising a hefty sum for it... that just meant he valued the safety of his country, his safety.

    As for the peasants? It was obvious he didn''t see the need to care. Only the Capital had electricity. Only the capital had a massive, luxurious looking port. Only the capital had proper marble roads. Only the capital had marble statues. Only the capital had aˇ­ Simply put, it was not yet the canon time. It really hammered down the point that this was a ''past'' of what Rei remembered from the Naruto series.

    Rei was actually quite awkward about all the wealth he was shown. In the years in this world, he got used to living practically in the wilderness. When he came to a city that actually HAD electricity? He could only wrylyugh.

    Konan was indifferent. She didn''t care either way if the people around her had happy or miserable lives. She looked at Rei''s face, smiled, and sprang up, kissing him fully on the lips while licking them, getting his mind away from whatever gued it. Only when she felt Rei''s gentle hand on her head did she pull back and gave a death re at the gawking merchants they were supposed to protect.

    ...

    The wagons stopped in front of a warehouse for goods. It was different from the one in Kirigakure. This one was bigger and clearly made of expensive wood.

    "Could you please help us with unloading it?" The merchant asked politely and Rei looked at him impassively. Flinching, he added quietly. "Please."

    Konan nodded and the paper yet again floated the goods to the warehouses, stacking them.

    "The confirmation." Rei asked and the merchant nodded, signing off his name on the paper confirming the mission was fulfilled.

    Rei and Konan had two days to spend in the capital of Mizu no Kuni. They decided to enjoy them!

 Chapter 26 - Ch26. Easy money

    <h4>Chapter 26 - Ch26. Easy money</h4>

    Pa treon - 24 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    The next morning, Rei made breakfast for Konan. They both enjoyed it alongside some light morning kissing.

    Rei had a n for his visit to the capital. As a Kiri shinobi, he won''t be able toe to this ce often. Thankfully, he had Konan and his superb ability with seals!

    They left their hitai-ate in their pockets and left the hotel room.

    ...

    "Is this it?" Konan asked, bewildered as she stared at the run-down building on the edge of the capital. Both her and Rei were in a henge of their a.d.u.l.t forms.

    "Yes..." Rei trailed off. "Anyway, let''s go in."

    He reached for the door and they... broke. Sighing in exasperation, Rei just went past the now doorless frame and entered the building.

    "W-who a-are yo-you!" An old man suddenly shouted, trying to sound confident but the stutter didn''t help it much.

    "You are Mikado Biribiri?" Rei asked, trying to sound polite.

    "Y-yes!" The man nodded, looking at him in suspicion. "Wh-what d-do y-you wan-want!"

    Rei heard the guy was basically Hinata MK. Predecessor but this was really going to be a long talk, wasn''t it?

    "I came to offer you a business deal."

    "Bu-bu-bu-bu-bussi-bussine-"

    "Yes." Rei clicked his tongue as Konan snickered behind her palm.

    "Bu-bu-bu-bu-"

    "I know!" Rei told the man with a groan. "Now, sit!"

    He was aware that the man had a brilliantly inventive mind but was utter crap at social skills. It was utterly obvi-obvi-obvious!

    "You want to spread your electric bulbs, street light, and electric appliances."

    The man nodded, his back straight, and his hands perched on his knees.

    "But youck a stable power source and social skills."

    The man nodded again, a little more enthusiastically.

    "I can give you... this." Rei took out a seal matrix consisting of two seals. He pointed at one of the seals. "This draws a minuscule amount of nature energy into the seal which produces raiton chakra." He saw the utter look of iprehension but didn''t care and continued. His finger trailed towards the second seal as he continued his exnation. "This raiton chakra is conducted into the second seal, where it is made to power up the seal to create electricity out of it."

    Mikado''s eyes shone as he somewhat realized how it worked. If this was the truth then his power source problem would be solved! But...

    "I-I-I ca-ca-can-can''t d-do s-"

    "Yes," Rei patiently nodded. "That''s why a clone of Konan here will assist you and create these seals for you. A merchant, Karubo wille in a few days to act as ''peoples'' person for this little project. I only want fifty percent of profits for me and fifteen for Karubo."

    Mikado blinked with his jaws hanging at the proposition.

    "Y-yo-you, half!?" He shrieked and for the first time, didn''t stutter!

    "Yes." Rei calmly replied. "You will receive thirty-five percent and be able to focus on inventing while Karubo does the merchant work for you."

    Mikado was conflicted as he gazed into the emerald eyes of the pale blond man. On one hand, his life''s work would spread. On another... they asked for more than half of the profits!

    "O-Ok." He grimaced but he knew he had no other choice. Kuruzu Inc. made him pauper when they introduced their own power source and appliances. And even if it broke more often than not... they were regarded better even though his never broke. It was all in their talking skills.

    Rei signed a contract with the man and left a paper clone of grown-up Konan behind.

    The clone had six seals, one in the head, one in heart, and four in limbs, that continuously absorbed nature energy and resupplied its chakra reserves, making it able to sustain itself indefinitely. It could even create more paper clones on its own that could make seals. A perfect factory!

    Rei loved that these clones of Konan were like Shadow Clones only without the memory transfer function. He trusted Konan to do her best for his endeavors even if it was only a clone of hers. He wasn''t dense. He knew she would kill the entirety of Mizu no Kuni if he asked her. Or at least, she would try to.

    As for why he didn''t use his own clones? How the heck would he stick seals made of ink onto a water clone!? It was really depressing when he tried...

    They left Mikado''s house after they agreed thepany would be called Biri-Biri... and that Rei''s profits would go to his ount. Karubo was already convinced to go along with it for fifteen percent so that was not a problem.

    ...

    Rei and Konan spent the rest of their time in the capitol visiting tourist spots, holding hands, trying out restaurants, and enjoying life.

    After their frantic survival arc in Ame, this seemed almost like heaven to Konan. She got to eat good food, kiss Rei and he would even piggyback her through the city! She couldn''t help but have a barely noticeable smile on her lips the entire time.

    For Rei, that smile was very telling. He made sure to kiss her a lot during their date. He knew she loved it and he could also say that her lips were one of his favorite ces!

    That''s why when they came back to their hotel room and Konan attacked him the second the door closed, he didn''t protest. Her lips trailed along his neck, chin, and cheeks until they finally reached his lips. Konan didn''t stop. She fully leaned on him, deepening her kisses as they reached the bed. Rei ended up sitting on the edge as Konan straddled him, her hands on the back of his head, pushing his lips closer to his. Her tongue startedshing at his lips, trying to find an in.

    Rei allowed her entrance and the two made out while Konan tried to make her body melt into his while m.o.a.ning into the kisses as she could feel Rei''s hands squeezing her posterior.

    It took them five minutes to separate and as they did, Konan''s eyes shed. She wanted more than just kisses! She felt ready. She was ready! Her hand started to reach towards Rei''s crotch.

    Rei stopped her hand from getting into his pants, holding it tightly. Breaking the tender atmosphere in the room.

    Konan pleadingly looked at him. They were eleven but their bodies were thirteen! They had hitai-ate! She wanted to make him feel good!

    Rei gave her a harsh look that told her what he thought about it. Their bodies were not yet mature enough. Maybe it was a remnant of his morals from the modern age but... it was still there in his mind. He just could not switch it off and f.u.c.k an eleven years old girl!

    But when he saw her sad, longing, and loving gaze, showing hopelessness and need...

    Sigh. The nature energy just had to mess up with our hormones when it made our bodies older! ... He cursed. His body wanted it too. It was an almost overpowering urge! Urge to be one. To connect! There was nothing that he wanted more than to have s.e.x with Konan. Oddly enough, it was ONLY Konan that evoked it.

    With an exasperated groan, his free hand went to Konan''sher area. He, at least, could give her the satisfaction. Channeling his fine-controlled raiton chakra, he pushed it into her.

    Konan curiously watched his hand in expectation. But then her eyes bulged as she felt the chakra. She couldn''t hold herself as she shrieked in ecstasy for a full thirty seconds

    The raiton chakra stimted every nerve ending in herher region, she felt a tingling sensation deep inside herself and it was unbearable. Konan, for the first time in her life, climaxed, wetting the spot under herself.

    Her powerless twitching body flopped onto Rei''s as her eyes started to droop in exhaustion as she cuddled to him, falling asleep.

    Rei looked at her satisfied smile with happiness.

    "Sigh. Such a difficult girl..." He licked his wet fingers and his smile widened. "Eh, at least she tastes incredible!" He tenderly kissed her forehead.

    "I will have to teach you how to let your carnal desires wash over you and disperse into the nature energy. It will alleviate at least some of this uncontroble need." He whispered lovingly to sleeping Konan, falling asleep himself.

 Chapter 27 - Ch27. Apprentice 1

    <h4>Chapter 27 - Ch27. Apprentice 1</h4>

    Rei and Konan did D and asional C-ranked missions for two years until they were eligible for promotion to Chunin. During this time, they traveled most of the Land of Waters as the Mizukage tried to keep them outside the vige but never allowing them to leave the Land of Water. They were the only duo genin team and sending them could free one team so they were run ragged these years.

    Well, they would be if they did not make free time whenever possible on their way back. Their list of dates in various locations was almost as extensive as their mission record. After all, Rei made sure he had enough of his private Konan time to refill his Konan reserves after every mission with Konan!

    Since he taught her how to get rid of her desires, she got quite tame. Rei knew it was not a solution, only temporary help. Her desires were still building up. But... only two more years and he would feel okay with it. On the other hand, since he pushed his lightning chakra into Konan, she demanded some ''attention'' every other day. Her taste was almost addictive to him. He couldn''t but feel wry at that.

    Konan quickly put a stop to these feelings though. One day, he woke up with Konan''s tongue working its way up and down his morning wood... Rei could only take a firm hold of her messy bed hair and enjoy it. Since then... he also received the tender care of her mouth and silky tongue every other day. Konan seemed to get almost addicted to his c.u.m. She tasted heavenly to him so he surmised that it was the same for her too.

    Both knew that what they felt for the other was in no way normal. They loved each other for years, sure. But they were aware that these intense insatiable feelings for the other dated to the mishap with linking and that they only grew stronger by the day.

    It got so serious that Rei even started to develop a special seal. Soul affecting seal to bind them togetherpletely. He felt their bond was somewhat iplete. Open. And that was slowly driving them nuts. They needed some kind of control. And if that pushed them beyond the proverbial line and made them desire the other with their very being? Why not... He was even adding some special benefits!

    ...

    Two years. That was the minimum period for a foreign shinobi to be trusted. Rei felt that the 3rd Mizukage was really pushing for their integration with Kiri. In these two years, he and Konan didn''t fail any mission. They had the best record out of all genins... which was a big embarrassment for them since they were solid elite jonin level already. They often sparred with the Seven Swordsmen, more often than not beating them. It brought only increasing depression to the 3rd Mizukage seeing them beating his best. Alternatively, he jumped from sheer joy when Rei or Konan was defeated!

    But then again, neither of them actually showed their full skill in these spars. Rei often limited himself to raiton and kenjutsu while going blow for blow, bettering his kenjutsu in these spars and Konan preferred her paper clones and explosive tags while employing more of a hit and run tactic. To be honest, most fights, she was not even on the battlefield, instead, she ate snacks in the treetops as her clones did the work. It was driving Maduro sparse and the current wielder of Kiba... that man hated Konan with passion. Especially since she took a sick pleasure of always canceling his raiton coating on the des with her futon. Always finding a different way to do it too!

    Rei mostly sparred with Samehada and Nuibari wielders.

    Samehada wielder. It was some unknown dude with spiky white hair... Rei didn''t care enough to remember his name. All the guy had was arge chakra pool, speed, andpliance of Samehada. His skills were good only at waving the chakra-sucker around. But fighting him was really a good exercise for dodging.

    Nuibari was... dangerous. Even Rei received a few holes in his body when sparring with the woman wielding that sword. She was insanely skilled and fast with it! No matter the edge he had as someone who was strengthening his body with nature energy for years. No matter that his senses were incredibly developed. The woman always found just the right hole in his defense to put the needle in. It really showed Rei that he was not yet invincible. Rei found a new respect for shinobi by fighting her. She was the prime example that it was not all in pure una.d.u.l.terated power and that precision and skill could kill too. A pity the woman will be killed by her student, Kushimaru...

    ...

    It was the day of their promotion to chunin when the Mizukage called for them.

    Rei, expecting another mission, came leisurely into Mizukage''s office and with a slight bow, waiting for instructions. By now, the secretary was not even stopping him as his ''team'' frequented the office the most. The benefits of being able to fly on a tform made out of Konan''s paper, enhanced by Rei''s raiton chakra. Their traveling speed was insanely fast. They are able to have two days off after every long-distance mission and be in Kiri three days before their expected return. To this day, Mizukage didn''t know how they did it and always grumbled about that feat. s, sooner returns meant more missions. Pissing off Mizukage with even sooner returns from them, made for even more missions too. Which made for more free time with Konan outside the vige and a bigger paycheck. Rei thought it was a win-win!

    "Ah... Rei-kun~!" The Mizukage cheerily shouted, making Rei scowl. "You made chunin, I see!"

    Rei''s scowl deepened. The man pulled all pretenses with Rei and Konan a year ago. He no longer was that stern serious leader but he was now more of a goofy idiotic and annoying... shit.

    Of course, you know I am chunin, you approved of it, baaaka! Who do you think signed the library slip to jonin section right before my eyes!... Rei mentally raged.

    "Anyway, I have something special for you, you see..." The Mizukage trailed off. "Call her in!"

    Into the room walked a nine-year-old girl with a hitai-ate on her forehead. She was... small. But her eyes were sharp, used to fending for herself. Instantly darting all around the room, checking for ways to run, just in case. Her eyes instantly snapped to Mizukage and she bowed.

    "Mizukage-sama."

    "Aah... Ringo-chan~! You will be given to Rei-kun, alright~?"

    The girl, Ringo, instantly looked at Rei with a conflicted but kinda disappointed gaze. After all, he looked fifteen at most and not that strong either! She was toˇ­! The girl blushed and looked to the ground.

    "As a disciple." Rei finished for Mizukage in deadpan, making Ringo blink and nod slowly as her blush deepened for that misunderstanding.

    "Of course... as a disciple." The Mizukage repeated with a smile. "How perceptive of you, Rei-kun!"

    Rei would forever remember the day he doomed himself and allowed the Mizukage to call him Rei-kun. The twat used it against him in EVERY single instance he could!

    Mizukage''s jovial mood suddenly disappeared as he deted.

    "That said... Genin Ameyuri." He sternly uttered, making the girl straighten up. "Your affinity for kenjutsu and raiton was duly noted. That''s why you are getting the best teacher for raiton and one of the best swordsmen of Kiri. Any questions?"

    "I-" The girl at first hesitated but then her eyes shed in resolve. "I thought the best was the wielder of Kiba!"

    Rei couldn''t help but smile. The girl had guts to speak like that to Mizukage.

    "Ah... spunky one, aren''t you?" The Mizukage chuckled. "Maybe, maybe not. Rei-kun is not a dual-wielder, therefore, Kiba is not for him."

    The Mizukage knew Rei would steamroll the current wielder of Kiba. He saw it happen quite a lot too. But to actually admit it to a girl whose dream is to be Kiba-wielder? He was not so cruel! It would crush her dreams! That would not do for his ns. Not at all.

    Ringo observed Rei. He had long pale blond hair in one massive braid, starting from the back of his head, flowing over his shoulder andzilyying on his chest, reaching the middle of his abdomen. His eyes were piercing of shiny emerald green color and his face had high cheeks with some aristocratic features. He was pale and lean. Unassuming in his loose white long-sleeved kimono, reaching only a slightly above mid-thigh, and ck pants. Ringo would peg him for a noble rather than ninja.

    Nothing like the badass muscled swordsmen of Kiri! Ringo also noted his casual posture and annoyed expression as he stood five meters away from her. She then turned to Mizukage.

    Where the heck is my muscled piece of a hunk? Is thisnky dude going to be my sensei? But, but, butˇ­ no muscles! ˇ­ Ringo mentally whined.

    "Mizukage-sama, are you sure this ma-" She didn''t finish it as she felt a powerful swat to the back of her head, sending her face-first to the floor.

    "That was not nice, Rei-kun~." The Mizukage halfheartedly rebuked Rei who was now standing straight, a few inches behind Ringo''s form sprawled on the ground with one of his hands outstretched in swatting motion and the other behind his back.

    "Is that any way to talk to your master, baka-deshi Ringo!? Look how I will beat you to death!" He ignored Mizukage as he scolded Ringo.

    Ringo wasn''t that new in raiton maniption. She felt the slight buzzing and then ''Bam!''. She was hit! She sprang to her feet, her eyes sparkling like stars as she looked straight at Rei with admiration in her gaze.

    "Yes! Master!" She eximed, awe-filling her eyes.

    Rei blinked at her. Then blinked at the gawking Mizukage.

    "Did I break her?" He pointed at Ringo who was still looking at him like a fangirl.

    "Congrattions Rei-kun... you just gained your first admirer. Make me proud!" The Mizukage wiped a mock-tear from the corner of his eye.

    "Come with me girl." Rei decided that a swift retreat was in order and left with Ringo.

    It was not like in Konoha. He was given an apprentice and that was that. If he didn''t want her, he could find someone who did or let her self-study... or provide an ident. She was an orphan and it was a viable opinion. But he could not reject her appointment as his apprentice. But that basically meant, her skill will reflect on him and his resume. It was a nifty way to keep jonins in line and make them pass on at least some of their skills.

    As the door closed, Mizukage''s expression changed from jovial and goofy toplete seriousness. He sped his hands in front of his mouth that twitched upward.

    "Heh, consider this a test run... Rei...kun."

 Chapter 28 - Ch28. Apprentice 2

    <h4>Chapter 28 - Ch28. Apprentice 2</h4>

    Ringo followed her new sensei, Rei, to the training ground 66. The only training ground with ake in the middle.

    She could see a clearing bordering ake and tilted her head when she saw a gorgeous fifteen-looking girl with neck-long blue hair with an origami rose stuck in them, reading a book, sitting cross-legged on theke as she held the book in one hand. She was clothed in a pure ck long-sleeved kimono with dark-blue roses pattern all over, also reaching only mid-thighs as Rei''s. She wore ck skirt with the same rose pattern and her hands had ck fingerless gloves on them.

    The girl raised her head and her amber eyes pierced Ringo as they narrowed, clearly showing her purplish eye-shadow. They observed every nook and cranny of Ringo''s body, while the girl''s crimson lips set themselves in a frown. Ringo shuddered at the intense scrutiny that gaze held and felt like a prey stalked by a predator.

    The girl promptly snapped the book shut with her fingers, making it go puff. Ringo was baffled. She didn''t see any storage scroll anywhere!

    Konan saw the small skinny redhead and with a sigh, approached Rei.

    "Who is the girl." She asked uncaringly.

    "Apparently, this is my new apprentice. Ringo, her name." Rei rolled his eyes.

    "Oh... so? What are we gonna do with her?" Konan''s eye twitched. She valued her alone time with Rei. Having an ''apprentice'' was ruining that time. Now she had to find out if Rei was up for some good old-fashioned ident in the field for the girl.

    "We will teach her." Rei shrugged, dashing Konan''s hopes. "Obviously."

    Konan clicked her tongue but nodded nevertheless. Rei decided... she would follow. But the second the girl tried something... Kukuku.

    Ringo could only shudder at the look the blue-haired girl gave her. She was not like those naive retards in the academy. She knew the girl was asking if they should off her! A chill passed through her spine at the dismissive uncaring way the girl said it too!

    Unconsciously, Ringo moved closer to Rei. He at least wasn''t out for her blood.

    Rei took out a slice of paper and handed it to shaken Ringo. She looked at him with a questioning gaze.

    "Show me how far you are with raiton."

    Ringo nodded and focused. The paper slowly started wrinkling. It took her two minutes to get it all wrinkled.

    Rei nodded at her, not praising, nor admonishing her.

    "Good enough for your age." He said aloofly at her look and shrugged. "You have a natural talent for it and all you need is practice. I didn''t see any bad habit in your raiton chakra creation."

    Ringo saw Rei take out two swords and throw one to her. She barely managed to catch it, looking at her sensei.

    "Okay, show me your kenjutsu."

    Ringo didn''t need to be told twice. She loved sword-fighting. She ran at her sensei, shing towards his abdomen but...

    Rei saw Ringo''s eyes trail to his leg even though the sh was aimed at his stomach. He sighed at the obvious tell and simply stepped back, letting her sword sail harmlessly in front of him and promptly hit her head with the blunt side of his sword.

    "There. Dead." He said and removed his sword from her head, waiting for her reaction.

    Ringo pouted. But then she raised her sword, rushing at Rei again. Rei smiled at that and sidestepped her swipe. She was determined. He swatted her head as her body was about to pass his, making her face-ground.

    "There. Dead." He said in amus.e.m.e.nt but noted that she did not let go of her sword. That was nice. As long as she was alive and held her sword, there was hope for her as a swordsman.

    Rei crouched down to the sprawled form of Ringo.

    "Your eyes. You are looking where you are going to strike." He told herzily.

    Ringo sat down and mulled over his words. Then she slowly nodded.

    Not long after that, they were again standing opposite each other with their swords in their hands. This time though Rei threw his sword at her, handle first. Ringo caught it in her free hand, bewildered.

    "Dual-wielding. Your dream is Kiba, isn''t it? So you have to start learning." Rei smiled at the girl who beamed at him in happiness.

    The girl ran at him, shing her right sword at his chest. He sidestepped. Ringo''s left sword was instantly in his face. He leaned his head to the left, making the de miss. Rigo didn''t wait as her foot was instantly aimed at his stomach. He caught it and threw Ringo away.

    "No kicks until you are older and stronger, kid."

    Ringo nodded but wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and rushed at him again, heedless of the big bruise on her cheek she gained when she fell on the ground.

    His swords were a flurry of swipes but Rei weaved through them with apparent ease. After a few minutes, Ringo started to get tired but more vicious.

    Rei quickly dragged his foot back as Ringo''s left sword aimed to pierce it, instead, piercing the ground. He had to relocate his other leg more to the right to dodge another sh of Ringo, making the space between his legs wider.

    That was when Ringo forcefully shed the sword piercing the ground upwards, right towards Rei''s crotch. She was getting closer, and closer... Her heart jumping at being able to hit!

    But then Ringo felt a chill through her spine as Rei appeared behind her, his hand reaching over her shoulder and sping a slice of paper glimmering in bluish futon chakra, an inch from her throat. She gulped. Ringo was aware where her head would fly if that even nicked her throat. Sweat started to flow down her forehead.

    "Konan..." Rei sighed.

    "What! She aimed at your crotch! Your crotch belongs to me! She deserves punishment!" The girl, Konan, pouted childishly but her eyes still red at Ringo. Ringo vowed to never aim at the crotch when sparring with her new sensei. Un... that was a fair trade for keeping her head on her shoulders.

    Unknowingly, the respect Ringo held for the blue-haired girl, Konan, rose high. As did the fear she felt towards the impassive girl who was deliberately looking for a reason to take her head off.

    Rei only sighed and gave Konan a look. Both him and Konan knew that he could dodge the sh whenever he felt like it as he was strengthening his body for years with nature chakra in preparation for Sage Mode. His body strength and speed were far above the norm!

    Even if Ringo''s sword hit his crotchˇ­ shuddering thoughtˇ­ and he would never let it hit, it wouldn''t do much. His body was too strong for that. A non-chakra metal sword wielded by a nine-years old girl without any chakra in it? It wouldn''t do anything.

    ...

    Two hourster, Ringo was d the kenjutsu spar was over. She was drenched in sweat, panting on the ground as she still clutched the two swords.

    Ringo felt miserable. Sure, she was very tired. But most of her sweat was due to resisting the killing intent Konan showered her in. Ringo knew Konan was training her with it. At least partially. She really hoped it was not real!

    Konan put the girl under enough pressure that she managed to move and get used to it, then, she increased it. Rei decided to train the girl, so she will be trained. Konan wouldn''t be satisfied with anything less than jonin-level strength in two years! Not when the girl has so many resources at her disposal! Even as an orphan, justing to the Kiri Library means better knowledge than what Konan had and she managed. It was only due to Rei but she did learn! Konan decided she would observe the girl very, very closely. She was sure the old coot Mizukage had some ns for Rei and the girl just might figure in them. But plots and schemes aside...

    If the girl has Rei to help her and the shinobi library to boot, then she will either learn or be discarded! No waste of time will be tolerated! Not when that time could be used for more meaningful things! Like snogging!

    Rei knew the look on Konan''s face. He could only wryly chuckle at it.

    Just seeing it, he was sure the following years would be rough for Ringo. Konan, as a dutiful ''wife'', had no patience for someone wasting the time of her ''Danna-sama''. Especially since Ringo was heavily intruding in their alone time.

    Rei could only sigh and pray Ringo would survive it!

 Chapter 29 - Ch29. Nice morning, annoyed Ringo, and schemes of old coot

    <h4>Chapter 29 - Ch29. Nice morning, annoyed Ringo, and schemes of old coot</h4>

    Rei woke up and saw Konan''s sleeping face in front of him. She had a small smile and cutely furrowed brows, most likely from a pleasant dream. He couldn''t help himself and his hand quicklynded on her cheek, softly and gently caressing it.

    Konan slowly opened her sleepy eyes while her head unconsciously leaned towards Rei''s hand. Her smile widened as her vision cleared and the first sight that greeted her was Rei''s eyes, intently staring at her face, enamored with it. Konan moved before she could even realize it and suddenly rolled Rei on his back. She sat on his belly, straddling him, letting him see her very n.a.k.e.d and very sensitive body while smiling at him gently. She lowered her upper body,ying her chest on his as her mouth imed his in a very slow and deliberate kiss.

    Rei''s hands sn.a.k.e.d around her torso, softly embracing her n.a.k.e.d back. He started to slowly stroke it while making sure to apply raiton chakra to make her feel pleasant tingling in her entire back. He could instantly feel her legs mping hard on his h.i.p.s as her crotch instinctively pressed harder into his stomach. He could feel Konan''s n.i.p.p.l.es hardening, poking his chest.

    Konan ended the slow soft kiss and pulled her head slightly away before her head lowered again, towards his ear.

    "That was not nice... Now I am all horny." She seductively purred into his ear and started to kiss his neck.

    "That makes two of us." Rei returned the favor by releasing a hot breath into her ear that was conveniently close. His left hand raised from her back, taking hold of the nape of her neck as his right hand reached across her back, gripping her hip.

    Konan only managed to yelp as she suddenly found herself lying on her back when Rei twisted their bodies. She blinked in momentary confusion at the ceiling. Tilting her head she was about to talk when Rei''s lips smashed into hers, his body leaning into her. Konan felt her body loosen, happy from the close proximity. She melted into the kiss and her eyes zed over in want as her legs that were still around Rei''s h.i.p.s, tightly locked behind his back, refusing to let go.

    They passionately made out,ying on top of each other and the time lost the meaning for them. Minute, five, ten... they had no idea.

    Out of sudden, Rei withdrew from the kiss.

    "Sorry, Konan." He kissed her cheek as she stared at him, biting her lower lip. "We have a mission today."

    Konan slowly nodded, her greater than massive reluctance apparent. Rei could only smile wryly.

    "Eh... Konan, your legs..."

    Konan looked at him innocently, but her legs stayed firmly locked around his back, the same as her hands still held his shoulders.

    Rei chuckled and stood up, making Konan yelp and tightly clung to him like a ko.

    "You difficult girl..." He kissed her forehead, enjoying her pout and her using stare. "Well, then, shower first!" He said but Konan could feel his hands squeezing her bum. That instant she knew it would take a long, long time for them to leave the shower.

    Her eyes quickly morphed into joy, iming his lips as he carried her to the bathroom.

    ...

    Annoyed Ringo was leaning on the gate as she sat cross-legged on the ground, the swords that she received from Rei were on herp. She took great care of them. After all, not even half of the jonin were capable of having a weapon from chakra metal! Even if only as big as kunai, it would cost a fortune! Only the most skilled and sessful ninjas could afford one! Or the wealthiest ns...

    Yet, Rei-sensei gave her not one but two! It was half a year since she started her apprenticeship and she could never really put her head around where her sensei got the money for two short swords. Even the Mizukage dropped his jaw when she reported it! It really showed how big it was!

    She was tasked with reporting anything suspicious about her sensei to the Mizukage. She... wasn''t veryfortable with it but she was a kunoichi of Kiri and Mizukage was her boss. She was very aware that her Rei-sensei knew but didn''t care. Ringo didn''t understand why it was important to have HER of all people spy on Rei-sensei. He could have killed her off in the middle of the vige and make it seem like an ident. That much she knew from their training. It made her that much more d she was given to Rei-sensei. She learned a lot about kenjutsu and raiton!

    She started to like her sensei... even his cold teammate was kinda bearable, she guessed.

    "Now... if only Rei-sensei and Konan-san showed up." Ringo grumbled under her nose, not noticing the ANBU and gate guards snickering at her, knowing full well...

    This was the first official out of the vige mission for Ringo and she was excited. Well, before she was forced to wait half an hour for her sensei!

    Poor Ringo had no idea that Rei and Konan were pulling their inner Kakashi on her. It would be hours before they showed up.

    ...

    The third Mizukage stood in his office, looking out of the window.

    "Sigh, if my n knew..." A womanly voice resounded from within the office as the shuffling of dressing up could be heard.

    "Himeno," Mizukage chuckled as with the corner of his eye he observed his childhood friend sluggishly pulling her clothes back on her body. "your grandfather knows about us..."

    "Humph. I know!" She averted her eyes, making him snicker.

    They have been sleeping together since they were teenagers. Himeno never married. Always beaten her suitor to an inch of his life to dissolve any arranged marriage. She was to be the next n head and yet by now there was nobody in the Yuki n who dared to propose. No matter the benefits.

    The Mizukage came closer to Himeno and kissed her on the lips.

    "How is our daughter?" He softly asked her, making her wryly smile.

    "Still forbidden from any shinobi training. The elders are forcing her to be a civilian. The only civilian in the entire n..." Himeno shook her head sadly. "Ah, it''s not that bad! She clearly has Yuki Kekkei Genkai and is treated like Princess." She borated when she saw Mizukage getting angry.

    "She is only forbidden to train. They don''t want someone with ''impure'' blood to be the next leader of the n." The Mizukage held back a sneer.

    "Sigh. It was hard enough when I came back home pregnant, unwilling to tell who the father was." Himeno shook her head. "Only my grandpa supported me."

    The Mizukage nodded and continued for her.

    "That was the only reason why no repercussions were enforced." He sighed but then bitterly grimaced. "I know. He asked for a hefty price for that too."

    "I am nning to retire soon. Unless a wares, in five to seven years I will be all yours." The Mizukage hugged her and whispered to her ear. "Then, I can stop this politicking and we can make many more daughters together." He kissed her near the ear, making her giggle.

    Himeno pushed him away.

    "We just had s.e.x." She pouted at him, making him chuckle.

    As she looked down, blushing hard, she found a file pushed to the side of the table they just used for their lovemaking. She took it to her hand and started reading. The more she read the higher her eyebrows rose.

    "You..." Himeno looked at her lover with wide eyes.

    The Mizukage saw the file she was holding and let out an insufferable sigh.

    "Yes."

    "You want that orphan, Ringo, do what!?" Himeno shrieked.

    "Hime..."

    "Are you sure?" Himeno quieted down and seriously stared at him. "I doubt Konan will let Ringo sleep with Rei..."

    The Mizukage nodded.

    "You never know but she is only a trial, anyway. I doubt she would manage it. I am sure Rei knows well what my game is and Konan will never ept Ringo because of that. Because both know..." The Mizukage smiled deviously. "But that will be their undoing, you see. I did ount for my retirement into the n! And I am counting on their cleverness too!"

    "Ah... Ringo is a cover." Himeno stated dryly. She knew that smile, it instantly became apparent.

    "Read ahead." The Mizukage told her simply and Himeno did.

    "You... you... you..." Himeno could only gape as her mind stopped. "You betrothed him!?"

    "Hehehe. Your man is a master at maniption, after all!" He proudly stated with his hands on his h.i.p.s. "As Mizukage, I am legally able to do it! Kukuku!"

    "This... the girl is barely four!"

    The Mizukage nodded again. "That''s why it will work. The girl is four. Too young to predict it. At first nce, I won''t have any influence over her situation too. Rei and Konan will never see her as a threat, not when the exact same thing already failed with Ringo. They would think me too smart to go at it in the exact same way only without my own influence. The girl won''t even know it was all nned! And then, when they got close to the girl, hehe, I will spring the spiel at them! Either ept the betrothal or let the girl go into CRA where she would be used... well you know."

    Himeno could only stare at him. It was a cruel n. But she knew him. He always acted only after he got his facts straight. The CRA use for a female was not activated... ever. Yet if this fails the girl will suffer.

    "This... you are sure they will take her in, right?"

    "I know Rei and Konan are loyal only to each other." The Mizukage waved dismissively. "I am giving them an incentive to be loyal to Kiri. Sure, it will take years but I observed them enough. With my n? They will take the girl. A girl raised by Kiri. A girl whose inheritance is in Kiri. A girl who will receive her n properties when she is of age. That will tie them to Kiri indefinitely."

    "It can backfire." Himeno hummed.

    "I know." The Mizukage sighed. "But Rei is reasonable. Konan would probably make the Kiri go kaboom but Rei... That''s why I am doing my best to amodate them. I would probably want Rei as my sessor if he was born in Kiri. You know, I am a very good judge of character. I judged you to be a pervert, after all..." He giggled perversely.

    "You!" Himeno swatted his shoulders in good humor with a scowl. The previous topic already forgotten.

 Chapter 30 - Ch30. First mission with apprentice 1

    <h4>Chapter 30 - Ch30. First mission with apprentice 1</h4>

    Ringo red at the approaching forms of her sensei and his teammate.

    They still looked like white and ck smudge in the distance to her but she recognized they were happily holding hands as they leisurely walked towards the gate. She wanted to strangle them!

    Six hours. That''s how long it took them to finally decide to show up!

    By the end, she was sure she knew every location of every hidden ANBU as she heard themughing at her! She could only bitterly grimace. Rei was her superior first and sensei second. It was time to stand up and greet him while holding back her bitter tears! Sniff.

    Rei held Konan''s hand and could feel the soothing sensation of her gentle water chakra coursing through his entire body through his hand, making him feel as if it was devotedly massaged. He returned the favor by sending his water chakra into her body, making her pleasantly shiver and chew on her lower lip. As if she could win in a fight of suiton chakra with him, he snorted. It was so tempting to just spin her and kiss those seductive quivering crimson lips as her amber orbs were narrowed in delight, showing her light-purple eyeshadow. Unfortunately, Ringo was already served double Kakashi for today. It was time to get going.

    "Hello, baka-deshi Ringo." Rei joked. At first, he did it to satisfy his pettiness. Wanted to feel like those whimsical wuxia masters who were sending their disciples on brainless adventures to satisfy their pride. But after a while, he stopped, and now it was just a recurring joke.

    "Master!" Ringo bowed mockingly, making Rei chuckle and Konan roll her eyes at the girl.

    "Well, the mission is simple enough. We are to assassinate a noble in the Land of Marsh."

    Ringo looked bewildered at her first mission being something only a jonin would do.

    "Don''t worry. The mission is more for us than you." Konan joined. "You are here to observe and learn and..." She stopped.

    "And to kill my first human in the field." Ringo nodded.

    "Geez, they really teach them well in the academy, don''t they?" Rei muttered.

    Both Konan and him knew the academy curriculum and this was a tradition of sorts. They kill each other during the genin exam... reducing the ss to half. But that''s only for civilian-born. The ns would never stand it. The n children usually only show that they are ready to be shinobi and be forced to kill a bound prisoner to blood themselves.

    Hence, the first mission served to ''properly'' have a first-kill in the field. Against someone who fights back. It was Rei''s responsibility to provide such a person. Either on the way to, during, or the way from the mission. Ringo WILL kill someone and they won''t return until she does. If she won''t be able to kill a man in a month, she will be deemed useless and... Hence, the high mortality rate of the Kiri genin. But then again, Kiri has the best assassins and in a war, they clearly keep up even with their lesser, more trigger happy, military force and stay deeply rooted in the big five.

    It is said the losses were almost the same on both Kumo and Kiri during the second war. But that is only statistically. Both lost around fifteen percent of their force while another twenty were out ofmission due to injuries. But Kiri had a lot less shinobi than Kumo therefore Kumo lost more. Pre-canon Kiri was strong power, indeed.

    Nevertheless, Rei still didn''t see a reason to cull Kiri''s young genin due to a weak stomach. They were barely ten... Ah, st it.

    "Sigh. Idiotic traditions." Rei shook his head. He could always just report she indeed did kill someone and be done with it. He really didn''t understand the hype.

    "Let''s go."

    They left the vige. It took them a few hours but when they were sufficiently distanced and checked that nobody followed them, Konan made her paper tform.

    "Come on, Ringo." Rei gestured to her to get on it.

    Ringo was staring in confusion at it. What could it do? She indeed stepped on it and... she shrieked and shrieked some more when she was yanked at high speed towards their destination.

    Twenty minutes passed and Ringo was finally calm, observing thendscape from above as they flew around the clouds. She suddenly saw a glimmering blue mass of water and sandy beaches. They reached the sea. It was mesmerizing for her to watch as the waves crashed into other waves. This tranquil sight... she will never forget.

    ...

    Ringo, Rei, and Konan stood on a paper tform, marshes all around them. Before them, a majestic Japanese castle stood proudly on the only hill, a solid mass of earth, around. It was the depiction of the unconquerable. The marshes would stop any sizable army and the castle was positioned well. It would take a lot of effort for an army to breach it. But...

    "Ringo, I want you to tell me, what would you do first in this kind of situation." Rei squatted near the girl, quizzing her.

    "Uh... I... infiltrate?" Ringo tilted her head. She knew she was not the smartest tool in the shed but... wasn''t that obvious?

    "How?" Rei smiled while Konan giggled and Ringo felt her answer was not what he wanted to hear.

    "Ah... I need to kill the Lord, yeah?" Seeing Rei nod, Ringo continued sure of herself. "I would pretend to be a courtesan, then! A henge into a beauty, perhaps?"

    Rei chuckled. A textbook answer, alright.

    Ringo heard his soft amused chuckle and beamed, thinking she was right! Until... her face impacted the softened paper of the tform as Rei swatted the back of her head.

    "Wrong baka-deshi! What if the guards won''t leave the room and you will have to have s.e.x with him to keep your cover? Your henge would dissolve and the Lord would find himself sticking into a ten years old girl, or in the case of another kunoichi, a different person than he paid for. He will either be amused and continue... Then you just might survive it as he might not call his shinobi guards to deal with you as he will f.u.c.k you, humiliate you, and then when you are sufficiently broken, throw you to his guards." Rei sighed in exasperation and continued.

    "Leave honey trap missions to kunoichi who chose that kind of life and are trained for it. You wanna be abatant, not honey trap, baka-deshi. Back to the situation, OR... he will NOT be amused since he is not a pedophile. Most nobles that we are tasked to assassinate are tyrants. Not all, but most. You do not want to be caught by these people. That''s why every honey trap kunoichi can request an imnt of a cyanide capsule into her mouth. It is much better death than what she would have to go through otherwise. Anyway, these requests are ONLY made by the Daimyos themselves as if a civilian or other noble could request a Hidden Vige to assassinate a noble, the entire system would eventually copse by Daimyos being assassinated left and right. Any idiot who tries is promptly executed. Anyway, IF the target was not amused, you would be thrown to guards where you would be their toy for a day before your throat is slit. Game over. Try again." He gestured with his hand in e on'' motion.

    Ringo heard the impassive voice of her sensei as he lectured her while pouting as she sat up.

    "Then what!" She petntly crossed her arms, looking to the side. "I dunno. Charge and kill?" She muttered, making Reiugh.

    "Pin-pon. Ringo-chan~. Correct."

    Ringo looked at him with wide eyes. Did her sensei just tell her they were going to massacre the entire castle!?

    "Remember this Ringo. Every client is asked... specifications when he submits the mission. There is ALWAYS a use about the preferred approach. Force? They send an assault team, depending on the location, enemy, and the type of the mission. Assassination? They send an assassin or someone from the Seduction Corps depending on time, the personality of the target, and so on. It is NOT an easy process to pick who to send. The mission passes various evaluations before it is delivered to the shinobi. That''s why the vige takes twenty percent off your paycheck. They check if it is all legit. At least, for missions above B-rank such as this." Rei exined.

    Konan continued before Ringo could do more than a nod.

    "And even with all the checking, the missions are dangerous. If you suspect that something will go wrong then it most likely WILL go wrong. That''s why you always ask about the desired approach by the client. When you can kill everything with a Jutsu, you DO NOT go dancing inside in a weak henge, possibly getting f.u.c.k.i.e.d. We are an assault team so assault is what we do."

    Rei took the reins and added his input.

    "Some teams only take missions they can steamroll through, like us. If the approach is not to your tastes, you are free to refuse. Only S-rank missions are not rejectable."

    "But... nobody asked me if I ept this mission?" Ringo muttered in confusion.

    "Ah, they only ask the leader of the team. Even jonin-only teams have one leader who speaks for the entire team in these matters. In this case, it is me, baka-deshi." He cooly eye-smiled at Ringo.

    Konan nodded and continued.

    "And even then, refusing is not a hard matter. The vige has at least five potential teams who could be sent prepared. If they ask you to go, that means somebody refused or you were first in the line. You are in no way special, you see. And if somebody requests specifically YOU for a mission, you are ALWAYS told beforehand. It prevents a lot of backstabbing since more often than not when somebody requests you and you do not know that person personally, it is a trap."

    Ringo nodded and silently waited for instructions. She understood Rei-sensei didn''t want a battle n for her but only wanted to make her say something wrong so he could exin. He always did it. Ask questions. Swat her for the wrong answer. And then exin. The lesson stuck. That Ringo could not refute. Even if it hurt her pride!

    "Well, Ringo. I choose this mission exactly because it is an entire castle. I wanted to show you what a proper ninjutsu technique could do."

    Ringo started to get excited when Rei-sensei said that! His raiton techniques were amazing! And he was going to show her arge-scale technique!? She bounced up and down with sparkling eyes!

    "Let''s go." Rei chuckled.

 Chapter 31 - Ch31. First mission with apprentice 2

    <h4>Chapter 31 - Ch31. First mission with apprentice 2</h4>

    "Konan, if you will?" Rei asked Konan.

    Ringo''s cheerful mood dropped. She wanted to see some of Rei''s raiton! Not some paper techniques!

    Rei saw Ringo''s dimming excitement and smirked. A half-year might have passed but they never showed her their Suiton or Doton. It was time to show the girl.

    Konan nodded at Rei and put her hand in front of her chest, her index and middle fingers outstretched, showing her dark-blue nail polish and her perfect nails.

    Ringo knew Konan did it to mock her! She always gritted her teeth because her nails were always chipped or cracked from sword practice. It was only when Rei showed her a way to reinforce and protect them with chakra, her nails finally stopped being damaged! Konanughed for two months straight at her for being dumb and not asking instructors in the academy about it! Ringo was jealous alright! Even the beauties in the Seduction Corps didn''t look half as good as Konan! They even invited her there! Wellˇ­ granted, that didn''t go well for them. Konan almost skinned them alive... if not for the Mizukage...

    ''SWAT''

    Rei again swatted Ringo for not paying attention. Ringo''s face nted again into the softened paper that Konan prepared under her exactly for this asion. She pouted and focused on Konan as her sensei wanted.

    Konan only watched the young girl with an amused smirk. She noted the girl was looking intently at her hands and shook her head. The hand sign she was ''using'' was exactly that. Just a useless gesture without any meaning. She was using it to fool anyone who was looking. Konan knew how to mold her chakra internally without the signs. Two years was enough to learn it and be inplete control. Hence...

    "Suiton: Thunder Hail Waterfall."

    She pushed her created Suiton chakra and released the hold on her molding to start the Jutsu she held semi-finished until Ringo started paying attention. She was happy for that distraction as it provided her the five minutes she needed to mold her chakra into the massive technique she was about to unleash.

    It was easy to create your own Jutsu once you could consciously mold chakra however you wanted. Yes, it still took time to fine-tune it but at least it was possible and manageable. Most ninjas... took years to create apletely new Jutsu when Rei would need a month and even then it would be for fine-tuning. Konanˇ­ could do it in two months, much to her dismay. Rei was just better at these academic things. All thanks to the inner knowledge of chakra molding and how exactly the Jutsu were made from that point all the way to the shy effects. That''s why sealless Jutsu were so revered.

    Ringo tilted her head as she heard Konan exim the name of the technique. Nothing happened. She was about to open her mouth when a droplet of waternded on her nose. She looked up and her eyes instantly widened as she crouched down and curled into a ball, her face snapped towards the ground and her hands covered it protectively while quivering from fear.

    It was only then a thick rain fell on the castle and its surroundings. It was so dense, it was more of a waterfall from the sky rather than rain. The water level rose, the marshes became smallkes, sweeping everything in the hailstorm of water. The greenery disappeared under the water in a moment as more and more water unceasingly fell from the sky.

    Ringo peeked at her sensei when she didn''t feel herself being crushed by the torrent of water and found that a dome of translucent futon chakra was around the still dry paper tform. She saw Konan looking at her mirthfully and her sensei raised an eyebrow at her reaction. Ringo grimaced but rxed and straightened up.

    She marveled at the gorgeous sight as she spun and looked around. She couldn''t see the castle anymore. She couldn''t see even the surroundings! It was like a thick mist surrounded them! Only, it was made of densely falling water from the sky instead of fog! Ripples were continuously appearing on the futon dome as the water impacted it and flowed down while more water and more fell into the never-ending stream. It was as if Ringo was looking at multiple rivers flowing into each other, battling for superiority all around her! The only thing she could hear was the loud fizzing and cracking sound the water produced as it impacted the dome. Any other sound was quickly absorbed by the waterfall''s own symphony.

    To be honest, the technique was terrific to Ringo. She was sure that just the initial torent of water was enough to crush a human to death. Such an amount of water falling on somebody at once? Ringo shuddered from the thought.

    But here she was. It was a minute and the heavy waterfall of water still fell from the clouds. Ringo heaved a sigh of relief when she saw Konan stop doing the hand sign and the absolute downpour started weakening. It took three more minutes until it stoppedpletely.

    Ringo looked around... at the newly madeke. Trees were crushed as their broken forms barely peeked from the surface. Everything was only clear water all around them. Only the hill and the castle stood proudly but even then water flowed out of the castle''s drainage as a violent river, down the hill into the newly-madeke. Ringo''s thought about how many people were crushed to death by the technique as she saw the slight reddish color of the water flowing out of the castle.

    "Don''t worry. Every person in that castle was a mercenary who helped the Lord suppress the locals. The Lord didn''t allow them to bring p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.es into the castle. Nobody ''innocent'' died." Rei chuckled at Ringo''s pondering expression.

    "Well." Konan interrupted before Ringo could speak. "That took three-quarters of my chakra." She rolled her shoulders as if mockingly showing how tiring was leveling the surroundings. "Rei, your turn."

    Ringo''s jaw dropped. "Sensei! you are going to use a technique!?"

    "Well, the castle is still standing, after all!" He smiled and ruffled Ringo''s hair. Then he pointed up with his index finger. "And this is abination technique, anyway. I couldn''t in good conscience waste all that effort Konan put into it." He grinned as he already started molding his chakra ever since the water started pouring down. He couldn''t let that effort and chakra be put to waste, indeed.

    Ringo looked up again and froze. The clouds... werepletely ck. Massive bluish sparks could be seen raging in them, just waiting to be released onto the ground in a flurry of destruction. Ringo suddenly got a very bad premonition about what''s toe.

    Rei did the exact same hand sign as Konan.

    "Raiton: Thunder Hail Waterfall."

    It was another downpour as Ringo stared in awe. The downpour of lightning.

    The roars of lightning impacting the ground reverberated through thend as the ground trembled from continuous lighting strikes, the thunderous roarspletely deafening everything around. In a way, it was worse than its predecessor, the water. Ringo could clearly see the castle being continuously destroyed by the thick lightning beams as they thundered down onto it, destroying towers, walls, the hill itself. The water all around them got agitated as the lightning impacted it, loud crashing waves started to form and swirl around, reaching meters into the sky as theypletely bypassed the hill and washed around the castle''s wall, getting inside through the damage done by the lightning. Ringo thanked that they were on the paper tform, twenty meters above thend as she was sure these ten meters waves would crush even the Mizu fleet without much resistance. She was sure that the people who won''t die of lightning, will drown in the castle as the water was slowly flooding it.

    It was ten minutester that the lightning still danced all around in a furious symphony of destruction, tearing down thendscape and making the newly-formedke rage under the unceasing thunderstorm. For ten minutes straight, Ringo''s world was filled only with deafening thunders as with gritted teeth and her hands on her ears, she dearly wished the painful sound to stop. Finally, it ceased as Rei put his hand down. And the hill and the castle... were no more.

    Only a clear glitteringke was left behind. The world regained its serenity.

 Chapter 32 - Ch32. Bingo Book

    <h4>Chapter 32 - Ch32. Bingo Book</h4>

    ''This is pathetic.'' Ringo thought as she cut down yet another bandit who was leering at her ten years old form.

    She could see the l.u.s.t in their eyes. It disgusted her to have these eyes aimed at her. So... she cut and cut and cut trying to make it so there was nothing more in need of cutting down.

    This was the ''real'' trial. Her first mission.

    They were on the way from the mission of her sensei and she was told this C-rank mission was for her alone. She was to massacre a camp full of bandits and save town women held there as pleasure ves.

    She was to be brutal. Show the men fear and the wrongness of their path. They had to despair before finally dying. That''s why the screams all around. Ringo was chopping their limbs off instead of outright killing them. It was her mission and killing didn''t bother her. Not since she killed the homeless man trying to molest her when she was six. And the kids in the orphanage always wondered why she was ''different''. She was not. She only understood the world much sooner than them.

    She evaded an agonizingly slow sh and relieved a thug of his hands at the wrists. She wondered if this is how Rei-sensei feels when sparring with her. This... dull feeling. It sent chills through her spine thinking she could be in the ce of the thugs. That there indeed were monsters who would see her effort only as agonizingly slow or... dull. Not worth a mention.

    Ringo gained another eye-opener in this mission. She really thought that she had enough of them for this month.

    The killing was... easy. Coping with it was surprisingly... easy. Witnessing an entirendscape being reformed with a single Jutsu was not. Coping with that was NOT easy! Seeing what real power means was not easy for Ringo.

    But she would cope. She would always cope. She had to.

    With another angry battle shout, Ringo charged at yet another bandit, making it as bloody and gruesome as possible. She had a job. Distractions were unneeded. Not now.

    ...

    Rei, Konan, and Ringo stood in front of the Mizukage after their report. He nodded at them.

    "You may go. Thank you for the job well done." The Mizukage told them. "Ringo, stay please."

    Rei shrugged at Konan and they left.

    The Mizukage turned to Ringo with a serious expression.

    "Genin Ameyuri." His expression somewhat softened. "So... you saw."

    "I-..." Ringo didn''t know what to say to the man.

    "You saw the might an S-rank shinobi can hold."

    Ringo nodded mutely, mulling over the words. Indeed. She saw that might makes right. That was exactly what she saw. That was...

    "The power that could level entire viges." The Mizukage gravely stated.

    "Yes." Ringo croaked with difficulty. She wanted to be the best raiton user of Kiri. But now... Now she saw what exactly that meant. She couldn''t see herself in the ce of her sensei. Not yet...

    "How do you feel about it?" The Mizukage asked, making Ringo take a shuddering breath.

    "I...I am weak." Ringo looked towards the ground sullenly.

    "Yes. That you are." Mizukage finally smiled. "You are a bright young woman. Tell me, why do you think I assigned you to Rei?"

    Ringo stiffened. Why indeed. Rei was still a chunin. He should not have had an apprentice. No matter if his prowess were S-rank. Certainly not an orphan like her! He was fit for n children. Those with status!

    As she mulled over it, Mizukage threw her a book. She caught it.

    "Bingo Book?" Ringo tilted her head. She of course knew what the book was.

    "Page 34, and 35." Mizukage told her.

    Ringo opened it on page 34. Her eyes widened as she stared at the page without any photo.

    Rei of Kiri

    Affiliation: Kiri.

    Prowess - S-rank.

    Bounty - none.

    Identity - unknown other than the name.

    Power - Kirigakure no Jutsu capable of blinding even Hyuuga. Always fights in dense mist or uses powerfulndscape-changing suiton cooperation ninjutsu with Konan of Kiri.

    Known Chakra Nature: Raiton, Suiton.

    Nickname - Downpour: Rei of Kiri, Konan of Kiri.

    Ringo''s eyes looked towards Mizukage.

    "Yes. Rei''s identity is still secret. Not even most jonin of Kiri know that Rei-kun is Rei of Kiri. At least those that don''t know him and Konan as more than passing acquaintances don''t. I am keeping a tight lid on it, you see. But his reputation is solid among clients. What... you really thought I would assign an important search and destroy mission from a Daimyo to an unproved chunin? Please..." The Mizukage snorted. "Read the next page."

    Ringo turned to page 35. Another page without a photo.

    Konan of Kiri

    Affiliation: Kiri.

    Prowess - S-rank.

    Bounty - none.

    Identity - unknown other than the name.

    Power - Kirigakure no Jutsu capable of blinding even Hyuuga. Always fights in dense mist or use powerfulndscape-changing suiton cooperation ninjutsu with Rei of Kiri.

    Known Chakra Nature: Futon, Suiton.

    Nickname - Downpour: Rei of Kiri, Konan of Kiri.

    "Nobody knows about Rei''s kenjutsu as nobody ever survived him using it in his mist. Nobody knows of Konan''s real deadliness, her paper Jutsus as nobody ever saw her using it in the mist. Most actually suspect she is proficient in shurikenjutsu or something. Two and half-years of missions and their real prowess and identity are still mostly hidden. But they are the boogeyman of this generation." The Mizukage shook his head and sighed. "The other countries are starting to notice. The unnatural utterly impossible feats of suiton ninjutsu they still couldn''t help but desperately hope is cooperation ninjutsu..."

    "It''s not a-..." Ringo mumbled out of it, wide-eyed.

    "I know." The Mizukage sighed. "I know too well, child."

    "And when they used heavy crushing rain that would not fall even in Ame to devastate a rebel outpost in the Land of Wind with a rain of all things... Some people there never saw rain in their entire lives, Ringo." The Mizukage rubbed his forehead. "I sent them on that mission to see if the dry environment somehow hampers their bullshit suiton. But... st it they actually flooded an entire area in the Land of Wind and created ake! And diplomatically, it was not a pleasant thing."

    "Cautious approach for them means dumping a disgusting amount of mist all around and just cutting through anyone to get to their target without being ''seen''. Seen by anyone left alive, that is. Quite frankly, the only missions I am assigning them are heavy assault ones since they pulled a stunt like that and managed to actually justify it!" The Mizukage chuckled.

    "Why are you showing me this, Mizukage-sama?" Ringo respectfully asked as she came closer and put the book on the table.

    The Mizukage gently smiled and made a hand gesture.

    Ringo could only widen her eyes as four ANBU appeared and rushed out of the room. The Mizukage took a scroll from his table, handing it to Ringo. She read it and went rigid.

    "You want me to get pregnant with Rei..." She stated breathlessly but then her talk about missions shed through her mind. "I refuse, Mizukage-sama."

    Ringo bowed and stayed in bow even though her body quivered at the consequences. She only heard a cheerfulugh.

    "You are ten, Ringo. This was a n forter, of course! A n I discarded. It is not a viable opinion. It would not be right to force you." He told her with a soft expression. Even he was cringing inwardly. He knew to piss off Rei by forcing this mission on Ringo wasn''t something he wanted to see during his lifetime. But he could still word it right to make Ringo more loyal! "That''s why the scroll is yours. You can burn it or keep it... your choice. I would rather have you learn as much under Rei and when the timees, im Kiba to be one of the Seven, child. And most importantly, make Kiri proud."

    Ringo''s eyes watered. The Mizukage was telling her he would like her to reach her dream. Her. An orphan! She deeply bowed again, this time out of sheer respect.

    "Thank you!" She eximed as she sniffed.

    "Now go, Ringo Ameyuri. Get stronger for Kiri." The Mizukage smiled at her.

    The second Ringo left the office, his cheery attitude evaporated. He sighed.

    "Nurturing loyal and powerful people is such a hassle!" He whined out loud and got back to his sted paperwork.

 Chapter 33 - Ch33. Wonders of focused minds

    <h4>Chapter 33 - Ch33. Wonders of focused minds</h4>

    "So? What did you find?"

    Rei looked at the source of the voice, Konan. Konanid n.a.k.e.d on the bed, on her tummy was the small square paper with the seal that connected them together. Rei sat next to her body, studying the seal while touching Konan all over her body. On his hand was a seal that allowed him to inspect the soul of the person he touched. Of course, the soul was connected with the entirety of the body so he had to, ahem, molest Konan.

    "Other than that one should not mess with the soul?" Rei quipped, making Konan roll her eyes at him.

    "I found out we are going to do it again!" Rei eximed and took the small paper from her belly, putting it on the table near the sealing matrix he was working on.

    Konan sat down, looking at Rei to scribble down more seals. Theplicated seals were no longer only words with a few numbers. She just wasn''t able to put her head around them even though she learned English. Shaking her head she dragged her body across the bed, putting her ching on Rei''s shoulder as her arms sn.a.k.e.d around his neck. Closing her eyes she relished the closeness.

    Rei could feel Konan''s b.r.e.a.s.ts on his back and smiled. Through the years he got used to working on seals in this position. He kinda started to miss it when he was trying to think of a seal and Konan was not hanging on his shoulders.

    "What exactly are you trying to do?" Konan''s quiet whisper entered Rei''s ears.

    He hummed as his pen stopped momentarily.

    "I am making a soul detection seal geared towards our souls."

    Rei could feel Konan tilting her head. It was more like she leaned it into himself but the meaning got across.

    "You know my theory that seals are capable of creating dimensions, right?"

    Konan hummed in affirmative. A farfetched theory but Rei was very convincing. After all, these storage seals must find the space to store all these things somewhere.

    "I want to create our own ce. Only for us." Rei told her, making her heart flutter. "For now, I am working on a mechanism to allow entry only to us."

    "Rei..." Konan opened her ambers with a smile. "I love you."

    Rei smiled and softly bopped her head with his. "I love you, too."

    ...

    Rei and Konan entered a vast clearing. It took Rei two months to create the keys but he finally managed it.

    "Whoa!" Konan spun, bewildered, taking a proper look around. "You created this with seals!?"

    The clearing was huge. Enough to fit the entirety of Kirigakure with its training fields. But it ended with ckness. There was nothing following at the end. Just solid darkness. Even the sky was all ck and Konan wasn''t sure how she managed to see without the sun! Rei told her the sight is dependent on the rays from stars and sun! Yet here were none and she could see!

    Rei saw her looking at the sky with a confused expression and smiled.

    "It''s due to seals. There are light-absorbing and air-absorbing seals. They suck air and light from outside, trapping it here. It is then sent from the sky down, making you able to see. I am sure I could get a better design sometimeter but for now, it is enough.

    Konan nodded and approached Re, kissing him.

    "So, the ground is made with Jutsu then?"

    "Yes." Rei softlyughed as he returned her kiss. "It is doton producing Jutsu. It actually worked! And the grass was an experiment to see if the nts can grow here.

    "Where are we?" Konan asked curiously.

    "Ah... I don''t really know, actually. My theory is we are outside of the space. I... think I may be able to define this little dimension to be outside of the time as well but it will take years..." Rei bitterly smiled.

    Konan just kissed the tip of his nose. "We have all the time in the world, my genius."

    "That we do, my love." Rei nodded and kissed her cheek as both felt the nature energy of their dimension increase by the second the more they were inside. It started to affect the grass near them, which was getting greener and greener... Rei got many ideas seeing it but he shrugged them off. He had to fulfill his boyfriend''s duties first.

    "So... up for a pic?" He raised the basket he was holding, making Konan giggle and hug him.

    ...

    A monthter, Rei and Konan stood in the middle of their dimension. They joined their hands.

    "Ready, Konan?"

    "Ready, Rei."

    Both smiled as the chakra and nature energy surged from their bodies, affecting the surroundings. The ground soaked up every bit of it and the world stilled for a second. All was peaceful and quiet until the world trembled. The ground started sending pulses like a heartbeat, sending earthquakes that shed with each other, making the entire dimension violently shudder.

    Only Rei and Konan, standing in the center and the ground under them waspletely still, not moving even an inch. The ground was twisting, raising, lowering, mixing...

    It took twenty minutes until Konan and Rei stopped supplying chakra for the Jutsu that will change their dimension forevermore.

    The ground stilled and then onest pulse could be felt like a shockwave under the earth surface slightly raised the ground before it promptly fell back and... started to lower itself, creating a perfectly t surface. No longer was it a grassy in. Instead, the grasspletely disappeared as a hard brown ground reced it.

    But not for long...

    The ground started cracking all around as if a bud of a new nt was about to rise. The only difference was that these cracks were a few metersrge, cracking the ground in the entire dimension except a circle with a few meters radius around Rei and Konan.

    Both Rei and Konan knelt down and mmed both of their palms to the ground, sending a pulse through it, pushing air away from themselves, creating shockwaves.

    "Mokuton: Evergrowing Evergreen."

    Their voices reverberated through the entire dimension as vines as thick as buildings started to cover the ground, snaking their way, intertwining, smashing, and pushing each other.

    When the vines finally covered the entire dimension except for a circle of a few hundred meters around Rei and Konan, they stopped. Instead of ground, the dimension was full of massive vines.

    Then the vines started creaking as if in pain when massive trees thrice as thick as the vines started forcefully pushing their way through them from the ground, reaching the ''sky'' almost touching the ceiling of the artificial dimension. Leaves started to slowly but at a visible rate grow from the branches, painting the dimension green.

    These trees were all special. All having the power to gather the natural energy and saturate the ground and the air with it.

    Rei and Konan could feel the nature energy being gathered from the space beyond their dimension. Space ''around''. Space ''below''. Or space ''above''. It just all started to hurtle and oversaturate their dimension. The more nature energy the trees gathered, the faster their leaves grew until they started falling down, touching the ground, dissolving there, gifting the ground with energy.

    As the energy filled the ground, the earth surged ording to the intent of Rei and Konan, covering the vines, swirling like a whirlpool with the center around the space with Rei and Konan, mixing the nature energy as if it was in a pot of boiling water being mixed by a spoon. But slowly, the energy started snapping. Transforming.

    And then... everything changed. The trees stopped sucking nature energy from the surrounding space and instead started to ''produce'' their own nature energy. Completely different nature energy. Nature energy... tailored for Konan and Rei and their chakra, their souls.

    Both Rei and Konan powerlessly fell onto the ground, unable to move as they felt their chakra storespletely drained almost as much as they felt the immense drain in their mind. Their focus.

    "Heh, told ya it would work." Rei dryly chuckled.

    "You and your theories." Konan mumbled with a giggle.

    "If there can be two different nature energies in two different worlds..." Rei started.

    "... then we can create our own nature energy suited only for us." Konan finished.

    "We did it, love." Rei tenderly whispered, still in disbelief. "We did it. We created a self-sustaining dimen..."

    "That we di..."

    Both fell asleep mid-sentence from the sheer exhaustion.

 Chapter 34 - Ch34. Konan training Ringo? Uh-oh.

    <h4>Chapter 34 - Ch34. Konan training Ringo? Uh-oh.</h4>

    Rei sat on theke in ''their'' training ground. The Mizukage made sure to permanently book it for Konan and Rei. Rei knew it was yet another of his moves to show them that Kiri was cherishing them. Showing them they are deemed important to the vige. And for that Rei would help Kiri in need. But he won''t do it until there will be a profit to be had for him. He was still a shinobi and as a shinobi acting for the good of others was just not in the guidebook.

    Rei''s hands were on the surface of the water. He channeled katon chakra into the center of theke, deep under the surface, and kept trying to keep it there despite it being inside of its pr opposite, water. It was not easy but he found out it was the best control exercise for katon chakra. He neglected it for years as he was busy but as Konan decided she would train Ringo, he finally found a peaceful time to practice it.

    He watched as Ringo swung her sword at Konan, only to be blocked by brown paper, signalizing it was hardened. Rei sighed. Konan was even showing Ringo which papers were hardened, which had water, and which were sharpened by coloring them brown, blue, and green! Yet, Ringo somewhat managed to always evade futon papers only to hit doton ones, unable to bypass the secondyer of Konan''s protective paper barrier. He shook his head as he saw her charge again, her double swords coated in lightning...

    Ringo charged at Konan. She knew her speed was solid jonin level after two years of training with Rei! He taught her how to raise it with her raiton chakra and put her through literal hell to raise her natural speed! With raiton chakra, she was finally able to reach the threshold to jonin speed!

    She parried a futon paper and jumped to the right to evade another. As shended, she spun, making two futon papers bypass her by an inch while her swords deflected two other paper slices. Ringo was sure that if her swords didn''t have concentrated raiton chakra, Konan''s papers would damage the expensive de made out of chakra metal!

    As her spin ended, Ringo could see then more futon papers fly at her and she crouched down, jumping over them, twisting her body mid-air while channeling her raiton chakra into a Jutsu.

    "Raiton: Depth Charge!"

    Her body was enveloped in very concentrated raiton chakra, sending bolts of energy from her body to avert the futon paper slices away from her. It worked and shended on the ground, unharmed. Springing up, she again started running at Konan who motionlessly stood in the same ce for over four hours now, as Ringo tried to reach her.

    The game was simple.

    Three areas. Frist futon, second doton, third suiton. So far, Ringo reached only doton area before she was pushed back to the futon one and then had to disengagepletely as she was getting winded.

    As she ran forward, Ringo was happy when she saw she crossed the edge of the futon area. From now on, she didn''t have to worry about sharpened slices of paper. Only the doton-hardened ones were in this area.

    It really hammered down the difference between her and Konan when she realized she was happy to face only one type of Konan''s attack and even then had a hard time to reach her. For Konan as a ranged fighter, that was a real show of strength.

    Ringo braced herself. She knew this area was designed to test her strength. Something shecked. In the futon area, she could pass with speed alone. This one, however...

    Lightning was supposed to be strong against Earth but...

    Ringo''s de coated in raiton chakra parried the first doton paper, making Ringo''s feet slid a foot on the grass until she managed to brace herself and put her weight behind her parry. She twisted her arm, sending the paper to the side.

    She took a stance, one arm outstretched forward, holding her sword across her body while the other was behind her, holding her second sword in a reverse grip.

    Tens of papers flew at her, and Ringo, spun on her heel, forcing her raiton chakra to quicken her spinning rate. The coating on her swords was pulsing as she was molding raiton chakra for a Jutsu. Something she herself developed with the help of Rei-sensei.

    "Raiton: Heavenly Rotation."

    Her sensei told her the name was a p to the Hyuuga''s face and she really liked it.

    Her spinning created a dome that spun at very high-speed, vibrating and repulsed anything that came into contact with it. The papers were being flung backward as they impacted the dome but Ringo wanted to puke blood from the sheer force employed in them. She felt as if she was being crushed by just blocking them!

    She deflected thest and her focus slipped, only for her eyes to widen. Another paper impacted her dissipating dome, flinging her body to the right side. Shended on her feet into a crouch, coughing slightly.

    "That hurt." She grumbled as she started running towards impassive Konan again.

    Ringo breathed hard when she was forced to deflect multiple doton papers at high-speed while jumping from side to side as she tried to advance. Inch by inch. She was not about to give up!

    Her panting intensified but she finally deflected everything close to her! She smirked right into Konan''s face.

    "I-,haa, did it, huu." Ringo was gulping air greedily. It was not over yet! She would reach the thir-

    Her eyes only registered the minuscule upturn of the corner of Konan''s lips when she felt as if Truck-kun, as Rei-sensei tried to say, impacted her back.

    "Achaa! That''s game over if I see one." Rei chuckled as he saw Ringo''s body sail through the doton area, passing suiton area, and flying way past Konan''s figure only to impact the ground which sent Ringo''s body into a forceful roll for tens of meters until it finally stopped. It was only her raiton chakra still in her system that made it possible to leave only with a few nasty bruises after such a disy of kic rollercoaster.

    "Sigh. That baka-deshi. She once again managed to piss Konan off with her cheek. Then again..."

    Rei turned to the right where the real Konan was sitting not far from him, reading a book.

    "Did you really have to put enough force to break ten trees into that paper?"

    Konan calmly raised her head and her amber eyes impassively stared at the sprawled form of twitching Ringo.

    "Yes."

 Chapter 35 - Ch35. Konan and Rei, finally one.

    <h4>Chapter 35 - Ch35. Konan and Rei, finally one.</h4>

    Rei was mulling over a missing part in his fuinjutsu when he heard the door to the room open. He raised his head and froze, his throat going dry, making him gulp. He just realized... today, both him and Konan are fifteen!

    Konan walked inside, swaying her h.i.p.s as her privates were covered in underwear made of paper. Her steps were purposeful, slow, focused to give him show and emphasize her curves. Konan wore her typical make-up as she stopped three meters in front of Rei and leaned forward, giving him a look at her cleavage, her hands behind her back.

    Rei could see her eyes sparkling, expecting his reaction as both stared at each other.

    "..." Rei stared at her with his mouth open.

    "..." Konan stared at him, her lips curling up.

    "Paper...seriously." Rei deadpanned, making her face-fault.

    She sprang up to her feet.

    "What! It appeared the most natural!" Konan shouted while pouting sullenly.

    "I am sure." Rei snorted, averting his gaze, trying to hide his snickers.

    Konan sat on the edge of the bed with a huff, crossing her arms.

    Rei chuckled and approached her, he put his knee between her legs and cupped her chin, dragging her face to meet his as he embraced her.

    Rei looked at the small woman in his arms. She was barely 5 feet 3 inches tall and while he was not that tall either, her head was barely reaching his chin.

    He smiled and put his chin on the crown of her head, his hands on her h.i.p.s.

    "How are you feeling?" He asked tenderly.

    "I love you." She blurted out, somewhat helplessly but then her body rxed as she somehow found amus.e.m.e.nt in the situation and released a small giggle.

    "And here we are. I wanted to seduce you yet it is you who are doing the seducing."

    "Well, at least you are cute." Rei told her, making her widen her eyes and before she could give some cheeky reply, he imed her crimson lips.

    Their lips separated as Rei pulled his head away from her.

    "Ne?" He gave her an eye smile, only to feel his long braid be grabbed by Konan and pull him towards her as she started trailing pecks on his lips while her hands sn.a.k.e.d around his neck, pulling him closer to her.

    Konan jerked her body backward, making her back fall onto the bed while pulling Rei with her.

    Rei smiled at her as he stored his clothes into a storage seal on the bracelet around his wrist.

    "Are you sure you want this now?" He quietly asked Konan. He knew she was prone to be hasty when it came to these things.

    "Be gentle, okay?" She timidly nodded and spoke in a mouse-like voice.

    "I wanted nothing else for years." Konan whispered with a longing, desire-filled voice.

    She started kissing the crook of Rei''s neck, and her hands started slowly scratching his bare back.

    Rei was momentarily distracted until he felt her teeth nibble on his corbone. He was now assured that Konan really wanted this and wasn''t about to let her be in the lead.

    Rei pulled his body backward, into a sitting position while Konan''s hands instantly tightened her hold around his neck, pulling her body upwards, trying to get into hisp.

    Rei held her around her waist with one hand, helping her body rise as his second hand made the girl yelp when it took a handful of her ass to help her up. Konan didn''t hesitate and her legs ended locked behind his back.

    They made out until Konan decided she had enough as she felt Rei''s stiff member pressing on her butt. She raised her body and lowered herself, stopping only when she felt the tip of his p.e.n.i.s slightly spreading her slit.

    "Ko-"

    Before Rei could continue, Konan pushed his entire length into herself, her embrace tightening as she felt the pain of losing her v.i.r.g.i.nity. She took a deep breath and started moving up and down. She was kunoichi. Small sting like that won''t stop her! Not when she waited years for this!

    Rei was bewildered. Konan just took his v.i.r.g.i.nity so fast he didn''t even manage to blink! He bit back augh and decided. If she wanted to y it this way, then sure. He will oblige!

    His left hand touched her lower back, pushing raiton chakra into it, sending a jolt of pleasure through her spine, making Konan straighten up with a squeal.

    She red at Rei for that and her hands grabbed Rei''s h.i.p.s, sending her suiton chakra, making his body instantly rx. He didn''t lose control but with his body loosened like this, it was hard to move and Konan was in the charge.

    Konan pushed his upper body back, making it fall onto the bed as she straddled him, rocking her body back and forth while panting. Rei felt her wet and warm walls as her body begged for release. Releasing his own suiton chakra into his system, he regained the control and quickened the pace, putting his hands on Konan''s thighs sending his lightning chakra to her nerve endings, up her thighs, making them all tingle with pleasure. He could see Konan''s body stiffening, coiling, as instead of continuous panting she was now releasing sharp breaths. She was almost there. Rei continued. His chakra was climbing up her thigh through her nervous system, ring every nerve ending it encountered, and when it finally reached herher regions... the nerve endings in her p.u.s.s.y, Konan squealed in a high-pitched girlish tone as her slit started gushing out juices while Konan''s body was continuously shuddering in delight.

    Rei felt himself being gripped in crushing fleshy walls, feeling Konan''s warmth, he couldn''t resist and released a hot m.o.a.n as he climaxed inside of Konan.

    He felt Konan''s body fall onto his, still shivering in ecstasy. Theyid there for five minutes like that when Konan started moving again and Rei pulled her head up, kissing her.

    Their night only started. They had much, much more chakra and energy to spare for this much awaited night!

    ...

    They were at it for six hours straight, until all l.u.s.t was filtered out of their system by sheer tiredness and the wetness around them. The sheets were drenched in their mutual juices, mixing together.

    Konan looked at Rei''s head that rested on her chest. She was... proud. She made her man exhaust himself so much, he was unable to move! It made her giggle as her fingers coursed through his hair. She loved his long hair as her fingers could swim in them, feeling the silkiness. At times, it made her jealous but Rei always made sure topliment how he absolutely loved her neck-long hair.

    Konan was looking at Rei''s drooping eyes and sighed in absolute satisfaction as she could still feel his seeds deep inside of herself. It made her so d that Rei made that anti-pregnancy seal. She wouldn''t want to lose this feeling due to caution!

    Rei felt... proud. No, really! How many men could say they went blow fo-, ahem, orgasm for orgasm with the girl of their dreams!

    His cheek was sinking in Konan''s modest but veryfortable chest as he felt Konan''s fingers massage his scalp. Konan hummed as she cared for him. He could feel how much of a warm goo her body became and was actually impressed she could move her hand through his hair. He could still feel on his belly how wet her crotch was and how her muscles were rxed. He wondered if either of them would be able to move tomorrow as their muscles reached their limit in the third hour of their lovemaking due to the excessive use of fine-controlled elemental chakra they pushed through themselves.

    But... as with explosives, if it ain''t working, you ain''t using enough.

    Konan just pushed more suiton chakra into Rei''s muscles, rxing them to keep going in her desire-driven pursuit for his body while Rei pumped her nerves with his raiton chakra as he didn''t want her to stop looking at him with such a loving devotion in her eyes.

    They knew well this was not the smartest approach. When your muscles are about to give up... you probably should not force them to continue for hours. Rei was sure their bodies gave out somewhere between the fifth and sixth hour and neither could move anymore. Konan''s nervous system was screaming in pleasure at her to NOT put more raiton chakra through it and Rei''s muscles stopped working no matter how much he wanted them to continue. Their mindsˇ­ were far too gone long ago.

    Somehow, neither wanted to lose this connection. They could feel their souls embracing each other as they had s.e.x and it brought them to new heights of mental high. Konan just used her paper to move while Rei used his fabled chakra strings! In the end, they stopped at the end of the sixth hour as even their chakra gave out. Their bodiespletely numb as a slight pleasurable ache ran through their entire beings.

    Neither regretted taking this step as both knew they desired it greatly for years. Now... they were finally one.

 Chapter 36 - Ch36. Emergency Mission 1

    <h4>Chapter 36 - Ch36. Emergency Mission 1</h4>

    Pa treon - 30 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    Rei and Konan came into Mizukage''s office as they were called.

    The Mizukage noticed Konan''s quite obvious limp and smirked widely.

    "Ara, ara~. I see you had quite a funny weekend, Rei-kun~. I wonder~, how did young Konan end up in that state?" He wiggled his eyebrows at them, making three ANBU snicker, revealing their positions as the fourth female ANBU groaned and red at the males.

    "Too much lightning chakra through my nerve endings." Konan deadpanned, making the people in the room freeze.

    Suddenly the female ANBU fell from the ceiling to the ground, a trail of blood flowing from underneath her mask as she giggled perversely.

    The three ANBU were giving Rei an Elfman-patented stare of ''Otoko!'' with thumbs up while the Mizukage was gaping. His mouth continuously opened and closed in speechlessness as his mind was deciding if he should continue with his previous attitude and go all ''Men~'' at Rei or actually do what he wanted and promptly bang his head on the table as he groaned before he started facepalming!

    The elemental chakra was aggressive. To push it to the body of another person and NOT damage something was hard as hell. That''s why medics needed superb control! Yet using it during s.e.x? Mizukage shuddered as his lower part was getting ufortable and he was d there was a table in front of him. A luxury his ANBU guards didn''t have, he noted with his trained eye.

    If only they didn''t shed all these manly tears... He mused as he tipped the Kage hat down, ashamed of his ANBU.

    Rei saw the conflict on Mizukage''s face and was about to say something,pletely ignoring the twitching female ANBU between them but then the Mizukage''s face split into a lecherous smile.

    "Oho~. You are quite skilled, aren''t you, Rei-kun~! With your ''skills''," The smile on Mizukage''s smile widened as he eye-smiled and continued. "can poor Konan-chan even keep up with you by her lonesome self?"

    "Of course, she is very skilled with suiton chakra!" Rei cheerfully eximed, ignoring the three thuds all around the room as the three remaining ANBU fell to the ground, only masks hiding their ted, dreamy expressions.

    And they say the security in Kage''s office is the best one could find... Rei mentally deadpanned but his face was still smiling as even the Mizukage nted his face on his hard table with a groan.

    I win~... Rei''s smile got positively Cheshire.

    The Mizukage finally raised his head again and his expression twisted into seriousness.

    "I called you here for a mission. It is an emergency. The Daimyo''s son was kidnapped."

    Rei stared at Mizukage in exasperation. Konan dreamily stared at Rei while the Mizukage stared at his four ANBU quite irked at the groans they released.

    Since when do we employ perverts?... He thought, a vein pulsing on his forehead. Poor him, he forgot the golden rule of Narutoverse. All chakra users were perverts! Even Kaguya was slugged into her face due to Reverse Harem no Jutsu!

    "You are certainly taking your time, then." Rei uttered boredly.

    "Ah?... ah!" The Mizukage understood what Rei meant and just waved his hand from side to side in a dismissive motion. "It''s the son of the Daimyo. If that scu-, ahem, boy died...," The Mizukage shrugged. "Who cares? Bring his bo-, ahem, him back, will you? We were already paid for at least attempting it. Oh! You may consider taking one day off before you depart! That little shit said my mustache looks ugly. One day with kidnappers regretfully won''t kill him! I am ''positive''."

    The Mizukage''s face was beaming and Rei knew that ''day off'' was more of an order than a suggestion. He shrugged as a smile tugged on his face as they left the office.

    ...

    Kakuzu sat in the chair in the room where he and his little band of misfits momentarily hid after they kidnapped the sc.u.m of the Daimyo of Water.

    To be perfectly honest, even he was disgruntled by the things the boy did. Sure, he was shinobi and for MONEY he would do anything. But he felt that the boy took the candle. His morals were so skewed that he would make a fine shinobi!

    If only he was not a pampered little shit.

    But s, the survival of the little prince all came down to one thing only. Money.

    No money, no life.

    No sweet 5 billion Ryo, no more privilege of keeping his head on his shoulders.

    That was Kakuzu''s motto when dealing with things like kidnapping a target that could potentially start another shinobi war. Ah, the woes of nuke-nin life~.

    Kakuzu, despite everything, fancied himself a reasonable man. Unlike everybody surmised, Money was not his hobby. Money was his priority. His lifeblood. His soul force. His ''bruh'' for all purposes!

    But not his hobby.

    His hobby was simple. Knitting! Oh, how he like-

    ''Creak, creak, creak.''

    And oh, how he hated annoying little shits especially when they woke up...

    Kakuzu stood up with a grunt, alerting the swordsman in the corner. He gestured to him to not worry and proceeded upstairs into the room they held their prisoner.

    He opened the door and entered only to see the reason for the creaking sound.

    The little shit was n.a.k.e.d on the bed, m.o.a.ning heatedly as a woman rode him with passion.

    Kakuzu blinked. Why would she? Did the boy perhaps offer her money? Sure he too wou-, NO, bad Kakuzu! Don''t be blinded by money!

    Then he blinked again and a lightbulb went on in his head. He put his hands into a hand sign.

    "Kai."

    The Genjutsu dissolved and the boy became quickly clothed. Still writhing and m.o.a.ning as he still saw himself enjoying the ethereal beauty on top of him.

    Kakuzu turned to the corner to his right.

    "Why do you make him believe you''re f.u.c.k.i.n.g him?" He exasperatedly asked the woman sitting there while boredly cleaning her kunai set. She was not nearly as pretty as the one he ''saw'' on the boy but with a striking resemnce.

    Karumi, the genjutsu mistress he picked up on his travels after she massacred the team from her vige and unfortunately got caught, making her nuke-nin, just raised her head disinterestedly.

    "Well, if this fails, I can still be one of his courtesans. These have a nice life, I heard..." She shrugged and looked at the boy in disgust. "Not like I would have to do much."

    "Ah, money." Kakuzu nodded in understanding.

    "Maro won''t be happy. He liked doing you." Kakuzu grunted. Maro didn''t ask for much money. As long as Karumi pretended to like him.

    "And since when do you care?" Karumi rolled her eyes.

    "Money." Kakuzu grumbled.

    "We can always find someone else." Karumi shrugged with her left shoulder.

    "But Money." Kakuzu gave her a meaningful look.

    "I already tasted Maro. He''s nd. Average in the sack and in fights. All he has going for him is that special kenjutsu of his." Karumi defended her cause.

    "M-o-n-e-y!" Kakuzu spelled it for her. Why the heck couldn''t the girl understand his plight? He was talking in the intergctguage after all! Was she that dumb!?

    "Fine! I will do it with Maro. Sigh, I hate that he is too strong for genjutsu... But you will raise my pay." Karumi red at Kakuzu. She knew the life of a nuke-nin wasn''t that great. But... surprisingly, it wasn''t that different than work in the vige.

    Go there, sleep with that guy, slit his throat, that noble wants a taste of kunoichi...

    Ah, the life of the Seduction Corps. Why the heck did she be shinobi again?

    Uh-oh. Tarou Mokuro, thest of the Mokuro n... I wanted to ''cure'' his heart... Karumi thought in depression when she remembered her fangirl phase and where it led her.

    "Money." Kakuzu simply grunted as he shook his head in dismissal.

    Before Karumi could argue more, Kakuzu was already out of the room, leaving her gaping at his back, only heated m.o.a.ns of the noble shit and the creaking of the bed apanying her. It was official. Her life sucked.

 Chapter 37 - Ch37. Emergency Mission 2

    <h4>Chapter 37 - Ch37. Emergency Mission 2</h4>

    Kakuzu came down and sat into his rocking chair, he took into his hands two knitting needles and giddily thought.

    What should I make? Socks? Nooo, those are nd! Hmmm, what about a pink scarf! Un! These sell well!

    His body was bouncing up and down in giddiness as Maro, the swordsman interrupted him.

    "Kakuzu-dono, did your suiton heart perhaps discover who they sent after us?"

    Kakuzu grumbled under his nose about time-wasting idiots of teammates but answered.

    "No. It is lurking around Kiri but nothing ye-"

    A knocking sound resounded through the room, making both of them tense.

    "I will go and check." Maro politely told Kakuzu.

    Kakuzu shrugged, slightly loosening his strands, in preparation for a fight. Sighing, he took one knitting needle into his hand as he sadly pondered about the futility of it all.

    Suddenly he heard a buzzing sound but before he could warn Maro, he saw a sword enhanced with raiton piercing through the wall, decapitating the useless idiot!

    Damn, he was not worth HIS money!

    Kakuzu grumbled mentally as he stood up.

    The door fell down, revealing a man in white kimono and a in white ANBU-style mask holding a chokuto gleaming with raiton chakra. As the door stopped obstructing the way, a dense white mist rushed past the man, shrouding him in itself as it started filling the house.

    Kakuzu didn''t hesitate.

    "Futon: Atsugai!"

    The pressurized wind blew the entire front of the house away as it dispersed most of the mist in front of it for a whole kilometer.

    Kakuzu groaned as he saw it! As the air hit the masked man, he changed into water! It was a water clone!

    Kakuzu grumbled at the humiliation of having his hired sword killed off by a water clone. Maybe it was time to spen-, ahem, to spen-, uh, to... to invest! Yes, to invest some... money... into a proper fighter? Perish the thought... his money!

    Kakuzu didn''t have much time to ponder as he clicked his tongue. The mist war returning.

    As he saw the density of the mist, he realized who he was fighting.

    "Rei of Kiri... leave. You have no bounty. You are worthless." He impassively stated.

    Shit, shit, shit! Why must my luck be so bad! If I am to be attacked at least make it someone who can shit gold! ... Kakuzu internally cried.

    As he got no reaction from the mist, he frowned and with a resigned sigh.

    ''BOOM''

    He jerked as he heard the explosioning from the room with Karumi and their hostage. He would pull his hair if it helped! His money was running away! He pulled out his fire and wind mask from his back in anger.

    "So be it."

    The masks suddenly surged with an incredible amount of chakra as they did abination Jutsu of Futon: Atsugai and Katon: Intelligent Hard Work. The world... burned.

    ...

    A few moments after Kakuzu left the room with the son of Daimyo:

    Karumi sighed as she watched ''her'' body m.o.a.n from ''pleasure''. Genjutsu it may be but it made her incredibly annoyed to keep it up. But this was her chance. She would never get so close to the son of Daimyo. If she showed her... good points to him and he got interested, she would be a winner.

    Her expression cked as she imagined the dreamy lifestyle of a noble concubine! But then she froze for a second before instantly weaving hand signs.

    "You are good. But I am not the partner of Kakuzu for my incredible looks alone."

    She smirked, seeing a female figure with neck-long bluish hair and in white mask appear near the window, standing there without moving.

    "Heh, genjutsu sess." Karumi snorted, she put the woman under a nasty genjutsu of losing all five senses. Karumi boredly flung a kunai into the forehead area of the unmoving figure after she looked over the curves of the figure, giddily noting she was not losing!

    She saw the kunai get stabbed up to the handle through the mask into the forehead of the figure.

    "Why would they send someone so wea-" Karumi was saying while shaking her head when her eyes got wide as the figure started bloating...

    ''Boom''

    Karumi managed to cover her face with her arms to prevent damage but her body was still flung into the wall behind her due to the explosion. It impacted the wall and slid down as Karumi ended on her ass.

    She groaned and blinked a few times to get a clear view. It took her at most four seconds to get her mind back into the fighting condition but all she could do was gape as the m.o.a.ning and writhing noble''s body was pulled via chakra strings from the bed, dragging it through the newly-made hole in the wall the explosion caused. She just lost her hostage!

    Shit, shit, shit! Kakuzu will kill me! No! He will whore me for money and then kill me! ... Karumi''s mind was panicking. She lost 5 billion ticket! This was bad bad bad!

    Poor Karumi was unaware that Kakuzu already knew as he let a few strands of his in the room, connected to his body.

    She suddenly felt an incredible surge of chakra.

    "Shit." Was the only thing her terrified mind could produce before... pain.

    ...

    Rei and Konan watched from a nearby hill as the madman produced abination of Katon and Futon Jutsu, creating a firestorm engulfing the entire area.

    "Damn, that must have burned half of the forest!" Rei eximed as he sat on the groaning noble prick they were hired to save. The princeling was all dirty from mud and dust... not to say his sweat as Rei''s strings dragged him a few kilometers on the ground in a few seconds. Only his protectiveyer of doton chakra made the civilian survive the ordeal.

    "Yes, he certainly didn''t pull punches." Konan nodded boredly.

    "Well, let''s go. No need to stick with him here. We have a delivery," Rei kicked the boy he was sitting on with his heel. "to finish."

    "Yes, I will leave a few clones to y with the guy." Konan smiled and ten paper clones formed around them, rushing at Kakuzu as Rei and Konan turned around and walked away. Their mission half-aplished.

    ...

    Kakuzu growled. Sure, he killed Karumi but the bitch deserved it! He looked at the scorched newly-made clearing as his katon/futonpletely burned the cottage to ash. He was about to rejoin the masks when he was forced to lean back as futon enhanced paper almost hit his shoulder!

    His growl intensified.

 Chapter 38 - Ch38. Emergency Mission 3

    <h4>Chapter 38 - Ch38. Emergency Mission 3</h4>

    Kakuzu suddenly jumped up while lifting his legs to his chest, evading three doton papers that crashed into the ground, spreading cracks through it.

    His left hand was sent flying towards the ground where it buried into it, flinging his entire body to the side to evade sharp futon paper shurikens while his two masks started sting Futon: Atsugai and Katon: Intelligent Hard Work all around.

    The whole field was full of mes, pressurized wind, and incredibly durable paper, creating a hailstorm of danger.

    Kakuzu sped up towards a silhouette of a person and engaged it in a bout of taijutsu. He was winning. Kicking that person around like a ragdoll. It was a woman, he noted. She was good at technique and speed but her bodycked powerpared to his. It was as if she were made of... his eyes widened when he was about to deliver a punch to her face only for his arm to bury into her head up to his elbow!

    He didn''t even have a chance to hear any sizzling sound before...

    ''Boom''

    The paper clone made solely of exploding tags sted a crater of the size of a smallke into the ground.

    Kakuzu wobbly stood up, noting his arm ripped to shreds from the explosion. He at least managed to harden his body with Doton: Iron Skin. He was shaking his head to get his ears into working condition again when he spat blood from his mouth. He looked down, only to see a womanly hand with blue, very cared for, nails covered in his blood as his the was sticking from his chest, holding his heart that painted these blue nails bloody red.

    Kakuzu snarled as his threads made short work of the woma-, he cursed. Of the clone, he noted as he saw it dissolve into paper. He lost one heart to a clone. His raiton one! He felt ashamed! He! He who survived Hashirama! F.u.c.k this shit!

    He still had his doton heart in his body. He decided to get serious. His body parts fall apart, the ck threadsing out of it.

    He noted his futon and katon masks killed four paper clones so far. Four assants remained.

    "You are a lucky girl! Six out of ten, all clones. But now I have a twenty-five percent chance to hit the original." Kakuzu stated as the threads expanded all around him, trying to appear threatening while the threads from his feet entered underground, approaching his opponents.

    "It has a brain."

    "It can talk."

    "It can count."

    "It can do the math."

    The clones dryly uttered one after another and jumped to the side, evading the threads shooting from the ground, pissing Kakuzu off even more, making him focus on them.

    They were supposed to stall. So, stall they would.

    Kakuzu could only hopelessly watch as his enemy took the defensive approach and swapped to ranged tactics. He understood. These two clones that injured him were there to slow his body and the four clones his masks destroyed were to observe his attack pattern.

    The four in front of him were only a nuisance to stall him. He understood... he lost his 5 billion Ryo hostage for good!

    With a snarling fury, he jumped into the battle.

    ...

    And while Kakuzu fought, Rei looked at the rapist who was being dragged in his chakra strings. He was mulling if it wasn''t better to do the world a favor and kill the guy off, suffering the first failed mission in his career.

    He could understand Raikage ordering kidnappings of Kekkei Genkai girls. Not condone it and certainly not approve but understand the reason, he could. It was all politics and ''for the vige''. Disgusting but it WORKED in the long run. Maybe cruel but it WAS efficient.

    The women were miserable. But males? For those more informed, the Raikage, at least the third, actually preferred to kidnap males and showered them with literal harems of kunoichi to pamper the shit out of them in any way conceivable. They got wealth. They got any woman they pointed at, if she didn''t belong to someone else, and was agreeable to the disgustingly high pay procuring a kid with Kekkei Genkai would give her. They lived in heaven on earth and after their useability was finished, they were ALLOWED to keep three of their favorite kunoichi. They just could notin!

    Rei could also understand Mizukage trying to manipte him to have s.e.x with the women of Kiri to produce babies. Konan had to chase these away on a WEEKLY basis. It would first, tie him down to Kiri and second, create a future shinobi with good potential. Not to say, shinobi who would be raised IN Kiri and shinobi Rei would actually teach everything he knew as they would be his kids. If they revealed to Mizukage that Konan had Kekkei Tota? Rei was sure even Mizukage would pull Raikage on Rei, drowning him in money and women. He would at least not think of putting hands on Konan as he was aware she could blow Kiri to high heavens if she was so inclined. He was maniptive. Not stupid. He knew even restrained and bound, Konan could still use her paper.

    Rei also understood the idiotic way Hiruzen tried or will try, to manipte Naruto. It was... stupid, to say the least as it could have backfired in any conceivable way possible. But it was a solid attempt at maniption for the good of the vige.

    Heck! Rei could even understand Danzo! He hated how he treated and mind-f.u.c.k.i.e.d the orphans, all to make them a tool for himself. He was very put off when he read about it in his old world. After he actually became a shinobi and saw a bit of the Narutoverse? He didn''t quite admire the man, more like felt disgust but grudging respect. Not everybody would be a monster enough to do what Danzo did and wholeheartedly believed it was for the ''greater good'' of his vige. It really put things into a perspective.

    Rei had no delusions. If Hiruzen stayed Hokage for ten more years, little Naruto would spend days in the eager care of many Konoha kunoichi to recreate the Uzumaki n in Konoha and make sure Yondaime had some grandkids that could inherit Hiraishin. Oh, Naruto was NEVER meant to inherit THAT Jutsu. Scorned Jinchuuriki with Hiraishin? That was a disaster just waiting to happen...

    What? Some clueless fools believed that Hokage didn''t have ess to it? Hah. Blood seal? Naruto was on his beck and call. As was his blood. The problem was more in the set-up of Hiraishin sea?, Rei surmised from his knowledge of seals. It must be a bloodline linking seal that was usable in its full ability only for Minato''s descendants. Minato after all had or will have ess to Uzumaki seals via Kushina, and this one was widely used by that n. That was the reason why most scrolls looted from Uzushiogakure were deemed worthless and the entire raid was marked as a ring failure.

    That was the only thing that would prevent it from being learned willy-nilly. And since no one knew Hiraishin jutsu in the future he knew of... Rei was almost a hundred percent sure that was what Minato would do. Key it to his descendants only. Of course, he as the seal master could give someone a tweaked seal that could be used... say, by his bodyguards. But it would be a very watered-down version.

    It was VERY important for the viges that bloodlines survived. The Kages really pulled no moral stops to ensure that. Naruto dodged that bullet due to Tsunade thinking of him as her grandson. She didn''t want him to live a life of debauchery. To lose his innocent nature. Or whatever went through her head.

    As for Sasuke, for him, it was an obvious conclusion. The girls were fangirls. But most of them? Their parents tried to push them onto him. Yes, he would be given Kunoichi to reproduce the n. But if he liked a civilian girl? He could take her. Nobody wouldin if the almost extinct Uchiha n got more kids.

    Rei marveled at the amount of information about these matters he could find in the Kiri Library. They were not even restricted. The second Mizukage had five women, not of his n, to keep the Hozuki n up and running and inject new blood, for example. Most ns practice polygamy. And worse yet, inbreeding. It is only thanks to the chakra that the kids are not born retarded... yet. But the problems were ringly obvious. Just look at Kaguya males!

    Another example, where during the Warring States ns had hundreds, approaching a thousand members, now, they were barely around one hundred strong.

    That''s why whenever there was the LAST male of a n, cue Sasuke''s situation, the Kage desperately tried to make him pair up with as many women to inject new blood into these family lines. They KNEW about these problems. But even they had to tip-toe around ns matters. Of course, this allowed the loyal kunoichi that could ''influence'' thest male of the said n to be put into these positions.

    Anyway, these decisions HAD TO be done and were EXPECTED from leaders. They didn''t have to like it but it was their job to make sure the bloodlines survive. Each Kage had their own way of dealing with things but none waspletely clean. Even Tobirama is rumored to use a mild genjutsu and maniptions to make a few happy couples. Kiri spies certainly found multiple very suspicious starts for a rtionship.

    These doc.u.ments were so old they were long deemed not important to restrict and even Kiri chunin could read up about it. It was Konan''s past-time activity actually. She loved to read about it and always pointed something funny or interesting to Rei. Especially when it came to the ''misdeeds'' of other Kages of old. It almost made him shake his head.

    But the sc.u.m Rei and Konan were hired to save? He r.a.p.ed powerless women only for his own petty ego. He tore families because he could. Because his father was Daimyo. Because he will be one day Daimyo. The doc.u.ments about him made it abundantly clear why the Mizukage wouldn''t care if the guy died. The pig was disgusting.

    "Wanna kill him?" Konan asked disinterestedly.

    "Is it that obvious?" Rei sighed.

    "Yup, you are all pondering, you know." Konan chuckled before she continued without care. "Let''s deliver him and get money. It''s not like he matters to us."

    "Right..."

    Konan came closer and put her hand on the princeling''s arm.

    "There, done. I used my suiton chakra to rx his heart. He will die of heart stroke a few monthster.

    Rei smiled at her and chuckled. Sigh. It was all so easy, after all.

    ...

    It was only hourster when panting Kakuzu held both remaining Konans enwrapped in his threads.

    "So... which, haa, one of y-you, haaaa, is the, haa, original?" He heaved after the fight the girl just put him through. The surroundings werepletely destroyed. Earth gouged, ground incinerated. The previous forest all but disappeared.

    "None." The calm women pierced by his threads through various painful organs impassively stated with small smirks, not showing an ounce of pain.

    Kakuzu got a veeery bad premonition when they suddenly started glowing.

    A rattling explosion resounded through the area, creating a kilometer wide crater. These two paper clones were carrying Konan''s most potent explosive seals up to date. Far away, Konan only cheerfully nodded her head in satisfaction as she did guts pose, startling Rei who dropped the prince head-first because of it. Her experimental seals passed their trial!

    In the center of the crater, Kakuzu''s body fell down, dead, all his hearts pulverized.

    Three hourster his suiton heart finally arrived from scouting Kiri and merged into the pitiful shredded remains of his body. He took a sudden deep breath as he came back alive and groaned, mentally scanning his body.

    He was half-dead, missing more organs thanfortable. Most of his threads snapped, pulverized, atomized, burnt. Four hearts destroyed...

    No one has done a number like this on him since Hashirama.

    "You gotta be f.u.c.k.i.n.g shitting me." He croaked.

    His head fell onto the ground with a ''thud'', unconscious.

 Chapter 39 - Ch39. The Capital of Mizu, again

    <h4>Chapter 39 - Ch39. The Capital of Mizu, again</h4>

    Rei and Konan delivered the prince to the guards guarding the entrance to the castle. They still wore their while nk ANBU masks so nobody really recognized them. Stating they were busy, they quickly disappeared before any smart-ass decided to ''invite'' them in front of Daimyo.

    Rei and Konan were not about to spend their day in that heap of problems!

    They were in the capital of Mizu and they were going to enjoy it!

    ...

    Rei and Konan found themselves in the best restaurant in the city, their hitai-ate stashed in the storage seals. They picked a table in the corner to be inconspicuous but they both forgot this was the so-called ''higher'' society of a feudal world. The second Konan walked in, many wealthy young masters turned their heads in her direction.

    Rei''s jaw hit the floor when he saw it.

    Brothers are you perhaps also transmigrants from a cultivation world? What''s with these lecherous looks!

    He couldn''t help but mentally ask in utter bafflement. In the end, he realized these young masters are everywhere. They are FLOODING the omniverse! A shiver ran through his spine and a horrified look appeared on his face as he imagined Kisame spitting a tsunami of arrogant chibi-young-mast...

    Auch...

    Konan thankfully swatted him, ending the nightmare as they finally reached the table and sat down.

    "Young masters everywhere." Rei mumbled at her curious look, a shiver running through him.

    Konan blinked and tilted her head as she scanned the room with the corner of her eye.

    "These utterly powerless retards who stare at me without realizing it gets them closer to death?"

    She asked in a deadpan voice, quietly so only Rei could hear her.

    "Ah, uh-oh." He nodded.

    Konan only smiled, stood up from her chair, walked to Rei, and sat on hisp.

    "Then, let them seethe in their little world." Rei could feel her butt pressing onto his crotch. "We will enjoy ours." Konan saucily whispered to him.

    The diner from then on was a very pleasant matter. If the hordes of murderous res from ipetent young nobles were disregarded.

    ...

    Rei and Konan left the restaurant in a merry mood, half-hugging as their heads were resting on each other.

    "It was a nice evening." Rei stated.

    "Mmm." Konan hummed. "But I still like cuddling on the bed more." Her face bloomed into a genuine full smile. It made Rei happy and satisfied.

    That smile was the entire reason why Rei bothered. Konan didn''t smile like that. Ever. When she did, it meant she was inwardly jumping from joy. It was the same kind of smile she had when they slept together for the first time. Since then, Rei wanted to make her smile like that again.

    He snuggled his head more into her hair, pulling her closer with his hand on her hip. As they got close, he kissed her cheek, making her close her eye.

    "I love you, Konan." Rei whispered to her, making the smile widen.

    "Mmm. I love you too." Konan blushed and nibbled on her lower lip. Rei could feel the fingers grasping his hip squeezing and dancing, not knowing what to do.

    He spun her and kissed her crimson lips,pletely ignoring the audience and the gasping grandmas who were hiddenly fangirling at such a scandal!

    As the duo yed with their tongues, caressing the other''s tongue with theirs while gazing into each other''s eyes and feeling their joined souls quiver at the intimacy... It was enough for them to bepletely and utterly in need of more. Konan''s hand sn.a.k.e.d under Rei''s kimono, feeling up his muscles while her eyes were not-so-subtly hinting she wanted him to feel up her chest.

    Rei ended their kiss, separating, making Konan sad and confused. She looked at him with an apparent question on her dejected face. Rei leaned closer to Konan, making her smile and close her eyes as she awaited his kiss but he moved his head to the side in order to reach her ear.

    "We are being followed." He gently whispered while still tightly clutching her body to his. They outwardly looked like a couple intimately hugging.

    Konan froze. Her brows furrowed but then Rei felt it. She... grew stoic. Now,ing frompletely happy and ted to the heavens to stoic in a second... that was never a good sign. He barely managed to pull away from her ear and give her another searing kiss to get her head back into the gutter, away from murderous thoughts.

    When the kiss ended he put his forehead on hers.

    "Don''t go blowing up the entire capital city." He gently admonished, making Konan blush.

    Yes, she was about to activate her exploding tags she positioned all around the city when they entered it. Because she was irritated at her lovey-dovey time being interrupted. But who could me her!? She was enjoying Rei''s lips when some idiot decided to interrupt them! One city is a small price to pay for that!

    "Let me deal with it, kay? Don''t go blowing things up." Rei whispered, making Konan nod in a great reluctance.

    Now she won''t even be able to blow up that restaurant where the idiots made Rei feel bad with their stares. And she already packed it full with exploding tags too! Tsch, wasted effort.

    Konan tried to avert her gaze from Rei, her cheeks red but he cupped her chin and trailed kisses on her mouth. She sighed dreamily as she reciprocated.

    Rei was half a mind to just let Konan blow the capitol up and enjoy her body right there. She was definitely not making it easy for him, ramping up his desire higher and higher. But he was giving the annoying shits a time to approach. By now they were surrounded and the ''audience'' already left from fear. Even the very reluctant grandmas sullenly left while hitting the heads of the idiots who were surrounding Rei and Konan with their walking sticks.

    "Cut it out!" A huffy voice resounded loudly through the street.

    Rei ended the kiss with a very annoyed sigh. He looked over his shoulder and saw a lean man with a fan, d in luxurious attire, and a very punchable mug that screamed one thing only.

    Young Master.

    Around the smug idiot were hordes of people holding swords. The entire street was empty bar them. They all looked high and mighty, thinking they have the upper hand.

    "You peasant! Why are your hands on MY girl!" The ''young master'' screamed, pointing his folded fan at Rei who only blinked at the BOY in utter astonishment. "Unhand her at once! She belongs to this master from now on!" He smugly eximed. "For your cheek, I will grant you a swift death!"

    Rei''s mood sank. He just met a young master disease. His mind nked out and every word of caution and ''not blowing'' things up disappeared from his mind on instinct.

    Young masters were truly fearful beings. Even someone as collected as Rei was afflicted with a mind effect: Rage when they opened their mouth!

    Without even thinking he raised his hand, palm facing the sky as a small blue ball fire appeared above it.

    Konan''s eyes went wide as her mouth opened in ''O'' when she saw what he decided to use. The blue me was simr to mokuton! Merge between katon, suiton, and nature energy as the stabilizer!

    Konan suddenly felt as she was enveloped with a coating of Rei''s suiton, katon, and nature energy, not different from how they coated themselves to prevent being soaked in heavy rain.

    In a blink of an eye, a wave of light-blue mes spread away from Rei, growing and swirling until... a massive tornado of bluish mes burst out from the city, reaching the clouds. The mes visibly chilled even the air while violently spinning.

    Fortunately, Rei didn''t concentrate the Jutsu towards the ground but fired it to the sky. Otherwise, the capital city would be akin to Cocytus. The entire street was covered in these bluish mes dancing on a sheen of ice, chilling anything that touched them to the bone.

    The Young Master and his guards were already dispersed into the air as sparkling ice-dust as their bodies without chakra couldn''t guard against the chilling mes and froze way beyond the shattering point.

    It was not the end though. The mes in the sky froze the molecules of water in the air, making them heavy, falling to the ground as vicious winds whipped the ground. For the first time in history, the city experienced a ferocious hailstorm. The people shrieked in fright as they hid inside their houses. The animals loudly panicked. The roofs creaked as the small shards of ice continuously fell on them.

    ''cling, cling, cling.''

    The ice fell from the sky, covering the streets and the buildings as if it was snow. The temperature of the entire city dropped far below zero as an eerie bluish mist started forming all the while the sky burned with the bluish mes, engulfing the entire horizon in blue light. The entire city was as if under a bluemp as the hailstorm ravaged it.

    And when the tornado stopped, the hailstorm ceased, the mes extinguished, only the bluish highlight in the sky still present, the frozen street... was empty. Konan and Rei long gone.

 Chapter 40 - Ch40. A Gift

    <h4>Chapter 40 - Ch40. A Gift</h4>

    The next day, the entire capital was bustling with rumors, fears, and fake prophecies about the end of the world in chilling ever consuming mes and whatnot...

    Rei happily and carefreely woke up, noticing Konan''s bare back next to him, and remembered yesterday''s night. He slightly smiled and kissed her back, making her shiver in the echo of pleasure his chakra put her body through.

    He turned around and was about to leave the bed when arms locked around his neck, Konan''s body pressing into his back and her chin ending on his shoulder.

    "Don''t leave. Stay in bed." She purred in a m.o.a.n. Rei could feel the expectant shivering of her body but tapped her arm appeasingly.

    "Not today, Konan. We have an appointment with Mikado." He reminded her. He knew if they started their ''second'' round, Konan and he wouldn''t stop for hours, most likely ending up as a quivering mess of goo incapable to go anywhere.

    "He can wait a day... or four." Konan whined as she trailed kissed on Rei''s neck. "Pretty please?" She whispered into his ear.

    "Nope."

    And received a flick to the forehead, making her unhand Rei and flop on her back. Her body was sprawled on the bed,pletely showing all of her womanly parts as she released an annoyed sigh.

    "I have a gift for you, Konan. Don''t wanna wait!" Rei noted as he stood up, about to dress.

    Konan perked up. They never gave gifts to each other. It was unnecessary. They had each other! What more could they give to the other than themselves? But her curiosity was certainly piqued!

    She stood up and with a whirl of papers, she was clothed. Her tell-tale blue-rosed ck kimono and skirt were on her. Life became easier when she learned how to make her paper imitate clothes!

    Konan spun on her heel leaning forward, giving Rei a proper view of her cleavage.

    "So? What are we waiting for? I am ready." She told Rei with bemus.e.m.e.nt.

    "Cheeky little minx." He exasperatedly eximed, half-n.a.k.e.d, about to pull his pants up.

    ...

    They sat in the office of the chief merchant of the Biri-Biripany, Karubo Sazaro. The people were looking at them funny when they entered and they even had a few problems with the receptionist. Thankfully Karubo showed up and so here they were.

    In front of them was a final financial ounting. They didn''t ask for it but Karubo delivered it either way. After all, this was they were the biggest share-holder.

    Konan made a few paper clones to check things up and every time some small inconsistency was found, they informed her. So far, four people were already sacked for minor embezzlement as Karubo sat opposite Rei with sweatdrop while both watched Konan buried in papers upon papers of financial statements, cutely chewing on her lower lip.

    It was only an hourter she heaved a sigh and nodded to herself.

    "Rei. Make more seals that could sustain paper clones. I will leave four more to do this work and help with seals." She determinedly told Rei.

    Konan was pissed, alright. The money that was stolen, no matter how little, belonged to Rei!

    Rei calmly put a teacup onto the table as he looked at Konan.

    "That''s half of the reason we are here. I need you to dismiss the previous clone. We both know you got better at them so the one stationed here is inefficient. People will also get suspicious if the seal mistress of Biri-Biri Company was unaging. You are also getting closer and closer to the look of the a.d.u.l.t paper clone. I want you to create fourpletely different-looking paper clones."

    Konan nodded and with a slight focus, four ''people'' appeared behind her. All it took was a slight tweak to the coloring and rearranging of the paper in the clone.

    Rei smiled and pulled out four seals.

    "These are better than the sets of six seals I used previously. More efficient. Do put them in the chest area."

    Konan did so and the clones were now self-sustaining. Just then Konan-alike walked inside and approached Konan. It dissolved into paper and entered Konan''s body, only six slices with seals were left on the table.

    "I wonder, would I be able to take that seal inside of myself?" Konan mused as she saw that it can power up her paper clones. She could change into paper so why not herself?

    "Well... it could." Rei nodded and Konan''s eyes shone. "But as you know I am making something better for us."

    "You are working on it since we became chunin... that''s two years." Konan rolled her eyes.

    "I just don''t want any ident to happen again." Rei chuckled dryly, making Konane closer and sit in hisp.

    "Fine, I will wait." She kissed him.

    "Good girl." Rei patted her head, making her shudder in pleasure as she heard him call her that.

    They stared at each other with a tender gaze as they held the other in their embrace.

    While Rei and Konan acted all lovey-dovey, Karubo could only awkwardly listen with his eyes averted.

    Why is it always me?... He shed manly tears of bitterness but kept his mouth shut. He knew interrupting them would bring Konan''s patented death re upon his feeble frame! His death was imminent! Only a sound away!

    Thankfully, he was saved when a knock resounded on the door, getting Rei and Konan out of their sickly sweet world.

    "Ah... it''s here!" Konan eximed and made a water clone to open the door.

    Sigh, I will never get used to this. ... Kurabo dejectedly thought as he watched the water from the cup on the table flow out and form into the appearance of Rei.

    The clone took a package from the employee who delivered it and put it on the table in front of Konan before dissolving into water, flowing back into the cup.

    Konan was interested. It was quite a big square box. She looked all around it, still sitting in Rei''sp.

    "Open it." Rei expectantly nudged her back.

    Konan took it into her hands and opened the box. She saw... a fan.

    She reverently took it into her hands, carefully in fear of damaging it. This was the first gift she ever received from anyone. Her heart fluttered, gazing upon it as a small smile tugged on her face. This was the gift Rei gave her. Her smile widened into a sincere full smile. The fan was already the most precious possession of hers.

    She took it into her right hand and noted it was as long as half of her forearm. She unfolded it and her eyes instantly widened fondly at the sight. The fan was mostly watery-blue and had a decorative painting on it. From the upper part, droplets of dark-blue gentle rain fell towards the handle. There was a painting of a blue flower in the center. The same she usually folded from the paper as decoration into her hair. Around the flower was protectively circling a suiton dragoning from theke underneath the flower as both were showered by the rain, absorbing it.

    Konan didn''t need an exnation to understand what the flower or the dragon signified. As for the rain... they were called Downpour, weren''t they? A smile tugged on her lips.

    "Do you feel it?" Rei patted her head, getting her out of her thoughts.

    "Yes. I am happy." Konan timidly lowered her head to cover her blush.

    "Not that." Rei chuckled, kissing her hair.

    Konan tilted her head. Indeed. There was something different about the fan...

    "It is a tessenjutsu fan from the Land of Wind." Rei told Konan. "I asked for a miniaturized version. With your Wind affinity, you don''t need to carry a huge fan. The skeleton is made out of the best quality chakra metal and the fan is from special paper for tessen fans. Getting this paper was a backbreaking endeavor as it is a national secret of the Land of Wind and Sunagakure."

    "Yes, yes! Just this small fan cost a fortune!" Karubo huffed only to squirm down when both Rei and Konan gave him a re of death promising untold suffering.

    Konan was grateful. She would cherish the fan forever. She put the strap of the fan around her wrist, fastening there.

    Rei watched her ying with the fan as her expression showed tion and kissed her shoulder as his arms sn.a.k.e.d around her torso, resting on her stomach.

    "I love you Konan." He whispered to her, making her blush again.

    Konan could only bite her lower lip as she nodded timidly. That instant, she promised to herself that she would be the best tessenjutsu practitioner in the world. She would make Rei proud!

    Rei, ignorant of the resolve he ignited in his lover, just happily trailed kisses on Konan''s shoulder and the nape of her neck. Both again happy in their own world.

 Chapter 41 - Ch41. Return to Kiri

    <h4>Chapter 41 - Ch41. Return to Kiri</h4>

    Pa treon - 32 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    Rei and Konan leisurely walked through the gates of Kirigakure, hand in hand as they enjoyed the humidness of the vige. It wasn''t really the feel of home but they dide from Ame no Kuni so the humidness was something very familiar and pleasant to them.

    Just as they headed towards the guard outpost to show their doc.u.ments, an ANBUnded in front of them, staying on one knee.

    "Lord Mizukage is summoning you, Rei-sama, Konan-sama." The man respectfully said and disappeared with water shunshin.

    Rei and Konan might not be recognized by many chunin or even jonin but they DID spar with the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri on a regr basis. That coupled with the fact that ANBU had to memorize the entire Bingo Book and the ''exchange of information'' aka rumors of whatever non-ssified happens in the office of Mizukage. Yeah, the entire ANBU force was familiar with Rei and Konan as masters at chakra maniption who can use their elemental chakra during s.e.x.

    What! The respect was not due to being able to use superb Jutsu or being two of only five S-rank shinobi of Kiri. Not at all... it was all due to the perverted ANBU female who passed out with a nosebleed during the briefing after their first time!

    Both Rei and Konan could only wryly smile as they started their leisure walk towards the Kage Tower. They were sure the Mizukage was awaiting them. Hmm, let him wait then, no~?

    ...

    Both Rei and Konan stood in front of Mizukage in his office, having a stare-off. Neither side spoke as the air grew heavy. The atmosphere intensified and one could almost hear the hearts of ANBU beating.

    ''Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum''

    So it went as The Mizukage red with narrowed eyes at casually standing Rei and Konan, still holding hands. His eyebrow was twitching as he drummed his index finger on the table, his lips scowling.

    "You... is there really nothing you would like to add to your report, heeh?" The Mizukage grit his teeth.

    "No." Both Rei and Konan chorused calmly.

    "Konoyaro..." The Mizukage bit out when he saw that neither Rei nor Konan wanted to add anything to their report and released a long insufferable sigh.

    He took a deep breath to recollect himself.

    "I see." He impassively stated and looked at the file on his table.

    "So... you two didn''t encounter any blue tornado made of fire reaching the sky, bringing a literal storm of ice to the capital city, huuuh?" Mizukage asked as he intently peered at Rei and Konan.

    "No." Both Rei and Konan again chorused calmly.

    "I see..." The Mizukage stated inly.

    "I suppose that neither of you saw any missing-nin capable of... I don''t know... destroying cities during your visit to the capital, haah?"

    "Nope, not that we know of." Rei shook his head and Konan nodded eagerly.

    "Hmm, good. Security nowadays is really good, isn''t it?" The Mizukage asked with an exaggerated nod. "A person is walking on the street and doesn''t have to fear sudden storms or tornadoes of fire. Really good." He said in mock-satisfaction. "It''s not like the capital city would be suddenly hit by a hailstorm, is it? Surely not when two of my strongest ninja are in the city..." He trailed off mockingly and the stare-off continued.

    "I am sure it is a coincidence." Rei nodded assuredly.

    "Coincidence." Konan added as she bobbed her head.

    The Mizukage''s eye twitched.

    The ANBU were now choking on suppressedughter in their hiding ces.

    "So... you are saying it was not you whopletely destroyed a whole street in the capital, covered it in a shitton of ice. So much, in fact, it is still not melted even after days. It was surely not you who sent a shitton of wind that almost toppled down buildings... Oh, and damaged the Daimyo''s castle, by the way. The entire castle garden was destroyed, too... Millions of Ryo worth of nts down the drain... Now I wonder, who could have been responsible for that, hm?"

    "You surely are not responsible for scaring the popce by making the skies BURN, of all things, right? When the witnesses speak of a blue-haired woman and pale-haired man kissing each other in the middle of the street it all happened... That was surely not you, now, was it, riiiight?" The Mizukage red with a frown. He could feel the start of migraine as the two decided to be ''forgetful''.

    "When you say it like that..." Rei trailed off awkwardly as he scratched his cheek.

    "Yes..." The Mizukage expectantly leaned forward with a hopeful look.

    "We may have seen a missing-nin or two." Rei seriously added.

    "Or two." Konan nodded.

    "Right." The Mizukage deted. "I am sure you did."

    "Pray tell, how did that missing-nin or two look like. You don''t want to tell me it was a male-form of Tsunade Senju, the best medic of Konoha, kissing with female-form of Dan Kato, the candidate for Hokage position, do you?" The Mizukage quipped in sarcasm.

    "Well..." Rei started.

    "Yes?" The Mizukage sweetly smiled.

    "Depends... is Dan Kato still alive?" Rei quipped.

    "No. No, he is definitely NOT ALIVE! NOT FOR YEARS!" Mizukage''s smile fell as he stood up barely holding himself from screaming at tearing his hair off. After a while of panting, he just powerlessly flopped back into his chair.

    "Moreover, ording to our spies, Senju despised Kato." He muttered to himself.

    "Well... in that case the missing-nin was..." Rei''s eyes darted all over the office but then he shrugged in ''whatever'' motion. "...pink."

    "...and fluffy." Konan added helpfully.

    "Long ears too." Rei smiled.

    "Long, long. With buck teeth." Konan nodded.

    "Eh? That''s wrong... that was the bunny we saw in the zoo, Konan, wasn''t it?" Rei looked at Konan.

    "Hmm? We are talking about that, are we not?" Konan put her finger on her chin in mock-confusion.

    "I give up. Seriously. I f.u.c.k.i.n.g give up." The Mizukage helplessly leaned into his chair and took his smoking pipe out. "Now... what do you two geniuses rmend I should report to the very concerned and utterly pissed off Daimyo, hm?"

    Only silence greeted him.

    "Nothing, hm? What about you, the four already-blue-from-choking ANBU on the ceiling." He looked up, just in time to see three of his ANBU fall onto the ground and start rolling inughter. The fourth was still desperately sticking to the ceiling with his chakra, also rolling inughter.

    The Mizukage looked at casually smiling Rei and Konan with a fed-up deadpan look.

    "Well... I would personally say that the assant had a mask." Rei''s face turned to seriousness and Mizukage face-faulted onto his desk.

    "Hmm... I see. Continue." The Mizukage waved his arm around uncaringly.

    F.u.c.k this shit, I should start looking for a sessor. I am not paid enough for this... The Mizukage frowned as he straightened up and started chewing on his pipe.

    Maybe he could use his bullshit affinity? He was a ninja, after all. Making up stories wasmon in his line of work! And the current Daimyo wasn''t the smartest fish in the pond too. Hmm, that could work...

    "Just give me something GOOD. I am really not interested in being med and getting our funding cut, alright?" He pleaded.

    Rei nodded and gave a sweet wide Cheshire grin.

    Uh-oh, this will be utter bullshit the size of Konoha''s Hokage Monument, alright... Mizukage internally thought as he saw Rei''s wide smile.

    Ah, here we go. Rei''s going to get nasty... Konan mentally deadpanned.

    "Well. As I said, the assant had an orange swirl mask with only one eye. He was quite a cheerful dude too! Called himself Tobi and whatnot. He liked to say that he was a good boy, alright! Right nutter, I say!" Reiughed. "He wore a ck coat with red clouds and was singing about Dawn or whatever! He wanted to put his eyes on the moon too so he fired himself there with jutsu... hence the sky-reaching tornado! Sigh. Some of us just do believe they can fly." Rei sadly shook his head.

    Both Konan and Mizukage stared at Rei with an open mouth as Mizukage''s pipe fell onto the floor.

    "That''s..." Konan started but then her eyes looked at the shocked Mizukage. "...the truth." She nodded stoically, her expressionpletely nk even though her body was slightly shaking.

    "You know what?" The Mizukage drawledzily. "Why not? Sure. I will report exactly that." He shrugged, not giving a damn anymore.

    "You may go... I won''t say job-well done though."

    ------------

    Read this if you find CH39 disappointing.

    I read a fewments (And a one-star review of a dude who even at this point thinks Rei and Konan are Konoha shinobi... damn, that floored me, to be honest) and I found out I might have messed up in the ch39 and my writing might have been easily misunderstood.

    Now... for a rification. Rei did NOT destroy The Capital nor did he kill anyone else other than the young master and his goons. Sure, he caused damage but didn''t kill.

    He also did NOT use the jutsu because he meant it. He wanted to deal with it peacefully and only due to the trashing out of the Young Master''s mouth, he flipped and subconsciously used his strongest ''vermin-wiping'' Jutsu. The entire build-up of his ''illogical'' fear of Young Masters was leading to this scene where he forgot all reason for a second.

    That scene might have been a bit forced but it is IMPORTANT. I am giving you small hints into Rei''s uniqueness right there.

 Chapter 42 - Ch42. Mizukages schemes.

    <h4>Chapter 42 - Ch42. Mizukage''s schemes.</h4>

    Few weeks passed since their mission to rescue the prince and receiving a huge paycheck. Since then, Konan practiced at least three hours in tessenjutsu and Rei was usually sitting there, cheering her on as he trained in something or thought about seals... or just ogled her body.

    Moving on! This was not a day like that. Today, Konan was alone as Rei was returning from buying more chakra ink for his fuinjutsu. The kind that was high-quality. He could have created his own but... why bother when there was a store for it?

    He was walking around the corner when suddenly a six-years-old looking boy tightly clutching a loaf of bread ran straight into him. Rei could have evaded, of course, but that would send the boy rolling in the ground somewhat painfully. This way, the boy only flopped on his ass.

    Rei noted the loaf of bread on the ground and sighed. He was about to speak to the still dazed boy when an old man with a ponytail suddenly shrieked.

    "There you are, you thief!" The man came towards the boy and gripped him by his short red hair as he gave him a goodshing, not listening about the boy''s wailing.

    The old man then threw the boy into the mud, flipping his ponytail in disgust. Rei could see the boy reaching towards the bread covered in mud as his eyes hopelessly and intently watched it in hunger. The old man snorted and took the bread before the boy could reach it.

    "That''s not yours. Be d that I won''t report you for stealing!" He harrumphed and walked away with a huff.

    Rei watched, somewhat bewildered.

    Since when did Kirigakure gain its own ''Naruto''? ... He thought as he saw the contempt in the eyes of the people passing around.

    As Rei pondered about it, the boy sat up, sobbing. Rei could hear the loud grumble from his stomach and realized it must have been days since the boy had a meal. With a sigh, he took the boy by the cor of his torn tattered clothes and put him on his feet.

    "Well... I bumped into you, making you get caught. Ah..." Rei waved his hand from side to side, trying to dissuade the fearful look the boy gave him when he saw the hitai-ate. "I can at least buy you lunch for that." Rei eye-smiled. "Come on..."

    He left, dragging the bewildered kid by his arm.

    ...

    Rei watched as the kid gorged himself on the food. He awkwardly scratched his cheek.

    Don''t they feed him or something? ... He wondered.

    "Hey, kid, you orphan, right?" Rei asked as he watched him lick the te.

    The boy ashamedly looked down and nodded.

    "Don''t they feed you there?"

    The boy looked like a deer in the headlights and closed his eyes in fear, quivering in his seat but didn''t answer.

    "Ah, whatever. Eat your fill." Rei just shrugged. Konan was training so he had nothing better to do. A little charity wouldn''t hurt, now, would it?

    Rei just sat there, watching the boy until he finally stopped eating.

    "Tha-thank you." A very soft voice entered Rei''s ears. He smirked and ruffled the hair of the boy.

    "Haha, so you can speak, after all!" He nodded and then looked seriously all over the boy.

    Bruised. Malnourished. Sunken cheeks. Dull auburn hair. Pale as a ghost. Tattered dirty clothes...

    "Here." He gave the boy a paper with his address. "If you find yourself hungry again,e by."

    Rei decided he would help the kid. It was not like anyone would be able to steal from his apartment since his security contained many of his seals and he was loaded. Paying for food for the kid wasn''t really all that difficult for him. Biri-Biripany earned him millions of Ryo per month since it had its branches all over the elemental nations by now. Every capital city had a branch.

    And who knows... maybe I would get a follower outta it? Hah... He almost choked onughter at that ridiculous thought. As if he ever allowed a dude to follow him!

    ...

    The Mizukage office:

    Mizukage sat behind his table with his hands sped in front of his face.

    Opposite him was a woman sitting inmon clothes. The only tell she was a shinobi was how she held her body.

    "Jonin Rukimi. This is the first time we are speaking with each other since I assigned you ''that'' mission." The Mizukage amiably started.

    "Yes, Mizukage-sama. Three years to be exact." Aika Rukimi leaned into a slight bow.

    "I must say... it was almost back-breaking to persuade other ns to stop trying to tan my hide because of it." He chuckled, making the woman smile wryly. "Report." He lightly said, taking his tea into his hand.

    "Yes. Four years ago, when you took two-years-old Mei Terumi and threw her into the orphanage, she had a happy childhood. As per your orders, that changed when I was assigned to act as the matron of the orphanage." The woman stoically droned out. "I subtly estranged her from other kids, and she swiftly became the target of bullying."

    "Hm." The Mizukage hummed. "Her mental state?"

    "She is... doing well. There are no signs of a mental breakdown... yet." The woman unsurely answered. She knew she was picked because of her past in the Seduction Corps. She was ruthless enough to slit the throat of a child and good psychiatrist so she could keep any and all mental trauma non issue forter. Well, as much as it could be made into a nonissue. She was sure the treatment the girl is going through will mold her and stay with her for the rest of her life. She just won''t be mentally impaired due to Aika''s ''care''. "But she is, no, WILL break if we continue this route."

    The Mizukage heard his jonin conclude.

    "I see. Hmm. The problem is the rumors, after ''that'' incident... how is the girl herself taking it?"

    Aika groaned, yes... that. Neither of them nned for that to happen but it certainly did help the n. Aika decided to not do anything with it and let it run its course.

    "Ah, she is more withdrawn. Never talks to anyone. This made the bullying intensify. The kids even go as far as stealing her food, making her sleep on the floor, and beating her. Seriously... this batch would do fine shinobi, at least morally." Aika snorted sarcastically and rolled her eyes. As if any of these twerps had enough guts to be shinobi. They could only gang up on a weak malnourished girl.

    "Hmmm, a loner, then. Well... no wonder. Just as we wanted." The Mizukage took a file from his table. "After the first day of the academy, Mei Terumi''s chakra was unlocked. She kissed the cheek of her best and only friend in the entire orphanage and her bloodline acted out due to the inability to control her chakra. Mei Terumi watched as her best friend slowly died in agony while her face was being slowly melted by Mei''s Kekkei Genkai... you wrote."

    "Yes. It was a brutal and painful deathsting minutes. Mei watched every second of it and med herself."

    "Well, normally she would be trained since three to prevent this happening." Mizukage shrugged. "But making her even more isted helped us. Especially since the girl already had her first kill."

    Aika nodded and opened her mouth when the door flew open and inside casually strode an old man with a ponytail, holding a muddy loaf of bread.

    "Ah... Sandaime-dono, you really can pick a distasteful mission for retired ol'' me, haha!" The old manughed.

    "Well, it had to be someone undetectable, Kouhei-sama. Since your chakra coils were destroyed..." Mizukage smiled and slightly inclined his head in respect.

    "I am nothing but a civilian in the senses of the ninja." The old man waved his hand jovially. "Geez, what did you do to that orphan. It was as if you starved the kid."

    "We did." The Mizukage told the elderly man who raised an eye-brow with a frown. The Mizukage nodded at the woman to introduce herself.

    "I am Aika Rukimi." The woman stood up and gave the elderly man a small bow. "It''s an honor to be in the presence of the brother of the first Mizukage, Kouhei-sama."

    "Sure, sure. Just get on with it." Kouhei grumbled in annoyance.

    "Well... reporting. I beat that bony little girl somewhat fiercely but damn did it hurt my knuckles." The old man grumbled. "I am sure I cracked a few ribs too but the girl has a high pain tolerance, I must say."

    The Mizukage winced slightly while Aika waspletely impassive. It was not like he wanted Mei to suffer but his n would be marginally harder without her being a loner and abused.

    "But..." Kouhei stopped momentarily. "The civilians are talking. They are starting to get afraid of her due to rumors and from what I gathered, she is being beaten by some of them. When the ns find out..."

    "Thankfully the Yuki and Hozuki ns agreed with this n and persuaded the leaders of other important ns. I wouldn''t try to ''threaten'' a n with their own fortune if I didn''t have the support of other ns." The Mizukage interrupted, shrugging. "We need Rei and Konan bound to Kiri since they are two of our five S-rank ninjas. The ns at least understand that much."

    Kouhei nodded. He didn''t like the endgame and certainly, the betrothal contract was stretching the authority of the Mizukage thin and dangerous. But it had merit. The girl will be an anchor around the leg of Rei and with Rei, Konan will follow. They will stay in Kiri. All this mission had to aplish was to make them feel at least some fondness for the girl.

    "My brother would be proud of you, kid." Kouhei told him with a grim expression. "This is positively evil. To think you would give her the Terumi estates only if she gave birth to two of his children. You pulled all stops." He shook his head.

    "Yeah. Sadly, the n is notpletely foolproof as I can''t really hold back the bank ounts from Mei as the bank won''t give a shit about me being the Mizukage. But she will be told of those only upon her eighteen birthday." Mizukage smiled.

    "Or if she gets pregnant." Kouhei nodded. "It is kinda disgusting to have this talk about a six-year-old girl." He chuckled and got a shrug in response. They were shinobi. They did worse. "The problem is... yet again the civilians. She is a girl. I wouldn''t want this n to crumble due to her being r.a.p.ed by some sick drunkard."

    Kouhei had a valid point, the Mizukage agreed. That may help with her being more subdued... orpletely break her. But it might crack any and all future interaction with Rei. The Mizukage was trying to make her depend on him. Not make her afraid to be in the same room as him or despise all males.

    "Yes. I will probably make Ringo Ameyuri ''suggest'' him taking the girl in, giving her an empty bedroom. Or I will straight out order it for the ''safety'' of thest Terumi." The Mizukage shrugged. "It will maximize the interaction between them."

    "And then, when she is older and Rei likes or even loves her... you will spring up the betrothal on them." Kouhei smiled.

    "Not if they decide to have an intimate rtionship with each other without finding out." The Mizukage dismissively waved his hand around. He hoped to not use it and let it be buried somewhere in the archive. If the girl started to have s.e.x with Rei without his intervention it would be smashing!

    "A precaution, then." Kouhei nodded. Both knew what they did was for the good of their vige. Someone capable of having and wielding three chakra natures at the age of eleven, being S-rank at thirteen due to ''destructibility'' of his Jutsu of all things...

    There were various categories of S-rank ninja. But getting that rank for wide-scale destructive Jutsu was a serious feat. Only Onoki with his Kekkei Tota and the third Kazekage with his Kekkei Genkai were the most famous examples currently and both had the power to destroy vast areas easily.

    Both Mizukage and Kouhei wanted to see what kind of monster Mei Terumi would bring on this world if her two Kekkei Genkai mixed with Rei''s three natures and natural genius.

    While the two influential men talked, Aika quietly listened. It was her job to make this work and she was ordered to make sure that Mei Terumi will love the vige despite the hatred. It was a tiring job but she did well, making the girl miserable in the shadows while in the light she was her sole supporting pir, always repeating ''if you be a respectable Kiri-nin, you will be loved''. She had to make sure the girl would want to serve Kiri with half of her soul and that she wouldtch on Rei with the other half, keeping him in ce. It was a delicate job... sometimes, even she wondered why she epted it.

    Unknown to the trio, under the furniture, a few inconspicuous papers with listening seals ''overheard'' the entire conversation.

    In Rei''s and Konan''s apartment, in their spare bedroom, a paper clone of Konan suddenly punched the floor from sheer rage, cracking it as the killing intent spread through the street. It took at least five minutes until the clone finally calmed down and went to report to Rei and the real Konan.

 Chapter 43 - Ch43. Counterattacking the schemes 1

    <h4>Chapter 43 - Ch43. Counterattacking the schemes 1</h4>

    The very next day Rei and Konan found themselves in the orphanage where Mei was residing. Rei was gripping Konan''s hand, making sure she won''t go ballistic upon meeting the ''bitch'', as she put it yesterday, who was helping in the scheme against her Rei!

    Konan red at everything in the room with her impassive stare. It made Rei proud and weirded out at the same time at this ability of hers. To appear utterly bored and impassive but actually show that she ispletely enraged. For the first time, Rei saw how cold fury looks like.

    They had a long debate yesterday after the clone reported its findings. They both were baffled. Sure, the Mizukage did it very cleverly. They knew he was smart and really didn''t think he would try the exact same thing as he did with Ringo just in other colors and under a pseudonym.

    His influence would appear to be minimal on the entire thing as at most five people were a part of the scheme and other than them, only n heads knew about it.

    In their talks, Rei told Konan he was interested in Mei. Not romantically, of course. That would make for a good mental case to be interested in a kid you met only once. He was interested in her potential. To be honest, most crushes he could have had... he remembered he loved Hinata''s character... disappeared after all these years. He would still very much like to meet these char-, ahem, people. He would also like to swat Naruto on his head for being a naive idiot. Yup... he was a true fan! The kind that would beat that insufferable idiotic shit to death for not bing smarter during the entire series!

    Sigh, but he digresses. These feelings were somewhat dulled. He was interested in Mei because of her two Kekkei Genkai. Two in one body. That was almost impossible since genes usually merged or one dominated the other. Her two sides of the family were in such a synergy they created two Kekkei Genkai. It was a curious thing.

    It all led them to this moment. They decided to make it easier on the Mizukage and adopt the girl, right? Well, if she will be pushed onto them anyway, why not make their influence prevalent? They might be forced to take her in but neither Rei nor Konan would suffer the fate of getting to like her and then having to leave her behind because of her overt love for the vige. They knew it would happen with Ringo and it wasn''t a very nice feeling. Both Rei and Konan somewhat got to like her but knew well she would pick Kirigakure over them if she had to choose. That''s why Rei was not teaching the girl his best Raiton Jutsu for kenjutsu.

    Konan had it easy. She was starting to feel fed-up with Mizukage. She understood he must protect the vige and whatnot but right now, he was actually doing his damnedest to make Konan blow this vige to smithereens. She didn''t like her Rei to be schemed upon!

    As for the little girl herself... if she was really as interesting as Rei said, Konan didn''t mind taking her in. She would make the girl into a proper wife-material, yet! Konan was not as naive as to think that a decade of living together would not make the girl fall in love with Rei! Un, impossible!

    And since Rei had a good impression of the girl and the girl had real potential, if she grew into a beauty, Konan wouldn''t mind giving her a hand. But the girl will be vicious and loyal only to Rei if she wants to stay anywhere near them! That Konan promised to herself.

    Rei only cluelessly waited for the matron to finish the paperwork. He had not yet any clue of Konan''s already forming training n for little Mei. s, history was set to repeat himself. As he saved Konan in her darkest hour and unknowingly created a fierce yan-, fuuuu, better not say the word! The same way he was now saving Mei. Or, at least, that''s how it would look like to the girl. Konan would make sure of that!

    Aika Rukimi was bbergasted when Rei and Konan came in the morning, willing to adopt Mei Terumi. She never expected such luck. The Mizukage wouldn''t even need to persuade them to raise the girl! While it made a few problems since the girl was not yetpletely indoctrinated into being loyal to the vige... she would let these worries to the Mizukage. The girl will probably make a few ''friends'' that will make her see the ''light'' shortly. It was not Aika''s problem anymore. She was only giddy at the fat paycheck she would receive for job-well-done! With a joyful hum, she filled the paperwork and... Mei Terumi was now adopted by Rei and Konan Yotsuba.

    ...

    Aika dragged Mei into the room where Rei and Konan waited.

    Both Rei and Konan noted the tattered torn clothes on the bo-, uh, girl. Her auburn hair was so short it was hard to recognize the little creature as a girl. Her green eyes werepletely dull, almost lifeless with big ck circles under then and the girl was unhealthily thin and small. Her skin was pale... well except the visible purplish, almost ck bruises marring her skin.

    When Mei''s eyesnded on Rei they regained a bit of light. She remembered the kind man who fed her yesterday and with a blush, she timidly looked towards the ground, wondering what he was doing here. She was dragged from her bed by the matron. Yesterday she was beaten by the older kids for being bad so she couldn''t sleep from the pain. She was dead tired and barely swayed on her feet.

    "Mei-chan~." The matron started and Rei was instantly in ''uh-oh'' state of mind as he recognized the fake sweet and kind voice. "These two, Rei and Konan Yotsuba decided to adopt you."

    Mei''s eyes widened and teared up. She meekly nodded. She was still afraid. The people didn''t like her and she feared being adopted. She thought she would be beaten by the people adopting her! But... the man was kind to her, right? He wouldn''t hurt her, right?

    "Thank you." She quietly whispered as was expected of her after the matron squeezed slightly her shoulder, coincidentally pressing on one of her worst bruises, making her wince.

    Konan was coldly ring at the matron. She saw that it was no coincidence. Rei sighed and walked closer to Mei.

    "Yo. So we meet again, kid." He grinned and hugged her.

    Mei stiffened. She was never hugged. Tackled to the ground, maybe. But hugged. She couldn''t help but be frozen at the warmth it made her feel. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks as she leaned into the hug, pushing her small head into Rei''s shoulder.

    Konan looked at the matron.

    "That will be all." She dismissively stated, making the matron open her mouth but she swiftly shut it. Well, being dismissed might have hurt her ego but why botherining? Her job was done. Aika just left with a huff, heading straight to the Mizukage''s office to report.

    Rei heaved Mei up into his arms and left towards their apartment.

 Chapter 44 - Ch44. Counterattacking the schemes 2

    <h4>Chapter 44 - Ch44. Counterattacking the schemes 2</h4>

    The trio arrived at the apartment and Mei was told to sit behind the table in the living room with Konan while Rei was making ramen for them in the kitchen.

    Mei wasn''t veryfortable around the blue-haired girl. She was looking at her weirdly. Like matron.

    Konan smiled at the awkwardness of the girl. She reached her hand towards the girl, making her stiffen and close her eyes. Konan didn''t care and ruffled Mei''s hair.

    Mei snapped her eyes wide at the gentle touch and found herself enjoying it.

    "Be a good girl and we will have no problem." She heard the blue-haired girl tell her in a gentle but firm voice.

    Good girl... Mei thought that she could at least try. She timidly nodded with a blush.

    "Don''t worry." The blue-ha-, Konan, yes that was her name, Mei remembered.

    "I will teach you how to be a good girl." Konan continued cooingly as she leaned closer to her and patted her head.

    Rei entered with a tray of three bowls of hot, steaming ramen and saw a weird sight. Konan smiling devilishly at the determined Mei while Konan patted her head in ''my precious'' kind of Kakashi-like way. His eyes couldn''t help but instinctively trace a few escape routes as he felt a shiver run down his spine.

    In the end, he steeled himself and approached the girls with a smile, putting the food on the table. He saw that Mei instantly looked at the big bowl of noodles while gulping hungrily. He put the first bowl in front of the girl who raised her head, her eyes meeting his and he could see a spark of adoration. He could only sigh to himself. It was so easy with children. No wonder the viges started to train their ninja during childhood and made them listen to hours per day of patriotic drivel. Because that was exactly what the first two years of the academy were about. Indoctrination of children to loyalty.

    He saw Mei watch the ramen with want in her eye but the girl didn''t dare to touch it. Rei tilted his head.

    "Ah!" He understood. "You may start eating, Mei-chan." He smiled at her.

    Before he even finished the girl was inhaling the noodles. Rei quickly stopped her hand, making the girl stiffen.

    "Slow down. You will choke on it. Nobody will take it from you." He quipped in bemus.e.m.e.nt, letting Mei''s hand only when she nodded embarrassedly. Rei smiled and continued. "Don''t be afraid to ask for more."

    He knew the girl would want more. He was a master at suiton and very good with katon and temperature maniption! What! Jutsu were not only good for fighting! Cooking was a viable way to use them too!

    Especially since he could make the food full of chakra this way. Elemental chakra. With his proficiency, he could add his katon and suiton chakra into it, making it actually beneficial instead of harmful to Mei. It will certainly help her own katon and suiton chakra nature, if only ever so slightly. He also added a bit of nature energy into the ramen so Mei will stop being so tired and malnourished.

    Rei would never do something like this for Ringo. He liked Ringo. She was his baka-deshi. But she was not loyal. Not as much as he would like her to be. But with Mei, he didn''t need to worry. He was not as naive as to not know Konan''s n for the girl. But he was not about to do anything about it. He knew that under Konan''s care, Mei would shortly be a... he hoped not zealot or fanatic... he would need to have some positive input on the girl to prevent that. But he knew Konan''s ''education'' would make the girl loyal only to them. And he knew she would be subtle enough to make Mei appear like a good little ninja of Kiri.

    Sometimes, Konan could be scary.

    They finished eating as Mei ate her third bowl of ramen with an embarrassed blush.

    "Well, some ground rules." Rei told the girl, making her straighten up.

    "We are often on missions so you will stay alone here." Rei told her and Mei nodded. She was alone her entire life. Nothing new. Seeing it, Rei continued. "Therefore you will have to learn how to cook and clean up after yourself."

    Rei didn''t tell the girl there will always be paper and water clones looking after her. He would make sure the girl puts her all into learning the basics of household chores. Well, not like there was much to do. His seals did ny-percent of these automatically. But cooking will be a very beneficial skill in the girl''s future ninja career.

    Mei was bewildered. Someone actually wanted to teach her. She smiled slightly, her heart happily fluttering.

    "Thank y-"

    Before she could finish, a knock resounded on the door.

    Rei sighed and stood up. He approached the door and as he opened them, he could see an ANBU who gave him a scroll and disappeared. Coming back to the table, Rei opened it.

    "Well, the Mizukage is summoning us." He quipped in amus.e.m.e.nt, his eyes sparkling. Both him and Konan knew what this was about. "Well, be a good girl Mei," Rei started, not seeing how Mei''s eyes brightened. "and stay here." Rei took out a few slices of paper. "You can practice the sticking exercise. We know the academy already started teaching you."

    Konan created a paper clone.

    "My clone will instruct you." She said merrily, ignoring Rei''s deadpan stare.

    With a sigh, Rei gave up and both him and Konan disappeared in shunshin, leaving only determined Mei with a smirking paper clone that sat next to Mei and it''s smirk widened.

    "Well, Mei-chan, first..."

    ...

    In the office:

    Rei and Konan walked in and did the usual greeting.

    "I will be blunt Rei-kun~. Why did you adopt Terumi-chan?" The Mizukage curiously asked. This was not in his n. While it was a good thing for his n, the timing was too... precise.

    "Felt like it." Rei shrugged. "I met her yesterday and saw Konan in her."

    "Yes. I also could see my past self in the girl." Konan nodded with a slight smile. "I was a homeless orphan in Ame before Rei took me in."

    The Mizukage didn''t know that. He smiled to himself. Maybe his suspicions were unfounded, after all, and it was all caused by a sentiment.

    "Well, as you know, Terumi-chan is thest of her n..."

    "Are you going to bar us from adopting her?" Rei amusedly asked, knowing well that was far from the truth.

    "No, no. I am happy to have two capable ninjas raising her!" He put his sped hands in front of his face and got serious. "I just want you to teach her how to use her elemental chakra and Kekkei Genkai."

    "Hmm, you ask a lot." Rei smirked. "In that case, I want her as my second apprentice. We both know Ringo is low-jonin level already so keeping her a genin is an insult to her skill."

    "You want a six-year-old as your apprentice?" The Mizukage blinked. "I can''t approve that. She must go through the academy curriculum."

    And its indoctrination plus a bonus... Mizukage thought to himself.

    "Oh, Nah. I just want her after she graduates from the academy. Do that and we have a deal. We both know you want her to be strong for Kiri but if I am to teach her, she will be mine. My apprentice. My teammate. Mine. She will be a permanent part of my team."

    The Mizukage was stumped. Rei was not asking for Mei as an apprentice. He was asking for her as a ninja. If he agreed, sure, it would make his n surefire sess with enough time. But it would be agreeing to Mei belonging to Rei as a ninja. The very same as Konan. He had no delusions that Konan is not really a Kiri shinobi and certainly not his. She was more of a property of Rei. At least, that was the not sugar coated way of looking at it.

    Rei asked for a lot. But then again... with their guidance, Mei would be an S-rank in the future. Heck, Ringo Ameyuri was going to be S-rank with enough time.

    Sigh, I will have to put extreme focus on making Mei loyal but... The Mizukage mulled over it.

    "Sure. Mei Terumi will belong to you, Rei. You may do whatever with her." The Mizukage nodded. "But I want you to make an S-rank ninja for Kiri from her. Don''t forget she owns the whole famous Hot Springs of Kiri. She is an important girl. If you want her, treat her well."

    Rei shrugged in eptance and almost gagged as he heard ''important'' and ''treat her well''.

    He knew that he basically asked for kunoichi Mei, rather than adopted a kid. The Mizukage just gave her to him. He could make the little girl into childbor and nobody would care as long as he justified it by ''The Mizukage gave her to me''. Not to count numerous worse things he could do to her. But this was reality. The shinobi belonged to the vige. They were its property in a way. Only the really strong shinobi could look at the Mizukage and openly sneer at him or rebuke him. Because they were strong. Because they were an asset the vige couldn''t afford to lose. Because they were a threat. Because they could. A small six-year-old orphan from an extinct n? Her only protection was the other ns and their ''interests''. If Rei didn''te to Kiri, Mei would live a pampered life, her head would be filled with ideas of marrying into some other n that would acquire her wealth and bloodlines this way and the grandeur of serving her country.

    "Don''t worry. We will raise her ''very'' well." Konan gave a wide sweet full smile with delightfully narrowed eyes as she put a great emphasis at the word ''very''..

    Suddenly, the Mizukage didn''t feel all that good about this little n of his...

 Chapter 45 - Ch45. Teaching Mei

    <h4>Chapter 45 - Ch45. Teaching Mei</h4>

    Few weeks have passed since Mei started living with Rei and Konan.

    Konan and Ringo were in a clearing, doing the usual three areas exercise. Ringo was getting stronger faster and faster as her senses and speed were trained and her strength increased bit by bit every time Konan''s doton-hardened paper slices hit her. Konan wasn''t just swinging them at her. She was precisely targeting the sets of muscles that needed to be put under pressure. Ringo was very grateful when she found out how effective this training was for her.

    Still, she didn''t manage to reach Konan yet. She once reached the third area and was jumping in joy but then out of nowhere a flood of the river was released from the papers, washing Ringo all the way back to the start. She would grumble for days after that.

    While Konan spent time training Ringo, Rei was with Mei.

    Ringo was quite ufortable around the younger girl. She was used to being the one taught by Rei but eventually epted it. She knew her time in Rei''s team wasing to its end as she was already informed about her uing promotion. Getting chunin rank meant her being put under the tutge of the Kiba wielder to be his sessor. It was disheartening but it was her dream.

    As for Rei and Mei... Mei was liking Rei a lot! He was kind to her and patiently taught her. He didn''t beat her when she didn''t get the thing done in one try! He...

    Well, let''s just say that Rei was getting creeps by the rising adoration he saw in the girl''s eyes. He cursed himself for letting her stay with Konan''s clone. He came home from the Mizukage''s office and the girl was droning about being a ''good girl''! Ugh.

    That night, he and Konan had a very heated and very sweaty debate on raising young children. A debate he sadly lost...

    Moving on!

    Rei decided to teach Mei properly. He started small with tree-walking and water-walking after she managed the paper-sticking exercise. He had to give it to the girl, she was determined and a prodigy. It was obvious why she would be the Fifth Mizukage in canon. In just a week she managed tree and water-walking. Yes, Rei was there with her every step of the process, always sensing what she did wrong and corrected her. He would not be a jerk like Kakashi and just say, do it. It was counterproductive.

    Then, after she managed these exercises he found out the girl had suiton, doton, and katon chakra natures. Well, obviously since she had Futton and Yoton.

    (Author Note: Futton - Boil, Yoton - Lava, Futon - Wind)

    Rei decided to start with Futon. Something the girl didn''t have a predisposition for and even her canon self didn''t know. He somewhat remembered Mei Terumi in canon doing some suiton with raitonbo so she knew raiton but he didn''t remember the Jutsu. But he knew canon Mei never practiced Futon. But he would be damned if a girl with Futton didn''t know Futon to spread her boiling mist!

    Rei also started practicing Futon alongside her. They made a game out of it. Seeing whose paper would move sooner. Well, of course, he held back and let the girl have her minute of glory and joy. Rei usually watched Mei as she always slightly stuck her tongue out while focusing and thought it was cute. He kinda suspected she started to crave winning not because of the win but because of the hug, he would always give her. But then again... as long as she had the drive to practice, all was well.

    After a week, again, Rei noted. Damn was Mei fast in nature training. Sure, most of it was due to tips she received from Konan who was almost master in it, nearing perfection, and from his careful and precise tutoring. But for a child of six? A child that has to go to the academy almost daily? Oh, theints Rei received that Mei wasn''t paying attention and instead was ''fiddling'' with her paper...

    Rei knew that Mei would be a Ninjutsu freak. Her chakra reserves were already almost genin level. Something Rei was really jealous of as at that age, he had only civilian reserves. It was all due to years in the academy and diligent practice of the chakra circling, he found out. The exercise isn''t that good and the kids don''t really practice it that much but Mei was VERY diligent in it. She didn''t miss even a day of practice even if she was hurting from a beating.

    Right now, Rei and Mei stood opposite each other and they yed with a ball. A ball made of paper, without touching it, using only futon chakra to keep it afloat. It wasn''t powerful but it propped the ball up after every burst that created a very weak uplifting wind. If the ball wasn''t made of light paper, it wouldn''t even raise an inch. But it was training a fine control of futon.

    Mei loved the exercise as she alwaysughed when she managed to ''outy'' Rei and he ''missed'' the timing, letting her win only to heave her into his arms into a hug.

    ...

    Rei walked into the bedroom they gave to Mei and saw Konan sit across Mei behind a table.

    "...this?" Konan pointed at a paragraph in what Rei recognized to be Kiri academy book.

    "It is supposed to spur awe and make us think we can also reach greatness if we stay loyal to Kiri." Mei stated and Konan nodded. Just then she saw Rei and smiled.

    "Mei. Looks like the diner is ready." Konan pointed in Rei''s direction, making Mei perk up and run into Rei''s waist for a hug.

    Rei stroked Mei''s short hair and forbade her to cut and ushered her out of the room.

    "Go eat, Mei. I have to talk with Konan, kay?"

    Mei nodded and left the room as Rei sighed, sitting in the exact same spot Mei was a moment ago. He leaned towards the book and cringed.

    "The Heroics of Second Mizukage?" He raised his eyebrow at Konan.

    "I am teaching the girl to recognize indoctrination." She shrugged. "She had her first kill and it was pretty gruesome. Behind that happy kid that loves hugs is already a killer. She is mature enough."

    "I am not admonishing you." Rei rolled his eyes. "Merely curious."

    Konan bit her lower lip and took a deep breath.

    "I know you love Ringo." She stated with a grimace, making Rei look at her intently, patiently waiting for her to continue. "Maybe not entirely romantically but you are way past just liking your energetic baka-deshi."

    Rei slowly nodded. There was no need for lies between him and Konan.

    "I also know you would never let her get closer to you because we both know she is Kiri-loyalist to the core. She would betray us in due time."

    Rei again slowly nodded. Again the truth. Konan sparred, taunted, and probed Ringo enough to know the core of her personality, aspirations, and loyalties.

    "But I see your interest in Mei''s bloodline and talent. I won''t let her go the Ringo-route. She WILL be loyal to us if we are going to teach her. I dunno if she will love you that way when she is older. I don''t even know if you will see her that way. But I know I am not just letting her be and hope for the best." Konan huffed and crossed her arms. "I already made that mistake with Ringo because I didn''t like her intruding in our alone time. If I acted, she could be here in my ce, teaching Mei while we could have been making out in our bed!"

    "Sure. Do what you think is best." Rei''s lips stretched into a smile as he chuckled and leaned closer, kissing Konan. "I love you and trust you to do what you believe is best for me. Always will." He gave her another long kiss. "We should go and eat our diner."

    They happily took a hold of the other''s hand and went into the kitchen. Mei was surely lonely, eating alone.

 Chapter 46 - Ch46. Promotion!

    <h4>Chapter 46 - Ch46. Promotion!</h4>

    Sixteen years old Rei and Konan, and twelve years old Ringo stood in the Mizukage''s office.

    The man was eyeing them proudly as he turned to Rei.

    "As of now, I dere you Rei Yotsuba, a jonin of Kiri." The Mizukage smiled and turned to Konan.

    "As of now, I dere you Konan Yotsuba, a jonin of Kiri." He repeated and then turned to tense Ringo.

    "As of now, I dere you Ringo Ameyuri, a chunin of Kiri." His features softened.

    Rei and Konan grew bitter. They knew his features softened only because Ringo was proving her loyalty and drive to protect the vige and be one of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri. They could only sigh as the girl was already lost to them.

    "With this, your team is also disbanded and Ringo will be put under the tutge of the current wielder of Kiba. Rei and Konan will stay as a team. You may go."

    The trio bowed and left the office.

    "Well, shall we go celebrate it somewhere?" Rei asked the girls but noted that Konan was staring at Ringo.

    "I want a spar." Konan told Ringo who looked at her in confusion.

    "A melee spar." Konan borated as she took out her fan. She practiced a lot with it and wanted to know how good she was against Ringo.

    Ringo slowly nodded. She knew that Konan was a ranged fighter but now she challenged her to a closebat weapon spar? On one hand, Ringo was excited about such a fight. On the other, she was afraid she would lose to a long-ranged fighter in her specialty. Illogical fear it might have been but after sparring with Konan long enough, she learned to expect the unexpected.

    ...

    The trio came to their clearing and found a lone figure of Mei practicing her katon. She was passable in futon so Rei decided to start katon as that was the nature she would need for both of her bloodlines.

    Rei came to Mei and saw dried tears on her cheeks. He clicked his tongue. The Mizukage''s idiocy did a number on the girl. The vigers really didn''t like her and feared her and from time to time, some of them struck her. Well, Rei showed them exactly what he thought about that and since then Mei was practically worshipping the ground he was walking on... Konan was a bad influence like that.

    Mei was quickly taught Henge and trained in it so she won''t have to endure the res. But the girl said she doesn''t want to use it. Rei was really at the end of the rope with her. She wanted to be red at!

    Unknown to Rei, Mei hated the res. She hated the civilians. And she despised Kiri. Konan really did make Mei open-minded. She never gave Mei any opinion or a way to look at things. Nor did Konan actually try to brainwash Mei. She just told her the things as they were. However brutal it was. She was blunt, honest, and precise when she exined things. This made the young mind of Mei mature faster. The very frequent injection of nature energy and elemental chakra through food Rei cooked only fastened this process exponentially. Mei Terumi started seeing things as they were. The subtle fear-driven hatred the civilians showed her. How other kids shied away from her. How the teachers were always awkward when she asked a question. Even if thest one was a shocker since they were chunin and should know better.

    Mei started to form her own opinions. Her somewhat mature but still childish mind thought simply. People who hated her were on one side. Rei and Konan on the other. And those who hated her didn''t deserve respect or acknowledgment from her. Mei Terumi officially hated Kiri with her whole heart. She was just good at hiding it, thanks to Konan''s lessons.

    There was only one thing Mei loved...

    Rei came closer to Mei and firmly grabbed the distraught kid''s chin, turning her face towards him. He saw the big purple bruise on her cheek and sighed. He put his hand on it, making Mei wince but her expression turned to a rxed one after Rei started using soothing water chakra to rx her bruised muscles.

    "Better?" He asked Mei who nodded.

    Rei picked Mei up while she yelped and shunshined onto theke, sitting there while putting Mei into hisp.

    "Konan is going to fight Ringo. Watch, okay?"

    Mei excitedly nodded as her very observant mind didn''t want to miss even a second of the fight between the two strong kunoichi!

    ...

    Konan stood opposite Ringo, holding her folded fan at the ready. Ringo, holding two swords, nodded at Konan, signalizing she was also ready. Just then a gentle breeze rushed through the clearing and when it settled... the battle started.

    Ringo ran at Konan with her two swords, shing one in a downward motion, aiming from above at Konan''s head. Obviously, Konan raised her fan and blocked it, instantly opening herself for an upward sh of the second sword of Ringo, as it aimed at her belly.

    Konan twisted her body and stepped to the left, evading the upward sh, her fan still shing with Ringo''s other sword. Konan slightly rxed the hand holding her fan, unbncing Ringo''s hand and then Konan tensed her muscles, jerking the fan alongside the sword to the side while her body stepped into Ringo''s guard.

    Ringo was sent flying as Konan punched her in the gut.

    "Don''t underestimate me, kid." Konan snorted as Ringo sprang up on her feet, a sullen pout on her face.

    Ringo did indeed underestimate Konan. She didn''t find the fan threatening. In her mind, it was less than kunai! But it stopped her sword...

    "Okay." Ringo epted the rebuke and her swords sparkled with raiton chakra.

    Konan smiled and her fan glowed in futon chakra.

    ...

    On the side, Mei tugged on Rei''s sleeve, making him hum and look at her.

    "What''s going on?" She asked, pointing at Konan and Ringo.

    Rei smiled. Konan was parrying sh after sh in a high-speed sh with Ringo. Ringo was good. Strong. FAST. Extremely fast. But Konan''s body was nurtured with nature energy. She might not be a closebat fighter but she was fast enough and her mind was used to controlling thousands of papers. Split-second decisions were not a problem for her.

    "The fight is a struggle between Ringo''s strength as a swordsman and raiton user. She is natural and very strong. But Konan is more experienced and her mind is used to do fast decision-making. She is holding Ringo off by offsetting any momentum or deflecting any power she uses into the sh to the side, making Ringo unable to start her fast-shingbo."

    "Yes! But how! They both coat their weapons in elemental chakra!" Mei eximed as Ringo''s sword again bounced off of Konan''s fan, forcing her to regain her bnce. Rei saw that Ringo was frowning hard. She was faster, better, and stronger than Konan but she was always interrupted midbo or always somewhat missed.

    Rei patted Mei''s head. The girl was very inquisitive and perceptive about matters she shouldn''t know for at least a decade yet.

    "The foundation of raiton is high-speed vibration. So fast it is actually cutting power. Futon, on the other hand, is sharpness itself. Raiton is weak towards futon. You can see it here." Rei pointed as sparks flew from yet another sh between Ringo''s and Konan''s weapons. "Konan''s futon is so sharp it makes Ringo''s raiton vibrations literally bounce away instead of letting them cut it. That sets them into opposite motion, sending Ringo''s sword back, unbncing her, therefore stopping any momentum she may have gained and making them reposition herself. Which must be a hell of a pain in the ass for somebody whose fighting style is based on speed. She is getting a stopper to her eleration every time they sh." Rei chuckled.

    "Oooh." Mei nodded and continued to watch the fight.

    ...

    Ringo was frustrated. She would be seething mad if it was not so damn depressing! She couldn''t build her momentum. She couldn''t build her chakra! She was attacking and attacking, always moving around, looking for openings and Konan was still in that damn defensive stance, almost standing near the ce when the battle began! At times side-stepping Ringo''s shes, at others parrying them.

    Yes. Parrying her swords with a fan! It was ridiculous!

    Ringo was faster and stronger. It was obvious. But Konan was patiently chipping away her strength by steadily guarding herself. She wasn''t even attacking! Just waiting for a major opening!

    Ringo decided that enough was enough. She charged at Konan again, gripping her two swords and her left one quickly shed from the left side in a side-swipe at Konan''s mid-section. It was her fastest possible speed and Konan would be forced to block it! She wasn''t fast enough to dodge!

    Konan did just that. She blocked. And Ringo was expecting it. Before their weapons met, she did what she was taught to NEVER do. She let go of her left sword and inwardly noted that it bounced from the fan and flew away.

    Ringo didn''t care and her right sword shed at Konan. Konan wouldn''t be able to block! Her fan was on the left side and the sword wasing from the right!

    In her excitement, Ringo made a fatal mistake. Her swipe was too fast and too high. Only at thest moment, she realized. Her sword entered Konan''s throat and her head... was sent flying.

    Ringo''s tion at hitting her opponent quickly fell as horror filled her. She could hear a childish horrified scream from the side but her mind was mostly nk, as she stared forward. Her world stopped to crawl as she watched the headless body in front of her, as her sword was moving in a crawl, away from the neck it just exited. Konan''s head flying up, inch by inch, her serious expression still on her face, no signs of realization on it.

    Ringo was mortified at what just happened that she missed one important detail.

    Suddenly the arm of the headless body sprang up, unfolding the fan and sending a quick, concentrated, and strong but small tornado into Ringo''s unguarded stomach, sending her forcefully flying and painfully rolling on the ground.

    The detail was... there was no blood.

    Konan''s head reconnected with her body as papers re-created the neck that she previously changed into paper and ''vanished'' before Ringo''s sword could sh it.

    Konan sighed and looked at her unfolded fan and then at the unconscious Ringo on the ground.

    "Well. This is my loss as I used ninjutsu." She shrugged and went to kic-, ahem, wake Ringo up...

 Chapter 47 - Ch47. Joining 1

    <h4>Chapter 47 - Ch47. Joining 1</h4>

    Rei and Konan wereing back from a mission. They were in the countryside, in the northern part of the Mizu no Kuni as they ate lunch in a tavern in a small town.

    "I am never doing an escort mission again." Konan huffed and crossed her arms. "That pig ogled my ass the entire time!"

    "I concur. I wanted to wring his neck at least fifty times." Rei agreed with a twitching eyebrow. "At least he didn''t have guts to try anything."

    "If he did," Konan snorted derisively. "noble or not, a friend of the Daimyo or not, his head would fly!"

    As they conversed about the pig of a client they had to escort, a hooded figure in a small ck cloak sat opposite them. They could see it was a woman and Rei took a peek at her chin, mouth, and nose that could be seen from under the hood. He quickly understood the woman is beautiful from these features alone.

    "We need to talk." The hooded woman said.

    It was not an order. Both Rei and Konan recognized it for what it was. The woman was pleading, almost begging them to hear her out. Rei looked at Konan and smiled when he saw her nod. They both felt a slight familiarity with the woman and didn''t know why. He turned to the fidgeting woman and spoke.

    "Follow us."

    Rei rented a room for a day and they entered it. Konan quickly made papers with Rei''s silencing and anti-spy seals stuck to each wall.

    They sat on the bed and watched as the woman stood in front of them somewhat insecurely, quivering. Her shaky hands reached upwards, taking hold of the edge of her hood and she ever so slowly started pulling it down.

    Konan just looked in confusion as Rei''s jaw dropped the second the forehead of the woman was revealed.

    "I am..." The fidgety woman quietly mumbled while her eyes tried to look anywhere but Rei and Konan.

    "Tsunade Senju." Rei finished for her, half in disbelief.

    Tsunade nodded silently, biting her lower lip. Rei never thought he would see Tsunade Senju act all insecure. Konan tensed but Rei put a hand on her shoulder.

    "So why did you need to talk with us?" Rei asked calmly.

    Tsunade opened her mouth and her eyes for the first time,nded on Rei, making her freeze. She stayed like that with her mouth open and wide-eyes, gazing at him intently while her body trembled.

    Rei had some really bad premonition and activated his nature sensing and recoiled at what he felt.

    He and Konan were the picture of calmness but Tsunade? The Nature energy was pushing, tugging, and forcefully pulling her towards them. Her chakra was invisibly leaking from her body, its tendrils trying to reach Rei and Konan. Rei saw why she would be trembling, fighting to even keep standing. He cursed.

    "Konan, follow." He instantly ordered Konan and in a burst of raiton chakra, appeared near the still bewildered Tsunade.

    Tsunade couldn''t fight even if she wanted to. She was at the end of her strength. Half-dead and she wondered how it was even possible she could keep her eyes open, much less stand. When Rei swept her from her feet, bending her over his shoulder, she couldn''t even protest as a jolt of pleasure sprang through her spine at his touch.

    Konan tilted her head but listened and in less than a minute, Rei and Konan sped up away from the town, Rei carrying Tsunade on his shoulder.

    They arrived near the cliff, in front of them only a high jagged wall of rock, Tsunade already unconscious.

    "Let''s create a cave." Rei said and Konan nodded.

    Both Rei and Konan put their hands on the wall of rock and said.

    "Doton: Hidden Cave."

    The wall of rocks gave way and a big half-circr entrance appeared in front of them. They entered and the Jutsupleted its second function, sealing the entrance off as Rei created small balls of fire all around to produce light.

    That Jutsu was a very useful thing to have in a repertoire. Earth was everywhere and making an underground cave or one inside a mountain as a headquarters was always a useful skill to have.

    Rei removed any and all Jutsu affecting Tsunade and saw her revert to a very old woman. She was shriveled and wrinkled. Her body was just skin and bones, making him wince.

    "It''s even worse than I thought. We need to enter our dimension." He gravely told Konan.

    Konan raised her eyebrows at Rei thinking of dragging that woman, Tsunade, into their dimension but she followed with a pout. Rei took out a storage seal and unsealed a square paper of the size of a half of the floor of the room in their apartment. Rei lifted Tsunade''s body and carried her into the middle of the key seal on the paper as Konan followed. A chakra engulfed them and with a puff of smoke, they disappeared.

    ...

    In their dimension, an influx of their nature energy swirled around peacefully. The second they appeared, their bodies started to be filled to the brim with the giddy energy, making them smile. It was a very soothing feeling. Theplete opposite of what Tsunade felt. The nature energy rammed into her as it recognized her as an intruder and her body started to be destroyed from the inside.

    Rei quickly whipped out the sense connecting seal that caused this in the first ce and ced it on Tsunade''s chest. Konan understood and put her hand on it. Rei activated it and their world... shifted.

    The second Rei''s and Konan''s soul, one, connected, joined soul shed with Tsunade''s, the reaction was very violent.

    The entire dimension pulsed. Years the dimension saw no use and only made nature energy stronger, more condensed. By now the energy permeated the air and saturated the entire space. It was clearly VISIBLE even by the n.a.k.e.d eye. The energy was thick and now, now it finally had something that it could fill.

    The bodies of the three people as if opened the floodgates as the energy pushed into them, doing the exact same thing it did previously when this happened the first time. Only, purer, stronger, concentrated. This energy BELONGED to Konan and Rei. This energy was in THEIR favor. It did its best to enhance and enforce their bond.

    Tsunade''s soul didn''t have even a shred of a chance. It couldn''t hold itself together as it was continuously forcefully ripped to shreds and repatched with parts of Konan''s and Rei''s big patchwork soul. It slowly started merging with theirs and from Two patchwork souls that made one bigger, quickly became three. The volume... increased. And then it momentarily separated into three parts.

    One, the biggest and watery blue, containing a lot of the green and a massive amount of purple parts, was Rei''s soul. Anyone skilled in soul magic from some higher world would tell you that what just happened should be impossible. But when the entire dimension pressurizes the soul... many things be possible. The purple parts were calm, collected, and happy. They invitingly weed the green bits that danced in delight and utter joy at the merging.

    Only then did Rei find out the problem. He saw a small old and dull part of his soul that was green. Green that didn''t belong to him and understood. Tsunade Senju was his. She BELONGED to him. How? He had no idea. But her soul craved to join with his and it was slowly killing her.

    She must have been close when the mishap happened the first time... Rei thought.

    The second part was mostly bluish purple with many patches of watery blue, creating harmony and tranquility. For this soul, this state was natural and pleasant. But when the green pieces started to fill it, they were not rejected. But they were not epted with the same enthusiasm as Rei''s soul did. Konan... epted Tsunade as her sister-wife. It was abrupt. Too abrupt but... her mind and soul were telling it was a foregone conclusion. There was nothing to do anymore so she grudgingly epted the woman. But... Konan also sent loads of ''demands'' with the parts of her soul. She wanted Tsunade to be obedient, after all. To Rei only, of course.

    Thest part was the forest green soul. Cracked soul. Damaged. Broken. It was leaking. The piece that joined Rei''s soul long ago created a very unpleasant thing. It created a crack that slowly over time weakened Tsunade''s existence. Her soul needed mending. Yes, Rei''s watery blue and Konan''s bluish-purple bits filled it and patched it up, closing the leaks. Tsunade''s soul was finally repaired and it took any ''demand'' or bond these parts of souls as fish to water.

    It wasn''t like she HAD to listen to these ''demands'' of Konan. Nothing really bound her but the nagging feeling was there. But the connection... Tsunade''s mind came to one conclusion only. It couldn''t help but feel deep unexinable affection for Rei. The same Konan felt for him after the mishap with the seal and Konan was firmly ced on the level of Nawaki in her heart. This, however, was a two-way street and Rei and Konan also epted Tsunade.

    But even if Tsunade''s soul was now mended, it was still half-empty. Rei knew this would be a problemter on. But for now, Tsunade was stable and will be for years toe. That was what really mattered. She will survive.

    The souls re-established themselves, creating a certain hierarchy. Rei''s soul gave away most. After all, these talents were on the level of Godly and Supreme. And while the souls received only a diluted version, it was way more than what they could get in this world even from the strongest beings, Otsutsukis. Rei''s soul took the lead and bound Tsunade the same way Konan was bound to it. As his ''partner''. Someone unable to betray him. Both Tsunade''s and Konan''s souls firmly attached to Rei''s while creating a ''bridge'' between each other.

    And then, the tree souls banged together, creating the one big lump of green, purple, and blue. One big soul. And with the souls changed, the outwards changes started.

 Chapter 48 - Ch48. Joining 2

    <h4>Chapter 48 - Ch48. Joining 2</h4>

    In the dimension, Rei, Konan, and Tsunade were bathed in the swirling nature energy. Their chakra visible, whirling all around. Even Tsunade who was on the verge of dying from chakra exhaustion, had her chakra stores refilled by the energy of the dimension.

    The three chakras leaned on each other and started merging, interweaving. Rei''s and Konan''s chakra no longer contained only two ''ingredients'' but now it was made of three, getting even denser than before, heavier.

    Their chakra reserves again rose by the factor of five, far surpassing Kage level reserves.

    This time, both Rei and Konan werepletely aware of the changes and marveled at them. The previous time, their minds couldn''t stay coherent from all the energy but now... they saw what happened and Rei was already devising a seal to ''finalize'' the change. For years he was drowning in darkness but now, finally a ray of light enlightened him. He finally knew what he needed to know to finish his binding seal and finalize this bond between them, making it iron-d! To make their souls regain their form as right now, they were open. He had no idea how to describe it more but it was always there. A weak nagging feeling that something is not right.

    They both watched Tsunade... the old woman looking around ny.

    "She is old." Konan frowned and Rei chuckled.

    "She is in herte twenties." Hemented, making Konan gape at him.

    Rei leaned forward and tapped with his free arm on the purple diamond on Tsunade''s forehead.

    "This is the sole reason she is still alive." He saw Konan tilt her head so he borated. "When we connected, she must have been close and a piece of her soul was taken from her."

    "Ah! So that''s why you were so decisive in connecting with her! She was already a part of us!" Konan eximed in great surprise.

    "Yes," Rei nodded. "she was not a finalized connection but she was a part of us nevertheless. We just never noticed due to the... small amount of her in us."

    "Then? What was the problem?" Konan hummed.

    "We took too little of her soul. That would be fine. But we didn''t give her any of ours. Her soul was ''leaking'' for theck of a better word."

    "Leaking... really?" Konan''s lips curled into a small smile.

    "I really don''t have a better term to exin it." Rei shrugged helplessly. "It manifested in her chakra slowly leaking from her body. Sure, she regenerated it but it put a tremendous strain on her body and life force." Rei lovingly put his hand on Tsunade''s cheek. "Day by day, she must have felt herself dying but even her lifelong medical experience couldn''t save her."

    "That''s... shuddering thought." Konan bitterly grimaced and decided to be good to Tsunade.

    "Her body couldn''t keep it up and she was slowly starting to be unable to regenerate her chakra. She herself must have recognized she was dying. It must have taken years." Rei caressed Tsunade''s cheek. "She would be dead years ago if not for her stored reserves in the yin seal."

    "I see. She was lucky."

    "More like dead tired most of the time." Rei snorted as he put his thumb under Tsunade''s eye and gently rubbed it, removing a thickyer of make-up. Under Tsunade''s eye was a deep ck circle. One, a certain future Ichibi Jinchuuriki would be proud of. "Well... it also took a considerable amount of life force from her since there was nothing else holding her body together. She is a Senju. Senju would have her current look if he was around 150-180 years old. You can understand why I freaked out in the tavern."

    Konan nodded. To think the woman who was barely thirty lost around a hundred and fifty years'' worth of life force. Konan really couldn''t help but pity her. She didn'' know how much of that is the new bond and how much is her own sincerity but... it didn''t matter. The bond was a part of her and she decided to ept it wholeheartedly.

    "Oh, finally." Rei smiled as he saw Tsunade''s body reverting. He saw the curious look on Konan so he exined with a chuckle. "Her body is regaining her youth. It is oversaturated with nature energy that is making her younger, giving her back her lost life force. And then, making this life force stronger. The Summoning Animals gained intelligence and speech due to nature energy. They live usually in highly saturated ces with this energy and can live hundreds, if not thousands of years..." He trailed off as he noticed the look of understanding in Konan''s eyes.

    "We are simr to them, then." Konan concluded and Rei nodded.

    "Yes. That''s my conclusion. Tsunade is going through every change our bodies did when we connected. It is enhancing her all over. Her mind, body, and chakra."

    Rei finally took his hand away from the connecting seal as he saw the nature energy around them to calm and settle down. The connection was finished.

    "We would have lived for hundreds of years on nature energy alone. But now..." He said as he spread his hand to the sides, gesturing to the dimension of green, tall trees and a thin mist of healthy bright greenish glint, made of nature energy. "Now that we have our own source of an unending energy customized for us?" He turned to Konan with a smugly raised eyebrow and the left side of his lips curled in a smirk.

    Konan understood he wanted her to finish the statement.

    "We are unaging?" She half-answered, half-asked.

    "Oh, we do age. Our souls do. But our bodies will stop at our prime. That''s why..." He pointed at Tsunade and Konan''s eyes widened. She was now looking like a twenty years old woman, her body strong and toned. Konan noted the woman was extremely beautiful and smiled happily. Yes, this woman would do. She started unconsciously caressing Tsunade''s head.

    "As long as we have our dimension, we won''t age." Konan nodded in understanding.

    "Yes... that''s why I gotta make more seals in order to improve it and us." Rei chuckled. Konan tilted her head.

    "Well, I can finally close our bond on a soul level. That will allow me to root our existences deeply in this dimension and connect it to our souls. Right now it would be dangerous..."

    "The Uzumaki seals gave you a lot of knowledge and basis for new theories..." Konan grumbled. She didn''t understand and didn''t like it when Rei talked about something she didn''t understand! But she could only sigh in annoyance.

    "That they did." Rei snorted. "Uzumaki forbade soul-level sealing a long time ago. But they kept the knowledge. Most of their sealers couldn''t pull it off safely anyway. It almost always ended with some deformities, idents, or most likely death of the target, so they forbid using it. But with my talent? Hah, I can and will pull it off." Rei rolled his eyes. The knowledge about this kind of sealing was hidden very deeply and discreetly in the sealing scrolls in the Kiri Library. It was not even in one scroll. It was strewn through hundreds of them, most of them useless scrolls that wouldn''t see any use. But Rei looked through them all and connected the dots. And he found out the most chilling and exciting art. Sealing on the level far above the grandmaster level. Soul and dimensional sealing.

    Creating Dimensions... that always made Uzumaki stumped. They wanted to make their own small world and relocate there. Nobody would threaten them there. But their experimental dimension would ALWAYS copse so they gave up.

    Soul-level sealing... It was one of the most powerful things in the entire Narutoverse. Theoretically, creating Bijuu should be possible if only really, really hard. But in practice? Even Uzumaki couldn''t pull it off safely. But Rei could. With enough effortˇ­ and time.

    And now that he saw and sensed the entire process of connection creation when Tsunade joined... He was sure. He was going to make a soul-level seal. A seal that will allow for far too much than just a simple soulbond. He couldn''t help but get excited!

 Chapter 49 - Ch49. Tsunade Senju 3

    <h4>Chapter 49 - Ch49. Tsunade Senju 3</h4>

    After the end of the second shinobi war, Tsunade left Konoha with her apprentice Shizune. God, were there so many old senile people grumbling about that particr thing!

    They all wanted her to be their personal healing tool. But... she was fed-up and left. In the middle of the Council meeting as they were all raving and raking at her, she just up and went away, consequences be damned. The council couldn''t help but gape at her.

    Tsunade traveled to the Ame no Kuni... And she saw the results of the war. It was disheartening, really. She tried to heal anyone she could as she trained Shizune on the innumerable amounts of injuries there. The girl was shaping up quickly into a good medic.

    But... Tsunade couldn''t find any clue about the phenomenon she felt during the war. It was only when she was on her wit''s end, she met in the market of one town a girl who told her a peculiar story about two kids who grew a tree. It ignited her hope and she instantly checked it out only to find... mokuton. It brought new hope to her life.

    Then... the problems started. She was dying. It took her years to find out what the difort was but when the first symptoms started, she quickly understood. Her body was slowly starting to lose its ability to replenish her chakra. She didn''t know why. She tried everything she knew... but nothing worked!

    Eventually, she epted that her life in this world wasing to an abrupt end but she refused to die before she met the two mokuton users. Somehow even the thought of that made her seethe in rage and stubbornly continue her search no matter her condition.

    And so, Tsunade traveled all around Ame once again. Trying to find more clues only to find... nothing.

    At least her apprentice, Shizune, was shaping up good. She was ten but already on the level of elite medic-nins of Konoha when it came to iryo-ninjutsu. Tsunade could be proud of that. She left her medical legacy in the form of Shizune.

    In the end, Tsunade decided to briefly return to Konoha. She wanted to ''deposit'' Shizune back into the vige and go on herst wild hunt across the Ame until the reaper imed her.

    But in a stroke of good luck, she could feel a tug. A slight tug on her chakra. When she focused, she found out it was pulling her... somewhere.

    After she left Shizune in Konoha, she went to follow that tug as her instincts screamed at her to do so. It surprisingly led her to Mizu no Kuni of all ces! Tsunade traveled all over the country following leads. She avoided only Kirigakure. It was frustrating, really.

    But finally, after years of traveling around Mizu in various disguises, dragging her utterly exhausted, chakra-depleted self through the towns of the humid country as she visibly aged by the day and her body ached, bones creaked, and muscles weakened... when she thought she would just drop dead on her feet, she finally saw the two figures that gued her mind for years. She just could feel that it was them, she was looking for. And her heart desired to be in their presence. She instantly approached them and her wish was fulfilled. She met them and was a nervous wreck due to it. Damn, she said the first thing that appeared in her mind! What ''we need to talk''! It was damn embarrassing!

    Senju Tsunade... quivered in her boots. The sheer thought made her internally chuckle at her pathetic self. But as she gathered her courage to speak with them... her eyesnded on the man and she froze. Her heart desired to be held by that man. She didn''t even know what or why but she deeply wanted it.

    Before she could get her head out of the gutter, the man bent her over his shoulder and she, much to her eternal embarrassment, passed out due to the sheer exhaustion. Her body just shut out. And she remembered no more.

    ...

    Tsunade Senju fluttered her eyes open. Slowly, groggily, only to close them quickly. She m.o.a.ned! M.o.a.ned from the sheer pleasure she felt. The feeling of... being rested. She didn''t feel at ease and rested for years! A cute yawn tore out of her throat and Tsunade''s face split into a beautiful smile. She m.o.a.ned again and giggled at the pleasant feeling of joy that filled her. This was heaven...

    Tsunade rolled her body, lying on her side, her cheek burying into thep of... wait.

    She snapped her eyes open and if not for the firm hands that held her body down, she would have jumped to her feet. Her wide, shocked eyes looked in front of her as she regained her rity.

    She saw... Rei. That name sprang up in her mind almost instantly even though she was sure they never introduced themselves to each other.

    Rei chuckled at the ''deer in the headlights'' expression Tsunade showed. She was madly blushing and he couldn''t resist and put his hand on her cheek, stroking it slightly.

    He chuckled again when his little affection earned him a satisfied m.o.a.n from Tsunade, making her even more embarrassed as he continued stroking her cheek.

    "How do you feel." He asked her tenderly.

    "I-, I feel..." Tsunade''s breath hitched. She felt... amazing. Young. Energic. Strong. She felt... alive. Tears welled in her eyes and started to stream down her cheeks. The only thing she could hear was the cooing voice of Rei as she bawled her eyes out into his shirt.

    "Don''t worry, you are alive. Safe." Rei whispered to the distraught woman as he stroked her hair. Tsunade curled into him, her loud wails resounding through the dimension.

    When her tears were finally exhausted, Tsunade looked again at Rei.

    "What happened." She asked him quietly, sniffing. "Howe I am... alive."

    "Well, you see..." Rei started exining the bond and their current situation with an awkward expression.

    Hearing everything, Tsunade mulled over it. She was now bound to a ninja from Kiri. It was... baffling but she spent years trying to find him. She would not be deterred by a little set-back like this! She was a Senju! Senju didn''t back down!

    "I understand." Her expression turned to steeled and determined one. "I will defect for you, then." For her it was a foregone conclusion. If she couldn''t keep Konoha and Rei at the same time, she had to choose what was more important to her.

    Tsunade saw Rei''s jaw drop at her statement and the casual way she said it. Both knew she meant every word thought.

    "No, you will not." Rei recollected himself and admonished, putting his index finger to her lips, stopping any and all protests.

    Just then a blue-haired woman with a slight smile came closer to them.

    Konan. Tsunade''s mind supplied. Tsunade returned the smile as she couldn''t help but feel happy at seeing the unknown woman. Konan was the same. She decided to be good to Tsunade but it was astonishing that Tsunade''s mere presence brought her joy. To a lesser degree than Rei''s but it was still noticeable.

    "This is..." Rei started introductions.

    "Konan." Tsunade interrupted as her lips curled into a calm smile.

    "Nice to meet you." Konan stated and Tsunade nodded.

    Both women looked at Rei intently.

    "If I won''t defect from Konoha... how could I stay with you?" Tsunade asked but then blinked as her eyes grew horrified. "I can''t be separated from you!" She shouted desperately.

    Rei showed a mysterious smile.

    "We will do it like this..."

 Chapter 50 - Ch50. How to get your girl accepted into the hidden village full of paranoid killers

    <h4>Chapter 50 - Ch50. How to get your girl epted into the hidden vige full of paranoid killers</h4>

    The Mizukage stared at Rei while Rei stared at the Mizukage. It was an epic staredown of two wills shing, neither backing down!

    "She is my ve!" Rei eximed shamelessly.

    The Mizukage blinked and gave a fed-up look at the blond-haired around sixty years old woman with a wrinkled face who promptly snorted at Rei''s promation. Konan was as always,pletely stoic and uncaring about his suffering too. He slowly put his elbows on the desk and started to rub his forehead, trying to prevent his growing headache.

    Ah... it''s that time of the month again, I see... The Mizukage mentally sighed.

    The Mizukage let out and then took a deep breath. He leisurely leaned back into hisfortable fluffy chair, sighing in relief. After a few moments of enjoying the pleasant softness on his back, he again looked at Rei, Konan, and the mysterious old woman with them.

    Nodding to himself, he leaned down and opened a drawer. Slowly, he took out his precious smoking pipe, putting it in the middle of his table, right in front of him. He looked at Rei''s group for five seconds straight and again nodded to himself as if reassuring his own mind that he is not hallucinating.

    He reached to the drawer again and took out his special weed from the Land of Grass. It was a luxury good for very special asions. At least, until Rei started going to missions. From then on it became a stress relief... and help to forget.

    Sigh, being Mizukage is a hard job, maaan~... The Mizukage wistfully thought.

    He again looked at Rei''s group as he blinked a few times and slowly put his hands into a hand seal.

    Rei could swear he heard a quiet ''Kai'' before seeing the Mizukage nod to himself again.

    The Mizukage, now doubly sure this was really happening, took out a sake bottle from his drawer and put it next to his pipe. He leaned back into his seat and took the pipe into his mouth, chewing on its tip.

    "ANBU get out." Hezily drawled in a ''I don''t care anymore'' tone.

    The ANBU hesitated. Not because they were afraid for the safety of Mizukage. Not because of their duty. Nothing so grand. They hesitated because they would miss the entire show, dammit!

    "Now." The Mizukage ordered, and the reluctant, scowling ANBU vacated the room.

    The Mizukage chilled in his chair, looking between his special weed and his very expensive sake as if he couldn''t decide if he should get drunk or high.

    His senses still worked though and with the corner of his eye, he noticed that only the old blond-haired woman gave him a knowing sympathetic look. Sigh, she clearly knew his woes. Drunk or high... that''s the question. Suddenly, he felt it wouldn''t be that bad giving her citizenship. After all, she clearly could rte to his problems.

    With a sigh, the Mizukage started speaking, without lifting his gaze from the sake and weed as he curled the tip of his mustache in his hand.

    "Rei... remember that mission two years ago where you somehow, and never let me know how or I swear I will use it on you, not henged but outright transformed your fat noblewoman of a client into a small ball of wool to escape your pursuers since she was too fat to run?" The Mizukage dryly chuckled to himself.

    "Hehe," Rei chuckled at the image. "I am sorry, Mizukage-sama. I am afraid that was a long time ago."

    "Long ago, heh? Indeed, let me refresh your memory... you somehow forgot her still transformed on the porch of her own house... and her cat has strewn the wool all over the porch and the garden. It took two whole days to get her back into the ball and transform her back into human form. Since then, I give you escort missions only when you are the LAST possible choice."

    The Mizukage lifted his gaze and saw the confused look in Rei''s eyes.

    "I see... You forgot." He concluded and took yet another deep breath and his eyes went back to the weed as he smiled and stuffed a bit into his pipe.

    "Or that mission year and a half ago where you were tasked to deliver a ''package'' to a certain building and you delivered it too fast? ... the one where it was a bomb that due to your speed blew up with our informant still inside? Poor bastard won''t ever have children..." The Mizukage puffed on his pipe and chuckled.

    "That was not my fault!" Rei indignantly eximed.

    "True. Nobody thought you would deliver it that fast... Since then I never gave you another delivery mission." Rings of smoke came from the carefree-looking Mizukage with a bigzy smile stered on his face.

    "Oh! Or that one! Where you were sent to interrogate a guy in T&I a year prior? Damn... you somehow made him catch dementia, heh."

    "To be fair, I was there to interrogate him. Not coddle him." Rei quipped.

    The Mizukage nodded in affirmative.

    "Since then I gave you no interrogation or torture missions."

    The Mizukage smiled in reminiscence.

    "Now... we have a simr discussion almost every two months. God forbid, I think it gets more and more frequent! So, Rei, tell me. How long did you study thew book toe with the excuse of her being your ve?" The Mizukage''s smile changed into a curious one as he puffed on his pipe but his eyes were not on Rei and the women. He was too busy pouring himself a drink from his expensive sake.

    "Around te-, ahem, thirty minutes... or so." Rei scratched his cheek. "But very is totally legal here!"

    "I see... yes, it is legal. If you are noble." The Mizukage calmly stated, taking a sip from his cup.

    "Oh..." Rei blinked. Then his demeanorpletely changed and he gave a pleasant smile to Mizukage. "Mizukage-sama, you misunderstood! I meant to say, she is the new babysitter for Mei!"

    Tsunade couldn''t and burst into giggles as even Konan averted her head and covered her snickers with her palm.

    Tsunade came forward and bowed slightly.

    "Mizukage-sama, I am nothing much but I know some medical Jutsu. I may help in the hospital."

    The Mizukage squinted his eyes at her.

    "What''s your name again?"

    Tsunade gave him a sickly sweet smile with mischievously closed eyes.

    "I am Tsuna Yotsuba."

    The Mizukage instantly did a spit-take, covering the doc.u.ments on his table in it.

    Noooooo! My paperwooooork... Was his first thought.

    Shiiiiit! I wasted my expensive sake!... Was his second thought.

    Wait, did she just say Yotsuba?... Was his third thought that froze his mind.

    He looked at the old wrinkled woman and gave a sheepish Rei an unamused stare.

    Here I am showering the guy in young, firm, juicy, healthy, strong, gorgeous kunoichi and he takes an old woman as his wife!?...

    The Mizukage wanted to bang his head on the table as he heard Rei''s bashful ''Tehehe''.

    Heid lifelessly on his table and could almost see his soul leaving him.

    "Ya know what? Do what ya want, punk. Just don''t cause any more trouble, I beg you!" Anime tears streamed from his eyes.

    Wao, he is really Mizukage... Tsunade thought as she watched the eye waterfallspletely soak the full stack of finished paperwork with mirth in her gaze as the man didn''t yet notice the catastrophe his tears were causing.

    ...

    Rei and thepany left the office as Himeno entered.

    "Remind me why don''t I just save myself the trouble and offer them defection without being pursued?" The Mizukage grumbled childishly.

    "Because they are our S-rank ninja, silly!" Himeno giggled.

    "Right..."

    Himeno suddenly stopped in her tracks and robotically turned to Mizukage.

    "You... smoked?"

    Himeno hated it when he smoked. Long ago he promised not to, on the pains of months on the couch-kun. A fate worse than death.

    "Himeno? Ah... it''s just your imagination, ahaha." He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, as he tried to hide his weed.

    "You..." Himeno looked sweetly at him and the Mizukage did the only thing he could. He slowly slid towards the window, slid it open, and jumped out, running for his life.

    Reeeeeeiiiii! Daaaamnnnnnn yoooouuuu! I aaameee yoooouuuu! ... He tearfully thought as he evaded sharp ice-spikes.

 Chapter 51 - Ch51. Tsunade and Mei meeting

    <h4>Chapter 51 - Ch51. Tsunade and Mei meeting</h4>

    Rei, Konan, and Tsunade sat around the table in Rei''s apartment, waiting for Mei toe from the academy.

    "Was it smart to reveal your medical ninjutsu?" Rei asked Tsunade, not really caring.

    Tsunade shrugged with a slight smile. She was in her young, normal form without any transformation. Konan told her that she trusts this Mei person so she would too. The entire apartment was filled with privacy seals no ninja in Kiri would be able to bypass so it was safe.

    "I revealed my ability to use it. Not the extent. My chakra is looking like a low chunin level thanks to your hiding technique too. As long as I don''t use anything too advanced, I will be fine. I did it mostly so I can protect myself if I am ever attacked. We wouldn''t want aplete civilian defeating ninja, now, would we?" Tsunade chuckled and took Rei''s hand into hers, ying with his fingers with a slight self-indulgent smile.

    "Fair enough, Tsu." Rei nodded, making Tsunade blush at the affectionate nickname.

    "I also wouldn''t want to freeload..." She trailed off only to have her shoulder swatted by Konan.

    "You are one of us. Just ept it." Konan reproachfully stated, making Tsunade lower her head, showing her understanding and Konan pecked her cheek for that.

    "Good girl."

    Tsunade internally squealed. It was so embarrassing! She was the strongest kunoichi of Konoha! And here, she was being verbally juggled by two kids younger than her! But... she wanted to feel Rei''s and Konan''s affection. She wanted them to tease her. She... oh.

    Tsunade abruptly raised her head in a realization as she stared at Rei and Konan in utter shock at the idea of her having these feelings. Not once in her life did she actually feel like this.

    "Hm?" Konan tilted her head when she noticed Tsunade''s state and distraught.

    "I love you." Tsunade blurted out. "Damn, I love you..." She blinked, not really knowing how to react. "I..."

    Rei put his finger on her lips with a smirk, silencing her. Tsunade looked at him and her eyes morphed into eptance. Wanting to be near them and outright loving them without even knowing why... that was a very big jump and it would need a long time for Tsunade to fully ept it. But for now, she wouldn''t deceive herself. Her lips stretched into a gentle bashful smile.

    Seeing it, Rei leaned forward and fully kissed Tsunade on her lips, startling her. Her hands quickly shot to Rei''s shoulders but she didn''t...want...to...push. Her hands became powerless as theyid on his shoulders while he yed with her tongue and Tsunade just gave in. Her arms sn.a.k.e.d around Rei''s mouth and pulled him closer. Rei''s hands took hold of Tsunade''s cheeks and the two made out for minutes while Konan watched with an amused smile. She supported her chin with her hands, elbows on the table as she enjoyed the happy tingling on her lips. She could feel the sweet taste of Tsunade on them as well as the familiar taste of Rei and it was a very... peculiar feeling. She was only a bit rueful that it was such a delicate feeling she barely perceived it.

    Rei and Tsunade separated as Tsunade had a bright satisfied face with a dreamy smile.

    "That was... nice." She giggled with a content sigh. It was the first real kiss she received.

    "d to hear that, Tsu." Rei chuckled and licked his lips. "You are sweet."

    Tsunade gulped at that simplepliment. She couldn''t help but feel herself getting hot as her mouth filled with saliva and her eyes intently stared at Rei. She bit her lower lip to not blurt out the first thing on her mind.

    "Cute too." Konan snickered, making Tsunade blush even more, her face now nearing scarlet.

    "Moooo~!" Tsunade let out a whiny sound and averted her eyes to the side as she pouted while petntly crossing her arms on her chest and sullenly sniffing.

    Konan and Rei secretly high-fived under the table with smug smirks as they exchanged subtle knowing looks.

    "I am just a little sorry that you will have to wear that transformation technique." Rei refocused on Tsunade and sighed, making Tsunade gently shake her head.

    "No. It''s alright. Using it to appear old while I am young is much better than using it to appear young when you are actually old."

    Both Konan and Rei smiled at her. They had to admit she had a point. It must have been hell to travel the Land of Water with a body nearing two centuries of age.

    "Well, after I finished the seal for our bond stabilization, you will be able to spend time in our dimension." Rei said and Tsunade perked up. She really loved the nature energy-filled ce. It felt oddly calming to her. Her Senju senses were all tingling!

    Just then the door opened and in walked Mei. She ran and embraced Rei while greeting Konan but her eyes stopped at Tsunade. Both stared at each other quietly and Rei was getting awkward as the atmosphere was getting heavier and heavier. The sparks could be almost seen flying between them.

    "Hi." They both eximed at once.

    Mei looked at Konan, her expression openly asking who the blond woman was. She knew she would probably get someone to look after her when Konan and Rei were away. Even Konan told her as much and they expected it to be some Kiri-diehard-loyalist aka dipshit so she was getting mentally ready for it.

    "She is Tsuna Yotsuba. Rei''s second wife." Konan yfully quipped with a devilish smile and Rei froze. He could feel Mei''s hold around his waist getting tighter and tighter as Mei''s head snapped to Tsunade and her look was getting stormier and stormier by the second. She was visibly pouting as she red at Tsunade who enjoyed the spectacle immensely and taunted Mei with a winning smile. The girl was adorable, indeed. She felt they would get along smashingly.

    "Don''t tease her, Konan." Rei ruffled Mei''s hair with twitching lips and stood up as he tried to restrain himself from grinning. "I am going to cook something up."

    He was about to step through the door into the kitchen when he heard Mei stomp her foot on the floor with a huff. He turned around and saw Mei intently looking at him, one hand pointing her index finger directly at him while the other was pressed on her hip as she gnashed her teeth at him.

    "I will be your wife too! Count on it!" Mei loudly eximed with a determined look as both Tsunade and Konan snickered into their palms.

    Rei knew that look! It was the horrible, horrible look of a woman that made her mind and won''t budge! He better ran to the kitchen after he gave her a helpless shrug! He was only d there was no ''dattebayo'' in that statement!

    He would let the girls talk among themselves and get to know each other. Especially Tsunade and Mei as these two would spend a lot of time with each other. He only hoped Tsunade would be a better idol for her than Konan. One Konan-like person was enough in his life. He really didn''t crave more of THAT personality.

    And who knows, maybe Tsunade would talk Mei out of it? ... He thought.

    Oh, he had no idea how far from the truth that was! Tsunade would be a very ''positive'' influence, alright!

 Chapter 52 - Ch52. Sealing the bond 1

    <h4>Chapter 52 - Ch52. Sealing the bond 1</h4>

    The seal for finalizing the bond was finished. Rei went all out with it and it became a full-body array that had various seal matrixes.

    Quite frankly, anyone without his nature attunement talent would be killed by the seal. Without the nature energy acting as a stabilizer during the sealing, the matrixes would just mash together and sh, making for a very slow and very painful death.

    Well... it could be good for executions too!

    Even though it would be a waste of ink...

    ...

    Both Tsunade and Konanid n.a.k.e.d on the grass in Rei''s dimension. Konan was calm and peaceful,pletely fine with whatever Rei would do to her. Tsunade though...

    "Calm down, Tsu-chan." Rei cooed at the quivering woman as his brush caressed her skin. He could see her getting wet but opted to go round and round andpletely ignore that conversation for now.

    "Ca-cal-calm down!?" Tsunade''s shaky frightened eyes looked queasily at Rei. He was painting a killing number of seals on her body and it did NOT make her feel calm or safe! She was no master, barely knowing intermediate stuff that she had to learn for her yin seal but she was aware of how close to death she currently was!

    "Shhh." Rei put his free hand on her head. Yes. It made her feel good and protected, alright. But... he was basically using only one hand and focusing on something OTHER than the deadly ink-splotches on her body! Reassured, she was not!

    Rei smiled to himself. It was a good idea to do Tsunade first.

    She was definitely like a child in the chair of the dentist for the first time.

    After an entire hour of painting on her body Rei was finally done.

    "It''s finished." Rei sighed tiredly but the amus.e.m.e.nt was obvious in his eyes as Tsunade heaved a long sigh of relief. Her entire body was covered in ck ink seals.

    "You can move, Tsu." Rei told the unmoving woman as multiple times she had to turn around and lie on her belly. The seals were imprinted with a small katon jutsu into her skin the instant they were painted for a lesser error margin. This way, they didn''t need to wait for the ink to dry.

    Rei moved to Konan.

    "Hey, beautiful~."

    "Hey yourself..." Konan pouted. "You took an hour to do Tsunade so you could ogle and feel up her chest, right?"

    Rei smiled and pinched her sullen cheek, making her look at him in exasperation.

    "Of course, I did!" He shamelessly eximed, making Tsunade''s eyes bulge at him.

    "Pervert..." She mumbled quietly to herself yet... a small smile formed on her face as deep down, she was excited Rei found her desirable. She lowered her head in an attempt to hide her smile but her entire demeanor was suddenly brighter so it didn''t do much.

    Rei''s lips twitched upwards as he leaned closer to Konan''s ear.

    "Good girl." He whispered and patted her head, making her body shudder just from hearing these words. To her, hearing it felt like having an orgasm and she was quite addicted to it already. There was a reason why she always repeated to Mei to be a ''good girl''.

    Rei knew she did it to ease Tsunade up so he yed along. He really didn''t have time to ogle her. She was gorgeous, no, she was way past gorgeous. Her chest wasn''t as big as it always seemed in anime but for her small size, it was quite contrasting. It didn''t help that her b.r.e.a.s.ts were all perked up and kept their form perfectly. As he said... he really didn''t have time to peek, ahem, admire them. Honest!

    Rei started painting the seals on Konan who was shamelessly shuddering and enjoying it. Tsunade was looking at the ted expression of Konan through the entire process with an open mouth in a perfect shape of ''O'' since the first orgasm Konan had from it.

    These two are worse than Jiraiya!... She mentally screamed but her hand sn.a.k.e.d to her slit long ago.

    An hourter, Rei finally finished as he wiped the sweat from his eyebrow. As he refocused on the normal world instead of seals, he instantly heard a hot panting and turned around in curiosity. He saw Tsunade ying with herself on the grass, her eyes zed over and her body covered in a sheen of sweat. He could see that she was no longer ''just'' wet but her inner thighs were drenched in her juices and he sweatdropped.

    Who the hell is the pervert in this rtionship! ... He resisted the urge to mumble it out loud as he looked at Konan and deadpanned.

    She was pretty much in the same state except she was not trying to hide it and her eyes were invitingly and hungrily stare at him.

    Rei sighed... but didn''t resist.

    For hours, Tsunade looked in awe as Rei and Konan m.o.a.ned in ecstasy.

    ...

    The trio created a natural bath. They gouged out some earth, covered the hole by two-inch-thick mokuton nks, and filled it with Katon-heated water made by Suiton Jutsu. They rxed there, the girlsying their heads on Rei''s shoulders.

    Konan was mewling as her fingers danced up and down Rei''s shaft underwater. It was just fleeting, not serious as both were spent but she loved touching and since Mei moved in... their activities suffered.

    Rei was still giving some much-needed attention to Tsunade as his hand was sn.a.k.e.d across her back, around her hip, and reached to her p.u.s.s.y. He massaged it, asionally slipped his fingers inside as he used raiton or suiton to drive her to pleasure-induced madness. He didn''t use nature energy as when he tried that for the first time, it instantly shed with her Senju heritage and Tsunade couldn''t move for ten minutes as her mind reeled from the sheer euphoria. Rei knew that using that would break her eventually, no matter how careful he was.

    Despite everything, he didn''t have s.e.x with Tsunade. She didn''t ask for it so he didn''t push.

    Both girls were still covered in the ck seals and looked as if they were used by a tattoo artist for his new exhibition.

    "I am, ugh, surprised this, ah, didn''t make you p-put, oooh, out..." Tsunade said as he noticed him looking over her seal-filled skin while she felt his fingers inside her, pumping her folds with suiton chakra... she c.u.mmed. She thanked God that she piqued her interest in medical ninjutsu as that was the only reason she could even talk instead of curling into a ball and shivering. Long ago she numbed her nerve endings. Unfortunately or... fortunately, she couldn''t decide, it didn''t help half as much as she hoped.

    "I am a seal master, dear. You covered in seals? It makes me horny, Tsu." He purred into her ear, making her go rigid only to loosen up a secondter with a long euphoric m.o.a.n.

    "Weird fetishes aside," Rei withdrew his fingers from Tsunade''s p.u.s.s.y, making her whimper and look at him pleadingly to which he chuckled. He also stopped groping Konan and instantly felt an intense stare at the back of his head but ignored it even though he felt her grip on his member tighten. They were rxed and happy, drowning in pleasure for hours on end so now it was time to pay attention.

    "Girls, I have to exin what the seals do. You can''t go out looking like that." He smirked at them as they showedpletely identical pouts.

    Raising his hands, he ruffled their hairs simultaneously, making Tsunade curl up and sink to the water up to her nose and release bubbles from her mouth in embarrassment while Konan straightened up and proudly pushed her chest forward, enjoying the touch, shamelessly asking for more with her eyes.

    Knowing he had their full attention, Rei pulled his hand away from Konan''s head and the tip of his finger pressed tenderly into Konan''s upper abdomen, under her chest. She giggled as it tickled her but held her body straight. Rei trailed the finger down, along with an intricate seal matrix.

    "This," He circled one of the three seals in the seal matrix. "is a storage seal."

    He knew Tsunade wanted to ask but he just pushed her head a bit more downwards with his hand on her head, making her mouth still underwater. She understood. No interruptions.

    "It will make you capable of storing things into our dimension." Rei smiled. "Deep underground is a ce that is basically the same as a storage seal. Each of us has a set space. To be honest I doubt you would actually manage to fill it all up." He shrugged helplessly as he even tried to store fivekes worth of water but it was still not full and he just gave up and released the water. "The advantage is that it is on your body so you can use it anytime without taking out a scroll. The safety through makes this storage seal be capable only STORE things and things only. The inbuilt storage seal only works for non-living objects as any storage seal. It could get dangerous otherwise. For withdrawal, there is another seal."

    Storage seals were never on the body. It was dangerous. If they malfunction, they could shred the poor idiot with a space continuum. s, he had the advantage of having his own dimension so he could and DID just that. Even if he had to separate the storing and withdrawing function. Without any harm nor threat to his precious girls.

    "Here," His fingers dragged itself to Konan''s right lower belly, making her gasp and shiver from the touch. "is a self-storage seal." Rei smiled genially. "It allows you to store yourself without the need for a key entrance seal. But only yourself and each of you has a designated ce where you will appear so we won''t transfer into each other by some mistake. Additionally, even if you hold or hug somebody, he won''t be affected nor transferred by the self-storing. Anyway," He smirked. The next part was his favorite as it basically made it utterly impossible to kill his precious girls. "it is instantaneous. Meaning... anytime you have to retreat from a fight due to whatever reason... you can just store yourself."

    Tsunade''s eyes widened as she realized just how bullshit that was. No longer was there a fear of being overwhelmed. She could go all in and then just ''poof'' away. Her eyes glinted in depression but also gained a steely resolve and determination. She was weak. Weaker than both Konan and Rei. Her only worth was medical knowledge and even that was bing somewhat obsolete due to the bullshit seals Rei was pulling out of his sleeve. She decided to better herself. To be S-rank not due to her medical knowledge but due to her destructibility!

    Rei smiled as he saw the change in Tsunade''s eyes and his finger fleetingly caressed Konan''s skin as it went to the left side.

    "Next is..."

 Chapter 53 - Ch53. Sealing the bond 2

    <h4>Chapter 53 - Ch53. Sealing the bond 2</h4>

    Rei smiled as he saw the change in Tsunade''s eyes and his finger fleetingly caressed Konan''s skin as it went to the left side.

    "Next is this little nifty seal." He pressed his finger deeper into Konan''s smooth belly, making her m.o.a.n as he smiled at his handiwork. This seal was his true masterpiece and it took the entirety of her left side of her stomach and half of her lower back. It wasplicated as heck with many fail-safes but Rei would never neglect something like that and endanger Konan... or Tsunade.

    "This is a Multipurpose Withdrawal Seal. MultiW for short. This thing works simply despite being anything but. Firstly, it can withdraw things from your storage area in the dimension. It is keyed to your personal storage. You can withdraw it in the range of ten meters around you... Konan." Rei looked at her as her eyes sparkled at hearing about this seal.

    She had MILLIONS of paper slices with seals and it was getting tedious to store them or even create Rei''s special storage seals. Just five clones of her were for storage seal-making duty around the clock as the number of her explosive tags increased. She only thanked God and cursed him at the same time that only Rei''s storage seals were able to store other seals thanks to the special inbuilt stasis seals that kept them stabilized inside. With this little improvement, she could hold all of her seals inside of one big seal storage in their dimension and use it effectively for battle! It was marvelous! And then she could still keep some storage seals on her papers for more long-ranged surprises! And then...!

    Rei leaned in and gently took Konan''s lips as he saw her already entering her own world. This quickly got the girl''s mind back on track with a visible blush.

    "You won''t need my storage seals anymore. I am actually thinking of removing the stasis seal as even without it, my design is superior to the normal one and can''t be giarized unless someone knows English as the intent-imbuement would fail. That seal would have a nice market value... Anyway, back to the topic. I will teach both of you special seals that can connect with your MultiW seal and act as long-range withdrawal. You won''t need to keep all these storage seals, Konan. The MultiW seal is VERY adjustable and when you are withdrawing, there are various mentally selected parameters. You can withdraw one slice of paper or even a million, near you, or anywhere in the ten meters radius. It took a long time to get THAT right. With the special connect seal, you can do the same for long-ranged withdrawals of your papers." Rei told the excited girl.

    Konan hated organizing her seals, alright! It was a chore! But with this! With this, it was made almost elementary! Storage seals worked on intent. As long as she mentally wanted to withdraw this or that much, it would be done with a push of her chakra. Since the seal would be on her body..." She giggled. Hours would be saved by not having to organize her storage seals. Hours that could be used to show Rei her appreciation!

    "But the real masterpiece of MultiW seal is its self-withdrawal function. I made this seal solely with you, Konan," He kissed her temple. "in mind. Let''s call the outward Multipurpose Withdrawal seal, the one that is only connecting to the one on your body, a MultiWLink."

    Rei saw the amused look in the eyes of his girls and slightly scowled.

    "The terminology doesn''t matter. You will learn how to make only the MultiWLink. Not MultiW itself. I am sure you will forget its name before the end of this month but it will help me to rify it and exin what they do better if I differentiate them!"

    The girls obediently nodded and stayed wisely silent but couldn''t help but giggle. They would forget the name almost instantly. Rei gave them a nonplussed look but sighed and continued.

    "So, let''s assume you will have several pieces of paper with this MultiWLink seal. You won''t be only able to withdraw your paper through it but also yourself if you are in the dimension. The problem is it is not instantaneous so it is not as good in battle as it could be. But it can be used just as well." Rei shrugged. "For Tsunade... a simplified version would be that it works like non-instantaneous Hiraishin of your Uncle Tobirama."

    Her eyes went wide. That was a dangerous thing...

    "I will be able to teleport myself to my papers." Konan concluded giddily. "If I leave one with you I will be able to always reach you in seconds!" And her Yandere side showed up.

    Rei chuckled. "No need for that."

    The girls looked at him curiously.

    "The MultiW seals on our bodies function as a kind of beacon and MultiWLink seal for each other. You can always transfer into the dimension and from there to each person with the Bond seal. The self-storing also leaves a MultiWLink seal in the ce where you store yourself so you can always use that ce to reappear there."

    "You thought about it a lot, didn''t you?" Tsunade quipped as she pushed her upper body up from the water.

    "Years." Rei admitted. "I never had a good foundation for it but this Bond Seal is almost perfect."

    "And that does what exactly?"

    "Ah... it only stabilizes our souls and most importantly, every seal matrix in the Bond seal is made to be on the same level as the Bond Seal... you now have a seal not on your body but on your soul. Even if you position the representation of the seal on your hand and it is chopped off, it wouldn''t matter as the soul itself is the canvas for my seal. That''s why it was a good foundation. Our souls are interconnected on some level and it was very easy and simple to add these dimension rted seals as that dimension is connected to my soul. I am basically a medium for your seals that connect yourselves with my dimension."

    "Won''t that disturb you?" Tsunade asked worriedly, making Rei shake his head.

    "I don''t even feel it. Think of it as a tunnel through a mountain. It is there but is a mountain bothered by it? You have a safe passage. No mishap can ur. And I am not bothered by it in any way. It is the ultimate win-win situation."

    Tsunade nodded, relieved.

    "The Bond seal stabilized our souls... that didn''t do much. Except we would have a natural resistance against Genjutsu. Which with our perfect chakra control is actually a very high one. Things that affect the soul like Yamanaka Techniques... I personally wouldn''t have the guts to try it on one of us. Wouldn''t wanna be a mental cripple." Rei smirked, making the girls giggle.

    Tsunade looked at her n.a.k.e.d reflection on the surface of the water and frowned. She didn''t care before as she was just feeling too good but...

    "What about..." Her hand was gently pressed on her forehead. Her diamond-less forehead.

    "Ah... Your chakra storage." Rei nodded and put his free hand on Tsunade''s chest, right over the seals on her, above her heart. "I moved it here." Suddenly she could feel ''something'' IN her heart that made her breath hitch.

    "I must say," Rei gave Tsunade a proud smile that made her calm down and feel butterflies in her belly. "that seal is your best creation. No medical ninjutsu wouldpare to this seal made up with your intermediate sealing knowledge. I dare say, you would be a prodigy in seals if you actually had an interest in them."

    Tsunade snorted and averted her eyes. She hated seals. It was just too... sigh. But she couldn''t deny that the praise ttered her. Her beet-red face certainly proved that.

    "You created storage for chakra so you can use that for your Creation Rebirth. By the way, that technique is forbidden for you." Rei red at her and sternly continued. "If you want to use it, you WILL improve it so it won''t take ANY life force from you, understood?"

    "Hai." Tsunade lowered her head, making Rei nod to himself. At least she knew her shorings!

    Rei was done with exnations so he pressed his finger on their respective pre-selected ces where they wanted to be marked. Konan wanted it on the left side of her lower abdomen while Tsunade wanted it on her right upper arm.

    The second he put chakra into the full-body seal, it shrunk and in these ces, a tattoo of ck rose was left. The same tattoo Rei had on the upper part of his right hand.

    The girls looked at him in understanding when they saw their tattoos, making him smirk

    "Yes, I already tried the seal on myself. What. You didn''t really think I would use you as guinea pigs, did you?" He asked them as if he was questioning if they were retarded or not. Before they could blush, he decided to change the topic. "Back to the Yin Seal... Sure it is only Yin chakra storage but I should be able to tweak it for normal chakra and... Nature energy."

    "Why would you do that?" Tsunade tilted her head but immediately understood how idiotic that question sounded. "Ah... sure, bigger reserves but somehow I doubt that''s your reason."

    Rei''s face twisted into a menacing smirk, making Konan''s heart flutter as she rested her head on his shoulder now that he didn''t pay attention to her.

    "Did you ever wonder how it would feel to be like Kinkaku and Ginkaku, just on a bigger, let''s say, full bijuu scale?"

    Tsunade instantly paled.

    ---

    Author note: I really couldn''t help myself and add this note. And if I added it the normal way, most would just skip it :D. I want you to listen to my rant, dammit!

    Did you actually notice that every freaking Jutsu of Konoha with a big significance was actually either poached from Uzumaki, was a Bloodline of a very select few, or was made by Tobirama?

    Or stolen by Uchiha but that''spletely irrelevant as even then these little shits couldn''t actually use anything else than Sharingan and Katon in the series. No matter how glorified Jutsu thieves they were. For that kind of reputation, their repertoires of Jutsu was depressingly small!

    Anyway, back to Tobirama:

    The guy MADE Hiraishin - meaning seal master! The guy made Edo Tensei - meaning seal f.u.c.k.i.n.g master! The guy made shadow clones - and wasn''t that the most OP shit of Narutoverse!? I mean when someone says Narutoverse, these are the first thing that pops up in my mind... dunno about you.

    And that is basically the sum-up of Narutoverse''s three most OP skills. EVERY FREAKING OP SHIT WAS MADE BY HIM and he ispletely forgotten by Naruto fans.

    Plus the guy was a prodigy at Suiton, the best user in the entire world and Konoha doesn''t even have any famous suiton users beside him - shame on them! He made an academy. He made Uchiha into a prestigious police force (Even if it woulde to bite Konoha in the asster - imho, if he gave the position to Hyuuga, they would be happy and so much more loyal for it. But Uchiha''s wanted more... and more... and more. And when the momentary problems came, it was insta ''let''s coup''!)

    Every freaking story is a glorified gospel to Minato for ''his'' Hiraishin when it actually is NOT his Jutsu. He only improved upon the foundation. Yes, he made it battle-ready but he did NOT invent it. He already had a premade Jutsu that he made more usable. It IS admirable that he was able to do it. But did it beat Edo Tensei or Shadow Clones? Nu-uh. The guy didn''t even do that much for Konoha except killing a few thousand at one battlefield. What could he manage to do during the few months of his reign? Nuthing! That''s what. Yet, always... Minato, Minato, Minato. Seriously... what did that guy ever aplish other than f.u.c.k.i.n.g Naruto''s life up and bagging Kushina?

    Sure he was a Hokage. He had his own aplishments but celebrating his name due to Hiraishin? Well-duh...

    If not Minato, then it is Hashirama for his prowess and Mokuton. God that guy was a dense idiot rivaling Naruto himself. He actually gave away bijuu thinking it would bring peace! No matter the battle-prowess, if your head is empty it is useless...

    And then there is good ''grandfather'' Hiruzen... uh, that guy just useless and can''tpare to ANY of the other Hokages. He is good at being a c.o.c.kroach and his merit was surviving till old age. But notable Jutsu of importance? Pfft. Any contribution to the vige''s OPness? Double pfft. What he did was being proverbially d.i.c.kled by Danzo the entirety of his reign andpletely f.u.c.k.i.e.d up Konoha beyond repair.

    Academy sucked. Jonin instructors sucked (IT IS THE TRUTH - just look at THEM. Kakashi the prime example). Civilians sucked... CLANS sucked (I swear, every n had at least ONE major problem there, Uchiha and Hyuuga at the forefront.). IT WAS PATHETIC.

    He just made Itachi ughter his n because he couldn''t bother sending out his own ANBU and kill off the idiots who wanted to rebel, leaving INNOCENTS alive. (Don''t go at me with that revenge bullcrap. He could prove their crimes. He could install Itachi as a patriarch and give the entire burden of calming his n to him. He could do numerous things that would work. He was a freaking dictator.) But no, he just had to go for full extermination because it would obviously help his kind grandfatherly persona, right?

    And that was just the matter with Uchihas. Then there are Hyuuga kidnapping and many more but who cares about those right? Uchihas are mainstream... idiots.

    Author''s rant done, Peace out!

 Chapter 54 - Ch54. Massage

    <h4>Chapter 54 - Ch54. Massage</h4>

    Rei m.o.a.ned as he felt Tsunade gently press her finger into his n.a.k.e.d back and start to do circr movements, kneading his muscles with her medical chakra. All around were privacy seals so she could stay in her real form.

    They were in their training ground 66 and watched as Konan was giving Mei lessons on Doton. The girl instantly spotted the tattoo on Konan and Tsunade and was sullen for three days straight! She had no idea what it was... only that it signified they were married.

    Rei smiled as he remembered that but instantly released a heated pant as he felt Tsunade''s fingers push into his upper back, slowly sinking her entire palm into it. Her hand was glowing green and the chakra she pushed into him was nothing like suiton one.

    It rxed, loosened, and tensed his muscles continuously and randomly. It felt like being in a very gentle jacuzzi. Tsunade was good. Her medical knowledge certainly hel-

    Rei again released a loud yelp as his eyes widened and a long pleasant sigh left his lips. Tsunade grinned as she finally found one of his pressure points. One that would make his body into warm goo.

    She was straddling him, sitting on his lower back with her legs around his waist as heid on the ground with his back bare. She was loving every second of this. She just couldn''t get enough of his reactions. Of his m.o.a.ns. The fact that it was her that made him m.o.a.n like that was driving her over the edge more than any s.e.x.u.a.l activity ever could. She was mentally getting off! It made her embarrassed! Proud of herself! Smug! Excited! Satisfied! And so much more, that her emotion-filled mind just registered it as una.d.u.l.terated mental pleasure.

    "Wouldn''t it be better if you taught Mei Doton?" Tsunade asked offhandedly as she kneaded the muscles on his shoulders.

    Rei smiledzily, enjoying her care for a bit before answering.

    "Nah... Konan is better."

    "Hm? That''s surprising." Tsunade admitted.

    "What is?" Rei asked as he felt Tsunade''s arms relocate to his upper arms and squeeze his biceps, making them loosen up.

    "I always thought you were the ninjutsu expert of the team. No offense but Konan doesn''t strike me as someone using anything but her paper." Tsunade hummed.

    Rei smiled at that. He realized Tsunade didn''t yet know.

    "Konan''s papers are a Kekkei Tota." He dropped a bomb that made Tsunade stop her hands for a second before they restarted their activity on the sides of his upper torso, pulling, stretching his muscles with devoted care.

    Rei knew Tsunade was intently listening and waiting for him to continue so he did.

    "She has Doton, Futon, and Suiton affinities." Rei borated. "To be honest, she is much better at Doton and Futon than me because she always uses it with her paper. She is natural at it while I am better at Suiton. She never learned Katon nor Raiton so I can''t really brag that I am better at them than her." He chuckled and another m.o.a.n tore from his throat as Tsunade''s hands softly reached the nape of his neck, sending shivers through his spine.

    "Hmm," She hummed, more interested in feeling Rei''s body under herself pulse and quiver from her care than listening to Konan''s prowess. "I see."

    "You should, haa, probably take some lessons in D-, uhh, Doton from Kon-, oh, Konan." Rei said and had to pause several times as the intensity of her medical chakra increased at very specific ces.

    "Why?" Tsunade huffed, relocating, sliding her crotch on Rei''s back until she sat on his posterior and her hands started to massage his lower back. She put her entire palms on his back and with a slight force, pushed upwards across his back. As she reached his shoulders, she did the same thing in reverse, pushing her palms downwards all the while her medical chakra seeped into his muscles, sending a tingling sensation down his entire back. "I am not ninjutsu-person."

    "Yes," Rei admitted and m.o.a.ned as he felt her fingers pleasantly dug deeper the second he said it. "but you have Doton and Suiton. You are Senju." He stopped to release another m.o.a.n.

    "You want me to get good at Mokuton." Tsunade finished for him in a matter of fact tone, fleetingly dragging her nails across his back, caringly scratching it while activating several pressure points.

    "Yes..." Rei told her and felt her medical chakra go through his back, all the way to his heart and lungs as it gently purged any stress from them.

    "I wanted to improve my Creation Rebirth." Tsunade sighed but then nodded and followed. "But fine. I will learn it." Her hands were on his h.i.p.s now and she was repeatedly swapping between goading tickling and very soft scratching, slowly driving him mad from how pleasant it felt.

    "You... can." Rei told her.

    "How?" She hummed. She had a few ideas but if Rei knew...

    "Kaguya." He breathed out as he could feel Tsunade delicately kneading his back above his shoulder des.

    "Hmm... Well, their bone creation IS a mystery but..."

    "We are in Mizu no Kuni. There are a lot of them. I can get you one." Rei told her.

    Tsunade bit her lips. He was proposing human experimentation. She was quite averse to it but...

    Rei could feel her hands momentarily falter but then they gained resolve as their massaging intensified.

    "Okay." Tsunade resolved herself. If it made her stronger, she would do it. "But please, make sure it is a man around forty. I don''t want to dissect a woman, child, or elderly."

    "Don''t worry." He released a needy breath. "They are savages with male dominant society who still think the best s.e.x is when a couple of them gangbang their females." Rei finished in disgust.

    Tsunade pursed her lips. Now any guilt she could have felt for dissecting them left her.

    "Why does nobody do anything with that?" She asked softly, pressing her fingers firmly under Rei''s shoulder des, trailing its shape.

    "Because their women are no better." Rei sighed. "They are a closet society and their women grew up there. They start to get ''r.a.p.ed'' very young, well, it sounds and looks like gangr.a.p.e but really, as Mizukage exined it to me, for them it is a tradition and they are supposedly ''proud'' of it."

    "Do you actually believe that?" Tsunade snorted.

    "I don''t know... weirder things are happening than women of a certain n thinking that the louder she protests and the more men she can handle through the night and actually get pregnant, the higher her status in the n." Rei shrugged and actually hissed as the abrupt movement dragged Tsunade''s medical chakra through his back too fast.

    Shit, I almost creamed myself... He blushed.

    Tsunade smirked mischievously and Rei started to know hell while being in the seventh heaven simultaneously. She started to drag her chakra quickly across his back with her fingers coursing through it and Rei had to bite his lower lip to not m.o.a.n like a...

    "That must be a sad life." Tsunade uncaringly hummed. By now, she was doing it just to get the conversation flowing. She didn''t care anymore. But she wanted to see if Rei would manage to answer her in his current state!

    Rei sent his raiton chakra to his nerve endings, dulling them slightly, making the pleasure less intense. With a relieved sigh, he almost giggled at the sullen pout of Tsunade.

    "But so is being kunoichi..." Rei rolled his eyes, making Tsunade blink. Fair enough.

    "I see. As we were raised to be such, they are also raised in their own beliefs."

    "Yup."

    "Well, then." Tsunade said and Rei thought the massage was over but then he felt Tsunade lean her upper body on him, her b.r.e.a.s.ts melting into his upper back as her well-toned belly pressed to his lower back. And his world melted.

    Tsunade''s entire body was excluding medical chakra, making Rei m.o.a.n desperately as Tsunade m.o.a.ned on top of him. She felt every single sensation and due to Rei''s raiton, she felt it more as she came the second her Jutsu started.

    In the end, they both panted as Tsunadeid powerlessly on the top of Rei''s back. For the remainder of the afternoon, they watched Mei and Konan y with Doton, unwilling to move.

 Chapter 55 - Ch55. Teaching Mei to throw away her fears

    <h4>Chapter 55 - Ch55. Teaching Mei to throw away her fears</h4>

    Mei and Rei were in Rei''s dimension. In the middle was a big wooden house made from mokuton.

    These days, they started feeling quite cramped in the two-bedroom t so Rei decided that they would use it only as a ''cover'' and instead live inside his dimension. It was not like anyone could get through the security seals in his apartment and if anybody came, he had prepared an alert seal.

    They couldn''t keep this from Mei as she lived with them so the secret was out and Mei was taken to Rei''s dimension and even witnessed the Mokuton of Rei and Konan as they raised the house. For now, Mei had a secrecy seal on the upper part of her mouth.

    She was all huffy about them keeping this from her and actually had her first childish fit. Rei even had to promise her to take her as his wife to make her stop being angry!

    Outtalked by a kid... Rei depressedly thought.

    Well, at least he managed to argue that she would first have to be fourteen! Rei was feeling quite betrayed too! Both Tsunade and Konan joined little Mei and verbally ganged up on him! He was literally pushed into a corner and couldn''t run!

    "Yes, like that!" He eximed as he watched Mei produce a small fire through fire chakra alone. The feat was very hard and very draining but it would help her immenselyter on in katon Jutsu.

    She finally managed it after a week of continuous practice. Rei hugged her tightly and Mei melted into his hug.

    Patting her head with a slight smile, Rei spoke.

    "Now... I think it is high time to teach you about your Futton."

    Mei froze in his embrace. Futton. She remembered vividly how she melted her best friend. The screams, the blood, the melting flesh. She tightly closed her eyes to keep the images away.

    Rei seeing it, squatted in front of her, and pressed his lips on her forehead, sending a calming pulse of suiton chakra through her brain. He pulled away and smiled at her.

    "It''s fine Mei." He ruffled her hair. "Futton is your strongest but most brutal offensive. It will take time for you to get used to it. Will you try, please? For me?"

    Mei was conflicted. She was scared and didn''t want to use that thing again. But... Rei asked it out of her. She timidly nodded, still trembling.

    Rei knew she had trauma and her biggest fear was her futton bloodline but he had to get her out of it. He spent months on getting her to regard him as someone trusted. Someone, she felt safe with. It was time to push and make her ept her powers.

    He took the upper part of her hand to his palm and gently turned it upwards, her palm facing the sky as he raised it closer to her mouth.

    "You know what to do." He whispered to her.

    Mei was scared witless. He wanted her to try it while he held her!? She shook her head in fright, her eyes tightly closed in refusal as she was afraid she would hurt him but his suiton chakra calmed her.

    She opened her eyes and her heart froze. She was... bathed in mes. Bright blue mes danced all around the clearing, Rei, herself... but other than a pleasant chill, she felt nothing. The mes also harmlessly flickered, as ifzily all around the clearing.

    Rei smiled at her awestruck expression as she looked around. This was the first time he showed her his katon/suiton/nature mix and he felt proud he made the kid all sparky.

    "This is my mix of suiton and katon." He told her slowly and Mei''s eyes widened even more as she intently listened to Rei. "It is not Kekkei Genkai like yours." He told her, making her slowly nod. "But it is simr. As you see, I canpletely control it," He pointed at a tree behind her and Mei turned around only to see a tree slowly freeze, bingpletely white until it shattered into smaller parts. These smaller parts then became smaller and smaller, until only snowy dust remained of the massive tree.

    "You can also gain such control. All it needs is a practice." He told the still gaping Mei as she realized just how dangerous these mes were. "So... will you practice with me?" He coaxed her and Mei nodded, somewhat excited.

    Rei ruffled her hair again. "Good girl." He smiled at her, making her blush, and their practice of Futton started.

    ...

    Three weeks passed and Mei was ''sparring'' with Rei. Her advancement with her futton was almost as fast as Konan''s with her paper and by now, Mei could create a somewhat thin mist of acidic mist. She was far away from real boiling mist but it was a start.

    Rei didn''t make her actually master her katon, suiton, and doton. He only taught her the basics and some of his own exercises that were incredibly hard but would teach her how to properly manipte her elemental chakra. She would instinctively pick up on her natures as she used her Kekkei Genkai so it was pointless to teach her more.

    But... his tutge already showed as she spewed mist at him when he came closer. He let her hit as always, to make her stop being afraid of melting him. Rei observed that Mei had utter disregard for anything that was not Rei, Konan, and slowly but steadily Tsunade was getting on that list.

    When he first brought an animal... she melted it with her acidic mist and didn''t even twitch. But when she was to use it on Rei? She was all shaky and stuff. He couldn''t have that.

    "More output, Mei." He admonished her as his hand grabbed her by the neck and lifted her from the ground. Her legs dangled as she choked. It was quite a familiar sight these days as constricting her neck and preventing her from spitting more mist is the FIRST thing an enemy would do. Rei didn''t coddle her and did it too with brutal precision. It showed her swiftly how weak and powerless she was when her neck was held. And while Mei had more often than not had to go to Tsunade to treat a palm-sized bruise on her neck... she slowly learned to not panic and more importantly, to NOT lose control and burn her neck from inside.

    Rei had to save her quite a few times when he did it the first time. Fortunately, he had the foresight and pumped a lot of suiton and katon chakra through her neck, offsetting her own bloodline as he grabbed her neck and she lost control. Otherwise, she would melt straight through it from inside. Her Kekkei Genkai was a dangerous thing. While she had unconscious control and protection, once she panicked...

    Rei''s tactic was simple. He did it so many times, always in a different way, always startling her, making her lose control. As they practiced, he started putting in less and less of his own chakra to offset her own when she lost control and Mei was starting to consciously do what he did with her own chakra. It worked for thest three days, not even once did she burn the inside of her own neck even though he didn''t safeguard her anymore.

    As his hand held her neck, he had to let her go as her right hand shed at his wrist with a kunai.

    "Good." Rei praised her and his hand quickly struck the kunai, making her drop it while his second hand again violently grabbed her neck while her body was still mid-air.

    Mei hated this exercise with passion but she knew exactly what Rei wanted from her. He wanted her to let out her maximum output of futton right into his face as he held her neck. She knew she could do it days ago when she mastered protecting her insides from the mist. Deep down, she was still afraid of hurting Rei though.

    Closing her eyes as she choked, she decided to believe in Rei and let out her futton.

    Rei suddenly found himself covered in a white translucent mist that irritated his skin slightly before he raised the output of suiton chakra in it, negating the mist.

    He let Mei go, making her fall to the ground and start coughing as she gulped the air greedily.

    He squatted near her and ruffled her hair.

    "That''s my girl. Keep it up. Don''t be afraid of your own power. Master it."

    Mei raised her head, her eyes exhausted from all the choking she was put through today. But she was happy. Her mind was... free. She bathed Rei in her mist and he didn''t melt! Her childish mindpletely lost all fear for her futton and Rei couldn''t help but praise himself.

    A brutal method it may be but the girl learned to guard one of her most vital weaknesses and stopped being such a wimp about her bloodline. A win-win in my books... He grinned at her.

    "So... up for ramen?"

    Mei instantly jumped up and embraced his waist, making himugh.

    "Sure you are. You glutton." He took her into his arms and left towards the house.

 Chapter 56 - Ch56. Tsunade and Hot Springs

    <h4>Chapter 56 - Ch56. Tsunade and Hot Springs</h4>

    Rei and Konan were in the Land of Hotsprings, heading to a mission in Iwa of all ces. They were requested by a noble of the Land of Noodles to save his daughter who was kidnapped...

    Well, they knew it was a trap the second they were told what was their task.

    Even the Mizukage knew as the initial screening showed inly some fishy movements from the client but... Rei epted anyway. He was really in a need of a vacation.

    They arrived at the capital of the Land of Hotsprings in hours by flying and instantly found the best hot spring, booking entire mixed baths for themselves. Tsunade swiftly arrived through Rei''s personal dimension and their vacation started.

    Right now, Rei, Konan, and Tsunade were chilling in the hot water together.

    Tsunade was drinking sake. She enjoyed it as previously she drank to forget her crappy life but now... now she could properly savor it! Her life was fulfilling, happy, satisfying. Even she herself was surprised when it took her an entire hour to finish one bottle of sake as she savored every drop of it!

    Konan was folding origami with her hands, taking her time to make every fold perfect and then she let them float on the water surface. She loved doing this as it always made her rxed. By now, there were more than five of her flower origami. She made sure to take great care in their creation and it took her at least ten minutes for one. She had nowhere to hurry.

    Rei just looked at the n.a.k.e.d beauties sitting near him as their faces were openly showing their contentment. He enjoyed the state of emptiness his head was in. Usually, he always thought about new seals, Jutsu, or things like that. But now... he could turn off. All that mattered was savoring the curves of his two women and rxing in the hot water.

    "Sigh... this is exactly how S-rank missions should be like." He mumbled in satisfaction, making Tsunade chuckle.

    The corner of Konan''s lips twitched upward and she stood up, slowly walking towards Tsunade. She sat near her and fully smirked at the inquisitive look Tsunade threw her. She took Tsunade''s hand as she was about to grab a second bottle of Sake and leaned closer to her ear.

    "Don''t. It won''t feel as good." Konan put her hand on the bottle and prevented Tsunade from taking it.

    "Wha-" Tsunade blushed and looked at Konan with a slightly spooked expression.

    "You are trying to get drunk to get the courage to sleep with Rei, right?" Konan quietly whispered, giving her a knowing look.

    Tsunade blushed crimson red but didn''t deny it so Konan continued.

    "Go, girl." She slightly nudged her and nudged her again until Tsunade grumbled but listened.

    Rei was watching the girls whisper to each other and was wondering what that was about. Then, suddenly, Tsunade stood up and he saw her walking closer to him.

    "What''s up, Tsu?" He asked her with a smile.

    Tsunade blushed and sat on her knees in front of him. He sat waist-deep in the water and Tsunade was also waist deep as she was sitting on her knees. Rei blinked and watched as her shaky hand reached towards his crotch. He didn''t try to stop her. They had a few teasings already so this was nothing new.

    Tsunade grabbed his member and started to slowly jerk him off. Her expression was priceless as she didn''t know if she should feel excited, embarrassed, ashamed, or ted at the feel of his d.i.c.k in her hand. Rei watched her expression, looking directly into her eyes as he enjoyed the good feeling between his legs for minutes toe.

    Rei grunted as he could feel himself about toe. Tsunade was moving her hand up and down slowly, teasingly, but she held him firmly in her grasp. It didn''t take long until he released his c.u.m into the water, making Tsunade''s blush intensify. She didn''t act embarrassedly though. She openly smiled at him.

    "Sit there." She gestured to the edge of the pond and Rei obeyed. As he sat down, his member was out of the water, still stiff and Tsunade again kneeled in front of him, bending forward as her b.r.e.a.s.ts started to be dragged down by the gravity and took his p.e.n.i.s into her warm mouth.

    This was the first time she was giving him a blowjob and Rei could tell she was quite clumsy at it.

    Definitely not the legendary sucker yet... Rei joked as he m.o.a.ned from her slim tongue dancing around his shaft.

    He arched his head slightly forward so he would see her face as his hands took hold of Tsunade''s head and he started to slowly and gently move her back and forth. She immediately understood what she was doing wrong and started to bob her head by herself while releasing wet slurping sounds as her eyes looked upward at Rei''s expression.

    It was slowly getting better and better until he could feel that Tsunade found out just what spot exactly he liked most and started to make a conscious effort to shower it with care. Her tongue was wetting his c.o.c.k, caressing it all the way up and down his entire shaft while Tsunade kept the head of his c.o.c.k in her throat as she massaged it by constricting and loosening her muscles via gulping.

    Rei c.u.mmed with a loud m.o.a.n. His seeds spurted right into her mouth and he could see her wide but delighted eyes as the c.u.m started leaking from it. Tsunade tried to clench her lips around his c.o.c.k to not let the white liquid escape while gulping his c.u.m greedily and still bobbing her head up and down. He could feel the wetness of his seeds and her saliva as she refused to let him out of her mouth. Rei was unable to do anything else but m.o.a.n heatedly as he stroked Tsunade''s hair.

    Konan watched for half-hour as Tsunade, with enamored expression and eyes narrowed in glee, sucked Rei off, devotedly feeding on his c.u.m. She could understand. Their bond made it taste heavenly and she often did the same in the morning. Rei''s pleasure was a pleasant bonus too... Konan watched as Tsunade stood up from the water, insecurely looking at Rei, her eyes begging him to take the action. Rei did and pulled Tsunade into hisp, her feet straddling him as he sat on the edge of the pond as they made out. Konan heard Tsunade grunt as Rei finally slipped inside of the blonde and smirked.

    Took her long enough... She mockingly thought as she watched Tsunade''s ecstatic face.

    Rei had his hands on Tsunade''s waist as he pushed her down while she pushed herself up.

    "I love your b.r.e.a.s.ts." He told her bluntly and took her left n.i.p.p.l.e into his mouth, making her m.o.a.n while her cheek reddened even more than they already were. Her right b.r.e.a.s.t was bouncing up and down as she rocked her body on his c.o.c.k, squeezing him in her warm folds.

    Rei could feel Tsunade start to use her medical chakra inside her p.u.s.s.y and felt intense pleasure in his c.o.c.k. He instantly c.u.mmed into her, making her release a few hitched, shuddering breaths as she for the first time in her life felt c.u.m flooding her p.u.s.s.y.

    While she was in that state, Rei didn''t stop pushing her body up and down his shaft and even added his raiton chakra through his hands. It started coursing to the nerve endings in her h.i.p.s, making her straighten up and arch her back backward.

    Rei didn''t want to slip out of her so he quickly leaned forward and his hands sn.a.k.e.d around her torso, hugging her body close to him. Her big b.r.e.a.s.ts were squished on his chest as his mouth pressed on hers and ravaged it.

    Tsunade''s mind finally cleared and she embraced Rei too, sending her medical chakra to his body through her skin. Both were m.o.a.ning into the other''s ear as Rei too sent his raiton chakra to her back, ring every nerve ending in her spine, down her belly until it finally reached her p.u.s.s.y where it made her let out a high-pitched squeal as her juices violently squirted at Rei''s crotch while his d.i.c.k was still in her, filling her up with his seed. They both shuddered in each other''s hands with their heads in the crook of each other''s neck.

    "It w-was i-incredible." Tsunade ground out, still shaking uncontrobly due to the multiple orgasms her body was put through.

    "Heh." Rei didn''t manage to let out more as he still relished the afterglow.

    They held each other for five minutes straight, just cuddling up as Tsunade enjoyed the feeling of Rei inside of her while Rei also enjoyed Tsunade''s warmth.

    They suddenly pulled slightly apart, both at the same time, and looked into each other''s eyes.

    "Second round?" They chorused at the same time, blinked at each other, and then chuckled.

    Needless to say, Tsunade was quickly put on her back as their lovemaking continued while Konan watched, drinking Tsunade''s sake while ying with herself, getting off on Tsunade''s heated panting or her ecstatic m.o.a.ns, as she quietly cheered Tsunade on.

    She didn''t intrude. This moment belonged to Tsunade and she would dly watch and imprint every second to her memory. Her mind was giddy despite being muddled from orgasming several times due to using her water chakra on herself. She almost couldn''t wait to ''remind'' Tsunade of this moment! This was great material for future teasing!

 Chapter 57 - Ch57. Border Outpost

    <h4>Chapter 57 - Ch57. Border Outpost</h4>

    Pa treon - 36 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    They spent two days in the hotel in the capital of the Land of Hot Springs. Their first day was spent in their booked pond as Rei pounded Tsunade. Simply, they enjoyed each other to the fullest and Tsunade could now embarrassedly say, Rei took her EVERY first and she enjoyed all of it.

    The second day, Konan joined in and it made Tsunade so much more embarrassed as she had her p.u.s.s.y eaten out by Konan while Rei pounded the blue-haired vixen from behind. Tsunade also had her first serving of Konan as she returned the favor as she too was being pounded from behind. But her favorite was when she and Konan cared for Rei''s c.o.c.k with their tongues, both at the same time from different sides.

    Tsunade didn''t know why but something about her tongue caressing Rei''s member while also licking Konan''s tongue made her almost orgasmic. She didn''t even need to rub herself much toe...

    At the end of their little vacation, she was so embarrassed, she wanted to cry! But she would never regret even a second of it.

    Thankfully for her, their time was up and the trio was on their way to the borders of the Land of Fire.

    ...

    Tsunade wanted to visit Konoha. It had been a long time and since she couldn''t really go with Rei and Konan to their mission...

    It was dangerous for her to be seen fighting alongside someone with Kiri hitai-ate. She didn''t really care but Rei had forbidden it so she had to sullenly listen.

    Her wish to visit Konoha... she regretted it the second she uttered it. She hasn''t even parted with Rei yet and she already missed him! She was dragging her feet, trying to slow their pace down until Rei swept her up on his back and started to piggyback her.

    At first, she was disgruntled but then she melted into his back and leaned her head into the crook of his neck, and dozed off. For Tsunade Senju, life was good.

    ...

    "...na..." "Tsu...de" "Tsunade."

    "Huh?" Tsunade woke up with a drooling out of her mouth and sleepy eyes.

    "We are almost at the outpost." Rei informed her, making her grumble and mentally curse the border control!

    A few miles away, the diligent people of the border outpost suddenly felt a chill run through their spines and decided to not obstruct any moody women today.

    "Did you adjust your reserves?" Rei asked Tsunade who shook her head, burrowing her face into his shoulder.

    "Then do it." He told her firmly.

    Tsunade sullenly groaned but listened and focused and her chakra levels started ''dropping'' as nature energy enwrapped them. She stopped when she reached Kage-level reserves.

    "I say... my chakra is rising like crazy as ofte." Tsunade sighed but it was not in unhappiness. She was very happy at having more chakra. It was just annoying to keep up with the changes.

    "Since the Bond Seal, right?" Rei hummed.

    "Yeah." Tsunade acknowledged but the question was inly obvious in her tone.

    "Well, the Bond Seals stabilized our souls and their connection." Rei chuckled. "Your chakra is trying to catch up to mine as I have the most of us three. Konan''s increased too but you had way less than us so yours is rising at a visible rate."

    "Not so visible to me." Tsunade pouted.

    Rei had to admit he felt slight pity for her. Her chakra control was superb even before they bonded. Now...

    "That''s because of the supreme chakra control talent you received after bonding with me. Your already superb chakra control was boosted even more... you just can''t perceive the changes in the level of your chakra without consciously checking because you can control it all without any problems. It is natural for you."

    They walked for another hour after Tsunade dismounted Rei and as they reached the outpost, they saw a long line of merchants lined up, waiting for their turn to pass through. Rei groaned but Tsunade wasn''t even fazed as she grabbed both Konan''s and Rei''s hand, cheerfully dragging them a bit to the side along the long line while the people lining up stared at them with hostility.

    As they were half-way through, one round fat merchant shrieked at them as his face twisted in rage. "Hey! You! Who do you think you are!?"

    Tsunade looked at him coldly but the man didn''t stop his tirade.

    "Even I, the great Sonwa Kung, have to line up! What''s the meaning of this!? Huh, peasants!" He tried to appear threatening but Tsunade instead opted to ignore him but then he had to open his mouth again.

    "Boy! If you leave thedies with me for a night, I am willing to be generous and overlook this matter! I advise you to be wise! I am an important person! A noble from the Land of Fire! You offended me and here I am willing to let you go for such a small favor!"

    Rei released his killing intent, about to jump at the guy with his sword but Tsunade was faster. She appeared in front of the noble and the world slowed for him. All he could see was a massive fist approaching his head as his mouth started ever so slowly opening before...

    The people around watched with horrified gazes as the c.o.c.ky noble from the Land of Fire literally exploded into a bloody soup as Tsunade''s fist impacted him. The blood sshed onto the ground and the nearby trees that creaked from the shockwave the punch generated as the ground cracked from the sheer pressure. The convoy of that guy just helplessly stared at the smudge of red on the ground that was left of their previous master with their mouths wide open.

    It was then that three genins and one very young joninnded near Tsunade and looked horrified at their ''client''. Or what was left of him.

    One hot-blooded thirteen-years old genin with blond hair rolled up his sleeve and red at Tsunade while the two others were terrified of her. The idiot was about to jump at her when her cold looknded on him.

    "Try it squirt and you will be next." She stated seriously. Her good mood was utterly destroyed so she smashed the man who was responsible. These kids... Konoha-nin or not, she would kill them with extreme prejudice too if they tried to piss her off.

    The jonin tensed and was about to prepare for a fight. He looked sixteen, merely a fresh graduate or even an academy student during the war. It looked like he didn''t recognize Tsunade. Tsunade was about to smash when...

    "Tsu, calm down." Rei''s voice halted Tsunade in her tracks.

    "Wait for a second, Rei." Tsunade sighed. She would have to knock some sense into these. Rei was right, no need for killing them. She raised her fist but just then, one ANBU appeared between them, one behind the team, and another behind Tsunade.

    In each border outpost is stationed a hundred samurais from the Daimyo''s army. Then there is one ANBU squad and ten chunin with twenty genins. That was a standard set up for outposts. Then there were ninja-only outposts but those were a different matter entirely as they didn''t serve as a passage for civilians.

    The poor ANBU who tried to sneak up on Tsunade didn''t have a nice day. He didn''t even register as he was grabbed by his neck and flung at the guy in between her and the jonin. The jonin wanted to spring up and jump at Tsunade but was promptly stopped by the ANBU behind him as he grabbed his cor, making his leap stop mid-air as the guy flopped onto the ground with his back. Hard.

    The ANBU quickly raised his hand in an appeasing manner and the three genins around him gaped.

    "Lady Tsunade." He slightly bowed his head, making Tsunade snort.

    "Looks like at least someone from Konoha still remembers me." She huffed and crossed her hands on her chest.

    "We are sorry for any inconvenience." The ANBU watched his groaning subordinates on the ground and thanked God she didn''t use enough force to kill them. He was merely a chunin during the war but he clearly saw how she flung Suna-nin after Suna-nin into each other, making bloody mangled corpses out of them. He saw war but when he watched Tsunade fight, it ceased to be a war. It was carnage. A bloody spectacle. How could he forget... How could he forget the hero who saved them in that desert hell of poison.

    "But," The blond hothead pointed at Tsunade, peeved with the treatment the ANBU gave her. "But she killed our client! She killed a noble!"

    It was at that time the chunin arrived and stared at the busty blonde in front of them... all instantly recognizing who it was. There was no newbie among them and every one of them saw her at least once during their lifetimes. The genin though, these gasped as they heard someone killed a noble. That was a capital offense!

    "So?" Tsunade mockingly looked at the blond genin. Her childishness surfaced.

    "So..." The genins gaped at her attitude while even the chunins were baffled but the ANBU just wryly smiled. He knew that Tsunade was unreasonable but this... he had no idea how to proceed.

    "Let me tell you one very important thing that Konoha''s Hokage and his elders like to ''forget'' very, very often even though they are fully aware of it." Tsunade leaned forward, her hands on her h.i.p.s.

    "When I am called ''Princess'' Tsunade. It is not just a matter of speech, squirt. Senju just never really cared for titles." She lectured the bewildered kid with a condescending tone.

    Yup, that''s the sober version of canon Tsunade, alright... Rei stared at the change in Tsunade with raised eyebrows while Konan snickered into her palm.

    Tsunade didn''t care about his reaction though and spun on her heel, walking back to Rei and Konan who were having fun watching the spectacle. The duo was just now noticed by other ninjas.

    They of course didn''t have their hitai-ate on themselves, rather, it was safely stashed in the storage seal. And even their chakra appeared to be only civilian level.

    "Sign I entered the country with twopanions. Would you?" She momentarily turned to the ''sensible'' ANBU and after he nodded she marched off, dragging Rei and Konan with her as the ninja and the people around gaped.

    "That was... Senju Tsunade?" The girl from the genin team looked at her jonin-sensei.

    "Seems like it." He grimaced.

    The girl looked at the disappearing back of the violent blond woman and did guts pose.

    "So cool!"

    That day, one girl gained her eternal idolˇ­

 Chapter 58 - Ch58. Number nine

    <h4>Chapter 58 - Ch58. Number nine</h4>

    Tsunade left Rei and Konan in the closest town to Konoha and they decided to fly the remainder of the way. As they were getting ready to set off, Rei shed his nature sensing in order to be sure nobody would spot them and quickly put his hand on Konan''s shoulder, stopping her.

    "There is a group of veeery suspicious people north of us." He told her.

    "Okay?" Konan raised her eyebrow, not knowing why should that bother them but Rei had other ns.

    "Come, Konan! This is once in a lifetime opportunity!" Rei eximed enthusiastically as he grabbed Konan''s hand. He didn''t think his luck would be this good! To casually stroll on a mission and even stumble on this event!

    They both hopped through the trees until they were almost near the group of ''suspicious people.'' Crouching down, they watched from foliage as a group of ninja dragged a small exhausted girl. The girl had her hands tied together and under her eyes were big ck circles.

    "I am going to get her out, you finish the ninjas." He whispered to Konan and gave her a kiss on her cheek before disappearing. Rei appeared in the middle of the ninjas and grabbed the red-haired girl by her waist as he cut the rope. He instantly jumped back, away from them.

    "Who are yo-" One of them screamed but didn''t manage to finish.

    Konanpletely surprised the group as it was dark. She enhanced her papers with doton but didn''t make them stay white. The paper changed to brown and in the dark, it was almost invisible. As it flew at the group of five ninjas, three were hit whereas the other two actually could use other senses than sight to locate the papers. These three people were hit with the paper...

    One''s ribcagepletely caved in as the paper impacted him, killing him instantly,

    Another had a crushed head as the paper hit him in the forehead and unfortunately for the guy, a tree was behind him so his head exploded due to the pressure the paper put it through as it pushed it against the tree trunk beforepletely felling the tree with a loud ''thud''. It was a quick death.

    The third was the unlucky one. He managed to jump away slightly but in mid-air, his foot was hit, snapping it due to the force. He howled in pain as it shattered the bones in his foot and half of his shin. The guy couldn''t fight anymore and just rolled on the ground from pain.

    The two who survived started to be afraid as they saw theirrades felled almost instantly and looked around. Neither Rei nor Konan could be seen anymore.

    Reinded on the branch Konan was sitting at and put the girl down. Konan noted, the girl looked at the screaming man with sullen anger, enjoying his misery while pouting at her still bound hands. It was almost cute, she thought.

    "Well, let''s end it then."

    Rei shrugged and pointed his finger at one man who was looking for them.

    "Raiton: Chain Lightning."

    From his finger blue, sparkling lightning connected his finger with the man as the Jutsu colored the dark forest with a blue hue while lightning cracks reverberated through it.

    The man was also a raiton user. He was actually very good at raiton and quickly countered the lightning with his own raiton chakra... only strengthening the Jutsu as it rebounded behind him... to his unsuspectingrade, frying himpletely before snapping in the direction of thest man in the clearing. The one with a shattered foot, also killing him.

    The man snapped back as the shouts of his fellow jonin filled the clearing and saw that the Jutsu he ''deflected'' hit his friend! His eyes widened. He thought the enemy appeared behind him! Shit...

    s, his back and momentary distraction were too big of an invitation as a suiton bullet drilled through his chest.

    "Well, that would be a job-well-done." He sighed and looked at the redhead who timidly watched him with caution in her exhausted eyes.

    Before the girl managed to blink, Rei grabbed her by the cor and leaped down from the tree branch followed by Konan.

    The girl''s heart started beating like crazy but it took time for her mind to reboot and when it did, she found her feet on the ground, the man who saved her smiling at her gently.

    She tried to smile back but she was too exhausted and her body copsed, falling asleep.

    Rei caught the falling body of the girl and put her onto the ground.

    "So... what''s the point of saving her?" Konan asked, coldly staring at the red-head. "She is not some kind of recement for Ringo, is she?"

    Rei rolled his eyes.

    "Nope. This girl is special." He took the hem of the girl''s shirt and raised it.

    "Hmm, are you going to molest the Miss Special then?" Konan asked with an amused voice.

    "Of course not!" Rei exasperatedly answered as he put his palm on the girl''s bare stomach.

    A seal appeared.

    "Here we go, Kyuubi jinchuuriki." Rei giddily smiled and half-turned to Konan who was hit with a realization. "Watch the surroundings and wake me up when somebody approaches us. I would loathe anyone seeing what I am gonna do."

    Konan understandingly nodded and Rei turned back to the girl, putting a paper with a seal on her belly directly above her seal as he put his hand on the paper and closed his eyes.

    ...

    He appeared before a big golden cage and smirked.

    "Heh, so this is Kushina''s mindscape? Kinda like Naruto''s." He looked around and saw Kushina''s form floating on the water surface a few meters away, out cold.

    His gaze turned back to the cage, making him smirk.

    "Wow. Mito definitely nailed it." He eximed as he saw the big boulder and the fox literally nailed by massive spikes to it, chained with chakra chains with many seal tags. As a seal master he knew. This seal would not weaken. It was a masterpiece, to be honest. Created solely to keep the fox in captivity.

    Rei walked behind the bars as if he owned the ce, approaching the fox that was curiously looking at him.

    "Hello, foxie." He smiled.

    "Heh, human... I am going to kill you."

    Kurama''s chakra lunged at Rei, intent to kill clearly visible in it while Rei only smiled as the chakra vanished the second it came close to him. Kurama''s eyes widened but then threateningly narrowed. He roared and sent st after st at Rei, violently struggling against its bindings in the impotent, mind-numbing rage it felt.

    "Noppe." He pleasantly told the fox as he was finished with his objective. He took hold of the seal functions and tightened the ''leash''. Kurama waspletely bound to the builder, unable to even exert his massive chakra.

    "Well, here I thought this would be an intellectual debacle, ahem, I mean debate. s, I gotta go."

    And with that, he disappeared from the seal.

    "How long was I gone?" He asked Konan as he swiped the paper from Kushina''s belly, a smug smile on his face.

    "Half an hour. What did you do? Her seal red with red chakra as your seal absorbed it." Konan asked.

    "I am storing some of our nine-tailed friend''s chakra for future references. I would do it with sanbi and rokubi back in Kiri but they always have at least one ANBU around. I know I will have the best opportunityter but finding this girl so far from her vige... without guards... Hehehe." He let out a creepyugh which made Konan deadpan.

    "Well, a kid is getting closer while some man is being hidden but follows the kid." She stated.

    "Ah... already?" Rei nodded and sat near Kushina as he dragged her shirt down. No need to give these two ideas, right? Rei was sure at least one of them would like that.

    ...

    Another twenty minutes when a blond teenager burst from the foliage, flying directly at Rei only to... find his face pressed into the ground as Rei''s hand kept it there.

    "Punk, nobody ever taught you it is impolite to just jump at people? Who is your teacher? Some s.e.x.u.a.l offender?" Rei passively asked and could hear someone stumble in the foliage.

    This was not yet the Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage. This was a teenager. A hasty one at that.

    "I am going to loosen my grip, be a good boy, and don''t perv at me too much, kay?"

    He could hear a muffled muttering as the boy''s head was pressed to the ground and chuckled. The second he let the boy go, he jumped back,nding in a crouch as he unsheathed his tanto.

    "Who are you!" The boy asked but Rei ignored him.

    "Will the pervy-sagee down alone or is such a strenuous activity too much for you, Jiraiya?"

    "Sensei!" Minato was startled as his sensei appeared next to him, his eyes narrowed at Rei. He thought he was hidden well... How did this kid.

    Jiraiya was about to jump at the kid when he saw something very disturbing. Thousands of futon papers came floating from all around, felling trees in their path. He stopped in his tracks, knowing this was a very dangerous situation as his eyes trailed to Konan while narrowing. He wasn''t afraid for himself. But the two teenagers of Konoha? They would not survive it.

    "What do you want..." He sighed.

    "I just wanted to know... Minato-kun, is this a mission, or did you really run from the vige for her?" Rei jabbed his finger at Kushina.

    This was all fishy. If it was a proper mission for reiming a jinchuuriki, they would send an entire team of jonin. Not a... genin? Chunin? Whatever he with his lonesome self was.

    Just the fact that the losers who kidnapped the girl were supposed to be ''jonin'' from Kumo yet fell like flies... Something was fishy here. The idiots were WALKING. Not running away. Not rushing to deliver an important package. They were having a goddamn STROLL.

    "That is ssified." Jiraiya bit out and Reiughed.

    "Yes, that is clearly a positive answer if I ever heard one." He pped his knee happily.

    "Kid... just don''t go out with your ''I didn''t help you in the academy because I thought you are a strong tripe'', kay? It is a pathetic excuse." Rei snorted, making Minato blush and open his mouth only to close it.

    Oh, Rei had no doubt the kid loved Kushina. The fervor he put into his attack as he saw her body lying in front of Rei... He loved the girl, alright. But it was also obviously a recent thing as his hormones started working and she started to look less like a tomboy. During academy, he most likely just didn''t care.

    "Well, I just wanted to know if Konoha would stoop so low as to manipte a lonely girl into marrying a ninja who wanted her... well, you being herepletely ALONE is a clear answer. If you really rushed out of the vige to save her, it would be grounds for defection."

    It would f.u.c.k up his career somewhat fierce as the kid was an orphan. Sure, Jiraiya could mitigate it but bing Hokage would be hard if not impossible after that. There was too much politics involved to pick someone who had ''reckless'' in his records.

    Before they could answer, the chakra ran out and Rei dissolved into the water while Konan into papers, leaving two gaping men and one unconscious tomato lying on the floor.

    ---

    Sooo, you probably noticed I am not going for Kushina.

    Reason 1: Plot. Yup. It''s that simple.

    Reason 2: I just do not like her character. Her a.d.u.l.t character looks... dunno, never really liked it. And that''s not talking about her personality...

    Reason 3: Had no inspiration as to what to do with her. I wasn''t about to write about MC and another woman... Too much work.

    Now: It might look like MC left her in the clutches of maniptive people and he did. He owed the girl nothing. But in this story (even if it is not important) Minato loves Kushina and Kushina will fall in love with him regardless of him saving her. Period.

 Chapter 59 - Ch59. Tsunade visiting Konoha.

    <h4>Chapter 59 - Ch59. Tsunade visiting Konoha.</h4>

    Tsunade walked through the gates of Konoha but surprisingly, she didn''t feel at home at all. She felt... annoyed. The faces of her grandfather and granduncle were the only thing that somewhat soothed her reluctance as she approached the booth with the guards. When she came closer to it, she instantly saw two men sweetly sleeping and her annoyance was again there, rearing its ugly head.

    With a twitching eyebrow, she banged her papers on the table, making it shake enough to wake up the two shinobi. They jumped up, prepared for a fight until their sleepy eyes spotted a frowning Tsunade.

    "What the hell are you two doing..." She asked darkly, drumming her finger onto her papers. "I don''t have all day." She added with a threatening scowl.

    The guards looked sheepish and took her papers, their eyes bulging out the second they read her name. While the guards were busy with her papers, she noticed an ANBU departing from behind the booth, most likely heading to inform the Hokage about her arrival. Nevertheless, Tsunade didn''t go to greet her Sensei. No, she first went to the Senjupound where she spent hours on end to relocate the entire library, treasury, and anything of use to Rei''s dimension or her storage. She cleaned it all. She wasn''t feeling generous towards Konoha. Sure, it might have been a vige created by her grandfather and even could be called her n''s heritage butˇ­ with the current leadership of the vige and the Senju n''s extinct status, Tsunade really didn''t feel any attachment toward the vige.

    As she looked at the bare walls and furniture-free rooms of the houses in the Senjupound, Tsunade nodded in self-satisfaction at her handi-work. No scroll was left unturned and even if the vige broke through the seals securing thepound, they wouldn''t be able to find anything. Tsunade found quite a few marks that somebody indeed did try to get inside thepound in her absenceˇ­ this, however, only strengthened her belief that the future of her n no longer lies with Konoha.

    "Maybe I should do the same with the Uchihapound just secretly?" She briefly thought but dismissed the idea as she doubted these egoistical pyromaniacs would have anything useful stashed away.

    But now... her reason for returning to Konoha was finished and she couldn''t help but feel awkward. This ce was once her home. Something she wouldn''t mind dying for. But now? Now it was but a painful reminder of her n that died for the vige.

    Sure, maybe her ancestors would want her to protect it to pay her respect to themˇ­ she was even ying with the idea of destroying it as it was the reason for their demise. For better or worse, Rei disabused that notion quite quickly though. In the end, Tsunade decided to go the third, neutral route and just stop caring about it. She had a new home and the dead will stay dead no matter what befalls Konoha.

    At the end of the day, she was about to exit herpound and sullenly walk towards the Hokage Tower when she saw an ANBU waiting for her in front of it.

    "What." She asked in irritation, her hands instantly crossing on her chest.

    "The Council is calling for you, Lady Tsunade." The ANBU bowed and disappeared.

    "So?" She muttered to herself as she looked at the empty spot where the ANBU stood just a second ago. "Tell me, ANBU-san, why should I care what some old inept idiots want? Do I look that free to you?" She told towards the air with untold amus.e.m.e.nt in her tone, knowing full well nobody listened. Being summoned? Why should that be her problem? She was the head of the Senju n! She can be summoned only by Hokage and even then the old monkey must be polite about it. The council? Ha! No chance.

    Tsunade shrugged and decided that it was a great day for some shopping!

    ...

    It was an evening already, six hourster, when Tsunade leisurely walked into the Council Room as her eyes slowly trailed over the forms of very annoyed n heads, dozing off civilians, Hiruzen smoking his tenth pipe with a twitching eyebrow, the elders looking at her with a murderous re, and Danzo... being Danzo.

    "Tsunade... where were you?" Hiruzen asked as she reached the Senju seat and flopped into it, instantly supporting her head with her arm.

    "Home, Shopping, a new restaurant called Ichirakuˇ­ damn they have incredible ramen!" Tsunade, with the corner of her eye, noted that only the Akemichi n head appreciated thement and quickly tried to discreetly make some sort of ''note''. She continued. "in the park, on the Senju training grounds, trying to find out what changed and then I was asked for autographs. It took time to get out of that." Tsunade dismissively waved her free hand around as she drawled. "Anyway, I thought the civilian council should have been abolished after the war. What are they doing here?" Tsunade uncaringly pointed at the sleepy civilians with her thumb.

    The civilians looked at her with spooked eyes while the n heads just smirked. As they were to get involved, Danzo interrupted. "We are here for a different matter, Tsuna-" Before he could finish the killing intent of Tsunade flooded the ce and he stopped himself to reword it. "Senju-san." Tsunade grunted and gestured a ''get on with it'' with her hand.

    "We think it is time for you toe back to the vige and marry." Koharu stated.

    "And is that something a woman whose husband supposedly hung ''himself'' should be telling me?" Tsunade quipped in annoyance with an apparent smirk on her face, making Koharu nch as even Hiruzen flinched slightly. That was a low blow if he saw one. "Anyone with half a brain knows he had external ''help'' councilwoman Koharu." Tsunade added, making the civilians give Koharu suspicious stares.

    Damn, Konan is really a bad influence... Tsunade thinned her lips to at least somehow hide the smirk. Just then she was pulled out of her thoughts by the elder Homura. "Senju-san, you are thest breedable Senju. It is your duty to Konoha to-"

    "To make sure my n is never going to be a part of it ever again." She chuckled, startling all n heads and even Danzo widened his eyes slightly at that despite knowing why she fought it so much. Hiruzen, on the other hand, looked at Tsunade with pity. He had to praise her though. Her transformation was really impressive! Even he was unable to see through it. Just... he thought she would choose a look closer to her age. Contrary to his thoughts, this was her real look. Her prime, twenty-two years old body.

    "I had a LOT of time to think you see..." Tsunade sighed as she continued talking but her tone turned cold. "There is no one with Senju blood in Konoha but me. And you want ME to marry?"

    "Well, that''s obvious. That''s why you are integrated into CRA." Uchiha n head sneered at her as if she was stupid, making her chuckle at the idiot.

    "I pity your simplemindedness. Stupidity runs in your blood, huh?" She mocked as if talking to a child, making the man bristle. She didn''t give him time to counterattack though. Turning to her Sensei, her eyes narrowed. "Senju was the most intermarried n of Konoha. Almost every n had a Senju married to it at one point or the other." It was then that the minds of the n heads clicked. Their eyes snapped to Tsunade as they widened.

    "I meant it when I said there is literally NOBODY with Senju blood in Konoha." Tsunade seriously told them, observing Hiruzen intently. "Ten years. That''s how long it took for this to happen. The Senju, the intermarried Senju, and even any kid with Senju blood. Plus civilians. All gone. In ten years. Do I need to ask how exactly that came to be?" She then turned towards the Uchiha n head who was now staring at her with wide eyes. "What about you Uchiha? If Senju took a decade while being spread through the entirety of Konoha and had members in every nˇ­ how long would it take for your inbred n that is concentrated in a single spot to be culled out? A day?" In the middle of her sentence, her eyes shed with Hiruzen''s.

    The room was silent at that. n Heads feared extinction more than death itself but none were foolish enough to think that aplete blood purge could be ''natural''. Their looks got wary as they watched the stare-off between Tsunade and Hiruzen.

    In the end, Hiruzen in the end slumped down and sighed. "We noticed the unnatural death rates and idents of the Senju n. But... the culprit was never found." He told Tsunade who barked out a sarcasticugh at him.

    "So you did know!... and it didn''t ur to you to inform us about it? You let Senju die out." Tsunade chuckled as she said that and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "You know what... don''t answer. I am outta this shithole." She said and stood up, leaving the chambers.

    An ANBU tried to intercept her path but Tsunade was way past the point of coddling anyone and directly smashed the ANBU through three walls, utterly breaking his body. After that, no other ANBU stopped her. Nor did the councilors or the Hokage who were awkwardly staring at her disappearing back.

 Chapter 60 - Ch60. Confrontation

    <h4>Chapter 60 - Ch60. Confrontation</h4>

    Tsunade was walking out of Konoha for an hour already. She was not there even for a day and her mood was already f.u.c.k.i.e.d up. She was so angry, she decided to take a bit of a stroll through the forests her grandfather created to cool her head. She wasn''t really angry that Sarutobi didn''t stop her n from going extinct. She was mad he allowed her brother to go out of the vige even after knowing that somebody was hunting for Senju for a DECADE.

    She didn''t really think her Sensei would know about the Senju ''purge''. She wanted to believe in him. Believe that he would inform the n if it was true. But Konan and Rei had a very usible and chilling hypothesis. They both told her it is only their guess but... she wanted to make sure. It WAS very suspicious, indeed. When she told the councilors that she was sightseeing, she meant more of ''research in the hospital'' kind of sightseeing. Yes... Rei was right. There was nobody with Senju blood left in the Konoha. At all. Every descendant was killed. To thest child.

    She knew Senju were dead. But it didn''t mean extinct. There was still that minuscule chance their blood in the vige would awaken again. But now... she could only shake her head. First Konoha let her n die and then wanted HER to be a baby factory for their loyal ninjas to enjoy themselves. She really didn''t know what to be more disappointed about.

    Worse yetˇ­ it was obvious the ''Senju-hunter'' was somebody FROM Konoha as there was no way an outsider would get enough intel to pinpoint every Senju. The only way to do that was blood testsˇ­ and that meant the one responsible for her n''s demise IS on the Council and WAS in the room when she spoke the truth about the REAL state of her n. Tsunade was only sure it was not the Hokage as the man was basically worshipping the ground her granduncle walked on. He would rather kill himself than do this. She would suspect the Uchiha-twerp butˇ­ she doubted he had enough brain cells left to do something as borate as this.

    In the end, it was pointless to think about it. Tsunade wasn''t even that interested in ''who'' and she could imagine multiple ''why''. As for revenge? What would that aplish? Her heart demanded her to return to Rei''s side rather than plot a pointless witch-hunt in Konoha. It was just not worth the effort.

    As she was walking away from Konoha on her own two feet, suddenly ten ninja in white masks surrounded her. By now, Tsunade was aware they were following her for minutes. Since Rei started teaching her how to ''control'' nature energy, her sensory abilities improved tremendously. She could have just teleported away but she was too interested in what they wanted.

    One of the ninja stepped forward and spoke in a monotonous voice thatcked emotions. "Tsunade-sama. Please return and join CRA or we will be forced to make you participate forcefully." Tsunade was a bit disturbed howˇ­ dead, the man sounded but in the end, she derisively snorted. She had just about enough for one day of bullshit.

    Bending forward, her fist smashed into the ground.

    ...

    In Konoha, Hiruzen was sighing in sadness at the way his student departed. He looked through the window at his vige and couldn''t help but wonder if he did something wrong. Just then a huge cloud of dust rose a bit away from the vige up to the sky. He recognized it. How could he not when he saw it just on a smaller scale almost daily!

    "Tsunade!"

    His heart almost jumped out of his throat as he quickly grabbed his armor and ran out of his office, towards the ce.

    ˇ­

    The impact of the punch smashed the ground in a radius of hundred meters, making it break. Thanks to her sensory abilities, Tsunade knew nine of the men jumped up before the impact and only one of the ten was affected by it. Ironically it was the idiot that spoke as that action proved to be distracting enough for him to not react on time. The kic force she spread through the ground was so fast and strong that it shattered his legs upon contact. She straightened up and crossed her arms. All around, only dust could be seen, and she was quite certain her opponents would use this to attack her.

    She was obviously correct as three secondster, four men with small tantos jumped at ''her'' through the dust only to find the spot, she was previously on, empty. They momentarily looked at each other before they heard creaking and felt themselves being squeezedˇ­ darkness imed them.

    Tsunade looked at her handiwork as the four men were now trapped in woody vines that spiraled around their bodies, binding them while putting tremendous pressure on them. Tsunade was aware that while Rei might not do it intentionally, his stories about various Jutsu used by some people she was not even sure ''existed''... helped her incredibly with inspiration for Jutsu. For example the Suna Jinchuuriki he was talking about. Tsunade was sure the jinchuuriki containing the Ichibi was a monk who was locked away his entire life but Rei said he could use sand to wrap people in it and squeeze them to death. She had no idea where he got that information but it was VERY inspiring!

    More woody vines sprang up from the ground due to her feeding the ground with her mokuton chakra and the remaining men were dragged towards her location by them like ragdolls, smashing to the ground, trees, or each other. She just walked towards a nearby trunk of a tree that fell when her punch impacted the ground and leisurely sat on it. Her eyes were looking at the bodies trapped inside thick vines, all ten of them, as she reached towards the head of the guy with shattered legs. She took the mask of the idiot who spoke into her hands and looked at it with a frown.

    "I don''t know who sent you... but I don''t care." She spoke in a very uncaring and cold tone before the vines constrictedˇ­ The Root ANBU exploded into a bloody pulp as blood covered the clearing, squirting out of the gaps between the vines as they squeezed the men before promptly vanishing into the ground, leaving only smears and very mangled remains of corpses behind.

    ...

    Koichi was a sensor. He was the so-called eternal Chunin, aged 75. He still yed ninja because he found it fun to flex his impable sensing skills from time to time! But right nowˇ­ he was positively ted! His sensory abilities were praised even by the second Hokage and he had indeed incredible range. Butˇ­ he had to gulp as he sensed what exactly happened in front of them.

    "Oi! Koichi, sense something yet?" His teammate asked him, making him purse his lips but...

    "No. Nothing, sorry." Koichi shook his head. His eyes teared up as he felt the nostalgic pulse of Mokuton Chakra. The very same hest felt from the man he respected most, Hashirama Senju.

    A few minutester, they came to a clearing and saw Tsunade sit on a thick trunk, ying with a white mask in her hand. All around were bloody puddles, making the shinobi gulp as they smelt the blood in the air. Koichi was looking around but surprisingly, no evidence of Mokuton could be found in the vicinity.

    Tsunade-sama, your secret is safe with me. I am sure Hashirama-sama would be proud of you!... He thought as a slight smile appeared on his face only to change into a frown as one ANBU stepped forward with quite a condescending attitude.

    "Senju, what happened?" The ANBU asked her somewhat haughtily. Uchiha, most likely and a young one at that, Koichi noted. No sane or experienced person would confront Senju Tsunade while her mood was clearly murder-happy! While shinobi were not sanest of the sort, theypensated with experienceˇ­ and now was NOT the time to act like a d.i.c.k!

    "This happened." Tsunade boredly said, gesturing to the mangled corpses strewn around the clearing as she lifted her eyes to the ANBU andzily threw the mask in her hand to him. Koichi saw the young Uchiha ANBU about to smugly catch the slowly flying mask when... the mask somehow ''overpowered'' the man and flung him to the tree behind him due to the force of the throw. The tree creaked and broke as the body of the ninja powerlessly flopped to the ground alongside the now broken tree. Thankfully, the man had chakra reinforcement and armor on so he survived.

    Tsunade didn''t care and turned to the remaining ANBU and Koichi shuddered at her impassionate gaze. "Tell the Hokage that if one more ninja from Konoha attacks me, you will have a new Sanin defecting." Tsunade said and stood up while patting the dust from her thighs away. "Tell him to call me only if something really important happened... like a war. I am sure Jiraiya would be able to find me if I am needed." She turned around and was about to walk away.

    "And if not?" The Sandaime''s voice sounded from behind Koichi''s group, making her stop but not turn around.

    "Then that would mean you don''t need me half as much as you think if you can''t even spend resources to find me." She grunted and continued forward, heedless of Sarutobi''s sad expression.

 Chapter 61 - Ch61. Vs. Hanzo

    <h4>Chapter 61 - Ch61. Vs. Hanzo</h4>

    Rei and Konan were in the Land of Rain on a quick detour when Tsunade suddenly popped next to them. Rei raised his eyebrow at her and asked. "Done in Konoha? That was fast." Tsunade pouted at his sarcasm and embraced him. As she hung around his neck, she startedining about her time in Konoha, making Reiugh a bit. He patted the head of the sullen small blonde in his arms. "Ma~, ma~, it''s fine." He bemusedly told her.

    "You going to fight Hanzo?" Tsunade asked as she saw Amegakure a few miles in front of them. She also noted that neither Rei nor Konan had their hitai-ate on them. Ame was isted so not many rumors would be able to escape it but it seemed like they were overly prepared.

    "Yup." Rei nodded. "There should be a smander that could help you with Creation Rebirth."

    As Tsunade heard him saying they are going to face Hanzo for her... She couldn''t help but feel her heart flutter. Her expression softened as a determined look entered her eyes. "I will fight too!" She half-expected to be rebuffed but to her surprise, Rei only nodded.

    "Sure." He shrugged. For Rei, Tsunade was strong enough to get out of this fight alive even without her Creation Rebirth. She was a lot stronger than before after their training.

    The trio finally arrived near the Amegakure and didn''t have to wait long after they flexed their chakra. At first, ten jonin of Ame appeared to question them about their intentions but before they could speak, Rei sent ten needles formed out of Raiton chakra, killing nine of them while thest one barely evaded and shunshined away.

    Rei didn''t mimic the Chidori techniques of Sasuke. How could he? Sasuke was not born yet! It was obviously his original, right!? Hell, Kakashi didn''t even invent Chidori yet! Obviously, the Jutsu was invented by Rei! What original of Kakashi! The kid obviously only copied it from yours truly! Muhahaha!

    It didn''t take long for an entire army of two hundred Ame-nin appearing in front of them andˇ­ Rei and Konan just molded their suiton chakra while Tsunade weaved hand seals. "Suiton: Tsunami Stream." Three voices chorused as the water all around them lifted and five meters high, crushing waves covered the small army rushing at them.

    "Well, but seriously. When will thest boss appear." Rei mumbled.

    ...

    Hanzo in his tower frowned. He saw what happened and could only sigh. No matter how many he would send, they would be drowned by these three assants. He couldn''t see them well but... obviously, three suiton users in a country perpetually covered in water was a dangerousbo. There was only one conclusion. He had to get involved himself so with another sigh, he was off to face these insolent twerps.

    It didn''t take him long. He arrived in front of the intruders quite fast but was surprised by what he saw. The blond woman and the pale-blond kid were making out! Now... now he felt insulted. But he was a patient AND polite man. He waited until they finished. He would give them time for theirst kiss. Did he mention he was generous too?

    Five minutesterˇ­ "Oi..." He was not THAT generous!

    Rei finally stopped licking Tsunade''s mouth as he heard an annoyed voice from behind him. He turned only to see an old man with a breathing mask who was looking at them with a deadpan stare as his eyebrow twitched. "Oh? Sorry old man. We are a bit preupied now. Could youeter?" Rei asked politely, discreetly preparing for a fight.

    "No." Hanzo answered in deadpan but then his eyes trailed to the blond woman and he squinted. "You... the Senju?" He looked at her as if she was stupid. "Didn''t you receive enough of a beating thest time we met, girl?" He asked her mockingly, remembering her temper from thest time.

    Tsunade just uncaringly shrugged, startling Hanzo. "Don''t care..." As she said that, thick tree trunks sprang from the ground around Hanzo and their branches attacked him. He was bewildered but managed to dodge as he saw the nds near his vige being changed to a forest.

    Grumbling, he took out his kusarigama and enhanced it with futon chakra as he mowed tree after tree in his vicinity. He suddenly found himself a target for a big fireball and pped his hands, calling forth a Waterwall. A sizzling sound resounded through the newly-made forest as the fireball met waterwall and vapor started being created, covering the forest in a mist. Konan used that mist to discreetly move her papers all over the forest, making sure they were unseen by Hanzo.

    They were fighting while trying to not use any of their signature Jutsu. Rei was good at this as he revealed only his Suiton, Raiton, and kenjutsu so far but her? She had at most her doton and futon Jutsu and those were quite limited.

    Hanzo leaped up as he felt danger and a secondter, ten water needles impacted the ce he previously stood. "Heh, nice dodge." Rei''s voice resounded through the mist.

    Hanzo was about to reply when his feetnded on a branch and... he only barely managed to jump away while coating his feet in suiton chakra to prevent damage as the branch exploded. "Paper tags... now that''s insulting." Hanzomented dryly. Paper tags were the basics of basics. To use them against him... He couldn''t help but praise them mentally. Hended on the ground and threw his kusarigama to the right, making it vanish in the mist.

    Rei was about to unleash a raiton Jutsu as Hanzo stood in a puddle of water but he had to dodge to the left as kusarigama suddenly flew at him. "F.u.c.k, he can sense me?" Rei was quite bewildered but didn''t have time to ponder as the chain connected to the kusarigama jerked and the de flew at him. He blocked it with a kunai and leaped back but the kusarigama''s chain again pulsed and the weapon just followed Rei while he blocked its shes and weaved through the trees but was unable to shake off the scythe.

    "You are too green..." Hanzo chuckled as Rei had to use supreme effort to evade his technique but then his eyes went wide. "Shit." He eximed as he sidestepped a downward punch from Tsunade and saw as the ground in the entire surroundings broke, creatingrge pieces of the earth that rose at the pressure the punch exerted onto the ground. "Ah... you did have massive strength, didn''t you?" Hanzo said when hended a bit away and instantly threw a kunai behind himself. "Sneaking? That won''t wo-"

    ''Boom''.

    Away from the battlefield, Konan chuckled. "Simple always works."

    Hanzo coughed as he felt his back slightly burned, anger flooding him. "Paper tags again..." He grumbled as he unsheathed his second kusarigama and blocked a flurry of shuriken enhanced by futon chakra in instant only to spin on his heel and block Rei''s kunai.

    The two men stood and tried to overpower each other. "You are good, kid." Hanzo praised but then noted the smile on Rei and read his lips. His eyes opened wide as...

    ''Boom''.

    The real Rei, a bit away, chuckled. "Third time he fell for it!" He turned to Konan and high-fived while Tsunade could only chuckle.

    Hanzo''s eye was twitching as the dust cleared. He was not injured. He could block a freaking paper tag! That''s academy level stuff! Or at least, it should be! He had enough proficiency in the suiton to do so. But it was annoying as heck... his reputation was suffering! Sighing, he put his hands together, his index fingers pointing upwards. "You asked for it, brats." He started quickly weaving hand signs and ended it with crouching and powerfully pushing his right palm into the water on the ground.

    "Suiton: Shredding Wave."

    Rei and Konan cursed as they felt the chakra fluctuate and a huge amount of suiton chakra was pushed into the Jutsu. Rei knew that Tsunade couldn''t yet sense that well through the nature energy to distinguish what Jutsu was used as she focused more on Mokuton so he jumped to her and took her in a princess carry before jumping up, where Konan already formed a tform of papers.

    They could only watch as the very small amount of water on the ground suddenly pulsed, and from Hanzo''s position as its center, it spread in ripple-like motion to the surroundings, gathering more and more water, rising up to the level of a human chest. Despite being only that high, the wave of water was so pressurized, it literally shredded through the mokuton trees and the forest Tsunade built, started falling down.

    "Damn... that was a blow below the belt if I see one." Reimented while Konan nodded as Tsunade could only wryly smile. That single Jutsu covered a few hundred meters radius. It was the true testament to just how much Hanzo yed with them during the fight.

    Hanzo casually stood on the ground among the felled trees and cooly looked at the paper tform as he spun his kusarigamazily, not drained or tired at all. "Well..." He started. "This is entertaining and all but I can''t have you rampaging around MY vige, you see. You will just have to be good kids and die." He stopped his spinning kusarigama and stuck it into the ground as his hands started weaving hand signs. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He smashed his palm onto the ground and Rei smirked.

    "Finally." Rei quietly muttered. "The rest is yours, Konan." Rei enhanced his body with raiton chakra and jumped towards the summoned Smander. Their goal was finally reached.

 Chapter 62 - Ch62. Rain 1

    <h4>Chapter 62 - Ch62. Rain 1</h4>

    As the summoned smander was about to ask why he was summoned, Rei, coated in raiton chakra, entered its mouth.

    The smander quickly closed it due to the unexpected feeling.

    Rei didn''t need to do much. He only jabbed Chidori through the insides of the smander and...

    Hanzo gaped as the smander boss summon, his personal smander, was minced from inside by lightning jutsu and then went ''puff''.

    When Konan saw Rei safely enter the Smander Summoning Realm, she turned to Tsunade.

    "Go and enter our dimension. I will be there in a second."

    Tsunade wanted to protest but something in Konan''s voice stopped her. Konan waspletely serious and it was clear nothing short of total obedience would be tolerated. It was the same kind of voice her uncle Tobirama used on her when she pulled on his hair as a kind...

    Tsunade shuddered but nodded with utmost seriousness as she used the Self-Storing seal on her body to pop herself away.

    Konan smiled as she saw Tsunade disappear and turned to Hanzo who was ring at her.

    "Girl! Do you know what you just did!?" He coldly shouted. He tried to spark a conversation while he molded his chakra for a finishing move.

    Konan didn''t care and just cracked a slight smile as she put her hand next to her face and pointed upwards. It was a calm, and amused gesture that made Hanzo''s have a bad premonition.

    He slightly arched his head back so he could look up without losing sight of Konan. His eyes squinted and his confusion turned into a confused one as he saw... ck clouds.

    It was the exact same ck clouds that covered Amegakure all year long, showering it with rain. He pursed his lips and looked at Konan, about to mock her when his senses felt ''it'', making his head snap back onto the sky with his eyes widened.

    "You didn''t think I just stood back without doing anything, did you?" Hanzo heard the amused voice of the girl but couldn''t bring himself to care. He had bigger problems than her.

    His respiration mask almost dropped on the floor as he saw it.

    The clouds were torn apart due to sheer wind pressure, stopping the ever-present rain for the first time in months. But it was not the sky that greeted Hanzo''s sight. Far from it...

    He gulped as he saw hundred house-sized brown balls of rock falling from the sky as mes licked their surface, creating a fiery spectacle aimed straight at him. The wind was visibly washing over the meteorites as they pushed their way through it.

    "Well then, I will be off. Good luck." Konan uttered in a smug tone and ported herself away.

    Hanzo''s head snapped onto the spot Konan just disappeared from and he cursed. He didn''t have time! His hands snapped into a rapid flurry of hand seals as he started raising a wall of the earth after a wall of earth to make the surface as uneven as possible in the hope to mitigate the damage this would cause his vige!

    These ''meteorites'' were worse than normal ones. They were a ball made of Konan''s doton-hardened slices of paper. Millions of them stacked on each other to create a heavy and hard ball. Konan would never be able to use this without the MultiW seal, Rei''s dimension for creating Mokuton Trees, and her Mokuton to paper conversion.

    It was a lot harder than normal earth, rock, almost surpassing metal or steel in hardness. Something like this impacting earth at high velocity...

    For the first time in the history of the Land of Ame... the heavens rained fire and earth.

    And then... the ming meteorites impacted the ground,pletely snapping any earth construct Hanzo was capable of making in the short twenty seconds he had. Loud booming explosions could be heard as one after the other, the meteoritesnded, creatingrge craters due to the sheer speed they attained by falling. Shockwaves spread away from thending-ce, destroying everything in their path as pieces of earth flew all around in a flurry of dangerous and fast projectiles, most of them set on fire.

    The clearing in front of Amegakure changed to fiery hell as more and more ming rocks were sent all around, setting the previously created forest on fire, creating a maelstrom of an inferno that ferociously devoured the strong Mokuton trees.

    Fortunately for the Amegakure, it had its own sealing protections and some capable ninja as walls of earth and water raised almost instantly, in the hope to mitigate some of the damage. The ground trembled as if in pain from the impact, creating the first-ever earthquake Amegakure experienced. Shinobi barely managed to stay on their feet while the unfortunate idiots who stayed on the streets, gawking at the spectacles instead of hiding inside, were sent rolling and sprawling on the ground.

    But even then, the shockwaves came just a bitter and tore through the defensive Jutsu as a knife through butter, and as weakened as they were from it, they impacted the closest part of the vige to thending ce of the meteorites. The civilians on the ground were again lifted to the air as they powerlessly sailed, stopping only when their bodies crashed into some obstacles while the shinobi tried to brace themselves as the wind pressure made them slid back across the ground. The buildings creaked from the strong pressure, making the people inside weep and shake in their boots from fear of the buildings falling on their heads.

    It took an entire minute for the booming sounds of meteorites impacting the ground to finally cease. This minute was a nightmare for the inhabitants of the Amegakure as with every second, the earthquake got only stronger, with every second, another shockwave hit the vige, with every second, the buildings groaned stronger and stronger from the pressure.

    It was a miracle no major damage was caused to the vige and none of the fiery debris created by the impact actually reached the vige.

    The Amegakure survived. Frightened, marked, traumatized... but survived.

    The clearing in front of it though, the very same clearing that now had no trees as every single one burned down... now contained a multitude of craters and dents. A stark reminder of what could have been if the meteorite showernded a bit closer to the vige.

    Hanzo''s head suddenly popped out of the ground in the central crater, making his heart tighten as he saw the amount of destruction all around. He barely managed to use the Hiding as a Mole technique to burry himself deep enough toe out of this almost unscathed. But even then, the pressure of thending of the meteorites sent vibrations through the ground and many of his bones were either cracked or broken while bruises marred his body. He was dirty, sweaty, covered in dust and earth, and angry beyond belief... but he was scared first and foremost.

    "Hashirama... Madara... is another world-shaking monster crawling its way out to the world?" His shaky eyes couldn''t stop staring at the many wide craters...

    ''I will need stronger ninja... more ninja. I will need a better deterrent.'' Hanzo glumly thought. He fancied himself strong. He knew he had nothing on the real monsters in this world but these rarely paid attention to him and in this era with both Hashirama and Madara dead. With the first and Second Kages death, he thought he was finally getting back into the top three, at least.

    Hanzo had no idea what the reason for this attack was as fortunately, he and his vige came out of it rtively unscathed and the biggest losses were his summoned animal and a few shinobi but he couldn''t deny that it happened. It was time to start strengthening the vige in the earnest.

    Thoughts like these fearfully swirled in his head as he limped his way through the devastatednd, back to his vige. It was time to take the game seriously again. Determination filled his being. Determination to survive. Determination to train. To be stronger. To make Amegakure greater. Hanzo regained his long-forgotten resolve as he survived the obvious reminder of the era long-past.

    ...

    In Rei''s personal dimension, Tsunade watched Konan as she teleported herself inside the dimension, taking off her raincoat with a nostalgic smile as she shook the water out of it on the porch.

    "What happened?" Tsunade asked worriedly, her eyes trailing on Konan''s frame, trying to find even the smallest of wounds with worry in her gaze.

    "Ah... I am fine. Just showered Amegakure a bit." Konan dismissively waved her hand in a ''no big deal'' gesture. "I definitely lived up to the reputation of Downpour..." Konan''s lips stretched into an amused and knowing smirk.

    ''Suiton Jutsu, huh...'' Tsunade epted the exnation with a nod, not really caring all that much. But this was Hanzo they just faced. Of course, she was worried about her sister facing him alone!

    "Let''s cook something for Rei." Konan excitedly told Tsunade as she took her hands into hers and dragged her to the kitchen. Tsunade quickly forgot her questions as both girls expectantly awaited their beloved while preparing a meal, peacefully chatting away the long while as they enjoyed the warmth andfort of each other''s presence. In the end, both girls ended up covered in floor and cream after their escapades in the kitchen... well, nobody said they actually COULD cook.

 Chapter 63 - Ch63. Salamander Realm 1

    <h4>Chapter 63 - Ch63. Smander Realm 1</h4>

    The body of the dead and bloody smander boss summon appeared inside the Summoning Realm of Smanders. It had many cauterized holes all around its body caused by Rei''s lightning Jutsu that sted it from inside out. A lot of smanders looked at it with bewilderment clear in their eyes, never expecting the strongest smander of the younger generation to die so brutally! But before they could react, the body exploded outwardly in a massive show of blood and gore, covering the closest ones in blood and gore while obstructing their vision.

    As the smanders were still shocked by the death of the boss summon, thousands of Rei''s water clones burst out of the now exploded corpse and started to attack the smanders with abandon, explosions filled the immediate surroundings and the battlefield started spreading further and further, the further the clones reached. But they were only a distraction. Rei covered himself up in nature energy and started sneaking around, evading the battle.

    The entire Smander Realm was turned upside down. Fighting resounded through the cavern system as water sshes and explosions were the most frequent sounds. It was then that the oldest and most experienced battle-veterans of Smander Realm showed up and with them... water. Humongous amounts of water Jutsu started drowning the clones as the caverns started to be flooded. Rei didn''t care, he located his target and was on his way towards it.

    Axolotl Smander as big as a building was smashing two clones right and left with his body, heavily relying on its regeneration. It was a magnificent sight. Axolotl had a massive regenerative factor by itself but when it got enhanced by nature energy, the beast became night unkible unless he was struck in a vital area! Cut off his limbs or tail... heck! Destroy half of its brain or snap its spine and it could just regrow it or reconnect the nerves! Even puncturing the heart wasn''t fatal.

    This smander was his goal. He needed a proper gift for Tsunade, after all. The Kaguya n is good and all and their regenerative factor is amazing but even they can''t survive with their heart or brain injured. Axolotl could. Axolotl filled with nature energy? ''Oh boy, Tsunade will have a field day with this guy!'' Rei giddily thought. He naturally didn''t want his girls in harm''s way but he wasn''t naive to think it would never happen. If he could help Tsunade to make a Jutsu that would make her semi-immortal ever-regenerating battle-monster? Why not? He was all for it!

    The Axolotl just smashed a clone into the ground with his tail, cracking the ground, impacting the water there, sending it all around. Rei knew he had to sneak attack it. Fighting with it would attract attention and such a durable thing like the beast in front of him would have ample time to get reinforcements. He might be supremely strong but he had no idea what Smanders could do and didn''t like charging forward blindly. But then again, there was nobody who knew what Smanders were capable of. Rei doubted even Hanzo was fully aware of their strength. After all, the guy was never taught Senjutsu, for one.

    It was then... five of his clones jumped at the Axolotl from the sky, distracting it and Rei instantly used his very own improved Suiton: Water Dome to trap both him and the smander inside. It was his own derivation of the Water Wall and raised a very dense and chakra-soaked Water Dome all around Rei. The Dome was quite durable and nothing short of borderline S-rank Jutsu could prate it which showed at the chakra cost of creating it. But Rei knew that direct confrontation against an ever regenerating opponent wouldst ages, a time he definitely didn''t have, so he decided to be sneaky and for once act like a ninja. The second the wall covered both the Axolotl and Rei, tens of clones were made from its walls and jumped the Axolotl from every direction, distracting it with their attacks. The beast was instantly startled and started thrashing itself madly around in hopes to defeat as many clones. At least, it looked like a thrashing but by the number of clones that were already smashed, Rei surmised its some form of smander taijutsu... He didn''t create the clones for offense though. No, he created them so he could hide amongst them! The Axolotl was too focused on destroying the clones and Rei could approach it unseen. As he neared the side of the summoning beast, he smiled to himself.

    The Axolotl indeed didn''t notice the real Rei in the middle of his clones. Killing it would be so easy! Just separating the head from the body... no matter how big of a regenerative factor the beast had, it would not survive decapitation. s, he needed the beast alive so Tsunade can study it and that made his task so much harder. He decided to go for it quite brutally as he stuck his chokuto up to the handle into the side of the Axolotl. Before the beast could even let out a yelp of pain, however, Rei coursed finely-controlled raiton chakra through the de, paralyzing it. From that point on, the clones jumped towards the paralyzed beast and quickly started drawing binding seals all over it. Two minutes of a dozen clones doing the seal work and the beast was prepared to go. Rei used a specially developed stasis seal for living beings to stash it away. It was kinda anti-climatic and was a stark reminder to not be conceited even when one is almost immortal. One sneak attack. That''s all that''s needed to end your life.

    Rei''s shoulders slumped rxedly as he tried to sense the battlefield. "Damn, I already lost two-thirds of my clones? Now that''s surprisi-" Suddenly his body tensed again and he frowned as he slowly turned his head to the right and quickly stepped to the side with his eyes widening. Not a secondter, a stream of highly pressurized water cut straight through the water dome Jutsu, almost hitting him as it sailed through the spot he earlier stood at, and then effortlessly cut through the other end of the water dome. Seeing that, Rei''s eyes twitched as he instantly prepared for a battle. It didn''t take long for his water dome to fallpletely and he saw two smanders. One waspletely ck with watery blue streaks on its skin and the other was dull-green.

    These two were obviously special as he instantly recognized the difference that set them apart from other Smanders he saw so far. They both had light-green eyeshadows and as Rei felt the energy around them, his frown widened. These two... knew senjutsu. His expression twisted into a minuscule scowl as he realized that his chakra hiding technique through the nature energy might have backfired since the two senjutsu users clearly could pinpoint him even amongst tens of his clones.

    But it was not the time to ponder about that weakness. He instantly schooled his expression and smiled cheekily. "Isn''t that a bit too dangerous wee, geezers?" Rei quipped towards the ancient Smanders who eyed him warily under the guise of senility. He wasn''t about to underestimate them due to that though. "Huh, no answer?" Rei nodded to himself. "Guess you aren''t the most eloquent of your species then!" He eximed and fought the urge to smirk as he saw his words had an effect on the two beasts.

    (Cliff-kun :D)

 Chapter 64 - Ch64. Salamander Realm 2

    <h4>Chapter 64 - Ch64. Smander Realm 2</h4>

    The two smanders nced at each other and the one on the right side, the ck one sighed. "Youngsters and their cheekiness." He said in an exasperated tone to which, the smander on the left, the green one... shrugged? Rei wasn''t sure what that shaking gesture was meant to be but it was apparently an agreement. The ck smander continued. "Well then, I am Elder Sm and the esteemed smander next to me is Elder Mander. Now that we are here, your free-roaming through our caverns hase to an end intruder! We will show you the terror of offending Sm and Mander! Prepare for your Doom!" The one on the left... Elder Mander just again... shrugged, or better yet shook in agreement but stayed quiet. Rei expected the fight to begin so he crouched slightly, preparing for it as he quickened the flow of his chakra and reinforced his muscles... but the two geezers just motionlessly watched him.

    After a minute of stare-off, Rei blinked in confusion, straightened up, and raised his eyebrow at them as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Uh... shouldn''t you... I don''t know, attack me?" He asked. He wanted them to do the first move as reacting would be better than charging in without knowing their way of fighting. It was then he noticed a slight smirk on Sm''s maw.

    "Oh, youngsters nowadays... so impatient! We already did our move! Kehehueheaha!" Heughed in a senile way. Rei instantly tensed up and discreetly looked around but was unable to find anything out of ordinary. And so the duo of smanders and Rei stared at each other in awkward silence for a few more moments. As time passed, Rei watched as the ''eyebrows'' of the beasts started to twitch. Sm suddenly turned to Mander and asked in an annoyed tone. "Oi, did you add Laman''s wet socks into the recipe? Howe the intruder is still standing!? That thing is more toxic than Hanzo''s underwear!" Mander just shook in agreement but Rei wasn''t feeling good when he heard the words ''recipe'' and ''wet sock'' and ''Hanzo''s underwear''. His prospects for this battle were getting quite bleak if that''s what they wanted to fight him with. He started looking around with mild disgust, his wariness increased by ten magnitudes when his eyes widened.

    "Shit!" He started swaying on his feet and put his palm on his face, his vision blurring slightly. Only the timely input of nature energy into his system stopped him from feeling dizzy. "Smanders equals poison." He quietly grumbled to himself, feeling indignant he didn''t realize it sooner. "Go figure. The entire air is steeped in a special kind of undetectable poison..." Thankfully he kept his eyes on the smanders. The second they saw Rei swaying, the two senile geezers as if evaporated and bloodl.u.s.t filled the cavern and Rei barely managed to push himself to the side, evading another water jet that could cleave him into two pieces. He was about to recollect himself, only for his eyes to widen as Smander Mander suddenly appeared in front of him and mmed his tail into his body, sending him flying. Only the wall of the cavern stopped his body, making him slid down onto his ass and groan in pain.

    Rei didn''t have time to take a breather as a water bullet, courtesy of Sm, impacted his abdomen, making him bend forward with a silent gasp, breaking a few of his ribs in the process. The poison still coursed through his body, numbing it so it was quite hard to move for him. Yet again, he wasn''t given a breather as Mander appeared near him, his tailshing onto Rei. He did the only thing he could in his battered state. He used Kawarimi and swapped ces with his clone who was smashed into a watery pulp almost instantly. Rei wobbly stood up, holding his stomach in pain, and stared at the two senjutsu-using smanders. He smiled slightly, even though his smile was broken and resembled more a grimace due to pain. "I must admit... you two have supreme teamwork." He wheezed out before chuckling. "But..." The second he said that both Sm and Mander tensed as they could feel a danger from his hunched up, hurt form.

    Suddenly, Rei straightened up, wiping the blood from the corner of his lips while wincing slightly. "I also admit that in hindsight, Konan was right and storming the Smander Realm by myself might have been a stupid idea." He clicked his tongue and took a deep breath. Neither Sm nor Mander felt at ease so they didn''t leap at him to continue. Instead, both Smanders could clearly feel the danger in the air and tensed as chakra started swirling around Rei. "You know what''s funny?" Rei offhandedly asked as he started closing and opening his fist. "Nobody ever checks for chakra strings." He quipped and the chakra swirling around him went towards the floor and condensed into a massive amount of fine threads spreading outwards, dragging themselves on the ground. These then started connecting to an even wider system of threads that was spread through the cavern by the water clones right at the start of the battle. As the previously invisible chakra threads lit up, the entire ground of the Smander Caverns looked like one big intricate web. This was Rei''s trump card. Since day one, he didn''t stop honing his chakra strings. It was his first usable skill, after all. But getting thembat-ready... now that was quite a chore.

    Using the strings to defeat a chunin was nice and all but Rei was no longer ying in the casual league. Against jonins, the strings were most of the time useless and that was the actual reason why Suna was known for puppetry instead of chakra strings. Hence, Rei had to be... creative. The threads started to enwrap around Rei, forming a cocoon thatpletely covered his figure. For Sm and Mander it resembled something akin to evolving butterfly summon. Multiple thread endings loosely hung from the cocoon, like decorative strips.

    "Sm," The ancient but quiet voice of Mander suddenly hurriedly eximed with a warning undertone. "Water Wall, fast!" Sm''s eyes widened. He knew Mander was the better sensor amongst them and the Jutsu the human was about to unleash was quite powerful if it unnerved Mander so much! Sm mmed his front legs into the water-covered ground of the cavern, snapping a few chakra strings in the process as he pushed half of his chakra into them, getting assistance by Mander as they created quite simr Jutsu to the Water Dome of Rei. Threeyers of water formed three domes around the cocoon. The Jutsu of Sm was more geared towards preventing escape so the inner walls were neigh-imprable while the outer ones were weaker.

    While the two Elders busied themselves with protectiveyers, the smanders finally finished dealing with Rei''s clones and came to spectate their esteemed Elders dealing with the intruder.

    All this took at most three seconds and inside the water Jutsu, the cocoon started changing. The strings started revolving around Rei''s figure, creating a spectacle no different than Hyuuga''s kaiten. Despite that, it didn''t have the protective function of kaiten. Inside, Rei smirked. "Well, time to fire this party up." His chakra red. The strings were now spinning at insane speeds, grinding against each other. All it took was a slight spark of katon and futon chakra, supported with nature energy.

    Outside, Sm and Mender watched the water of their protections. "This should be enough." Sm said but Mander didn''t answer. Suddenly, his body went rigid. Sm saw and...

    Uncountable small crimson red droplets of condensed mes shattered the threeyers of water domes as they went through it like a knife through butter. As the strings spun, the previously loosely hanging thread endings were now flying around in a swirling pattern. The second the cocoon lit up with the crimson fire, these flying endings created a whirlwind of a crimson whirlpool of fire, the sheer speed tearing apart droplets of it, showering the entire Smander Realm with highly concentrated fire capable of burning even katon itself. These crimson mes were the direct opposite of Rei''s blue suiton/katon mes. Their potency reached and slightly surpassed even ze release. Their sole purpose was to ''kill it with fire'', even if ''it'' is the fire itself.

    The smanders were disorderly running around, trying to avoid the shower of crimson death. Many of them already died due to being stupidly brave and trying to block them with water jutsu only for the droplets to go through the Jutsu first, and the caster second. The walls of the caverns were burning and the ever-covered grounds with water were now dry. These mes could spread alongside the chakra strings and as the entire cavern was covered in Rei''s strings... The ground red up with crimson whirlpool as the web of strings became a burning death-trap.

    Sm and Mander watched with horrified gazes as the fires started to engulf their Realm in its entirety, both pushing enormous amounts of senjutsu chakra to create a safe haven from mes on the ground and in the sky with their senjutsu-enhanced water Jutsu. As the minutes of the downpour of fire ticked away, the two Elders gathered around a hundred surviving smanders in their water barrier, their hearts could only ache as they saw that those of their kin still outside were most likely already burned to death. Fortunately, they had enough strength to create a ce safe from the crimson hell.

    Thirty minutes. That''s how long it took for the spinning to stop and Rei hummed in appreciation. He was not yet that proficient with the Jutsu and had to channel his chakra for a long time. He nevertheless stopped supplying chakra in the third minute and the spinning sustained the Jutsu for ten times as long. He made the cocoon open to witness the effects of his Jutsu with his eyes and as he did so, his jaw dropped to the floor. The cavern... was no more. Above him, a clear night sky was highlighted crimson as the hellish crimson mes still burned strong all around him.

    Rei smiled. "Damn, that''s way better than I thought. These mes willst at least for three days with the chakra I supplied." He shook his head but then winced, showing a bitter expression. "Shit, Konan will scold me! I have at least two broken ribs and six cracked ones with multiple torn muscles. The Mander did pack quite a punch...Tsunade could learn a lot from him." He said as his eyes turned to resigned sad gaze full of unwillingness as he used his seal to enter his dimension.

 Chapter 65 - Ch65. Gift for Tsunade

    <h4>Chapter 65 - Ch65. Gift for Tsunade</h4>

    Rei appeared in his dimension and the first sight that greeted him was Tsunade and Konan in their underwear and apron kneeling in the front hall, both showing excitement. This excitement however quickly fell as they noticed his mangled, clearly quite injured form. He watched Tsunade''s face morph from happy and teasing one into a worry-stricken horror-filled one as she noticed his expression twisted in pain. She instantly jumped towards him and started to go over his body with her diagnostic jutsu, her eyes teary. It was then that Rei remembered that in anime, she was a very ''unstable'' woman due to the death of her n, brother, and then lover. ''Maybe I should try to avoid being injured...'' Rei thought as he felt Tsunade biting her lower lip while intently healing his ribs with her medical Jutsu. His eyes turned to Konan and... he rather turned back to Tsunade. He was too ashamed to face her right now after so many reassurances that it will be alright and he would face no danger...

    "You underestimated them." Konan said in an exasperated tone to which Rei could only awkwardly chuckle. "Why did I expect this to go differently." Konan huffed, giving Rei a piercing look. "As of now, I forbid you to charge into danger without me by your side! At least one of us has to be the voice of reason!" Konan eximed. "Now, you will eat the food I and Tsunade painstakingly prepared. You will take a bath with us. You will then cuddle with us and you will go to sleep to recuperate your injuries. As much trust as I have in Tsunade''s skills, I want you to get proper rest. You are a mess! I don''t think I ever saw you quite so injured!" Seeing Rei''s mouth open in protest, Konan strongly added, her hands on her h.i.p.s. "End of discussion."

    "Yes, dear." Rei lowered his head, making Konan''s eyes soften. He then sighed and continued in a grumbling tone as he crossed his arms. "Never in my wildest dreams would I think that senjutsu would pack quite such a punch. It must have enhanced taijutsu at least by the factor of five! I felt as if a truck hit me." Rei said, making both Tsunade and Konan look at each other, neither knowing what ''truck'' was but they both decided it had to be a fearsome monster if Rei thought it hit so hard. Rei then smiled. "But... I''ve got it." He took a stasis scroll out of his pocket, showing it to Tsunade. "Tsu, this is my gift for you and I am pretty sure it will help you to improve your Creation Rebirth. I really hope this will help you get rid of the need for burning your own life span." He said with a smile to her.

    Tsunade didn''t take it, her hands still busying themselves with Rei''s wounds. For her, he was the priority right now. Whatever that scroll held could wait. Rei just chuckled as he saw the interest in her eyes despite her not taking it. She was a medic first and foremost so anything that could help her improve her craft was greatly intriguing for her. That''s why Rei chose to get the Axolotl for her despite the danger. He thought his self-storage seal would be enough as insurance but he was apparently wrong. He was still quite weak when it came to more experienced ''legendary'' fighters it seemed. An oversight he would definitely correct at ater date.

    After he was healed, he listened to Konan''s demands... she was right, he needed to recuperate and fast. They still had a mission toplete.

    ...

    The next day, the trio was in the clearing in front of their house. Tsunade held the still sealed stasis scroll, expectantly looking at it while her expression was akin to a child during Christmas eve. She was almost glowing from curiosity and Rei enjoyed the sight very much. It was far from the bitter old hag in the anime and it brought his heart untold joy that he could transform... ''that'' into the happy, excited, and carefree girl in front of him. Tsunade turned to him after she was done eyeing the scroll and while almost bouncing, she asked him. "What is it?"

    Rei chuckled. "Why don''t you open it and see for yourself?" He said and held back after her lips turned into a small pout. Konan just sat next to Rei on the nket and was preparing the pic basket she brought with her. She knew what was in the scroll and knew it would probably be important to Tsunade but since she wasn''t very medical savvy, it didn''t matter to her.

    Tsunade decided to open the scroll and instantly, a huge smander popped out of it. She looked at it a bit skeptically and then turned to Rei with a deadpan look. "It''s a... smander? Really?" She eyed Rei, not amused at all.

    "Don''t give me that look." Rei calmly coaxed. "It is a smander with an even bigger healing factor than you when using Creation Rebirth." He told her and she snapped her head back onto the unconscious beast, her eyes instantly started sparkling while morphing into... something Rei thought he would only see on Jiraya''s face when perving on women or Orochimaru''s when perving on boys. ''Damn... she is indeed one of the three Sannin!'' Rei was inwardly freaking out at the gaze she was giving the beast. He decided to be far, far away when she ys with it. Just to be sure.

    Konan chuckled and leaned closer to Rei. "You are hoping Tsunade will be too preupied with her new experiments to miss us jumping into that trap, aren''t you?" She whispered knowingly, earning herself an admitting gaze from Rei as he shrugged. He had no intention of letting Tsunade butt in into their mission and definitely didn''t want her to worry. He leaned even closer to Konan and tenderly imed her lips. They kissed for a moment and when they separated Rei softly smiled.

    "Will you keep that a secret for me?" He asked and Konan dazedly nodded with a bit of a blush on her cheeks as she bashfully turned around, busying herself with preparing the food. After that, they both watched Tsunade testing the healing factor of the beast with sparkling eyes as the blood squirted everywhere. "Damn..." Rei winced. "I am really d I had the foresight to keep the beast in unconsciousness." He dryly stated, making Konan deadpan at him.

    "Yeah... but these seals must have been quite something since even having its head open didn''t wake it up." She said.

    Before Rei could answer, Tsunade shouted at him. "Thank you!" She quickly approached them and embraced Rei tightly. "With this, I will be able to not only perfect my Creation Rebirth but also my strengthening technique!" She tedly said. "Now... more tests!" She almost squealed, released Rei, and skipped back towards the smander without even ncing at the food Konan prepared for her.

    That afternoon was one of the most traumatizing experiences both Rei and Konan ever went through. They learned a lot! They learned that with a high regeneration factor, it is hard to die due to blood loss. They learned that regrowth of the smander''s limbssts approximately 1.66s when stimted with nature energy. They learned that opening someone''s head is indeed as disgusting as it sounds... To be honest, they decided to never again be present when Tsunade is having her ''fun''.

 Chapter 66 - Ch66. The objective of the mission 1

    <h4>Chapter 66 - Ch66. The objective of the mission 1</h4>

    Pa treon - 38 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    Rei and Konan were high in the sky on Konan''s paper tform, watching a noble mansion that was supposed to be their target. Somewhere in there should be the daughter of the noble who requested them to ''save her''. At first nce, the mansion wasn''t all that much protected. Some sub-par samurais here and there but that was all. For a ninja, this was a dreame true. An easy mission with high pay. At least, that was how it appeared.

    "There are twenty jonin and thirty chunin." Konan grimaced as her scouts in the form of small bugs made from paper gave her the intel they gathered. Both her and Rei could fight multiple ninjas each but forty? The problem was, this was supposed to be a rescue mission so they can''t just nuke it from the sky and be done with it. They would have to go there and actually search... which means getting attacked.

    "The ''target''," Rei almost drowned in sarcasm. "is enjoying herself being massaged by very burly ''servants'' who have quite a lot of chakra for ''civilians''... She sure doesn''t look like someone kidnapped. Both of her eyes are covered with cuc.u.mber slices and her expression is more like someone who is having the time of their life." Rei informed Konan. Over time, his nature sensing became quite strong and he could now ''see'' the surroundings through it. While he was somewhat limited and had to focus a lot to be able to do that, it was a nice skill to have for scouting. While Konan''s papers could sense ninjas and their chakra, Rei got more visual output that told him much more than just general reserves, and if someone is or is not ninja, supposing the person was not restraining their chakra.

    Their difference in the nature attunement showed. This kind of nature sensing was far above what Konan was capable of and that''s why they both scouted the mansion with their respective techniques and decided to thenpare the notes.

    Hearing about the state of the supposedly kidnapped girl, Konan rolled her eyes. "So... what''s the n? This is obviously a trap." She asked.

    "Hmm." Rei started pondering about it when his eyes trailed towards the right-wing of the mansion. "That," He pointed at it. "is empty, right?" He asked Konan who nodded in affirmation which made Rei widely smile. "I see, then we will..."

    ...

    Barbo Reurenta was massaging the ''bait'' while resisting the urge to groan at this kind of mission. The woman was a chore to be around. ''Barbo, I am hungry!'' ''Barbo, I want a massage!'' ''Barbo, I am horn-!'' ... Barbo had enough. He was supposed to be a respected jonin of Iwa! And yet, here he was, satisfying every desire of a woman that was spoiled rotten. All because she would bait their target to this ce.

    The Downpour.

    The mysterious Kiri duo of S-rank demolition specialists who surpassed even the Demolition Corps of Iwa in the seer destructibility. Quite frankly, the Tsuchikage was not amused by their existence. In the past, when someone needed a demolition expert, they knew to go to Iwa but that was no longer the truth. Now, Iwa had apetition and the old man Onoki didn''t like thepetition. Not at all. Not when they obviously were so much better than Iwa''s top demolition experts. Hence, the current situation. He, the idiot, epted the mission of ''hunting'' The Downpour down without even asking about the specifics and now he was saddled with Kimiko Hugaru, the spoiled nuisance.

    It wasn''t that the woman wasn''t pretty. She was gorgeous. Not a kunoichi kind of gorgeous but more of a sheltered kind. The problem was how demanding it was to be with her! He was a ninja and even he was starting to feel tired! Barbo hoped their target would pop up sometimes soon or he just might drop from the sheer exhaustion due to being ordered around by the woman!

    ''Oh, why! Why was I so stupid to take this undercover mission? I can''t evenin now, can I? If I did, I would be an even biggerughing stock for my subordinates!'' He mentally wept. ''Not that I am not aughing stock now! I was dragged against my will to Kimiko''s chambers, after all! Me! One of the top assassins of Iwa! Sob...''

    Needless to say, Barbo''s subordinates had theugh of their lives on his expense at that.

    Suddenly, Kimiko arched her hand backward and raised her hand towards her head, taking one cuc.u.mber slice off of her face. Her eyes connected with Barbo''s. ''Oh, shit. Here we go again.'' He mentally groaned but gave her a sweet smile to which the woman beamed.

    "Barboooo," Kimiko''s whiny voice resounded through the room, "I am bored!" She pouted, pretending to be pitiful. It took every bit of Barbo''s past experience and determination to not f.u.c.k this mission up to NOT scowl at the woman. The four subordinates of his who were massaging various parts of Kimiko''s body were not-so-discreetly ncing at him with hidden snickers too! This was routine. She was ''bored'' and they instantly knew it meant Barbo being made into entertainment! Last time, he had to do a geisha show for her! While his team members watched! The woman was ruining his reputation without even knowing it!

    Barbo gulped. "Er... this... Kimi-" He didn''t finish that sentence as a sudden booming sound resounded through the entire mansion, startling the upants. Barbo''s eyes sparkled in excitement, hoping that their enemies were finally here and he quickly jumped towards the window. His excitement turned into bewilderment as he saw the entire right wing of the mansion was almost leveled to the ground by massive tree trunks falling from the sky. "What the actual f.u.c.k? Since when does it rain trees?" Barbo quietly asked when he saw even MORE tree trunks falling onto the right-wing. It didn''t take long for his eyes to widen. "F.u.c.k!" He snapped around towards his subordinates and shouted. "Out of the mansion, quick!"

    ...

    Rei and Konan watched as the tree trunks they created were taken out of the dimension storage right above the empty part of the mansion through the MultiWLink on Konan''s paper slice that was floating in the sky. Rei added his own twist into it and wove ''genjutsu'' into the entire thing. His perfect chakra control allowed him to be quite creative but he decided on a simple approach this time. He didn''t affect the people, rather the environment. Through light refraction he made it seem as if the trunks falling from the sky were slowly expanding theirnding radius, therefore, it looked like the entire mansion was under the threat to be destroyed by them. For those in the central part, it looked like the left-wing was the next target and for those in the left-wing, it looked as if the next target was the central part of the mansion. It wasn''t even that hard for Rei to do this and he really doubted this jutsu could be ssified as genjutsu but it created an illusion so there! It was more of a wind and water maniption in the sky. This actually made it impossible to ''kai'' it since it wasn''t created by influencing the chakra in their body. It was akin to a big henge on the entire sky.

    "They areing out." Konan said, making Rei smile. Their n to get their targets outside of the mansion worked. The illusion made it seem the trunks started raining all around so they had no choice but to gather in one ce and some of the previously seemingly harmless if a bit muscled servants instantly gained a dangerous atmosphere around them, spooking the civilians in the group.

    Rei chuckled at that. "The chunins are going to blow their own cover. Just look at how they are projecting their battle readiness around. Civilians or not, the others started to notice." Reimented, observing various jonin in the group curse. What made Rei surprised though, was that the samurai guards apparently were not informed about ninjas being present and started warily ring at the chunins, their hands on the handles of their swords. This made Rei''s lips widen into a nasty shit-eating grin. "Oh, well, let''s start this party with a bang!" He shrugged and threw a kunai with an exploding tag into the sky.

    The second the explosion loudly went off, three things happened.

    First, both ninja and samurai drew their respective weapons. For samurai it was katanas and for the ninjas, it was mostly kunai with some taking out something different. Secondly, the civilians started to panic and run around like headless chickens, obstructing the visibility of thebatants and creating mayhem. There were around fifty ninjas and give or take a hundred samurai... but there were a hundred civilians too! And all of them were confined in a small clearing in front of the mansion due to the light refraction illusion! It was an unorganized mess. Thirdly, and this was very beneficial but incredibly surprising... due to the chaos created by the panicking civilians, themanders of both, the group of ninjas and the group of samurais couldn''t ry orders. As the samurais saw the ninja draw their weapons, they did what a good guard should do. They attacked unknown armed assants. And ninjas reacted. The entire clearing started to be bloody and even more chaotic. The ninja might have been a lot stronger than the samurai but they had to avoid harming civilians so no strong jutsu were allowed, evening the odds slightly. Also, samurai were more experienced in moving in chaotic battlefields and in a direct sh. The ninjas certainly did start to take some casualties.

    Both Konan and Rei used this situation to get inside the mayhem, henging into civilians while also lowering their chakra reserves to civilian-level. They ran straight towards Kimiko and saw Barbo deflecting the blows of three samurai while trying to talk them out of attacking. Nevertheless, he didn''t have time to give orders to his subordinates. Rei resisted a chuckle and turned to their target, Kimiko who sat on the ground, utterly confused and frightened. The girl was a quivering mess by now as blood, gore, and guts flew through the sky whenever a samurai or a ninja scored a hit on the other. Rei gestured with his head towards Kimiko and Konan went off, with a nod. He approached one of Barbo''s enemies and... stabbed him from behind. Killing one, the other two instinctively turned towards him but it was toote as two kunai impacted their abdomens, making them fall to the ground with groans. Rei looked at startled Iwa jonin d in servant''s clothes and quickly said, trying to sound distressed. "Come! Lady Kimiko is in danger!"

    Barbo''s eyes widened, his eyes snapping in the direction of the girl... and then his world went ck.

    Rei stood above the slumped form of the jonin, rolling his eyes. "Damn, man, a guy takes out three samurai in front of you and you get distracted? You must really like that Kimiko-girl." He snickered and put a tag with a restraining seal on Barbo''s forehead, storing his unconscious body into a stasis storage seal. With that, he left the battlefield.

    -----

    Author Note:

    Okay, I''ve seen a lot of people ask why Rei had to use a jutsu that could wipe out Smanders. The answer is simple, he was forced to. The smander elders broke quite a few bones and tore a whole lot of muscles by his Senjutsu/Taijutsu Attacks, plus their ninjutsu powered by senjutsu chakra, and vo... you get utterly outssed MC. As much as I''ve written, the self-transport seal is instantaneous, and there is still a quite short window to hit him hence it is not as good as Hiraishin, nor is it meant to be. The seal is not abat-oriented seal, after all. That''s why it''s not as used in a fight as it could be otherwise. The next thing is, Rei needed that small window of time to activate it and didn''t like his chances of not being attacked during it since the Taijutsu Smander was fast enough topletely surprise him.

    The big, fiery attack was in the end, only a way to get him that bit of time and since he used it, he wanted to see the result. Simple as that.

    If someone doesn''t like that... er, nothing I can do about that :D.

 Chapter 67 - Ch67. The objective of the mission 2

    <h4>Chapter 67 - Ch67. The objective of the mission 2</h4>

    Both Rei and Konan rendezvoused five minutes after they entered the ''chaos'' in the treetops near the mansion. Rei had a stasis scroll in his hand while Konan had a kicking and thrashing girl over her shoulders that made her show a very, very annoyed expression on her face. Her eyes were dangerously narrowed and set forward, Rei could actually see she was trying very hard not to p some sense into the girl. The only reason the girl was not screaming was the ball of paper that found its new home in the girl''s mouth and was apparently quite hard to get rid of, no matter how much the girl tried to spit it out.

    The girl, Kimiko, suddenly pped Konan''s butt quite hard and Konan snapped. She ''gently'' put the girl on the ground, making her stop thrashing around and for once, the only sound Kimiko let out was a muffled groan of pain. "That''s it, I''ve had it with you." Konan said in a cold tone, making Kimiko send a re her way. The re didn''tst long though. The second Kimiko''s eyes met Konan''s, she froze. Konan had a stoic expression on her face but something in her gaze was just incredibly chilly and threatening. Kimiko quickly balled into a ball and tried to make herself as small as possible when she saw the dangerous way Konan was looking at her. It was the first time the girl experienced such fear. Rei decided to intervene before Konan actually managed to make the girl die due to a heart attack from her frosty re.

    "Ma~, ma~, don''t give her that look." He quipped towards Konna, making Kimiko look at him hopefully while Konan crossed her arms and huffed. He crouched down in front of Kimiko and smiled at her. "Don''t worry. You won''t be harmed. We were sent by your father to ''rescue'' you." He snickered at the word ''rescue''.

    "Papa?" Kimiko tilted her head. "But... why would papa..." That was as far as she got when Rei suddenly pped her forehead, making her faint. Konan opened her mouth in speechlessness at the spectacle but when she saw the paper with a knock-out seal... she facepalmed.

    "And that''s how you deal with annoying people." Rei told Konan, highly amused, as he was sealing Kimiko''s body into a stasis scroll.

    In the end, Konan chuckled and kissed Rei while hugging him tightly. "Shouldn''t we do something like that to Mizukage then?" She asked offhandedly to which Rei rolled his eyes but tightened his embrace. He loved how warm Konan usually was and refused to not enjoy it when he got the chance. He caressed her back as his head swirled with ideas.

    "Maybeter, dear." He whispered to Konan. "For now, we gotta interrogate my captive."

    "A captive?" Konan asked and stepped back as she felt Rei released her from the hug. Rei only raised his hand with a stasis scroll and she instantly understood. "Which one?" She asked.

    "The captain." Rei said, grinning. "Now we can find out just ''why'' was this trap set up for us." He said excitedly, happily noting the sadistic gleam in Konan''s eyes. Unfortunately, he had to crash her fun. "Sorry, dear, I won''t allow you to torture him. I''ve got a better n. Much, much better." He said as his grin was widening into a menacing one.

    ...

    Barbo groggily woke up, shaking his head to get out of the daze, and quickly found out he was in an unknown room and bound which made himpletely awake pretty quickly. His eyes warily scanned the surroundings, trying to discern what was going on as he was mentally going through what happened before his ckout. His eyes suddenly widened as he remembered what happened to him, only for a colorful curse to leave his lips. He was careless and now he was going to pay for it. Nevertheless, he tried to squirm out of the bindings or use the rope-escaping Jutsu but as expected, it didn''t work. As he was about to get out of options, the door suddenly opened and two people walked inside. A young man and a young woman. He quickly understood his mission failed and he somehow got kidnapped by The Downpour.

    Konan and Rei saw the man lower his head in resignation as they entered the room. They came in front of him when he suddenly raised his head and spoke. "If you are trying to get information from me, you will be disappointed. I will not divulge anything no matter what kind of torture you put me through."

    Rei smiled at that as he gazed into the man''s eyes and saw he really believed that. "Let''s start with something simple, then. Your name." He stated and peered into the man''s eyes until the corner of the man''s lips twitched. The man sighed and half-shrugged.

    "Barbo."

    It wasn''t as if he was extremely famous and he doubted these two would get much from his name. Rei chuckled and nodded towards Konan. "She is Konan and I am Rei. But you probably already know that. Well, we don''t really n to torture you." Rei said while his hand found its way around Konan''s waist to calm her down since she was pouting slightly. They had quite a debate about this. Konan wasn''t happy about having someone trying to hunt them and wanted to send a proper ''message'' to the world. As if they didn''t do that already... Barbo''s eyes warily observed Rei as he heard they don''t intend to torture him while Rei continued. "As for your team, half of them are dead, due to samurai that guarded the mansion." He watched as Barbo flinched, his lips twisting into an amused smirk. "The good news is that they killed every samurai." He stopped for a second to let that sink. It wasn''t something to be happy about. Barbo''s team practically ughtered samurai belonging to his country which would have at least reputational consequences and depending on the stance of the Daimyo, could be quite damaging to the vige in itself. Barbo showed a difficult expression as hepletely understood what it meant when Iwa shinobi killed Iwa samurai. Especially in that kind of situation. Rei nevertheless continued with a bemused and light tone. "The bad news is... the ''surviving'' half is also dead because of Konan."

    Konan watched Barbo''s eyes widen at that and decided that maybe it was quite good that Rei didn''t allow her to vent her frustration on him. She almost pitied him but the man would talk and it will be out of his own volition. She outstretched her hand and Barbo''s body was quickly covered in paper, only his head was peeking out of them. "Let''s go." She said and Rei shrugged. They had a n on how to make the man talk and it seemed that Konan was quite impatient. Unfortunately for Barbo, he had a paper over his mouth so any and all protests were silenced.

    The trio went outside, stopping only near Tsunade and her big slimy amphibian of a ything. It was obvious the blonde didn''t even register them as she busied herself with ''experimenting''. Konan sat Barbo in a spot where he will have a front seat to the show and leaned on Rei''s back while putting her chin on his shoulder as her hands sn.a.k.e.d around his waist in a tight embrace.

    Barbo couldn''t get his eyes away from the spectacle in front of him, only barely registering Rei''s voice. "You see... I am sure that as a ninja, you are used to gore but this is something different." Yes, Barbo could see ''that''. This was... he wanted to puke but he was too horrified to do so. Rei continued speaking. "I am sure you would rather tell us about your little mission than go through that, right?" Barbo flinched but his eyes still couldn''t leave the amphibian as the blond busty woman was rummaging in its body. It wouldn''t be such a disturbing sight if the summoning animal that must obviously be quite intelligent wasn''t cut open in such a way that Barbo could see the contents of its guts and organs still inside of its body... its heart was still pumping, signifying that the beast was still alive as the muscles visibly constricted and loosened in a show of breathing.

    Even if Barbo wanted, he wouldn''t be able to avert his gaze. He could only grit his teeth to prevent the bile from rising from his mouth after he croaked out. "It''s still alive."

    Konan rolled her eyes but it was very hard to spot since she was nuzzling her nose into the crook of Rei''s neck. "Of course it is," She yfully started. "and you will be too." At that, Barbo''s eyes widened as he understood why they were showing him this scene.

    Rei smiled to himself. Yes, just a bit more, and the man will talk by himself, no need for boorish torture. He just hoped the man wouldn''t be too stubborn about it. "Yup, and I am not really inclined to put a seal that would keep you unconscious during the process. Instead, since you wanted to kill us, I will apply a seal that will keep you conscious as our little," He heard Konan snicker as hemented on Tsunade''s height, "friend will look at what''s inside of you. But don''t you worry your little head over it, she is too experienced to make you die during it." Rei said flippantly and noticed that Barbo didn''t really react to his threat which made him frown. He redirected his eyes towards Tsunade and instantly lowered them towards the ground with a groan. That was a mistake. He did not need to see Tsunade pulling the innards out of the beast as a goddamn rope. Rei audibly gulped and took a deep breath. "Okay, we will leave you here to consider your position." He said with a broken smile towards Barbo. "We will be back in a few hours."

    And with that, Rei was dragged away by excited Konan who wouldn''t let these hours go to waste while Barbo was about to experience three hours of what Orochimaru would dub a ''pleasant'' afternoon, only two clones of Rei and Konan silently watching over him.

 Chapter 68 - Ch68. Interrogation?

    <h4>Chapter 68 - Ch68. Interrogation?</h4>

    When Konan and Rei returned to Barbo, they saw the man having closed eyes with a twisted expression while Tsunade giggled mischievously. Rei approached her and asked. "What did you do to the guy?" His eyebrow raised.

    "Oh, nothing." She waved her hand covered with a bloodied glove. "I just showed him a bit of what it means to be a medic-nin." Tsunade again giggled. "Really, these big bad assassins andbat-experts... they never have enough ''guts'' to stomach the realities of medic-nin." She rolled her eyes amusedly, patting her stomach to emphasize ''guts'' while all around the amphibian were meters upon meters of guts strewn across the floor. Rei decided to not ask further... He rather left her to her devices and went to Barbo. Surprisingly or not, he didn''t even need to open his mouth.

    When he came closer, Rei was greeted with eyes simr to a dead fish. "I will talk." Barbo said in a defeated and exhausted tone and hung his head low. The sight of Tsunade''s ''autopsy'' of a still-breathing being must have been quite disturbing for the man.

    "Okay then, we are listening." Rai said as he sat on the ground next to the still paper-bound man.

    Barbo was quiet for a moment before he sighed and started. "The Tsuchikage doesn''t like you being so good atrge-scale destruction. But that''s not all." Barbo mulled over his next words before starting to speak again. "Kiri was always a vige shrouded in the shadows. It was the vige of assassins. Quiet and unnoticeable. It had to be. Kiri might be one of the Great Five but it never had numbers or front-line fighters capable of matching other viges of the Great Four. In mist and on the sea, Kiri''s forces are almost unbeatable but onnd? Kiri is no threat when ites to invasion. It has always been that way. Even Suna is a bigger threat than Kiri." Barbo said slowly, and Rei nodded. This much, he knew. Kiri might have got fewer casualties in the war against Kumo but it was felt. The vige was smaller and more specialized towards kenjutsu and assassinations. Not many ninjas knewrge-scale ninjutsu and definitely not on the level of future Hoshigaki Kisame or Mei Terumi. The Kiri-nin preferred silent killing rather than shy Jutsu. Oddly enough, most often than not, it was those big shy jutsu that could be seen for miles which showed the real strength of ''ninja'' rather than a silent and unseen approach. From this bit Rei started to see the ''bigger'' picture and why his and Konan''s existence might have been so threatening in Tsuchikage''s eyes. After all, the old small man was always the first to jump the gun. Rei didn''t voice out his reasonings and rather let Barbo speak.

    "And then, Kiri gained you. Two ninjas famous for their ''shiness''." Barbo chuckled dryly. "Kiri was bing a bigger and bigger threat due to the acquisition of Kekkei Genkai in the past but they never seemed to be able to use it all that well. The ns there still have a lot of freedom and the Mizukage has quite limited authority over them which stems from the joining agreements they had with the vige upon bing its members."

    "And you know that just how exactly?" Konan butted in with a quite important question. Barbo just looked at her with a deadpan gaze.

    "They took in whoever. Sure, their anti-spy policy is very good but they can''t catch every single spy. Plus the offer of these ''deals'' that would safeguard the joining ns was the first thing Kiri offered so many of our spies brought the information about them." He said, making Konan impassively nod but it only strengthened the belief that she and Rei would eventually have to leave Kiri. If the enemy knew about these things, there was bound to be some f.u.c.k-upter down the line that will threaten the vige. Maybe even use some political pull or a spy inside to start a civil war... thews of Kiri were very edgy so Konan could imagine something like that to happen. She would have to try to persuade Rei to get out of the vige sooner than expected...

    While Konan pondered about the revtions of just how easy it was to nt a spy into Kiri, Barbo continued. "Your presence in Kiri is a threat. If you raise pupils capable of performing your Jutsu, the Kiri could raise its strength to rival other viges of Great Five onnd and be a real threat. It was also obvious the Mizukage wanted to do just that since not one of our spies managed to get any noteworthy intel about your identity or skills..."

    "And the spies being...?" Rei butted in, stopping Barbo in his tracks.

    Barbo opened his mouth but then closed it before saying. "I don''t know."

    "Are you sure?" Rei tilted his head and nced towards Tsunade but knew it was pointless. He wouldn''t really take Barbo''s words at face value. Obviously, he drew a seal of ''truth'' on the guy when he was unconscious. While the seal can''t make the man spit out every secret he had, it was enough to make himpletely truthful while not making him even realize it. It also had the effect of making the person actually subconsciously willing to speak. That''s why Barbo divulged his name so easily and that''s why it didn''t take too long for him to spill.

    "Yes." Barbo simply said, making Rei sigh. The man really had no idea who the spies were. While it didn''t really matter to Rei as Kiri was just a momentary stop, he wouldn''t mind giving the Mizukage a parting present. Worse yet, Rei didn''t know when he would leave Kiri but it would be years yet. Living in the vige while knowing it has spies in it? He hoped he wouldn''t get paranoid...

    "So tell me," Rei started. "was this only Tsuchikage''s idea or someone else was involved?" Rei was really curious about this. If it was only Tsuchikage then good. It was expected but if someone else was involved? Rei wouldn''t like to have an unknown third party after his life.

    Barbo was quiet for a moment but then started talking. "It was an anonymous request. They paid three times the max amount for S-rank so it gave a good excuse for the Tsuchikage. Half up-front and the second half after the job is done." Rei nodded. So there was some bastard who wanted them dead, after all! Tsuchikage had to think about the good of the vige and wouldn''t pull a stunt like this without an enormous excuse.

    "So... someone is trying to instigate a third ninja war, huh?" Rei distractedly stated with a frown, making Barbo exim.

    "What!?" He gaped at Rei but from his expression it was clear the gears were turning in his head, thinking about how Rei came to such a conclusion. It didn''t take long for Barbo to understand. Konan and Rei were quite important for Kiri''s progress. At least, that was the conclusion from all the information embargo the Mizukage employed. Their death would surely sour the rtions between Kiri and Iwa... add a few simr kinds of missions for other viges and vo, the conclusion is clear. It would lead to another war not ten years from the end of the previous one. The main point was the payment. Nobody pays three times the amount for S-rank. Not even nobles or the Daimyo. It''s just not done so when someone offers it, the vige should be helluva alerted that something was fishy! Not even the assassination of a Daimyo would be so costly, after all! But clearly, the viges would jump at the vision of money if the client seemed trustworthy. Considering the problems Iwa had with Rei and Konan''s continuous existence and Onoki''s stubborn hotheadedness... Yes, the anonymous person knew well who to approach for the job.

    Rei was about to continue asking questions when Tsunade finally finished with the Smander for the day and approached them after healing him up to health, her previously white coat now covered in innumerable bloodstains. Her face sported a wide Cheshire smile as she turned towards Rei. "So how does your little interrogation go?" She asked while looking at Barbo who instantly tried to scurry away but his body was tightly bound so he managed to only avert his gaze towards the ground while quivering.

    ''Huh? Guess Tsunade really inflicted trauma on the poor bastard.'' Rei resisted the urge to snicker when Tsunade suddenly hugged him, making him go rigid. "Uh..." He bit out, his arms not reaching towards her back. "Tsu? You know you are from head to toe covered in blood?" Rei asked with indignation in his tone and Tsunade instantly stepped back with a sheepish look as she saw the entirety of Rei''s shirt covered with one big red stain.

    The awkward atmosphere was quickly interrupted by Barbo. "You people are insane." He said with wide eyes, staring at the blood-covered shirt of Rei. "How can you not react at all? She has more blood on herself than any torturer of Iwa could hope to see after a month of work! You people are insane." Barbo repeated, quivering at the sight of blood and Tsunade only tilted her head.

    "Did my little show perhaps give him hemophobia!?" Both of her eyebrows rose in surprise at that and even Rei facepalmed.

    ''Oh, the irony...''

 Chapter 69 - Ch69. Shocking Iwa 1

    <h4>Chapter 69 - Ch69. Shocking Iwa 1</h4>

    The interrogation continued and they got more information from Barbo... mostly about Iwa and its defenses but nothing too substantial as the man was fiercely loyal and would rather go through torture than give them the important details. The seal of truth was quite handy and the man probably bbed way more than he wanted while not even noticing it but nevertheless, he wouldn''t budge when Rei asked about sensitive things like the times of patrol changes and seal defenses...

    It''s not like they needed those anyway. And Barbo didn''t need to be so secretive about it either! Who would they show the information to? The Mizukage? As if! The old coot didn''t deserve to know their findings! No, Rei had something better in mind. Something immediate. The Tsuchikage wanted to hunt them down so he would need to be punished for it! Konan wouldn''t have it any other way and Rei wasn''t about to let bygones be bygones. After all, he wasn''t the only target. Konna was one too and that made him mad. That''s why they now stood not a half kilometer away from Iwagakure, observing it through their senses.

    "Do you really think it is a smart idea?" Konan asked a bit worried about what they were gonna do. She wanted to do it even more than Rei as she wasn''t the forgiving sort but for now, this appeared to be quite a risk. She didn''t want Rei to be in danger so she had to at least try to be the voice of reason.

    "Smart? Of course not!" Rei snorted. "It is batshit insane and that''s why it will work." His lips spread into a Cheshire grin. "Especially since we are going to do it by our own rules." He said and took out two scrolls, making Konan widen her eyes at what that meant.

    "You want to use ''that''!?" She asked in bewilderment. These scrolls were theirst resort and only to be used when they needed to run! To use them here... Konan suddenly stopped in her tracks as her mind understood what this meant when she added into equation Rei''s personality. "You... these are not your ''mayhem scrolls'', these are different." She stated, smirking as she saw Rei shrug.

    "I had a bit of time and decided to prepare a show for our rockyrades. After all, someone has to show them what it means to have the will of rock!" Rei snickered. Indeed, these scrolls were not his ''mayhem scrolls'' as Konan dubbed them. No, they were his ''mayhem scrolls'' v2, specially made for this asion!

    "Should I use mine too though?" Konan asked with furrowed eyebrows. "You know, to make bigger numbers."

    "Nah. It''s good. I made sure to seal away enough. We will have a different job. We can''t really kill the old goblin so the punishment would have to be something impactful yet delicate. I know exactly the thing!" Rei excitedly eximed, making Konan purse her lips in expectation.

    ...

    Onoki sat in his office doing the paperwork as was his damned routine. The day he became the Tsuchikage will be forever etched into his memory as the most glorious day of his existence... but it will also be the most sorrowful day for him. The day he forsook his soul to the devil of the bureaucracy. The day when the strong, handsome, capable, and most importantly handsome guy he was... changed into a grumbling man who had to sit on a special chair for his head to be above the table when giving orders. But that wasn''t his main problem. He thought being a Kage would be a bit more... interesting. But it is not! It''s an almost painful existence where he has to bnce the entire vige, its ns, ninja, and civilians to coexist peacefully! This was a dictatorship and he was on the top but even then he had so much work! At least he has a free hand in how he does things.

    As he was about to fill hisst paper from an entire stash... the entire office shook, making the stash he had deposited on the edge of the table fall down and fly all around his office in the flurry of papers. Onoki watched with an expression like a deer in headlights as this happened, his mind refusing to process that the pile he spent thest two days perfecting to his utmost ability was now destroyed. Just like that. In but a second. As he watched his paper-covered office, Onoki genuinely thought that even his Dust style could cause so much damage to him as this sight. His spirit was literary in pieces!

    Just then, his secretary barged inside of his office with a startled expression, desperately gasping for breath. Onoki turned to her with his gaze that resembled a dead fish and lifelessly asked. "What?"

    The secretary tried to quickly calm down as she heaved up, her arms on her knees. Hearing Tsuchikage''s question, she hurriedly eximed. "Tsuchikage-sama! We are being invaded!"

    Onoki heard her and his mind stopped. His temper instantly red but he forcefully calmed himself down and his expression turned to stoical seriousness. "Who is invading us?" He asked the secretary. Hurrying off to the battlefield would be idiocy. He first needed to know what exactly was going on and then organize his troops. No matter the situation, he was the Kage. Not amon ninja. His duties lied with leadership rather than fighting on the front-lines. He was the trump card of the vige, after all! When he asked the question, he could see the secretary momentarily squirm and his temper red again, this time on the woman. She said they were being invaded and he knew she would never dare to joke about such a matter so why was she now hesitating? "Speak woman! We are burning time!"

    The secretary took a deep breath to calm herself and her professionalism took over. Only that made her able to say the next part with a straight face without cringing. "We are under attack by monkeys in Hokage robes." She said stoically, and even she was surprised she didn''t actually blush.

    As Onoki heard her, his mind stopped for a second, giving her a nk gaze. "Come again?" He asked unsurely, briefly ncing towards the calendar, wondering if it is 1st April already.

    (Author: Yup, they have those there!)

    "We are under attack by monkeys in Hokage robes." The secretary repeated in a deadpan tone.

    "Are you sure it isn''t a prank?" Onoki stated dryly. He was too old to deal with some snot-nosed brat vying for attention! That job was for his son! Why would they bother him with monkeys dressed like the Hokage? That could be the national joke!

    The secretary nodded and started describing what was happening. "They trashed the marketce, heavily graffitied the surrounding mountains and buildings, strewn the underwear of the vigers all across the vige, many mothersin they stole lollipops from their kids, the ninja are getting caught in some sticky traps that are making them glued to each other, the worst part is that when the ninja try to attack them, they are ganged upon by ten others. They cause all sorts of mischief but worse yet, we had reports of them in secret divisions where they mess up archives and libraries... The violent shaking of the Kage Tower was also caused by them." They both understood the danger they were facing if these monkeys got into restricted archives of various divisions and Onoki scowled as he now had the culprit for his wasted paperwork. The secretary wasn''t finished though. With a grim face, she continued. "It all started an hour ago and by now, there must be at least a thousand of these monkeys. We call it an attack because..." The secretary gulped. "Because they change to rock upon defeat, not unlike Rock Clone Jutsu. It is definitely the work of some ninja. But surprisingly they don''t aim to seriously cripple Iwagakure. If they did, they had many opportunities so far. Especially since they appeared in hundreds and our ninja''s first reaction was to roll on the ground inughter." Her lips slightly twitched upwards. "These monkeys are basically trolling us..."

    Onoki opened his mouth but instantly closed it as he sprang up on his feet when he understood what he was just told, his vein pulsing. "Call for the leaders of each division asap! We gotta start counter-attacking these trolling monkeys! Nobody is going to troll my vige!"

 Chapter 70 - Ch70. Shocking Iwa 2

    <h4>Chapter 70 - Ch70. Shocking Iwa 2</h4>

    Rei''s adaptation of rock clone jutsu ravaged the Iwagakure, doing nasty pranks all around while using their numerical advantage to the fullest. Rei had actually prepared around fifteen hundred of these rock ''monkey'' clones so some parts of the vige werepletely overrun. Rei was very careful when nning this little ''surprise'' and spent the entire night going through every bit of knowledge he gained from Barbo''s interrogation about the defenses and set-up of Iwagakure. These were pivotal in his quest for justice! That was the reason why the rock clones could rampage for an hour and still, no organized resistance was... well, organized. The ces that were hit first had either insufficient personnel and were too preupied to send a message about their problems with a request of reinforcements or it was a ce that was out of hand, and it would take time for such requests to reach the Kage Tower. And when they did... the tower would be buried inrge quantities of them so it would be a pain in the ass to react.

    These ''monkeys'' were ''failed'' attempts at rock clone jutsu. But even then, just because in the eyes of others this was a failure at creating a rock clone, it didn''t mean that it didn''t have its uses! After all, failures were a perfectly usable Jutsu too. They just didn''t have the desired effect, hence were called failures. Just a bit of deformity through tweaking while creating a rock clone and vo, Rei had a fully functioning clone that did NOT look like him, therefore his identity was safeguarded. The best part? Henge could be seen through. The rock clones could not as there was literally nothing to be seen through. The rock monkeys were just that. Pile of rocks in the form of a monkey wearing Hokage attire that was held together and moved by chakra and initial intent of the user. Even the coloring on them was done through chakra. It was obvious they were clones but it would be next to impossible to discern who made them. But they functioned exactly as normal rock clones except Rei was quite good at earth release. He obviously added a bit of a bonus and made them all enhanced with earth chakra! They would be a terror to take down after that. That''s why Rei spent an entire week prior to their mission making these clones and filling two whole scrolls with them to the brim. It was his small personal portable army, Sasori-style.

    While various parts of Iwagakure started to have problems with Hokage monkeys, Rei and Konan used these exact parts to slip through the vige. The monkeys always started rampaging and then, both Rei and Konan would henge to civilians while adjusting their chakra reserves to slip through. They were obviously seen by ninja and even other civilians but the people had more pressing matters than to look closer. Even if henge could be seen through, it would need a deeper look even if the person is experienced. It was all in the details. Details that nobody had time to look at.

    Part by part, street by street, they advanced in the middle of the chaos until they reached their first objective. The headquarters of the Explosion Corps, quite nearby the Kage Tower. It actually took them thirty minutes to follow the monkey clones up here and it was just in time. The Iwa shinobi started to realize this was not just somemon prank, nor anything that was meant well. Too much damage was caused by it to be anything but hostility and they started to react in kind. The ninja of Iwagakure started carefully fighting back, trying to prevent more damage from being caused to their vige.

    Rei and Konan entered the wide-open door to the building that was half-broken, clearly due to too much force applied as ''someone'' banged on them. They casually walked through the hall, holding hands while noting the empty reception with the side of their eyes. They walked in without a care in the world as if they owned the ce. All around them was a mess caused by the wild rock monkey clones. The shelves were overturned, the papers all over the floor, the furniture was broken, and the ce had clear signs of struggle.

    "They are quite effective." Konan stated. "The surroundings look like a warzone and yet, we both know the monkey clones would at most cause a few bruises. Tell me... why again did you order them to not kill people?" She frowned as she didn''t understand Rei''s reasons for that. Iwagakure sent fifty ninjas to kill them. If anything, they SHOULD be out for their blood!

    "That''s easy." Rei quipped. "I n to use this in the future. Maybe not the exact same variant but close and people will eventuallye to know the user is me. I don''t need to be known as the man who massacred Iwa shinobi in their own vige. That would paint an incredible target on me and it wouldn''t be just Iwa shinobi vying for my blood." Rei said, trying to portray the situation to Konan. She might have been incredibly strong and very resourceful and innovative but she didn''t really have the brain for thinking what her actions would cause in the future.

    "But... won''t they actually resent you anyway?" Konan asked with a frown. Rei was basically trashing the vige so she didn''t think not killing would actually save him from being hunted.

    At her question, Rei smirked knowingly. "Oh, they will... but this would inspire respect at my ability to do it and a healthy amount of fear. I have no delusions that I won''t be in the upper tiers of bingo book due to the reward Iwa would offer for my head for it but they would also not be out for blood. Merely butthurt like a sullen child. They may pout, rave and rake but they won''t go too much out of their way to get me. That would be a waste of resources for such a ''small'' matter, after all." Rei said but seeing Konan''s furrowed brows he sighed, stopped for a moment, and as she turned to him, he patted her head. "Don''t worry your little pretty head over it." Konan slowly nodded.

    As they walked through the Explosion Corps headquarters, they suddenly were stopped by a battered man with a tired look. "Who are you!" He asked. Rei blinked at him in confusion for a second before promptly facepalming.

    "Of course!" He turned to Konan who tilted her head. "We are still wearing civilian attire!" He told her, making her go ''oh''. "I knew I forgot something!" He then turned towards the man and gave him a thumbs-up. "Thanks, man!" Obviously, the man didn''t know what to think but the disy managed to make him put his guard up very quickly. Weird was not good. Weird was dangerous! But he didn''t have the time to ponder further as from behind, one rock monkey suddenly ran into him, flinging his body forward. Both Konan and Rei flinched as they saw him roll on the floor, clearly breaking something. The man didn''t wake up after that. Rei gulped as he turned to Konan. "That was an ident!" He told her. "That can''t be taken as a kill!"

    Konan showed him an unimpressed look. After such a lengthy lecture about no killing and then he goes and makes a man into a living ragdoll. "Sure... whatever suits you best." She dryly said, making Rei scowl. How should he know the man was so... fragile!?

    "A-anyway," Rei averted his gaze. "Let''s continue." He shamelessly eximed and started dragging chuckling Konan forward. It was time, to get what they came for. They finally reached the storage room with explosives and Rei grinned. "Now... let''s see the stash of the best demolitionists!" He giddily hopped towards the first crate he saw and stored it in his dimensional storage. "Shooo many treasures!" He stated with a shit-eating grin. The explosives and gear in the storage room were something extremely important and expensive. Iwa guarded the knowledge about them almost as fiercely as Konoha guarded their bloodlines. And here they were, in a room full of them and Rei was pretty sure somewhere amongst the pile of books Konan just stored is a manual on how to create them. They didn''t really have the time to look into what they were storing into the dimension as they were pressed for time.

    Ten minutester, it was finally done and Rei wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead. "Well..." He turned to Konan with a nasty smirk as he gestured towards one unstored crate. "Shall we give Iwa a greeting?" For thest ten minutes, the monkey clones were trying to chase people away from the building and now, it was empty bar Konan and Rei. Getting his meaning, Konan showed a slight but very telling smile.

    Five minutes passed and the duo was safely waiting on the roof of a building two streets away from the headquarters of the Explosion Corps when the fireworks started. The entire building the Corps used since their establishment, disappeared with a booming sound, leaving behind only a wide crater and deafened, bewildered Iwa-nin around it. This marked an hour since the beginning of mayhem in Iwa and in the Kage Tower, a certain old midget was currently staring at the paperwork strewn all over the floor with a longing wistful look of utter horror.

    So far... Rei was satisfied with his self-imposed mission.

 Chapter 71 - Ch71. Gathering Important Research Material

    Chapter 71 - Ch71. Gathering Important Research Material

    Onoki rammed into a rock monkey, crushing it with the impact. His face instantly turned into a frown as he realized that it would be him on the floor if he didn''t harden his body with earth chakra. The hardness of these nuisances was really on a different level. He could now understand why his ninja had so many problems with dispatching them. They were hard, small, and nimble enough to weave through attacks. Hitting them was a chore and then one had to be sufficiently strong to break through the hardening. The most annoying part for Iwa forces was the inability of using destructive Jutsu since they were inside of their own vige.

    "Really, their only redeeming part is the likeness to the Hokage... They are all so hrious." Onoki mumbled under his nose. The monkeys were actually really molded to look like a smaller, more furry version of old Hiruzen Sarutobi wearing the Hokage robes. Onoki kicked away another monkey, making it crumble into a pile of rock. His eyes narrowed as he noted twenty other monkeys turn to him, preparing to engage. This part, he was confused about it. Every time he defeated one, another would jump at him. Never two or three. Always only one. Always in one versus one in taijutsu. The other monkeys either prevented his ninja from intervening or inly waited. He ordered most of his subordinates to go clean important spots so he didn''t have many of them but it was still mind-boggling that the ones that were being suppressed enough to be unable to help. ??

    By now, Onoki had quite a clear picture of what was happening. "They are stalling for time." He gruffly stated. "I don''t like this... not one bit." Onoki gritted his teeth as he continued fighting. As he was about to finish his 15th monkey, he suddenly heard ''it''. The vige shook with the deafening roar that reverberated through it. His eyes went wide. "Gobi!"

    Steam suddenly burst out and covered the eastern part of the vige.

    ...

    A few moments earlier, Konan and Rei stood in front of a shabby house with a few holes in it. It was made out of wood and located in the eastern part of the vige. The part that could be called slums and mostly used to house ''ves'' or those of low societal status. It was also a part that waspletely undisturbed by the currentmotion as there was just nothing of note there. This also conveniently meant that no ninja was as of now there as every stationed patrol went to help with the disturbance in the vige.

    "Are you sure this is it?" Konan asked skeptically. The house, if it could be called that, was something she would never imagine belonged to such a precious thing as a jinchuuriki. They were supposed to be quite valuable to their respective viges, no?

    "Yes, I am positive." Rei nodded and opened the door. Walking inside, he saw the only room of the entire house. It was quite a clean and tidy ce. Despite the shabby and battered furniture, it had kind of a cozy atmosphere signifying that someone clearly cared for it. In the corner of the room was an old bed and on it, a twelve-year-old boy was currently happily sleeping. "Well, wouldn''t you look at that? Looks like we are quite lucky. Since he is sleeping, the next part will be quite peaceful." Rei quietly said and approached the snoring boy.

    He was a big one for his age. Not due to fat since the boy was obviously under-fed. No, he was tall and wide... it was obvious he would grow up to be quite physically strong. Rei was quite baffled. This under-fedrge boy who was most likelycking any form of affection would grow up to be a terror on the battlefield. The strongest steam user. All due to the beast inside of him. The boy was Han. The jinchuuriki of the Gobi.

    Rei approached his body and put his hand on the boy''s belly all the while Konan vigntly watched for any unnatural movement. Even now, she was making sure many of her paper slices were left behind for various purposes. Rei might be able to see more into what future reactions would people have if he did this or that. She didn''t understand that but it was fine. What she understood was that being prepared was important and since she had an opportunity, she took it. After all, since she was in Iwa now, why not fill it to the brim with explosive tags?

    Rei''s hand reached towards the seal on the boy. Not unlike when he did this with Kushina, Rei put a paper with his chakra storage seal onto the boy''s belly and pushed his chakra into it, making it reach the boy''s seal. His eyes snapped open even though he didn''t remember closing them and Rei found himself inside of the seal. He saw a cage... not. Rei blinked and groaned. "Don''t you tell me this is some bull-shit willpower seal." He facepalmed only to freeze when he got an answer.

    "Yes... human. This is exactly one of these." A calm voice resounded through the seal. Rei''s shoulders sagged at that and he turned around with a peeved feeling inside of him. As his turn was finished, his eyesnded on the owner of the voice.

    "Gobi..." His lips twitched. "Never thought a tailed beast would be willingly spending its time in its host." Rei amusedly stated, raising his eyebrow at the beast who waszily lying in front of him with its eyes closed. The Gobi just raised his right eyelid up, boredly looking at Rei.

    "You know what you just caused, don''t you?" He asked, ignoring Rei''s previous statement.

    Rei sighed in exasperation. Of course, he did know... "Due to this being a freaking will-power seal, the second I leave, the boy will go on a rampage." He gruffed out. "I mean, how should I know the boy would have such a seal on himself?" Rei started ranting. "Which IDIOT actually puts this sort of seal on a KID?" Much to Kokuo''s amusement, he wildly gestured with his hands in agitation. "How could anyone able making such a seal not understand the simple truth that a kid can''t suppress a tailed beast with willpower?" Rei shook his head. "What kind of willpower could a kid have anyway!" He huffed.

    Kokuo snorted. "Yes... I totally agree. If I wanted, I could be out this instant."

    "But you don''t. You know Han won''t be always a kid, don''t you? One of these days, his willpower actually will be enough to keep you sealed away." Rei told Kokuo who just shrugged uncaringly. The beast was clearly unhappy with the fact it was sealed but didn''t mind being secluded and the sealing actually did help him with that.

    "Well, this was a nice talk but I think your goal ining here is fulfilled. It''s time for you to go." Kokuo politely said, making Rei smile.

    "Thank you for giving me your chakra." He slightly bowed towards the beast. He could feel that Kokuo clearly knew what was going on around its host and didn''t mind sharing his chakra. Rei felt his chakra storage seal filling up too quickly for it to be forceful. After rying his gratitude, he left the seal.

    The second he was out, he grabbed the chakra storing paper, twisted on his heel, and jumped towards Konan, grabbing her around her waist and heaving her up on his shoulder. He then used Kawarimi to gain distance from the boy who was now almost bathing in red chakra.

    He knew Han would go on a rampage but it was not his problem. Most importantly, it was not him who applied such a half-assed and stupid seal on the boy. Rei could have stopped Han. Sure. But why should he? He didn''t owe Iwa nor its people anything. There just wasn''t a benefit in it. But there definitely was a benefit in having the boy rampage!

    Rei entered a side-alley and ran through the back streets until he was at least a few hundred meters away from the boy''s position. It took him only a moment and after he deemed his distance sufficient, he jumped up onto the roof, still holding Konan like a sack of potatoes. Konan''s face was impassive throughout the entire experience but it was obvious to Rei she didn''t appreciate the way he carried her. He put her down on her own feet when hended on the roof, just in time to see a huge cloud of superheated smoke go off in the distance.

    "The boy will massacre the people." Konan stoically stated. It wasn''t that she cared about Iwa people but she didn''t like seeing kids killed. That, however, didn''t mean she would not activate the numerous exploding tags and wipe the entire vige off if it was needed. That only meant it would at best leave a sour taste in her mouth. She didn''t even finish her sentence and Rei could already see her using her papers to evacuate many kids from the streets. Konan made sure to use small amounts despite it being slower. She prioritized being unseen but she nevertheless helped the people.

    "Yes... I already mentally ordered the closest rock monkeys toe and help to drag the people away." Rei said while he intently stared towards the ce with the rampaging boy. It wouldn''t be bad to make Iwagakure remember his help during this ''sudden'' rampage. It would probably win him some brownie points in the future when his identityes to the light.

    That''s the reason why he dropped a paper with a seal that would create a small barrier when he was running away. This barrier wouldn''t hold the boy. Not when he already sported three new tails and a red chakra cloak. But it would give the necessary time for someone strong toe. And that was what Rei was waiting for. He knew exactly who would be the best candidate to stop the rampage.

    ''Now wouldn''t it be awesome if Yonbi jinchuuriki showed up and leaked some chakra for me to study?''

 Chapter 72 - Ch72. Onoki Versus Rampaging Han

    Chapter 72 - Ch72. Onoki Versus Rampaging Han

    Rei and Konan watched the boy d in red chakra cloak ramming his three tails into the barrier Rei created. "This is insane..." Konan said. This was the first time she saw the strength of a rampaging jinchuuriki and she was not impressed at all. No, she was outright frowning as she realized she might be able to fight it but it would be a tough fight. She instantly resolved herself to get even stronger. The chance of herself or worse, Rei being attacked by a jinchuuriki wasn''t that high but it was still there. No, she would have to get strong enough to face something like this with ease. It was all for protecting Rei, after all. "The chakra is so dense it can physically maul things." Konan continued. "The ground under him is charred... it must be quite hot too."

    Konan was saying this out loud just because she was bored. She and Rei were doing this quite often. They talked about things and pointed out the things the other missed and in the end, they would reach a better conclusion. ??

    Rei obviously knew some of its properties but even he found a few new things during the observation. "The chakra is uncontrolled. The Gobi doesn''t have actual control over it." He pointed out, making Konan nod.

    "So the chakra acts on ''instinct''. Is that what you want to say?" She asked and crossed her arms with a frown. "But that''s an insane notion. Chakra is energy... it''s not sentient."

    "The tailed beasts are beings made of chakra." Rei hummed distractedly. As someone who knew his fair share in soul-based sealing, he had a clear idea of how that worked. It was the pivotal point in his ''tailed beast project'' which was the reason why he

    was gathering the chakra of other tailed beasts. But even then, he was still stumped on how Hagoromo actually created nine different and unique beings from ONE. It can''t be that the ten-tails had a multiple personality disorder, can it?

    Konan was about to reply when suddenly, the barrier was shattered and the boy roared. Two arms made of chakra stretched out of his back and started smashing the buildings around. For better or worse, the people in these buildings were long dead due to the steam the boy released at the start of his rampage which cooked them almost instantly. The barrier bought at best five minutes which both Rei and Konan used to evacuate most of the slums through either paper or rock monkeys so the rampaging boy could safely smash as much as he liked without mauling anyone who wasn''t already dead.

    "There goes this part of the city..." Rei mutteredpletely unbothered as he sat up, his feet dangling down the edge of the roof. Konan sat next to him, quietly sneaking her hand into his as they together watched the boy dismantle the street with his chakra hands while analyzing the situation and the chakra usage.

    It was then that the new arrival appeared. From the sky, a small shadow descended right onto the back of the boy shrouded in dark red chakra, driving him into the ground before it quickly kicked off the back of the boy in order to jump away from him. This to be the right decision as not a second after he did so, hot chakra arms pierced the spot his chest was located. Rei narrowed his eyes in displeasure as he saw who was the man who arrived. Contrary to his expectations, it wasn''t Yonbi''s jinchuuriki but it was the Tsuchikage himself. "It appears the Yonbi won''t be appearing," He frowned bitterly. The Yonbi Jinchuuriki would already appear if he was in the vige...

    The fight between Onoki and Han started anew when Han sprang his body at the middle-aged midget, leaping at him like a wild animal. Onoki didn''t try to block and instead jumped to the side, letting Han sail past him. Han impacted the building behind Onoki and created a new opening in its wall while the dust rose all around. Onoki carefully observed the dust-filled hole, waiting for Han to make a move when his eyes widened as a searing pain sprang up to his spine from his ankles. He suddenly found his world spinning as the chakra arm that burst from the ground and took hold of it flung his body through the street at breakneck speed, right into an opposite building. Onoki''s body also created a hole.

    A momentter, bothbatants could be seen exiting their respective holes. Han''s rampaging form crouched on all four while growling and Onoki was floating a few centimeters above the ground while his ankles were badly burned. He gritted his teeth and red at Han''s form. It was useless trying to talk to ''it''. He knew he would have to punch the boy out of this stupor and right now, he nevertheless found it to be an incredible pain in the ass.

    Onoki used his Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique to fly up while Han started filling the space around him in dense steam, wrapping himself in it. Rei and Konan wondered what he was doing but their question was answered shortly when the steam, in but a second,pressed even more and formed a small ball in front of the rampaging boy''s mouth. Before Onoki could even widen his eyes, the ball was flung at insane speed in his direction. He barely managed to use Earth Release: Rock skin to shield himself. Both Rei and Konan could see a big explosion of superheated steam engulfing the sky.

    Onoki''s body rushed out of the steam in a straight line towards the ground, making a small part of it disperse due to his sheer speed. Hended on one knee, his hand instantlynding on the ground as he shouted. "Earth Release: Heaven-reaching Pir!" From under Han''s body, an earth pir swiftly rose, pushing him into the sky before retreating back towards the ground. Han was now in the sky and that was exactly what Onoki wanted. He pushed his battered, slightly burned body, and flew at his airborne opponent at breakneck speed, his hand reaching towards him. Onoki was hopeful when he saw his hand ''almost'' reach the boy, only for his hopes to be dashed when a ''fourth'' tail sprung up from behind the boy and pped him downwards. As he was barreled towards the ground, he twisted his body andnded on his feet into a crouch. The force transmitted through his body nevertheless put a sizable dent onto the ground. A momentter, arge fist made out of smoke impacted the area, sending a shockwave all around. The battlefield stilled.

    The smoke started clearing and Rei smiled helplessly as he saw the rumble that was previously the slums of Iwagakure. "That was clever." He heard Konan calmly say and couldn''t help but agree. Both were using their nature sensing to have a firm grasp on what was going on even inside the steam. The steam was now almost gone, only to bepletely dispersed by a savage roar, revealing Onoki gasping for air as he stood above the boy who was still d in chakra cloak, thrashing around but unable to lift himself from the ground.

    "Yeah... he created a rock clone right during the first steam bomb attack, hid it, and now used it tond the Rock-Weight Technique onto the boy... This fight is over. With the amount of gravity on the boy, he would need to go into a five-tail state and Kokuo doesn''t want to be released so he would prevent it. Onoki won." Rei stated.

    "A pity Onoki decided not to use his Dust style though..." Konan stoically said as she peered towards the form of the old man. She wanted to see the fabled other Kekkei Tota in existence.

    "Well, you can''t really me him for that. Deserted part it may be, but this is still a part of his vige. His dust techniques wouldpletely finish it off. This damage, "Rei pointed towards the destroyed buildings and cracked ground. "will be easily repaired with earth jutsu. But if he leveled the area with Dust Release? The reconstruction would take a lot of money." Rei finished in a Kakuzu-like voice. He momentarily let go of Konan''s hand and snaked his arm around her waist. "Well, dear. It''s time for us to leave. Looks like the second jinchuuriki of Iwa won''t be joining the party so there is nothing more to be stolen here." He quipped, and Konan, with an amused smile, leaned towards him, pecking him on the cheek.

    "You shouldn''t be greedy." She weakly admonished him. They already gained a library-worth of jutsu, all copies so it wouldn''t seem like the jutsu are missing. Then they stole quite a lot of valuables and money which will surely be noticed... and then the stash of the explosion corps and a few documents about missions that could prove to be useful ckmail material. If she took into consideration the sample of Gobi''s chakra, wanting more was just in being greedy.

    Rei chuckled at that and shrugged. "I am only a human!" He said helplessly but then turned to Konan, looking into her eyes. "You are right." He stated and kissed her on the lips. They both pulled apart after a few moments and with thest look towards the still struggling boy and tired Tsuchikage, they disappeared into Rei''s dimension. Rei no longer cared about the following events and Konan... she gave onest discreet but telling nce in Onoki''s direction as her lips were twisted in an amused and yful smirk. Smirk, Rei rather notment on as he knew when she was about to pull a prank...

 Chapter 73 - Ch73. Spy Network

    Chapter 73 - Ch73. Spy Network

    After Rei and Konan left Iwa, Tsuchikage was grumbling about the timing of the boy''s rampage. He looked at the still struggling form of the boy who was supposed to be his nephew and with a sigh, he chopped the boy''s neck, making him fall unconscious. As Onoki was waving his hand around, to soothe the burn the contact with Gobi''s chakra caused, he could with the corner of his eye see some Iwa shinobi approach him. He sighed again as he saw them look around with downcast gazes when they saw the destruction the boy caused. "And it started as such a nice and calm day..." He muttered to himself. Standing up, he decided it was time to give some orders to his subordinates to clean up this mess. While he was pondering about what should be done, and who would be the most suitable person for it, around two hundred ninjas gathered around him. These were the ones that already dealt with the monkeys in their assigned regions, the so-called elites of Iwa.

    Onoki straightened himself to look presentable and was about to open his mouth when... ??

    The ground under him burst into a flurry of paper, swirling around him. Before he could even widen his eyes, the papers started gluing themselves to his body. Onoki could see the Iwa elites slightly panic before they started reacting. It took him only a second but his mind went through his entire jutsu repertoire, looking for any jutsu that could save him! In the end, he went for a simple but quick solution and toughened his skin with Earth Release, awaiting an explosion. Inwardly, he was freaking out and praying the explosive tags are of low quality so he would not incur too much damage through his rock skin jutsu. Then, a loud boom resounded and the surroundings were covered in smoke... in pink smoke.

    When the smoke cleared, all elites of Iwa could see old man Onoki, the most stubborn ninja out of all rock-headed Iwa ninjas, the feared dust release user, the fence-sitter... d in a pink tutu covered in pink glitters while he sported a heavy amount of make-up on his face. To add salt into the injury, in front of him, on the ground, was a message.

    ''This is punishment for not showing me Kekkei Tota, midget!''

    Onoki stared with dead eyes forward, as he realized the situation he was currently in. His lips slowly started twisting into a frown as the vein on his forehead started pulsing. The old man burst into loud shouts "Shut up!" He rubbed his arm on his face to get rid of the make-up, only to make a red smudge on his face from the lipstick. The surrounding ninja startedughing at his predicament which prompted Onoki to scream even louder in his fit of rage until his back suddenly experienced a sharp surge of pain, making his eyes go wide while he dropped on his knees.

    "Am I perhaps too old for this shit?" He mumbled in bewilderment, leaning forward as he held his back. This was the start of Onoki''s back problems.

    ...

    Two dayster, after Rei, Konan, and Tsunade went through their rightful loot, the trio was sitting in the Capital of the Land of Water, in Biri-Biripany''s headquarters, served tea by Karubo who was requested by Rei for a meeting. Rei wasn''t amused by hisst mission. No, he was going in kind of blind and had no information he could use. That''s why he was here now instead of reporting the ''sess'' to the Mizukage. Yesterday he threw a scroll containing the daughter of the noble who hired them to him, with words the mission is done. In hindsight, he probably should have unsealed her but... meh. The bastard plotted against Rei and Konan and if he seeded, both would be dead so a bit of inconvenience is the least he could expect in return.

    "You want me to do what again?" Karubo asked pointedly in disbelief after he heard what Rei just told him. He couldn''t believe his ears.

    "You heard right." Rei nodded. "I want you to pick trustworthy employees and make them gather intelligence for me. Thepany is almost in every country now. It is widespread with a good reach in high ces. Our merchants usually know the right people to pull this off and I know you did what I asked and mostly recruited in slums. These people will be grateful enough to do this for us."

    As Karubo heard Rei, he suddenly stilled, realization sneaking into his mind. "You nned this from the start." He dered, not an ounce of doubt in his voice. "That''s why you made me employ the poor. We gave them ''home'' when they needed it the most. There are a lot of people willing to go quite far for thepany and those that became traders are the cream of the crop out of them. The most capable..." Karubo gulped with wide eyes. "I see. They were put for that two-month-long intelligence training regime not to safeguard thepany''s secrets but for this."

    Rei nodded. He thought quite a lot about how to make a spywork. But he didn''t want to inconvenience himself. Taking care of such awork can go only in two ways. Sasori-style or Jiraiya-style. Sasori used maniptions and held something important against his spies so they won''t betray him and will continue doing the job for him. He went even as far as using mind-alteration in quite a clever way. Rei could do this. He was much better with seals than Sasori. The problem was, he would need a long time to find ''informants'' and put seals on them or find good ckmail to keep them in their ces. Jiraya on the other hand, spent or rather, is spending quite a lot of his time managing hiswork. He has to be constantly aware and visit his informants quite frequently. In short, he is extremely busy. That was a no-go for Rei as he would rather spend the time with Konan and Tsunade, rather than follow Jiraya''s example.

    It was only after reading a yearly report on Biri-Biripany that he found out he had a perfect candidate for the spywork right under his nose! No matter how much he now tries to say recruiting the poor was for this goal, he just ordered Karubo to do this because he believed this way, the employees will be more loyal! Never did he think it would end up with them bing spies for him! But would he actually admit he was not nning it from the start to Karubo? Of course, he would not...

    "Yes, I naturally nned it all ahead! Ahahaha!" Rei confidently stated with totally honestughter that made Konan roll her eyes at him and Tsunade almost did spit-take as she drank tea when she heard how shameless he was currently being before starting to choke. Rei just ignored the two women sitting around him and focused on Karubo who was awkwardly trying not to avert his gaze from Rei. "Here," Rei pulled a few tags from his pocket. "the new clones of mine that I gave you to produce the energy source seals can also produce these. It''s a specialmunication tag that can coverrge distances..." Rei started only to be interrupted by Karubo who had a shrewd look on his face, instantly forming a n on how to use this for trading.

    Rei just gave him a helpless look but answered. "You can talk with somebody in Suna even from here. The Land of Water is actually in a very nice location. We are in the so-called center of the known world. How the country still didn''t manage to be a trading superpower with this kind of advantage will be forever a mystery for me but at least we, the Biri-Biripany can use that. You will make thepany branch out to be the leader in trading in the world. I expect this to be done in three years," Rei told Karubo who nodded seriously. Three years was a tight schedule for such a goal but it was doable. Especially with all the influence thepany had right now. "and while doing so, you will slowly build up the spywork from the loyal people. Choose the most loyal and capable employee to manage it. Don''t do it yourself. That would be too obvious. This tag," Rei gave him one special tag that was colored differently. "can reach only its pair tag that I have on me so it is something akin to a safe channel. This will be in the hands of the manager of thework."

    Karubo nodded in understanding. While he wasn''t overjoyed at the prospect of having to spy on people with his traders, he was indeed interested in the idea of making Biri-Biri the number one tradingpany in the world. Compromises had to be done, he guessed. After all, Rei was the owner so no matter that it was he who built thepany up. There was only one reaction to that. "It will be done." Karubo said confidently.

    The following hours were spent in discussion about how to exactly implement thework and how to make the Biri-Biripany the best in the world. Rei was really hoping he would one day be someone who could manipte various viges from the shadows through the economy. After all, in this world, these supernatural fighters were still under the thumb of fat bald men called Daimyo who spent most of their time screwing this or that maid. Why? Because these men had money! Even though ninjas could easily take the money from them... it was inly said, a different mentality. A mentality, that was quite easy to use if one knew what strings to pull.

 Chapter 74 - Ch74. After-Mission Debriefing 1

    Chapter 74 - Ch74. After-Mission Debriefing 1

    Rei and Mizukage silently stared at each other while the atmosphere in the room thickened by the second. The Mizukage''s piercing stare didn''t waver even for a second but Rei was not much different. Both had that impassive touch in their posture that made the ANBU in the room gulp and stay quiet while with great anticipation, wait for what happens next.

    Suddenly Konan cutely sneezed. And the atmosphere was instantly broken, the four ANBU even forgot to keep the flow of their chakra and face faulted to the ground from the ceiling. ??

    The Mizukage blinked at that and Rei smirked in a victory which made the man scoff before giving a pointed re to his ANBU who quickly scurried away from the office. He then turned back to Rei and sighed before starting to talk. "So, let''s start..." Somehow, without Rei nor Konan noticing, the man actually managed to draw his trusty pipe and started... de-stressing. "Let''s see, you were on a mission to retrieve the daughter of Mr. Hasadawaramaka who by the way, gave you a five-star ''should be fired'' review after you left him with a scroll that ''contained'' his daughter." He puffed out a bit of smoke while narrowing his eyes at Rei. After a while, Mizukage continued. "Not that it matters."

    "Yeah... that was an ingenious way to deliver a hostage, wasn''t it?" Rei nodded happily.

    The Mizukage wisely decided to ignore the remark and continued. "Moving on. You were away barely for two weeks..." He stopped for a moment and raised his head from the documents to give Rei an incredulous look of exasperated conflict. "You left in the direction of Iwagakure." He ever-so-slowly continued, emphasizing every word. As he again grew quiet and observed Rei, he saw him and Konan look at him in confusion and ''almost!'' let out a long whine.

    "Look." The Mizukage put his pipe on the table and tiredly rubbed the bridge of his nose. "During these two weeks of your absence from the vige, ''someone''..." He looked from Rei to Konan and back before continuing. "almost leveled Amegakure with meteorites." As he said it, his eyes watched the duo as a hawk. Konan was her usualpletely stoic self which... he had no idea what it meant. But Rei was confused. That was good! That meant they had nothing to do with it. The Mizukage released a sigh of relief and threw this incident behind, a bit happier that this wasn''t the work of his notorious duo. He again looked at the documents on his table and his mood again soured. One resolved, two to go. His lips twitched as he saw the next ''incident''. "The mansion you were supposed to ''secretly'' and ''discreetly'' infiltrate, and secure the daughter of Mr. Hanasawarukaku..."

    Rei interrupted him and tilted his head. "Wasn''t it Hadasawamakara before?" He nevertheless politely quieted himself as the Mizukage decided to give him his pointed ''I am so disappointed'' look that was a telling sign of a leader.

    "Anyway," The Mizukage continued. "Mr. Ha..." The Mizukage stopped and blinked before his eyes again narrowed at sheepish Rei who realized his topic-change no Jutsu didn''t work. "You were supposed to secure the daughter of the... noble who requested you. Could you exin why I got reports of trees unceasingly raining from the sky?" Mizukage asked calmly.

    Rei didn''t answer and just turned to Konan with mock-confusion on his face to which the Mizukage barely held himself from scowling. Konan just tilted her head, her face still in stoic cold and impassive expression. She nodded to Rei and turned to Mizukage before speaking. "The Ame experienced a meteor shower and Iwa tree rain. Seriously, the weather these two weeks was just so inscrutable." She uttered almost boredly.

    The Mizukage had no idea how to interpret that. "So... you are... acknowledging it was you?" He asked with an incredulous look to which Konan shook her head.

    "I just think you should probably think of countermeasures to unfathomable weather changes. Who knows when fishes decide to rain from the sky." Konan said with such seriousness on her face that Rei had to avert his gaze and grit his teeth to hold back his snicker. Even then, he was forced to put his hand in front of his lips to cover it.

    At that, the Mizukage exasperatedly sighed. He long ago realized there is just no reading Konan''s expressions or bodynguage. She was just stoic and that was it. Was this her open threat to Kirigakure? To him? Or was she actually really serious in saying that? He was utterly lost and had no idea. The only thing he could do was give a stink-eye to Rei. ''Yes. Let''s focus on Rei. Nobody is threatening to exterminate your vige with fish rain. Happy thoughts.'' He reminded himself.

    "Look Rei. I know it was a trap, alright? But..." The Mizukage again lowered his head to the documents. "The facts... more than a hundred of samurai are dead. At least 30 shinobi died there too." He said with a conflicted expression. "To each other... no less. Iwa samurai and ninja ughtered each other." His lips curled into a smirk which he instantly forced to disappear from his face. "And worst of all, you utterly frightened Kurowa noble household of Iwagakure while destroying the right-wing of their mansion." He raised his head to look at Rei. "Under different circumstances, I would be so proud of you right now. But the problem is that due to Mr. Hawarawhatshisname, the upper echelons of Iwa know it was the work of Kirigakure''s ninjas." He finished, making Rei scratch his cheek

    "Uh, and that should bother me why again?" Rei asked and Konan nodded stoically, neither having a clue what this was about.

    Seeing that, Mizukage rubbed the bridge of his nose again. "For starters, the Iwa demands your head." He said, making Rei''s eyes narrow. The Mizukage, to his eternal dismay, even now didn''t have a clear picture of Rei''s strength but he knew he wouldn''t want to fight him. He didn''t dare to stall and keep Rei on his toes. But it was actually Konan who was making him shit his pants as he noted her dangerously narrowed eyes on her still stoic but somewhat rigid face. That girl LOVED her explosives and watching her effortlessly dispatch the seven swordsmen with her exploding clones while her real body was snacking on some sweets in tree-tops was a real eye-opener for him. No, it would be better toe out clean right at once. "I, of course, declined." He reassured the duo quickly, happy that Konan''s posture rxed. And while it was utterly irritating for him, he was d that Rei, as always, stayed rxed through the entire time. "This will however strain the rtions between our two viges and natio..."

    "Just get to the point." Rei interrupted, not interested in these talks. He knew the man was just bullshitting and trying to guilt-trip them. Since when did one ninja vige care what the other thought... the notion was ridiculous. If it was true, there would be no shinobi war in the past. What they did happened quite often. Sure, it''s usually on a much smaller scale but it does happen. It''s not like ''they'' attacked Iwa or Iwagakure... He smirked.

    "Riiiight..." The Mizukage suddenly felt quite unsure of continuing this meeting. "In short... Iwa''s Daimyo is not amused with the Tsuchikage due to this incident. Fortunately for us, the man is ot the reasonable sort," He wisely ignored Rei''s snort. "and decided to ignore the excuse of ''it was Kiri-nin''. While it is unlikely there to be some serious repercussions for Iwagakure but the rtionship between the Earth Daimyo and Iwagakure is strained. Needless to say, this destroyed any and all hopes for future alliances between our viges." The Mizukage said uncaringly.

    Rei just rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Which basically happens at least once per two years between all the viges due to some mission."

    The Mizukage shrugged and continued in his pace. "Thest thing I want to ask you about is the attack on Iwagakure..."

    (Well... cutting it short as I started with enthusiasm but in the end, I just kept dragging it to have a word count. Will continue in another chapter when I get again into the mood.)

 Chapter 75 - Ch75. After-Mission debriefing 2

    <h4>Chapter 75 - Ch75. After-Mission debriefing 2</h4>

    The Mizukage shrugged and continued in his pace. "Thest thing I want to ask you about is the attack on Iwagakure." As he finished that sentence, silence fell on the room, all of them just waited for someone to start with impassive faces. The more the silence went on, the more disgruntled the Mizukage became as he was slowly understanding the duo, by being quiet, was saying they had nothing to do with it. But somehow that was hard for him to believe. The stunt was... shy. Too shy to not be the work of Rei and Konan. They usually make such a blizzard that it can count as terraforming or some unforgettable spectacle. A hidden vige being invaded by small monkey imitations of the Third Hokage... yeah, that was EXACTLY what he would expect from them, hence his narrowed and suspicious gaze.

    When the silence still didn''t cease even after a while, Mizukage''s eye twitched and he decided to start the conversation. "So you have really nothing to say about that?" He asked suspiciously but both Rei and Konan just wordlessly shook their head in the exact same motion. A motion that SCREAMED it was prepared beforehand. "Right." Hemented dryly. "I heard the Tsuchikage got quite embarrassed..." He tried another tactic. "Something about... being made a clown of?" He inwardly hoped this would get a reaction but to his relief, it was exactly the same as after he asked about Amegakure. ''Thank God! At least my ninjas are sensible enough to not invade an enemy vige and go two versus thousands by themselves! Not to say about publicly humiliating the most stubborn old geezer with the ability to hold grudges even beyond the grave itself!'' He thought as his shoulders slumped in rxation. ''I am sorry for doubting you! Now I can rest assured that my ninjas are not that suicidal!'' He sniffed and resisted a joyful tear that made Rei kinda awkward.

    "Anyway," The Mizukage did a sudden turn in his mood. "what exactly was the scroll that stored the daughter of the noble? I am not aware that living things can be stored." His eyes narrowed at Rei. Hiding one''s skills was natural for a ninja but there were exceptions. It was the vige''sw that any seal-maker had to register. The amount of people capable of creating even something as simple as explosive tags was rmingly low so for the sake of enough supply during war-time, the registration was mandatory for them.

    Rei inwardly frowned. He was aware of thew but didn''t really care. ''Damn... Looks like from now on, I will have to order my clones to use henge when buying chakra ink.'' He thought. While it was quite suspicious that the ink sales weren''t managed by the vige but after a bit of probing, he found out Kiri uses special octopuses to produce it and is one of the biggest sellers of chakra ink in the Elemental Nations so there is over-abundance of it. Nobody really cared for a thing they had a lot of.

    He smiled disarmingly at the S-rank killer who earned his high ranking with his ability as an assassin. It was time to do some damage control so he beamingly answered. "It''s ingenious, isn''t it, Mizukage-sama!? Last time we," He gestured to Konan, "were in the capital, we found out that Biri-Biripany is selling those!" Rei inwardly chuckled at the sour look of the Kage as he said this.

    Biri-Biripany. The Mizukage was aware of them. One of the more ''international''panies originating in the Land of Water. Apany so perfect for covert operations in othernds... And yet, he was unable to make use of them which soured his mood every time he heard of them.

    Rei knew the ninja in this world wasn''t ONLY about the direct approach. No... they did nt spies in merchantpanies and did various underhanded tactics through them. Even economic destabilization wasn''t that far-fetched. Many skirmishes near the borders actually started because of those. And it was usually thepanies that took the me when it came to light. That''s why not many ''international'' ones actually existed in the world. There were caravans, there were tradingpanies but any production or innovation-orientedpanies were usually focused on their own country to avoid these things. Hence, the big technological disparity of this world.

    Rei surmised this will be the reason for the starvation of Sunater on as they would just have nobody to buy from despite actually having the money for buying. Once the Daimyo was against you, the merchants would not want to trade with you due to fear of attracting his ire... and just like that, the vige was cut from their lifelines and food supply. For a vige without many merchants and IN an infertile desert, that was a disaster.

    To make hispany avoid the fate of being forced away from the international scene due to some idiotic schemes of old senile men, Rei ordered the first big work was to ''introduce'' the electronic appliances to various Daimyo''s. That''s why when thepany entered the Mizukage''s or any other Kage''s ears, they were powerless as thepany had ''protection'' of the Daimyo. Rei wouldn''t allow thepany to fully enter a country in which they didn''t have this proverbial shield. These old schemers were utterly unable to interfere with them. As time went on, thepany became more and more important for various countries... bringing even more economical gains than entire hidden viges which made them even MORE untouchable by the Kages and invaluable to Daimyo''s who usually cared mostly about their own pockets. By now, thepany was an internationally acknowledged ''neutral'' zone for the ninja world. That''s why it was only now Rei wanted Karubo to push for bing number one. They just had enough clout for it right now.

    "Ugh... this... Biri-Biripany... is selling those?" The Mizukage scrunched his face in deep regret, not even attempting to hide it from Rei and Konan who barely held back smirks. Nobody was aware of their status as owners of thepany and they knew why the man was so regretful. Thepany originated in his own country so him being unable to make them work for him... it was a deep cut in his own pride and it wouldn''t be far from the truth to say he became a secretughing stock of other Kages.

    "Yes!" Rei beamed, gleeful at the expression of the man. "They have better storage seals with thrice the capacity of current seals of Kiri while being capable of storing and preserving even food!" He eximed, making the Mizukage''s eyes go wide, only to pale a secondter when he realized they were an ''international''pany... Storing food wasmon but preserving it for a long time? Something like that was unheard of. The implications... Rei didn''t care about Mizukage''s internal struggle and continued. "Even their paper tags are cheaper but more effective than the standard ones!" He said. By now, he was basically giving a sales pitch without his target even knowing it. "I am sure thepany will be an indispensable part of the next shinobi war..." Rei trailed off, his smirk widening as Mizukage''s face inly showed his shock. "Don''t give me that look. It is obvious even now where the shinobi viges are heading. Ten years tops and we are in another war." Rei rolled his eyes at the sheepish leader in front of him.

    It was subtle. But it was obvious once one started to look deeper into what was happening in the world. The viges were gearing up. Sure, they were gearing up even in peace-times since they were basically a militaristic force but right now, the recruitment and weaponry-making was in full swing. It started with Iwa and Kumo... but the others quickly caught onto them and also started doing it. Even without his foreknowledge, Rei knew it wasing. The death of the third Kazekage would be a trigger... but it was far from the real cause. Kumo and Iwa wanted revenge on Konoha. Suna wasn''t yet in dispute with their Daimyo and wanted to get fertilends for the Land of Wind. Konoha wanted to keep their wealth and pride of being the winner. And Kiri wanted to... whatever. Rei didn''t really know what the Mizukage had in mind for the uing ''event'' but he knew the man was basically preparing a stage for it. They were Kiri, so they would act like Kiri. Most likely some blitz attack of sorts. It was just so stupid. The Land of Water didn''t neednds. They were an ind nation and every ind in its vicinity belonged to it. They didn''t NEED to join the war on the maind. Yet, Rei knew they would be joining and had no idea WHY.

    But the Mizukage just stubbornly stared at Rei, letting him know this topic was not something he would open right now. Rei could only sigh in exasperation as the man wasn''t really denying it but was utterly refusing to be forting with information. Five years... That''s how long it would take for the third war to take off. And Rei was already peeved he had to deal with that shitstorm right now.

    ''Looks like it''s time to progress Mei''s training and think about contingency ns.'' He hummed to himself. "Well, since I am clever enough to see I am not gonna get anything out of you, are we excused?" Rei asked the man who nodded. He turned around, took Konan''s hand, and was about to leave when he heard thest stern statement of ''his'' Kage before he closed the door.

    "Keep it to yourself. Some things are better to be kept secret."

 Chapter 76 - Ch76. Year time-skip 1

    <h4>Chapter 76 - Ch76. Year time-skip 1</h4>

    Right after the mission to Iwa, Rei and Konan filled in paperwork for a long break which didn''t end even after a whole year. Apparently, long breaks were not only possible but even encouraged. Being a ninja was physically and mentally demanding, plus while the payroll wasn''t extraordinarily high, it was enough to save up for a few months of not having to go to missions. People did take long ''training'' breaks, ''recuperation'' breaks, and so on... The vige system was also ustomed to this, having a flexible call system. Being on break didn''t really mean not being called upon in an emergency, special request, or a mission your team was best for. In Rei''s and Konan''s case, it was the demolition missions. During the year, they were out of the vige for a week two times too when there was nobody specialized in the requested mission but other than that, they focused on training Mei.

    After their first ''outing'' on the request of some noble from the Land of Noodles... again, they even managed to bring Tsunade presents! As they wereing back, they encountered a vige raid by the Kaguya n which was quite an opportunity for them since they still needed to get one Kaguya specimen for Tsunade. These raids were not actually suppressed by Kirigakure at all. The Kiri shinobi were told to ''leave them be''. The Kaguya knew their limits and didn''t push it so the raids were mostly once per year. But even then, losing one vige per year must have been irritating at the very least for the governors of the Land of Water. And yet, nothing is done about it. Because they were a n that migrated from farawaynd to the Land of Water during the first shinobi war. Because of their ''loyalty'' to Kirigakure. The loyalty that everybody knew meant shit as nobody EVER seen a Kaguya nsman in Kirigakure. But it was a signed agreement and going back on those by the Mizukage by attacking them would be rming to other ns.

    But Rei and Konan had no such worries. Let the Mizukage deal with the fallout, they thought as they rained death upon the Kaguyas who were happily massacring and raping the defenseless vigers. The ''specimen'' they ''politely'' asked toe with them, was a guy around fifty who they found forcing himself on a small girl. Rei instantly thought... ''Hey, if someone deserves the tortures of Tsunade, wouldn''t it be this guy?'' And so, thepletely voluntary participant of human experimentation was chosen.

    When the people in Rei''s dimension needed to realize how good they have it, they often went to hear the music of the guy as Tsunade was ''ying'' with him by researching his contents. It was mostly Mei though as she was having quite a bad time by being trained to the bone by Konan and most importantly, Rei.

    Rei decided that it is important to make Mei prepared no matter how young she was. If Itachi could do it, so can she. While he wasn''t too harsh on her... that was Konan... he didn''t let her ck off and came up with various games to keep her entertained during the training.

    They yed hide and seek, the ninja-style. Rei hid and Mei had to find him thanks to the prepared tracks he left behind. Once she found him, she had to chase him by any and all means necessary which more often than not meant running vertically on trees or chasing and being chased on the water surface that made Mei quitepetent when it came to chakra control.

    Next Rei was ying catch with Mei. He ordered her to make an orb ofva and made her keep it hot for the entire game. During it, as he was catching it with his hands covered in suiton chakra to prevent himself from getting burnt, he was also injecting a minute amount of his own chakra into it which made it harder for Mei to keep it conjured. Considering the abrupt changes in the orb she had to control, at first, the ball dissolved more often than not. But at least it was getting more fun when she actually learned how to do it. Without even noticing, Mei learned how to control her Lava Release to quite a high degree.

    Rei obviously made her do much more and mostly veiled it in the disguise of games but these weren''t as important nor did they do them regrly. Thest thing he had her doing was more of a chore. Mei was in the duty of providing steam for the hot springs and keeping the water warm with her boil release. Simultaneously at that.

    Konan, Tsunade, and Mei were in the hot springs after a hard day of training, soaking up in the water. This was their daily routine. The girls bathed with Mei to keep herpany and create a sisterly bond between themselves but it was also to make sure she was not cking off during her chor-, ahem, training. Well, most of the time. Right now, Mei was sitting in Tsunade''sp as she slept, her face buried in the woman''s bust.

    "She seems somewhat tired." Tsunade worriedly said as she put the palm of her hand on the girl''s forehead but then realized how foolish her statement sounded as she saw the deadpan look of Konan. "Well, more than usual, I mean." She awkwardly added.

    During their time together, Konan could see that Tsunade created a deeper bond with the little redhead. At times, she even suspected the blonde is channeling her regrets by showing incredible sisterly affection for her but then came the day of Tsunade''s training and all suspicions of Konan are blown away due to Meiing half-dead out of it. Tsunade was... brutal, to say the least. At least she had themon courtesy to heal any and all broken bones afterward.

    "Obviously," Konan said and smiled slightly. Tsunade was utterly unsure if the smile was due to the topic or the newly finished origami that was just deposited on the water surface though. "I''ve been putting her through my territory training for seven hours straight." She said, making Tsunade wince.

    "Did she at least reach earth papers?" She asked, protectively hugging Mei''s sleeping form closer. Konan''s territory training... the one with three territories of water, earth, and outer territory of wind papers. Not to say that even the outer territory was brutal but to run her through it for seven hours straight...

    "Nope." Konan popped the ''p''. "She barely reached the middle of the wind zone but even that''s alreadymendable for her age." She distractedly continued but when she saw Tsunade''s reproaching look, she frowned. "What... don''t give me that look! You are by far the most brutal out of the three of us." She saidzily, making Tsunade lower her head in embarrassment.

    "I do it for her own good." She muttered, her fingers distractedly ying with Mei''s hair.

    "Sorry for springing up on you like that." Konan sighed tiredly. "It was a long day for me too. The girl just doesn''t quit." Konan smiled at the oblivious Mei but then she sniffed. "I raised her so well!" Both Tsunade and Konan startedughing at that. They were aware that Konan was guiding the girl to the personality she wanted her to have. While Tsunade felt she should be put off by such a thing, Konan''s arguments were just too on point for her to disagree. Cue, the will of fire. That was enough to shut her up for good.

    Despite Konan''s attempt to look cheerful, it was obvious to Tsunade the woman was exhausted. While Mei was trying to breach the territory of wind, Konan had to constantly supply chakra to all three of her territories to keep up appearances. It must have been incredibly chakra draining. Tsunade smirked and nudged Konan. "Don''t worry. Later we will take a bath with Rei... I am sure that will ''wake'' you up." She wiggled her eyebrows at her, making Konan bump her shoulder into hers.

    "Ah... you pervert." Konan quietlymented while blushing slightly. This was their routine too. When Mei fell asleep, it was time for their fun time that more often than not happened in the hot springs.

    "And proud of it!" Tsunade smirked and raised her chin high to show her feelings about the matter but suddenly froze when her peripheral vision caught two green orbs intently peering at her with a curious gaze, making her go rigid. "Ah? M-m-m-m-mei!?" Tsunade shrieked.

    The little girl just narrowed her gaze at Tsunade. "Tsu-chan, are you a pervert?" She asked, finishing Tsunade off. Mei then turned to Konan, her face sporting a huffy pout as she asked her. "Why aren''t you letting me join your fun with Rei?" She asked in true and innocent curiosity and Konan had no answer for that kind of question. She was just opening and closing her mouth,pletely speechless.

    After a while, Konan recollected herself while inwardly cursing Tsunade''s big mouth. Her face now sported a bit broken smile as she said. "Mei-chan, it is quitete. You should go to sleep. Tomorrow you have training with Tsu." She told the girl who wasn''t really bluffed into changing the topic but was instantly scooped up from Tsunade''sp by Konan''s clone that proceeded to carry the iling and protesting girl out of the hot spring while Konan chuckled. "Konan: 1, Mei: 0." Konan whispered in amus.e.m.e.nt, only to hear Tsunade''s snickers.

    It was onlyter that day, both Konan and Tsunade were groaning, huffing, and puffing from irritation as Mei decided she would not go to sleep and join the ''fun''. She might not have known what Konan and Tsunade meant but the word fun, she knew. And she wanted to have fun. Rei only chuckled as he bathed alone for the first time in a while since both Konan and Tsunade had to show Mei what they meant by ''fun'', or the girl gave an ultimatum that she won''t go to sleep.

    "Ah~, such peace..." He leaned his head back, half-asleep in the hot springs while enjoying the irritated sounds of his women he heard through his spy seal. Who said one needed a theater to enjoy a good show?

 Chapter 77 - Ch77. Year time-skip 2

    <h4>Chapter 77 - Ch77. Year time-skip 2</h4>

    It was early and the office was yet to brighten with the morning light when two men already sat opposite each other, discussing the deviation to their n. It should have been smooth-sailing and no disturbance should have urred. They even expended ANBU to make sure of that and yet... Two ''anomalies'' slipped through and did... something.

    "All five are dead..." Danzo said to Hiruzen with cold stoicism in his voice. It didn''t really matter that they were dead as that was actually the expected oue in the n. No, the problem was WHO was the one to kill them.

    "So we have no witness." Hiruzen nodded gravely which made Danzo''s one remaining eye twitch.

    "What about the boy or your butt-li-, ahem, apprentice?" He almost slipped his thoughts into that statement! Hiruzen of course shot him an unamused look which was almost as threatening as a squirrel whose nut he stole but whatever. Despite that, he made a show of cowering in front of the frightening Kage...

    "Minato-kun," Hiruzen started which made Danzo raise his eyebrow at the way he called the boy, "and Jiraiya naturally saw the assants but Jiraiya thinks they were under henge." Hiruzen sadly shook his head. "Unfortunately, he didn''t have enough time to see through it."

    "You want to tell me five of my ROOT initiatives died during their mission and you don''t even know who killed them?" Danzo asked in disbelief at what his old friend was telling him. He might have told them it was a ''dangerous'' mission despite it basically being a ''suicide'' mission but his ROOT was loyal to a fault! That didn''t mean he wasn''t irked due to them dying without even providing information about who would be able to kill them! It took him a second to recollect himself, so he rather changed the topic. "What about the girl?"

    "Kushina is fine." Hiruzen said lightly but then spotted the look in Danzo''s eyes and smiled. That wasn''t what his friend was apparently asking about. "Don''t worry. The n is still on the right track. Despite everything, it seems our resident jinchuuriki took a liking to Jiraiya''s protege. Really, young love..." Hiruzen smiled wistfully. "The job of the older generation is guiding the youngsters." Danzo only rolled his eye at Hiruzen after he heard that. As if the old monkey cared for ''young love''.

    They devised a n. Kushina would be kidnapped by his ROOT d in Kumo uniforms and the brat would save her, woo her and then marry her, making her pump out little Uzumaki and even be d about it. Uzumaki were people who cherished their family over anything else so as long as the jinchuuriki gained that family in the loyal shinobi of Konoha, she would never betray the vige. Not that the brat knew to what degree their rtionship was pre-nned. They even prepared a few ''concessions'' of not putting the girl in CRA if she birthed at least four children... It would surely strengthen her and Minato''s loyalty once they are married.

    In his eye, it was a win-win. Just in case the girl got into her hands some delicate information about the demise of her n. This was a fail-safe that was long overdue since the Hokage just decided throwing her to slums without care would ''build her character'' and make her ''humble''. Sometimes, he had no idea what Hiruzen was thinking. Danzo saw things realistically. He would either raise her into a loyalist of such a caliber that even Hokage would be in awe, or he would do what Hiruzen did, make her suffer but offer her people who would be there for her. But no... the monkey just had to decide the girl would make ''ties'' to the vige by herself!

    Danzo was pulled out of his reverie when Hiruzen asked a question that was nagging on his conscience for quite a long time. "Danzo... did you exterminate the Senju n?"

    Both men stared at each other impassively until Danzo softly sighed. "You know why it had to be done." He said, making Hiruzen frown but Danzo continued without minding it. "You even took Tsunade as your apprentice because of ''that''." As he said that, Hiruzen''s eyes widened and gained an understanding light. "Senju were too dangerous to exist." Danzo finished and Hiruzen had a conflicted face, not knowing what to say to his friend.

    Danzo knew Hiruzen for a long time and knew the man had a distinct set of priorities. The vige, his family, his pupils, and then his sensei, Tobirama Senju. Danzo always thought it was a weakness even though he also held a lot of respect for the Second Hokage. But if he learned one thing under the man''s tutge, it was that the vige came always first. While the vige was always the main motivator behind Hiruzen''s actions, he also put a big emphasis on people that were close to him. The man would never be able to ''deal'' with Senju if they decided to use ''that''. Danzo looked pointedly at Hiruzen. "Only Tsunade is left. Only she has the im." He said, his meaning as obvious as the oue. And as Danzo expected, Hiruzen actually stood up in rage when he heard what Danzo implied.

    "I won''t let you kill Tsunade!" He shouted. "She is no threat to the vige! She has no idea about ''it''! I made sure about that when she was a small girl! Now that her n is dead, she has no way to find out either!" He red at Danzo who just stoically nodded, not even slightly perturbed by the killing intent in the surroundings.

    "I understand." He said and Hiruzen finally calmed down and flopped back into his chair.

    He took his pipe back into his mouth and mumbled. "Tsunade has many ws but I raised her to be loyal to Konoha first and foremost. She would never betray us, much less use ''that''." Danzo saw the confidence with which his friend said it and decided to ept it... for now. But then Hiruzen added something that stopped his mind for a second. "Same as that boy, Minato." Hiruzen said with fondness Danzo saw only seldom on his face.

    Danzo didn''t like that fond look. It meant Hiruzen... His eye widened as a stray thought shed through his mind. "Hiruzen, the boy... you aren''t thinking of making him Hokage, are you?" He narrowed his eye on his old friend. Lately, there was a bit too much favoritism towards the blond orphan. Sure, the boy was Jiraiya''s apprentice but to give him ess to the sealing and Jutsu-creation scrolls above his rank? That was foolishness in Danzo''s mind. And now, the entire mission could be viewed as a way for the boy to obtain a wife. If he took out their own scheme, it would be exactly that. Under normal circ.u.mstances, the boy would face serious repercussions for leaving the vige alone. But that begets the question of ''why''.

    And much to Danzo''s una.d.u.l.terated surprise, Hiruzen averted his gaze by lowering the hem of his hat as he put his pipe into his mouth. Danzo knew Hiruzen well enough to know what this gesture meant. "Jiraiya made a request." Hiruzen slowly said, puffing a bit of smoke from his mouth. "That boy doesn''t make many requests." Danzo blinked but was quiet, appearing stoic even though inwardly he was seething. "Of course, the boy would have to prove himself to be my sessor. But for that, he has time. Saving our jinchuuriki, or as the public view it, a girl from our vige from the viinous grasp of Kumo, is a nice start though. Especially since we spread out how Kumo is treating female Kekkei Genkai holders to the public." Hiruzen finished. He didn''t state that Jiraiya thought the boy was the prophesied savior of the world. Saying that to Danzo would be idiocy. Hiruzen held the monkey contract so he knew prophecies weren''t such a farfetched thing when it came to the summons. So if the boy really was some kind of savior... Hiruzen would make him Hokage so the boy would be the savior of Konoha!

    Danzo was nkly staring at him. Both knew what the one-eyed man wanted to hear. He didn''t give a shit about the blond boy. Nor the request of an older boy with a penchant for whoring. He wanted to hear what this meant for their promise!

    Hiruzen knew that well too and in the end, he could only sigh. "You wouldn''t make a good Hokage, Danzo." He started, his voiceced with deep regret but Danzo knew it was a facade. "It would be better for the vige if you stayed in the darkness. In light, we need a hero, not a schemer." Hiruzen said, almost making Danzo nch at the hypocrisy. His years-long friend was basically carelessly throwing away his promise to give the hat to him! Once Hiruzen had enough or was bored of it, Danzo was supposed to be the Hokage... and yet. Danzo quietly turned on his heel and said only one thing before marching towards the door.

    "You''ve grown soft, Sarutobi."

 Chapter 78 - Ch78. Ringo 1

    <h4>Chapter 78 - Ch78. Ringo 1</h4>

    Ringo entered the office of the Mizukage after hertest mission. She yawned to her palm but shook her head to wake herself up. Lately, she was feeling utterly exhausted but it was no excuse to appear unprofessional in front of her Kage. "Jonin Ameyuri reporting."

    "Ah, Ringo..." The Mizukage nodded cheerfully in her direction, almost making her nch at the amount of liveliness the man was showing while she was close to being dead on her feet. "I heard about yourst mission..." The man said and this time, all cheer was gone from his face. "Care to exin... that?" He asked.

    A staring match between him and Ringo ensued. They were ring at each other with fervor, only to be separated by a fake coughing from the corner. "Aren''t you d you put her up to this test, dear?" A voiceced in sarcasm resounded the office. They turned around only to see Himeno standing there which made the Mizukage instantly gain an embarrassed expression while Ringo furrowed her brows.

    "Anyway... couldn''t you use less force, Ringo?" The Mizukage tried to change the topic. "Youpletely crushed the man''s balls."

    Ringo just tilted her head and asked innocently. "I was trying to ''hit'' on him, though?" It was said with such a clueless-sounding voice, Himeno actually started wheezing inughter but to the Mizukage, it wasn''t amusing at all. The man who Ringo was sent to seduce was one of their main informants. He was providing information for a ''special'' service of a kunoichi. The man was kind of sick and often managed to make even the kunoichi sent to him need a month-long break afterward. But he was very good at providing intel. This time, the Mizukage sent Ringo to please the man but apparently, Ringo''s idea of seduction is to take the man''s ball into her hand and squeeze until the entire tavern could hear a loud ''pop'' followed by an inhuman scream. Needless to say, the Mizukage wouldn''t need to send another kunoichi to satisfy the man ever again. He wasn''t amused at all! When he said f.u.c.k... he meant f.u.c.k! He was about to reprimand the woman who went against her orders when Himeno''s voice interrupted his angry thoughts.

    "Ringo... you are still a v.i.r.g.i.n?"

    The Mizukage''s mind halted at that as his eyes snapped to the wielder of Kiba.

    "Yes." Ringo averted her gaze towards the ground, making both Himeno and the Mizukage speechless. How could that be possible when...

    "But... what about the mandatory deflowering in the academy?" The Mizukage voiced out only for Ringo to show a sheepish look.

    "I avoided it by not showing up." She said inly and Himeno snorted. It was a barbaric tradition of Kiri but she had to agree that it had its merits. There was a reason why the academy instructors were usually handsome chunin. Before graduation, every girl is ''rmended'' and assigned a night when she is supposed to show up in the house of the chunin instructor for her ... ugh. Many girls actually already had a crush on their instructors by that time so it wasn''t that hard to have s.e.x with them. They were, after all, still naive girls. Himeno didn''t like it but ns did something simr too.

    "Ringo," Himeno started, pursing her lips. "I won''t admonish you for avoiding it. A lot of girls do. While it is mandatory, nobody is going to enforce it." She carefully tried to find the correct words. "But..." Himeno gave Mizukage a sheepish look before she sighed and continued, words flowing from her despite her far-away look. "I lost my v.i.r.g.i.nity when I was ten to Yuki nsman. I wasn''t asked about my opinion. I was just led to a room with other girls my age and we were told it was tradition. We were little girls and so, we did as we were told. It was painful but not as much as my daily training. Then it was pleasurable and we just went with it. I don''t even remember the name of the man who took my v.i.r.g.i.nity. I am sure he is alive and living in the Yukipound. Surely, we walk around each other on daily basis but I really don''t remember him." Himeno said, refusing to look in the direction of her lover, the Mizukage. She took another deep breath before continuing. "But I don''t regret giving it to him. My first jonin sensei wasn''t very skillful and on my first mission, I was captured and r.a.p.ed." Hearing that, Ringo''s eyes slowly widened. "I was an eleven-year-old and genin but my opponent was chunin, I somehow managed to be pulled away from my team. Long story short, it wasn''t pleasant. But the chunin didn''t kill me and I already knew how having s.e.x felt like. I waited for him to climax and then as he was mentally high on the pleasure I swept kunai from his pocket and slit his throat. I remember being showered in blood..." Himeno chuckled dryly. "There is a reason deflowering is a tradition of Kiri. It helps our kunoichi to react during these kinds of situations and makes seduction missions easier to digest." Himeno then looked Ringo straight into her eyes. "You are shinobi. A weapon. But you are also a woman and that means even your cunt is a weapon. Use it." She said straightforwardly but Ringo didn''t nod or show any sort of agreement. She... couldn''t.

    In the end, it was the Mizukage who interrupted the women and decided to just get on with the reporting. It didn''t take long for it to finish. "Ringo, Rei invited you to his house today." He said as Ringo was leaving the office. "You have three days off."

    Three days off... She didn''t have more than one free day she usually spent sleeping for a year now. Ringo smiled and decided to not think about it as she craved meeting Rei from the depth of her soul.

    In the office, Himeno turned to Mizukage when the door closed. "I told you to NOT make Ringo go on seduction type of mission and yet you wanted to make her ept the request of Daimyo''s third son?" She asked, peeved.

    "But he requested her..." The Mizukage weakly tried to defend himself.

    "You know well he wanted to only f.u.c.k her! How many of our kunoichi did you already send to satisfy that little pig! You didn''t even want to give her a choice in the matter! What do you think would happen if I didn''t talk you into testing her by sending her on a simr type of mission with a less important target?" Himeno said angrily and the Mizukage could only cower in his seat. "She would have killed the third pig of the Daimyo! That''s what!"

    The Mizukage reluctantly nodded. "I know... I know now." He whined. "But we need the money he would be willing to provide! You know as well as me that war is starting. Every single of the seven swordsmen is continuously sent on missions to get us rid of high-profile targets outside our country while the ns handle killing opposition inside of our country. I have to juggle so many doc.u.ments on a daily basis and then get funding and, and, and..." He looked dismayed.

    Himeno stood up and hugged his head to her stomach as she coursed her fingers through his hair. "Don''t worry. Maybe you should be more open though? If you admitted the war wasing, you could use more shinobi on these missions?" Himeno stated only for him to shake his head.

    "That would be alerting our enemies and the targets would be more protected. We are making it seem erratic and as coincidental deaths for now but if I admitted us hunting the people down... I am sure there are enough spies in the vige to actually pass the info to the other Kages. It would just elerate the war which is not desired." He droned out, making Himeno frown.

    "You want us to join the war due to Marika, right? Don''t you think it''s too much to do this out of personal grudge?" She tried but the Mizukage was too stubborn.

    "No... my sister had to bite off her tongue to stop being humiliated by Konoha shinobi. I will have my revenge." His eyes burned as he said that and Himeno knew this was the prime motivator that made her man able to be Kage. He wanted to one-up Konoha in such a way, they would lick their wounds for years. He wanted them to suffer. Sadly, it often clouded his judgment.

    Himeno sighed as she looked out of the window, into the mist. ''And again, it would be me who would have to run damage control.'' She sighed again but then her lips twisted into a smile when she felt Mizukage''s hands on her ass. She looked down, only to see his mischievous gaze peering at her. ''But what else can I do when I love this man so much? A pity my n wants this war to go on and father forbid me to use my womanly charm to change your mind, dear. Bloodshed it is, then.'' She lowered her head, her lips meeting the Mizukage''s.

 Chapter 79 - Ch79. Ringo 2

    <h4>Chapter 79 - Ch79. Ringo 2</h4>

    Ringo was invited to Rei''s house which didn''t happen nearly as often as when she was under his tutge as both were fairly busy. Her training to be the wielder of Kiba was long ago finished when she slit the throat of the previous wielder and took the des for herself and she thought she would be freer but contrary to her expectations, her missions just pilled up and she was barely in the vige. She had no idea what this invitation was about but she was sure the reason she was not on a mission right about now had something to do with it. After all, Mizukage really listened to Rei''s requests. Nevertheless, it made her feel happy that Rei wanted to meet her.

    She was in front of Rei''s door when she knocked. They opened but nobody was behind them which made Ringo frown. She raised her guard but inwardly she was thinking this was just another of her sensei''s poor attempts at joking. With a sigh, she advanced forward,ing to the living room that waspletely dark. She furrowed her eyebrows and was about to use her lightning to light up the room a bit when suddenly, the lights went on and she was deafened by a shout.

    "Happy birthday!" Rei eximed and had to instantly duck Ringo''s shurikens. Ringo watched himugh merrily as her cheeks went beep red when she realized why she was called here. The room was filled with various cakes and on the table were... presents. She actually forgot she was fifteen today! Her mind suddenly halted as she realized one important thing. Rei... remembered her birthday. A lone tear fell down her cheek, she quickly wiped it out, pretending to rub her eye.

    "Thank you." Ringo said with a slight smile decorating her face as she came closer and sat next to Rei, biting her lower lip as their shoulders touched. Ringo was speechless. This was the first time she actually celebrated her birthday like this! Rei usually prepared a cake and a present but more often than not, it was in the middle of the mission and they didn''t really have proper time for it. But now... She could see Konan smirking at her. The blond old woman sitting in the nearby armchair was for some reason frowning. Then there was the little girl who was sitting in thep of the old blonde, she was for some reason intently staring at her with ...petitive... gaze. And Rei was smiling at her. But they all were here because they remembered her.

    The evening went on as Ringo chatted with Rei and the women, exchanging their experiences during these past two years since she stopped being Rei''s apprentice. Ringo really had a good time and it proved to be incredible rxation from the unending stream of assassinations she wastely assigned.

    "Are you okay?" Rei asked her. "You really look kind of tired." He put his hand on her cheek, making Ringo freeze for a moment before she leaned into the touch with a happy smile.

    "Yes." She lowered her head in content. It didn''t take long though as she could see Rei frown at her which made her stop pretending and release a tired sigh, her head lowering even more, this time in bitterness. "No. The number of people who have a meeting with shinigami is somehow picking up and up and up... I have barely time for sleeping." She bitterlyughed, dragging her hand across her eyes. She just came back from a mission when the Mizukage told her about Rei''s invitation. Sadly, she didn''t get even an hour of sleep before the agreed time.

    Rei pursed his lips as he knew what this meant. The war was getting closer. Ringo is the best tracker in Kiri but due to his tutge, she is also exceptional at hiding and sneaking around. No longer was she some kind of loudmouth who would just barge in swinging her swords. Rei heard she became a kind of a most sought-after assassin of Kiri. As he looked at his exhausted apprentice, he could do only one thing. He patted her head. "You should take better care of yourself." He told her but doubted she would listen. Kiri was too important for her and if Kiri wanted something... Rei could only sigh and shake his head. "Well, time for presents." He said cheerfully, making Ringo d he changed the topic.

    Ringo was given various presents from the people around but it was nothing extremely pricy or important. Pajamas, jutsu scroll, instant ramen from Tsunade... That''s why Rei''sst gift made her stop in her tracks. He took out... two swords. The swords were both shortswords, both were the same length as Kiba which made Ringo inwardly pleased as she spent a lot of her time practicing with swords of this length. But these swords were more katana-like, straight, with only one edge rather than being double-edged like Kiba. The craftsmanship was exquisite, making the swords appear elegant but Ringo knew they were crafted to kill and bisect. Not unlike Kiba, her lightning chakra was almost eager to enter the de which made her gulp. The ''blunt'' edge however wasn''t harmless and contained a minuscule sharp saw-like jagged ''edge'' that would be able to cleave through people with ease even though it would be a more brutal, bloody, and forceful way of killing.

    Ringo blinked at him as she didn''t expect receiving swords. She had her Kiba, after all. She took them into her hands with a weird look on her face only to then show an utter astonishment. The swords in her hands were... better. Better than her Kiba! Sharper, more durable, and more importantly, better at channeling lightning chakra! Ringo gulped again and looked shakily at Rei, her mouth opening but no sound came out of it.

    Rei smiled at her, putting his finger on her chin as he gently closed her mouth. "I wanted you to have spare swords." His hand then went from her chin to her right wrist, pulling it closer to himself as he unrolled her sleeve. He nodded as he saw the storage seal he painted on her wrist years ago. Rei then deposited both swords into the seal, puffing them out of existence before looking back at Ringo''s face. "Kiba... has a reputation. But it is a reputation brought out by its former wielders." He told the girl. "You can continue it, sure... but you would be forgotten as another wielder takes it into his hands. If..." Rei showed a hint of conflict on his face but it disappeared as soon as it came. "If you ever feel the need to create your own legend, independent of Kiba, use the swords I gave you, alright?"

    "But... the price." She almost couldn''t believe her eyes. Both of these were not only made from chakra metal but a special kind of chakra metal that was also used to craft Kiba! It was a metal that would be a national treasure worth billions of Ryo and the entire country would be ted to have enough to craft one sword! Yet, here she received two? Her head almost spun and her throat went dry. She was a swords-maniac but even she didn''t dare to think about something like this being real.

    "Mah, mah~. don''t mind i-." Rei said lightly while waving his hand from side to side. Unknown to Ringo, Rei had enough of this metal in his dimension to actually gear up the entire country... Before he could even finish that sentence, Ringo kissed him.

    Tsunade frowned and quickly covered the eyes of the pouting Mei as she saw Ringo losing control. Ringo didn''t care anymore and let her instincts take over. As her tongue invaded Rei''s mouth, her hand quickly went into his pants and grasped his member. She was m.o.a.ning from all the pent-up l.u.s.t that was going through her and the only thing she could think about was finally getting what she wanted. She knew Rei could stop her any time so she wasn''t afraid of forcing him. If he didn''t want it, he would push her away so she pushed forward. She wanted Rei!

    Ringo already forgot the presence of anyone other than Rei so when Konan sporting a twitching eye-brow stood behind her, she only continued to m.o.a.n into Rei''s mouth, not even realizing the ticked-off predator behind her. Rei could only give Konan a bitter look that stopped the blute in her tracks. A sad frown appeared on her face. She knew Rei had feelings for Ringo but... ''Ah, f.u.c.k it!'' She inwardly thought and even though her expression was the perfect example of stoic, she was mentally thrashing her head around in frustration. ''Rei... if you don''t want to beat it into the thick skull of the horny primal bitch, I WILL!'' Resolve flooded her as she grabbed the back of Ringo''s neck. Ringo momentarily stopped licking Rei''s mouth but she didn''t have a long time to ponder about what was happening as Konan shunshined away, dragging the girl with her.

    It was time for a long talk. A talk that was long overdue.

 Chapter 80 - Ch80. Ringo 3

    <h4>Chapter 80 - Ch80. Ringo 3</h4>

    Konan arrived on their ''privatized'' training ground via shunshin and harshly threw Ringo on the ground into the grass. Taking up a posture with crossed arms she waited until the redhead recollected herself, staring at her impassively.

    It took Ringo a few moments to finally recollect herself. She could still feel Rei''s lips when suddenly, she was yanked away by her neck! Of course, she would be disoriented! This was worse than any ambush in the field! Not even her instincts could catch such a treacherous strike! "What was that for!" She eximed and frowned when she saw Konan take out her small battle fan. Ringo instantly knew Konan meant business. She stood up and drew her Kiba des. "What''s gotten into you?" She asked Konan as she crouched down in preparation for the battle but Konan didn''t answer. She just continued to stare at Ringo with her cold gaze.

    Konan didn''t like Ringo. She didn''t mind Tsunade as the busty blonde came to them already prepared to forsake her former loyalties for Rei. No matter what it would take, Tsunade would go to admirable lengths for Rei. Konan could feel that during their joining and it made her begrudgingly ept and respect the blonde woman. Mei, on the other hand, was young and malleable. Konan had every intention to mold that girl into a woman worthy of keeping around. She would teach the girl a lot but she also expected a lot in return. Well, it was not like she was maliciously plotting against the girl. In the end, Mei woulde out of it better than ever.

    But Ringo was a different case. Ringo was half-assed. She wanted to be near Rei without giving her all to him. That, Konan didn''t like. That, Konan couldn''t allow. Because of that, she was now in an internal conflict of how to deal with it. Rei told her long ago he would probably have more women around him and she epted. But she also decided to ''manage'' this ''harem'' of his and make sure her ''sisters'' would be kept in line. Tsunade understood that and if Ringo wanted to be Rei''s, she would too. But first, Konan had to give the girl a proper physical beating followed by a verbal rant. That however didn''t mean Konan had to like it. "You are lucky Rei is fond of you. Otherwise, I would cut you down right here and now." Konan said quietly but for Ringo, it was as if somebody deafened her as Konan''s bloodl.u.s.t fell on her shoulders, making her slightly shudder. She was well aware of how dangerous Konan was.

    Ringo didn''t have time to contemte the words she just heard from Konan. Before she even managed to widen her eyes in surprise, she was forced to block Konan''s fan with her right Kiba de. The second she blocked Konan''s strike though, Konan twisted her wrist which made her fan push the Kiba de to the side, and due to the speed of Konan, Ringo barely managed to block the second follow-up strike with her left Kiba de. As their weapons touched, Ringo let a pulse of electricity run through her de, creating a slight pushing force that made both women step back, ending the short exchange.

    "Why did you attack me?" Ringo asked while her eyes dutifully watched Konan and her senses were scouting the surroundings for any surprise attack.

    "You still don''t get it, do you?" Konanmented coldly with a disappointed undertone, raising her fan in front of herself, unfolding it. Ringo could see Konan''s chakra flooding the fan and gulped when she saw the paper part of it glow in a slight blue glimmer, signifying a very concentrated wind chakra. She instantly pushed lightning chakra into her des in full throttle and coated them in it. She believed that nothing except her best would manage to block Konan''s wind coating. Despite everything, Ringo wasn''t afraid.

    "This will not go like ourst duel." Ringo said with narrowed eyes. "It''s been two years and I became a much better swordsman during that time." In response, Konan only impassively raised her eyebrow, not deeming it worth it to answer.

    As a breeze passed through the clearing, both women sprang up towards each other, shing in a flurry of violent strikes, creating slight shockwaves that ravaged the ground as they danced dangerously around, leaving devastation behind. The longer their furious quick exchangessted, the more obvious Konan''s disadvantage became. She just wasn''t a melee-oriented fighter. Ringo was pushing her back quite easily even though it was an incredibly frustrating battle for her. Konan was always on defense. Deflecting and redirecting Ringo''s shes in a way that would disrupt Ringo''s tempo and make her momentarily falter. Every time the lightning and the wind coating shed, it would make the weapons bounce from each other. Ringo preferred a more instinctual approach to fighting but against Konan who had every move nned beforehand, it just didn''t fare well. Worse yet, Konan''s face waspletely stoic and rxed even though she was being pushed back!

    The more time passed, the more frustrated Ringo became as she just couldn''t get a proper hit in even though it was inly obvious she was a better melee fighter. She was more proficient with her chosen weapon, she was stronger, faster, more experienced in melee sh, and yet... Every hit of hers was mitigated. She got impatient. And...

    "Lighting Release: Lightning Rod!" Ringo shouted as she jumped two steps back and her right hand rose towards heaven, pointing the tip of her Kiba de at the clouds while her other Kiba de in her left hand pointed at Konan. They weren''t even five steps away from each other so Ringo was sure she would hit! She however didn''t spot Konan''s slight smile when she started her Jutsu.

    Konan was practically goading Ringo to use ninjutsu the entire time. She knew she was worse than Ringo in weaponry but that didn''t mean she could not defend herself. The tessenjutsu was very good in this regard and her wind was counter to Ringo''s lightning. Konan could go for hours like this, chipping Ringo''s stamina bit by bit but she decided to change this sh into ninjutsu one. Konan decided Ringo needed a proper reality check if her words should have the desired effect on the girl. As Ringo started her Jutsu, Konan also started hers.

    "Wind Release: Swirling Winds." A protective barrier of rotating winds instantly appeared around Konan.

    Ringo''s Jutsu took only a second and a lightning strike fell from the sky, impacting Ringo''s right Kiba. It then got redirected to her left sword which aimed at Konan, releasing concentrated and very dense lightning in her direction. But at the same time, the swiftly swirling wind barrier around Konan started spreading outwards, creatingyers of winds around her. The two attacks met with a deafening boom and a shockwave spread through the clearing, ttening the grass and even cracking the bark of some trees at the edge. The result showed immediately as Ringo was sent flying by Konan''s wind Jutsu until her body impacted the ground and uncontrobly rolled on it for a bit before she sprang herself onto her feet, panting slightly. Konan just stood in her initial spot with a slight provoking smile on her face.

    "You know," She started. "in our line of work, it''s not brute strength that wins most of the fights. Instead, it''s some sleight of hand or a trick. Sure, having overwhelming power helps but it''s not really that important." Konan told Ringo, making her furrow her brows. Konan didn''t care about Ringo''s internal musings and sprang herself towards her, swinging her fan. Ringo quickly put one Kiba de in front of her chest with the intention to block but Konan was determined to prove her earlier statement. The wind coating on her fan quickly dissipated mid-swing, only to be instantly reced by earth chakra coating which made Ringo open her eyes wide but she wasn''t able to react. Both wind and earth countered lightning but both did so in a different way. The wind cut through it, figuratively speaking, while earth absorbed and nullified it.

    Konan''s fan hit Ringo''s Kiba de and instead of the awaited pushing force from the sh of wind and lightning, Ringo''s Kiba''s lightning coating was weakened and Konan''s earth-hardened fan smashed right through Ringo''s defense, hitting her chest, sending her rolling on the ground.

    "As I said... just a little trick and you are already done." Konan calmly stated. Ringo stood up, spit a bit of blood to the side, and with a re readied her Kiba for another round. She couldn''t help but feel as if she was again that twelve-year-old girl who was continuously getting smacked around by Konan.

    The sh continued... but this time, it was Ringo who was being pushed away. Konan was swapping wind and earth coatings ording to the situation and Ringo was unable to react. She tried various lightning Jutsu and Konan was actually impressed at her repertoire when the count passed twentieth B+ rank Jutsu but the result didn''t change. Ringo was getting smacked throughout the clearing no matter what she tried.

    It took three whole hours for the battle to end. Ringo was panting sprawled on the ground while Konan was still her calm and collected stoic self, standing above her impassively. She looked towards Ringo, noting she had her full attention. "Ringo, no matter what you do, Rei will never ept you. Do you know why?" Konan asked and happily watched as the girl on the ground gnashed her teeth at her. "It''s because he can''t trust you." She said, making Ringo''s breath hitch but Konan continued, not minding it. "Your priority is Kiri. Rei can never be sure that you just won''t backstab him, you know? Unless you rethink your priorities, I would advise you to try and change the target of your affections. I won''t ept a potential backstabber near Rei either. If you try..." Konan looked straight into Ringo''s eyes to emphasize how serious she was. "I will end you." She inly told the girl and shunshined away, leaving Ringo''s beaten form in the clearing.

 Chapter 81 - Ch81. Yet another timeskip

    <h4>Chapter 81 - Ch81. Yet another timeskip</h4>

    Author Note:

    Guys... about the ages of the characters, Mei is nine. The age of Konan, Rei, and Tsunade doesn''t matter as they won''t really age. Just think of them as 20 or something. As for Ringo, she should have been 16 right now. But really, don''t take ages too seriously as even I started to have a problem keeping up with all ages of characters through these time skips.

    -----

    Mei sprang up on her feet and quickly jumped to the side to avoid a stomp from Rei.

    "Good! You are getting quicker." She could hear but her mind had no time to react as yet another punch flew at her and she had to quickly decide where to dodge next. It was then she spotted Tsunade hiding behind a tree so she nimbly jumped towards it, evading Rei''s punch. Rei didn''t dally and followed her. He obviously knew Tsunade was hiding there but this was training so he yed along with Mei''s strategy and gave chase. The second he was close to the tree, Tsunade punched it which broke it in half and sent the upper half flying as Rei jumped above it to avoid it. Mei was already prepared for that and Rei was met with ava bullet to the face... only to melt into water.

    "Water Clone!" Mei eximed and instantly ducked. Not out of instinct but due to her being used to Rei mostly getting above the belt strikes when she is distracted. Rei was actually quite surprised the girl noticed this little w of his fighting style but he just continued doing so as it made it easier for Mei. Right now, he needed to give her some foundation and made her start using her senses and instincts during the battle. If she started to notice ws in his way of fighting then clearly, he was doing something well.

    He also had to jump back as Tsunade went for a save by trying to engage Rei in a fight. He stood opposite Mei and Tsunade who were watching him intently, looking for any opening. Mei was learning teamwork right now so she and Tsunade were trying to fight against Rei. The catch was in the fact they were forbidden to verballymunicate and Tsunade reacted only when it was necessary. Mei was forced to do all the work. Mei was forced to read Tsunade''s bodynguage to know what she would do next. Mei was also forced to create openings for Tsunade as she only joined the fight when the opportunity for a good strike arose. But most of all, Mei was forced to ''survive'' while Rei attacked. He may have lowered his strength and speed so she could match him but as the fight went on, he was steadily increasing it.

    As she ducked, she put her hands on the ground, springing her body into a handstand and her feet kicked towards Rei who blocked her kick with his right forearm and then twisted his arm to grab her ankle in one fluid motion. Rei often told Mei that this should never happen and even Tsunade didn''t try to save Mei as she got caught due to her stupidity. Rei raised his hand and lifted the girl he was holding by her ankle until her eyes met his. He was momentarily amused by her scowl as she dangled upside down in the air but it was time to admonish her. "Mei-chan..." He eye-smiled. "What did we say about providing the enemy an opening like that? Clearly, you were supposed to either use ninjutsu or kunai there! Not trying to be cool by doing a handstand kick." He told her while shaking his hand up and down and with it, Mei.

    "But..." Mei tried to protest but Rei stopped her by whipping his hand to the side, throwing her away. She did a few rolls in the air until she twisted her body in such a way that shended on her feet into a crouch.

    "Again." Rei sternly said and their training continued.

    ...

    Rei sat down next to Konan on the nket she prepared and started munching on a sandwich. "Hmm, these are good." He offhandedly told Konan who hummed in acknowledgment, her eyes watching Tsunade spar with Mei after their teamwork training was done.

    "One more year and Mei will be ten." Konan said and Rei sighed. Ten years of age meant graduation. Graduation meant killing a ssmate. "Are you sure you don''t want to tell the Mizukage to get her through it via n member graduation?" Konan asked.

    n member graduation didn''t require one to kill a ssmate as n children usually didn''t even join the academy and instead were home-schooled until they were assigned to a team. This proved to be the right choice however as the n kids were more prepared for shinobi life than the kids from the academy even after their first kill.

    "I know Mei already had her first kill but I want her to kill someone by her own choice, not by a stupid coincidence of having her bloodline acting up." Rei said. It might be cruel that a ten years old kid would die due to his decision but this was bloody mist. Things like this were quitemon here and Rei''s priority was Mei. If it meant he would have to be cruel, then so be it.

    "Okay." Konan said and kissed Rei. "Don''t worry. I made sure she would be mentally prepared for it." She stated. It was then they saw Mei about to score a hit onto a Tsunade, only for a bone to stick out of Tsunade''s forearm, blocking Mei''s fist. "Who would have thought Tsunade would be able to replicate Kaguya''s Kekkei Genkai." Konan dryly said.

    Tsunade was working with their Kaguya ''guest'' for more than a year and every time she experimented, her expression was getting brighter and brighter until one day she proudly and smugly showed Rei and Konan her new Bloodline. Apparently, she found out how Kaguya''s body works and why they could do what they could do, and the rest was easy for her. With a bit of medical treatment, Tsunade made herself able to utilize the Shikotsumyaku. She said it wasn''t even that hard.

    "Must be nice..." Konan whined. "To be smart." If there was one thing she was jealous of when it came to Tsunade, it was this. Despite not looking like it, Rei knew that Konan wanted to get stronger because she knew only strong people won''t be trampled upon. And when Tsunade''s strength rose by a magnitude just by getting the Kaguya bloodline... Even Konan got a bit mad.

    Rei just quietly patted her head in order to calm her down. "You have your own strengths."

    Konan smiled at that but then her expression darkened. "What about Ringo?" She asked. They had a fight because of what she did but it didn''t reallyst that long. Both she and Rei couldn''t stand being angry at each other so their ''fight'' didn''tst even half a day. But since then, they haven''t seen Ringo at all. For the entire year at that. Rei was quite exasperated because of that but he was slowly epting it. Konan however didn''t regret anything because she knew what she said had an effect on the girl. But even then she had no idea it would take so long for Ringo toe to terms with it! It was an entire year already!

    "Last I asked she is being run ragged by the assassination missions. She has at least two per month." Rei said with a sigh.

    "Yeah... we should probably start preparing for the war too." Konan said, knowing full well that Rei had non-stop ten clones making seals for their use. They knew it wasing and they were doing their damnedest to prepare. She frowned. "Mei will be genin for one to two years before the war starts."

    "I guess we''ll just have to trust she will be ready." Rei said shruggingly, making Konan snort.

    "She is already on the level of chunin and that''s without talking about her bloodlines you so painstakingly nurture." Konan rolled her eyes. "I am more afraid of her mental side rather than her skills. She is too youn-"

    "But so were we." Rei interrupted her and looked her in the eyes which calmed her down.

    "I suppose that''s right." Konan nodded. "Well... I think we will just have to adjust her mentality..." Konan let out a long whine. "That means shitty missions." She let herself fall on her back.

    Rei just smiled and leaned onto her, giving her a quick kiss. "That means shitty missions." He quipped amusedly.

 Chapter 82 - Ch82. Meeting 1

    <h4>Chapter 82 - Ch82. Meeting 1</h4>

    Tsunade was walking on the streets of Kirigakure in her disguise as an olddy. As she promised to the Mizukage, she often worked at the hospital and helped with the healing. Despite that, she never really went out of her way to show her expertise. Till now, she was still regarded only as someone who can deal with bruises and cuts at best. Thanks to that, nobody really expected her toe and help. She was more of a volunteer who helped only when she had free time. Because of her ''inexperience'', she was mostly assigned civilians or academy students as her patients and due to that, she was well regarded among the non-shinobi poption of Kirigakure and people usually greeted her quite a lot. She had her reputation, after all.

    Lately, however, she didn''t really have time to just go and turn off while healing people. She was too engrossed in practicing with her new bone-maniption and with the waring... Tsunade knew she would most likely be recalled to Konoha in due time so she was currently devising a n on how to ''avoid'' that fate.

    Her new bone-maniption... Now that was a coincidence of her lifetime. She found out, Kaguya nsmen had a special body but it was too special even by the Bloodline standards and when she first started to study it more deeply, she even marveled at it, thinking if they could still be called humans. They didn''t only have the ability to manipte their bones but also could make slight changes in their bodies like creating openings for their bones to stick out and then reseal those. Contrary to the popr belief, it wasn''t a fast regenerative factor but actual body maniption. Thanks to this, Tsunade became even more durable and since her bones were now extremely strong, she could load more chakra into her strength technique without fear of breaking her arm.

    The thing was, the specialty of Kaguya somehow, and she had no idea how,plemented the special body of Senju! When she found out, she spent days on end looking for why. Unfortunately, she never once thought about asking Rei...

    Anyway, she found out she could possibly ''awaken'' this bloodline after imnting the bone marrow of Kaguya into her body. And when she waspletely sure it was safe, she instantly decided to do it. Konan was not the only woman of Rei who wanted to get stronger for his sake, after all. With two shadow clones to do the surgery and turning off her pain receptors, it was a breeze. Her Senju physique clicked seamlessly together with her new Kaguya one.

    It was only when she bragged to Rei afterward and mentioned this little fact, Rei surprised her by telling her about the legend of Rabbit Goddess. Her first feeling was... being d Senju never mixed with Uchiha. To think that Sharingan was just a downgraded version of even stronger dojutsu... She was aware of Eternal Mangekyo but to think there was something even more powerful... Her second thought was being d the legend was so forgotten. Hyuuga had a massive ego even without knowing the progenitor of chakra had Byakugan.

    Finally, it made her realize that if these bloodlines came from one body, then it should naturally be possible to ''unite'' them to one body again. Maybe that''s why she didn''t feel any ''resistance'' from her new Kaguya ''part''. This little tidbit had dangerous implications and it wouldn''t do for anyone getting to know the truth. She had no idea how Rei knew and both she and Konan refused when he offered to tell them. But she didn''t really dwell on it.

    As she was walking through the streets, she suddenly saw a familiar man. Her eyes widened and her jaw almost dropped at the sight. "How the hell did he get here?" She mumbled for herself and instantly ducked into the side-alley.

    There, she quickly altered her facial features to slightly different ones and her blonde hair colored themselves brown. Stepping outside, she hightailed it towards the man who was making a fool out of himself right in the middle of the street. Tsunade fancied herself a patient woman but she had her breaking point. Unfortunately for the man, just seeing him was enough for Tsunade to reach it.

    She took his ear into her hand so quickly he didn''t even manage to spot her as she sneaked up on him and dragged him away from there while he was groaning and m.o.a.ning in pain from being dragged by ear. The entire vige had a show out of it.

    When they finally reached training grounds, Tsunade finally released the man and crossed her arms under her chest. "What are you doing in Kirigakure, Jiraiya?" She asked in a stern tone.

    Jiraiya went instantly rigid. He knew that stern, unamused, and irritated voice. He gulped. "Tsu-Tsu-Tsunade!?" He babbled out bewildered.

    Tsunade sighed to herself and released... well, not really, she just altered her transformation technique to look like her 25 years old self. "Yes... it''s me." She admitted.

    "What are you doing in Kiri!" Jiraiya asked, making her roll her eyes.

    "That''s my question."

    "I am gathering intel!" He eximed proudly only for his face to pale at her next question.

    "In a brothel?" Tsunade asked unamused. Before Jiraiya could spout more nonsense about why he was there... and to avoid him asking ufortable questions, Tsunade continued. "And here I thought I would be able to take a calming bath in the famous bathhouses of Kiri..." She knew Jiraiya would be suspicious and most likely won''t really fully buy her excuse but she didn''t borate further. His thoughts were his own and she already gave her exnation. "My holidays are ruined. To think I would see you here... In the middle of a hostile vige. Your sneaking skills are really top-notch." She said dryly, diverting the topic by praising him while also dissing him. For all of his skill, Jiraiya had one ring fault and Tsunade was very aware of it. He loved her. Well, not like he would ever get her to sleep with him but damn if it wasn''t useful sometimes.

    "Hehe! Of course! After all, I am the Gamma-Sennin!" Jiraiya cluelessly boasted, ignoring her fed-up tone... or at least he appeared clueless. Tsunade knew how sly her teammate was. He was even worse than Orochimaru. There was a reason why he took the spot of the favorite of Sarutobi from Orochimaru, after all. "But even then seeing you here is a surprise..." He narrowed his eyes and mentally went through every rumor he heard from Kirigakure... there was this one blond ''nurse'' helping in Kiri hospital but he doubted Tsunade would be stupid enough to do that. That would be treason, after all!

    "I guess this really means the war is on the horizon." Tsunade sighed, making Jiraiya ufortably shuffle. "Oh, stop pretending. We are both too experienced to not see it." She rolled her eyes at him, making himugh awkwardly. "I doubt you are here to summon me, however... right, spymaster?" She snorted.

    Jiraiya amusedly shook his head and said. "No, no... Sensei is still a bit sad about how you parted thest time." Suddenly, his face morphed into a serious one. "But yes, the war is inevitable now. In a decade at most, it will start."

    As he said that, Tsunade resisted the urge to grin. This was what she wanted to hear. Seeing Jiraiya in Kiri almost gave her a heart attack... as even she doubted he would be able to pull ''this'' off. But she didn''t approach him out of sentiment. He was the spymaster of Konoha and that meant he knew more than he probably should. And Tsunade would dly goad some of this intel out of him for Rei. After all, who else than an old friend from Konoha would Jiraiya babble to?

 Chapter 83 - Ch83. Meeting 2

    <h4>Chapter 83 - Ch83. Meeting 2</h4>

    The clearing was quiet as the two old friends stared at each other. Jiraiya had a grim face while Tsunade also tried to appear glum but inwardly she was feeling quite giddy. Who would have known this portable info-bank woulde to her right when she needed some intel about the happenings in the world?

    In the end, Tsunade raised her eyebrow at him and asked. "Since you are here, do tell what is happening in the world. I know you have quite a lot of information."

    Jiraiya smirked at her and took it as praise. Tsunade was obviouslyplimenting his awesome spywork! His ego was almost reaching clouds! "Ah, ah, ah," He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "I am afraid that''s for Hokage''s ears only!" Then, with a smirk, he added. "But maybe if you go on a date with me..." He trailed off.

    The more he opened his mouth, the more the corner of Tsunade''s mouth twitched in annoyance. She never liked Jiraiya''s overly yful personality but at least he had enough sense to not ask anything perverted. s, he was out of luck. She already had a man and would not go on a date with another, much less Jiraiya. Fortunately for her, Tsunade knew exactly what worked on Jiraiya.

    Jiraiya could only widen his eyes into saucers as Tsunade''s fist met a nearby tree, utterly devastating it. He watched the upper part of the tree fall onto the ground because the middle part of its trunk was obliterated by one punch... and then he spotted Tsunade''s gaze on his belly, giving it a simr look like the bark of the now non-existent trunk. He shuddered and loudly gulped.

    "I am sure we can find apromise, Jiraiya!" Tsunade cheerfully eye-smiled at him. "What about you being a good pal and telling me what you know and I will leave your bones in their unbroken state?" She said but then pursed her lips and tilted slightly her head. "I am kinda curious if you would get out of Kiri with a broken spine though...." She trailed off, and Jiraiya took an unsure step back. This Tsunade... His former teammate was somewhat different. More cheerful and not as depressed as she should have been. Worse yet, he waspletely unsure if she would actually follow with her threat. Her expression showed only an amusedly raised eyebrow and lips raised into a smirk as she watched him like a hawk. But despite the danger, he was still a loyal Konoha shinobi! And so, he did what any Konoha shinobi would do when confronted by angry Senju.

    "Fine..." He said fearfully. Jiraiya, despite his loyalty, liked his bones in their correct ce. And anyway, Tsunade was Konoha shinobi even if she was currently on long, long unpaid leave. It''s not like a Senju would ever betray Konoha and he really didn''t have incredibly valuable intel either... The atmosphere between the two instantly lightened and both chuckled. They lived and fought together through thick and thin so both knew the other quite well. It was always joking like this that enabled them to keep their cool and not s.u.mb to depression during hard years of war. With a sigh, Jiraiya started. "The Kumogakure is restocking their border outposts with better weapons. They try to hide it so it is a very slow process, not to say it''s something very normal so it usually wouldn''t be reported but my spies," Tsunade rolled her eyes at the word ''spies'' as from his activities, she was very aware just what kind of ''spies'' Jiraiya had. Tsunade was however surprised he could pick on something asmon as a slight change in restocking the outposts. Seeing her eye-roll, Jiraiya''s mood dropped a bit. "My informants were sharp enough to spot the situation. The weapons that are being sent to the outposts are those that are usually not really needed there. Clearly, somebody is preparing for quick deployment of troops..."

    "And let me guess," Tsunade interrupted him. "It''s mostly outposts closest to the borders of the Land of Fire." She said and silence once again engulfed the clearing. It was obvious. Konoha won two wars already and Kumo would not like that. Neither of the remaining four viges liked that, to be honest. Jiraiya just nodded. That meant Kumo will most likely attack mostly Konoha and from their previous behavior during the second war, they won''t really invest much on other fronts. There will obviously be skirmishes against Iwa and Kiri but their offensive would be focused on Konoha. "Okay, next?" Tsunade asked and Jiraiya shrugged.

    "Suna is buying wood from Konoha... you can guess what that means. Kiri couldn''t be more obvious. They did so many assassinations in thesest years that only an idiot would not know they n to join the war." He stated but then frowned with a whining sigh. "I am quite mad about it too! Their targets are so random that it''s hard to properly guess who they will attack. My guess is they would go for revenge against Kumo but nothing is certain yet. Sensei is quite worried about Kiri as there is no buffer between us except Wave Country."

    "Yes... if Kiri attacks Konoha, the battle will instantly be inside of the Land of Fire." Tsunade nodded. It was a no-brainer. All other shinobi viges had to cross other countries therefore their forces could be spotted or even intercepted easily. But Kiri was a wild card. Worse yet, it was a wild card that was so well positioned, Konoha couldn''t do anything about it! Take the fight onto the sea? That''s suicide against Kiri. Take it into the Land of Water? Sarutobi would never do that. He knows that the Kiri forces would wipe his soldiers out if he tried to fight on their ownnd. There was literally nothing Hokage could do except strengthening the shore outposts. That however was far from an eptable countermeasure. Tsunade already knew Kiri would attack Konoha but she kept quiet. Rei had his own ns and she wouldn''t endanger those.

    "The problem is Iwa." Jiraiya flopped onto the ground and leaned his back onto a tree. "They are gathering forces. Openly at that. Recruiting from the ves and making them capable genin cannon fodder quite quickly. As a mountain nation, the Land of Earth is also very wealthy in iron so they have no problem gearing up either... Plus it''s obvious who their target would be. The old man is really bothered by it but he assured me someonepetent will hinder them."

    Tsunade also leaned onto a tree but didn''t sit down. This was important information. Firstly, Iwa stubbornly wanted revenge and it was obvious the main ''event'' in the uing war would be Iwa versus Konoha. The situation didn''t look well for Konoha. Suna was their grudging ally since they lost the second war but both Kumo and Iwa would be attacking. The Hokage naturally knows Suna would not be really eager to help so Konoha was more or less on their own. Which led Tsunade to the second point, ''someonepetent''. Obviously, it was Danzo. There was no question to be asked about it.

    "And I guess Konoha is preparing as well..." Tsunade said and looked at the sky. She didn''t need to hear what the vige would be doing. She knew exactly what ''preparing'' meant. Clearly, Konoha had to even the board by making the pot of hate between viges boil. It wouldn''t do if everyone focused ''only'' on Konoha. After all, that was exactly how they won the previous wars even though they were majorly outnumbered. As if it was in the ''quality'' of their shinobi... That thought wasughable in itself. Sure, they had good ninjas but not ''that'' good. It was all in very underhanded tactics... They were ninja, after all.

    Tsunade was hundred percent sure that Danzo''s ROOT would be running circles around the Land of Earth dressed as shinobi from either of the remaining four viges, killing important people. Tsunade had no illusions and knew that Iwa would be in conflict with Kumo and Suna by the start of the war. She also knew that the war would not be really waged in the Lands of the viges. No, it will again be in the smaller countries in-between them. That was why the situation with Kirigakure was making Jiraiya shit himself and most likely the reason why he was actually here. He was surely tasked to find out Kiri''s intentions towards Konoha.

    Jiraiya just shrugged and grinned. "So... up for a drink? You know, to remember the old times!" Tsunade chuckled and returned the shrug in eptance. "It''s a date then!" Jiraiya eximed but Tsunade quickly put his hopes down.

    "No, it''s not." She dryly deadpanned, inwardly sighing. She only epted as she knew Jiraiya tended to talk more when drunk and in thepany of someone he trusted. Plus both Rei and Konan were on a mission and Mei in the academy... she had an hour to spare so why not gleam more secrets from her toad-loving friend?

 Chapter 84 - Ch84. Meis graduation

    <h4>Chapter 84 - Ch84. Mei''s graduation</h4>

    Pa treon - 36 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    Rei, Konan, and Tsunade in her disguise were sitting in the VIP lounge in the Kiri arena. The Kiri arena was a ce where the chunin exams were usually held but its more important function was to execute traitors. The nuke-nin were usually killed on spot but in rare cases, they were caught alive and then proceeded to be interrogated only to end up in the arena and fight to the death. It didn''t matter how many rounds they won, they continued to fight until their eventual death. This arena was also a ce where Kiri shinobi could enter to hone their skills or try new techniques on ''moving'' targets without any repercussions. And today, a yearly event was taking ce. It was time for the academy graduation exam... which was basically just a bloody spectacle of kids killing each other. Despite that, the arena was full of spectators, mostly civilians seeking some bloody entertainment.

    Rei could also see many prominent jonin from Kiri who were looking for a good seedling. After all, if they took a disciple, they couldn''t be forced to take another so everyone wanted to take a peek at what is offered in this batch and if there is somebody promising. Contrary to the cheer of civilians, these shinobi were mostly bored since seeing kid''s brawl wasn''t really entertaining for them.

    The graduation was one versus one deathmatch. The matches were said to be random... meaning they were pre-selected beforehand and just for show, there was an actual electronic board for choosing names like in Naruto''s chunin exam. The proctors knew well who is likely to pass and who to fail. They watched the kids for years by now and as experienced chunins, could take their guess. That meant every match had a favorite. There were also a lot of other factors... like if somebody wanted to take a specific child under his care, the child would get an easier opponent and so on. Rei didn''t really care nor did he try to manipte Mei''s match though. He knew Mei would win but her opponent would end up dead due to their own luck and not Rei''s maniption. He could do at least as much as leave it to ''fate''.

    "This is really barbaric." Tsunade said disgruntled. Despite living in Kiri for years, she never once saw the graduation exam but now that she was present for it, she really thought it was too much.

    "Yeah... and stupid too." Konan added. Kiri was killing off 50% of their ninja candidates. Not to mention those killed by their actual teachers for whatever reason. In the end, not even 35% of academy graduates would survive long enough to be really counted as a ninja of Kiri. For Konan, it was no wonder Kiri had so little ninja. All it would take is to give the children better guidance and not kill them off... but it seemed the higher-ups of Kiri were too stupid to realize that.

    Rei wisely kept silent. Speaking up right now would start a debate he was not really willing to partake in at the moment. In his opinion, every vige was utterly retarded in these practices. Kiri had this exam. Konoha had another one that also cut the graduates to a really small number. The difference was that the rest who didn''t manage to graduate, could either drop-out and forever close the option to be a ninja or after three failures, the kid would be entering the genin corps where the entire training would be up to him... these were the so-called cannon fodder. Suna was the same and also had their own means of how to differentiate between ''elite'' and others. He wasn''t about to think about Iwa... as their cannon fodder was mostly made up of ves. Kumo was the only vige that was kid-friendly when it came to these practices. They took enormous effort to nurture their younger generations and most kids already left the academy knowing their elemental affinity and basics of kenjutsu. At times like these, Rei was really happy he made the spywork out of the Biri-Biri traders. These ''unimportant'' details were exactly what helped most when one didn''t really expect it.

    The event was about to start and the kids lined up in the arena. There were thirty of them in total but this was quite misleading as every ss had a different day of graduation so the final number of kids graduating this year was around 240. Which meant at least 120 would die. It was a big number but a few years back, Kiri started to ''recruit'' kids from orphanages all over the country to have enough genin for the war. There were still 2 years until the start of the war and Rei was sure the Mizukage was thinking he had at least five more years to train these new recruits... s, the truth was far from that.

    "Ah! It''s Mei!" Tsunade said and a smile lit up on her face as she said the ten years old redhead down in the arena. "I trained her so well! She is not afraid at all!" She cooed like an overprotective parent. "Just look at her bored eyes!"

    Konan rolled her eyes at the almost bouncing Tsunade, but her lips also twisted into a slight smile. "It was me who gave her mental conditioning." She quipped, getting a stink-eye from Tsunade.

    Rei just embraced the two girls and shushed them. "It''s starting. Don''t argue now."

    Down in the arena, Mei was despondently watching her former ssmates. For her, they were utterly unimportant and it was times like these she was really d for Konan''s teachings. While her bigger sister taught her how to recognize indoctrination, she also didn''t cover the fact she was making her more loyal to Rei. Mei didn''t really care though.

    Now that she was looking at the nervous kids with shining eyes, just waiting toy their lives down for a vige that couldn''t be bothered to give two f.u.c.ks for them... she could only pity them and be horrified at the idea she could have been one of these gullible children. The older she was, the more disgusting the idea of helping Kiri became for her. The people stopped beating her when Rei ''subtly'' indicated he would be very ''displeased'' if it continued but they still red at her and generally avoided her. She was not close to anyone in the ss so this little test wasn''t really that big of a deal for her. But she knew she had to take it seriously as her family wanted to see if she had the resolve to kill on her own... not like she had any choice in the matter and Mei knew well why this was important. She would shortly start doing missions with Rei and they needed to know she was ready for them.

    The Mizukage gave a speech about them being the future of Kirigakure or whatever and the matches started. Mei watched the kids around her quickly be disillusioned when the first match concluded. They knew this was a match to the death but Mei doubted the kids had a clear idea of what that actually meant. When the kunai sunk into the skull of Miki, a girl from her ss, every ssmate of hers went instantly rigid, watching her unmoving body hit the ground. The matches continued despite all protests and finally, after two hours of utter boredom, it was time for Mei''s match.

    She stepped inside of the arena and the spectators became instantly quiet, reminding her that she wasn''t the most loved person in the vige. Only the supporting look on her family''s face made her smile to herself and confidently walk towards the center where her opponent and the referee were waiting. Her opponent was... she forgot his name. Scratching her cheek, she yed it cool by bowing slightly in a show of respect before the referee started the match.

    Her opponent instantly sprang forward to attack her but for Mei, he was moving extremely slow. She didn''t see any reason to prolong this battle and as he was at arm''s length away from her, she sidestepped to the right, just enough to evade his dash. The boy couldn''t stop himself anymore and as he was passing by the spot she was previously at, he ran right into a kunai Mei was holding in her hand. Match over.

    The arena was again engulfed in even deeper silence when Mei won so effortlessly but she didn''t care and just walked away, towards the waiting area where her former ssmates looked at her as if she was some kind of monster. Every match up till nowsted at least five minutes but hers didn''t take even five seconds. For them, she was quite frightening.

    All around the arena, many jonin gained an interested light in their eyes at the spectacle and the Mizukage was deadpanning at Rei because of how much trouble this would bring him. Many of his jonin would want Mei and will most likely try to ''challenge'' Rei for her... And he would have to prevent just that. Great!

    "Yes... I trained her so well!" Tsunade smiled proudly, fully knowing Mei was aware enough to know just how big of a shitstorm her quick win would cause to the Mizukage.

    "Damn right." Konan added, also proud of Mei as she hid her smirk while giving the Mizukage a side-nce, enjoying his dejected look and speechless expression. "Somebody gonna pull all-nighter." She giggled.

    Rei just snorted and gave the man an eye-smile and V sign. Needless to say, the Mizukage was not the happiest camper right now.

 Chapter 85 - Ch85. Planning

    <h4>Chapter 85 - Ch85. nning</h4>

    When Mei came home after her graduation exam, she was greeted by Rei, Konan, and Tsunade with a big ''Congrattions''. It made her happy because she didn''t expect them to throw a party for her graduation. This oue was expected and she was leagues above the current graduates so she took her passing as a foregone oue and yet... Her family decided to celebrate it. Mei''s cheeks blushed as she meekly walked inside the living room, sitting next to Rei who instantly patted her head.

    "Good job." He told her and Mei could feel her body being hugged by Rei. She smiled and reassured him.

    "I am fine." She said. "I had enough time to prepare myself for killing."

    Rei looked knowingly at her form when he heard her telling him that. She had lowered head and slightly narrowed eyes and he knew it would bother her for a while but she had people who made it their ''mission'' to make her feel better about it. That was, after all, the purpose of this party. He wasn''t about to give her ''birds ''n bees talk, the shinobi version'' and fuss about her ''first'' kill. He would however make sure she had a great time and got any worries she could have out of her mind.

    "Okay." He told her and with the corner of his eye could see Konan bringing a cake to the room. "I think it''s time for a cake then! I made your favorite strawberry-vored one."

    Mei''s eyes shined at the sight and she quickly turned towards Rei and hugged his waist. "Thank you!" Rei and the girlsughed at Mei''s happy expression, and the celebration continued.

    ...

    The celebration was over and Mei was fast asleep but Rei, Konan, and Tsunade had a meeting in the living room after tidying it up. They sat around the table with a cup of hot chocte, talking about their future. After Tsunade encountered Jiraiya, she instantly told every detail she managed to glean from him to Rei who decided to start making use of his spywork. He got an incredible amount of information.

    "Iwa''s recruiting from ves is intense," Rei said. "They already have around twenty thousand strong force of canon fodder. Apparently, they n to bring down the Third Raikage and... us."

    "Us?" Tsunade asked, furrowing her brows.

    "The Downpour." Konan told her. "They will probably use the war, again make someone request us for a mission and then ambush us with ten thousand..." She turned to Rei. "right?"

    "Yes. During the war, the vige doesn''t have much time to review every single request. Moreover, the vige only takes requests from nobles and wealthy merchants, meaning high-profile people who would look extremely bad if the shinobi they requested was ''ambushed''. The vige would know and most likely take their revenge but there surely is a lot of retards who would see immediate gains instead of long-term repercussions. Especially among the first sons of nobles. The important part is that the vige wouldn''t be able to warn or assist us. Nor would it do anything in our defense until the end of the war." Rei stated with a displeased frown. "Worse yet, rejecting a mission during wartime is really, really hard as if you try, the Mizukage will just order you to go and handle it. Money are important for the vige and in wartime it is doubly so. The Iwa has it thought out pretty into detail while knowing thews and usual behavior of Kiri higher-ups."

    Tsunade groaned at that. "Kiri and their idiotic practices. In Konoha..."

    "In Konoha, you have heaps of merchants pulling the economy for you." Konan snorted. "The situation ispletely different so you really don''t need to make the missions mandatory during wartime." Tsunade crossed her arms and reluctantly acknowledged Konan was right.

    "Speaking of which," Rei started. "I want you to return to Konoha, Tsunade."

    The entire room quieted down at that but Rei just smiled at the bewildered blonde before exining. "We have the dimension and can see each other whenever and I know you would regret not helping your vige during the war." Rei said and saw Tsunade was about to protest so he quickly cut her off. "Don''t try to deny it. You might be fed-up with the higher-ups but the vige is still your grandfather''s memento. If I know one thing about the Senju n, it''s that they value their family above all else."

    "But you are my family." Tsunade quietly said and lowered her head in embarrassment at being so easily seen through by Rei only to shriek when Rei pulled her to himself,ying her head on hisp, and coursed his fingers through her hair while staring into her eyes.

    "I love you Tsunade." He said. "But that doesn''t mean I demand you to forsake everything for me." Neither of them minded the teasing stare of Konan from behind her mug of hot chocte as she watched them expectantly with a child-like giddiness dancing in her eyes.

    Tsunade teared up but barely held her tears in as her head spun. ''No... but it''s exactly what I want to do...'' She thought to herself and her resolve to prioritize Rei strengthened. "Okay... but I won''t fight for Konoha. I''ll return to be the head of the hospital." She knew she would be given the position of the head of the hospital and that meant being in the council... hence knowing everything that would go on in the vige. Tsunade had her own ideas and ns on how to help Rei and she would be damned if she let Konan outshine her! And... he was right. Deep down, she still wanted to minimize the casualties of Konoha in the uing war. She was raised there... indoctrinated there... it was hard to just let go.

    Rei smiled and turned to Konan this time. "I think it''s time for us to show ourselves during this war. I don''t intend to always mind myself during a fight. Right now, we are strong enough to fight against S-ranking ninja so there is no need to hide our abilities." He informed her and the atmosphere in the room turned somber.

    "Are you sure?" Konan asked. She was also fed up with always not using her paper release during fights only to keep it secret but she understood why it was needed.

    Rei nodded in acknowledgment. "We will be defecting during the war." Rei dropped a bomb. "I have a sneaking suspicion it''s not going to be good to be in Kiri after the war." He said and turned to Tsunade with a nod. "Root is really doing a good job."

    While Konan knew what ROOT was, she tilted her head, not understanding what Rei meant but Tsunade''s eyes widened. "You want to say they already work on preventing Kiri from attacking them?"

    "No... not Kiri. Not yet, at least but I was informed some border outposts of Iwa were attacked by people d in Suna shinobi attire. Funny that, since Suna has enough problems with itself since Rasa became the Kage as the Wind Daimyo utterly despises him and refuses to support the vige..." Rei chuckled. "Same with Kumo and Iwa border... this time, it is Kumo''s outposts attacked by ''Iwa-nin''. Peculiar how these people were always using fire Jutsu and were described as ''emotionless''." He shook his head. "I am sure there will be some kind of plot for Kiri too but Kiri is an even bigger threat than Kumo and Iwa to Konoha but on the other hand they have no confirmation that Kiri would actually really attack them so they will probably do something very covert and underhanded."

    Tsunade bit her fingernail in contemtion. "I have no idea what would Danzo do but I am sure Sarutobi-sensei would go for public unrest or something."

    Rei raised his eyebrows at her in surprise. ''Well, that would fit smashingly with the future situation, now, wouldn''t it?'' He thought in amus.e.m.e.nt. ''I am quite curious about how would they go about it though.''

    "That doesn''t matter. Kiri lost its value for us. There is nothing to gain for us here." Rei said and shrugged his shoulders. "So... off we will go."

 Chapter 86 - Ch86. Ringo 4

    <h4>Chapter 86 - Ch86. Ringo 4</h4>

    Tsunade was again alone at home because Rei, Konan, and Mei were on a mission. The pace of their missions was picking uptely and they rarely spent time in Kirigakure. It didn''t matter that much as Tsunade could only pop herself into Rei''s dimension if she missed them. She spent these alone times helping out in the hospital and today was no different.

    She was healing a civilian kid when one medic-nin called out to her. "Tsuna-san!" She turned around and looked at him. Seeing that, the man started speaking. "We just received a patient and she stated you as one of the people that could be informed of her state so I am calling you," He said and then turned towards the kid she was healing, "are you free right now?"

    Tsunade was baffled. She knew literally nobody in Kirigakure so she had no idea who it could have been. She nevertheless turned to the boy whose scr.a.p.ed knee she cured and smiled at him. "There, that should do it." She stood up and patted his head before turning to follow the medic-nin.

    They arrived near one hospital room and could hear a crash from inside which made them enter in a hurry. As Tsunade entered she could see Ringo sitting on the bed and a frightened nurse in the corner. Between them was broken ss and a few pills strewn on the ground. "I am fine!" Ringo said menacingly, making the nurse flinch but Tsunade could clearly see she was not fine. Her entire body was shivering and she was gritting her teeth, most likely in pain. Not to say about her unnatural paleness... the girl was a mess.

    Tsunade sighed in exasperation and marched closer to Ringo, she shoved her shoulders, making the unruly redhead flop into the bed and before Ringo could again sit down, Tsunade put her hand on her forehead, measuring her temperature while using her chakra to soothe the pain Ringo was in and diagnosing her state.

    Ringo at first wanted to scream at whoever pushed her but then she spotted the old blond woman who lived with Rei and calmed down. Reluctantly, she let the woman inspect her while letting her displeasure known with her huge pout.

    Tsunade was not happy with what she found. She red a bit at Ringo and asked. "How long?"

    "How long what..." Ringo petntly averted her gaze only to have her head grasped by Tsunade''s vice-grip and forcefully turned to look at her. Tsunade had an extremely stern gaze and it was spooking Ringo quite a lot, to be honest. In the end, she decided to answer truthfully. "Eight months." Ringo quietly said and ashamedly lowered her head.

    "Is that why you didn''t show up for an entire year?" Tsunade asked and Ringo nodded.

    "At first, I was ashamed after what Konan told me..." She trailed off and her eyesnded on the doctor and the nurse still present in the room. They quickly ran away however when Ringo showered them with her potent killing intent. Now that the room was empty, she decided to continue. "But she was right." Ringo sniffed and bit her lower lip. "Rei really can''t trust me."

    Tsunade was giving the girl a nk look as she heard her reason. For her, this was incredibly stupid. She surmised this was the age difference between them at y but to not show her face for a year for such a stupid reason... she could only sigh.

    "But three months passed and I started feeling off." Ringo continued, looking at the ceiling. "I..." That was when Tsunade decided to interrupt the girl. She had a very good idea of the state of the girl.

    "You idiot should havee to Rei straight away. Half of your body is dead already. You are alive only because of the strength and density of your chakra." She said, making Ringough a bit.

    "You are right. I was too stubborn." Ringo closed her eyes. "Would you please tell him I love him?" She asked Tsunade, hoping the woman would say ''yes''. Ringo was sure she would not step out of the hospital anymore. Nor did she expect to survive the end of the week. That''s why she told the medic-nin to call for somebody she knew. She wanted to... "On the desk are keys to my home. Please... return Rei his swords. Tell him I am very grateful for them." Ringo said with a fond look and Tsunade could clearly see the affection the girl had for Rei. She wanted nothing more than to say ''okay'' and let the dumb girl die but she couldn''t. Not when she saw Ringo was genuine in her feelings for Rei. Moreover, the girl was on the edge. Konan was not the only woman in the house who could manipte others...

    Tsunade again put her hand on Ringo''s forehead, making the girl give her a confused look. "Wha..."

    "I will cure you," Tsunade said, making Ringo''s eyes go wide but before she could speak, Tsunade continued, "I want you to think long and hard about your life. About your purpose. About what makes you happy. About what you should do." Tsunade said sternly and could see Ringo scrunch her face but nod in agreement. "Know that I don''t expect you to forsake Kiri after this." She said and Ringo looked at her bewildered. "I just want you to have a second chance at making this decision. Do you love Rei enough to forsake your loyalty to Kiri for him? Or will you, in the end, choose Kirigakure... that''s up to you."

    When she heard that, Ringo was opening and closing her mouth in speechlessness. The woman was basically telling her she had to have the resolve to be a traitor if she wanted to be with Rei. But Ringo always knew this was the case. Deep down, she always suspected...

    Tsunade didn''t care. She was to leave Kiri in a few days anyway so making her departure sooner wouldn''t matter. Moreover, her hunch that was responsible for her surviving most of her shinobi career was telling her to believe in Ringo. She decided to... gamble. "If you still decide to serve Kirigakure after this, you willpletely forsake any chance you could have had with Rei." Tsunade said curtly and pushed her Mystic Palm Technique chakra mixed with natural energy into Ringo''s body, revitalizing her cells to cure her. Ringo couldn''t even let out a sound from the intense feeling offort she was in as her body was again brought back to life.

    What Tsunade forgot to consider, was that Ringo was one of the very few people in the world with incredible senses even for a ninja. As Tsunade started healing her with nature energy, Ringo could clearly sense this special type of not-chakra and remembered its feel. Suddenly, the world opened to Ringo''s senses, and all around her, she could feel nature energy which made her astonished and a whole lot afraid. She was also very curious about who was the woman who healed her. Ringo always thought she was a civilian but this...

    Tsunade however didn''t notice the flicker of light in Ringo''s eyes as this information was filled into her brain forter. Right now, she had more important matters to consider. Tsunade felt the girl''s body was fully healed and pulled her hand away from Ringo. "Well... you are better than newer." She said and turned around to leave. As she was near the door, she briefly nced at the bewildered redhead who stared at her. " Do not disappoint me."

 Chapter 87 - Ch87. Ringo 5

    <h4>Chapter 87 - Ch87. Ringo 5</h4>

    Since she was healthy, Ringo came to inform the Mizukage about her return to duty...

    Entering the office, she could see the astonished look of the leader of the vige who was furrowing his brows at her. "Ringo... you are alright?" He asked with suspicion in his voice when he saw the girl walk in on her own feet. Something he would never think was possible. "I was told you would be unable to continue your ninja career."

    He knew she was sick. Actually, he was the first one who was informed two years ago that Ringo was sick. Same as he knew the medic-nin in the vige had no way to cure her and she most likely didn''t have even a year left. Unfortunately, it was right after she imed Kiba by killing the previous owner and it was impossible for him to order her to give the Kiba to someone else. That would make every single of the seven swordsmen pissed as all hell at him. The girl also refused all of his subtle ''advice'' to train an apprentice for Kiba des... something about being too young to train a brat. In the end, he was forced to make a medic-nin inform her about her disease in hopes it would make here to senses and pass on her techniques before passing on for real... Needless to say, that didn''t happen.

    But he took what he got. It was maddening that one of his S-ranking ninja... the youngest S-ranking ninja of Kiri if he didn''t count Rei and Konan since they weren''t born in the vige... was about to die before the war even started. He decided to make use of Ringo as much as he could and made her run assassination after assassination... maybe it did take away a lot of her strength but she was dying anyway. He saw no need to be gentle with her and resolved himself to make as much use of her superb skills as possible. Thankfully, her knowledge of her sickness only made the girl even madder and she didn''t stop going on missions. The Mizukage couldn''t help but admire the girl standing in front of him, to be honest. She should have been dead a year ago and yet, she is standing in front of him as if nothing out of ordinary was happening.

    Before Ringo could answer, the door flew open, and inside walked a man. When he saw Ringo calmly standing in front of the Mizukage, his eyes narrowed and he turned towards his leader with furrowed brows. "You told me the previous wielder of Kiba is weak and will not survive long." The man said and Ringo''s eyes narrowed. It was only then she saw ''her'' Kiba des strapped to the waist of the man. Suddenly, her worldpletely changed when she realized... she didn''t really mind. It was a revtion that made her widen her eyes and look speechlessly to the empty space for a second.

    The Mizukage saw her nk look and couldn''t help but curse as he could already see the fight for Kiba and knew one of his skilled ninjas would die for it! That''s why he got the surprise of his life from Ringo when she said. "It''s fine. You can keep Kiba." The Mizukage couldn''tprehend why Ringo gave the swords up but for him, it was incredibly lucky. They could kill each other for the des after the war... not like Ringo would survive the war in her condition. No matter how strong her will is, he really doubted that.

    Ringo would never think Kiba des were given to someone even before she died. For a swordsman, that was an insult of insane proportions and her giving up the des would actually show her unconfidence to win against the man she recognized as Raiga Kurosuki. But Ringo somehow didn''t care. She remembered a pair of swords... given to her by a man she loved that were superior even to Kiba des and her want to hold onto Kiba des was gone. She would let him have those...

    "I knew you would be a smart woman. A pity I won''t be able to attend your funeral." The man said with a sad undertone that pissed Ringo off but before she could quip something back, he just up and went away.

    The Mizukage opened his mouth and promptly closed it when he realized he would have to summon Raiga again as he had a mission for him... This was getting really troublesome.

    "I will take a year break from my shinobi duties. To make sure my health is okay during the uing war." She said with a humph. When the Mizukage heard that, he turned to Ringo and wanted to scream at her! What ''break''!? There was a war on the horizon!

    But he couldn''t do anything else other than say. "Okay." Ringo had a reputation and now that he lifted the secrecy on her sickness, many people knew it. If he forced her to take missions while knowing well she was sick... they could use it against himter on. He was also sure Rei wouldn''t be very happy about it... "Howe you are fine?" He asked her, knowing well such miracles really didn''t happen in this world.

    Ringo peered him directly into the eyes and mulled over her answer. She remembered herst two years of work for the vige and how dismissive of her the Mizukage was when she was thought to be sick... there was only one answer after considering all that. "I don''t know." She shrugged, deciding not to snitch on Tsuna. Ringo was not yet resolved to leave the vige but she would not be a puppet on strings for men like the Mizukage who would use her and throw her away at the first convenience. She thought her time with Rei taught her better as he always emphasized she needs to put her own safety before everything else but she was apparently wrong.

    The Mizukage obviously didn''t really believe that answer but he had no choice but to nod. "Well, then. Jonin Ameyuri, I allow you to take a year of vacation. You rightfully deserve it." He said but Ringo could hear the sour undertone in his voice and it made her sad. She gave this vige everything but nobody other than Rei really cared about a little orphan like her. Her only source of influence was her own strength and the status of the wielder of Kiba she just lost. And with that, she also lost her S-rank as a Kiba user without Kiba didn''t seem that threatening. In the end, her efforts for the vige didn''t bring her anysting recognition nor respect.

    She didn''t even think that these thoughts wereing from Rei''s teachings and how he always told her to not blindly trust others. She just never used it as she thought Kiri and its higher-ups could do no wrong. Apparently, she was wrong.

    Both she and the Mizukage stared at each other impassively before Ringo turned around and started walking towards the door when she heard the Mizukage''s voice. "Are you sure there is nothing you want to tell me, jonin Ameyuri?" She stopped in her tracks and slightly turned her head to take a proper look at the man. She instantly recognized the look he was giving her. Scheming, plotting, a look befitting of a Kage. It made her smile bitterly but it just strengthened the belief that only personal strength mattered in this world. She would have to be stronger. Pursing her lips, she answered before leaving the office.

    "No... not really."

 Chapter 88 - Ch88. Reis spy network

    <h4>Chapter 88 - Ch88. Rei''s spywork</h4>

    It was morning and Reiid in bed, kissingzily Konan, his hand sn.a.k.e.d around her shoulder, pressing her to his side as they still sleepily enjoyed themselves. Just then, Rei shuddered and groaned while pressing his forehead on Konan''s, tightening his embrace. It took a while for him to stop quivering and then he turned his head down, looking at Tsunade''s smug face peeking from the sheets as sheid her b.r.e.a.s.ts on his belly, supporting her chin with her hands.

    "Liked?" She teased while licking her lips and Rei narrowed his eyes at her. Only his sincere small smile betrayed his feelings on the matter as he didn''t deem it necessary to answer her. His free hand quickly found its way onto her head, patting her which made Tsunade blush.

    "Good girl." Rei quipped jokingly but both girls quieted down for a second as he said it. Before he could ask them what''s wrong, Konan assaulted his lips again and Tsunade dragged herself up against his body until her mouth was close to his neck and started to hungrily trail kisses all over his neck. Rei could only hug them and use the meager amount of effort he was capable of mustering to try to fight back.

    It took him a good hour until he lost and the trio dropped utterly exhausted to the sheets after a very satisfying morning ''exercise''. Rei was affectionately caressing the hair of both girls thatid with their heads in the crook of his neck, smiling in contentment.

    "Rei~," Tsunade cooed and arched her head back to get a good look at his face. "Anything new about the situation with ROOT?"

    It was already more than a year since Mei graduated and the war was getting increasingly closer. She already left Kirigakure... apparently went to visit her parents... or at least that was the official story for the Mizukage. But she hasn''t yet gone to Konoha. She spent this year in their dimension, perfecting her medical and fighting skills. One could never be too careful and Tsunade didn''t know if anything unnned happened and she had to fight her way out of Konoha.

    Rei looked at her with a sigh. "Yes... Most of it is just guesswork but the merchants of Biri-Biripany actually got quite a bit of intel about their actions. Apparently, the rumors spreading through the country are the work of ROOT."

    This time, even Konan was awoken from her pleasure-induced dozing off as she heard that. "You mean the rumors that make the civilians fear and hate the bloodline ns?"

    "Well... yeah." Rei nodded.

    "But that''s not all rumors." Konan stated dryly. "Kaguya really do attack viges and deserve nothing but be killed off to thest of them."

    Konan really didn''t like the Kaguya n due to their ''traditions''. Anywhere else this n would be killed off years ago but because of the treaty they had with the previous Mizukage and partly because of the pressure of the other ns who had no other choice but to do so or a precedent of having the n treaties broken would be created, the Kaguya n was protected here despite doing many crimes.

    Once per year, they would attack an unsuspecting vige killing all inhabitants except the really unlucky ones. The unlucky ones were mostly strong-looking males and females between ten to thirty years of age.

    The men had a straightforward future from that point on. They were thrown into arenas made to make the children of the Kaguya n more experienced inbat and killing. It was simr to the arena of the Kirigakure except they fought civilians rather than real ninjas. Needless to say, it was a massacre and these men didn''t have a long life expectancy.

    The females were different. They were used to satisfy the Kaguya males'' more brutal s.e.x.u.a.l fantasies. They also were used to ''teach'' the teens of the Kaguya n their ''traditions'', as they called it. It was a miserable life.

    "Yes, but that''s beside the point. Kaguya is an exception. You can''t really say every n is bad because one is too brutal for their own good." Rei said. "These rumors will impact every n, not only the Kaguya one. It''s actually quite a good and subtle way of destabilizing the situation in the country. If they really had a bit more time... three more years would suffice, Kiri would be unable to join the war due to internal strife."

    "A pity the puppet boy will get impatient and kill the third Kazekage," Konan smirked. "which would start the war three years sooner than everyone ns."

    Yes... everyone was preparing for a war that will start in three years. Except, Rei knew the war would start in a few months. That will really put a stopper to a mind-boggling number of ns. He knew that even the Mizukage was nning a long-term invasion of thend of fire but if his foreknowledge was to be trusted, there will be no such thing.

    "Yeah... Danzo is efficient like that." Tsunade quippedzily, cuddling to Rei. "I am quite amazed he managed to make a conflict between Iwa and Suna, and Iwa and Kumo, and now he is even mixing the waters of Kiri with potential civil war. That man is dangerous..." She sighed as this just made her reaffirm the fact that her going to Konoha was a good decision. Well, not like she will spend her nights anywhere else than in the bed with Rei, in his embrace. All was well... "If those rumors actually take a ''root''," Tsunade giggled. "the ns will be despised by the public, therefore cutting their revenue short. Kiri ns are not like those in Konoha that actually manage arge number of businesses all across the Land of Fire."

    That was a thing that surprised Rei quite a lot. ording to Tsunade, the ns in Konoha had a lot to do with the economy of the country too. Nara had a monopoly on pharmaceutics for example. It was a surprise because when he did research on various businesses of the Land of Fire, he never got even an inkling of something like this. Thepanies had nothing to do with these ns at first nce. It was only when Tsunade exined to him that the ns are the leaders in the shadows behind thosepanies he understood the ns in Konoha had way more influence than it seemed. They were an integral part of the Land of Fire by now.

    "Somehow, I think that''s exactly what''s gonna happen and lead to a civil war in Kiri." Konan deadpanned, giving Rei a knowing look. He always had an idea what will happen next and she had no doubt this ''let''s leave Kiri'' had a deeper reason than ''there is nothing of value for us left here''. Rei just shrugged with a smile at her while leaning closer for a kiss.

    After they finished their kiss he bumped her forehead with his. "Sure... you can think of it like that." He pecked her lips again and turned to Tsunade. "And you! Stop talking about these things. We are in bed and have more important things on our to-do list than discuss some one-eyed creep!" He admonished her yfully to which she lowered her head.

    "You are right." Tsunade said in a sad voice and gave Rei a regretful expression that made him soften inside. He only meant it as a joke but Tsunade apparently took it seriously. But as he was about to apologize, he could feel Tsunade''s thighs surround his mini-me and Tsunade''s face instantly lit up with a mischievous smile. "Then... let me ''repent'' and start doing these ''important'' things." She said in a seductive voice.

    "Ha? Not fair!" Konan poutily eximed and Rei found himself being double-teamed yet again. Yeah... who cared about the war when he had such divine mornings!

 Chapter 89 - Ch89. Tsunades date

    <h4>Chapter 89 - Ch89. Tsunade''s date</h4>

    Author Note: Firstly, I would like to say a few words... feel free to skip it if you want.

    I thought about this story and somehow, I feel as if I was lowering the quality of the rtionship between Konan and MC which is alright since this is a harem story and their rtionship will naturally stop being such a pivotal part of the story. The problem is I didn''t write any ''rtionship'' showing chapter in quite a while.

    Same thing for Tsunade as I didn''t really give her enough attention in the story and her interaction with Rei might feel a bitckl.u.s.ter inparison to Konan. Which, in my opinion, is also fine as Konan is the Main Female Lead while Tsunade is an ''ordinary'' or ''second'' female lead.

    But I decided to correct this in the next chapters.

    The war arc is starting and I n to give it the next 20 or so chapters (I am sure I will most likely overshoot it) and I decided to mix it with deepening the rtionship with the girls along with other war-rted things.

    Hopefully, I will manage :D.

    Thx for reading my rant. Have a nice day.

    ----------

    Rei and Tsunade were walking through the streets of the Capital of the Land of Water, hand in hand. Both had a slight henge on themselves that slightly changed their features like eye-color or the shade of their hair. The Mizukage had too many ''eyes'' all over the Capital for Rei and Tsunade toe while lookingpletely like themselves. But small changes were enough for their date.

    Tsunade tightly squeezed Rei''s hand, happy that Rei took her on a date. This was her alone time with Rei and she was all for enjoying it! Konan, Rei, and her mostly spend the time together, doing whatever but she and Konan made a ''deal''. Both would have some alone time with Rei. When they were together, they felt like a family and it was warm and pleasant for Tsunade... but when she was alone with Rei, she felt special and unique. Neither she nor Konan was okay with losing such a precious feeling so this ''tradition'' was made.

    Tsunade leaned closer to Rei, hugging his arm. He turned to her with a slight smile and tenderly asked. "What''s up?"

    Tsunade just shook her head. "I am just happy." She said, not minding the surrounding people looking at them.

    Rei also didn''t care about the spectators and affectionately captured her lips into a slow, chaste kiss while his free hand gently cupped her chin. After a while, they separated and Rei said. "I am d you are happy, Tsu." He smiled at her, making Tsunade avert her gaze by lowering her head. Rei chuckled at the small pink dusting on her cheeks and continued walking while making sure Tsunade wouldn''t stumble due to his abrupt movement.

    The rest of their journey was spent infortable silence until they finally arrived at the restaurant. Tsunade''s eyes widened when she saw the luxurious exterior and she pursed her lips at Rei. "Are you sure you want to spend so much..." She worriedly asked. Sure, she was Senju, and spending money was in her nature almost as much as spamming trees but she didn''t feel alright making Rei spend money on her.

    Rei just amusedly rolled his eyes at her, snaking his hand around her waist and weakly pushing her forward. "You know best how much money Biri-Biripany makes. Where would I spend my money if not on you?" He whispered into her ear, making Tsunade straighten herself up and bite her lower lip.

    In the end, she decided to ept it and grinned. "Then... today we will go to a casino!" She eximed happily, her sparkling eyes peering pleadingly at him. Rei chuckled at her childish joy and gave her an acknowledging nod. Despite Tsunade not being a drunk nor a gambling addict, she liked to have a bit of sake and a good night of gambling from time to time. Rei supposed it was just in her nature.

    Their time in the restaurant was very enjoyable as the food was already waiting for them on the table since Rei ordered it a half-hour earlier with his clone. He and Tsunade chatted about various topics, neither touching the current situation nor anything that would make the other lose the good mood. It was a pleasant light banter while eating delicious food.

    After that, Rei, with great reluctance, decided to fulfill his promise and took Tsunade into the casino where he proceeded to lose twenty million of Ryo... Well, at least Tsunade''s image while her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth in concentration and anticipation while gambling was nice. Rei knew Tsunade was on edge due to his request of her going to help Konoha so he supposed letting her gamble a bit of his money while sitting in hisp and demanding him to tightly hold her was a good stress relief for his Tsu. He also couldn''tin as every time she lost, she would need a long consoling kiss that made almost all people around to turn away from them in embarrassment. All in all, both he and Tsu had loads of fun in the casino.

    It was already ate evening and the couple decided it was time to go home. They transported themselves into their personal dimension,nding near the sofa. Tsunade was however slightly drunk and she ''conveniently'' stumbled, pushing Rei''s back onto the sofa as shended on him, pressing her chest into his. "I enjoyed it today." She slowly slurred, making sure it sounded as s.e.xy as her juicy, slowly moving lips.

    "I did too." Rei said, his eyes desperately trying to stay on Tsunade''s amber orbs and not to fall onto her red lips. His handsnded on her h.i.p.s, snaking under her clothes as he caressed Tsunade''d skin with his fingers coated with the soothing water chakra that made her shudder. "I think the enjoyment didn''t cease yet." Rei quipped flippantly.

    The only response he received was Tsunade''s hand on his cheek as he could see her big amber eyes expectantly peer at him and could feel Tsunade''s body getting hotter by the second. It didn''t take long for their lips to hungrily connect and not longter, the entire house resounded with long m.o.a.ns and l.u.s.tful panting. Both of them used their water chakra and medical chakra respectively to pleasure the other for hours on end, gaining another memorable night together. The entire room was drenched in their juices as they in the early morning finally fell asleep in the warm and loving embrace.

    ...

    Tsunade groggily opened her eyes, frowning as she missed something significant, A bit of shuffling in her sleepy head, she recognized what it was and groaned while rolling on the bed to confirm her guess. Rei was missing. What she missed was his body heat as he unknowingly fondled her b.r.e.a.s.t from behind while they slept. She woke up to that feeling so many times that now she missed feeling it. Her left hand reached towards her right b.r.e.a.s.t, squeezing it as her frown grew. "Couldn''t you wait until I wake up to leave the bed... baka." She quietly whined, without any real heat behind it. With another annoyed groan, Tsunade sat up into the lotus position, stretching her body and feeling the pleasant morning ache fromst night''s activity. She looked down at her crotch and huffed while crossing her arms under her n.a.k.e.d ample b.r.e.a.s.ts. "I really need a shower..."

    A slightlyter than a half-hourter, Tsunade finally entered the kitchen after her long shower, d in a loose white shirt that was clinging to her body due to being a bit wet, not letting anything to the imagination and very short shorts that showed her plump thighs perfectly, Her long blonde hair was let loose on her back as two bangs marred her face while she rubbed her towel on her head, trying to dry her hair. Her bare feet pitter-pattered towards Rei who was gaping at her and Tsunade''s face split into a blooming smile of satisfaction as her hands released the towel, letting it fall onto the ground while she put her arms around his neck, her body leaning into his and her lips instantly going for the kiss.

    "Good morning." She said, her forehead not leaving Rei''s as her amber orbs expectantly stared into his startled emerald ones, taking great enjoyment in taking him off-guard. She was literally showering in his attention and loved every second of it. ''Taking a bit smaller size of the shirt was so worth it!'' Tsunade giddily thought while being overly aware of Rei''s hands on her h.i.p.s.

    "Hi, beautiful," Rei whispered after he finally got out of his stupor and pecked her lips in retaliation. ''Damn... she is gorgeous.'' He thought with an audible gulp. "Er... I made breakfast?" Rei said, still unable to stop undressing her with his eyes but he decided that if he had to be a pervert, he would at least feed his girl while perving on her.

    Tsunade giggled at him and happily nodded. Of course, she could smell the bacon and eggs even in the bedroom. She mischievously pursed her lips before quietly saying. "Carry me."

    Rei smirked. The girl wanted to y so he decided to humor her. His hands on her h.i.p.s suddenly heaved her up while she girlishly shrieked at the unexpected movement. Tsunade found herself blinking in confusion as she was being carried towards the table on Rei''s shoulders like a sack of potatoes, making her childishly pout and p his butt. "I didn''t mean this way!" She eximed as her hair freely fell towards the floor, almost sweeping it.

    "Sorry, dear. I might have misunderstood." Rei said in a sing-song voice while also gently patting Tsunade''s posterior, making her exim in surprise. "Also, I wouldn''t engage in a spanking contest if I was you. I hold," As he said it, he made sure to squeeze her left ass-cheek tightly, "all advantages." He finished with glee, unknowingly making Tsunade into a blushing mess as her face turnedpletely red. Tsunade decided to let him do whatever he wanted with her.

    That was when Konan entered the room and instantly raised her eyebrow as she saw Tsunan bend over Rei''s shoulder while he had his hand on her butt. The right corner of her lips curled into a sensual smirk as she spoke. "Was our Tsunade a naughty girl?"

    Both Rei and Tsunade just awkwardly blinked at Konan, a bit embarrassed due to the position they were found in but quickly shook it off. "You just had to show up." Tsunade huffed in irritation while pouting. She had such a nice start and they were already half-way through the teasing stage too! It wouldn''t take long to eat breakfast and then... then she was sure she could have aroused Rei enough to take her right on the kitchen table! But Konan had to ruin it...

    Konan just smiled knowingly at Tsunade. "I am sorry, sis." She amusedly uttered with exaggerated eye-roll, her flippant voice showing just how ''sorry'' she was. "You had your alone time with Rei yesterday." Konan shrugged, making Tsunade let out a loud whine and thrash her body on Rei''s shoulder to vent her frustration until Rei decided he had enough and reminded her that her butt was in the striking zone of his hand.

    "Shhh." Rei shushed the pouting Tsunade and turned to Konan with a serious gaze. He knew Konan liked Tsunade like a sister so she would never interrupt their morning without a good reason. Konan noticed his look and nodded while taking an envelope from the inside pocket of her coat.

    "Karubo sends his regards alongside with his report..." Konan said, her teasing smirk morphing into a weary smile. "The war... has started."

 Chapter 90 - Ch90. War starting and talking business.

    <h4>Chapter 90 - Ch90. War starting and talking business.</h4>

    "... the war has started."

    He heard Konan and stopped in his tracks for a moment. When he finally recollected himself, with a great sigh, he put his hands on Tsunade''s h.i.p.s and heaved her from his shoulder, putting her on her own feet.

    Tsunade was not happy with that message either. It meant she would have to stop finding excuses on why to stay by Rei''s side and return to Konoha. She wanted nothing more than to snarl ''f.u.c.k you, bitch'' at her past self who proimed she would go there but on the other side, she also wanted to help Rei by going there.

    While she was conflicted, Rei walked towards the table and tapped the backrest of the chair in front of him to signalize the women to sit down. Both listened and the trio found themselves eating the breakfast in silence. When they were finally done, Konan started talking again.

    "Karubo sent a word that the third Kazekage disappeared and Suna is specting it''s the work of Iwa... they are preparing for an attack, bolstering their border outposts."

    "But that would lead to tension which would lead to..." Tsunade started bewildered.

    "To an actual attack. Yes." Konan finished with a nod. "This is only my guess based on their previous behavior but I am pretty sure ROOT will also try to start these hostilities sooner. They will try to make Iwa and Suna fight to get more time for preparations. But Konoha doesn''t have an effective way of getting intelligence from Iwa. At least, not from the high ces. " Konan sighed. "Iwa''s higher-ups are pretty much ready and if the hostilities start, they will immediately dere war against Konoha so this move is counter-productive."

    Rei just hummed in acknowledgment and tapped his finger on the table while he pondered. The war didn''t start just ''yet'' but it was already inevitable since Iwa and Suna would give the first shots. There was only one thing he had to care about, however. "And our merchants?" He asked Konan who only smiled.

    "As you ordered, they retreated to the safety of capital cities." She said, making Rei nod.

    This war was a major opportunity for Biri-Biripany to climb higher and be a lot wealthier. Their main focus became seals and each country needed those. None would dare to attack them covertly as it would basically mean forfeiting their right to buy from Biri-Biripany.

    Their seals were way too advanced for anyone to try offending them and losing the opportunity to buy them. Their Storage Seals could store even a limited amount of food for an entire month. They sold Healing Tags that may not heal anyone with injuries more serious than a few scratches but instead, could stabilize an injured long enough for him to reach the medic. They also had Explosive Tags, Night Vision Tags, Short-Range Communication Tags, and much more. This war will be fought with seals from the Biri-Biripany.

    Rei was okay with that. While Mr. Biri-Biri owned some stock from Biri-Biripany, that was only for the department that dealt with electrical appliances. Anything with seals or other things belonged solely to Rei. The best part, Rei doesn''t even need to worry about any assassination attempt as the only known owner is Mr. Biri-Biri and Rei''s identity is still a mystery. Heck, thepany is even named after Mr. Biri-Biri...

    Rei made sure to change the headquarters in the Capital of the Water Country into a normal branch and shuffle the headquarters all over the Nations, making it impossible to know which branch was the real one. And Mr. Biri-Biri was a research maniac when it came to electrical gadgets therefore he was always hidden in the headquarters. There was literally no target for any assassin the Kages could send. Rei was well aware the Kages must hate hispany due to them supplying seals to each country and not only them but he long ago made contingencies through deals with Daimyos so they could do nothing to thepany and its employees itself.

    More so now when they were in the capital cities. These cities were ''protected'' by various treaties and even during the war, they would not be disturbed. Daimyos wanted their peace, after all. This was a Shinobi War and was mainly fought among shinobi.

    The world still revolved around money and even during the war, shinobi could not anger their future clients. Only poor and small countries had no ''voice'' to be able to threaten the shinobi viges.

    Konan was really helpful when she went through the transactions of the Big Five and found out, these countries basically economically suppress the countries in between them in order to create a perfect battlefield for ninjas. This way, the war would be unlikely to be fought exclusively on their territory and most of it would happen outside of their country. Rei had to admit it was quite a sly move.

    Rei suddenly stood up. "Wait for a second." He said and went outside of the kitchen only to return five minutester with a package in his hand. He marched his way towards Tsunade and put the package in front of her. "Despite being able to see each other every day, you will be leaving for Konoha." He told her with a tender smile decorating his face. "I prepared a gift for you."

    Tsunade opened her mouth in bewilderment while Konan covered her smile with her fan, her mirthful eyes staring at Tsunade''s giddy amber eyes staring at the box with a child-like wonder. She was honestly surprised the blonde was not bouncing in her seat. After a while, Tsunade finally opened the box and a pair of fingerless gloves greeted her. Her eyebrows rose high as she spotted a cute engraving of a bear on them, making her unconsciously smile. She remembered those...

    "I saw you look at a simr pair in the store," Rei said, "so I had these made. They have special metal padding made from chakra metal and the material is the most durable, flexible, andfortable leather found on the market. Only best for my teddy bear." He said and embraced her from behind and kissed her cheek.

    "Thank you." Tsunade quietly said, biting her lower lip and putting her hand onto his. Tsunade was embarrassed because she indeed liked a simr pair of gloves in the store a few weeks ago but she had no idea Rei noticed. She remembered herself cooing, of all things, and just the thought of him seeing her like that... She lowered her head even more, groan tearing out of her throat from embarrassment.

    "I think it''s cute." Konan quipped teasingly. "And it fits perfectly too... You are violent, brash, and easily annoyed." Konan said and Tsunade''s embarrassment evaporated in the second. Rei wisely released her from the embrace and stepped backward.

    "What did you say!?" She screamed at Konan, abruptly standing up and smacked her hands on the table while ring at Konan.

    "Exactly my point." Konan smiled, making Tsunade open her mouth in speechlessness. "But don''t worry, little bear. We love you despite your ws." She snickered when Tsunade just huffed and flopped back into the chair, trying to ignore Konan''sughter

    Rei sat next to Konan and watched Tsunade happily try on her new gloves as a soft happy smile decorated her face since this was the first present he gave her that wasn''t for her birthday. Rei leaned closer to Konan and whispered. "You really enjoy teasing her, don''t you?"

    "No, no..." Konan amusedly snorted. "I only do it because I enjoy how she runs to you and demands cuddles every time she gets butthurt because of my remarks." She said, snaking her arm around Rei''s and before he could realize it, she kissed him. "After all, as a loving partner, I have to make sure you have your daily quota of cuddling." She quipped.

    "Sure you do..." Rei smiled and returned the kiss. As he saw the happy faces of Konan and Tsunade, he decided to get through this war and then create a safe haven for himself and his family. These happy and leisure moments were what really mattered, after all.

 Chapter 91 - Ch91. Tsunades return to Konoha

    <h4>Chapter 91 - Ch91. Tsunade''s return to Konoha</h4>

    ''tap, tap, tap''

    The Hokage''s eyes fluttered groggily open after he pulled yet another all-nighter, trying to deduce the ns of the other Kages and form his own.

    ''tap, tap, tap''

    It was a grueling task but such was war. And this one was inevitable.

    ''tap, tap, tap''

    His mood plummeted down as his ears were assaulted by the unceasing tapping noise that woke him up. He was tired, irritated, and not feeling in a mood for jokes. He abruptly straightened and shouted at whoever dared to disrupt his rest. "Shut the f.u.c.k up!" His face was morphed into an angry scowl that would send a lesser man running for his life but...

    Hiruzen froze when he saw Tsunade in front of him. Her eyebrow was twitching as her feet stopped tapping the floor, scowl forming on her face. He could see a faint outline of chakra form on her fist, making him gulp.

    ''Gotta change the topic fast!'' Hiruzen mentally shrieked and outwardly, his lips bloomed into a pleasant grandfatherly smile. "Ah, Tsunade-cha..." He stopped mid-word when Tsunade narrowed her eyes and cleverly corrected himself. "...san. What brings you here?" Hiruzen swept the room with his eyes as he wondered where his ANBU guards were. He doubted they wouldn''t jump at Tsunade the second they saw the chakra outline forming on her fist but surprisingly, no one tried. It was then his gaze turned to a deadpan one as he saw four bruised bodies in the corner of the room. Hiruzen quickly recognized them as his ANBU guards.

    ''Are they too, too old for this shit? Maybe I should pick younger guards?'' Hiruzen mused.

    "Cut the crap, Sensei. I came to help Konoha in the uing war." Tsunade said and Hiruzen''s expression lit up, already thinking where to deploy her when shepletely dashed his hope. "I will only help out in the hospital though. Don''t count on me fighting." Tsunade said as she uncaringly flopped into the chair for guests and started inspecting her nails.

    Hiruzen''s eyebrows furrowed. "Tsunade... as a ninja of Konoha you have to listen to the Hokage. If I order you to lead a unit, you will lead the unit!" He sternly spoke but Tsunade just rolled her eyes at him in dismissal.

    "And if I don''t?" She askedzily, making Hiruzen almost have a heart attack. His hunch was telling him he would regret taking a forceful approach but despite it, he decided to utter his next sentence. He was still too used to obedient Tsunade he remembered from years ago.

    "Then you will bebeled a nuke-nin." He said with a severe expression but contrary to his expectations, Tsunade was asid-back as before, still minding her nails more than him.

    "Then I will bebeled a nuke-nin. If Konoha doesn''t need me, I will be going." She shrugged with a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt on her face and started standing up, only for Hiruzen to stare at her in utter bewilderment with his mouth wide open, notprehending what just happened. It was when Tsunade was already walking towards the door his mind turned nk and only with his long, long experience of being Kage did he resist the urge to groan.

    ''I am too old for this shit.''

    ...

    Tsunade stepped through the front door of the hospital and was instantly greeted by a ck missile impacting her chest. She raised her eyebrow when she realized it was Shizune.

    "Master!" Shizune was hugging Tsunade and the people started whispering... Tsunade was sure there would be some pretty steamy rumors flowing tomorrow. This was Konoha, after all. "I missed you!" Shizune beamed as she arched her head to get a proper look at Tsunade and her eyes teared up. "I thought I would never see you since you were sick."

    The corner of Tsunade''s mouth twitched as she remembered how ''mothering'' her apprentice was and she could only sigh as she started patting her head. "Well... apparently not." She shrugged. "Not like it wasn''t a close call."

    Her voice was loud enough that the entire hall of the hospital heard it, stopping in their tracks, wondering what kind of sickness could almost kill the best medic in the world. Shuddering thoughts.

    "Anyway..." Tsunade''s expression turned awkward. "I am here to-" She started but Shizune interrupted her by pinning the badge of the Head of Hospital on her haori.

    "Yes, we know, Master." Shizune said with a gentle smile and Tsunade couldn''t help but feel extremely proud of herself while thinking.

    ''I raised her so well!''

    ...

    The news about Tsunade Senju returning to Konoha spread through the vige in a heartbeat. While most vigers happily celebrated, in the council room the mood was somber.

    "Hiruzen, what do you mean she refused to be amander?" Danzo asked stoically and his cheek slightly twitched but most people inside knew that simple gesture showed just how irritated he was.

    "Exactly as I said." The Third Hokage''s shoulders slumped. "She wasn''t even deterred by bing a nuke-nin."

    The entire room quieted down when they heard this. There was a reason why she was allowed to roam free or why she could just say ''f.u.c.k, Konoha'' and have no repercussions as long as she didn''t work against Konoha itself. It wasn''t her status as thest of the founding n. Tsunade was one of their heroes of the second war. Her poprity was enormous even now, a decade after the event.

    Hiruzen nor the council would ever let her roam free if they could help it. She was the best medic in the world! Her value was enormous. In some ways, Hiruzen would admit her to be more important than even himself. It was her knowledge about poisons that single-handedly won them the Suna/Konoha front in the second war. The situation with Tsunade was too problematic. If theybeled her as nuke-nin, every single vige would fight and promise whatever she wanted only for her to join them. That had to be avoided, hence, she was given permission to go on her ''vacation'' after the second war.

    Not to say, if one of the Sannin suddenly became a nuke-nin, it would create a much bigger problem than just having a strong ninja on the run. The councilors could only grit their teeth when they imagined the political shitstorm and public unrest that would start if one of their legends did something like this. Even Daimyo could be involvedˇ­ and their shady deals would be much, much harder to conceal.

    "Fortunately, she decided to take her spot as the head of the hospital back and is currently ''cleaning up'' the ce." Hiruzen tried to make the mood better.

    It was then the door swung open as a body of ANBU flew straight through them, skidding on the floor all the way in front of the table. Tsunade walked in as if nothing happened, making the political leaders of Konoha inside bbergasted. Only the Uchiha patriarch was enraged enough to react. "Senju! What is the meaning of this?" He shouted but Tsunade just ignored him and sat in a chair.

    Hiruzen''s eyes widened. Tsunade just sat into the chair belonging to the Head of the Senju n which meant...

    "I am thest Senju, Uchiwawa. That obviously makes me the head of my n." Tsunade rolled her eyes at the arrogant prick and started reading a book,pletely ignoring the people around her. When the silence didn''t cease even after three minutes, Tsunade let out an annoyed sigh and raised her head to look at the Third Hokage. "Feel free to continue." She told him in deadpan, finally snapping him out of it. The meeting, awkwardly continued.

    ''Well... infiltration sess, I guess.''

    ----

    Okay, the war from Rei''s perspective will start the next chapter. I just want to say this is AU so don''t expect me to spend hours studying what happened during it. I have a few events I will add... As you could see, I mentioned Sasori killing the 3rd Kazekage which started the war which is totally AU... Basically, I want to avoid people nitpicking on details so I am saying this beforehand.

 Chapter 92 - Ch92. The Nagori Isles 1

    <h4>Chapter 92 - Ch92. The Nagori Isles 1</h4>

    The war started and the fights were intensifying by the day. Rei had many reports from his spies sh merchants about happenings and various rumors that flooded the capital cities. From there, it wasn''t really that hard to depict what was going on. He might not have a full ount and surely many important events evaded the civilians who were spying for him but then again, he didn''t really need military secrets. Most of his intel was guesswork created through the recounting of purchases of various viges but at least 70% was actually spot-on. After all, a vige couldn''t really organize a military action without enough supplies and hispany was selling the best seals in the world.

    That''s why Rei, Konan, and Mei, the newly dubbed team Downpour, knew exactly what to expect on their first mission in this war. The Mizukage kept them in the vige for the first three months as the conflicts started escting and now, he deployed them as reinforcements to a remote region made of isles near the Land of Lightning which held almost zero interest to the Land of Water or Kirigakure.

    Rei was frowning for the entire way, trying to discern what was the n of the old grouch but he was shooting nks. He might not know what was the end-game but for this mission, he had his guesses and he didn''t like them at all...

    "What''s bothering you?" Rei heard a voice calling out on him from behind. He didn''t need to turn around to know who it was, after all, he trained her for years.

    "Ringo? What are you doing here?" Rei asked incredulously. The past two years, Ringo was avoiding him like a gue. Only with a heavy heart did he slowly ept her distancing herself from him so he had no idea why she approached him now of all times. "Shouldn''t you be in themander''s tent... I don''t know...manding?"

    Ringo chuckled at his question and sat next to him. Both were now sitting on the edge of the roof of a very high lighthouse on the main Ind of Nagori Isles, the ce where the Mizukage apparently chose to make a forward base for the Kiri forces.

    "Maybe..." She nodded and leaned her head on Rei''s shoulder, startling him. "I am sorry." Ringo quietly said, gazing forward without turning to Rei despite feeling his eyes intently peering at her face. "I... started seeing things and-." She tried to push the emotion-filled words out of her but had quite a problem doing so as she clutched her hands.

    "Ringo are you high?" Rei worriedly but bluntly asked in a deadpan tone. Not once during the years did the wild tomboy behave like a meek and bashful, nostalgic kitten. Something was clearly wrong. Rei narrowed his eyes at Ringo and added. "You are clearly not drunk... did you start smoking weed or something? You know you shouldn''t do that during a war. Kusa is known for poisoning the weed they export during wartimes." He ranted, not paying attention to Ringo anymore as the words flew from his mouth, making her more and more exasperated by the second.

    Rei only stopped when Ringo took his cheeks into her hands and suddenly, he could feel himself being pulled forward and his eyes widened as his lipsnded on Ringo''s. It was a gentle and awkward kiss. Rei''s mind went nk when he felt her silky and soft lips, his heart beating hard from the surprise.

    Ringo pulled back with her cheeks dyed crimson and her brown eyes contently sparkling. "Shut up." She said with utter happiness in her voice before her hands embraced Rei''s torso and she put her head onto his chest.

    It took a few moments for Rei to snap out of it and when he did, he saw the small cute woman tightly clutching him which made him smile. "Now I am certain you smoked something." He sighed jokingly but his real feelings were conveyed by his hand that tenderlynded on Ringo''s head, caressing her hair. Rei was smiling contently as he was staring into the horizon while feeling Ringo''s warmth but inwardly, his mind was in deep sadness knowing it wouldn''tst as Ringo would not betray Kiri.

    As if feeling his distress, Ringo started talking. "The Mizukage doesn''t trust us." She said out of nowhere in a quiet and sad tone. Rei raised an eyebrow at that because he would never expect these words toe out of her mouth. "Every S-rank shinobi of Kirigakure was given the rank ofmander but you, me, and Konan." Ringo continued.

    "But you are themander here." Rei said but his face was now smirking in relief that Ringo finally started using her own brain instead of believing everything the Mizukage told her. Maybe she still could be persuaded to join the ''light side''.

    Hering him, Ringo rolled her eyes but didn''t lift her forehead from his chest. "As if. I have two hundred people in this base that is too far away from anywhere Kiri would be able to send reinforcements once the fighting begins. Moreover, these inds are only a few kilometers away from the coasts of the Land of Lightning..."

    "Well, the team Downpour was called here because ording to Kiri spies, this base here will be attacked." Rei said offhandedly while nodding. He knew her worries well and they were not unfounded. By now, they were bunkering down and waiting for Kumo troops to show up.

    "The problem is we have no idea how many and who Kumo will send." Ringo stated, her voice growing weaker and weaker. Rei could feel her shuffling her head and looked down, only to be greeted with big brown eyes of Ringo, looking at him with affection apparent inside of them. "If this goes south, I want you to run." Ringo said, tightening the hold on his torso.

    Rei softly smiled and pecked her nose. "Don''t worry. Kumo will certainly send at the very least over thousand shinobi led by several S-rankers." He whispered calmingly. At first, Ringo calmed down due to his tone but when her brain processed what he said... Rei however continued speaking with a smirk when he saw her eyes widening. "After all, a little birdie not belonging to Kiri whispered to me that the Kumo received a missile about our numbers and that three S-rank shinobi of Kiri are here... far from home, outnumbered, and outkunaied." Rei added a bit of dramatic ir into his voice, shaking his head in mock disbelief. "Apparently the Mizukage''s main goal is Kumo too! Who would have guessed..." He snorted.

    Ringo wasn''t stupid. She knew tactics and strategy. She just preferred to disregard them most of the time. After all, she wasn''t the type to lead troops. She was a fighter, not a leader. But even then she clearly understood the message Rei was giving her by being so sarcastic. "We are a bait." She said with realization apparent in her eyes but then stopped herself. "Wait... your flight." Ringo gulped, still in disbelief at what her mind was telling her. "Only team Downpour has means of running away for sure. I have a fifty-fifty chance of survival depending on who Kumo will send. Even I can''t fight an army alone." Ringo was biting her fingernail while droning on. "The two hundred shinobi under mymand were sent here to be ughtered..."

    "Which would mean ''The End'' for your reputation in the vige. Well, if you survive and get back to Kiri, that is." Rei shrugged, getting a gaping look from Ringo. "After all, you are themander. It''s your duty to call for retreat." He said and looked towards the sea with amus.e.m.e.nt. Despite the ability to walk on water, ninjas had to use boats for naval warfare. Clearly, the boats Ringo received to get here were not the fastest sort.

    "Son of a bitch." Ringo breathlessly stated. Yes... if she called for a retreat now, she would be regarded as a coward. If she called for a retreat mid-battle, her forces would be ughtered due to slow boats. Not many if any would survive. This was one massive death trap and the only one who would easily ''dodge'' it was Rei''s team... "Oh." Ringo was hit with a realization and looked at their position. She was hugging Rei and he was returning the hug with head pats. "I... The Mizukage is counting on you saving me, isn''t he." She inly said with a dry tone.

    "Yes... that he clearly is. Having a ruined reputation doesn''t mean your skill would drop. You would be still an S-rank and a very important killing tool for the vige. Just look at how many people you assassinated already, making this war easier for Kiri. It would be only your influence in the vige politics and respect of the vige that would disappear." Rei told her. "A clever n, indeed."

    "But if we are the bait..." Ringo''s brows furrowed and Rei eye-smiled at her.

    "Yup... the main goal of the Mizukage for this war was always Konoha. The spies of many countries are bringing home intel about Kiri attacking and focusing mainly on Kumo... after all, these inds are VERY close to their territory. And I bet the main force of Kiri already set sails towards Kumo. If the advance force, which we clearly are not but they don''t know that, is 200 hundred strong, the main army would be around a few thousand. Oh, Kumo will hit this ce hard, of that, you can be sure." Rei shook his head.

    "And because of that, Konoha will lower their guard." Ringo finished with a difficult expression. "The Kiri force that set sails will turn mid-way towards the shores of the Land of Fire." Ringo bitterly stated before looking at Rei. "What should I do, Sensei?"

    Rei was a bit bewildered she asked him this but appreciated her trust. He smirked as a n was starting to form in his head. "Well, since you asked so nicely, naturally we can''t attack them head-on nor try to defend the base if they will outnumber us greatly." He tenderly smiled at Ringo and kissed her forehead, making her fl.u.s.tered as he leaned towards her ear and whispered. "Let''s do it like this..."

 Chapter 93 - Ch93. The Nagori Isles 2

    <h4>Chapter 93 - Ch93. The Nagori Isles 2</h4>

    "They are finally here." Rei said as he felt a few hundred people of varying strength through his nature sensing. This made the people surrounding him tense slightly, except Konan who just smiled and reassuringly squeezed Rei''s hand.

    It was three days since his talk with Ringo and these days were quite busy and demanding for every single shinobi in the small Kiri force. Rei decided to fight like a shinobi and that''s why he was now looking at the ''main'' base that waspletely empty from a bit further away in an underground bunker made in a cliff. The Kiri troops were also scattered and hiding all around, a few meters away from the base that was supposed to be a bait. The Kiri shinobi were in ten-man squads and everyone already knew their role.

    "There are around five hundred people with civilian-level chakra reserves. Mercenaries most likely... cannon fodder, I suppose." Rei said with a frown. While these people weren''t ninja, they shouldn''t be underestimated despite them probably hardly having low genin-level strength... if that. The important part was their numbers. Obviously, they werergely outnumbered. "Then ording to the chakra-levels, there are around two hundred genins, around eighty chunin, and twenty jonin for three hundred shinobi."

    "Three hundred..." Ringo repeated. "Eight hundred in total..." She bit her lower lip, hoping their n would work.

    "Plus there are two incredibly strong chakras." Rei added. "Probablymanders. I''d bet one of them is a jinchuuriki." A grin spread on Rei''s lips as he said that. He was, after all, a bit of a bijuu chakra collector as of right now...

    "That''s bothersome." Ringo stated seriously while narrowing her eyes to the horizon. Rei''s sensing range was quite a lot and the enemies couldn''t even be seen yet.

    "Don''t bother," Rei quipped in amus.e.m.e.nt when he saw her trying to spot them. "even with your incredible eyesight you won''t see them yet. You would have to be a Hyuuga for that. They are still on the other side of the ind, getting out of their boats."

    Ringo nodded, understanding there will still be quite a bit of waiting involved before all hell breaks loose. She only hoped their enemies would fall for the ploy.

    ...

    "What do you sense, B?" A asked gruffly as he turned to his surrogate brother.

    B frowned as he watched the base of Kiri ninja. At the very first nce, it was suspicious. There were no patrols, no traps, no nothing, and the base looked empty. It was only when B started using his chakra sensing he got a quite worrying surprise.

    "There is no Yeti, it''s totally empty... Broza!" B rhymed while wildly gesturing with his hands, sessfully creating a tick-mark on A''s forehead. Despite his silly action, inwardly B was in a discussion with his tenant about what was going on. He tried to increase the range or precision of his chakra senses and even let the eight-tails try but neither could sense anything human-like anywhere close.

    Rei was too experienced when it came to sensing and had the foresight to expect enemies to bring at least one sensor with them. He made sure that every hiding ce of Kiri''s ten-man squads had foolproof anti-chakra-sensing seals. Unless B had a skill like Kurama''s emotion-sensing, he would be unable to feel the Kiri shinobi no matter how much he would try.

    "Commander A!" A barely twenty years old orange-haired woman with shoulder-long hair approached A. She at most reached his chest but the second he saw her, his face lit up. "Looks like the enemy retreated. May I take some of our men to scout the base?" She enthusiastically asked and A couldn''t help but chuckle as he patted her head, making her lower her head with a pout from embarrassment and start muttering something suspiciously simr to ''A no baka''.

    "Yeah, L, feel free. Looks like the Kiri cowards ran!" A boisterouslyughed, making the woman smile at him tenderly. He would never allow his fiance to do this if B didn''t confirm there was no one nearby. After all, she was barely a mid-chunin. It took a lot of persuasions to make his father allow him to bed someone weak like her... s, he really loved the girl.

    L gathered the men, five jonin, ten chunin, and fifteen genins while the rest of her hundred were normal mercenaries. B was still watching the surroundings with a frown and furrowed eyebrows when L''s men started to cautiously approach the base. He really didn''t like the mist that was starting to rise all around. But the mist was natural and no chakra was in it so he had nothing he could say. An ufortable feeling however didn''t leave him no matter what he did.

    All of the L troops heaved a sigh of relief when no trap sprang up nor any ambush happened when ten minutester they finally reached the door of the base. A and the rest of the army waited in the clearing, observing the situation. They saw L''s men entering the base without any problem, making them inwardly happy. The mercenaries mostly cheered at the easy job, happy for being paid without fighting while the more experienced, mostly jonin, started to get a bit jumpy due to the ever-so-slowly rising mist around them. The only reason why they weren''t on full alert was that it was confirmed the mist was natural.

    ...

    Rei smirked and released another batch of storage seals that had a natural mist from around Kirigakure stored inside.

    "They are making this so easy..." He heard Ringo snicker in wonder.

    "Nope, it''s just that ninjas use so much Jutsu they forget the basics of stealth and covert ambush. Look at them, Ringo." Rei said seriously. Ringo quickly recognized the glint in Rei''s eyes. It was the one he had every time he was giving her some important lesson when she was a genin. It was the glint she so loved on her sensei. It was the thing that made her less of a battle junkie. She lowered her head slightly in bashfulness and attentively listened to Rei. "The second the mist appeared, their guard went up. But the second they confirmed the mist has no chakra in it and is natural, most of them stopped caring. Despite that, the more experienced ninja''s are still tense." Rei revealed a devilish smile. "And that will be their undoing. Oh, how much chaos that can cause..."

    Ringo just shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder where did you get such a nasty streak." As she said that, she gave Rei a stink-eye. "And you always admonished me for being too ''battle crazy''." She huffed and crossed her arms in mock-anger, making Konan and other people in their ten-man mander'' squad chuckle at her antics.

    Rei just ignored Ringo and turned to Kuga Mizura, a jonin who had a minor bloodline that could infuse her chakra into two sources of water... in this case water in a bowl... and ''connect'' them. Rei found it incredibly useful for sending messages without needing to reveal hismunication seals as the woman could basically form a text from the water and due to the connection, the same text would be created in every hiding spot of Kiri shinobi. The best and the most confusing part for Rei... no chakra was being transmitted to aplish this so chakra-sensing would not spot it.

    "Well then, Mizura, your turn." Rei gestured to the bowl and the gentle-looking brte revealed a blood-thirsty smile as her blue eyes sparkled in anticipation. She wasn''t a hunter-nin for no reason. He then nced at Konan, giving her a silent order to prepare the start of the n ''Boom, here we are''.

    It didn''t take long and the Kiri ten-man squads started to sneak through the natural mist towards the Kumo forces. Rei provided them sealing tags that could mask their chakra simrly to the ones inscribed to the hiding spots but the second they used chakra, they would be revealed. It was solely for getting closer in the cover of the natural mist without being noticed.

    The mander'' squad was still in the hideout, observing and prepared to react if anything went downhill while Ringo, Konan, and Rei were intently staring at A and B. It was obvious who would be in charge of distracting these two.

    ...

    It was thirty secondster that A was watching his fiance''s troops entering the base as the visibility was slowly starting to drop to worrying levels.

    "Bother, we should retreat." B suddenly said in a serious tone that was very unusual for him.

    "Didn''t you say you can''t sense anything?" A raised his eyebrow at B and crossed his arms.

    "Yes..." B trailed off, not in the mood to rap which made A really nervous. "But I just have this really bad feeling, kono-yaro, baka-yaro."

    A furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head. ''A very bad feeling, huh?'' He nodded. Certainly. Despite the mist, it''s not like his men had only B as a sensor. They had twenty of them... which was a lot since there were only 300 shinobi. A requested them especially since he knew about Kirigakure no Jutsu and that good sensor-nin are best to counter it. But neither of his sensors were giving him a red rm, meaning nobody sensed anything. Not in the mist, and certainly not in the surroundings. Yet... he still couldn''t get the feeling of being watched out of his mind.

    A looked at B''s worried expression which was only masked by his ck sunsses and curtly nodded. He would rather get scolded for not finishing what seemed like an incredibly easy mission properly in the earliest possible time due to regrouping of his troops than being ambushed. He decided to trust his instincts. "Q! Take ten fast men and go tell L that we are retrea-"

    A didn''t finish his sentence when a sudden but powerful ''boom'' reverberated through the ind, making the wind violently rampage, dispersing the mist while also making the unprepared Kumo forces quite dazed due to the abrupt booming sound followed by a strong force of the wind that impacted the troops. Some mercenaries were sent tumbling across the ground but shinobi and only the more experienced mercenaries withstood the residual shockwaves, managing to keep standing.

    "NOOO!" A''s anguish-filled scream tore through the clearing as he realized what blew up when he looked at the burning rubble of what was previously the Kiri base. The explosion was so strong, even the guards stationed outside the already destroyed building were torn to shreds by it. Obviously, no one survived such an abrupt explosion. A dropped to his knees as his mind was swirling in the horrid realization that his fiance just perished. He had no idea what to do when... the distressed screams of rage and surprise of his troops filled the clearing.

    The real battle has just begun.

 Chapter 94 - Ch94. The Nagori Isles 3

    <h4>Chapter 94 - Ch94. The Nagori Isles 3</h4>

    Mei''s eyes eagerly stalked her prey as she sneaked through the mist towards the Kumo troops. She asked Rei to let her join the ninjas who will be attacking the Kumo troops and only with great reluctance, she was let go at the behest of Konan. Mei was happy that Rei cared about her but she also wanted to show him she was not someone he had to protect all the time. This, in her opinion, was the perfect opportunity.

    The tension was high in the air as the Kiri-nin tried to get as close as possible without being heard or seen. The surroundings were covered in thick mist and this was their forte, after all. None of them wanted to fail and disgrace themselves.

    Mei deemed herself being close enough as she heard nervous bantering from a few meters in front of her. It was obvious they were Kumo ninja because no Kiri-nin would talk out loud in the mist, much less when they were about to attack the enemy. She crouched down and whipped ten shurikens from her pouch, half-turning her head to the side to check where her teammates were. She could only use her hearing to do that but Rei made her often practice in a thick boiling mist made of her Boil Release so she could proudly proim she was even better than some jonin at navigating through a mist just with her ears.

    ''Five from my squad are approximately ten meters to the left of me...'' Mei thought as she registered their covert footsteps. It was almostpletely silent and she had to apud the sneaking skill of her squad-mates. She would be unable to hear it if Rei didn''t teach her how to enhance her hearing with chakra. She tilted her head to the other side and nodded to herself. ''The remaining four are to the right... eight, nine, and eleven meters away.''

    The slightly chilling world of white all around her was something Mei loved. It was this world of white where she made the best memories with Rei. Her lips bloomed into a smile as she remembered one training session with Rei that ended with her sprawled on the ground, entangled with Rei. She would always cherish his embarrassed expression...

    " ''If there is a thick mist... why not make it melting?'' huh?" She fondly muttered under her nose as she remembered what Rei told her during that particr training. "Well... fair enough." Mei silently molded her chakra, praising Rei for literally forcing her to learn sealless chakra molding. She only dared to do this because Rei gave her a special seal that managed to hide her chakra usage from sensors unless she used a certain amount of it at once. A very nifty seal for the current situation... It took about a minute until Mei was ready, which made her frown as it took her way too long... well, she was not yet ready to use the sealless molding duringbat, especially not since she had to limit her chakra output.

    "Boil Release: Melting Clone."

    Two copies of herself suddenly solidified from the mist around, also drawing ten shurikens. The three of them eagerly awaited the signal to start. After all, as Konan-nee told her, she had to prove to Rei she was worthy of him!

    It took almost ten whole minutes until Mei heard the loud explosion signalizing the start of the attack and she could instantly feel the shockwaves from it spread through the clearing, ripping apart the mist. If she didn''t know what to expect and wasn''t properly anchored to the ground with her chakra, she would surely have a hard time keeping herself in one spot.

    Each Kiri ninja threw their prepared shurikens towards the Kumo troops the second they heard the explosion, creating a shower of sharp steel. . Most of the shurikens were redirected due to the strong winds the explosion created but those that were properly aimed were enhanced by the shockwaves and rained on Kumo ninjas in a flurry of death.

    Mei delightedly noted that all thirty of her shurikens found purchase and thanks to the additional push by the shockwaves, the Kumo army was now forty-three men short. She knew the initial hail of steel was only a good distraction and time-efficient action. It didn''t really have much of a meaning in the grand scheme of things as not that many Kumo ninjas were caught off guard and mostly mercenaries died. Mei instantly followed the next part of the n. The mist was almost dispersed but the unexpected strong winds created enough chaos and distraction to the enemy that the Kiri ninjas were still unnoticed. The bodies of Mei''s targets from the shurikens didn''t even manage to fall onto the ground as she was already channeling her chakra.

    "Henge!" She eximed quietly and together with her clones, she jumped towards the distraught Kumo ninjas as her attire changed into standard Kumo ninja uniform while ording to Rei''s n, she also threw a smoke bomb right in the middle of enemy troops to create another cover for herself and her allies. What Rei didn''t tell Mei nor any other Kiri ninja, the seals that previously masked chakra usage had also a function of enhancing their Henge to seem more natural which made them harder to see through it.

    ...

    The Kumo troops were utterly unprepared for the powerful shockwave from the explosion. Worse yet, none of them anticipated a hail of steel to rain from all around them as every Kiri-nin threw out shurikens the second the explosion resounded through the clearing. But it was only after that the real hell began. The surrounding white mist was blown away by the strong winds but the visibility didn''t return for long as smoke bombs started to explode everywhere around and the ughter began. People wearing Kumo uniforms started hacking and shing mercenaries... The real shitstorm however started when the mercenaries began to return the attack, and the sh between the people d in the Kumo uniform and the mercenariesmenced.

    ...

    Mei slit the throat of an old-ish burly man with her kunai and saw one of her clones, henged to look likemon mercenaries, fighting with a sword-wielding Kumo-nin while the other was throwing kunai and shurikens around while quickly zig-zagging through thebyrinth of people fighting each other. The poor guy who fought with one of her clones was swiftly dispatched when his sword impacted the forearm of the clone and his expression turned to delight as he expected the arm of his opponent to be chopped into two, only for the arm to flicker and change into a boiling mist that enveloped the man''s head, melting it. It was painful but a quick deathˇ­ before the clone''s arm again reformed as it turned to look for a new target.

    Mei didn''t waste her time and quickly found a man wearing a Kumo uniform who didn''t have the seal-tag from Rei, meaning he was not one of the disguised Kiri ninjas. The man was distraught as he didn''t know who to attack in this utter chaos where allies killed allies in hopes to kill the real enemies. Moreover, the entire battlefield was covered in smoke, clouding the visibility, and only blood-chilling and blood-curdling screams could be heard all around alongside the deafening sounds of steel hitting steel! He had no idea what to do!

    Mei smiled to herself and shouted at the man while approaching. "Are you alright!?" She asked, getting his attention. The man briefly tensed until he saw her Kumo attire. "Don''t just stand around! Be careful or you will die!" She admonished the man whose face momentarily twisted to embarrassment before he gave her a curt determined nod of gratitude and raised his guard. Mei was now very close to the man and smiled. "Don''t worry, I have your back." She said, making him smile.

    The second he acknowledged he heard her and turned around, the man instantly regretted it as his heart was pierced from behind by Mei''s kunai. "I warned you I have your back, didn''t I?" Her amused voice was thest thing the man ever heard as his eyes dimmed and his lifeless body fell to the ground. Mei snorted and jumped away from the man, bing just another shadow in the surrounding smoke.

    She jumped out and into a battle, killing distracted people who didn''t have seal-tags from Rei. It affected others who wore the same seal with a minor unbreakable genjutsu, making them see a bit of translucent blue hue around them, marking them as allies. Mei also supported any ally who was in pinch and mostly acted like a proper ninja. Never staying too long to battle one guy and seldom participating in one versus one unless she had an overwhelming advantage or her enemy was gravely injured. The Kiri ninjas were assassins and right now, the smoke-filled clearing was the best possible battlezone for them. Mei especially liked when she saw two people shing and none of them having the seal as it was a clear sign that their tactics were working perfectly and Kumo troops were killing each other with fervor. It was almost hrious and exhrating to see how well Rei''s n went.

    This was the first major battle for Mei where hundreds of ninjas shed and only now she understood the teachings of Rei. He often told her "If you don''t have overwhelming strength, then stealth and mind-games are your best friend." Right now, she had a clear example of that. Kumo ninja couldn''t userge-scale jutsu in fear of hitting their own and that left only closebat avable to them. They also had to be wary of anyone who approached them, even the people they knew while the Kiri-nin just picked the ''unmarked'' enemies one by one from the smoke with silent killing technique while asionally changing their disguise to look like a guy who they recently killed. The overwhelming numerical advantage of Kumo waspletely nullified and turned against them as chaos ruled the battle and the massacre continued.

    ''Isn''t this a bit too easy?'' Many Kiri-nin thought while dispatching their targets and couldn''t help but admire the simplicity of Rei''s n while also being exasperated. Who in their right mind would drag tons of natural mist sealed in storage scroll with them!?

    ----

    Author Note:

    Okay! This was my first writing a major battle, guys, and as you saw, I tried to depict how tactics and the control of the environment made it easy for Kiri-nin...

    Do give me feedback as I dunno how well this was written and feel as if it could be better :D. s, writing about shes between armies is something I will have to improve, I guess.

 Chapter 95 - Ch95. Ringo vs A

    <h4>Chapter 95 - Ch95. Ringo vs A</h4>

    Ringo''s swords quickly shed at A, their des streaming with lightning aura and A barely managed to activate his lighting armor to block the strike with his forearm. As the lightning armor and lightning-enhanced chakra des met the ground under them cracked and lightning started flying discharges around, frying some unfortunate Kumo ninjas.

    "Bitch!" A shouted when he saw her aim was from the start to kill the ninja around rather than fully focus on attacking him and tried to push the des up to parry them while creating an opening for an attack.

    Ringo smirked and the second she felt him trying to force her swords up, She let go, and retracted her swords which made A''s arm jump upward. A could only widen his eyes at being outsmarted when Ringo''s feet covered in lightning chakra impacted his chest... again, it was only the lighting armor that prevented him from being injured as his body was flung to the ground, creating a small trench by rolling like a ragdoll while mowing some more Kumo ninjas as if he was a lightning bullet.

    A finally stopped himself and looked at the bloody trench with pieces of his soldiers that were torn to shreds when they got in between the ground and his lightning armor... his anger was ignited. He raised his head to look at the smug face of the redhead who yet again obviously did this not to injure him but to kill his ninja... with his own body at that! Growling, A stood up and pounced at Ringo, mentally swearing the bitch will pay!

    Ringo barely managed to take a half-step to the left and lift her left de in order to block A''s fist. As the fist hit her de, she slightly jumped, making her feet in the air when the force of the punch impacted her which made her body fly backward at breakneck speed... straight at a group of three Kumo jonin who tried to team up in order to have a better chance at retaliating. She spun her body mid-air and lightning coursed through her right de as she was passing the jonin group. They didn''t even manage to widen their eyes as Ringo''s sword cleaved through two of them with one swing and her feet kicked the ground, slowing her flight and sending the dust into the air.

    Ringo used the cover provided by the dust to steady herself and shed her sword in a downward strike at thest jonin. It was about to cleave him as it descended from the sky when A appeared in a burst of speed in front of the man and raised his palm, catching the sword. "Are you alright?" He asked the jonin with rage apparent in his tone. A was downright pissed! The woman yet again used his attack as a means to kill more of his ninjas!

    The jonin gulped in relief at evading certain death. "Yes, sir!" He said and jumped away from A and the dangerous redhead. He knew there was nothing he could do between the two lightning-d monsters so he ran away, deciding to engage someone else. He was a jonin and while he could somewhat see them, he was still unable to react! It would be better to vacate the field so Commander A doesn''t have to worry about anything else than putting the redhead down.

    A''s hand was trembling from the strength the woman exerted through her sword but the de didn''t manage to get through his lighting armor on his palm. Ringo''s second de was thrust at his chest but he also caught the de and smirked. "Too slow. I wonder what you will do now that both your swords are unusable, woman!" His boisterous voice reverberated around with an angry undertone. He thought he had her but her calm smile stopped him short.

    "Idiot." Ringo jeered as she discharged arge amount of raiton chakra with a frequency close to the frequency of A''s lightning armor through her des. Her lightning chakra resonated with A''s which made his palms to be pushed away from the de, creating an opening as his arms shot to the sides. His chest was wide open and Ringo wouldn''t let such an opportunity go. Both of her des gleamed blue as lightning coursed through them while Ringo started a high-speed shingbo impacting A''s vital ces. Two, Four, Six, Eight shes...

    She managed to get in eight shes before she was forced to jump away as A managed to get his arms under control and send a punch at her head. Ringo frowned and felt hopeless as she saw the very shallow cuts on A''s neck and chest. She poured a lot of speed, strength, and chakra into these eight strikes, and yet... he barely bled. ''What the f.u.c.k is he made of? That should have killed him!'' Ringo bitterly thought.

    "Haah," A let out a shaky breath. "I must admit, I was scared for a second there. Your technique is incredible... but youck power." He said, grinning at Ringo, his killing intent red around. He knew the woman in front of him was themander of Kiri forces, therefore responsible for... "You killed my fiance, I will enjoy beating you to the ground but don''t worry, I won''t kill you! That would be too merciful! I will drag you back to Kumo, strap chakra restraining seals on you, and make sure you will be tortured and r.a.p.ed until you crack before killing you off, you bitch!" He bellowed out. The angrier he got, the more his lightning armor red, bing stronger as his chakra spiked.

    "Is that so?" Ringo crouched down, mischievously narrowing her eyes as she saw A''s body also preparing for a sh. "You will have to catch me first." She smirked and with a spin on her heel, she dashed in the opposite direction from him.

    A was left standing there with wide eyes and slowly, the vein on his forehead started pulsing as his anger reached new heights. "Bitch." He ground his teeth together and dashed forward, starting to chase her. He didn''t realize she was basically leading him away from his troops which would enable the Kiri forces to have undisturbed happy hunting time.

    A was obviously faster than Ringo so he managed to catch up almost instantly... but as he was about to grab her, he could feel her suddenly spiking her lightning chakra and as his hand closed, he grabbed only air. Ringo was a bit to the left, clearly evading him. Their game of catch continued for the whole two minutes as A numerous times tried to grapple Ringo. He tried to catch her clothes, her leg, arm, even hair! But every time, she would somehow use her lightning chakra in her body and dodge, pissing him off. She was unable to hurt him. She was slower than him. And yet... she was so goddamn annoying and slippery he wanted to tear his hair out!

    Only after ten minutes of chase did Ringo finally stop and as A was again trying to grab her and she yet again red her lighting chakra into her body... he suddenly found himself staring at the lighting-enhanced edge of Ringo''s de approaching his head. He was unable to dodge as his body was still moving forward and he had no time to change the direction. The sword was also closing in on him quite fast. The world slowed down almost to a crawl for him and in his panic, A forcefully put pressure on his neck-muscles in order to slightly lower his head.

    Ringo frowned as blue lightning sparks flew when her de impacted A''s head but she quickly jumped away. She could barely react to his attacks thanks to the Territory-exercise Konan put her through so staying close to the speed-monster was not a good idea.

    A felt himself being drenched in a cold sweat as his neck muscles hurt from overexerting. His shocked wide-eyes blinked in the reassurance that they were indeed still intact and looked at the redhead cautiously staring at him with her sword in front of her body. For the second time during this battle, he felt fear ran through him. "Hehe," He drylyughed. "You are one hell of a woman. So dangerous." He said almost tonelessly as his mind processed that he almost lost his eyes a moment ago. She used his speed against him and attacked at a spot where his lighting armor was weakest, aiming to cut his eyes. If he didn''t lower his head which made the sword impact his eyebrows instead... He shuddered at the precision of the swordswoman in front of him. "To be able to find the weakness of my technique so quickly." A muttered.

    "Well... I am a lightning user, after all." Ringo chuckled, amused at the shallow cut that went through his eyebrows. It was only her eyes that betrayed just how irritated she was he managed to evade the deciding blow. Now he would be cautious since she showed she knew his weakness. Nobody could infuserge amounts of lightning chakra to organs without managing them. It took arge amount of control to do at least some enhancement of them. Eyes were a fragile thing so theyer of armor was weakest there. "I must say this lighting armor of yours... I will definitely try to copy itter." Ringo smirked, trying to provoke him. She was outwardly the epitome of calm and collected with a bit of yfulness but inwardly she was seriously hoping Rei woulde fast. She knew when she was outgunned and the man in front of her was arge obstacle to get through. The most she could do was to keep him guessing and make him tip-toe around her in fear of being surprise-attacked again.

    "As if." A harrumphed. "There is no ter'' for you." He dashed at Ringo, punching in her direction only for a lightning bolt to descend from the sky, impacting the ground in front of her, blocking his punch. As his lightning-d fist met the lightning bolt, a light shed through the vicinity, blinding A.

    "Lightning Release: Descending Strike." Ringo''s voice entered his ears as his battle instincts red, making him quickly put his arm over his eyes.

    Seeing that. Ringo redirected her sword and instead of going for the eyes, she shed at his neck, pushing arge amount of her lightning chakra into the de with the same frequency as his lightning armor.

    A could feel the repulsing force between his lightning armor and his enemy''s lightning chakra on his neck. ''Oh, shit.'' He thought as an inhumane amount of pressure was put on his neck, making him feel as if it was put through a blender while his head snapped forward and his body was thrown neck-first backward like a ragdoll.

    The sh was unable to directly damage his neck but the woman again used her control over lightning release to use his lightning armor against him and ''repulse'' him. Worse yet, she used it at his neck with considerable force and A could feel quite a few muscles in his neck damaged.

    He didn''t have time to contemte the worst pain he ever felt in his life as he had to roll away from another thrust of Ringo''s de. Springing on his feet, he did something Ringo didn''t expect. As she was about to thrust her de at him, instead of dodging to the side or backward, he stepped forward while changing the frequency of his lightning armor for a second at his abdomen. This weakened the armor in that spot but it also parried Ringo''s de, throwing her arm to the side.

    As the frequency of their lightning was different, neither was pushed away and Ringo found herself in a pinch. Her eyes widened and she barely managed to put her arm in front of her head before... blinding pain overloaded her senses as her world went white.

    A gleefully watched as his fist aimed at the woman''s head impacted her arm. He could feel as her bones were being crushed in that arm and his punch indeed slowed a bit and became weaker while the arm did be a sort of a cushion but nevertheless... his punch struck Ringo''s face as it pushed her arm into it, snapping her head back. Her feet were lifted from the ground as her body was head-first sent through the air before hitting the ground. It powerlessly bounced from the ground a bit while wildly rolling before it stopped. Still holding her swords in her hands.

    A panted and looked at the motionless body of the kunoichi that caused him so many problems. She almost killed him with that strike to his neck. His eyebrows furrowed when he heard the woman''s raspy groan. "So you are still alive?" He slowly walked towards the redhead and watched as blood poured out of her head, staining the nearby ground red. "Heh, idiot, why are you trying to talk to her? She probably can''t hear you anyway with the amount of damage to her head." He admonished himself as he crouched above Ringo''s motionless body. "Hmm... so you enhanced your face with lightning chakra before the impact and jumped backward, heh. It probably saved you from having your head torn from your shoulders. A pity you are an enemy." A praised with a nod. "I wondered why I didn''t feel your jaw and cheekbones snapping. Hmm," He thought if he should follow through with his threats and take her to Kumo as his personal whore but in the end, he couldn''t. "You were strong. If I don''t count my father, you were the strongest ninja I faced since I mastered lightning armor. You deserve respect so I will grant you a swift death." He raised his fist, about to kill Ringo...

 Chapter 96 - Ch96. Rei vs. B

    <h4>Chapter 96 - Ch96. Rei vs. B</h4>

    B was about to jump to help A when he saw him being attacked by a sword-wielding redhead but Konan and Rei intercepted him, blocking his path. It was mostly Rei since Konan had her chakra tightly concealed to be around the mid-jonin level while Rei released enough of the concealing toe out as an S-rank shinobi to any sensor. B, as a very aplished chakra sensor, naturally just nced at Konan before giving most of his attention to Rei.

    Rei smirked to himself as he half-turned his head towards Konan. "Jonin Yotsuba," Oh, how he loved nobody knew hisst name. If he said ''Jonin Konan'', he was sure B would put two and two together and their identity would be out. A bit of bullshit no Jutsu was needed for this performance. "go and help the troops, I will take care of the big bad guy." He said in an ordering tone as if he was her superior and gestured with a nod towards B.

    "Yes, Rei-sama!" Konan eximed loudly, sounding a bit like a fangirl... loudly enough for B to hear ''Rei-sama'' which made his head snap to Rei as his eyes slightly widened while Konan turned around with an amused smile and left to help the Kiri shinobi. Rei couldn''t help butugh his ass off internally. If B had even an inkling who Konan was and her power-level he would do his damnedest to keep her as far away from the regr troops... now that had to be avoided, hadn''t it?

    "So you ya the famous an'' mysterious Rei of Downpour... ya are nuthin'' special an'' I feel kinda sour." B rapped in disappointment, half to make Rei mad and a half due to him thinking Rei would have more chakra than what he was showing.

    "Yeah... I feel ya bro." Reizily said and rolled his eyes at B who furrowed his brows. That was the second Rei waited for, B lowered his guard. Rei disappeared in a quick burst of speed as his chakra invigorated his body and suddenly appeared in front of B with shunshin. B only managed to put his hands in front of his chin before Rei''s kick impacted his palm and sent him flying upward to the sky because Rei used nature energy to strengthen that blow. He needed to get this perfect jinchuuriki away from the battlefield so he decided to take some minor damage to his leg because of the abrupt channeling of the nature energy rather than try to lure him away which might not work.

    Rei dashed in the direction of the flying B, smiling to himself as he realized the burly brown-skinned man might not have been injured beyond getting a scr.a.p.e on his palm but he has indeed flown at least half a kilometer away. ''The wonders of nature energy'' Rei inwardly chuckled as he marveled at the strength of his kick and the fact that the damage from it, while extensive, would heal in a minute or so.

    B crashed into the ground, cracking it as he created a small crater while sending dust up into the air. He stood up and rotated his shoulders when he felt Rei stop near him. "That hurt, you runt." He dryly said, making Reiugh.

    "Well, B-san, there is no distraction for half a kilometer. Let''s enjoy a full out fight." Rei said calmly and his body tensed in preparation for the fight. He knew that half a kilometer was not that much of a distance considering B being the perfect jinchuuriki who can spam nuke balls but it was better than nothing.

    B grinned and raised his hand with a bull horn hand gesture while looking towards the sky. "Let''s do this, Hachi! Veeeeee!"

    Rei chuckled and watched as B transformed into the form of Hachibi. He was a bit happy that the man didn''t underestimate him and instantly took Hachibi''s form despite it being annoying. Rei was inwardly gleeful at having such a big target now.

    The first thing B did was to pounce at Rei. His massive form was charged towards Rei, destroying the surroundings. It took him only a second to reach Rei and he prepared to punch the ce where Rei stood. His arm struck forward, impacting the ground, creating meters-wide spider-web-like cracks and sending dust into the air, reaching as tall as treetops.

    Before B could rejoice, Hachibi''s voice resounded in his head. ''Careful!'' He had no time to reach however as hundreds of chakra strings appeared all around his body, enwrapping it. Before he could form a coherent thought, Rei who now stood a bit away flexed his fingers and the blue chakra strings started to change into crimson red while also starting to burn in the same colored me a moment after they changed the color. Rei was feeding the chakra strings with Fire, Wind, and Nature chakra mix to create his Destruction mes, as he named this mix. It was the same thing he used to destroy the Liza-, uh, the Smander Realm and Rei wanted to see how durable would Hachibi be against it.

    ''We gotta avoid that!'' Hachibi told B as the strings were catching on the crimson fire.

    B was too big to evade the fast-spreading fire so he charged a small bijuu dama and fired it at Rei who was bbergasted it took only a second for the perfect jinchuuriki to literally create and throw it in his direction, destroying the chakra strings. As the bijuu dama flew, it caught on the crimson fire which started to make it smaller but strengthened its power. Rei had no other choice than to click his tongue and transport himself into his dimension.

    The bijuu dama on crimson fire impacted the floor and the world quieted down for a moment before it burst with angry orange. A loud ''boom'' shook the ground as a big ball of swirling crimson mes mixed with the orange of explosion tore everything to shreds, sending shockwaves all around. B in Hachibi''s form didn''t even manage to steady himself as he didn''t expect the crimson mes would strengthen the bijuu dama so much and was promptly blown away by the impossibly strong shockwaves.

    It took a whole minute for the explosive ball of energy created by bijuu dama empowered by the Destruction mes to stop swirling and disappear, leaving only a fifty meters deep crater, four hundred meters wide.

    ''B, be d you only fired small bijuu dama or this could have taken us with him! What the heck was that!'' Hachibi''s bewildered voice resounded in B''s head.

    ''I don''t know, partner!'' B said,pletely serious as he saw the level of destruction. ''These crimson mes are dange-'' He didn''t finish as his instincts red and he was forced to push his body to the side to avoid a massive shuriken made out of the Destruction mes.

    Rei was looking at B with a raised eyebrow. "Are you sure you wanna keep that massive body?" He smirked and created a small hand-sized shuriken of the crimson mes above his palm. He obviously took some ''insights'' of Rasengan and Rasenshuriken and implemented them in his own way. The shuriken B evaded impacted ground three hundred meters away from them only for the rotation of the crimson fire being too strong that the shuriken failed to keep its form and in-built chakra feature made the chakra burst upwards. B gulped as he saw the previous me Shuriken of the size of his fist in Hachibi form explode in a bright pir of crimson reaching the sky. The air shimmered around the pir due to the intense heat and B could only awkwardly chuckle as he could feel it even three hundred meters away. B blinked as he saw another simr shuriken forming in Rei''s hand and gulped. "Ya bro... you ain''t throwing that at me, right?" He unsurely asked Rei who only eye-smiled before doing precisely that.

    "Fu-!" Needless to say, B was in for some hard ''dodge'' lessons.

    Rei wasn''t trying to kill B. That would be idiotic as B was a strong jinchuuriki which meant a good distraction for Akatsuki. No, he was just distracting B while ten of his closes were siphoning a small amount of Hachibi''s chakra from B, storing them forter without being noticed.

    They were ying dodgeball with dangerous crimson fiery shurikens and bijuu damas for fifteen minutes when Rei suddenly went rigid and B finally rxed. Both were quite exhausted chakra-wise and while Rei looked outwardly fine, even he was breathing slightly harder. B''s ragged form was outright panting due to all the running around he was forced to do.

    The surrounding country was utterly demolished and many pools ofva were created on the ind today asrge patches of forest disappeared for good while fires still unceasingly raged in some parts whereas others were reduced to a big crater.

    B was watching as Rei''s face suddenly went from yful to cold and murderous one and could feel an incredible killing intent start pressing on him as it flooded the surroundings. ''Damnˇ­ something must have gotten him pretty mad.'' Hachibimented when the world suddenly darkened as Rei''s chakra burst out, no longer under the hiding technique and both B and Hachibi had to widen their eyes at the massive volume for a human. Both were aware of the amount he was throwing around just a few moments ago so him still having so much avable juice was an utterly ridiculous notion! Heck, without Hachibi even B would be already on his knees energy-wise!

    "AAAAAAAAAA!" Rei screamed as his head snapped to the right and dashed away.

    B just stood there for a second before his eyes widened as he realized... his brother must have defeated his opponent which pissed off Rei and... "F.u.c.k! Hachibi, we need to get to brother A or he will die!" He shouted, mentally asking for more chakra.

    ''Brother! Please be alright!'' B prayed as he rushed behind Rei in hopes to prevent the death of his brother.

    ----

    I actually thought I would finish this by now but writing fights is quite taking a toll on my imagination and it also takes A LOT of words to do it properly (or I at least hope I do it properly) so sorry guys but another cliff-kun :D. Tomorrow, Rei''s rage and a new, third mix of elements with nature energy.

 Chapter 97 - Ch97. Punishment

    <h4>Chapter 97 - Ch97. Punishment</h4>

    Rei finally spotted Ringo and his being was flooded by even more rage. Her body was powerlessly lying on the ground while A was about tond a finishing punch which made Rei quickly send a Water Release: Water Jet at the burly man, dispersing his lightning armor because of the highly concentrated and finely controlled water chakra in the water. It drew the actual lighting away from A''s body, canceling the Chakra Mode in that particr part of his body. The waterjet went straight through the lighting armor and impacted A''s side before he could finish the punch, sending him rolling on the floor for some tens of meters.

    A was utterly bbergasted from the sudden attack thatpletely neutralized his strongest defense and inwardly thanked God that the waterjet was not highly pressurized otherwise it would go through him like a knife through butter. The fact his fist was descending onto Ringo saved him because Rei decided to lessen the danger to Ringo by pushing him away rather than killing him and risk him somewhatnding thest punch.

    A''s body tensed in preparation for a fight but when he raised his gaze to the mysterious attacker, he rxed seeing that the man, Rei, prioritized checking up on the redhead rather than do a follow-up attack. Many things swirled through A''s mind, the prevalent one being the direction from which the man came. Like everyone on the ind, A could also hear the sounds of a massive battle in the distance. The explosions, the ''visual effects'', therge pirs of scarlet mes, the bijuu damas... Yes, A knew B had a tough fight but he had his own one and focused fully on it. But the second he realized the man who interrupted him came from the direction of B''s fight, his heart chilled in worry for his surrogate brother.

    Fortunately for A''s peace of mind, Bnded next to him in his human form because rather than going onnd, he used his immense strength in the Hachibi form to jump into the sky, and then changed into human form, bing lighter, therefore covering more distance.

    "Ya fine, brother? Cuz this will be quite a bother!" B said but his tone held an undertone of seriousness that put A on edge. To him, it was obvious B was not ying around anymore.

    "Who is it, B?" A asked as he watched Rei kneel next to Ringo and assess her injuries.

    "That''s Rei of Kiri, bro. We gotta be careful an'' stop him being wrathful, oh." B rapped.

    The second A heard Rei''s identity, his head snapped in the direction of his troops and his eyes widened in realization. "B! Where is Konan of Kiri?" He shouted in distress.

    "Konan of Kiri, oi, yo?" B asked as his face scrunched in confusion, making A almost have a heart attack. "O~! There was a woman with him at first, kono yaro. But she was only a jonin level, baka yaro." As B said, and A really felt his heart jump to his throat. A possible S-rank destructive threat might be with his troops while he was lured away!

    "B we have to retu-" A started with distress but was interrupted...

    Ignoring the discussion of the brothers, Rei leaned above Ringo''s unconscious form as he gently turned her over to see her injuries. He winced when he saw the multiple deep gashes along her face and thanked God he could heal her with his nature energy mixed with healing chakra enough so she wouldn''t scar despite not being able to heal everything on the spot. He would have to get her to a proper medic-nin asap. Pushing his meager medical chakra into her, he quickly found out that Ringo was lucky. Whatever she did, saved her as the front of her skull was cracked in more ces than Rei bothered to count but there was no clean break nor anything immediately life-threatening. Concussion... yes. But at least her face was not caved in. Rei let out a small relieved sigh as he raised his head towards the man who caused this.

    Sure, this was a war but Ringo was precious to Rei and he still felt angry at A for almost killing her. As his eyesnded on A''s form, his killing intent flooded the surroundings.

    A and B quieted down as they could suddenly feel themselves be drenched in a cold sweat as the massive killing intent engulfed them. B had a better time as he was used to Hachibi''s killing intent while A was frowning at how his instincts screamed at him to run. But both were shinobi and facing killing intent was normal for them. They stood their ground.

    "So you are the bastard who almost killed my dear student." Rei coldly stated as he looked towards A, his chakra ring.

    Out of nowhere, the molecules of water in the air started gathering and in a moment, a strong water current formed in the air, not unlike Water Dragon Jutsu. What baffled A and B was that Rei didn''t use any hand signs nor needed a body of water. Above them, in the sky, a massive body of water that could easily create a bigkepressed into ten Water Tendrils was flying, just waiting to be released at them.

    "I think now is a good time to change, B." A said with a frown as lightning armor reformed on his body. B seriously nodded and his form started growing until he was again in full Hachibi mode, preparing for the uing battle.

    Rei looked at their nervous stances and smiled. "Good, you are prepared to face your punishment." He said, trying to act arrogant. Despite his anger, his head was cool and he would like nothing more than to bebeled as powerful but with exploitable arrogance. "You will be good guinea pigs for my new Jutsu. Especially you, lightning swine!" He shouted and the world... rippled.

    The water tendrils in the air started to rotate at high-speed white moving like a snake made out of the water, quickly aiming to crush both A and B. The tendril aimed at A missed as the man just sidestepped it but his arm brushed the edge of the water because the water sped up by almost five times before the impact so he miscalcted his evade. As the chakra in the water and A''s lighting armor met, a violent reaction happened, making A scream bloody murder as his lightning armor waspletely negated and his arm gained multiple long gashes. This Jutsu was a perfect counter to Lightning Based Ninjutsu, after all.

    B was not faring any better since his form was big. Too big to evade water tendrils rotating at high speeds like a tornado. His form was not fast enough to evade and the nine remaining tendrils all aimed at him. He tried to block them with his tails and eight tails intercepted eight water tendrils, only for thest one to impact his chest. B miscalcted as pain engulfed him and Gyuki, sensing B''s panic, pushed a lot of his chakra out to shield the impact locations and defend against the shredding tendrils of water.

    ''Pull yourself together, B, or you will die. We gotta rotate!'' Gyuki shouted, and B, still shaken from the pain, quickly wrapped his tails around himself and started to rotate his bijuu body, creating a move like Kaiten, only it was on a massivelyrger scale. This proved to be the right choice as the water tendrils were being deflected before returning and hitting the revolving body of the Hachibi again and again, only to be deflected every time, sending water raining everywhere.

    During all this time, A was doing his damnedest to ignore the pain in his arm as he evaded the singr tendril of high-speed water that chased him. His Lightning Mode was certainly far below his father but he never thought there would be a technique capable of almost matching his speed. Fortunately for him, he was just a bit faster.

    For a normal bystander, the tendrils and A would seem like a sh or blurs as their speed was staggering. A was appearing and reappearing through the battlefield only for the water tendril to sh into his position a split of a secondter and create a lot of destruction in its wake.

    Rei smirked as he turned his back towards the battle and focused on flooding Ringo''s body with his medical and soothing water chakras. She was far more important than the victory or the battle itself to him. The Jutsu he performed was his best counter to Konan. Strong, hard-hitting, massive, and insanely fast while being made of Water. Much to her dismay, Konan didn''t yete up with an idea of how the Jutsu worked or how to counter it as it waspletely autonomous. Rei chose to use this Jutsu in particr so he could tend to Ringo while being sure his opponents were preupied enough.

    Water Release: Susanoo

    For a long time, Rei wanted something like Shadow Clones and after Tsunade brought the technique itself alongside a lot of material about it straight from the Senju Library, he instantly started researching it. There were even notes of the Second Hokage too! But in the end, Rei decided to make something else. Clones were good and the group indeed did use them to perfect Jutsu, train control, and so on but Rei and Konan were more used to their own variety of Rock and Paper clones. They just added the memory function into them and were good to go.

    In the center of each Water Tendril was a half-formed water clone with the sentience of shadow-clones, therefore able to perform their own tasks and think for themselves while also gathering information about the enemy in case the Tendril is destroyed. These clones are then wrapped in insane amounts of water chakra mixed with wind chakra and stabilized with nature energy, wearing it like armor. That was the primary reason why Rei called it ''Susanoo'' as it made a mockery of Uchiha''s Susanoo. While the entire thing looks like a huge water snake or tendril, just a touch of the water could shred chakra-enhanced iron and the swirling water tended to pull things inside while the rotation increased its speed only to be enhanced even more by the wind chakra, resulting in a flying incredible high-speed shredding current. This was one of his more ingenious techniquesˇ­ despite its unimpressive but deceptive appearance.

    Rei heaved Ringo up on his arms into a princess carry and turned towards the battlefield that instantly stilled as the Water Tendrils stopped in their ces. Both A and B were bloodied with multiple deep cuts all over their bodies, panting hard with wide eyes as they could feel the despair and fear of death that loomed above them. They knew... this technique was utterly unable to be avoided. A tried to run away multiple times only for one tendril to stop focusing on B and the second he had two on himself, he was pushed back, guided back towards the battlefield by being forced to dodge in its direction.

    B tried to fire multiple bijuu damas into it but the tendrils mostly avoided it. He only managed to hit one tendril in its center which then burst into a shower of water that spilled on the country below, flooding it in water and mowing down a forest due to the sharpness of the water. The tendril didn''t reform and B was starting to form ideas on how to counter this Jutsu... s, by that point he was too exhausted.

    Rei watched their bloodied and beaten forms with satisfaction. ''That''s what you get for hurting my girl, humph.'' He vindictively thought, regretting he couldn''t put them out of their misery for it. A was a stubborn idiot who would mix the waters of the Elemental Nation with his retarded ns while B was a good deterrent and a focus of either Akatsuki or the other Shinobi Viges. Simply, he was too good of a distraction from whatever Rei would secretly try to do in the future. No, these two would be more useful alive.

    "Now then," Rei''s voice rang through the destroyed battlefield as the two burly men forced themselves to raise their heads despite the apparent exhaustion on their faces. "This was your punishment for hurting Ringo. I must sadly inform you that your forces were massacred and there is no longer any Kumo ninja alive except you two on this ind. My partner, Konan of Kiri, has seen to that." Konan didn''t really help all that much, mostly watched out to prevent the death of any Kiri shinobi but they didn''t need to know that. "Killing you two can bring short-term gains but it will forever sour rtions with Kumo so you got lucky, I guess." Rei shrugged at the bullshit he was spewing and turned around, walking away with Ringo in his arms. It was time for her meeting with a medic-nin.

    Both B and A just powerlessly flopped onto the ground, unconscious, thest thing on their mind was regret at being too arrogant to take another S-rank with them despite being offered multiple times. Nowˇ­ their entire force waspletely wiped out.

 Chapter 98 - Ch98. Conclusion

    <h4>Chapter 98 - Ch98. Conclusion</h4>

    Reinded next to Konan who was quietly observing the Kiri shinobi searching through the corpses while gathering all valuables and then storing the corpses into scrolls. Konan didn''t even nce at him when he appeared as they could always sense each other so she knew he was about to abruptly appear. Kuga Mizura who stood next to Konan and was de-facto the second hand of Ringo was a different matter. She almost jumped back while drawing her kunai from fright when Rei silently appeared next to her.

    Rei gently put Ringo on the ground while slowly channeling his healing chakra into her face. "Kuga, could you please call Irazu? Ringo is stable but I am not a medic and there are still injuries done to her skull." He said in a soft tone but Kuga quickly listened and scrambled away to get Irazu, the best medic they had.

    "So she lost." Konan impassivelymented, not even ncing in Ringo''s direction. It was more to upy Rei''s mind with light banter rather than have him focus on being worried for Ringo. ''Sigh, Ringo... you really are more trouble than you are worth. Rei should not show such a worried expression because of you.'' She thought apprehensively.

    "Yes... but to be honest, she did have every disadvantage in that fight." Rei nodded.

    "She should have been a good little girl and let me handle A. But no, she just had to try to prove herself." Konan said in the best deadpan voice she managed, making Rei chuckle.

    "In a way, you are right. Anyway, how did the battle go?" Rei ''smoothly'' changed the topic.

    There was no way he could defend Ringo as they told her she wouldn''t be able to handle A but she stubbornly wanted to fight him. Their hands were tied as, firstly, Ringo was themander, and secondly, she actually had orders from the Mizukage to fight any strong lightning user so she could get a grasp of his technique and try to replicate it. In a way, she was forced into this situation due to her orders.

    "Not perfect but it was??? satisfactory," Konan showed a rare smile as she gazed towards the men sealing up corpses. "We lost only two and that was because the idiots threw their shurikens straight at the shockwave from the initial explosion. Retards. Of course the ''sharp and spinny'' returned straight back at them, giving them a reward for their stupidity in the form of a new hole in their body." Konan rolled her eyes. To be killed by your own thrown shuriken... that was new even for her. "Then we had twenty injured but none of them is in a critical condition..." She stopped herself and half-turned towards Rei, briefly ncing at Ringo with a snort. "Well, except themander."

    "I see. Good job assisting them." Rei praised and Konan beamed at him while giving him an eye-smile. Rei smiled as he saw that. His praise could always lit the woman''s expression up... that was actually the reason why he praised her so sparsely. It wouldn''t lose its spark this way.

    Konan crouched down for a second and quickly kissed him in acknowledgment of his praise. "Thank you." She whispered before standing up and turning away to observe the troops. This time, however, Rei could see that she was slightly swaying from right to left while quietly humming to herself. Oh, if he didn''t have injured Ringo next to him he would drag the adorable blute into bed and...

    ''Down boy.'' He thought grumpily.

    Just then, Mei pitter-pattered towards them with expectant expression and puppy eyes that simply screamed ''Praise me!''. Both Rei and Konan quickly swept her with their eyes, noting she had a lot of blood on herself but fortunately not even one scar marred her skin. She shot Ringo''s body a quick curious look while she was approaching but then an uncaring shrug told Rei what Mei thought about Ringo.

    ''Really now... certainly, I can see your tutge in the girl, Konan.'' He dryly thought at the utter disregard Mei had for her senior disciple Ringo and could swear there was amus.e.m.e.nt in Konan''s eyes for a split of a second.

    When Mei came closer to Rei, he chuckled and affectionately patted her head. "So, how was your first battle, Mei?" He sincerely asked, knowing that it was apletely new experience for the girl. Not necessarily a good one, at that. ''Well, her career as shinobi depends on how her psyche holds up to something like this. Not like I have to be overly worried as Konan prepared her well.'' He thought as he observed any, no matter how small, gesture Mei did. He would not risk her keeping her emotions to herself and drowning in them.

    "It was..." Mei''s beaming smile slowly started to turn into a concerned frown, "different. Fighting bandits or small squads of shinobi is much less chaotic and easier." Mei said and her face told everything Konan and Rei needed to know. The girl had no idea how to feel about this. Now that the battle is over and instincts stopped ring, and Mei got time to think about all the people she killed, about all the times she could have been killed, about the chaos that was the battlefield. In the end, Mei just looked at Konan with a determined gaze. "I want to be as strong as Konan-nee! Thanks to her many of us survived. I know that I was saved three-"

    "Seven." Konan quipped with an amused smirk.

    "times..." Mei stopped in her tracks and widened her eyes when her mind processed Konan''s correction. "What! When?!"

    "You know about the one time I covered you with earth paper to protect you from an explosion. You also should be aware of the man who I decapitated because he was awfully close to removing your arm from the elbow down. Then thest time you counted as a save would be when I helped you fight against five enemies who surrounded you... and by the way, we will talk about thatter." Konan hummed, making Mei cringe but nod at the uracy of Konan''s statement. "There were two situations where a lightning enhanced projectile would skewer you if I didn''t intervene. They were covered by the smoke and you didn''t notice them so we will have to train on that too. Then there was that one time when ''you'' parried a downward strike from jonin that, by all means, should have bisected you. Stupid girl, I taught you better." Konan rolled her eyes, making Mei lower her head in shame. She really thought she managed to parry it! Apparently not.

    "And thest one was something I can''t really fault you for. It is a standard Kumo tactic though so remember it. The first thing the Kumo ninja did was to charge the ground with as much lightning chakra as possible, creating various areas with different concentrations. I had to keep my earth chakra flowing to the ground in order to prevent a few inexperienced idiots who didn''t iste their soles with their own chakra from being fried inside out by stepping through areas with different concentrations of lightning chakra. Just because it goes to the earth doesn''t mean it bes harmless." Konan lectured and Mei was eagerly nodding before her expression turned to puzzlement.

    "But why could the Kumo mercenaries fight then? Shouldn''t they also be fried?"

    Konan smirked and also patted her. Something she did not do often as she tried to emte in Mei the good feeling she felt every time Rei praised her. "Clever girl." She praised, making Mei blush. "If you look attentively, you would spot the mercenaries having mostly electric proof boots and their clothes are also made from materials that are good instors. They were simply prepared to fight in that environment."

    The lecture was interrupted when the two girls stopped talking as the medic-nin finally came and Rei could finally stop pushing his medical chakra into Ringo. He walked toward Mei and scooped her into a princess carry which made her squeal. "Well, princess, do you have any other questions?" He asked her tenderly as he nuzzled his nose on hers, knowing she loved that.

    Mei giggled and despite wanting to protest that she was too old to be treated like this, she wanted nothing more than to lean her head forward and steal a kiss from Rei. Unfortunately, she knew it would not be received well. ''Three more years... endure!'' She chanted in her mind.

    "How was your fight, Rei?" Mei asked after Rei pulled away from her, still cradling her in his arms.

    "I fought A and Killer B. Both should be lying unconscious a bit further that way." He gestured towards the direction he came from with his chin while focusing on channeling his soothing water chakra into Mei through his hands. It would at best prevent bruises from forming and rx her muscles but he knew Mei loved the feeling it gave her so this was akin to her reward for having to be saved only seven times by Konan. For her first chaotic mass-battle, it was good. Especially since some jonin had to be saved a lot more, at least ording to the res Konan was giving a few select people.

    "Why spare them? Didn''t they hurt Ringo?" Mei curiously peered into Rei''s eyes.

    "Sometimes, it is better to let your enemy live so he can still be useful." Rei shrugged, noticing that Mei didn''t understand him but didn''t borate as he turned to Kuga, Ringo''s right-hand-woman. "I see the sealing of bodies is almost finished. Ringo is out so I am taking the reins. Order retreat to the newly created," His lips curled into a devious smirk. "base."

    Kuga bowed and jumped away to notify the squad captains.

    "Eh... I wonder how our dear Mizukage will react to having his nspletely f.u.c.k.i.e.d up, haha." Rei eximed as Konan snickered. The old coot''s n depended on them losing, after all. "Well, time to write a letter, I guess..."

 Chapter 99 - Ch99. Letter for the Mizukage

    <h4>Chapter 99 - Ch99. Letter for the Mizukage</h4>

    Himeno felt the loving squeeze and pressed herself even more into her lover, affectionately sticking her tongue into his mouth, deepening the kiss. She knew he needed this and took it as her duty as Kiri kunoichi to help her Lord Third.

    The Mizukage m.o.a.ned into the soft lips that were tenderly pressing onto his mouth and couldn''t help but even more softly squeeze the h.i.p.s of the wonderful being who was straddling him. In his incredibly busy and stress-filled schedule, these moments of bliss and pleasure were the only thing keeping him sane. He could feel her b.r.e.a.s.ts on his chest, making his head going nk as he became more and more l.u.s.tful. His hand suddenly slowly dragged itself along Himeno''s back, tenderly caressing it until his thumb finally reached the hem of her pants. Slowly, very carefully he started pulling it lower and lower...

    ''knock, knock''

    Both lovers froze in their tracks and Mizukage let out an incredibly annoyed sigh as he buried his head into Himeno''s chest. "Wy nw." His muffled voice resounded from her chest, and Himeno giggled as him speaking into her b.r.e.a.s.ts tickled her.

    "Well, time to do your duties as the Mizukage." She smiled, inwardly delighted at how annoyed he became for not getting any. She was well aware he even removed every important thing from his desk beforehand. It was obvious what kind of y he wanted to do with her today. Well, tough luck.

    She tried to pull away but he was still tightly embracing her waist, not letting go. "Maybe they will leave if we don''t answer?" The Mizukage asked while raising his head and giving Himeno a puppy-eyed look.

    "Ah~, that''s so cute of you..." She sighed as her hand softly caressed his hair. It was only when he thought she epted his ''n'' did she continue in a deadpan tone. "being so naive. I am your Jonin Commander and that means no cking." She used her chakra to sting his arms which finally freed her. After she stood up and pulled her pants back up before also clothing the upper part of her body, she went towards the door to check what this was about. The Mizukage had a break right now so it must be important for them to interrupt it.

    ''knock, knock''

    The Mizukage''s head fell onto the table with an audible thump as he groaned in annoyance. ''F.u.c.k! Being c.o.c.kblocked might be even worse than having to deal with Rei!'' He thought fervently but a sudden spike of Himeno''s killing intent made him straighten himself and notice her re.

    "Tidy yourself up." She inly spoke in an ordering tone that made him gulp butply. Sadly, most of his time awake was spent deep in nning and giving out orders so he was pretty freaking stressed. Worse yet, Himeno''s body was the only outlet he had, and the minx clearly knew she was the only thing keeping him sane. For now, he was utterly whipped.

    It took Himeno a few moments but when she re-entered the room, she was carrying a scroll. "It''s a report from Rei." She hummed and Mizukage couldn''t help but feel sour at that.

    ''If there is one thing that''s worse than dealing with Rei or being c.o.c.kblocked, it must be being c.o.c.kblocked by Rei.'' He dryly thought as he epted the scroll with a visible eye twitch and unrolled it.

    His eyes looked through the report, reading it once... twice... thrice as his jaw was getting progressively lower with each readthrough. He was blinking in astonishment at what he was reading and when he was done reading it for the sixth time, the scroll fell from his hands onto the table.

    "So? How screwed are we?" Himeno asked in amus.e.m.e.nt, predicting something like this would happen.

    "They won." The Mizukage stated in an emotionless and even tone.

    "Oh~, isn''t that great?" Himeno quipped sarcastically, fully aware of what this meant. Yet, her voice held the barest hint of amus.e.m.e.nt.

    "They f.u.c.k.i.e.d up months of extensive nning." The Mizukage stated. He was now on the verge of crying and mental breakdown as months of his hard work just went down the drain.

    Himeno just scoffed at that. "I told you to not send them as reinforcements. You! Didn''t! Listen!" She spelled it out for him while poking his shoulder with her index finger as her expression was twisted in exasperation.

    The Mizukage lifelessly turned his face to look at her with his shoulders sagged. "I have given them clear orders-" He started only to be interrupted.

    "You mean these?" Himeno raised her eyebrow as she drew out a scroll from the stack of scrolls next to the desk. When the Mizukage saw it, he could only gape at what were his written orders to Rei and Konan. The ONLY copy. Himeno huffed and crossed her hands under her chest as she continued. "You told them they are reinforcements and then got into one of yours ''yful'' arguments with Rei. In the end, the scroll with the secret orders was never given to them. Heck, you can''t even me this one on them not listening to you! This was your idiocy all along!"

    Himeno knew this moment wasing the second she noticed that scroll in the morning a few days ago when she was tidying the office up. She didn''t want to make a scene at that time but this was important as the Mizukage was clearly slipping whenever Rei was involved. She decided to be a bit heavy-handed when the fallout from this mishap came. She could always hope it would make the Mizukage more focused.

    "F.u.c.k." Was the only response Mizukage could give. The orders for Rei clearly stated he was NOT TO win. His mission was to save Ringo''s life and Ringo''s life alone. The people in the Kiri force who were sent to Nagori Isles were all ''undesirable'' from a political viewpoint or were in some way rted to traitors. It was simply a ''legal'' purge while it would also be a good way to diminish Ringo''s reputation. Ringo was a good tool for the vige. Excellent assassin and tracker. But the Mizukage would rather be damned than let her have some political influence. Shepleted every S-rank assassination while being sick and on her deathbed. Now that she was healthy again, her aplishments would just pile up and her pace was frankly frightening. He already had a candidate for the Mizukage hat but Ringo was a very good runner up in the eyes of the ns. That had to be prevented.

    Himeno sat down in the guest seat opposite the Mizukage as she took the scroll into her hands and quickly swept the contents with her gaze. As she was about to finish, she could suddenly hear the pondering voice of her lover. "How did the scroll arrive?" An understanding sh appeared in her eyes for a bit before vanishing, leaving only a sad pity.

    "It wouldn''t work. A copy was sent to the council. This can''t be swept under the rug." Himeno said while sighing as she heard the Mizukage cursing. "You gotta admit though, this was masterfully done." She hummed. "The council of n heads will now most likely push for opening a Kumo front since we have a good and well-hidden outpost in a location incredibly close to the shores of the Land of Lightning that could be easily and discreetly essed by our sh.i.p.s. Not to say about the morale boost due to the victory and how big of an achievement it was."

    In the letter, Rei described that they discovered one of the smallest inds of Nagori Isles was actually an underwater mountain that had only the peak peeking out so they used it to create an underground hideout. It was really well-positioned, well-hidden, and too good of an opportunity for an invasion towards the Land of Lightning to pass up.

    "Yes..." The Mizukage drawled, pulling out his pipe from the drawer. Himeno frowned but didn''t stop him from starting to smoke. This time, she could bear with it. "This win will shift the entire war." The Mizukage exhaled a puff of smoke as hefortably leaned into his chair as he continued in a fed-up voice. "Every n for the invasion of the Land of Fire can be scrapped because of this."

    "It''s worse, actually. I was referring to how it would affect the vige politics when I said ''masterfully''." Himeno started with a hint of respect. "The letter is written in a way that gives most achievements to Ringo. It was written as if it was her leadership that won two hundred versus seven hundred with only two casualties, getting injured in the process. We both know better as I would bet it was Rei who dealt with both A and Killer B while Konan finished off the enemy army but the report says nothing about that. It''s vague enough with a good amount of facts that it can be misunderstood as Ringo''s achievement. This will give a lot of ammunition to the people who want her as the Mizukage due to her excellent skill as an assassin."

    Kirigakure was the vige of assassins first and foremost so it was natural the ns wanted someone skilled in the art as the leader. Ringo fit the bill for them but the third Mizukage had a different opinion. The letter however really screwed up his ns both internally and externally. The Mizukage wanted someone with greater firepower though and Ringo was not on the list of his candidates. As the realization in just how much more than he predicted would this report affect, Himeno continued speaking with an unbothered tone.

    "We can''t forsake the two hundred ninjas who were sent to Nagori Isles to be purged either. It would create unrest among our shinobi popce since the event of this victory is too good to not be spread among our ninjas in order to boost morale. We really can''t afford to have our ninja question if they are going to be sent on a suicide mission next. In small and unnoticeable doses, it is fine but right nowˇ­ We will have to actually open the Kumo front or prepare for discontent. During the war, that could prove fatal." Himeno shook her head in exasperation at just how many angles the report covered. She highly doubted Rei did that deliberately.

    This mission would be seen as the greatest victory of Kirigakure but for the Mizukage, this was the greatest defeat in his career yet. The problems this would cause for him were almost mind-boggling.

    "Ah f.u.c.k it!" The Mizukage ruffled his hair. "I still have thirty minutes of break. We can talk about how screwed up we areter!" He grumbled.

    Himeno could only sadly smile as she stood up and made her kimono fall onto the ground near her ankles. She didn''t n on doing this since they were interrupted but her lover now needed some serious cheering up.

 Chapter 100 - Ch.100 The Shift in the battlefields

    <h4>Chapter 100 - Ch.100 The Shift in the battlefields</h4>

    Tsunade entered the Council Room with a barely restrained grin on her face. The previous nights, she spent with Rei and Konan having a very heated ''debate'' in the sheets so she was very aware of what this impromptu meeting was about. She was observing mostly confused looks on the faces of the other n heads who had no idea what exactly happened in the past several days nor that this meeting will decide the direction Konoha will take in the war. Tsunade sat on her chair and supported her chin with her hand, waiting for the meeting to start.

    "Order!" The Third Hokage eximed after five minutes and the door into the Council Room was closed. "I am sure many of you are wondering why we are meeting this fine day." Hiruzen started on the lighter note. "I''d like to recount some of our war efforts and then discuss albeit minor skirmish, a skirmish that will shift the entire war nevertheless." He calmly said with an authoritative voice despite inwardly cursing whatever brat was the cause of that event. Because of that, his paperwork tripled and he had topletely write off many ns! Months of his work were utterly destroyed and he couldn''t help but do what was the recurrent theme for every Kage these days. Seeth. ''The second I get that little shit into my hands...!''

    "Troublesome..." Shikami Nara, the Jonin Commander, muttered but nevertheless stood up as this was his job. "In that case, I will start with the recent happenings in our war efforts. Our ally, Suna, is suffering from intenserge-scale battles on their borders, both countries of Wind and Rock are trying to get some of their ninjas in so they could either run sabotage, reconnaissance, or assassination of wealthy nobles. Fortunately, there was no request for help so far therefore we don''t need to be concerned about them for now. That''s everything about Suna''s front."

    Everyone in the room knew why this was mentioned first. Suna front was something Konoha had no hand in influencing. Not in the light anyway. But it was important as heck. The second Suna falls would be the second this two-front war would be three-front for Konoha which they wanted to avoid at all cost. It was obvious Iwagakure was stronger, better equipped, and Tsunade would dare to say, better trained. Suna was winning due to their environmental advantage. It was as simple as that. They didn''t have many people for offense but excelled in defense in the desert.

    "The next would be Iwa," Shikami sighed as he took a paper from the table and his eyebrows scrunched. "As troublesome as this is, we are in a deadlock. Amegakurepletely refused to let the war engulf the Land of Rain because of the event of recent years where the vige was attacked and almost ttened by..." Shikami stopped for a second and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "meteorite? As unbelievable as this is, it''s what our spies told us."

    "Do we know who attacked them?" Tsunade interrupted, leaning into her palms as her elbows put more pressure on the table while curiosity was sparking in her eyes.

    Shikami briefly looked at her but then shook his head as if in annoyance. "Nope, no clue. Only Hanzo saw them and he supposedly suspects they were using some disguising transformation anyway. Something about their features shimmering from time to time."

    ''Ah... they didn''t yet have proper control of my Transformation Jutsu at the time. And here I hoped there would be some funny theories about the attack, and maybe someone would be framed. How... sad.'' Tsunade thought with amus.e.m.e.nt while nodding in satisfaction at Shikami.

    "Anyway," Shikami continued. "there are some skirmishes on the territory of the Land of Rain, but our and Iwa''s troops are continuously attacked by Amegakure forces and some new organization of ninja calling themselves Akatsuki that wants to keep the Land of Rain peaceful." He shrugged. "In short, the biggest battlefield between Iwa and Konoha is the Grass Country. It''s a mess since neither can push with enough force to get past the deadlock and I, as the chief strategist of Konoha, unfortunately, don''t see any way to get out of it in the foreseeable future." Shikami finished and the mood turned somber.

    Every n head was aware of the high death toll of the battlefield in the Grass Country. Iwa and Konoha had their own bases and the Land of Grass was engulfed in ferocious Guerri warfare between them. While major cities didn''t really suffer, the countryside was in tatters.

    "As for Kumo fro-" Shikami started.

    "That''s all Shikami." Hokage interrupted and gestured for his Jonin Commander to sit. "As for the Kumo front, that''s no longer relevant." The Third said with an irritated sigh that made many n heads straighten up. They quickly deduced this was the reason why this meeting was called. After a moment of sullenmenting, the Hokage continued. "ording to our intel, Kumo lost a skirmish with Kiri for Nagori Isles. Leaders A and Killer B led around 700 men to confront 200 Kiri shinobi and lost." Many n heads gasped at that, understanding what they were just told while Shikami looked as if he wanted to bang his head on the table... with therge ck circles under his eyes and all.

    Tsunade narrowed her eyes at this statement. 200 Kiri-nin... well, that information was broadcasted to Konoha most likely at the Mizukage''s order. But for Hokage to know that Kumo sent 700? That was a testament to how good Konoha''s Intelligence Department was. Or was it? ''Danzo...'' She pursed her lips. There was simply no other person capable of getting to this information.

    "That means," Hiruzen continued to exin it for those who didn''t yet pick up the meaning of this information. "Kumo is retreating from their offensive and as of now, the Kumo front ceased to exist."

    Kumo needed to consolidate their position so their ninja stopped attacking Konoha''s borders which would give Konoha more breathing room. Kumo had to prepare for a war with Kiri since Kiri forces gained a foothold so close to their borders. It had to be said the war between Kumo and Konoha was rarely fought on the borders of either of their countries. Sure, both pushed to prate into the countries, but there were still Countries of Rice, Hotsprings, and Frost in between them, so there was enough buffer to prevent the hostilities to reach the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning. And now, Kiri had a free ticket and the war would most likely start inside the Land of Lightning. Kumo was forced to forsake either Konoha or Iwa front, and while Konoha was more hated by them, they quickly deduced that Konoha front was the better option since Iwa was not really trying to invade the Land of Lightning except for some very rare skirmishes that are more often than not just a diversion for an attack on Konoha forces. Most of these battles were fought on the inds between the Land of Earth and Lightning anyway so it was not really a threat. Konoha, on the other hand, had its hands full and won''t be really able to retaliate even if Kumo dropped the front. Their decision was obvious.

    "Hokage-sama, isn''t that a good thing for us though?" Hyuuga n head stood up and asked, making the Hokage briefly look at him with a tired gaze.

    "No, not really." He said dryly. It was utterly vexing how the situation didn''t change for Konoha despite the major change in Kumo. "Nothing really changed. What many of you don''t know is that there were some small skirmishes between samurai and Kiri ninjas in the cities near the shores. Despite the Kumo front being unofficially closed, the ceasefire was not signed. Meaning, we are now in a 3-way battle rather than a 2-way. Lucky for us that Kiri also started a war with Kumo rather than focus only on us. It''s all the merit of our counterintelligence department that made it impossible to find out just how bad the situation on our side is." The Hokage sighed.

    "Nevertheless, we now have to prepare for a war on our territory." Tsunade quipped, simplifying what Hokage wanted to convey. ''Not to mention that Nagori Isles might not be that close to Konoha''s shores but are still closer than the Land of Water. I wonder if Mizukage or Hokage will realize that...'' Tsunade inwardly chuckled. Kiri now had the best possible outpost for bringing the war into the territories of both Land of Fire and Lightning. Something that didn''t really happen since the first war.

    As she said that, many widened their eyes and the mood turned gloomy. No longer did they inwardly rejoice at having to fend off only Iwa forces. Now they realized that... the situation just got a whole lot worse.

 Chapter 101 - Ch101. Three months, quiet before the storm

    <h4>Chapter 101 - Ch101. Three months, quiet before the storm</h4>

    It has been three months since the battle of Nagori Isles and since then, Kumo sent multiple squads to look through them with a fineb. But despite their backbreaking effort... they found nothing.

    The Kiri troops hidden in the new secret underground hideout received a simple order. Stay hidden. For three months, they did so while Rei and Konan were focusing on erging the underground base to house thousands of ninja. And slowly but surely, more and more Kiri ninja were arriving by sh.i.p.s. Not inrge quantities, rather the Mizukage chose subtlety so it took three entire months for the Nagori Base to house five thousand men. Rei knew the war would start in earnest for Kiri in a short few weeks and marveled at how the Mizukage handled the shitstorm he delivered to him.

    Simply said, when Kumo didn''t find even a single trace of Kiri ninja and heard there were some skirmishes at the southern shores of the Land of Fire, they were led to believe Kiri didn''t intend to attack them. The Mizukage even leaked some ''intel'' of his war ns through a few spies of Kumo in his ranks he knew about so it was ''obvious'' that Nagori Isles was just a distraction for a full-out assault on the southern coasts of the Land of Fire.

    This had a double effect.

    Firstly, Konoha started reinforcing this part of the country, wasting their war potential on fighting what was, in reality, poorly managed and very random, which made it frustrating to deal with attacks of various pirate crews the Mizukage hired. These men should not pose a problem to ninjas but their raids were so spread out and random that Konoha had no other way to counter them than to keep their ninjas stationed in the coastal cities. The viges however were left to their own devices... Most of them were already razed to the ground, women r.a.p.ed and enved, and men, elderly, and children used for amus.e.m.e.nt as the pirates stole and plundered to their hearts'' contents. Simply put, the Konoha forces abandoned them to protect rich merchants in the cities. For now, Kiri was winning this faux invasion while its forces were secretly amassing themselves at Nagori Base. And yet... not one Kiri shinobi set even one foot on the Land of Fire territory during this invasion. It was all the job of hired sc.u.m who couldn''t even use chakra. Rei really had to apud the Mizukage for this as the man was single-handedly screwing with two nations of the Great Five by just spending some pocket money on expendable pirates simply by using the situation he found himself in.

    And secondly, after hearing of these events, Kumo finally deemed Kiri wholly focused on Konoha and stopped searching through the Nagori Isles about three weeks ago. Kumo was now regrouped and their ninjas well-rested and better equipped while Konoha forces were spread thin. There could be only one conclusion if one considered the hatred Kumo had for Konoha. The Kumo front opened again. It didn''t take even a week after the searches were called out for some really bloody battles tomence as Kumo forces started pounding on the borders of the Land of Fire like a sledgehammer.

    In the end, Konoha was spread as thin as possible while Kumopletely disregarded any threat Kiri''s previous presence so near their borders signified. Rei could only apud the Mizukage for the job well done at organizing his troops as the man showed he really deserved his S-rank earned by numerous assassinations. He made it damn near impossible to spot where Kiri was going to hit next.

    The second Ringo awakened after the beating she received from A, she asked, no, begged Rei to help her with Lightning Release. He could only dy it so much and told her he would help when she is fully recuperated. It took her an additional month for that to happen but in the end, Rei could only helplessly shrug and pretend the vexed and peeved look Konan directed at him every single evening as they were falling asleep didn''t exist. At least, for the next two weeks, angry s.e.x and the pointed re was the norm. Tsunade certainly had a lot of fun watching their antics.

    After these two weeks, Konan had had enough. And that was when the hell for Ringo started. Konan took it upon herself to ''help'' the young woman train in Lightning Release with the only method a non-Lightning release user could. Bybat. Since then, Ringo started going to bed badly bruised or cut up while Konan was again as meek and snugly as a kitten in the bed. Rei had to admit he didn''t stop Konan because he knew these ''training'' sessions were more of a frustration relief for her and he liked silently bashful tender Konan more than silently seething angry Konan. As a man, he wholeheartedly believed he should avoid jumping into this matter as it was between two women, and decided to let Konan bea-, uh, get her frustration out of herself with Ringo''s help...

    Mei also had very productive months. She didn''t expect that during the war there would be a three months break. The war''s duration was reaching almost three-quarters of a year and yet, for Mei, there was only one battle so far. She however understood her weaknesses during it and bugged Tsunade until the woman caved and started to bug Rei who then bugged Konan who after that dragged Ringo into it... All four were giving Mei some lessons in their free time.

    Rei, Konan, and Tsunade also started doing ''practices'' in Rei''s personal dimension, creating an army of tough earth clones for Mei to go one versus army. Whoever said Tsunade was a gentle teacher was an idiot. The woman was doing her very best to stop one blow short of killing Mei. If Tsunade wasn''t such a good medic who could use nature energy to heal while being fully supported by the over-abundance of the said energy in Rei''s dimension, Mei would be crippled for life only after five minutes of these new exercises. And yet... she was getting stronger at a rate most would call insane. The only thing Rei could do when he saw Mei''s progress was to dryly think... ''The plot armor is strong with this one.''

    But like all good things, the peaceful period was on the verge of the end. The Mizukage now had all troops where he wanted them. He also had all the countries where he wanted them. Moreover, he had Konoha where he wanted it and it was time to start offensive...

    Fuguki Suikazan, Kushimaru Kuriarare, and Ringo Ameyuri... these three, the Mizukage decided, would lead the Kumo front while the other five members of the Seven Swordsmen were preparing to lead an offensive against Konoha. These three were chosen especially because of how fierce they were since that was something that would save them in this vastly outnumbered gamble. They weren''t given all that much resources or troops. Their whole deployment was simply a necessary ''evil'' as the n heads pushed for an attack on the Land of Lightning in some inane vision of ''glory''.

    Sometimes Rei wondered if stupidity was a necessary trait to be a n head or being a councilman. If Kiri set all its might onto Konoha, the vige would fall as quickly as Uzushio did in the second war and yet, it was Kiri council that prevented this from happening.

    Nevertheless, Rei was really curious about how Ringo would handle this when the odds were stacked so much against her. After all, he did spend most of his training time with her by giving her various strategies and teaching them how to devise her own unique strategies. He doubted she would again get c.o.c.ky or suicidal enough to face A alone, not after the verbal spanking he gave her, the physical trashing Konan gave her, and most importantly, the sullen angry pout Mei gave her.

    Sadly, he wouldn''t be there to witness or help her as Team Downpour received new orders... onwards to Suna.

    ---

    Author Note:

    Yeah, I know... summary chapter :D. s, it''s a necessary evil for a time-skip-kun.

 Chapter 102 - Ch102. Suna/Iwa front 1

    <h4>Chapter 102 - Ch102. Suna/Iwa front 1</h4>

    The Mizukage wanted to cement his advantages over Konoha by convoluting with the vige that hated treehuggers most. The Iwagakure.

    Unfortunately for the Team Downpour, they were the fastest ''delivery boy'' the Mizukage had, therefore they now flew in the sky on Konan''s tform made of paper towards the borders of Sunagakure, one of the least expected ces where a meeting between Iwa and Kiri messengers could happen.

    "So? What is the n?" Konan asked as she sat next to Rei who just hummed at her with a shit-eating smirk.

    "What do you mean?" He asked, making her roll her eyes at him in exasperation. Rei chuckled at her reaction and promptly regretted it as Konan pinched his side, hard.

    "Ai, ai, au! Stop it, woman!" He eximed and to his eternal relief, he felt Konan stop. With an exaggerated pout, Rei turned to her and puffed out his cheeks. "That hurt!" He petntly proimed and waved his right hand in the air, making Konan snicker at his antics while taking hold of his free hand as she leaned onto his shoulder.

    "You know what I mean. I wasn''t born yesterday. I am fully aware you nted some listening seals into Tsuchikage''s office, Iwa''s Council Room, and a few spots of interest." Konan said with half-lidded eyes as she enjoyed Rei''s warmth while pressing herself more into him.

    "Ahahaha, so you noticed?" Rei tried tough it off and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.

    "Of course," Konan deadpanned, looking into the rising sun as it painted the horizon in bright orange. If it was up to her, she would want to stay like this with Rei forever... "After all, I did the same and bugged these ces with my paper slices too." She finished smugly, making Rei open his mouth but no sound came out as he was quite speechless.

    "In retrospect, I should have seen thising. It was just a precaution though. That''s why I never told you as I never thought it would be of use." He said in an apologetic tone.

    "Ye-" Konan started but was quickly interrupted as an explosion sounded from afar and Mei jumped awake because of it, starting to rub her eyes as she cutely yawned.

    "Mo~" She whined sleepily, making both Rei and Konan smile at her while spreading their nature sensing towards the explosion and veering the tform in its direction. "What''s going on?" Mei asked as she came closer and kneeled behind them, leaning on their backs while propping her head in between theirs.

    That was when they saw it. In front of their eyes, a scene of carnage appeared as they stumbled on a battlefield with still on-going battle. Fortunately, from the tform, they had incredible views while having minimal chances of being discovered since no ninja ever looked far up into the sky due to flying being extremely scarce.

    "Well, would you look at that? Looks like we are quite lucky today. I mean, what are the chances?" Rei chuckled. Major battles like this didn''t happen on daily basis. There was seldom one per six months and even that was a stretch. Ninjas were more of a Guerri Warfare type ofbatants. Forward shes like the one they were just witnessing were something rare as viges could not afford to waste their men. To think they would randomly stumble upon one...

    The mangled bodies of Iwa and Suna ninjas covered the desert as the two armies shed. Hundreds of ninja fought for their viges, bravely but foolishly killing each other. Suna Tessenjutsu units worked together to perform joint ranged Wind Jutsu and tried to keep their distance while the weaponry and pieces of puppets from Kugutsu Units flew everywhere. Rei had no doubt every single piece from those was soaked in a very dangerous poison. The Iwa had simr tactics as their Explosion Corps were focusing on ranged attacks and throwing explosives and their ninjas fought more defensively with their Earth Ninjutsu. The situation howeverplicated fourbatants who shed in the middle of the battlefield, not really caring about who would be the coteral of their actions.

    Golden sands rose, crushing tens of people as they raced towards a plump guy d in Iwa attire. The guy just pped his hands together andmenced weaving hand signs in preparation of his jutsu before the area in front of him exploded, tossing the golden sands away from him. The golden sands however quickly reformed into yet another wave and flew back at the plumb Iwa-nin who jumped back and started throwing kunai at it, each of which exploded on contact. These explosions were a lot bigger and louder than an explosive tag and released a momentary blinding sh of white light.

    "Clever, the Iwa guy is using these shes from his explosion to make his opponent lose sight of him. The golden dust user must be pretty annoyed by now." Konanmented, more for the sake of Mei so she would be fully aware of what was going on and why the round guy managed to fight back.

    "Look there." Konan calmly pointed towards the other high-level battle a bit away, making both Mei and Rei turn their heads towards it.

    A small slim woman holding two kunai was in a fierce melee sh with a big muscled guy who used his fists hardened by some Earth Jutsu to try ferociously hit the woman but she always just side-stepped, using her incredible agility to avoid each strike while also retaliating with her kunai, trying to find a purchase. Konan pointed them out because these two were amazingly fast and as they fought, they moved all over the battlefield, sometimes killing some poor soul without even noticing. Suddenly, the woman jumped back, and above her hands two fiery orbs of orange pulsed into existence.

    "Oh! It''s Pakura." Rei said surprised. He never expected her to be so good with kunai.

    Konan and Mei didn''t have time to respond and only narrowed their eyes at the now ''introduced'' woman as she flung her Scorch orbs at her opponent. The bulky man from Iwa didn''t stay idle and knew these orbs would kill him on contact. But it didn''t matter as he was where he wanted to be. From his mouth, he suddenly spat arge amount ofva, creating waves of it covering the vicinity.

    "Damn, that must have killed hundreds." Mei eximed with wide eyes while in her head, she was already calcting how to use something simr with her own bloodline. Rei was a bit sad at how easily Mei reacted to so many people dying but this was the reality. She would either ept it or die.

    Pakura, seeing herrades scream in unthinkable pain as they were being melted byva, screamed in rage as another three scorching orbs appeared around her and she quickly sent them towards Iwa ninjas rather than her opponent. From there, the battle became a total massacre. Pakura focused more on mummifying the Iwa ninjas while evading currents ofva that killed everything around her while the Iwa ninja evaded asional kunai or scorching orb while spewingva bullets andva waves in hopes to kill more Suna ninjas. It was no longer about a fight between the two. Instead, it was about who kills more cannon fodder faster.

    "Rei... I never told you how happy I am you took me in." Mei suddenly said breathlessly, her mind in turmoil at what she saw. If Rei didn''t take her in and train her, she would probably be a genin... an average genin, at that. Meaning she would, most likely, be a participant in a battle like this, ending in the role of the screaming cannon fodder. She gulped at the chilling realization and briefly pitied her ssmates. Rei only sadly smiled at Mei and tenderly patted her head in reassurance.

    The fight was getting to the closure since both sides were running out of ninjas. Many already retreated and it was now mostly a fight between the four strongest. The surrounding area was covered in moltenva, golden sands, loads of obsidian ss created from the immense heat through the scorch orva releases... it was a mess. Even the bodies of ninjas were already either melted or mummified, if not buried deep in the sands.

    The four ninjas suddenly stopped fighting as they realized this was a stalemate and their forces already retreated. Nodding at each other, they disengaged.

    "Wait, what?!" Mei eximed when she saw how anticlimactic this was to which Konan only snorted.

    "These are the aces of their respective viges. Do you really think they can afford to fight to the death? No, it never was about killing the other guy. From the start, it was about killing as many enemy ninjas while keeping the opponent from killing their own." She simply said theplete truth that made Mei gape.

    "Yup, continuing would be a risk. In the end, there would be a loser and they can''t be sure who that would be. Losing would mean being killed which would result in their vige losing one or possibly two S-rank ninjas which wouldpletely change the stalemate of the Suna/Iwa front. Sure, Iwa would like that while Suna would rather stay it as it is but Iwa can''t afford to rashly sacrifice their S-rankers. Not right now when they are in a three-way war with Suna, Konoha, and Kumo." Rei continued the exnation.

    The stronger one was the lesser danger of dying. Oddly enough... quite often that didn''t mean surviving due to actually winning the fights.

 Chapter 103 - Ch103. Suna/Iwa front 2

    <h4>Chapter 103 - Ch103. Suna/Iwa front 2</h4>

    "What now?" Mei asked sullenly as her eyes trailed over the retreating form of Pakura. She didn''t like that Rei recognized the woman. Nor that the woman seemed to be extremely strongˇ­ and pretty. Not to mention Rei looked at Pakura more than the other S-rankers in that battle. Nope, she didn''t like it one bit.

    Konan on the other hand, also watched Pakura with her calctive gaze and ''heee~'' kind of yful expression, making Pakura feel chills go up to her spine but being unable to tell why no matter how much she looked around.

    "Now we go and follow the Lava spitting guy from Iwa. If I am right, that''s the youngest son on the Tsuchikage." Rei stated absentmindedly, bringing the two thoughtful girls to reality. "He is the man we are supposed to meet and hand the letter to, ording to the mission orders." He shrugged, not expecting this to be a pleasant mission at all. He knew better as did Konan who slightly tensed, amus.e.m.e.nt never leaving her eyes. Only Mei stayed blissfully clueless, not that the older duo would enlighten her. They wanted to see if she would find out by herself.

    ...

    A lone Iwa shinobi had guard duty at the gate of the closest Iwa outpost to the Suna borders. It was a bother, to be honest, and the job was dangerous as heck since during war they had to be expecting an attack twenty-four-seven. At least, it was well paid. He was yawning as it was almost evening and he was mind-numbingly guarding the gate for eight hours now despite the fact he was to be swapped four hours ago. When one of your work ''buddies'' is the niece of the outpostmander, then those less fortunate, like him, have to quietly suffer for it.

    Suddenly, in the distance, something shimmered and the Iwa guard narrowed his tired eyes as he tried to get a better look at it. It took him a few minutes to finally manage but his eyes widened when he saw three figures making their way straight towards the outpost gate. Now... he was conflicted. He could report this but it didn''t seem like an attack. If it was, good. If not, he may be punished for disturbing hismander! The man gulped as his mood soured. ''Why did I be a ninja again? Stupid, stupid, stupid!''

    While he was having internal turmoil, Rei, Konan, and Mei finally arrived in front of the gate and nodded at the guy in greeting. Slowly, not to show any threatening movement, Rei withdrew a scroll with his orders and handed it to the man who took it curiously before reading it. The scroll didn''t really contain the message of the Mizukage but it was more of a confirmation of their identity.

    "I-, I will get mymanding officer fast!" The Iwa-nin scaredly eximed before scurrying away into the outpost.

    Mei frowned at the guy who seemingly left the gate wide open and without any guardian but when Konan poked her cheek with her index finger and attracted her attention, Mei could quickly see the amused look Konan usually had when she wanted her to find out something ''hidden''. Usually the meaning of a lesson or exercise... ''Oh! I get it!'' Mei''s eyes sparkled and darted all over the ce while she acted like an overenthusiastic child... a mere new genin who thought this was a vacation or something. ''Two, no, three hidden ninjas?'' She tilted her head as she turned to Mei and discreetly showed her three fingers, expecting to be praised.

    "Almost, you missed two hidden in the ground. This is Iwa outpost, after all." Konan bluntly said with amus.e.m.e.nt in her eyes, making Mei pout childishly and the hiding Iwa ninjas face-fault at being discovered so easily, by a child no less, and then having it thrown straight into their face. ''Heh~, now we would be taken seriously.'' Konan thought, resisting an urge to exaggeratedly roll her eyes as she, with the corner of her eye, watched the two men observing them from within the outpost.

    They waited for close to thirty minutes before the guard returned and with a shaky voice started speaking. "The Commander and Lord Kitsuha will see you. Follow me." He said before awkwardly turning around without even looking at them and started walking.

    The party was led into a bigvish room where two men sat behind a in wooden table with various battle ns strewn on it. One man was anky, middle-aged man with short grey hair and a very calctive gaze that slithered over them like a snake... making Mei re at him in return as she didn''t really like the way he looked at them. The man smiled as she saw Mei''s re and with a slight bow, introduced himself.

    "I am Kimura Hagareno, the Commander of this outpost, and jonin of Iwa. Nice to meet you Rei and Konan of Kiri. I wonder... who is the third member of your party?" He asked in a fake-pleasant voice, his eyes lingering on Mei as he stared at her with suspicion.

    "She is Mei. Our apprentice." Konan stoically stated, her expression cold and detached. Rei could only inwardly smirk as Kimura shivered at how lifeless her eyes were despite not an ounce of killing intent being used. Mei politely bowed but wisely stayed silent, observing the conversation.

    That was when the other Iwa shinobi in the room introduced himself. "I am Kitsuha, the youngest son of the Third Tsuchikage," He started with great pride. "a jonin from Iwa." All three of the Team Downpour recognized him as the burlyva spitter from the battle they witnessed. After all, they found this outpost by following his retreat.

    It was obvious the man craved recognition so Rei just politely smiled and tilted his head enough to send the non-verbal message that he never heard of him. Amus.e.m.e.nt filled him as the man clearly understood the gesture and deted while a small scowl appeared on his face.

    ''So easy...'' Both Konan and Rei thought with a sweat-drop.

    "Please, sit." Kimura gestured to three free chairs, obviously prepared in advance. "Now then, I heard you have a message from the Mizukage for Kitsuha."

    Rei nodded and handed the letter to Kitsuha who carelessly took it, opened it, and started reading only for his eyebrow to rise. His eyes trailed between Rei and the letter as a frown appeared on his face but in the end, the man nodded at Kimura and stashed the letter away. He would have to send it to Tsuchikage, after all.

    "Now that this is out of the way, if I got it right, you are to return towards Konoha after this?" Kimura asked and Rei slowly nodded. "Wonderful! In that case, what about apanying Kitsuha? His unit is going to move in the direction of the Land of Fire and regroup with some more troops before starting an offensive against Konoha."

    Rei raised his eyebrow, enjoying the eye twitch of Kimura, knowing he annoyed the hell out of the man by the silent treatment he was giving him. "Sure." Rei shortly replied, his eyes flickering to Konan who slightly smiled. She enjoyed how nervous Rei was making the slimy git despite how good the man could hide it.

    "We will dly apany you." Konan pleasantly confirmed, and Mei''s body went rigid. She knew that tone. She knew that precise tone very well. It didn''t spell anything good for...

    ''Oh, so it''s one of those situations!'' Mei mentally groaned, resisting the urge to smack her head on the table.

    Mei had to admit she was out of her depth during the conversation. She didn''t miss how there was nost name when she was introduced. Konan gave out nothing that could give even the slightest tell of Mei''s ability. For all Kimura and Kitsuha knew, she was just a random genin. This was the first thing that made Mei tense and overly aware of the discreetly veiled distrust between their two groups.

    The way both groups acted... it was obvious this was yet another form of a battle between the shinobi of two different nations. Each of them overly cautious in their own way. And yet... something didn''t add up. As the debate about which route they would take started, Mei was already aware this mission would end up in bloodshed, simply because Konan never used a pleasant voice unless she was talking to her ''sisters'' or Rei. Using it for Kitsuha? That could only mean the man would soon die.

    Mei''s head swirled with possibilities of ''why'' but her face stayed expressionless through the entire conversation. The debate finally ended and they were offered a separate room which was promptly declined and Mei found herself bunking in with Konan and Rei. That way it was safer since Rei sealed the heck outta the room. Not even a fly would be able to get in unnoticed and not even an elephant would be able to strong-arm its entrance. It was only when she was falling asleep between both of her teachers, embraced from each side did a spark of realization hit her like a proverbial truck. Her eyes went instantly wide as she kept herself from waking Rei or Konan up by abruptly sitting up. She remembered multiple discussions about bugging Tsuchikage''s office and connected the dots with how Rei and Konan acted during the meeting. Yes... Mei really understood why her teachers were so unfriendly.

    ''Shit... so this is a freaking trap all along?!''

 Chapter 104 - Ch104. Suna/Iwa front 3

    <h4>Chapter 104 - Ch104. Suna/Iwa front 3</h4>

    Rei, Konan, and Mei joined ten squads under Kitsuha''s order that were supposed to travel through the upper part of the Land of the Wind towards the borders where an army of Iwa mercenaries and cannon fodder should be waiting.

    This was the web the Mizukage spun. Iwa pushing the stalemate in the Land of Grass while also attacking through the Land of Wind, going into the Land of Rivers where the Konoha didn''t expect its borders to be breached due to the proverbial ''shield'' the Land of Wind provided. Kumo was expected to keep Konoha busy on the Kumo front... and then Kiri ninjas go into offensive on the northern shores of the Land of Fire without being noticed while the southern shores are busy with erratic hired pirates. Even Rei could only bitterly smile at how well the Mizukage''s n went despite his intervention on the Nagori Isles. It was really baffling and a great show of Mizukage''s smarts and his ability as a tactician. Coupled with the uing mission of the team Downpour in the Land of Fire, Konoha would have no time to react to the real assault in the northern shores of their territory. Rei doubted they would realize that the northern shore was the location of the real attack until it was toote.

    The following days spent traveling towards the borders was a pure annoyance in Rei''s opinion and he was fairly sure Konan also had thoughts of lighting the camp on fire whenever they stopped for a night. Since Mei found out this was an incredibly badly veiled ruse, there was no longer a need to keep much of a pretense of politeness with the Iwa ninjas that would inevitably end up on the other end of his kunai one of these days. Mei passed her test so as long as Rei''s actions didn''t make their tag-along group wary, he decided not to act friendly towards them only to throw Mei off.

    Rei knew Konan was fed-up with rebuffing two moronic guys who tried to win her over with their ''dashing'' looks as if it wasn''t obvious they were a part of Iwa''s seduction corps. The idiots didn''t even try to change their mannerisms from that of a high-end man-s.l.u.t.

    To be honest, he was too bored with the Iwa kunoichi trying to flirt with him. By his estimation two of the squads traveling with them, that means ten people, were from the seduction corps and ten of these were a quite beautiful kunoichi. Well, beauty is good and all but when one knows that sticking into it means being stuck by kunai in exchange, no matter if that kunai is from the Iwa kunoichi or Konan, it was just not worth it. Needless to say, Rei made sure that Konan was extremely ''vocal'' of her ''feelings'' during their nights... just to show how exasperated he was by the flimsy flirty attempts. Poor Mei had to use silencing seals to sleep. Unfortunately for her, Konan dered it was training to be familiar with s.e.x and not act shy when witnessing it... Rei totally had no chance but toply with that, right?

    Neither Konan nor Rei had any idea why the Tsuchikage deemed it important for these guys from the seduction corps to be here. Well, they did have an idea. Maybe he wanted to see if there is a way to ''convert'' their loyalties? For them to be manipted and somehow controlled by l.u.s.t? It wouldn''t be the first time a dangerous S-ranker was a horndog who could be either easily killed by a p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e or promised to have a harem for his services. Every man had his price and Rei thought Onoki was trying to shoot blindly to find theirs in a ''maybe'' scenario.

    At least, they didn''t go for Mei, and for that Rei was grateful. It would be so awkward exining to her the ''finer'' divisions of Ninja Viges. He was aware Konan exined s.e.x in great detail to Mei... and when Tsunade pitched in, to his unquenchable horror, Rei was sure Mei knew every little thing he loved in bed. Something he didn''t forget to punish both Tsunade and Konan as Mei started looking differently at him after that particr debate with her older ''sisters''. But despite that, he knew neither of the women in his life deemed it important to exin what seduction corps was and he was definitely not the one who would have that kind of debate with the girl. Nu-uh.

    On the brighter side, Kitsuha was an utter disappointment and Rei was now quite certain the Tsuchikage wanted his youngest son to die on this mission. Rei''s thinking process was simple. If Rei was Kage and had a son like Kitsuha, he would also want him to die as soon as possible and stop embarrassing him. Oh, how the guy bragged when piss drunk. About this and that insignificant aplishment. About how Kiri ninjas were insignificant pussies... in front of Kiri shinobi at that, about how he would ''spank'' Konoha''s ass after he aplished a special mission from his father and made him proud. Well, Rei was actually surprised the guy had the decency to not blurt out his special mission was to kill the Team Downpour in an ambush. Point for the guy, he guessed. Nevertheless, Rei promised Kitsuha would get a very painful end, if only due to the way he looked at HIS Konan. Nothing short of being boiled alive would suffice...

    And then the guy started droning on and on for hours upon hours about his nightly conquers of the kunoichi from the seduction corps whose only reason for being present in this squad was to seduce Rei... not be s.l.u.ts for their ''Commander''. s, the guy was still theirmander so tough luck for them. The more the moron talked, the more annoyed Rei became, the more kunai-happy his hand twitched. The worst part? The guy just wouldn''t shut up... and he would always follow Rei to talk. At times, Rei wondered if Tsuchikage was some grand schemer and this was some borate scheme to prolong the time he spent with Kitsuha in order to make the trash he spewed infect Rei and make him go insane or possibly die before they even reached the ambush point. It was certainly a very distinct possibility and with every passing day, Rei became more and more assured of this theory of his. The Tsuchikage was scary...

    That''s why, on the afternoon of the sixth day of traveling with Kitsuha, Rei was incredibly happy when his natural senses started tingling and his eyes snapped forward, widening slightly. He looked at Konan who grimly nodded at him, signalizing she also noticed it. But heck... not even the realization of what exactly was waiting for his team couldn''t wipe away the happiness he felt at finally getting away from the boasting chatterbox.

    "Halt!" Kitsuha self-importantly ordered, almost puffing in pride, inwardly almost squealing that his hour of glory was almost upon him. The Seduction Corps women didn''t manage to do their mission and seduce Rei nor did their male counterparts have any progress with Konan who during the entire journey utterly ignored them, not speaking even a word to them. "Rei, it was very brief but we will have to wait here for a messenger. The best and fastest way to get to Konoha would be through the mountain pass in front of us. I wish you the best of luck, my friend!" Kitsuha boisterously ushered the Team Downpour to continue forward with his words.

    Rei sighed and wondered if Kitsuha was really as stupid as he seemed. This didn''t reek of a trap at all... The small straight road with two jagged tall cliff-like mountains towering on each side of it seemed totally safe. The walls were jagged enough that even attempting surface-walking would be something insane and would most likely result in getting mortally injured on the sharp rocks rather than walking the surface upward. Any self-respecting ninja would never walk into such a good location for a trap and would rather go around the mountain just to avoid this on the off-chance of there being an ambush despite taking the detour took much longer.

    Konan actually facepalmed.

    Mei, on the other hand, was blinking as she stared at the road, her mindpletely nk, not being able toprehend what she just heard. The talk about what kind of ces to ''not'' go was among the first lessons she received and the path in front of her seemed to be awfully like those at the very top of that list. ''This... they are kidding, right? They must be, right? I mean, I am a genin and they should be jonin... That means they should be smarter or at least more experienced, right? They can''t really expect us to just walk in there, right? Don''t tell me they chose such a textbook ce for an ambush... that would need for one to be as dense as a rock! Nobody is that dense, right?'' Mei thought in turmoil at the ridiculous situation she found herself in.

    Kitsuha''s orders were to walk into the mountain path with the Team Downpour. It wouldn''t be really suspicious if he did so and exined they already secured and scouted this ce. In the hurry, the Team Downpour was supposed to not pay much attention to it and when the people waiting on the other end blocked one of the paths, Kitsuha''s ten squads were supposed to block the other path out, trying to prevent the Team Downpour from fleeing long enough for their helpers to flood the narrow path, using their numbers to overwhelm Team Downpour. Easy n. s, Kitsuha had to decide not to listen to orders and ''advised'' Rei to go through the path alone which made it very obvious this was a trap.

    Rei just sadly shook his head, giving up on trying to find a shred of intelligence in Kitsuha. "Let''s go." He simply said with an apathetic and disappointed shrug and led his team into a clearly obvious trap. A n on how to deal with this ridiculous situation already at the forefront of his mind, his lips twisted into a nasty smirk aimed at Mei, making her shudder as she was now well aware this was yet another test and a way of how to make her stronger.

    ''Oh... this will be such a pain in the ass, won''t it!'' She groaned to herself.

    ----

    Author Note:

    Okay, before someone mes me that I make Iwa being stupid on purpose, I am not. I am making Kitsuha stupid and this was somewhat of his operation. The ce for an ambush was good but he was supposed to walk inside WITH Rei and co and then spring a trap.

    Remember, nobody except the Mizukage should be aware of the flight ability (Ringo told him, of course) and their sensing ability (He has no idea to what extent though) so thinking this could stop the Team Downpour was totally normal

    As for what ''THIS'' is, it will be revealed in the next chapter :D.

 Chapter 105 - Ch105. Mei vs Army 1

    <h4>Chapter 105 - Ch105. Mei vs Army 1</h4>

    Team Downpour was rushing through the narrow path surrounded by tall walls of jagged rocks when Mei suddenly felt Rei''s hand on her shoulder, firmly stopping her in her tracks, almost making her fall onto her back due to how abruptly she was stopped mid-run. Mei quizzically turned her head in Rei''s direction, her expression clearly asking what was the n since their current situation was quite obvious. Thankfully, neither the ninja in front of them nor Kitsuha and his ten squads would start their offensive until Rei and his girls reach a certain point in the narrow path. Mei was in Rei''s squad for two years and by now she knew he would never let an opportunity to discuss the battle n slip by, hence their momentary stop for a discussion.

    "Well, Mei... you probably already know we will be jumped the second we reach the ''ambush'' point. It''s time to get some things straight..." Rei said, grinning at her and that was when Mei knew she was in for another world of pain in a pretense of training.

    ''At least it really helps me to get stronger...'' She mentally grumbled while Rei obviously ignored her pouty face as he exined what he had in the store for her.

    ...

    Kitsuha looked through the telescope as the Team Downpour suddenly stopped, seemingly talking among each other. His face was instantly marred with a frown as he changed ''go, go, go'' in his mind when he saw them almost reaching the ambush point. He could already almost see his fame in Iwa skyrocketing after he managed to take them down. The riches. The women. Respect... Yeah, not once did he regret taking this mission despite the vehement protests of his father, the Tsuchikage.

    "Why are they stopping?" He asked his second inmand, a woman whose name he deemed too unimportant. In his mind, he called her Sucker as she had one incredible tongue.

    "I have no idea, Lord Kitsuha." The woman evenly said, pleasing his vanity by calling him ''Lord''. It wasn''t every day she was straddled with a man-child in the form of Tsuchikage''s son. Tsuchikage''s inept son at that. The rumors of how different Kitsuha and Kitsuchi are were quite the thing back home, after all. Both capable and very strong S-rank shinobi trained personally by the Tsuchikage. For that, the man deserved respect... and by extension her body whenever he asked. If it wasn''t for his apparent ability as a ninja, no matter if he was themander, she wouldn''t bend to his antics. Sadly, while both brothers were strong as heck, Kitsuha was always the less renowned through the Nations, the child even the Tsuchikage rather keeps a secret. In the end, it all boiled to one important fact. No matter how strong Kitsuha was, he was an utter idiot. Without somebody holding his hand, he would drive others to their death. She sighed as a sudden headache ran through her head. ''Why the heck did I take this mission to look out for the big an'' dumb again? I swear this is no different than these babysitting D-ranks when I was a genin!''

    "Hmmm~," Kitsuha intoned, "Prepare to move. We are going in." He said, making his second inmand freeze.

    ''Damn you, bastard!'' She mentally wept. ''Wasn''t it enough you f.u.c.k.i.e.d up the entire n by sending them alone into the mountain path? Why the f.u.c.k would they stop? Maybe because you made it oh-so-obvious this was a trap, perhaps?'' She couldn''t help but minutely scowl. ''Now you want to f.u.c.k it up even further by engaging with them when they are not even at the designated location!?''

    "Captain, I think th-" She tried to be a voice of reason but...

    "You are not here to think but to satisfy my urges and listen to my orders. And I said we are engaging. Go and tell the troops to prepare." Kitsuha interrupted her coldly, flexing his powerful and dense chakra in order to remind her of her ce. In the end, she could only resignedly do what he wanted of her.

    ''Hehe, don''t you worry, girl. Today I will aplish this mission and tonight I will show you that being obedient is very enjoyable!'' Kitsuha thought, utterly unaware of the depressing thoughts of his second inmand.

    ''I am so f.u.c.k.i.e.d...''

    ...

    Rei, Konan, and Mei were done nning and started to again run forward only to stop approximately two hundred meters and turn to the mountain wall on the left side. Rei and Konan put their hands onto the surface of the cliff and both eximed.

    "Earth Release: Hidden Cave."

    Mei instantly saw the rock part but instead of a cave, it created a pathway. A so-called third exit from the narrow mountain pathway. Mei was sure this was possible only due to Rei''s nature sensing and his ability to pinpoint which part of the mountain wall was the thinnest, and therefore easiest to get through.

    "Damn that took quite a bit." Konan dryly stated, not really sounding happy so Mei kept quiet as they again started running. For a few seconds, they were still surrounded by two walls of parted rock but then a peaceful massive lush green clearing appeared in front of them, epassed by tall dangerous cliffs. A dead-end.

    ''Meaning we are certainly not running from this one.'' Mei offhandedly noted. Despite hearing Rei''s n, she still hoped he only joked and they would run away. She didn''t really feel ready for ''this''.

    Team Downpour ran towards the opposite side of the clearing, their backs to the cliff, facing the only opening that led to this future battlefield of theirs. Rei chose this ce especially because it would be impossible to sneak up on them and the clearing wasrge enough for a battle between thousands of people while not having many obstacles. In his opinion, this was the perfect ce for Mei to show the full power of her bloodline.

    Soon enough the enemies finally understood that Rei and Konan ''created'' a way out of their ambush and quickly followed them, amassing their forces in the clearing as they observed calmly-waiting Team Downpour, waiting for them to gather. It was quite a surreal sight. On one side three rxed figures. On the other, a ten thousand strong army made of mercenaries and ves trained to be as good as genins with a few high-ranked ninjas mixed and hidden in it.

    This was the same tactic that Rei recognized was used in the anime for the Third Raikage. Except, instead of protecting theirrades, the Team Downpour was supposedly trapped since the enemies had no idea about their ability to fly.

    Three versus Ten thousand.

    Certainly, Rei could see why this would work. No shinobi had unlimited energy or never got tired. There were only so many people one could kill in a day and the longer this dragged out, the worse it would be for the Team Downpour. Or so, Rei surmised, must have been the thinking of the tactician behind this n. A pity the guy never ounted forrge-scale area of effect ninjutsu and most likely didn''t believe that Rei and Konan could cast their destructive ''coboration'' Jutsu fast enough to counter the army.

    Rei grinned when he saw the smug face of Kitsuha as the Iwa army finished gathering in the clearing. "And so it starts." He said and reached his right hand forward, His palm facing the sky as a ball of chakra threads suddenly appeared above it before it started rapidly fly high into the sky, only one thin thread connecting the ball with Rei''s hand. "Since you were so eager to deliver yourself here... I don''t think you should be given the opportunity to leave." Rei muttered to himself in a menacing tone as his chakra red, changing into earth nature while being mixed with nature energy as the Jutsu was performed.

    "Earth Release: Natural Cage." Rei stated, interested if it would work exactly as he intended and how strong the Earth Release mix with Nature Energy would be while he pumped more of this mix through the lone chakra thread connecting his hand with the ball in the sky.

    The Iwa army could only stare in bewilderment as the small ball of blue threads suddenly burst out in massive amounts of ck-ish chakra threads. One of their ends buried deeply into the ground while the other was still connected to the small, now ck ball in the sky. Together they created something akin to a ck bird-cage made of threads epassing the entire clearing. That was when Rei started pumping Lightning Chakra through the thread and the gaps between the threads shimmered with blue arcs of lightning, making it impossible for anyone to get in or out as it trapped the Iwa troops inside of the clearing. Obviously, nothing short of killing Rei would get them out of here. Hence, the army prepared for the battle.

    "Well then, Mei, yet another test for you." Rei said ''kindly'' as he turned towards Mei. "I prepared the stage, the rest is yours." He pointed at the army in front of them while being amused at Mei''s baffled expression and trying to ignore Konan''s muffled snickering. With an amused tone, he added, "Defeat them."

    ----

    AN:

    Yeah, sorry, I was kinda tired when writing this so dunno about the quality...

 Chapter 106 - Ch106. Mei vs Army 2

    <h4>Chapter 106 - Ch106. Mei vs Army 2</h4>

    Pa treon - 43 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    Mei looked towards the army she was supposed to fight with apletely baffled expression. It didn''tst long however as she schooled herself into a practiced indifference, the only indicator she was not okay being the minuscule shaking of her hands. Both Rei and Konan could see it in Mei''s eyes though. Slowly but surely, the girl was gaining an unshakable resolve.

    Mei was frightened. Almost as much as she was excited. As much as the idea of fighting the army of thousands by herself scared her, it was the words of her two teachers that stopped her from freaking out. Her bloodline... Rei often told her she was a veritable army killer. It was time to prove she really belonged to Team Downpour. That she had the right and necessary strength to be a part of it.

    Mei... charged forward.

    She was aware of how ridiculous she must have looked. One small girl charging at an army numbering in thousands and yet, this was what she was trained for. Mei was getting closer and closer to the Iwa army.

    200 meters, she started molding her chakra.

    150 meters, her hands snapped together in the familiar cross-shaped hand seal.

    100 meters, in a burst of smoke, neen shadow clones of Mei appeared, running alongside Mei.

    50 meters, Mei was surprised no kunai was flying at her yet only to realize with a pang of disappointment that she was not facing ninjas. Well, not entirely. The force in front of her might be around ten thousand strong but it was mostly mercenaries or ves that were rapidly trained into genins worth not even the clothes they wore. She doubted there were more than 300 real Iwa ninjas in there and most would be spread out in the enemy army so there was nobody to attack her yet.

    With a smile, all twenty Meis abruptly stopped 30 meters away from the army, their chakra molding finished as they took a very deep breath, arching their heads backward while puffing up their chests.

    ''Boil Release: Mei-chan''s Super-Duper Steamy Surprise!'' She thought with a bit of regret, promptly deciding to rename all Jutsu she named when she was just a small girl.

    All twenty Meis simultaneously spat a monstrous amount of steam from their mouths straight at the enemy army. The steam created a huge white cloud that spread through half of the width of the clearing in all but a moment and was still spreading and towered at least ten meters above their heads. The unamusing white cloud was rapidly rushing to engulf the army, creating various reactions from the Iwa troops.

    Some were unbothered as they thought it was just a normal smoke-screen if a bit on the bigger scale. Others were horrified as their guts were telling them the cloud was something very dangerous. These people decided to spin on their heels and run away... that didn''t go well, however, as behind them were their densely packedrades. In but a second the Iwa army descended into utter chaos as the massive white cloud was about to engulf the front-lines.

    It was only the small number of ninjas who were utterly speechless at the massive army-killing Jutsu that was hurling their way courtesy of a small girl! Needless to say, not many believed their own eyes, and only when the screams of the mercenaries in the front lines reached them did their brain finally reboot, their instincts kicking in. Quickly, the experienced ninjas started channeling chakra into their bodies, covering them in it in an attempt to protect themselves from what they incorrectly guessed to be acidic mist made by Boil Release.

    The searing steam cloud was pushing itself through the ranks of the enemy army, engulfing more and more Iwa mercenaries who deeply regretted even epting thismission. Couldn''t they tell that something was wrong when the Tsuchikage hired thousands of them to fight against three people?

    They wailed and squealed like pigs when the steam even softly caressed their bodies, not to mention anything about engulfing them entirely. The second it came into contact with unprotected skin, it started melting them alive as burning boils appeared all over it. The mercenaries could only furiously thrash in a vain attempt for the pain to stop as the steam reached beyond the skin and started liquifying their muscles, fiber by fiber, reaching all the way to the bones which were instantly being corroded as holes started to form in them, submerging the victim in a world of excruciating pain as the bones started shattering while being slowly dissolved due to a special ''ingredient'' in the cloud that had a nasty reaction to bones in particr. After all, Mei was also an apprentice to Tsunade and Tsunade did study Kaguya bloodline into a nasty extreme.

    Innumerable deafening inhuman screams and screeches of untold suffering rang through the clearing, scaring the heck out of the experienced shinobi, the inexperienced ve genins, and the mercenaries alike as they now started pushing back, away from the still spreading cloud of searing death. Many were stomped to their death by their ownrades in the panic, only for those closest to the only exit to find out that they are trapped and realize that those who were stomped to death were in reality the lucky ones.

    Two ck strings were vertically along the sides of the narrow mountain path surrounded by tall jagged cliffs, a blue hue shimmering in between them, blocking the only way out. At first, the scared soldiers didn''t even think about it, only when the first batch rushed through it and with a blue sh became just zed corpses bathed in blue lightning me, dropping onto the ground, not a meter away from the boundary of the blue hue, creating a pile of bodies there, did they stop in their tracks in even bigger fright.

    The frightened soldiers could only cry in disbelief as their bodies rattled in fear. They were trapped. Their heads snapped back to the quickly spreading cloud that was now half-way through the army and they could only with wide eyes stare and wait for their turn, regretting evering here.

    Not every Iwa soldier was powerless though. The three hundred experienced Iwa ninjas and even some of the better ve genins were able to some degree cover themselves in their respective chakra and save themselves or at least dy their eventual burning. At first, they also looked for a way to run away but when they saw the barrier keeping them inside the clearing, they quickly resolved to put a hell of a fight before going down.

    The boiling steam finally reached the end of the clearing and enveloped the remaining despairing Iwa troops only to hit the blue barrier that contained it, preventing it from spreading further. Half of the entire clearing was now submerged in a thick white cloud and the screams... slowly starting to fade to a serene silence.

    Over ten thousand Iwa soldiers came... only a bit more than four hundred of the most experienced ninjas still remained.

    The real battle... just started.

 Chapter 107 - Ch107. Mei vs Army 3

    <h4>Chapter 107 - Ch107. Mei vs Army 3</h4>

    As the cloud finished spreading and killing the useless and weak, Mei quickly made her neen shadow clones create steam clones because shadow clones wouldn''t be able to survive in the cloud. She enwrapped herself in a protectiveyer of suiton chakra, creating a soft, almost invisible blue aura around her body, and with the newly created neen steam clones, she rushed into the white searing steam cloud of death while her shadow clones popped out of existence, much to her relief returning her quite a bit of chakra. Mei used a whole lot to create the first attack and despite having what Rei proudly dubbed as reserves of an almost jinchuuriki, thanks to his brutal training, Mei was quite exhausted. Getting the chakra from the clones gave her much needed second wind.

    She was aware she had every advantage over her enemies. They were scared, demoralized, trapped in a cloud where visibility was as good as nill. The cloud also made them use their chakra, forcing them to effectively albeit a bit slowly burn through their reserves if they wanted to stay un-melted. On the other hand, she was still alone and there were hundreds of them. She had to be careful.

    Mei could have waited until the enemies wasted more of their chakra but she didn''t want the Iwa ninjas to find out a weakness in her Jutsu, especially since these were Iwa ninjas and the cloud was already starting to very slowly disperse. She decided to charge into it and made her clones also engage inbat with the remaining enemies.

    She couldn''t go and face four hundred men head-on. That would be suicide. Thankfully, there was a thick smoke-screen... It was time to act like a true Kiri ninja and use the silent killing technique she was forced to learn in the academy andter by Rei and Konan who brutally beat its mastery into her. Not that sheined. That single skill was something for which she would be eternally grateful to Rei and Konan.

    Rushing through the white cloud with her eyes closed, Mei could hear the sound of starting battles as her steam clones started engaging their targets. She didn''t need her eyes to fight nor could she even use them in such a thick cloud. Instead, Mei relied on her own albeit a bit limited, but still incredibly useful chakra sensing ability to sense her own chakra. The cloud was, after all, saturated with the stuff, and with just a bit of focus, Mei had an overview of the positions of every enemy of hers in the thick cloud. Well, figures. If it has a humanoid shape and is not full of her chakra, it was obviously an enemy. Locking on at the closest one, Mei charged at the ninja.

    Mei felt herself being barely two meters away from her first target, happy he didn''t notice her yet thanks to how silent she moved. The poor sap was confusedly looking around, not knowing what to do so Mei decided to make a quick work of him. Pulling out a kunai, she swiftly leaped at the man and buried it up to the handle into his neck, severing the spine while also supporting the dying body in order to prevent it from loudly falling to the ground. ''Damn, no sensing capabilities nor any honed instincts? This must have been one of the better genins made from the ves.'' Mei disappointedly thought as she slowly and carefullyid the body on the ground, making sure she did it as silently as possible before dashing onwards to her next target.

    Mei found a gathering of five ninjas who had the sense to group up in the mist. She started molding her chakra and with just one one-handed seal, she spitted out a blob ofva while thinking, ''Lava Release: Lava Bullet.''

    Contrary to her expectations, the five ninjas noticed her attack and jumped away, making the Lava Bullet impact only an empty ground. This also made the ninjas aware of Mei''s position and she suddenly found herself evading two taijutsu practitioners who cracked the ground every time they impacted it.

    ''Thank God for Rei''s agility exercises and Konan''s Territory evasion course.'' Mei idly thought as she sidestepped yet another haymaker of one Iwa shinobi and ducked under a right hook aimed at her chin from the other. ''These two must be chunin.'' She noted before her senses red and Mei quickly smashed her palm into the ground.

    "Earth Release: Earth Wall!" Mei whispered... a testament of how surprised she was since Konan made sure to instill into her doing Jutsu silently and not say the names like some mentally-challenged idiot.

    A wall of the earth with a semi-circr shape quickly appeared in between Mei and the two taijutsu-using Iwa ninjas, continuing all the way to cover her right side just a second before the wall there was impacted by Two Earth Bullets and one Fireball Justus. The three remaining ninjas from the group of five clearly could pinpoint her location by using sound. ''Tsch, just my luck, running into an experienced group.'' Mei clicked her tongue.

    Fortunately for Mei, the impact cracked her Earth Wall which sent some debris in the direction of the two taijutsu chunins due to the circr shape of the Earth Wall. Mei used this slight distraction and the fact they couldn''t see her to her advantage and performed yet another Jutsu.

    ''Water Release: Cutting st of Finger-Doom.'' She thought, again embarrassed at the naming sense of her younger self while gathering a small blob of water on her index finger. She shot the small blob of heavily condensed water straight through her Earth Wall, running it through the heart of one of the chunins, killing him instantly. The second one didn''t even have time to notice hisrade''s untimely demise when he found himself having the same fate.

    Rxing, Mei released a relieved sigh when her senses noted the three remaining ninjas of the group were just ambushed by one of her steam clones who just materialized in their midsts. Two were already dead due to the clone touching them which increased the concentration of the steam cloud, momentarily getting through their chakra cloaking. This made them shriek in pain and interrupted their defenses against the cloud in the surroundings, hence, melting them entirely. Thest from the group was desperately trying to avoid the clone but suffered from numerous burns on his body since his control was far better than hisrades and he was able to keep his chakra cloaking... Mei didn''t care enough to go and personally finish him off. The clone would have to suffice. The man was almost out of chakra anyway.

    "That said, I am very low on my chakra too..." Mei dejectedly said as she kneeled on one knee to take a slight breather. ''Worse yet, while my own suiton cloaking is very cheap, due to my depleted reserves I can''t really use much ninjutsu as I need the chakra. Hah~, ninjutsu specialist unable to cast ninjutsu... Is this Rei''s way of telling me to not ck off in taijutsu training?'' Mei dryly thought as she tracked another target with her senses, assessing the situation. ''320 enemy ninjas remaining... My clones already killed more than seventy of them, huh? Well, no wonder since they can just materialize and dematerialize while killing people by just disrupting their chakra cloaking.'' Mei hummed in satisfaction. Steam Clones in the middle of a searing steam cloud... so far, this was her best ninjutsubination. She totally didn''t try to emte Rei''s Kirigakure no Jutsu and Earth Clones. Nope... not at all.

    After five minutes of resting, Mei stood up with a quiet groan, gleefully noting that during her rest, her clones reduced the enemy numbers to 290. She would have rested more if only Konan and Rei weren''t watching her. She had no doubt they knew exactly what was going on in the steam cloud as not once during the practice did this Jutsu even slow them down. Preparing her weaponry, Mei started hunting solo prey in the thick cloud, aiming to reduce the numbers for now.

    Leaping, she slit the throat of an unsuspecting boy, no older than fifteen.

    ''280 remaining.''

    Throwing shurikens at a duo of Iwa ninjas, Mei luckily hit the throat of one while the second managed to deflect the projectiles only to be run through with a tanto Mei picked up from one corpse before she sheathed it and threw it away as the man''s body fell onto the ground.

    ''250 remaining.''

    Mei was pleased with the efficiency of her clones as she attacked yet another ve genin by using Rei''s trick oftching a barely visible chakra string onto the victim''s foot and tripping him. Needless to say, the thirty-year-old woman had no time to react before her spinal cord was severed, Mei already sprinting away, leaving the immobile woman to die from the steam.

    ''220 remaining.''

    Her chakra started to be slowly replenished but Mei still didn''t use any ninjutsu as she knew those who fell were the weakest sort and she would most likely need her chakrater for the stronger opponents. Especially the sole S-ranker, Kitsuha. She avoided him like a gue in the cloud and always kept her senses on him. Luckily, the man waspletely disoriented and ran circles as his vision was impaired.

    ''Thankfully he has no chakra sensing capabilities... how disappointing.'' Mei thought with an amused chuckle as yet another ve genin of Iwa fell to her kunai. ''200 remaini-''

    Mei was suddenly forcefully pulled back, making her eyes widen as a chill went through her spine when she saw a sword cleave the ce where her head was just a second ago. From the corner of her eye, Mei noticed a barely visible thread connected to her back and sighed in sincere relief, inwardly thanking Rei for watching out for her. She didn''t sense the attack at all!

    ''I got too c.o.c.ky.'' Mei scolded herself,pletely aware this would give Konan enough ammunition to tease her for weeks... worse yet, this meant her training will be most likely painfully increased. ''F.u.c.k...'' She thought in resignation as she for the first time since she entered the mist, opened her eyes and melded back into the steam, using Silent Killing footsteps to move around in order to prevent being jumped again.

    Chakra sensing was not giving her any feedback so Mei had to rely on her other senses in this fight. Using a small trick taught to her by Rei, Mei channeled chakra into her eyes, ears, and nose, improving her senses ten-fold. It was only then her nose scrunched as she caught a peculiar aroma with it.

    "So it is the second-inmand of Kitsuha. Guess you are not just a p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e then..." Mei quipped, making sure to make the steam around distort her voice so it was impossible to tell where it came from.

    "Any you are that small brat. Who would have thought Downpour is raising yet another little army-killing monster." A sarcastic feminine voice resounded from the surroundings, also distorted. "I am going to kill you, brat."

    "I wonder about that, s.l.u.t. You should have stayed with what you know best. Being f.u.c.k.i.e.d by your superior." Mei lightly said and slightly smiled to herself when she felt the incredibly small angry fluctuation of chakra a few meters away to the left. Unfortunately, it was so short Mei didn''t manage to react in time before it entirely disappeared from her senses, no doubt her opponent already gone from that spot.

    "When the son of your Kage tells you to bend over and raise your ass up so he can get better ess, you listen or you die." The woman''s apathetic voice resounded from the surroundings, trying to sound as indifferent as possible but Mei caught the slight venomous undertone in it.

    ''A bit more, then...'' Mei thought deviously. "Oh, if Rei told me that, I would be the happiest woman in the world. I wouldn''t mind being used like that by my Master! Wagging your butt for a worthy man must be really fun!" Mei cheerfully eximed, making sure to bleed all of her sincere feelings into that statement while making it obvious she mocked the woman and the way she was treated by Kitsuha.

    "Good try..." A quiet rageful whisper entered Mei''s ears from the steam cloud, sounding almost sorrowful. "Your words won''t force me to reveal my position, young assassin of Kiri. You are good. I admit that. Even I, one of the best Iwa assassins, can''t locate you in this thick cloud of steam. I guess it''s time to call the big guns." The resigned voice of the woman resounded with a sigh and Mei''s eyes widened as she suddenly felt a big fluctuation of chakra from her right. Mei quickly snapped her wrist in that direction, throwing a kunai there but her answer was only a loud ''ng'' before her lips stretched into a smile as a loud ''boom'' resounded.

    ''Explosive tags, bitch.'' Mei smirked as she felt a slight recoil in the now visible chakra, signifying the woman was injured. Her lips however set into a frown as the chakra of the woman yet again disappeared from her senses before she could pounce on the woman. "... F.u.c.k this shit. She got away again." Mei muttered in irritation before her senses caught one important detail.

    ''Oh... so the s.l.u.t fluctuated her chakra to alert Kitsuha.'' Mei wanted to scream in agitation to the heavens. The man she avoided like gue was now hurling towards her position at break-neck speed. ''Guess this is unavoidable now. And the bitch is still hidden somewhere around... jeez, this will be a major pain in the ass, won''t it?'' She sighed as she checked how much chakra has been regenerated and mentally recalled the five closest of her steam clones to her position.

    Mei could only chuckle bitterly at the unfairness of it all. "Time for the boss fight, then..."

 Chapter 108 - Ch108. Mei vs Kitsuha

    <h4>Chapter 108 - Ch108. Mei vs Kitsuha</h4>

    Kitsuhanded on the spot where his second inmand previously red her chakra and instantly pulsed his own chakra outwardly, momentarily dispersing the steam in a small radius around him. This made Mei silently curse as she was caught off-guard and Kitsuha spotted her.

    "It''s the pipsqueak!" Kitsuha eximed as he pointed at Mei with a puzzled expression only for his eyes to show an understanding light a momentter as his expression scrunched to one of utter resentment and anger. "You! You are responsible for this! My glory! You ruined everything, bitch!" He shrieked in rage, not even noticing wisps of his chakra violently whipping around in reaction to his emotions.

    Kitsuha was really enraged. This mission should have been his one-way ticket to being one of the most reputable ninjas of Iwagakure. It should have been easy as heck! And yet, his army was decimated by one little girl? He could not ept that lying down!

    He didn''t exim any death threats, however. Mei found herself facing his fist that was quickly approaching her face and only barely managed to use the flexibility beaten to her by Konan to arch her back into the bridge position, causing Kitsuha''s fist to sail an inch above her belly. She knew there was no way to get away from Kitsuha by any physical means, so, with a quick Kawarimi, Kitsuha''s second punch hit a half-melted corpse of Iwa ninja, burning him slightly as Mei appeared panting from exertion a few feet away.

    Despite the rush she felt, Mei quickly joined her hands into a single hand seal. ''Water Release: Wet Beam.'' She thought with a mild amount of embarrassment as the steam around her started to be absorbed to two spots on her right and left side, creating two growing balls of water that quickly erged into the size of a football ball and out of nowhere released two crushing torrents of water at Kitsuha.

    Kitsuha didn''t have even two seconds to react after Mei started her Jutsu. He only managed to raise an Earth Wall in front of him by mming his palm into the ground, blocking the water''s offense. Despite being blocked, the water flowed to the ground where it evenly redistributed and created a thin water surface on the ground.

    Mei smirked at that. For the next Jutsu, she didn''t need any hand sign. ''Water Release: Spiky Boo''. The small amount of water on the ground quickly gathered into small, sharp, and thin water spikes, aiming to impale Kitsuha who suddenly felt his feet to be pierced by something as pain flooded his brain and fear crept up his spine. It was only his reflexes as S-rank shinobi that enabled him to instinctively use Earth Release: Rock Skin to harden his skin. The water spikes started at first impaling his feet, only for bigger and longer water spikes to form and try to continuously impale the higher spots on the target''s body. The Rock Skin Jutsu however prevented them from prating Kitsuha''s skin so the only damage Mei''s jutsu did was to injure Kitsuha''s feet. It was only his pain tolerance that made Kitsuha able to stand but his ability to move waspletely ruined.

    Mei couldn''t do a follow-up attack on Kitsuha who was suddenly a sitting duck. She had to jump forward as her senses suddenly rmed her of an approaching sword. The feeling suddenly appeared and Mei wasn''t about to question it which saved her from being pierced from the back as Kitsuha''s second inmand abruptly appeared behind Mei and went for a decisive blow.

    Mei evaded and cursed as she saw the woman again meld into the steam and disappear from her senses. She was distracted and paid the price for it when she suddenly felt a searing heat closing in on her back. Mei only barely managed to pump as much of the mix of her suiton and doton chakra there to stop the damage as Kitsuha''s spit of blob ofva impacted her back. Mei also jumped to the right, evading yet another sh from Kitsuha''s second inmand who thought she would be distracted enough by theva.

    "Graaah!" Kitsuha couldn''t take it anymore and let out an enraged roar, attracting the attention of the two females, only for their eyes to bulge out as they felt his chakra build-up for a massive Jutsu.

    "F.u.c.k!" Kitsuha''s second inmand cursed in fright and disappeared again.

    Mei frowned and decided to y it safe. She recognized the chakra mixture he was building up. It was yet anotherva Jutsu. Fortunately for her, the buffoon didn''t realize this waspletely her expertise.

    Kitsuha jumped up and spat out wave after wave ofva, covering hundreds of meters of the battlefield and killing a lot of his own unsuspecting ninjas while doing so. The waves ofva hit the ground, making it sizzle, sending white smoke to cover the area Kitsuha previously dissipated with pulsing his chakra. The surroundings were yet again full of thick white smoke, shooting the visibility to hell.

    Mei just jumped a bit and used herva-walking exercise to prevent herself from being covered by the waves ofva as she surfed on it until it slowed down enough to stand steadily. Mei smiled to herself. This gave her quite the much-needed advantage in this fight since Kitsuha clearly couldn''t sense a shit in the mist and she didn''t have that much of a problem facing hisva Jutsus.

    ''Damn...'' Mei thought tiredly as she looked at her chakra levels. ''I''ll have to end this quite fast sinceva-walking takes a lot out of me and I have to continuously use suiton aura to prevent my own steam from burning me.''

    The only constion to Mei was feeling Kitsuha''s chakra levels. The man had still more than her but it was dropping at a fast rate by protecting his body from the steam and usingva-walking. Not to mention...

    Kitsuha went berserk. The massive failure of what he deemed to be an easy-going mission and the pain in his feet. It all stacked up until he couldn''t help but ckout from sheer rage, instincts taking over. He started to shoot Lava Jutsu after Lava Jutsu all around. Large Fists made of Lava flew in every direction. Lava Bullets ripped through the mist. Animals made of Lava rose up and traversed the surroundings looking for the girl who messed his ns up. His chakra was depleting but he didn''t care.

    Mei didn''t go to engage him. Instead, she decided to increase the distance between them, tracking his whereabouts with her senses every second. As she finally reached the four hundred meters mark away from Kitsuha, she smirked feeling anotherrge fist ofva impact the ground a hundred meters in front of her. The heat was high and the steam was sent away by the shockwave only for white mist again to fill the air due to the searing heat released as theva quickly cooled and hardened.

    "Well, finally..." Mei mumbled as she felt every Iwa nin disappear from her senses sans Kitsuha. "Who would have thought he would kill his own men in the end. What a berserker." Mei quipped, making sure to stay steady as every time Kitsuha''s attacksnded, the ground shook. Mei knew she would not win an honest one versus one against him. She knew it the second he started spitting an ocean ofva and seeing how little it drained him. She wasted too much chakra to create the steam to beat Kitsuha in one versus one... without cheating, that is. "At least my steam clones are finally finished."

    Since she could not win honestly, it was time to go for a boom. When Kitsuha first jumped towards her, Mei mentallymanded five of her closest steam clones to her position and made them wait for an opportunity to strike. That n went downhill the second Kitsuha''s second inmand showed she is capable of ending Mei with her sneak attacks. And when Kitsuha started using Lava, Mei changed her npletely.

    All neen of her steam clones gathered in the area around rampaging Kitsuha and started pulling the steam from the entirety of the clearing towards themselves, making it thicker and thicker... The white covering in the air rapidly receded from the edges of the clearing, the white mist engulfing the clearing slowly disappeared as it was dragged towards one particr area.

    Mei watched as a hundred meters around Kitsuha became a thick white cloud ball while the clearing cleared of her steam since it all concentrated at her opponent who surprisingly enough, didn''t react at all.

    "I see... he is far too gone." Mei frowned, watching the asional Lava Bullet or Fist to shoot out of the white cloud ball, making it ripple.

    While Kitsuha''s chakra expenditure increased exponentially due to how concentrated the steam was, this was not the end-game for Mei. The neen steam clones were made of her chakra. That meant she could manipte them. Which meant she could change the properties of the steam too since her chakra was dispersed in it. She only needed a medium such as her clones to act as a proverbial ''middle man''. The clones started pulsing the chakra inside of them which made them quickly disperse into the steam. This chakra seeped into it and the ball of pure white slowly started changing to grey.

    Mei smiled. The grey ball of steam was now perfectly mmable. She didn''t even need to do anything as the second the change in the steam reached Kitsuha and hisva...

    A loud booming explosion suddenly rattled the entire clearing, sending an earth-shattering earthquake through it as the surrounding mountains cracked,rge rocks chipped off of them and fell to the ground while massive shockwaves spread through thend. Even Konan and Rei had to brace themselves and bend their knees, pushing their bodies against therge mass of wind that impacted them, hard, while their clothes were pping in the strong winds, making their feet slid back on the grass. Mei didn''t fare any better as she didn''t even dare to think the resulting explosion would be so powerful and was sent rolling on the ground. Only Rei''s string made it possible for him to keep Mei in the air until she managed to regain her bearing and twisted her body tond onto the ground with her feet and also brace herself for the strong shockwaves, groaning due to feeling all the bruises her quick but brutal roll on the ground gave her. Mei thanked whatever deity that watched over her that nothing was broken and knew well that only the chakra-strengthening prevented her organs from rupturing due to being so close when the shockwaves hit.

    When the clearing finally stopped being ravaged by the aftereffects of the explosion, Mei let out a relieved sigh. The Kitsuha''s chakra... disappeared. She wobbled towards a slightly battered Rei who grinned at her with a thumbs-up and Konan who growled and red at her, most likely due to thest attack. Mei confidently stuck her chest out and stood in front of her teachers waiting for their final evaluation despite feeling like flinching and running for her life as she heard the silent growl of Konan.

    "Good job. I will admit I never expected you to seed and we were prepared to jump in whenever necessary but you proved me wrong. Color me surprised." Rei praised Mei, patting her head which made her dete and giddily hug him around his waist.

    Konan didn''t feel generous, however. Her hair was all tangled mess and her clothes were ripped in various ces due to the shockwaves but when Mei''s expectant eyes looked at her, even she couldn''t bring herself to scold the girl. "Yes, you did fine. Now..." Konan smiled menacingly and gestured at her torn attire. "you earned yourself some more of my personally supervised torture." She ominously said as her eye twitched, telling just how furious she was.

    "You mean training, Konan-nee?" Mei squeaked, trying to appear small.

    "Oh, no... nope. I mean what I said." Konan innocently replied, making Mei jump behind Rei for protection from the demon who wanted to torture her.

    "Stop it, girls." Rei chuckled at their antics. "Let''s go, we are leaving. We gotta have a serious talk with Tsu before finishing the second part of our mission."

    Konan''s demeanor instantly changed from ring at Mei to apletely serious one, causing Mei to sigh in relief as she clutched the back of Rei''s shirt in her small hands.

    "Are you sure?" Konan asked while narrowing her eyes and for a second, flickered them over a certain area in the clearing. Rei however just uncaringly shrugged and nodded.

    "Let it go. It''s better this way anyway. I can''t wait how much headache this would cause to Mizukage if it really goes as I think it would." He said reassuringly and before long, the trio was yet again on their way to Konoha.

    It was only half an hour after they left the clearing, the spot on the ground to which Konan previously nced rippled as Kitsuha''s second inmand slowly emerged from the earth. She had some mild burns all over her and was drenched in sweat but she was alive. Her heart pounded despite the fight being long over as she helplessly fell on her face, her chakrapletely drained. She barely had enough to stay alive as it was.

    It didn''t take long for the sole survivor of the previous battle to faint.

 Chapter 109 - Ch109. Warning

    <h4>Chapter 109 - Ch109. Warning</h4>

    Tsunade barged into the office of the Hokage only to find herself under two sets of eyes as the discussion between Danzo and Hiruzen abruptly ceased. She wasn''t deterred much under their scrutiny, not really caring about their opinion of her barging in. Instead, she just walked towards the couch into which shezily flopped before speaking. "Don''t mind me. Finish your gossiping, old folks. I can wait." She waved her handzily in a dismissive manner, enjoying how their eyes twitched.

    Danzo was livid. The Senju brat just interrupted a very important meeting. He wanted to get some n ninjas to his ROOT but Hiruzen was vehemently against it. Danzo knew he would eventually persuade the old monkey. He always did. The usual schtick of ''I do it in the shadows and you pretend you didn''t see'' always worked. In truth, he already had a few ''lost'' n females strapped to a table with the sole purpose of breeding more n kids. He would give these kids to orphanages owned by him, naturally not the ones inside of Konoha, and then, when the kids are older, he would take them back into ROOT, getting rid of weak and bad seeds while nurturing those strong and resilient ones. Needless to say, these females he managed to kidnap would not leave their current ''amodations'' for a long, long time. He also had quite a bit of n males being trained but those were in significantly lesser numbers since kidnapping a female for breeding was easier than kidnapping and persuading a male to serve him. They usually got aggressive and had to be put down. All Danzo needed was to make Hiruzen give him okay for having n ninjas in ROOT and he would be able to not fear being persecuted when he reveals these n ninjas he had. At that time, nobody would look how they came to be nor would they have any right to. Danzo sure as hell would make sure of that by having the council set somews in ce. Laws that individually might not even make sense but together would create a perfect shield for this operation of his. And yet, when he was almost done persuading Hiruzen, the Senju brat just barged in and f.u.c.k.i.e.d up four hours of his persuasion efforts!?

    Hiruzen just watched how his friend huffed in anger, something he didn''t see Danzo do for two decades at the very least, and walked away from his office while ring murderously at Tsunade. He was aware that Danzo probably wanted more than just a ''few willing n shinobi for his ROOT'' as he put it but for all the smarts he had, Hiruzen couldn''t really figure out what was his old friend''s end goal.

    Instead, Hiruzen looked at Tsunade and with a tired sigh, greeted her. "Hello, Tsunade. What can I do for you?" He tried to ignore the broken door and thanked heavens for sending his ANBU away before Danzo came in. It could have been bloody otherwise. Not that he believed his ANBU would be stupid enough toe into Tsunade''s path when she is in a mood to smash things.

    "I came to warn you." Tsunade inly stated as she looked at the pictures of her Grandfather and Granduncle with fondness. Hiruzen wanted to bloom in a full-blown smile when he saw it but her next words chilled him to the bone. "Kiri is nning a full offensive to the northern shores of the Land of Fire." She said as if it didn''t even matter.

    Hiruzen''s mouth opened as a thousand thoughts swirled in his mind. He had no idea what to think about that. It was usible. Probable. Possible, even. As a n... if Mizukage did what Tsunade just said he was nning to do, ''It could spell the end of Konohagakure.'' Hiruzen realized in horror.

    "Why do you think so?" He carefully asked Tsunade. If it was true, now was not the time to panic. It was time to act and n ordingly to this new information. "You surely have some proof. Jiraiya''s spywork spans every single nation. He has spies even in the Land of Earth but no report of Kiri forces nning to attack our country was received."

    "Well, duh." Tsunade deadpanned. "The Mizukage is much smarter than you think yourself to be, Sen-sei." She said in a sing-song tone. "I am sure Jiraiya informed you I lived some time in Kirigakure. I have a few... friends there." She deliberately stopped, letting Sarutobi digest what he just heard. "And they informed me. Believe me or not, that''s not my problem. I gave you the intel I had and that''s where it ends for me." Tsunade stood up and shrugged. "Anyway, I''ll return to the hospital." She said before marching out of the broken door, ignoring Sarutobi calling her name.

    Rei wanted her to alert Konoha. To be honest, Tsunade didn''t really have much fondness for the vige itself. It could burn for all she cared. The possessions of her n were already stored safely in Rei''s dimension and she didn''t much care for thends. After all, even if Konoha burned to the ground, thends would still belong to the Senju n. The n money was also in the bank, not in the vige itself. As for her Grandfather''s wish? She could care less what one idealistic fool wanted. The vige was corrupt and twisted. The vige higher-ups were responsible for the extinction of the Senju n. Tsunade was only curious how her grandfather would react to hearing this. Sure, he wanted peace but he was a Senju. The family went first, no matter what angle one looked at it. Tsunade had no doubt Hashirama-jii would burn the vige down himself if it saved the Senju n.

    ''I just wonder why Rei wants Konoha to survive. Sure... if it fell, there would be a power vacuum and the war would probably considerably lengthen. By now, the viges are going on fumes and one to two years should be enough to end the war but is it really worth it? We could maneuver better if there is a war among nations...'' Tsunade thought in confusion. Rei informed her he would defect from Kiri and as such, it would be easier for him to do whatever he wanted to do while Kiri was preupied with war. Tsunade had no idea why he wanted to alert Konoha to something that could be a fatal attack. ''Well, he probably has his own ns.'' She shrugged, deciding to just go along with it.

    At the same time, the Hokage was cradling his head, for the first time since the start of the war not knowing what to do. If Tsunade was right, then this was a major threat to the vige. He would also have to re-evaluate the Mizukage... something he didn''t want to admit he was wrong about. s, he didn''t really have much of a choice. If he believed Tsunade or not, he was grateful she alerted him and it made his heart warm that his student still cared for the vige and its people. Since she returned, she waspletely cold and uncaring. Especially during the Council Meetings. At times, he wondered if she was a Nara as she often justid her head on the table or tended to her polished nails, not really listening to what they discussed. Her most likely reply to any question was, ''Don''t care, do whatever...'' and it really worried Hiruzen.

    But he was unable toin since the civilians and ninjas alike utterly loved her. If he decided to give her the hat, he knew the vige would burst into celebrations despite being in the middle of the war. Tsunade was just that good of a medic. Every single n had many fatally wounded people she somehow saved. Nobody except Tsunade had even an inkling how but they clearly lived past something that should have killed them. Tsunade was always cordial towards people and never acted high and mighty... she was a Senju, after all. This made the civilians love her despite her bitchy attitude when it came to scolding people who didn''t listen to her medical advice. For people, it was just a sign that she cared and while they always left the hospital grumbling under their noses, they appreciated it. Tsunade Senju was a legend before she left the vige. But now that she returned? She didn''t even need to enter the battlefield, something that irked many, and despite that, she became one of the biggest heroes of this war. The number of lives she saved... Hiruzen really couldn''tin about her acting like an utter bitch to him and anyone on the Council. Sadly, that was also the sole reason why he was unable to pass the hat to her. He feared the Council would be dismantled sooner rather thanter if that happened and he could not in good conscience do that.

    "Tsunade... why can''t you be a cute and obedient girl like you were as a genin?" He groaned and banged his forehead on his table while pressing a button under it to call his ANBU. Not a secondter, four people appeared kneeling in front of his desk.

    "Hokage-sama." They chorused.

    "Three of you back into your positions, Owl, wait until I write a message for Jiraiya. I will need you to deliver it... discreetly." Hiruzen said, not bothering to wait for a reply. He took his pipe out of the drawer before starting to smoke as he wrote new orders for his spymaster. It was high time to get a better look at the actions of Kirigakure.

 Chapter 110 - Ch110. When personal morals and mission clash, its time to troll

    <h4>Chapter 110 - Ch110. When personal morals and mission sh, its time to troll</h4>

    Team Downpour was standing on a small hill as the sun rose behind their back, bathing them in orange light while they observed their new supposed target, a miner town called Tanera. The town that was the target of the second part of their mission.

    Mei frowned and crossed her arms under her nonexistent chest as she looked at the town, squinting her eyes in annoyance. "Are we really going to massacre the civilians?" She asked a bit peeved, not really caring about the lives of strangers. Nevertheless, she was irked to be ordered to kill someone who can''t defend himself. After all, killing an army of mercenaries who can''t even swing a de properly and killing untrained kids and defenceless, weaponless people are two different things. She would rather not...

    "Of course not." Konan snorted at how ridiculous the notion of them ughtering unsuspecting civilians sounded. Sure, in their missions they razed a few castles to the ground but with hordes of clones and the spying abilities of her paper? It could not be easier to find out who was actually deserving to be drowned and who not. Nor was it difficult to relocate the people deemed innocent away before they actually struck. It''s not like they went in and just dumped arge area of effect Jutsu, not caring who would be hit. There was a reason why they were the go-to demolition experts...

    It was not like they never killed an innocent either. That was something unavoidable in their profession. Nobody who was chunin at least for a half-year already ever avoided doing that. Whether as coteral damage or target of assassination... it was a part of the job and Konan made sure Mei knew that and made her peace with it before she even became a genin. Rei didn''t believe in not preparing Mei for these tough choices beforehand to ''preserve'' her childhood. He would rather have her prepared and take some childlike happiness from her life rather than deadter on.

    But neither Konan nor Rei would ever ughter an entire town just because it was ''asked'' of them. They lived through the war in Amegakure and the assault of Konoha ninjas on their town. Neither of them really wanted to be seen in the position of the Konoha ninjas.

    "Well, technically," Rei quipped in an amused tone, "it was never outright stated we have to kill. They said ''distract'' and that''s exactly what we will do." He stated, earning himself a chuckle from Konan before she lovingly kissed him on the cheek.

    ''Never outright stated, my ass.'' She mentallyughed. ''Sure, the Mizukage never said it out loud but it was implied in such a manner only a mentally retarded person would miss it. Guess this was the reason why he burned our orders after reading them, pretending to lose them.'' She noted with mirth shining in her eyes.

    ''Uwa~, trust Rei to understand the orders however it fits him.'' Mei thought in deadpan as she desperately tried to prevent the corners of her lips tugging upwards.

    ...

    Tanera was an important town in the Land of Fire. It was the main mining town in the entire southwestern section of the country and it was also the only ce in the Land of Fire where chakra metal could be mined. This led many cksmiths to settle into the town and many famous forgingpanies were established and resided in the town. Tanera was the main supplier of the highest quality chakra weapons in the country. Not to mention they were also one of the main suppliers of kunai, ninja wire, and shurikens as well.

    Because of its importance, Tanera had always thirty ANBU stationed in the town and now during the war, a regiment of a hundred ninja was added to it. Most of these were only chunins but it was still one of the most defended ces in the country if one added around two thousand Fire Country Samurai courtesy of Daimyo. Despite being far from the borders and since the Land of Wind was an ally of the Land of Fire in this war, there was literally no threat to the town whatsoever. And yet, the stationed troops inside were numerous. The town was just that important.

    So... why was the town inplete disarray?

    The first people who realized something was wrong were the miners. When they came to the mines in a merry mood and started to use their pickaxes, a smoke engulfed them and they suddenly found themselves holding a bouquet of origami flowers. The miners quickly started looking for working pickaxes only to find none. In their ces were just more bouquets with an awkward message of, ''Don''t pick axes, pick up girls!''

    Without their tools, they could not mine so the dejected miners went back home while grumbling under their noses. At that time, they didn''t yet know there was no pickaxe left in the entire town courtesy of Konan and herzy humor. The worst part? She made sure to steal every bit of ore and any ingot she found in the entire vige and stored them in her storage dimension alongside the mining tools, effectively crippling the mining and forging business in the town.

    Rei had a bit more vicious thing in mind and the next group of people who noticed something amiss in the town were the samurai and ninjas. Poor fes didn''t even have the time to deal with theints of miners and forgers alike due to the theft of ingots.

    The Samurai suddenly found themself missing their swords and all hell broke loose as they ran around the town, looking literally everywhere in a frenzied madness induced by sword deficiency. One poor guy was even flipping the skirts of women, wondering if he would find some holy sword underneath them.

    The Ninjas, on the other hand, wondered how they could lose their forehead protectors. The forehead protectors were very important to them. They had the function of identification tag and losing it was a mark of utter shame. Needless to say, they also looked all around the town in frenzy and for them, Rei prepared a small surprise. Many ninjas found their forehead protectors in ces riddled with childish traps and by the time they managed to retrieve them, they were either repainted to rainbow glory by paint bombs or got closely reacquainted with sticky feather bombs courtesy of all the generous chickens in the town who now sported a new fashion style. Bald one.

    When the ninjas after hours of effort to get their precious forehead protectors back finally managed to do so and put them on their foreheads, these protectors just burst into smoke... many ninjas became bald that day while having ''Shine YOUTH!'' tattooed on their heads by some non-removable seal that prevented hair from growing. Frankly, Jiraiya was quite busy in the uing months.

    Mei was told to target the forges and she decided to go childishly into it. The walls of every forgery were repainted to look like a sky with a rainbow. The thick grey protective aprons were changed for frilly pink thin ones used for cooking sporting nice unicorns. Many housewives would miss their apronster that day but Mei really needed something as a base to create her ''Super Duper Cute Aprons of Embarrassing Doom''. She didn''t forget to add itching powder from the inner parts either! Nor the small genjutsu that would make them appear as the protective aprons for thirty minutes before dissipating. Mei only needed the smiths to put them on since she made sure to ask Rei to inscribe a strong sticking seal to them. No way the cksmiths could take it off anytime soon. She only wondered how they would solve the problem of peeing with them on. Oh, well, not her problem. Her next target was the safes in the forgeries and they were alsopletely cleaned out by Mei as instead of money, sh¨¦ deposited tons of pink toilet paper.

    At the end of the day, the peaceful vige was quite quiet but underneath that mask of normalcy, this day was a disaster for the town that lost its ability to supply the ninjas with weapons and mine the chakra metal. Needless to say, both Hokage and the Daimyo would have to be informed.

    Unknown to the poor victims, the Team Downpour was just starting. After all, they had a few months to waste since they didn''t want to return before the attack on the northern shores was over. Lazying and terrorizing the townsfolk of Tanera from the shadows seemed much, much more fun.

 Chapter 111 - Ch111. Northern Shores 1

    <h4>Chapter 111 - Ch111. Northern Shores 1</h4>

    The Hokage was standing above a table with a huge map of the northern shores of the Land of Fire, loudly banging his fist onto the table with passion as he exined his tactics and asked the other men in the tent about their opinion. Around him, his most trusted aides and the most powerful ninjas from Konoha that he could afford to relieve from their previous posts listened with rapt attention, asionally giving their own two cents to the battle ns.

    Hiruzen felt drained. The town of Tanera was supposedly heavily harassed by pranks of all things and he could not dispatch anyone with the current situation so their disposable weapon supply suffered. Worse yet, the economy around Tanera was copsing and many people already moved out. The Daimyo demanded something to be done about it because Tanera mines were the only ce with chakra metal, therefore very profitable for the country. But when Hiruzen was about to send Jiraiya to Tanera to find and skin alive anyone causing trouble there during wartime with pointless pranks... The toad sage appeared very pensive and troubled. Apparently, the warning from Tsunade was real and Konoha now had to protect the Land of Fire from the biggest invasion to theirnds since the first shinobi war. Oh, joy...

    In the end, nobody was sent to Tanera. Another problem was to find out who to send to defend against the Kiri invasion. When Jiraiya told him the estimated numbers of Kiri ninjas, Hiruzen quickly decided to take a more hands-on approach and go himself, dragging a lot of strong ninjas from their posts from the Kumo front or Grass front. Even the outposts closest to the Land of Wind were almost emptied, leaving only 20% of its upants as the others were ordered to one-by-one relocate towards the new make-shift camp close to the northern shores of the Land of Fire while being discreet about it. The gathering of Konoha forcesmenced... and if Jiraiya''s estimate was to be trusted, Hiruzen was still facing a situation where Konoha was outnumbered one to four Kiri ninjas.

    Which led Hiruzen to the current situation. He furiously hammered his fist onto the poor innocent table as his eyes sparkled with fury while he was sweeping the ufortable and nervous people around him with his piercing re.

    "What do you mean, Tsunade is noting, Jiraiya!?" Hiruzen bellowed, causing some less experienced ninjas in themand tent to take a step back from the intensity of his voice. Hiruzen, while d he still had it in him and was capable of making even someone as strong as Jiraiya squirm like a little genin, was utterly furious at what he just heard.

    "Sensei, you see, Tsun-" Pale-faced Jiraiya unsurely tried to exin but Hiruzen interrupted him by grabbing the note he was clutching in his hands as if his life depended on it.

    Hiruzen looked at it and started reading out loud. "Yo, old monkey," Just from that bit he knew he would not like what would follow. The only time Tsunade called him ''old monkey'' was when she was angry with him or trying to use it as a form of endearment to ''borrow'' some money from him. Just the thought sent chills run down his spine as he subconsciously straightened up with a gulp, his anger quickly forgotten. "You would not believe what happened!" Hiruzen frowned. "I, the head of Konoha hospital, found an order to leave Konoha hospital! I have really no idea what kind of idiot could sanction something like that! Honesty..." He could almost feel Tsunade''s fake disappointment and mockery of her tone as he read her message. Many people in themand tent shuffled at that, not knowing what to do as they knew it was the Council and the Hokage who wrote that order. What Tsunade did was incredible disrespect towards them. "So~, just thought I will let you know I am noting. Cheers!"

    Hiruzen raised his eyes from the letter from Tsunade and his frosty eyes trailed over the form of every single council member who was in attendance. "You did not tell her directly?" He asked quietly but his voice started rising. "You sent a f.u.c.k.i.n.g ORDER? To someone like Tsunade? Are the heads of you, dipshits,pletely empty or what!?" Hiruzen panted harshly. For two weeks he was stuck in this camp to give orders and organize defence against Kiri forces, leaving the vige in the hands of the Council. They were supposed to persuade Tsunade. Meaning giving her some incentive to join rather than t out ordering her. He knew his apprentice and that never worked well. And yet, his ''esteemed'' Council did precisely that and Tsunade decided to blow her gasket by saying proverbial ''f.u.c.k you''. As disappointed as that simple fact made him, Hiruzen understood Tsunade''s actions as she was treated somewhat coldly by Konoha''s higher-ups as ofte.

    Suddenly, one newer ninja, barely a boy who just reached chunin rank thanks to his ability to survive during the war, timidly raised his hand, making Hiruzen nod at him in a sign he can speak. "Lord Third... isn''t Tsunade-sama still a ninja from Konoha, therefore bound to follow orders? Isn''t justice on the side of the Council?"

    Hiruzen just stared at the fool. "You naive idiot." He groaned, tired of it all. Tired of the war, of the general stupidity he had to deal with each day, of being attacked from every side. "Can you even imagine what kind of influence Tsunade has? Do you really think I could force her, you fool?" He drawled irritably, causing the new chunin to show a disgruntled expression. "But no, Tsunade is no longer a Konoha ninja since she left after the second war. She is officially retired and effectively a n head of the Senju n. That makes me unable to call her back to duty from her retirement as retired n heads have certain... privileges." Hiruzen exined patiently, showing that his title of Professor was quite fitting.

    "Sensei, I think you should look at the other side of the letter." Jiraiya suddenly spoke with a wince. Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and did so, finding a reference for a page in the newest edition of the Bingo Book which made him quite baffled. Before he could ask, however, Jiraiya just handed him a small ck book. "Tsunade sent it alongside her letter." He added.

    Hiruzen browsed through the book until he found the page Tsunade referenced and instantly paled a new shade of white as he saw something he never thought possible in his long life of strife. Something that made feel creep into his heart and shook him to his core.

    Something even the fabled Hiruzen Sarutobi didn''t expect.

    ---

    Mei of Kiri

    Affiliation: Kiri - rank unknown, Team Downpour - 3rd member.

    Prowess - SS-rank.

    Bounty - 250,000,000 Ryo (Iwagakure) - preferably dead.

    Strength - Steam-based bloodline(?), Good at Taijutsu and weaponry, Exceptional reaction time, and superb chakra sensory abilities.

    Info: A new team member of Team Downpour who single-handedly wiped out 10 000 strong force gathered by Iwagakure to deal with the Team Downpour, leaving only a single survivor.

    ---

    "An SS-rank." Hiruzen said reverently as he remembered the feats of his teacher and Hashirama Senju. Child soldiers were amon sight on the battlefield but to think a girl of thirteen could get SS-ranking... Hiruzen was utterly speechless and could only hope the girl was far away from the soon-to-be battle between Konoha and Kiri. Inwardly, Hiruzen was very grateful for the heads-up from Tsunade as his eyes hardened. ''Kid or not... I will not hesitate if she shows up!''

    Honestly, if she knew his thought process, she would just roll her eyes at him in exasperation.

    Nevertheless, the name Mei of Kiri started to spread through the world like fire through the woods. A new SS-rank, the first one in more than half a century, was finally born, sending chills through the collective spines of many higher-ups of many viges. Rei could only snicker at the thought that it was actually Mei, his youngest apprentice, who attained such a rank even before him.

 Chapter 112 - Ch112. Northern Shores 2

    <h4>Chapter 112 - Ch112. Northern Shores 2</h4>

    The Third Mizukage was staring at his new, opened Bingo Book with his mouth opened in disbelief as cold sweat ran down his temple at the chilling realization of what exactly seeing the new and only SS-rank Iwa entry into the Bingo Book meant.

    "That f.u.c.ker made Mei into SS-rank ninja..." He breathlessly muttered under his breath, still unable toprehend how a thirteen years old girl can be given a rank only those like Hashirama or Madara deserved. The only reason these two titans of the Shinobi World weren''t ranked as such was that the Bingo Book was not a thing in their era. And yet... Mei Terumi, a genin from his vige, was the first-ever SS-rank in Bingo Book. Oh, he knew he should probably be happy but... ''F.u.c.k! If Rei and Konan managed to train Mei to destroy an army of ten thousand people then how strong must he be? I might have been severely underestimating them!'' The Mizukage shivered as ns were discarded and new ones were being created in his mind.

    "What is it, dear?" He suddenly heard Himeno''s voice as she entered their shared cabin on the boat in which they currently sailed to the Land of Fire. The Mizukage found himself momentarily speechless so he opted to simply hand her the Bingo Book without even looking at her so she could find out herself. Himeno just raised her eyebrow in surprise when she read through the page and chuckled. "Well, that makes any political y a moot point and this war suddenly got a helluva lot more dangerous. Now we will probably be targeted just for having SS-ranked ninja..." She said as her eyes narrowed at the Mizukage. "You know the best and most rational thing to do here is to retreat from every front and hole up in our little ind, right?

    "Yes." The Mizukage stated nkly.

    "From your tone, I presume we are not doing the most logical thing..." Himeno rubbed her forehead in exasperation. "The Hidden Viges are too preupied with killing each other that they just might do nothing about this despite the war raging on which is giving them free rein to attack us whenever they want without giving a flying f.u.c.k about a proper reason. I mean,e on! This brings an enormous target above the entire Land of Water! There is a reason why most nations dispose of their most unruly S-rankers! Mei was given a rank above even that..." Himeno tried to persuade the Mizukage but when she looked at his impassive expression as he stared in front of himself with determination, she could only groan in irritation. "You really sure we are not retreating?"

    "Yes..." The Mizukage gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod, still not looking at her in his stubbornness. Himeno knew deep down he felt ashamed for prioritizing his revenge rather than the vige but she would not stop him. She loved the man too much to do that.

    "Great..." Himeno only sarcastically quipped before releasing an exasperated sigh. "I guess I am going to check the preparations once more. Just wanted to give you heads-up that our fleet will be arriving at the shores of the Land of Fire in a day." She said before storming out of the cabin.

    The Mizukage showed a small loving smile at her antics, feeling heartfelt gratitude for her loyalty and never-ending patience she showered him in.

    ''And so it finally begins.''

    ...

    A day passed and the fleet finally arrived at its final destination. The sh.i.p.s were anchored a kilometer away from the shore and the Kiri forces numbering ten thousand ninjas of all ranks were ready.

    The shore looked peaceful and empty, not even the slightest sign of enemy could be spotted anywhere so the Kiri forces jumped from the boats onto the water, dead-set on walking on the water for thest kilometer of their long journey through the sea. The Mizukage himself was leading the forces with Himeno running by his side towards thend.

    The Kiri ninjas were not vignt. After all, none of them thought they would be attacked. The invasion was supposed to be the most guarded secret and at this point, it was too early for a battle. s...

    The Kiri front-liners of the forces were crossing thest hundred meters of water, about to finally reach the shore when suddenly a big puff of smoke burst out from the woods a bit away from the shore and the Kiri ninjas found stopped in their tracks from sheer bewilderment at the massive toad staring at them in amus.e.m.e.nt while smoking its pipe.

    The Mizukage managed to only curse under his nose before he heard...

    "Fire Release: Toad Oil me Bullet!"

    Mizukage''s hands instinctively started weaving seals before he could evenprehend what was going on as the massive toad started spitting toad oil in the direction of the front-liners of the Kiri force while a white-haired man standing on the top of the toad spat fire into the oil, igniting it.

    The Mizukage managed to perform a water wall in front of his forces near him and some meager amount of satisfaction coursed through his being as he noted some of his ninjas doing the same as the water from the sea rose, creating a shield for the Kiri ninjas from the fire.

    Despite the wall being primarily made by the more experienced and stronger water-oriented ninjas of Kiri forces, when the methrower-like stream of fire from the Toad impacted the Water Wall, sizzling noise erupted from the connection and the superheated mes started to boil the water almost instantly while making steam from the most of it. The remaining parts however were sted onto the Kiri front-liners by the pressure and whichever poor sucker who was hit started screaming bloody murder when itnded on his skin, severely burning it.

    Chaos instantly erupted as those people that were hit with the boiling water started thrashing around, running into ninjas around them which started a chain reaction of people bumping into each other. Some lost concentration and stopped using water-walking, falling into the water. Some just got disoriented and panicked. But the worst were those that lost focus on maintaining the Water Wall...

    As that happened, the me stream finally breached through it and the Mizukage could only jump back with wide eyes, out of the range of the fire stream while watching quite a lot of his men being torched as instead of the Wall of Water, an orange mes started influencing the water, making the sea in front of him boil. Only a very few ninjas in the front lines managed to avoid the mes or the fate of being boiled alive as the stream of burning oil swept through them. It was only Mizukage''s chakra sensing that made him aware he just lost around a hundred and fifty men and a moment of surprise.

    He stood in front of his remaining few thousand men, looking at the shore beyond the wall of mes while slowly starting to regret pressing for the invasion to continue. Luckily, Himeno stood next to him, panting from slight exertion and a small burn on her right forearm but clearly alive. Despite that, the Mizukage instantly knew his n failed.

    He was not about to give up though and would try to press on. Raising his hand about to give an order to use a water-style coboration Jutsu to put down the Wall of Fire burning on the water, separating them from thend, suddenly a booming voice reverberated through the area.

    "You want to invade the Land of Fire!? Thene and face your death!"

    The Mizukage instantly recognized the voice of the Third Hokage and paled, realizing that winning just became a hundred times harder. But he had no time to consider it as a hail of sharp metal started raining on his forces.

    The battle of the northern shores of the Land of Fire... started.

 Chapter 113 - Ch113. Northern Shores 3

    <h4>Chapter 113 - Ch113. Northern Shores 3</h4>

    Both Konoha and Kiri ninja armies hurled ranged Jutsu and weaponry at each other. Kiri ninjas tried to get tond while Konoha ones were fervently doing everything in their capabilities to prevent precisely that.

    Unfortunately for Kiri troops, what the Third Mizukage had in terms of talent forrge scale tactics, hecked in the actualmanding aspect. The man could manipte the entire war with just a few deployment orders and feint troops movements but when it came to him leading men into battle...

    That''s why despite Kiri forces being four timesrger, they were still kept at bay, wasting chakra by having to walk on the water. The battle progressed and both sides started losing people due to the ranged attacks.

    The Mizukage was starting to contemte retreat as he saw the incredibly disadvantageous deadlock for his army but then finally some of his soldiers reached thend. He felt overjoyed at the opportunity to turn the tables only for his hopes to crash down when his ninjas on thend who focused mostly on securing an easier passage through the hail of fireballs, kunais, shurikens, and explosive tags, were surprised by the earth turning into swamp courtesy of Jiraiya.

    The problem of Kiri forces was that while numerous, they had only a very few of their forces fighting and those in the backlines had nothing to do due to being unable to get in range. In short, they were stuck.

    Finally, Himeno had enough and temporarily tookmand, ordering the Kiri ninjas to spread which changed the entire battle. The Mizukage would protest if he didn''t know he brought her exactly for that. To cover his shittymanding.

    Instead of trying to rush through the focused ranged attacks of the enemy, the Kiri forces spread out to the left and right, taking advantage of their numbers. It didn''t take long for some of them, mostly these furthest to the right or left, to finally reachnd without much resistance as Konoha forces couldn''t spread out enough to cover the sides due to insufficient numbers.

    The battle on thend started.

    As the Konoha and Kiri forces finally reached the state of both fighting in more meleebat, the Third Mizukage engaged in a battle with the Third Hokage while Himeno was intercepted by a woman around twenty years old with long red hair.

    The Third Hokage spun his staff, trying to hit the Third Mizukage with fast-paced and powerful swipes while the Third Mizukage flowingly dodged like an expert dancer, bending his body in ways to most thought impossible while asionally hurling hidden senbons with incredibly powerful poison at the Third Hokage from his sleeves or blocking the staff with the sword he held. After all, Kirigakura was heavily invested in swordsmanship so the Third Mizukage was naturally good at handling swords despite being more of an assassin than anything else.

    Their fight was very fast-paced and the Third Mizukage made sure to limit the Third Hokage by fighting near Konoha ninjas, causing the old monkey to be unable to use strong and destructive ninjutsu. Despite this massive advantage, the Third Hokage has shown the exact reason why he was called the God of Shinobi. The Third Mizukage was being pushed back... horribly so.

    There were no interruptions to talk nor any condescending insults. The battle started and continued beingpletely silent, both men focusing only on murdering the other with precise brutality of their strikes. Not one sweep of the Third Hokage''s staff was aimed at a non-vital ce. Not one counter-sh from the Third Mizukage would not be fatal if it hit despite him being pressured. Both were exchanging a flurry of strikes, shes, blocks, parries moving across the battlefield while ignoring the general chaos of Jutsu, summoning animals, and weaponry with exploding tags flying around as the two armies shed. Muscles ached, bodies protested, and bruises formed almost with every move but neither of the Kages slowed down in their resolve to win, waiting for an opportunity tond a fatal strike.

    ...

    Himeno panted as she had to freeze yet another massive amount of water that came at her from the sea because of the Jutsu of the overzealous redhead who decided to fight her.

    "Damn... You have... incredible... Suiton." She praised between herbored breaths, trying to stall for time to recover. Fortunately for her, her opponent seemed to be a brash idiot...

    "You bet, dattebane! Name''s Kushina Uzumaki. Your Hyoton is incredible! It''s such a pity we are enemies! We can feel we could have been good friends but for Konoha I will defeat you, believe it!" The redhead gave Himeno a thumbs-up, causing her jaw to almost fall onto the floor as she nkly stared.

    ''What. The. F.u.c.k!?'' Himeno for the first time in her life was startled by the sheer stupidity of her opponent. She was unable toprehend what was going on because since she was just a little girl, she was taught to exploit any opening but the... sad excuse for all power but no brains in front of her was akin to something out of her wildest dreams.

    s, Kushina''s Talk no Jutsu was quite underdevelopedpared to Naruto so no enemy-to-friend conversion happened.

    While Kushina was talking, Himeno finally got her breathing under control and prepared herself for the continuation of their fight. She now knew she would not win an honest ninjutsu fight. For that, the woman in front of her had too much chakra. Heck, the redhead didn''t seem even winded after thirty high-rankedrge-scale Suiton Jutsu while Himeno was almost on the floor from exhausting much of her chakra too fast. Himeno knew she still had over half of her chakra reserves, but she felt very drained after their previous quick Jutsu exchange.

    Himeno quickly ascertained that the woman in front of her was one of the noble types so she pulled out her tanto, resisting a smug smirk from appearing on her face when the redhead mirrored her action by pulling out a katana, readying for a weaponry sh.

    Both women jumped at each other, shing their swords only for the des to meet in between them. Kushina''s self-assured face quickly revealed shock only to morph into realization followed by panic as she quickly jumped away...

    Himeno smugly smiled as she saw Kushina''s clothes starting to die themselves red due to ice skewering her as the redhead panted, ring at her. Himeno had no desire to y by the book when her sword had a smaller reach and was most likely of poorer quality. She naturally added Hyoton chakra into the de in order to create ice spikes at any given moment and did so the second their des met, riddling Kushina''s body with wounds.

    "It was too obvious from your expression you are too confident." Himeno started talking, trying to distract Kushina into a conversation while discreetly feeding chakra into the shards of ice in Kushina''s body. While the redhead managed to get away from the ice spikes without tearing them apart, some shards were still in her. It was a very hard thing to affect the shards and required incredible control despite giving almost no result but right now, as long as it widened Kushina''s wounds, Himeno didn''t care.

    Unfortunately, Himeno miscalcted as Kushina''s eyes became red with ck slits and Himeno instantly felt the connection to the ice shards disappear as Kushina''s wounds started healing at a visible rate. It didn''t take even five seconds for Kushina''s eyes to return back to violet and her face to reveal a winning smile. "I won''t lose, dattebane!"

    ''A fockin'' Jinchuuriki! My luck...'' Himeno cursed, throwing a nk stink-eye at the beaming Kushina who just shrugged off wounds that would kill a lesser woman. ''Well...'' She bent her knees and raised her tanto in front of her. ''No choice, I guess.''

    ----

    Author Note:

    First of all, FUUUUCK.

    WORST CHAPTER EVER! - at least from my point of view as the author.

    Writing this chapter was a nightmare! My motivation hit an all-time low... I started in the morning hours and the second I got to the fight between the Thirds... I lost my motivation in the first sentence and couldn''t bring myself to continue...

    Hence, I am sorry if the fight between the two Kage guys is not described in detail. I just could not bring myself to do it :D.

    Only when I somehow pushed myself and decided to conveniently skip it, going for Himeno v Kushina instead, I regained my drive. I wanted to end it in this chapter but, I guess I am liking it too much to only show so little of either Himeno and Kushina''s prowess.

 Chapter 114 - Ch114. Northern Shores 4

    <h4>Chapter 114 - Ch114. Northern Shores 4</h4>

    Kushina relished seeing the annoyance and frustration on the face of her foe after she used the chakra of the fox to heal herself. Admittedly, even the demon had its asional uses. Kushina made sure her expression was that of confidence as she learned fast enough in her first months spent in Konoha that showing how despairing one was, was the biggest mistake she could make. The others would just capitalize on it, and so, new, always cheerful, andpletely confident Kushina was ''born''. Nevertheless, seeing the crushed, frustrated, or resigned looks of her opponents always brought her some kind of sadistic joy. Well, she personally med that on being raised in Konoha...

    "Prepare yourself!" Kushina eximed as she ran at Himeno, swinging her katana in a wide arc from the right side only for Himeno to perfectly dodge by jumping back... exactly as Kushina wanted. Himeno quickly found three kunai flying at her while she was in the air due to her jump. She was forced to Kawarimi, appearing behind Kushina before her hands started weaving hand seals, sending an ice spike hurling at Kushina who just sidestepped it.

    Kushina was about to brag in order to show her confidence when a pained cry resounded through the surroundings, erasing her smug grin. Half turning in a way that would make it possible to look behind but also not lose sight of Himeno, Kushina''s eyes almost bulged as she realized a Konoha ninja was hit by the ice spike because she didn''t block but dodged. Anger red in her chest as her head whipped back to Himeno with a heated re.

    The tables have turned and Himeno just smugly shrugged in a ''what can you do?'' manner while it was Kushina who was aggravated for once. "Can''t save them all." Himeno yfully eximed in a mock-sadness. She knew endurance-wise there was no contest between her and Kushina so she went for the oldest trick in the books. Mind games.

    "You..." Kushina said darkly in a low tone, gritting her teeth. Sure, she knew people die in war. She killed her fair share, after all. She was not even pissed the Konoha ninja died, rather she was pissed he died due to her blunder. If someone saw it, her reputation would be ruined, dammit!

    ''Anger, huh? Simple enough.'' Himeno hid her smile as she realized Kushina''s biggest weakness.

    Kushina was livid but despite that, no Kyuubi chakra leaked from her due to her superb control. She instead decided to beat Himeno with her own strength as she lunged into yet another melee sword sh, exchanging strikes with Himeno in a rapid flurry of deadly shes at speeds most chunin would be hard-pressed to follow with their eyes. Both women started to .u.mte shes on their bodies but most of those could be said to be akin to paper cutspared to the scale of their sword fight. Himeno and Kushina''s clothes were bathed in their blood, either theirs or from the unfortunate ninjas who came in between them, and were promptly diced into pieces without the women even noticing as they uncaringly continued their fight, focusing only on their respective opponent.

    Kushina was fine. She lost quite a bit of blood but overall, she felt fresh as daisies. She could go on and on for a few hours yet. Himeno was... f.u.c.k.i.e.d. There was no other way to describe it as she was bloodied, dirty, battered, messy-haired, and worst of all, tired. She had had enough. ''Clearly, mixing Jinchuuriki with an Uzumaki would create a freak of nature that... just... won''t... stop!'' She thought with apparent frustration ringing in her head. But... thankfully Kushina was too noble for her own good and Himeno quickly noticed her penchant for not using her biggest advantage, ninjutsu, when her opponent doesn''t use it too. Frankly speaking, Himeno knew she should have been dead by now if the redhead actually yed ording to ninja rules, meaning dirty. ''She is more like a samurai.'' Himeno mentally snorted, calcting the best n to continue the fight.

    With a smirk, Himeno straightened herself. "So..." She drawled, "up for another ninjutsu fight, princess?" And Kushina was instantly annoyed and angered again. Not much but enough to change the way they fought. Himeno no longer needed to engage in a sword fight with the horrendous disadvantage of a shorter de and less experiencepared to a kenjutsu prodigy with a n-based style like Kushina. During their long sh, Himeno led Kushina exactly where she wanted her and that was the end of her need to fight with kenjutsu.

    "Bring it!" Kushina''s eyes shed, realizing they were far away from any ally who could be injured byrge-scale attacks, her hands instantly started weaving seals as she failed to notice the small smirk on Himeno''s face. Kushina finished her seals and pped her palms together as she shouted, "Water Release: Whirlpool Torrent!"

    A massive amount of swirling, whirlpool-like torrent of water appeared and quickly flew at Himeno, destroying trees all around. Himeno just enhanced her legs with chakra and jumped to the side, evading the Jutsu as five ice needles appeared in front of her with one one-handed seal.

    "Ice Style: Ice Needles."

    The needles flew at Kushina who grinned and pped her hands together.

    "Water Release: Water Wall."

    A wall of condensed water that rotated around Kushina appeared, blocking the Ice Needles before Kushina started creating an inhuman amount of water.

    "Water Release: Mega Water Prison!"

    The water created a humongous sphere, a hundred meters tall with the previous position of Himeno right in its middle, and Kushina released a strained breath, holding the water in a spherical shape. She then conjured her chakra chains and sent them into the sphere to seek and skewer anything that moved inside. This was her finishing move...

    Because of Kushina''s incredible focus, she didn''t notice Himeno rising from a small patch of frozen, mirror-like ground. This was nothing like Haku''s speed-enhancing mirror technique. This was a real space-time ice mirror transportation. The thing that made Himeno into a famous assassin. Kushina paid dearly for lowering her guard as a long ice spike lodged itself right through her abdomen, and even then she was quite lucky she instinctively leaned to the side otherwise she would be dead.

    Kushina was not one to forfeit the fight. She let the water prison end and the water came crashing onto the ground, causing the forest around to be changed into a smallke with crowns of the trees peeking from the surface. Kushina changed the environment to suit her best.

    Himeno used water-walking to stand on water, as did Kushina, but her eyes widened when she got a glimpse of Chakra Chains going under the water from Kushina''s back. Only barely did Himeno manage to dodge the chakra chain shooting from the water below her as Kushina made her run around, chasing her with chakra chains while asionally throwing a Water Bullet or some other Water Release Jutsu at her all the while Himeno did her damnedest to dodge, create more mirrors on the water surface, sadly they were being actively destroyed by Kushina so Himeno had to run more, and from time to time, Himeno even hurled ice Needles and Ice Spikes at Kushina.

    An hour passed and both disheveled women stood opposite each other, panting hard. Even the chakra powerhouse Kushina was almost floored due to exhaustion. While Himeno dodged and focused on precise attacks, often guessing where Kushina would dodge and throwing an ice spear there right after throwing an attack on Kushina, Kushina focused more on her chakra chains andrge-scale chakra-exhaustive massively destructive Jutsu that could level the surrounding country. Hence, despite Himeno having much lesser chakra reserves, Kushina was also spent.

    "Haaaaa~. You are goo-'''' Kushina started praising Himeno in between gulping air. She could respect the woman for being so agile and nimble. Hour of throwing S-ranked Jutsu at her and not one hit her. That, in Kushina''s humble opinion, deserved recognition. Himeno Yuki was a damn good ninja, especially with her bloodline that allowed her to use some kind of space-time bullshit to teleport through the ice. Kushina''s eyes suddenly widened as she reached her hand in Himeno''s direction, making her look at Kushina funny before horror appeared on Himeno''s face when she realized Kushina was not feigning it.

    "Watch out!"

    s, it was far toote...

 Chapter 115 - Ch115. Northern Shores 5 & Kirigakures treasury

    <h4>Chapter 115 - Ch115. Northern Shores 5 & Kirigakure''s treasury</h4>

    The Third Mizukage could only despair as the world slowed around him and despite his herculean attempts to move fast enough, he could only watch as the staff of the Third Hokage neared his lover''s, Himeno''s head without her even knowing as she faced the redhead Konoha ninja, panting and exhausted, too distracted by her own fight to watch her surroundings.

    ''No!'' He mentally screamed with wide eyes, unable to do anything to save Himeno as the Third Hokage''s staff impacted her head from the behind. Himeno''s head caved in from the force, sending her body crashing to the ground, folding like a paper and the Third Mizukage couldn''t help but freeze in his tracks, mentally repeating ''no'' as he refused to believe what just happened.

    Himeno... the love of his life, was dead.

    The Third Mizukage couldn''t help but sucked the cold air that permeated the surroundings, balling his hands into fists so hard that blood started dropping onto the ground. He was still shaken from the sight of Himeno''s copsed and deformed body, offhandedly noting the redhead ninja was horrifiedly staring at the scene in a manner quite simr to him.

    The world stilled as regret swelled in the Mizukage''s heart and his gaze slowly turned to a furious re full of deep-seated hatred boring into the grimly satisfied mug of the Third Hokage who spat a fireball onto Himeno''s body, burning it to cinders, to add an insult to an injury.

    The war between Konoha and Kiri was over. Both men knew it, no matter how much one of them wanted to admit it. The Hokage didn''t use the momentary distraction of the Mizukage and in order to kill him. He just watched and waited, hoping the death of the woman the Mizukage clearly loved would be impactful enough for a full retreat but not enough to make a man who was a Kage, and knew what that entailed, to decide going out with onest bang in an act of revenge.

    The Mizukage wanted nothing more than to tear the old shriveled monkey to pieces and stick the freaking bo staff up his ass but... he was slowly losing men. Konoha might have been outnumbered but they clearly brought only the best of their fighters to confront Kiri forces. This expedition was a failure and he knew it. If he continued, it would only endanger Kiri further and he couldn''t have that.

    Reluctantly, the Mizukage threw a kunai with a special seal tag attached towards the sky where it burst into a very bright red sphere, lingering amongst the cloud as it dered the order to retreat for the Kiri forces.

    With onest tear-stricken re, the Mizukage ran towards the shore, cursing and ming himself for Himeno''s death.

    The battle of the Northern Shores ended.

    ...

    While the armies of Konoha and Kiri shed on the northern shores of the Land of Fire. Rei had other ns.

    "It''s creepy how empty the vige is..." Mei mumbled as her eyes were tightly closed and her senses were dutifully monitoring the people in the Vige Hidden in the Mist through a harmless mist-like dense cloud of white steam she created. Not unlike her boiling one, Mei waspletely capable of sensing everyone inside of it.

    "Well, most of the ninjas are either on the Kumo front as a distraction or a part of the invasion to the Land of Fire. That''s why now is the best time to do this." Rei shrugged as his eyes flickered across a seal while he was in the process of altering it in such a way that it would not attack him and nobody would notice his intrusion.

    Rei and Mei were currently in front of the most guarded building in the vige. The Kiri ANBU headquarters, more specifically its treasury. Now that the vige was almost empty, Rei finally decided to check the ce out since there was almost no danger of being discovered as long as he knocked out the guards and used Mei to create a small disturbance with her steam. Not to mention Mei was an incredible sensor with it.

    The ANBU guards that were supposed to guard the ce were numbering twenty and allid on the ground after Rei sneak-attacked them with his chakra strings, and zapped them unconscious with lighting chakra through them.

    Rei was quite d though. Normally there would be at least a hundred ANBU patrolling around the ce and every few minutes, a new ANBU, one who was not part of the hundred, would walk around it, just in case. It was really the best-guarded ce in the vige as even the Kage didn''t have such protection. To get inside without making the entire vige rmed was almost impossible during normal times but now that more than sixty percent of the ninja poption was away... the hundred ANBU guardsmen were reduced to a mere twenty and instead of every few minutes, it took at least three hours for an ANBU not part of the guardsmen to walk by. It was the best opportunity for Rei to discreetly get inside.

    "Aaaaand done." Rei smirked as the seal glowed a bit before subsiding to normalcy. He turned to Mei and nodded at her. "Wait here and warn me if anybody is getting close. It would be infinitely morefortable if we are not caught trying to steal the most precious things Kirigakure owns." Seeing Mei nod, he entered the room containing the most precious things in the whole Land of Water.

    Thirty minutes passed with Rei browsing through the things stored there, his face marred with an enormous frown as his eyes twitched.

    "Trash, useless, bad, crap, unusab-, no, wait, that could work... but I have no interest in an explosive rubber ducky the size of a horse. Seriously, who made that thing!" Rei muttered as his lips morphed into a profound scowl. "Why the heck is most of these things so useless? ... Scrolls of S-ranked Jutsu? Scrolls with sealing knowledge? Summoning Scrolls? Poisonous deodorant? All of these I have no need for!" Rei was frustrated. Sure, the scrolls were stashed to his storage dimension but he didn''t really need them. They were mostly for his future endeavor rather than for him or his girls. All in all, he wasn''t really happy with what he found in the best treasury of Kirigakure.

    Rei almost gave up the further he went in the room, not finding anything immediately useful when he suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked at an unassuming small brown jar that looked as normal as possible. It had no special odor. No special appearance. No special chakra signature. Safe to say, even a high-ranking ninja would find it to be just a normal jar.

    Not a Seal Master though.

    Rei''s lips widened into a joyful smile as he finally found something worthwhile. Something that was a big part of the reason why he still stayed in the Kiri.

    "For years, I was looking for you..." His eyes hungrily lingered on the jar with an excited glint. "And even though you probably won''t wake up due to the seals on the jar. Nice to meet you... Saiken."

    ----

    Author Note: Okay... I can honestly say I will not write about a battle that MC or his harem is not a part of. I did so for thest five chapters and while a bit enjoyable, it was also quite boring for me as the writer...

 Chapter 116 - Ch116. The aftermath.

    <h4>Chapter 116 - Ch116. The aftermath.</h4>

    The Team Downpour was recalled to Kirigakure not even two weeks after the battle of the northern shores ended. Them being so far away from the vige was also the perfect alibi for the ongoing investigation on who broke into the Kirigakure''s treasury... but didn''t take anything at all. Honestly, Rei was quite amused at the disbelieving and uprehending looks of the Kirigakure''s higher-ups whenever he spied on them discussing it. He naturally left copies of the scrolls in the treasury so all seemed as if somebody was there but didn''t take anything. It was driving them sparse and Rei enjoyed every second of it.

    Sadly, he found only the jar with the sleeping Six-Tails in it and had no idea where Three-Tails was but he didn''t care much about that. Six Tailed Demon was much harder toe by anyway as Rei knew a few events in which the Three-Tails was supposed to ''participate''. He would still have time to act on itter and get some chakra from the beast but the Six-Tails was different. Rei didn''t even remember the arc with Utakata as he was totally bored by it and didn''t much care about it.

    The biggest topics in the vige were mainly two things.

    Mei''s ascension to the first SS-rank ninja ever, and the failure to invade the Land of Fire alongside the loss of the Kiri forces in the battle of northern shores. One was incredibly positive while the other... not so much. It was more than obvious which one was the preferred topic in the vige and Mei was simply going sparse by how casually she is being greeted by people who would re and scorn her just a few weeks ago. She really wasn''t happy about it and this time it was her who was ring at everyone who even tried to open their mouth in order to start a ''casual'' conversation with her.

    As for the less popr topic... Kirigakure lost 10% of its ninjas in that battle. The order to retreat from the Kumo front was already sent. Officially, Kirigakure was still a part of the war while unofficially, the vige lost too much in Konoha to continue fighting. The higher-ups basically decided to hole up and focus on surviving the war rather than participating. Two of the four members of the seven swordsmen fell and only thanks to the other two surviving members did Kirigakure managed to keep their swords. Himeno, the heiress of the Yuki n died. At least twenty more A-rank shinobi of Kiri also met their end... Kirigakure was simply too exhausted to continue to waste its forces for the war. There was no profit in it anymore.

    When Rei heard about the losses, he even felt a pang of guilt for the deceased since it was because of him that Konoha managed to ambush Kiri forces but then he remembered one crucial thing. Themander was the Third Mizukage. He was supposed to be a genius at tactics and he made such a grave oversight as not expecting a searingly warm and pointy wee when he arrived near the shores? At that point, Rei decided to not bother. Frankly, he expected better from the man.

    Speaking of the Mizukage, he became a broken husk of his former glory. The vige had to be mostly run by the Council as he grieved for Himeno and that statested for three weeks until the Mizukage finally decided to take his responsibilities seriously again and since then, he didn''t leave his office at all. Just lucky he had an adjacent bathroom there.

    The guy didn''t even have the time to chat with the Team Downpour about their recent mission since he was dealing with the f.u.c.k-up he caused. Many whispers of removing him and installing the Fourth Mizukage started to be heard in the wind and Rei could only shake his head. Even Konan believed the Kiri was going to be worse for wear.

    "Are we finally leaving?" Konan asked as she sat on the couch with Rei''s head on herp while she lovingly caressed his hair. "I am quite fed up with this vige. Living normally is nice and all but when you got paper everywhere in order to eavesdrop and know the darker secrets..."

    "Yeah," Rei sighed. "I just want ast meeting with Mizukage. Call it my vanity but I want to see his new mental state after he lost the woman he loved. After that, we will use the war to elevate our status, perhaps?" He threw her a mischievous look which she promptly returned.

    "Eh? You want to get an SS-rank rating? I doubt it would be so hard." Konan hummed.

    "Not only that, we still have a year and a half until the end of this war. We gotta improve the Dimension, get stronger, get better, ahem, I mean get more infamous..." Rei trailed off but then snorted. "I personally don''t want to join any other hidden vige. They are too constricting and expect their ninjas to serve them to their deaths without question." Rei shook his head. "I have had enough of that in Kirigakure and I must admit we were lucky the Mizukage wanted to amodate us otherwise it would be far worse and much more ufortable."

    "Right..." Konan gained a faraway look as she reminisced about thest years. Suddenly she snapped out of it and tilted her head. "What about Tsunade? She should be stuck in Konoha until the war ends."

    Rei nodded at her with a slight appreciative smile. "As she should be. That way nobody can associate her with us. It''s not like she can''t just teleport to the Dimension and train. Furthermore, I am sure she is quite content with having so many free test subjects. Poor patients of Konoha Hospital." Rei snorted mockingly, earning himself a reproachful but amused p on his shoulder by Konan. Both settled and Rei just enjoyed Konan''s finger coursing through his hair for a few moments before he sighed. "I noticed I have been neglecting the creation of new seals since the war started." He idlymented.

    "Yes, I have be a bitzy too. It''s time to get back into the form." Konan simply agreed and if Mei or Ringo heard her, they would quickly pale and run for their lives. If the training they were put through was to be considered zy'', they didn''t want to see what ''real'' training was like.

    "By the way, Tsunade is getting quite good with Senjutsu. Bing a real berserker with her instant healing and brute strength."

    "Ah?" Konan yfully tilted her head. "Well, you would know. After all, you did spend a few days with her in the Dimension. So? Did she get any better? You know... in bed." She sultrily asked and Rei barked out augh.

    "Yeah... she is a delight." Before Konan could react, she found herself in a princess carry as Rei marched towards their bedroom. "In fact, I will just show you."

    Bothughed at that, l.u.s.t apparent in their eyes. Somehow, puberty hit them hard, and with the high amount of Nature Energy in their system... let''s just say Konan and Tsunade were d for anti-pregnancy seals. Yet another reason why Rei didn''t want to add Mei until she was fifteen years old and was willing after knowing all the facts.

    That night became Mei''s favorite as she spied through a barely visible mist on Konan and Rei having fun while she was left to her own lonesome devices. Who said training in espionage was boring and unexciting?

 Chapter 117 - Ch117. Mission report

    <h4>Chapter 117 - Ch117. Mission report</h4>

    Rei m.o.a.ned as he woke up, feeling somebodyying on his chest. He half-opened his eyes and rxed when he spotted the messy and tangled mess of blue hair enter his vision. Clearly, they took it a bit too far with Konan yesterday night and both fainted. Releasing a deep sigh of relief, Rei put his hand on Konan''s head and gently caressed her hair, carefully to not wake her up, causing her to snuggle more into his chest. He would chuckle if his mind didn''t freeze as he spotted Mei standing next to their bed with her arms crossed and exaggerated pout on her lips while her eyes were trying to drill a hole through Rei''s face.

    "Uh... hi?" He awkwardly greeted her, scrunching his eyebrows. "What are you doing here, Mei?"

    Mei only jealously huffed as she turned her head towards the still sleeping Konan who was blissfully sprawled on Rei''s chest with a megawatt smile, her hands possessively around his waist. Rei saw Mei let out a small whine before she turned around towards the door and her back now faced the duo lying in the bed. "I just came to inform you that you were called to the Mizukage''s office." She sullenly said before stiffly walking out.

    ''Is she... jealous?'' Rei wondered in amus.e.m.e.nt.

    ...

    Rei, Konan, and still sullen Mei walked into the office of the Mizukage and couldn''t help but wonder how much it changed with Himeno not being around. The first thing they noticed was the air bing stale and stuffy. The Mizukage most likely didn''t open the window often. The room was not really messy. It was tidied up but didn''t give the feeling of proper care and neither was there the vibe of superiority that was always present when Himeno was there to tend to it. Frankly, the woman knew exactly how to arrange things for people to feel small or insignificant when in her presence and something was clearly missing in the room to give it that important vibe of it belonging to someone important.

    Further in the room, Mizukage was wrestling with stacks of paperwork. He no longer looked cheery, rather he had a weary look and ck circles under his eyes as he sat with his shoulders slumped while filling out form after a form. Rei could understand why the Council wanted him to name a sessor. The man was ruined and lost his drive.

    "Team Downpour reporting as ordered." Rei stated, snapping the Mizukage from his reverie, causing him to look up at them. His eyes were quite dull and sleepy, making Rei frown. This was really not the man who weed them in Kirigakure years ago. It was almost sad.

    "Ah... Rei. Sure, I wanted to hear how your mission went." The Mizukage stated hollowly, no longer having that vicious bite in his tone that always produced witty arguments between them. Rei frowned at that. He enjoyed their verbal sparring. It wouldn''t do if the manpletely folded. Nevertheless, he started exining what happened...

    "Wait! You used PRANKS to get attention in Tanera!?" Mizukage shrieked. "I ordered you to destroy it!"

    "No, you didn''t."

    "Yes, I did."

    "No, you didn''t."

    "Yes, I most assuredly did." The Mizukage spat with a venomcing his tone as he gave Rei a scathing re.

    "Oh, well. I must have forgotten, then." Rei said with a light uncaring tone, making the Mizukage groan. "But the mission was a sess nevertheless. We stalled hundreds of ninja and thousands of samurai so not like anyone canin. Well, anyone besides the inhabitants of Tanera since they were the victims of our witty and nefarious ns on how to screw Konoha over. I think we did an incredible job since most of them are jobless and penniless." Rei finished with a beaming innocent smile that made somehow the Mizukage aware Rei was angry with him at being given such a mission.

    "Rei..." The Mizukage called out almost pleadingly. "You are a ninja, act like it!"

    Rei''s smile dropped andplete seriousness filled the room. "Sure... You are also a ninja, act like it too, then."

    The world stilled as the Mizukage and Rei stared into each other''s eyes before the Mizukage chuckled. His chuckles slowly morphed into snickers before bing smallughter and ending up as full-blown unrestrainedughter as the man banged his fist on the table, hunched over from stomach pains due toughing.

    All members of Team Downpour were just awkwardly standing in front of his desk, staring at the apparently new madman until he finished with his practice of madughing.

    ''Was I too straightforward?'' Rei thought worriedly.

    ''Did he crack?'' Konan thought in amus.e.m.e.nt.

    ''Somehow, I am suddenly d we are leaving Kiri.'' Mei thought as she gave the Mizukage a weirded out look.

    The Mizukage finally stoppedughing, and only an asional chuckle left his lips as he tried to calm down. "Thank you for that, Rei. I needed the reminder."

    ''So he didn''t go crazy. Such a pity'' All three members of Team Downpour thought ruefully. Outwardly, Rei just nodded in acknowledgment.

    "Now, care to exin why one of my genin is marked as SS-rank by Iwagakure?" The Mizukage nced at Mei before he turned to Rei with his left eye twitching in irritation and exasperation.

    "The Iwagakure is crazy?" Rei tried to sound innocent but the Mizukage instantly gave him a deadpan stare. "Fine! She fought ten thousand enemies." Rei shrugged.

    The Mizukage could only groan again. "Why does it have to be always so difficult with you?" He idly asked, not expecting an answer but Rei obliged nevertheless.

    "Because I am special?"

    The silence became deafening in the room and it took a few seconds before the Mizukage started speaking again. "Right... Anyway, we fought ten thousand people is NOT an answer, Rei."

    "But I didn''t say ''we'' fought them. I said ''she'' fought them."

    That stopped the Mizukage short, causing him to bepletely bbergasted. "Wait. You want to tell me that a genin managed to win against-"

    "Yup," Rei interrupted. "I am apparently a marvelous teacher!" He gave the Mizukage a thumbs-up before Konan swatted him on the shoulder while barely restraining her snickers. Mei had no such problem and openlyughed at Mizukage''s expression. Maybe Rei really was a bad influence? Nah, that couldn''t be it.

    The Mizukage looked from Mei to Rei and back before his eyes settled at Konan. "Is it the truth?"

    "Oi!" Rei rebuked, annoyed at being doubted but both Konan and the Mizukage just ignored him.

    "Yes." Konan stoically said with a nod.

    "I see... Fine." The Mizukage sighed. "I want a full report on that battle on my table in a week at most. You are dismissed." He said and returned to his paperwork with a lighter and happier look.

    ''Really, I am such a good therapist!'' Rei proudly thought to himself only to receive another swat on the shoulder from Konan who instinctively felt her lover was thinking something stupid.

 Chapter 118 - Ch118. Leaving Kiri

    <h4>Chapter 118 - Ch118. Leaving Kiri</h4>

    Rei, Konan, and Mei sat in the living room of their t, recounting what they have to do before finally leaving Kiri for good. The biggest problem was Mei''s report to the Mizukage since they doubted they would be allowed to go on a mission before Mei handed that to the Mizukage. In the end, Konan proposed to make use of the Mizukage''s busy schedule and Rei epted which basically meant they would be leaving Kiri at the end of the week, right after Mei handed her report. This made their schedule quite packed for the following week.

    First, Konan made sure to spread her papers everywhere in the vige, put them into hidden spots all in order to be informed. She even created a new Jutsu, a special type of paper clone that could ess all these spying papers in the Kirigakure and had her own intelligence to determine what was and what was not important to report. The entire clone was powered by natural energy so it couldst indefinitely until it was canceled. Funnily enough, despite the Council knowing Konan could manipte paper, nobody really paid attention or even tried to find out the limits of it. Nobody had even an inkling she could spy through it. The best they could imagine her doing was cutting things with it which was in dumb in Konan''s opinion. If anything, Earth-hardening was much better for offense than Wind-sharpening. This ignorance made it incredibly easy for Konan to be aware of almost everything important that was going on in Kirigakure. Not even three dayster, she brought the news of where exactly was the sealed three-tailed beast hidden to Rei but he just shrugged, deciding they will get its chakrater when it actually had a jinchuuriki.

    Even Konan didn''t understand yet why Rei told her to create such a massive informationwork in Kirigakure. He naturally wanted to get some ns for himself once the purge started and without knowing when to rescue them, any effort from his part would be useless. Needless to say, Rei wouldn''t have that if he could help it.

    As for Mei, she decided to stay the entire week indoors if only to avoid the idiotic and bothersome fawning of the vigers. She was not blind and could see the great fear they had for her in their eyes and how fake their acting was.

    Mei-sama this, Mei-sama that. Mei-sama you look so wonderful. Mei-sama you are so powerful... who did the idiots think they were fooling when not even a half-year earlier they were all ring and sneering at her? Seriously, only an utterly brainless idiot would be happy for getting recognition from people who clearly hated him and believed it was real when they switched their cloaks and became nice out of nowhere after he or she performed some meritorious deed for the vige. Mei would rather have none of it rather than have some fake recognition.

    Rei spent the week browsing through the library and discreetly storing any Jutsu scroll he found interesting or useful. His kleptomaniacal craze was stopped only after five days when the library was flooded by ninjas looking for clues who was stealing their scrolls after they finally noticed something amiss. Rei wondered what it was. Thepletely empty shelf in the B-rank Jutsu section, the fact that twenty A-rank Jutsu were currently unounted for, or the collection of cookbooks from the civilian section he took for fun... Personally, he suspected it was the cooking books. Jutsu were overrated, after all.

    The week finally passed and the Team Downpour sans Mei found themselves at their personal training ground, ready to embark on another mission... unknown to the Kirigakure, theirst one for the vige.

    Mei finally arrived and huffed in discontent. "These stupid chunins at the mission center had the cheek to ask me why I am taking mission right after handing the report for Mizukage before he could even assess it!"

    Konan just chuckled at the clearly vexed girl while Rei rolled his eyes. "You know it''s their job. It really is suspicious and you know we had you take the mission because as the newest SS-rank, the chunins won''t give you any trouble in fear of it backfiringter."

    "Maybe so but still!" Mei angrily stomped her foot on the ground before averting her gaze and crossing her arms under her developing chest. "I should have melted them."

    Rei gained a mischievous smile and approached Mei. Before she could react, Mei found her cheeks being pinched by Rei as he smugly raised an eyebrow at her, causing her to blush and try to pull away from him.

    "Ah, ah, ah. Don''t be arrogant, Mei." Rei ruffled her hair. "Or I and Konan will have to beat the arrogance out of you. You won''t enjoy it." He warned her, happy to see her flinch, taking it as an assurance she understood.

    "Well, then le-" Rei was about to turn around to leave when he was surprised by a person approaching them from the tree line. All three of them instantly put their guard up.

    To their utter shock, it was Ringo who was unsurely approaching them, a bag slung on her back, her face looking pensive while her hands held the handle of two swords around her waist in a fond manner.

    "Uh... hi?" She ufortably greeted them, getting a raised eyebrow from Konan, a piercing look from Mei, and a slightly concerned frown from Rei. Before any of the three could start speaking, Ringo decided it would be better if she exined herself first. "I... I know you are leaving Kirigakura and I want to go with you." She said, feeling her stomach sink, as she for the first time uttered out loud what she was doing. She was turning traitor. It was almost physically sickening for her to even think about it but... Kirigakure betrayed her first. In the end, Tsunade was correct. Ringo had to choose and after many sleepless nights, this was her answer.

    Ringo expected questions, bewilderment, protests, demands to prove what he said to be the truth so she was naturally floored when she was met with shugs and clicking of the tongue from Mei as Konan smugly outstretched her hand, palm up, towards the girl and the peeved Mei handed over a pouch to the smug Konan.

    Konan saw Ringo''s jaw drop as Mei gave her the winnings of their little bet and amusedly smirked in her direction. "What? I know everything that''s going on in Kirigakure. Did you really believe I wouldn''t be aware of your internal debate? I just didn''t know if you would get your shit together before we left or if you would defectter in order to find Rei." Konan rolled her eyes while Mei scoffed, clearly not believing Ringo would defectter. Konan ignored Mei and continued. "You love Rei and with the way the Mizukage treated you and the fact that Tsunade set you straight, making you face your feelings for Rei and weigh them to those for the vige..."

    "Yes, yes. Our resident maniptor knew what would happen. We get it." Mei interrupted while her eye was fiercely twitching. "Frankly, I am watching you, Ringo." She said, stating her intentions and distrust towards the former wielder of Kiba.

    Ringo mutely nodded, knowing she really deserved that one for her blind loyalty to Kirigakure as she turned to the most important person from the Team Downpour, Rei. He was watching her with his pointed piercing look as if looking into her soul. This was no longer the happy-go-lucky, witty, and mostly carefree teacher who taught Ringo most of what she knew. This was a ninja who was showing her he didn''t trust her fully despite their past student-teacher rtionship. It broke Ringo''s heart a bit to be doubted by the man she loved but in the end, with the way she always acted, it was natural and she would be greatly disappointed if he just epted her.

    After a while, Rei threw something at Ringo who caught it and opened her hand to reveal a small ring, making her give Rei a questioning look.

    "It''s a camouge ring with seals that will mask your chakra signaturepletely. If you want toe with us, you will have to get through every sensor and sealing barrier around the vige since you did not take the mission with us." Rei said and turned around.

    Just like that, their final journey away from Kirigakure started. Rei was told long ago what Tsunade did for Ringo and that the final decision was on the girl herself. Ringo chose and there was nothing to talk about. He would just respect it and see where that led them. In the end, no matter how he tried to just let it go, he still liked the girl he basically raised and made into a respected killer.

 Chapter 119 - Ch119. New base

    <h4>Chapter 119 - Ch119. New base</h4>

    Rei, Konan, Mei, and Ringo traveled quickly to the west, not stopping until they reached the sea.

    "What now?" Ringo asked, looking at the calm waves of the shining water washing the sandy shores. She had no idea what Rei wanted to do since they didn''t go to any port city. He clearly didn''t want to leave a paper trail of their departure from the country nor any witness but here they were, in the middle of literally nothing. Ringo knew they wouldn''t be able to water-walk to the other side of the sea, no matter their chakra reserves. At least, she definitely could not do it, hence her confusion.

    All of the Team Downpour gave Ringo a questioning look that stopped her in her tracks, making her furrow her eyebrows and adorn a pondering expression before a realization struck her. "Ah! So we will fly?" She more stated than asked. "Er, I think it was too long since I did missions with Konan and Rei so my memory can be a bit slow. Hehe." Ringo awkwardlyughed, trying to avoid the pointed and amused looks from the Team Downpour.

    Rei just chuckled and came closer to Ringo, putting his hands around her waist with a mischievous expression, causing her to blush and look down as Mei silently snickered in expectation of Ringo''s reaction.

    "Wha-?" Ringo shyly started but then her entire world as if blinked in and out and she was hit with the feeling of peacefulness and yet, she was also greatly cowed as the full might of Natural energy in Rei''s dimension fell onto her shoulders due to her entering it for the very first time. Ringo was in awe and so shocked she forgot how to breathe as the waves of energy washed over her body, the world as if slowed to crawl as her pupils dted and her throat tightened. And as soon as it came, it went and Ringo found herself staring at a small town from a hill behind it.

    Rei smiled knowingly at Ringo, unhanding her. She didn''t spend even a second in his dimension but her star-struck expression was something he expected. Mei reacted much the same and even now she was a bit out of it from time to time. Unless one bonded with Rei, nothing he could do about that. On the other hand, at least because of Mei not being bonded with Rei yet, they found out that training in the dimension makes chakra reserves grow faster. There would be no way for Mei to have enough chakra to defeat a ten-thousand-strong army otherwise.

    "We are here." Rei said, pulling Ringo out of her reverie just in time for her to spot Konan blinking into existence two meters away from them, holding Mei around her shoulders in a simr manner Rei held her around the waist.

    "Wait... Where is here? No. First, tell me what the heck was that!? Did you find a way to teleport? That was not a speed technique! No, no, what the heck was that ce full of gigantic trees, massive roots, and energy... god so much energy." Ringo muttered to herself in a crazed manner, breathing so hard she was close to hyperventting. "How can something like that exist. There is just no wa-"

    Rei''s lips suddenlynded on hers, making her eyes widen as she leaned into the kiss, her arms snaking around his neck. Ringo pulled herself closer to Rei, deepening the kiss as her previous thoughts evaporated from her mind.

    It took a while for them to pull away, much to Mei''s ire. Unfortunately for Mei and fortunately for Ringo, Konan had Mei''s shoulders in a vice-grip while giving her a barely noticeable smug smirk and shaking her head so Mei could only pout and watch, stewing in her own jealousy.

    "You calm now?" Rei whispered to Ringo who meekly noddedying her head on his shoulder to prevent him from seeing how flushed she was. "Good," Rei chuckled, making her shuffle closer to him. "Now then, we are in the Land of Waves and our destination is the Land of Whirlpool. We need a new base, after all." Rei said, making Ringo''s eyes widen. Before she could say anything, however, Rei left the embrace and gestured for her to follow and Ringo could only huff in exasperation.

    Soon after, the four ninjas were traversing through the sea between the Land of Waves and the Land of Whirlpools.

    ...

    Finding Uzushiogakure was not really a problem. The problem was getting inside since the entire vige was shielded by multiple sealing arrays, either geared to cause sickness, weakness, or Rei''s favorite, a seal that actually inflicted chakra poisoning on an intruder if he stayed too long. There naturally were also instant-kill sealing arrays and other offensive seals strewn all over the Uzushiogakure.

    The mystery of why the viges didn''t have so many Uzumaki sealing scrolls was finally unraveled. The entire ce was a death-trap designed to not let anybody who enters to leave alive. Only a jonin would be able to get out once he enters and even then he had to be very, very lucky. That exined quite clearly why Kirigakure had so many low-level sealing scrolls of the Uzumaki n but none of the higher quality. They simply couldn''t manage to retrieve them before dying.

    After all, it took Rei quite a bit of time, three months to be exact, to first find out every single seal in the whole vige and then change them so they would allow him and his party to stay without fearing to be either incinerated, poisoned, yed alive, or frozen to death due to activating a hidden seal. While the world waged war, Rei was cracking his head, trying to find a solution how to make Uzushiogakure safe for his team as Konan made sure to whip Ringo into shape while adding what she previously did not teach the woman, lessons on anti-indoctrinations  Konan, which basically meant she was indoctrinating Ringo to be loyal to Rei. Eh, not like Ringo didn''t see it. She was too experienced not to, she simply went along with it because it was what she wanted.

    During this time, Mei followed Rei like a puppy, trying to be cute and endearing. Rei knew she wanted a kiss since she saw him kissing Ringo, someone who didn''t spend that much time with him. Mei simply felt Ringo was getting ahead and it took two months for Rei to finally break. To his eternal dismay, since then Mei became a lot bolder and demanding which only prompted Ringo to be the same... the two started an oddpetition for his affections. He could only sigh in exasperation, especially when Tsunade heard of it andughed her ass off on his ount. Yes, he had to spend every night with either Tsunade or Konan since Mei and Ringo startedpeting, otherwise, he would long ago lose his nerves and go apeshit on them. In the end, Tsunade made sure to persuade him in a very heated ''conversation'' that he had to bond with the two women soon if he wanted peace and calm. After all, the bonding made them feel like sisters and while Mei and Ringo would most likely still retain some kind ofpetitiveness among them, it won''t be the ferocious kind.

    Finally, the months passed and Rei was finished with the entire Uzushiogakure and the only thing that was left was to name their group. After all, they were a gathering of three S-rank and one SS-rank ninja. They naturally needed a proper name to represent them! Or so, argued Mei...

    And such was the beginnings of Yozora.

 Chapter 120 - Ch120. Gear

    <h4>Chapter 120 - Ch120. Gear</h4>

    Another three months passed and the third shinobi world war has just entered its third and final year. During these three months, Rei finally bonded with Mei and Ringo and since then, two hours of his day had to be sacrificed for the two needy girls. Thankfully, Mei respected Rei''s reluctance to sleep with her before she reached fifteen years of age and Ringo respected Mei and waited for her to have the first turn.

    It brought Konan and Tsunade an untold amount of amus.e.m.e.nt when they saw Rei trying to pry Mei away from him or when the two girls argued about inane things like which one of them has softer lips. Rei would say Konan was the winner hands down but he was too clever to open his mouth in front of his girls...

    What brought amus.e.m.e.nt to Rei was Ringo''s reaction when she found out that Tsuna was actually Tsunade, one of the Konoha sannin. Ringo t-out fainted when grinning Tsunade with her hands balled into fists and put on her h.i.p.s cheekily told Ringo who exactly cured her disease.

    The funniest moment though was when Rei showed Ringo the dimension. The poor woman could not properly breathe for five hours and had to crawl while being taunted by Tsunade and Konan as they dangled Rei''s specially made dango, Ringo''s favorite food and the only thing he was addicted as they found out in the past months, in front of her face on a string while she was creating a path by drooling onto the ground. Rei really had no idea if he should roll on the ground fromughter or stop his two cruel women. In the end, Mei decided for him when she brought popcorn.

    Fun was nice and all but these past three months were also quite busy. Rei decided their new group, Yozora, needed a proper recognizable attire and as such, they started creating one, a very special one at that.

    Rei was aware of the dangers and advantages of such a thing but after carefully weighing them, he still decided to get a proper ''uniform'' so to speak. His main reason stemmed from Akatsuki itself.

    Akatsuki ck cloaks with red clouds... most would believe it was a stupid thing to wear them and from a certain point of view, they would be absolutely correct. Akatsuki was supposed to be a hidden organization of mercenaries. Their secret purpose was to collect the bijuu and yet every time they attacked a jinchuuriki, it was two dudes in ck cloaks with red clouds. Very subtle indeed.

    Not to mention that two S-rank nuke-nin grouping up was already quite suspicious and rming but could still be somehow overlooked and written off as just teaming up for a hard mission. The bets are off the table the second these two ninjas start to wear a uniform of a sort, however. Especially if more S-rank nuke-nin are sighted wearing the same uniform as them. The whole point of being a secret organization bes a moot point as a group of ten S-rank ninjas would be right in the striking zone of every vige, which would mean they would be watched like hawks. And that''s before they actually start to attack jinchuuriki. Rei had no idea how they got so far with bijuu collecting since their goal was so obvious. Either the hatred towards the jinchuuriki was really so great it drove the hidden viges near mad and not care about people collecting weapons of mass destruction, or the world itself was plot-forcing like mad for it to happen.

    And yet, despite the reasons why he found the Akatsuki cloak a stupid tell-tale sign simr to Naruto''s kill-me orange jacket, Rei decided to also make a uniform for Yozora. The reason was simple. In the beginning, it would not bring much to the table butter on, when their reputation spread, the uniform will be a symbol. The viges know not to f.u.c.k with Akatsuki because they are made out of S-rank ninjas. And they always wear their cloaks and are easy to spot.

    Rei wanted such recognition for his own group as while stupid, it was also a very powerful weapon. After all, if he ever wanted someone to do a secret mission, all that would be needed was to take off the Yozora cloak.

    The first piece of Yozora gear was a pitch-ck cloak reaching the ankles with a ck hood. Rei didn''t care what people wore underneath it so the cloak was it. Now, Rei was quite protective of his girls so he grouped up with Konan and they got to enhancing these cloaks.

    Firstly, they decided the hood will be always up during encounters with an enemy so Rei quickly added a see-through seal on the inner part of the hood. This way, the wearer''s vision was not obstructed at all.

    Secondly, he naturally added a seal to obstruct the vision of anyone trying to peek under the hood. Anyone who tries will see only a ck void. This was Rei''s measure to protect the identity of his girls. Sure, they said it was redundant but Rei wouldn''t hear of it and red at them until they relented.

    And thirdly, Rei added some misceneous seals like warming seals that would keep the user warm if activated or cooling seals with the opposite function. There was also a durability seal drawn from the inner part of the cloak, affecting the outermostyer from being damaged. All those seals were self-sustaining by a minuscule amount of nature energy so they didn''t need any chakra from the wearer. The cloak was already something the hidden viges would covet but Rei was not satisfied yet and that''s where Konan came into the picture.

    The cloak was made out of twoyers of ck, veryfortable but durable fabric mostly used for ANBU uniforms. Between these twoyers sewn together, were slices of Konan paper tightly put one by one next to each other with minimal gaps between them. The ingenuity in this was the fact that Rei inscribed a sustaining seal on each of these slices and Konan hardened them the best she could with her Earth Release. This basically made the entire cloak a better armor than a full-te from chakra metal despite being light and foldable as a feather since the paper was still, in fact, just paper. It would take some serious destructive power to get through the cloak which was yet another reason why Rei insisted on having a uniform. Akatsuki doesn''t really utilize theirs well but Rei would be damned if he didn''t make use of his fuinjutsu and the protective capabilities of Konan''s Earth-hardening in Yozora''s cloaks.

    This came at a cost however as the entire cloak was a shining beacon in the senses of even the weakest chakra sensor which unfortunately made Rei forsake the idea of invisibility seal on the outeryer of the cloak and he instead drew a chakra masking seal which made it virtually invisible to the chakra sensors despite the high chakra output the cloak was giving out at any given moment due to the always active Earth-hardened slices of paper.

    Rei might have created his own dimension but these cloaks... they were a masterpiece on their own.

    The cloak was mostly made by Rei and Konan with Tsunade doing the sewing since she was, ording to herself, free and had the greatest experience when it came to needlework. Well, as expected of the best medic... Sewing people and clothes mustn''t be so different, right?

    Ringo and Mei started their own project while the others worked on the cloak. Both were trying to create swords. Rei gave them tons of chakra metal to experiment and at first, he did so only to indulge them but when he saw their techniques rapidly improve, he even started debating the option of offering the two a change of upation from ninja killer to ninja cksmith.

    Honestly, Rei had no idea why ninjas didn''t use Jutsu for crafting. He was in one of the viges where the chakra weapons were made and yet, no ninja was helping in the process which took weeks for one de. Here, Mei with her Lava Release and Ringo with her exceptional Lighting Release could create ten chakra des per day and they were not even that skilled yet.

    That was actually two months ago...

    The next month, the two cksmithing she-devils requested Rei''s help. He couldn''t give the des full attention but when he had time, they experimented with putting seals on the de which was frankly an annoying endeavor since every time they had a spar the seals would be damaged.

    The solution appeared in the middle of the third month. It needed a special ink that could withstand chakra metal melting temperatures and Mei had to keep the forged swords in a melted state until Rei inscribed the seals before covering them in anotheryer of molten chakra metal alloy. The seals were inside of the sword... and finally, they didn''t get damaged during the first spar.

    The sword actually conducted electricity better, imitating Kiba des and Ringo was giddy at the future prospects but it was still a far cry from the actual Kiba des. Nevertheless, progress was progress.

    Honestly? Rei was just d that Ringo and Mei stopped arguing and found a mutual hobby.

 Chapter 121 - Ch121. Team Downpour gone!?

    <h4>Chapter 121 - Ch121. Team Downpour gone!?</h4>

    Pa treon - 43 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    Akachi was sweating like a pig and nervously ncing at the empty seat of the Mizukage as he waited for the council meeting to start. He was one of the only three civilians in Kirigakure that managed to get onto the council due to their usefulness. Akachi was especially good when it came to getting information via his merchants, which was his reason for being on the council. He was not really the spymaster of Kirigakure, he would rather describe himself as some kind of handy informant since his merchants were, in the end, just merchants, not spies. Then again, not even the Mizukage could afford to dismiss him since a lot of the important intel during the war was brought to him by Akachi rather than the ANBU or through Kirigakure''s spymaster. One should never underestimate drunk merchants and their capacity for spouting things that should stay hidden, after all.

    Akachi knew much. For example, he knew there was some new group moving in his field of expertise for thest few years, namely the Biri-Biripany. He had no proof even after years of monitoring them but he knew they were doing exactly what he did, except on a much, muchrger scale. Frankly, it scared him shitless when he thought about the intel they must gather all around the Elemental Nations as one of the major internationalpanies in good graces of almost every Daimyo. Akachi had no doubt whoever was behind Biri-Biri knew every single move of any Hidden Vige before even the Kage gave the order just by looking through their ''shopping list''.

    Akachi even knew that Jiraiya the Sannin owned most brothels in the Land of Fire under an alias and even in different countries under different aliases. Akachi had no idea about the sheer scale of Jiraiya''s brothelwork, but he knew it wasrger than any Hidden Vige would befortable with if they knew about it. It certainly took a long time to get rid of them in the Land of Water and they couldn''t be sure all of Jiraiya''s brothels were dealt with. The real list was something not many people even in Konoha council knew as it was one of Konoha''s top S-ss secrets. No wonder the man was the best spymaster. People talk when they are drunk while ying birds and bees. Men especially feel an unexinable need to brag...

    Anyway, Akachi could get some rumors even from somewhere as far as Iwagakure, where they rumoredly wanted to use a jinchuuriki to attack Sunagakure''s outposts. Really, how could Iwa jonin freely talk about it in a bar was beyond Akachi.

    And due to knowing so much, thetest rumor was whispered to him. A rumor that made him very restless... He briefly swept his gaze through all of his fellow councilmen and it was painfully obvious none of them knew, after all, none of them were nervous. In fact, they looked all peaceful. As if the war was no longer their problem.

    Finally, the door opened and the Mizukage walked in with two ANBU surrounding him and the councilmen stood up in respect until the Mizukage sat down in his seat. He instantly put his hat down onto a small table next to his seat and a smoking pipe found its way into his mouth. The man was old. Ready to retire, at least in the opinions of most of the councilmen but Akachi knew it would take some years yet. Mizukage''s eyes were too cold, too ruthless for him to just roll over and do as the council wished.

    "Hello everyone, I hereby open this council session at the request of merchant Akachi. Mr. Akachi, the stage is yours." The Mizukage said, looking irritably at the sweating merchant who gave a small insecureugh.

    "Uh... I heard rumors... er," Akachi really had no idea how to breach the topic. Thankfully, the other councilmen didn''t pester him and just quietly waited. He proved his worth long ago, after all. Akachi decided to hell with it as he straightened and cleared his throat to calm himself. "I heard rumors of a new group of rogue ninja called Yozora. ording to these rumors Rei, Konan, and Mei of Kiri are members."

    ''There, I said it!'' Akachi thought as he flopped back into his seat with relief, ignoring how deathly silent the room went. Despite his relieved state, Akachi still had his eyes trained on the key figures that touched this information. Namely the Mizukage, and the resident spymaster, Ichika Shuu, who was in charge of the Information Gathering Divisions of Kirigakure.

    The various councilmen showed astonishment and speechless expressions the second they heard him. They didn''t want to believe he was speaking the truth since Team Downpour was the best team they had.

    The silence quickly passed and the room erupted into chaos. People started yelling at each other, some not believing the three most powerful ninja of the Kirigakure went rogue, some calling for their blood, others screaming how stupid it would be to provoke them... it was a mess.

    "ENOUGH!" Mizukage shouted, instantly silencing the room, and turned to Ichika who just silently enjoyed the show, sensually scratching her right forearm with the long polished nails of her left hand. "Do you have something to say about it, jonin Shuu?"

    ''He already knew...'' Akachi thought in disbelief when he spotted how deceptively calm Mizukage was. Akachi just shook his head in exasperation. ''What else did I expect? He is Mizukage. Stupid meˇ­''

    "I only know that some upstarts calling themselves Yozora showed up, you see... I had sadly no idea about what Mr. Akachi just informed us of. They didn''t really do much yet except for ending some small skirmishes. If they didn''t show capability to go one versus at least four squads, I would not even be interested in them." The melodic and enchanting voice of the brown-haired beauty rang through the room and Akachi scrunched his nose in distaste.

    Ichika Shuu... she was a crafty and amoral woman and that was exactly why she was capable of getting a position on the council as a non-n shinobi in Kirigakure. If there was one member on the entire council of the Bloody Mist Akachi was wary of, it was the curvaceous and tempting vixen in front of him. She was the leader of the T&I department, or for clueless civilians, the Information Gathering Division. The woman had no qualms about the way of obtaining information. She would dly fulfill any sick and deranged wishes of her target if it made him talk... as she would not shy away from inflicting the worst of tortures for the same reason. She simply had no moral limits and that was a very scary thing in itself.

    ''That woman will be the end of Kirigakure...'' Akachi tried to not re at her, causing him to lower his head. He was overly aware of the rumors spreading through the general poption and noble court in the capital of how monstrous and devilish the Kekkei Genkai users supposedly are. Some describe them as even less than animals. These rumors first started before the war but that was quickly suppressed. Imagine Akachi''s surprise when they started again during a time when there was nobody free enough to suppress them, causing them to spread far and wide across the entire country. Akachi knew it was Ichika''s work, he just didn''t have any proof so he kept his mouth shut. The woman wouldn''t mind a bloody civil war if it brought her a higher position in the proverbial pecking order of Kirigakure. She definitely didn''t like the fact that 80% of the political and economical influence was in the hands of ns.

    "Lord Mizukage, what will we do? We can''t just let two of our S-rankers and god forbid an SS-ranker to roam free! We have to do something!" The new heir of the Yuki n, chosen after Himeno''s death, spoke with determined eyes only for the older man from the Hozuki n to scold him.

    "Shut up, you young idiot! How do you want to stop them!? They can deal with any hunter squad we sent after them! You know nothing of their secret mission records, you young gnat. Do be quiet when a.d.u.l.ts are talking, child." The Hozuki n leader sneered.

    The Yuki heir started spluttering but before he could start screaming murder at the Hozuki n leader, the leader of the Suiran n, one of the smaller but very powerful and respected ns, started speaking. "I am afraid I must agree with the old and grumpy," He chuckled, making the Hozuki n leader scoff, "We really have no other option than to ignore it at the moment." He knew the other councilmen wanted to interrupt so he quickly added with a shrug, not sorry for a second to throw the Mizukage to the wolves. "And besides, the Mizukage already knew long ago."

    The second that sentence was uttered, every set of eyes in the room intently looked at Mizukage. Surprisingly, even ANBU were not an exception. The Mizukage puffed out smoke from his mouth and sighed, mulling over how to exin so even the old idiots on the council would understand.

    "Yes, I knew. They are missing for a few months already alongside Ringo Ameyuri." He nonchntly said, starting the second wave of protests and screams that only stopped when he released his killing intent. While it didn''t faze the ninjas in the room, it was a sign their Kage wanted to speak so they shut up due to respect rather than fear. But none of the councilmen were happy. Ringo was a major figure in the vige. A war hero even. If she defected... "But there is really nothing we can do about it. Before you start arguing again, LISTEN!" The Mizukage groaned. "We are weak at the moment. Even putting them in the Bingo Book would be announcing our weakness only increased. We have to keep it quiet and not confirm anything long enough for the war to end, hopefully with enough casualties on each side to not bother us in the near future." The Mizukage hollowly chuckled, causing the atmosphere in the room to turn somber. Akachi noted some n heads were not-so-discreetly ring at the Mizukage but the man didn''t even spare them a nce. "Anyway, despite everything, I know Rei has some attachment to the vige so we are not in immediate danger. For now, we will do exactly nothing." The Mizukage ordered with a tone of finality.

    The session thensted for another three hours, discussing thete Team Downpour''s weaknesses and strengths, their intentions and motivations for going rogue, even ways to get them into the fold again... with minor punishment, of course. Honestly, Akachi was bored out of his wits, something the Mizukage could rte to if Akachi''s eyes were still working. Even Akachi, a civilian, knew no matter what the old fogies discuss, it was all just guess-work at best. After all, the only person in the room who knew enough about Team Downpour was the Mizukage and he certainly was not very forting with the details. Even Ichika ground her teeth in irritation every time she was asked about them since she knew virtually nothing, much to Akachi''s only amus.e.m.e.nt during the session.

    s, his work sucked and he already came to terms with it long ago.

 Chapter 122 - Ch122. Getting SS-rank 1

    <h4>Chapter 122 - Ch122. Getting SS-rank 1</h4>

    Pakura nervously shifted, tightly gripping the kunai in her hand as she watched Iwagakure border outpost from her team''s hiding ce. Thankfully, they were far away from the never-ending sands of the Land of Wind and the forests were quite lush here, in the Land of w that was located between the Land of Rock and Wind. They were in the forests at the very borders between w and Rock, waiting for these... mercenaries the Kazekage hired to deal with the border outposts so the Suna army can march further into the Land of Rock''s territory without being obstructed. Pakura had her own thoughts about some no-name mercenaries however and that was the source of her recent frustration. She was responsible for her team and the hired kunais were already a half-hourte!

    "The Kazekage won''t be happy... we should be attacking right about now, not wait forteers." One of her men gruffly grumbled.

    "Oh do shut up Nakaro." Mirano, the trap expert of the team, snorted at Pakura''s second inmand. Mirano was also the only member of the team who knew who exactly was hired by the Kazekage. She, or rather her n, was the one who introduced them to the Kazekage, after all. Something that only increased the suspicion of Pakura.

    Mirano''s n was quite small and a new one. They were originally merchants specializing in seals and weaponry. Apparently, Mirano''s father had quite the position in Biri-Biripany before they ''settled'' in Sunagakure for whatever reason the ferocious politician deemed enough to make Suna suffer his presence for.

    Then again, Sunagakure was in no position to refuse since they brought a big reduction of merchandise cost from Biri-Biripany which in turn gave Suna ninjas a big advantage in the field. Sadly it also gave them quite a bit of political capital and Mirano''s grandfather somehow found himself in the Council, not even a year after they settled in the vige and Mirano proved to be elite jonin skill-wise.

    Pakura didn''t trust their loyalty to the vige more than she could throw them, honestly.

    "Maybe we would be calmer if you finally told us who are the mercenaries? All we know is that they were hired through the Biri-Biripany. Our lives kinda depend on them, you know?" Pakura dryly stated, hoping Mirano would at least hint at their identity. Right now, the team was sitting ducks and it would be only a question of time until they were found and hunted.

    "Well, sucks to be you, then, no?" Mirano just grinned happily, her eyes refusing to leave the outpost tower. "s, my fun seems to end here since... look." She pointed at the tower and instantly a huge explosion shook their world.

    Pakura suddenly found herself fumbling helplessly before falling onto her ass as her eyes widened, watching the big ball of crimson red mes engulf the entire tower and its surrounding. Even from afar, she could feel the incredible heat and a shudder went through her spine at the thought of actually being targeted by it. Sure, it was not as hot as her scorch but the heat reached much, much farther than her Bloodline ever could.

    Slowly, the crimson mes started receding and the ground stopped shaking. Her team started to recollect their wits from the spectacle they just saw when yet another explosion resounded from afar, then another, and another, until the count, reached nine and even the earth couldn''t decide in which direction to shake and instead was jerking from side to side, making even the now prepared Pakura having to spend quite some chakra to keep standing.

    ''The f.u.c.k is happening?'' Pakura thought, her stomach sinking when she realized every explosion came from the direction of Iwa border outposts that were scheduled to be hit sometime next week by Suna ANBU. Her eyes flickered to Mirano who was stillughing like mad but to Pakura''s surprise, she was the only team of her team who managed to stand still through the world-shaking earthquakes. The woman didn''t even look ''shaken'', and it honestly made Pakura quite worried when she remembered she was supposed to be trained by the Biri-Biripany. ''What the heck is Biri-Biripany nning?'' Pakura narrowed her eyes. Mirano was in no way just an elite jonin. The woman was solid S-rank!

    When the trembling finally subsided and Pakura was about to give the order to retreat, a handnded on her shoulder, almost making her jump in fright as she realized somebody managed to sneak up on her back. She slowly turned her head, only to be met with faceless darkness under the hood of a cloak so ck, even the ANBU would m.o.a.n in envy. Despite her various experiences and ability to suppress fear, Pakura knew she was scared. Something about the ck figure who was as if melting into the shadows, made her hair stand. She didn''t even dare to peer into the faceless void under the hood in an irrational fear it would suck her in.

    ''Killing intent...'' Her mind idly supplied. It was just so different from what she was used to. Killing intent should be malicious, angry, menacing, even disgusting, not just... dark. The killing intent of the man was making her feel empty, apathetic, and cold. ''It''s making me sluggish... Snap out of it, woman!'' Pakura''s mind shrieked at her but she just couldn''t. This was far too different from what she was used to.

    The man suddenly lifted his hand from Pakura''s shoulder and Pakura gasped for air, instantly leaning on a nearby tree for support in order to prevent herself from a shameful disy of falling from fear in front of her subordinates.

    "The contract is fulfilled, remind the Kazekage to send the money." A lifeless dark voice came from the hood, making Pakura''s team take a step back at how eerie it sounded before the man simply vanished. Ten trained jonin-ranked ninjas were unable to spot how. He just... blinked out of existence right in front of their eyes. Pakura and her team couldn''t help but gulp, the intimidation tactics clearly working.

    "What the hell was that?" Nakaro quietly asked, still shaken from the cold and soul-wrenching feeling of the killing intent.

    "That... was Rei of Kiri, the leader of Yozora." Miranomented, making others'' eyes widen when they realized the man who created ake in the desert a few years prior was just in front of them

    ''So that''s why the Kazekage so readily eptedˇ­'' Pakura mentally nodded. It was then she also noticed Mirano being far too rxed. No barely noticeable shivering, no veiled fear on her face, no flinchy behavior that could be seen in all of the members of her team. Pakura narrowed her gaze at the trap mistress of the team. ''She expected it and knows how to counter... it. How? That feeling must be some new way of showing the killing intent but why would Mirano be able to counter it?'' Pakura pondered only for her eyes to narrow even further. ''Looks like I will have to be extremely careful of you, Mirano.''

    "Anyway, I will talk with the Kazekage about the payment." Mirano shrugged Pakura''s suspicious gaze off. Not like she would in her team for much longer. After this, her father would be promoted even higher in the council and she would be the head of the n in his stead, meaning being holed up in the vige. "And look! He even destroyed nine additional outposts as a gift for Sunagakure!" She cheerfully eximed, seeing only further looks of fright when the ninjas finally remembered the nine additional explosions.

    Mirano couldn''t help but roll her eyes. ''Looks like getting SS rank will be much easier than you first thought, won''t it, Rei-sama... If only my oaf of father didn''t volunteer our family to settle in Suna.'' She grumbled.

 Chapter 123 - Ch123. Getting SS-rank 2

    <h4>Chapter 123 - Ch123. Getting SS-rank 2</h4>

    "What are we even doing here?" Mei asked, watching a force of five thousand Kumo mercenaries and ninjas slowly sailing towards the border of the Land of Earth through the Aisu Bay as she alongside Konan stood on the tallest hill on the shore.

    "You know it''s a job." Konan impassively stated in a tone that clearly made Mei aware the woman would roll her eyes if she didn''t wear her cold professional facade.

    Mei scowled and crossed her arms. "You know well that''s not what I am asking about. I want to know why you took me and not Ringo. Why here? Why Iwagakure? They tried to kill you and Rei! If anything, we should be helping Kumo forces by making their path towards Iwagakure clear..." She grumbled, narrowing her eyes at the approaching sh.i.p.s.

    "You are here because Ringo is not ready y-." Konan said, making Mei snort gleefully.

    "Ha! I can''t wait to say this to the sword-waving bitch''s face!" Mei mockingly eximed, interrupting and irritating Konan. Her rtionship with Ringo was actually very good, contrary to the meaning of her words. They were, for ack of a better term,petitors who liked to snark at each other every so often but never escted to physical fight... well, other than some spars.

    But what Konan said was the truth. Ringo was not yet ready for facing down an army. Six months of training but the woman would need at least another year to reach Mei''s prowess. But...

    "I wouldn''t be so loud about that." Konan resisted the urge to smack Mei. "As I was saying before you interrupted me... Ringo is not ready yet but she has more experience. Some of which you still clearlyck if you have to ask why we are here."

    That shut Mei up somewhat fiercely and instantly.

    Konan continued only when she saw Mei switched to the lecture-listening mode and would not interrupt her anymore. "It''s all about bnce. Rei is attacking Iwa outposts, letting Suna get through their borders and attack. If Kumo seeded in attacking too, Iwa would be quickly overwhelmed since they have to keep Konoha forces at bay in the Land of Grass. That..." Konan sniffed. "we don''t want to happen. As much as I don''t like the vige for trying to kill us, I must admit its existence brings certain benefits."

    "Such as?" Mei slowly asked, not really getting it.

    "If you can''te up with anything, then you just show you are not really all that good at scheming part of being a ninja. Power is good, power is necessary but without a great mind able to n ahead and reasonable foresight you will not get far." Konan exined.

    Mei just nodded,mitting the words to her mind as she thought about the apparent benefit of Iwagakure''s existence. Honestly, she definitely could see one or two but her own stubbornness and want for revenge for the attempt at the life of her two mentors was really making it hard to persuade herself about the usefulness of the Iwagakure''s continuous existence.

    "I think it''s time." Konan''s voice pulled Mei from her contemtion, making her eyes shone with excitement.

    "Soooo, how are we doing this?" She asked expectantly a mischievous smirk on her face.

    Konan slowly turned to Mei with an amusedly raised eyebrow. "We? Oh, no, Mei. We are not doing anything. I am. You will just stay here, keep the forth so to speak. After all, it''s I who need to earn my SS-rank. You are here more to learn more aboutrge-scalebat. Last time you fought it, this time you will see and analyze it while having my back if anything too unexpected happened."

    "What!? But that''s not fair!" Mei whined only for Konan to lean forward and, much to Mei''s annoyance, ruffled the auburn hair of the shorter girl with an indulging smile.

    "Get used to it, brat. That''s life." She said in a mock rueful tone with a dreamy sigh at the end.

    "Stop it, or I will melt you..." Mei growled but Konan only flicked her nose in a yful way before turning around and jumping off the hill, flying into the air as her lower body changed fully to paper. Mei knew she lost that argument and will probably suffer during one of their training sessions for it too but she was just so irritated!

    Konan literally threw her out of her warm bed, took away her Rei plushie, told her to get ready and meet her in twenty minutes. Heck, she didn''t even have the time to properly eat breakfast before they teleported to a clearing near Iwagakure, the same Rei and Konan were hiding when preparing the Hokage monkey prank, and then Mei was forced to make the track towards the northeastern coast of the Land of Rock. Not the most enjoyable of her mornings for sure. Konan could at least let her kill something!

    Konan was already quite high above the hill when a bit in front of her, slices of paper started hovering before their color started to change into brown as she supported her chakra in order to harden them the most she could.

    Konan then pulled out something she very rarely used in battle. Her fan unfolded, prepared to rain destruction on her enemies as chakra started to build up, before Konan brutally swung in without mercy, sending raging winds in the direction of the Kumogakure forces as she willed her Earth-hardened slices of paper to fly towards them at their fastest speed.

    The more experienced Kumo ninjas managed to pull out the Water Wall, Lightning Jutsu capable of shielding, or any other technique they deemed capable of stopping the ungodly hard projectiles. Unfortunately for them, the ferocious winds that blew above the ocean due to Konan didn''t only rip the sails while leaving nasty cut marks all over the sh.i.p.s with some asional buggers being cut in half. Their primary function was to speed up the hardened projectiles and the Kumo forces certainly felt that.

    The defensive Jutsu''s of Kumo ninjas were ripped right through by the rapid hard projectiles, riddling the ninjas, boats, sails, and water with holes alike. It was certainly chaos. People burst into blood, being plummeted by the projectiles. Broken bones, ruptured organs, missing appendages... and when one thought himself lucky enough to survive all that, the hard truth reared its ugly head. The boats became almost unusable due to the holes that went right through the hull, ending all the way in the water under the ship. The sh.i.p.s quickly started filling with water, sinking.

    Mei could only watch with her mouth agape at the clean disy of wholesale ughter her mentor just showed her. It was not some showy battle. Nor was it a showdown of guts and sweat. Nope. This was a show of gore and blood caused by 2 Jutsu her mentor could perform rather easily. The entire point of it was that Konan cast the Jutsu at a good angle, aiming them downwards so the gravity did a very good job and by the time her projectiles impacted the Kumo fleet, it was as if small meteorites were raining on it.

    "We are finished here. There is no one who could give me a challenge. The strongest dude of the lot is most likely mid-A rank ninja." Konan''s impassive voice once again pulled Mei from her reverie as she watched the fumbling and screaming Kumo soldiers. She didn''t even notice when Konan managed to descend from the air and it certainly made her aware of the ever-present power rift between Konan and her.

    "But... they are still alive!" Mei pointed at the small percentage of the previous fleet that was still kicking and... screaming. Loudly.

    "Of course they are," Konan actually broke her facade momentarily and rolled her eyes at Mei. "who would spread the news if they were not, in fact, alive? Rei surely does the same things and let some of his targets actually walk awaypletely fine to spread what happened in order to speed up our SS-rank Bingo Book promotion. There are also Iwagakure''s ninjas hidden all around, keeping a distance from us. Even your new meager skill at nature sensing should pick them up... if you actually bothered to check." She said reproachingly.

    Mei flushed a deep red, trying to stammer a few words only to find herself utterly speechless.

    "They are here to ''collect'' my bounty if they found me weak enough to risk it after my fight with the fleet. This is exactly what I wanted to show you today, Mei. The way you won your first one versus an army situation was stupid and very risky. You didn''t ount for someone popping up after the battle is over to engage you again. I let you bathe in your glory long enough but it''s time to start your learning again so from now on, you and Ringo are in Clone Army Challenge training."

    Mei pouted but nodded a bit in a subdued manner. A bit fearful of having tens of thousands of Clones of different variety flung at her by both Rei and Konan. s, fair or not... such is life.

 Chapter 124 - Ch124. Getting SS-rank 3

    <h4>Chapter 124 - Ch124. Getting SS-rank 3</h4>

    Rei groggily opened his eyes and the first sight that greeted him was the beautiful mess of blonde hair spreading all over his chest as Tsunade''s cheek was blissfully snuggling into it while she was holding onto his waist with her steel-like vice-grip as if he was her lifeline. It always drew a smile on his face when he woke up to the gorgeous sight of n.a.k.e.d Tsunade lying on him. Something in her just screamed happiness and contentment in these situations... must be because she was Senju.

    ''Yup, that is surely it.'' Rei thought sarcastically, enjoying the warmth of her body pressing to him as tightly as possible without it being ufortable.

    Rei''s hand slowly rose and started gently caressing Tsunade''s hair, not enough to wake her but enough to make her melt into him even more.

    The separation was really hard on both Tsunade and Rei despite being together most of the nights. The longer it was, the more fidgety they became. Rei quickly assumed it had to do with the bond but this kind of weakness didn''t garner much worry from him. He quickly understood that making Tsunade leave for Konoha was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made. He didn''t even need the bond subconsciously telling him that. Just losing her warm and firm hugs through the day was a good enough of a reason for him to start hating the current circ.u.mstances.

    But Rei was a man and a too prideful being to just tell her to abandon Konoha when she clearly quite liked working in the hospital no matter how she grumbled about it... he just couldn''t do it. In the end, Rei decided to suck it up and wait until the war ended. After that, he didn''t really n on letting Tsunade leave his side for a few mo-, er, weeks.

    As he pondered about these things, Rei suddenly blinked, finding himself staring at two honey-colored warm orbs staring straight at him with love and devotion that made him almost breathless. Yet another thing he missed about Tsunade. While Konan was definitely very loving, especially in their alone time, there was just something fierce and passionate in Tsunade that Konan couldn''t match. Just like there was something calming and soothing in Konan that Tsunade couldn''t dream to match.

    "Morning." Rei whispered and smiled, realizing his fingers are still affectionately entwined with Tsunade''s hair.

    "Hi" Tsunade almost purred, propping herself up to give him a passionate morning kiss before she pulled her n.a.k.e.d body upwards and sat on his stomach, giving him a show of her entire body. Needless to say, Rei was very interested, especially since Tsunade took his hand and put it on her left b.r.e.a.s.t, making it squeeze a bit as she kept it there with her hand. "Wanna do some morning exercise?" She hungrily asked with delightfully narrowed eyes, seductively biting her lower lip. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #.-getting-ss-rank-3_51034400565030379 for visiting.

    Rei was really tempted to say yes, more so since he could actually feel just how wet she was, dripping her juices onto his stomach. In the end, however, he sighed and mentally cursed as he sadly shook his head. "I remember you just wanted to pop in to show us the Bingo Book and then go back and yet, here you are, after five hours of non-stop very passionate s.e.x. I don''t think we will stop today if we actually start and you still have some duties as the Head of Konoha Hospital." Rei ruefully said, making Tsunade frown and let out a long whine as she petntly wiggled her h.i.p.s.

    It took a while for her to ept the situation but with an incredibly irritated expression, Tsunade relented. "Fine! But this weekend you are mine!" She grumbled, knowing well there was no way in hell that woulde true.

    Rei, knowing that too, just shrugged. It would, after all,e again to the good old fashioned rivalry between the four bonded girls. He just hoped it would be a brawl in the mud this time and not a freaking card game to decide which one of them will spend time with him. He wanted some good entertainment dammit!

    ''I could always suggest it?'' Rei hummed to himself, a very suggestive smile started spreading on his face only for Tsunade to give him an unimpressed narrowed look.

    "You are thinking something very punch-worthy right now, aren''t you?" She asked in a dry tone, making Rei vigorously shake his head

    "Of course not! How could I do that? You know m-"

    "Yes..." She drawled. "And that''s the problem. I know you." And rolled her eyes. Rei sweatdropped at that but Tsunade just chuckled and lovingly pecked him on the lips. "And despite that, I just can''t stop loving you." She said happily, pulling herself away from her position of straddling his stomach. She nowid herself on his left side, just in time as the door opened and inside walked Konan who calmly marched her way to the right side of the king-sized bed. It didn''t even take a hand gesture for her clothes to change into paper and being absorbed into her body as she, now fully n.a.k.e.d,id herself on Rei''s right side.

    "Morning, Rei, Tsu. We can start." Konan said with a small telling smile, causing Tsunade to stick her tongue out at her before pulling out the newest Bingo Book from her dimensional Inventory."

    "I hereby inform you," She started yfully, "as of yesterday, both Rei of Kiri and Konan of Kiri are the newest SS-rankers in the Bingo Book for Suna, Kumo, and Iwa respectively. Their rank is apparently for wide-scale destruction ofrge forces alone." Tsunade summarized before snorting. "Bloody bullshit if you ask me." She clicked her tongue. "These two I know personally and they are as harmless as squirrels. About as cuddly too!"

    "Yeah... everyone knows squirrels are just a tad bit too murder happy." Konan rolled her eyes.

    "Evil too." Rei quipped, and with the hand under Tsunade''s waist, he reached for her bottom.

    "Only if you feed them coffee!" Tsunade eximed before yelping from the unexpected squeeze, a pink dusting appearing on her cheeks.

    "And we all know you energized Rei a lot during thest night." Konan smirked at blushing Tsunade. "I could clearly hear you going ''ah, ah, faster, R-''"

    Tsunade quickly reached Konan, covering her mouth with her palms but forgetting her state of undress as her chest squished itself on Rei''s stomach, providing a very nice view for Rei. "Shut up, Konan! We both know just who is the biggest screamer of-"

    "Mei is in the door." Rei said, making Tsunade''s eyes go wide in horror as her head whipped towards the... still closed and locked door. Needless to say, she quickly turned to Rei, ring, and about to scold him when she found herself held against his chest as his tongue invaded her mouth, her anger quickly forgotten. Rei pulled away, chuckling at Tsunade''s silly smile, and gently chided. "Now... y nice, you two. Konan, Tsunade needs to go back to Konoha today. Don''t try to goad her into a mind-blowing threesome. Not today."

    Konan became mildly subdued after hearing that and gave a small nod. "I am sorry." She said before giving a quick peck onto Rei''s cheek and standing up, walking towards the door. "In that case, I am going to fix a quick breakfast. After that nightly wrestling Tsunade had with you yesterday, she will naturally be starving."

    As if on cue, Tsunade''s stomach grumbled, causing her to flush even more as she did the only thing that would get her out of her current predicament. She stood up and... "Dibs on shower!" And just like that, the loudest member of the Konoha sannin ran from the room with her proverbial tail tucked between her legs.

    Rei found himself alone in the room, still lying in the bed, and couldn''t help but chuckle and shake his head at their antics. He took into his hands the Bingo Book and read his and Konan''s new pages before chuckling some more.

    ''Now... I wonder what are the reactions of the important people to this new unforeseen development.''

 Chapter 125 - Ch125. Reactions to the new SS-rankers

    <h4>Chapter 125 - Ch125. Reactions to the new SS-rankers</h4>

    Ichika Shuu, the head of T&I Department of Kirigakure sat in her office, smirking as she remembered the bewildered faces of the councilmen when she told them about the two new rank-ups in the Bingo Book. Apparently, Konan and Rei of Kiri were really busy in thest months since they earned themselves SS-rank for what they did best... Destruction and Annihtion.

    Honestly, Ichika was really d they left as they could have been a serious threat to her ns.

    ''Three SS-rank ninjas at once, moreover they all are from a single team. I wonder what exactly Team Downpour discovered to enable them to be so strong.'' Ichika mused, not for a second doubting there were some special circ.u.mstances at hand.

    Since the establishment of the Hidden Viges, no SS-rank ninja was EVER raised. No matter how much the viges tried. Before though... despite Bingo Book not being a thing yet, Ichika knew there were many SS-rank people. Hanzo the Smander was close. Madara and Hashirama were SS-rank power-wise even if they were never acknowledged as such. In the past, many reached such strength and Ichika wondered...

    "Kiga," She called out and a secondter a ninja wearing a Kiri ANBU mask appeared kneeling in front of her, "gather a squad and go after one of the new SS-ranks. Mei would be the most preferable. Something tells me Rei and Konan are far stronger than her even though she got her rank first. Make sure to be cautious and approach only when you are sure she is alone. I want to know their secret." She ordered and the ninja nodded before promptly leaving.

    A brief grin spread on Ichika''s face. ''Now, if only it was so easy to get rid of the pesky ns and confiscate their businesses...'' She eyed the inconspicuous innocent-looking letterying on the edge of her table. ''I wonder, should I trust and go with the n of this... Zetsu?''

    ...

    The Third Mizukage cradled a ss of sake in his hand, contemting how it all went so wrong. Firstly, Himeno died... now that was his fault and he waspletely aware of it. Then, Team Downpour left... and he had no idea what to do about that. On one hand, they were too powerful to antagonize, on another, he was grateful for Rei cheering him up and reminding him of his position. Only thanks to that he still pulled through and became at least somewhat eptable Kage while he looked for a sessor.

    He... kept quiet about their disappearance. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #.-reactions-to-the-new-ss-rankers_51077987252104044 for visiting.

    And then they started the whole mercenary business and the council heard about it, well, that was a quite big shitstorm.

    But the council understood his take on the situation. How could they antagonize them? Rei and Konan made sure to show they harbored no hard feelings towards Kirigakure and the Mizukage didn''t want any semnce of goodwill between them and the vige to disappear. Who knows, they might help Kirigakure out of nostalgia when shit hits the fan?

    He could only hope nobody in Kirigakure is stupid enough to piss them off.

    ...

    Sarutobi Hiruzen was reading the new Bingo Book with a twitching eye. ''Did the Kirigakure infiltrate the Bingo-Book-makers to sow disinformation? How the f.u.c.k could they gain 2 another SS-rank ninjas!?'' He fumed in disbelief. Surely if they had such firepower, they would use it in their invasion? Howe they did not? Hiruzen swore to pay extra attention to all three SS-rank ninjas as even he was very afraid of crossing someone capable of wiping armies, much less when there are three individuals like that in one freaking team...

    At least the war became very defensive after he won the battle against Kirigakure forces on the northern shores of the Land of Fire and Konoha entered a stalemate on both the Kusa front and Kumo front which meant fewer skirmishes. It was more of a waiting game.

    After he beat the Third Mizukage and killed his lover, he came home, enjoyed the cheers at his victory, had a very enjoyable night with his wife, yed with his son for a few hours in the morning, and then... he found it wise to yell at Tsunade goddamn Senju for not showing up when he called her deployment during the battle.

    Not the sanest moment of his life but he digresses.

    After that, he only remembers a hard fist, his cheekbone breaking, the muscles in the right side of his face tearing, the wall his body mmed into crumbling down, the trench in the ground his body dug, the cracking sound of the tree that stopped his brief uncontrolled roll on the ground, and blinding pain engulfing him before the world went briefly white only to for darkness taking him a few secondster.

    Hiruzen Sarutobi awoke in the hospital... where he was forced under the care of a very irate medic... Tsunade herself. Needless to say, his stay at the hospital was utter hell.

    But he was the Professor and as such, he learned three things that became almost religious to him.

    Never piss off Tsunade Senju.

    Tsunade Senju is retired.

    Tsunade Senju doesn''t give a shit he is the Third Hokage.

    And since then, Tsunade reminded him of her position as the Head of Konoha Hospital and NOTHING more on every turn. On every Council meeting. Even going as far as stating it in her monthly reports!

    And when he found out the Senju Princess used the war to take over some of the economically most important supply lines and businesses in the vige...

    ''I am too old for this shit. I need to retire... yes, that''s it. Hmm, that brat of Jiraiya could be a good sessor. Yes... that would do... I am too old for this shit, indeed.'' Hiruzen sighed in frustration. ''Let the blond kid deal with the blond hag.''

    ...

    Deep under Konoha, Danzo Shimura stared at the three hundred kneeling ninjas wearing nk masks. His ROOT. The full might of his forces. He recalled them all, partly because the new two SS-rank made it imperative for him to personally give new orders, and partly to prepare for what he was nning to do next.

    "The new addition to the Bingo Book is a very dangerous thing to Konoha''s safety. I want all of you on the lookout for these three individuals, Rei of Kiri, Mei of Kiri, and Konan of Kiri, during your uing missions. Sadly, no matter how our spies in Kirigakure try, they are still unable to unveil their identity. Getting them to serve Konoha or eliminate this threat is however imperative to the prosperity of Konoha so I want every single one of my ninjas to be extremely vignt! Any piece of information you can get about them is extremely precious!" Danzo sternly spoke. "Until further notice, wait for your orders! Dismissed except Toruma."

    The ninjas all jumped away, only onenky man stayed behind.

    "I want you to go to the Land of Earth... discreetly, and I want you to find a way to ''alert'' the Tsuchikage that Konoha''s defenses in Kusa are really weak right now. Shuffle the story a bit and make them gather a thousand of their strong ninjas. You are allowed to bribe and ckmail the Daimyo court and if possible, the Iwagakure''s councilmen. I want Hiruzen having no other choice than to confront them himself." Danzo impassively ordered, gritting his teeth.

    ''Thrice damned Senju bitch, I have no idea where you got the information about the Kirigakure invasion but this time you won''t ruin my n! Sarutobi will die and I will be the Hokage!'' He seethed, remembering all the failed assassination attempts at Tsunade''s life she seemed to just brush away like annoying flies without even giving them much of her attention.

    Poisoned dart? She plucks it mid-air and throws it behind her, not even caring.

    Poisoned beverage? She drinks it and just circles her chakra to purge the poison. When she survived the most potent Kusa poison Danzo knew about without even coughing slightly, Danzo almost ripped out his hair.

    Outright attack? Not one of his ninjas survived. He already lost forty of his best and he was not losing more valuable men.

    Danzo wanted the Mizukage to prate deeper into the Land of Fire without being noticed. This would give less time to Hiruzen to prepare, making it impossible to gather his troops which would result in Hiruzen fighting against the Kiri troops while being vastly outnumbered. Danzo was so sure the old monkey would die there and then... only for Tsunade to inform Hiruzen about the invasion.

    "Don''t fail me Toruma... You won''t like the consequences." Danzo said as dark lines started to form on his forehead. Even remembering Tsunade was bringing him an incredible headache. "Dismissed."

 Chapter 126 - Ch126. Yellow Flash

    <h4>Chapter 126 - Ch126. Yellow sh</h4>

    Namikaze Minato stood in front of the Konoha forces that were usually manning the hideouts in the Land of Grass. He was observing therge force of approximately a thousand experienced Iwa ninjas that gathered at the moment''s notice.

    Destroying Kannabi Bridge certainly broke the stalemate and Konoha even started to push Iwa back but nobody predicted the Third Tsuchikage would do something so rash as pulling a thousand high-ranking ninjas and attack Kusa outpost with the full might of Iwa. By doing so, the old midget has basically forsaken the war against Kumo and Suna, focusing fully on Konoha.

    It was clear to every single ninja on the battlefield that this might very well be the battle that would decide the oue of the war. What was Minato''s problem, then? It was that Iwa had a fresh thousand high-ranking jonin and chunin gathered on the opposite side of the field while Konoha had barely five hundred, made of chunin and a few asional jonin that were weary from long fighting in small skirmishes all over the Land of Grass. Their sole back-up was the two hundred genins that were usually used for bringing supplies. The odds simply didn''t favor Konoha right now and Minato was very disgruntled by the situation.

    Minato also wasn''t feeling most charitable towards the Iwa ninjas right about now. Obito died, Kakashi lost and gained a new eye, Rin was mentally at her lowest... and it was all caused by Iwa ninjas. Needless to say, cold fury was gripping Minato''s heart. He spent hours upon hours every day training these three and came to like them as if they were his siblings and now they were on the verge of breaking apart. His heart wanted some payback.

    ''I will have to use THAT, won''t I?'' He mentallymented, remembering his promise to Kushina that he would try to avoid using it as much as possible due to the target it would paint on his back. ''Beggars can''t be choosers, I guess.'' Minato hummed and the decision was already made for him. He would, however, never admit that he actually wanted to use it and since Iwa ninjas willingly volunteered...

    Before the battle, they had a bit of time to decide on a n. Minato was one of the very few elite jonins avable so he was naturally in the leadership position despite such a thing being unthinkable under normal circ.u.mstances. Normally, it would be a n ninja in charge or someone older in the case of a civilian-born. s, Minato became the victim of circ.u.mstances and gained this opportunity. He was just ted that he always carried thousands of his special kunais... just in case. Minato quickly ordered every ninja to carry two of his kunais and throw them when signaled to, which was now.

    Minato raised his right hand and a volley of kunais flew high into the sky, showering the ground a hundred feet in front of the charging Iwa ninjas who just funnily watched at the Konoha idiots who couldn''t even aim properly.

    The Iwa ninjas were quite amused at their enemies wasting kunais and throwing them without anyone even being in the range. If they just took a second and thought about the situation, they would naturally stop or try to go around the field of ''harmless'' kunais, maybe even realize whose these special kunai were but the Iwa ninjas were too drunk on the vision of sess to give it a thought. They just stubbornly charged ahead.

    ...

    "Is Konoha really so stupid to waste kunais like that?" Mei asked, tugging on Rei''s sleeve who chuckled at her naivety as the two of them watched the beginning of the battle from a nearby hill. Nobody else was interested in it, to be honest.

    "No..." He started but stopped talking when Minato started charging alone into the Iwa army. "Just watch." In the end, he said, letting Mei make her own assumptions after witnessing the battle.

    Honestly, Rei didn''t know what he was expecting. This was supposed to be the event that made the Fourth Hokage a living legend and cemented his position as Hokage candidate despite him being a non-n shinobi in a vige where most of the council is made of n heads.

    Did he expect to see a yellow sh and all Iwa ninjas fall as if their strings were cut? A total, as if magical annihtion in under a second? Maybe he did before he knew how chakra works and studied Jutsu and Seals deeper. Maybe he did before he reincarnated. After all, that would be certainly cool, no? But it was impossible. Being able to kill a thousand people with a transportation seal in under a second would tear the user''s body apart.

    That was naturally not what he witnessed...

    What followed was three hours of blood, gore, and screams as Minato Namikaze fought the force of thousand ninjas alone, without the aid of the Konoha ninjas who just stood out of range, gawking at him and asionally throwing kunai or two to any poor Iwa-nin who got into their throwing range. So much for the Will of Fire...

    Minato shed left and right all around the battlefield, reaping lives and creating chaos in the ranks of his enemies. He used their numbers against them, sowing more and more fear and uncertainty with his sudden appearance and disappearance. One second he was in the left-wing of the Iwa army, the next second he could very well be in the right-wing, in the middle, or anywhere else for that matter.

    "They can''t fight him at all." Meimented. "He is too fast for them to even retaliate."

    "Yup, the seal must take quite a lot of chakra to create but I guess it takes a very minimal chakra to actually use otherwise he would already be dead by now due to chakra exhaustion." Rei nodded, analyzing the seal by the way it worked and what he knew of it. "I must say I am a bit disappointed. I expected more. Even the Raikage could do this if he had an unlimited supply of chakra. The only two reasons why this is so deadly is that firstly, the enemy didn''t expect it and don''t know how to counter such tactics... they basically panic at this point and are getting ughtered for it. And secondly, it takes little chakra to maintain such a pace."

    "I don''t think it would work against me." Mei proudly stated, narrowing her eyes at another sh of yellow in the distance. Rei was observing her too and he noticed she could somewhat follow the yellowd''s movements. This only made Rei even dder for Mei''s progress.

    "Well, you do have an area of effect melting mist. The second he would face you, the poor sod would run as far as his seals could get him if he knew what is good for him." Rei chuckled and ruffled Mei''s hair.

    ''Honestly, there are so many techniques that could counter this bullshit porting that it''s not even funny. And yet, the Iwa idiots don''t use them. By now, I can honestly say most of them deserve being ughtered.'' Rei shook his head and twirled one of Minato''s kunais on his finger. He swiped it from the air with a chakra string when the Konoha ninjas threw them and quickly disabled the beacon seal so the kunai was as good as dead to Minato''s senses. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #.-yellow-sh_51134710063091890 for visiting.

    "I wanna try to fight him." Mei said, startling Rei. "He has almost finished with the Iwa ninjas anyway. Soooo, can I? Pretty please?" She used a very effective Puppy-Eye no Jutsu on Rei who facepalmed and groaned but couldn''t really say no to that cute expression. Minato was almost finished and the remaining Iwa ninjas were running away anyway. The young man didn''t even seem all that winded to Rei. He only gasped for air on all four which tranted to being able to keep going in shinobi jargon. Surely he could entertain Mei for a bit, right?

    ''Minato, you poord. I think you are about to get shafted...''

 Chapter 127 - Ch127. Mei vs Minato

    <h4>Chapter 127 - Ch127. Mei vs Minato</h4>

    "Yo, you look like shit." Minato, who was still gasping for air on all four, heard an amused feminine voice not far from him, causing his head to snap up only to see a teenage girl crouching five feet away from him.

    ''How the hell did I not notice her sneak up on me?'' He idly thought, his mind mostly nk after three hours of non-stop shing and killing. He might have spent only half of his chakra in doing so but the amount of stress his mind and body were under was quite immense and Minato would like nothing more than to drop into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness right about now. s, it was not to be.

    Minato took one deep breath before forcefully calming his gasping for air, pulling himself first onto his knees before sluggishly standing up, almost falling down multiple times while doing so, causing him to circte his chakra through his body, energizing it. The girl just watched him with barely veiled enjoyment, making him quite disgruntled.

    Only now did Minato take a proper look at her. She had ck shorts, blue haori with a flowery pattern, and on her forehead was shed Kiri symbol, showing her status as nuke-nin. Obviously, she was not d for war, much less fight which made Minato slightly hesitate.

    "Who are you and what do you want?" He asked, stalling for time and trying to appear fine while still working on getting his bodybat-ready.

    Mei frowned but as soon as the frown appeared, it again disappeared into the amused facade with a slight smile. "Haaa~, whatever. Forget it. You are wasted. I doubt I could get a good challenge from you as you are now." She reluctantly said, making Minato rx a bit.

    Despite that, he was inwardly quite amused. ''Fight? This girl wants to fight me? She isn''t very bright, is she?'' He thought while keeping his polite expression up, notmenting at the field of hundred corpses that died by his hand all around them. If that was not enough deterrent for the girl in front of him, then he could only pray her stupidity won''t one day be the end of her. ''Oh who am I kidding... of course morons like that die first.'' Minato inwardly snickered.

    "Well, since I obviously won''t get the fight I wanted, I guess taking a few kunais with your seal for research purposes will have to do." The girl boredly stated and stood up, about to leave.

    ''Wait... taking my seal? Oh, no, girlie, you don''t-'' Minato was about to protest when Mei suddenly raised her arm and her forearm blocked a surprise kick from one of the Konoha jonin who came to help him... after three hours of gawking. ''Great.'' Minato mentally snorted.

    Mei raised her eyebrow as the Konoha jonin tried to push her arm back with his strength only to fail horribly at it. She didn''t even budge. "Heh, looks like I will get the fight I wanted, after all." She happily said, causing Minato to groan.

    Kunais and shurikens suddenly flew at Mei from behind Minato as the Konoha ninjas finally decided to intervene. Minato saw the projectiles hit the girl and inwardly shook his head. She was not his enemy, more like a stupid annoyance but still, he didn''t like meaningless killing. Contrary to his expectations, the second the sharp projectiles came into contact with Mei, they ricocheted from her as if they hit steel while Mei still stood in her previous spot, now scowling at the approaching Konoha ninjas without even scratch on her body.

    ''Uh, oh...'' Minato thought as he contemted when and what Jutsu did she use. He certainly didn''t see her use anything and that was bad. Incredibly bad at that. He prepared for yet another exhausting fight. sensing all the seal beacons on his kunais strewn all around.

    Mei tilted her head, letting a kunai with an exploding tag sail harmlessly an inch from her cheek, passing her andter exploding far away behind her as she stared with impassive eyes at the Konoha idiots. For three hours they just waited until the yellow shlight finished Iwa troops, not even pondering about helping him and now when there is only one, probable, foe, they charge at her with five hundred of them? Throwing weapons without even ascertaining if she is an enemy or not? ''Somebody needs to be properly taken down a peg, I guess.'' Mei''s eyes shone with determination.

    The first to run her was a screaming twenty years old man who was waving his hand holding a kunai at her. Mei kicked him into the stomach, making him fly back from where he came running from, still screaming.

    The entire field fell into a pin-drop silence at once.

    "You didn''t really think I would not retaliate, did you?" Mei rolled her eyes at the men staring at her as if she grew a new head.

    They quickly snapped out of their reverie and again charged at her and the battle started anew. Minato watched as Jutsu after Jutsu, Weapon after Weapon impacted Mei''s body only to be deflected the second it came into contact with her while inflicting no wound whatsoever.

    Mei danced amidst the flurry of strikes, fire, water, earth, and weapons, using only taijutsu to break bones and tear muscles with a quick session of punches. After Konan''s trademark clone training, Mei had incredible spatial awareness and it showed.

    Leaning back, she evaded a sword, grasping the hand of her would-be attacker before throwing him into three ninjas running at her. She then sent a bigger than needed amount of chakra into her soles, propelling herself into a jump only tond in the middle of five bewildered Konoha ninjas. Using her momentum from the jump, Mei quickly lowered her center of gravity by crouching down and dropping them off their feet with a sweeping kick.

    Minato just watched as a ninja after the ninja was downed with broken bones and decided that enough was enough. Feeling for the closest beacon seal near Mei, he teleported in a yellow sh.

    Mei suddenly felt her instincts re, not as if she was threatened but more annoyed when she tilted her head to the right and raised her eyebrow as she spotted the tip of Minato''s kunai an inch from her neck, a visible strain appearing on the blond-haired man''s face as he tried to plunge the knife deeper with all his might and his wide eyes betrayed how unbelievable he found the situation.

    Mei smirked. "Did you really think you could sneak attack me? I wanted to fight you to properly show you how easily countered your technique is. Naturally, I have a way to deal with it." She rolled her eyes, causing Minato to narrow his.

    Apletely new battle began. Minato was shing from kunai to kunai while trying to cut, pierce, kick, and even nt an explosive tag on Mei while Mei didn''t even try to dodge his strikes and instead focused on trying to punch him.

    ''She has some kind of wind barrier around herself? My attacks arepletely useless!'' Minato mentally eximed, distressed as he watched the previously nted explosive tag explode and engulf Mei in a fiery ball for a second before only smoke remained. He would cheer if he wasn''t such an experienced sensor. A few secondster, Mei just walked out of the smoke,pletely fine in a pristine condition. ''Shit... Not even a smear is on her clothes.'' Minato gaped, thinking about how to defeat her. He was starting to feel the hits the girl scored on him... and couldn''t help but inwardly praise her instincts and speed. He could almost feel the nasty purple bruises he would surely feel tomorrow. Surprisingly enough, Minato didn''t really get the feeling of dread from the girl. She was not fighting to kill, she was acting as if this was a harmless spar!

    ''Who the heck is this monster?'' The Konoha ninjas thought, cowed.

    Mei mentally nodded to herself, happy with the result. Her new Jutsu was incredible. ''Listening to Rei''s stories about Susanoo with Ringo really paid off.'' Mei slightly smiled. ''Even those boring science lessons were useful.'' She admitted with disgust as she thought about them.

    Mei just used her Boil Release to form a translucent smoke around her entire body,pressed to the thickness of an inch. The smoke would normally cover the entire clearing... simply there was enough of it to stop even a powerful A-ranked Jutsu without letting it prate deep enough to even scratch Mei. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #.-mei-vs-minato_51147751211193102 for visiting.

    "Well, this was fun and all but now that I know my Jutsu is working and you really can''t even scratch me... Mei is out!" And with that, white smoke burst from under Mei, covering the entire battlefield but quickly dissipating.

    When the smoke cleared, Mei was gone, leaving bbergasted and confused Konoha ninjas with their uniforms painted in unwashable bright pink color and pensive Minato with neon green hair contrasting with his cerulean eyes that shed with shocked understanding.

    ''Did she just call herself Mei?''

    ---

    Author rant time!

    Nothing interesting here so just skip it!

    Okay, so I have read somements about the previous chapter and this is the reaction.

    The first thing I will cover is the timeframe because there was a dude having a problem with the fightsting for 3 hours and wanted to reduce the time to 30 minutes.

    I mean... I feel you, mate. I get it. Just... I did the math, alright?

    The previous chapter probably made it clear I do not believe Minato to just sh himself and the Iwa shinobi to fall dead from shock in under a second.

    So... why 3 hours? Simple. 1 hour is 3 600 seconds. If the fightsted 30 minutes, it would be 1 800 seconds which would on the other hand mean Minato would have to kill one person in under 2 seconds. I honestly do not believe he could manage that. Just swinging his arm to stab or cut with his kunai would AT THE VERY LEAST take a second. And I am extremely generous here considering the Iwa ninjas did NOT just stand waiting for their deaths. Yeah, some died without even realizing it because Minato was fast but, in the end, they were high-ranking ninjas. Most certainly had the reflexes enough to block Minato at least a few times. No... 3 hours or 10.8 seconds per person seemed more manageable.

    In this fight, Minato used the confusion of their enemies against them. Some say, ''Why were Iwa ninjas so stupid and simply did not do something about the kunais!?'' My answer... confusion, chaos, and this was the first time Minato used the Second Step of his Thunder God. Minato was one small target moving at barely noticeable speeds in the midst of thousands. Any general would be hard-pressed to do anything about it. What order could Iwamander give when Minato was in one moment on the right nk of his force and in another on the left? Retreat... that is about it. Then again, Iwa ninjas are supposed to be too stubborn for their own good. After all, what could one single ninja do?

    Minato might be SS-rank. But just take into consideration that he is a human too and that Thunder God is not Henge. Using it consecutively over thousand times ( because if he could not get a kill, he would obviously sh away to another person, not try to fight somebody capable of blocking him while surrounded by high-ranking enemies ) would simply drain his chakra. I honestly believe his chakra coils would burst if he tried to do that. I do think human bodies have a certain limit and using a high-ranking teleportation technique in a short time a few thousand times would probably make a mince-meat out of anyone who didn''t spend YEARS training it. (That is also my faux reason why I simply do not make use of the Self-storing seal in fights. Other than it would make them a bit boring if I just had my characters use the seal as Thunder God. )

    The best example would probably be the death of Tobirama. He was probably strength-wise the closest thing to Hashirama there was in his time. I am not saying he got to Hashirama''s level. Far from it. But he was close. Just remember all the techniques he invented on top of his water Jutsu. And yet, he died fighting around twenty (not sure if I am correct about the number but it is not a big number) of JONINs. They simply tired him out.

    So...

    Yeah, what Minato did here was incredibly impressive and worthy of calling him an SS-rank legend. I just took into consideration the limits of his body, mind, and chakra reserves because he DEFINITELY has those.

    People are like: BUT MADARA-SAMA!!!!!

    And I say: F.u.c.k Madara, he was reanimated with limitless chakra. Naturally, he could use the army-wipe fire technique without worry because he simply, had no limit in how much chakra he could feed it.

    Honestly, I doubt the Gokka Mekkyaku would be army-wipe in the hands of ANY other Uchiha or even ''living'' Madara simply because there would be a limit to their chakra reserve. If you look at Sasuke, he is mostly using technique and skill rather than bombard his enemies with a massive amount of energy like Naruto is prone to do.

    Now... I am going to address how a ''small girl'' handed Minato his ass because I know some would be like: Duuuude! Why Minato lost to Mei!? Are you Minato-hater!?

    I am going to give yet another simple example here... Naruto.

    Naruto managed to get from utter loser to almost Kaguya level in four years and that was without any capable teacher. (Nope, Jiraya sucks. We all know it, most just refuse to admit it.)

    As much as I like Jiraya''s character, he is NOT teacher material. Jiraya is inherently a ninjutsu-based fighter... as is Naruto. And yet, in the years together, he only taught Naruto taijutsu basics and how to make Rasengan bigger. NOT. A. SINGLE. JUTSU!

    The man didn''t even tell Naruto the secret of Shadow Clones... ( Now, we all know this is a fault of Kishimoto because, at this stage, Kishimoto most likely didn''t even know he would introduce such broken mechanics to Shadow Clones, nor did he want to make Naruto someone throwing Ninjutsu around but the perspective of a reader is different from the perspective of a writer )

    So... in the end, Jiraya sucks. And no, I am not even taking into consideration how he abandoned Naruto. As much as I like Jiraya''s character in the show, I don''t think he is a good teacher, parent, or even that he deserves Tsunade. Just look at how he behaves and acts. The man is one bigedy relief.

    So back to the topic,pare Mei to Naruto or Sasuke. Mei has two SS-rank ninjas teaching her since she was a little kid. Two ninjas who simply do not use the traditional way of using jutsu as the normal ninjas do. With the introduction of nature energy, ninjutsu and body get stronger. But most importantly, the elementary BLOODLINES get an extraordinary boost to their power, not to mention they taught her to be creative with her Jutsu rather than just... spit at her enemies. (Because honestly? That''s all the canon Mei does. She just spitsva or acidic steam on her enemy and that''s it.)

    Mei, under such tutge, and yes, they DO spar quite regrly, had around 6 years to get strong enough to beat Minato with rtive ease, using a direct counter to his Thunder God Jutsu. Minato... could always simply sh away, making the fight draw. Also, take into consideration Mei is taught by a Sealmaster of a higher calibre than Minato. Naturally, Rei taught her a few ways to fight seal-users.

    Naruto who had no-one, or Sasuke who was mentally impaired, got to almost-Kaguya level in under four years with an unhealthy amount of plot armor. So... please, do not m.o.a.n and bitch about Mei getting to her level through diligent training under strong people.

    Thest thing I want to rant about is the strength ssification. I am not entirely sure but I think there was onement about: How can Mei who is chunin-level beat Minato!? (Yeah... not sure if the context was exactly like this but it is a good example to exin some things so...)

    First and foremost, I sometimes use terms, ''genin-level, chunin-level'' etc. This is stupid of me but I simply find myself using it sometimes without even realizing it.

    Why is it stupid? Genin, Chunin, and Jonin are military ranks in the vige. They do not showcase the strength of an individual, just his ability to climb ranks. Simply, if somebody is chunin level with a good connection, I think he probably could get into Jonin rank even if he was not exactly at that level yet. Same with wartime promotions.

    Another example... Naruto was genin when he fought Kaguya, Pein, Madara...

    So Mei being chunin on paper doesn''t mean she can not be stronger than Jonins. It simply means she hid her strength well enough to not get a wartime promotion.

    If you look deeper, you will realize the Narutoverse uses D-SS ranks for the strength of the ninjas (Bingo Book) but it feels a bit wonky using it in fiction, hence, genin/chunin/jonin-level. The only rank that probably gives sense is S-rank because, at that stage, the person proved he or she deserves such ranking through actions rather than promotions that could be based on connections.

    Last example... Naruto should have been chunin after defeating Gaara but he was not the most likeable person in the eyes of the Konoha higher-ups (Danzo and civilian council) so he stayed a Genin even after defeating Nagato and saving the vige. Sucks to be him...

    Anyway, I could go on and on but I think here is the best part to cut myself short so I will just say...

    Have a nice day.

 Chapter 128 - Ch128. Meis prank

    <h4>Chapter 128 - Ch128. Mei''s prank</h4>

    Tsunade looked between yet ANOTHER new issue of Bingo Book and Rei who busied himself with making breakfast and swiftly moved right and left in the kitchen, maintaining multiple stoves and pans while also masterfully adding chakra into the food.

    "Hmm~, the Bingo Book is updating somewhat often these days..." Tsunade offhandedly stated, only her curious and sparkling amber eyes betrayed how much mirth she currently held within herself. "I must say I would never think Mei would have so much talent!"

    Rei just smiled at her, instead of answering, he started putting the food onto tes while also activating stasis seals to tes belonging to people who were still sleeping. After he was done, he also sat down.

    Konan just smugly nodded in reaction to that. She saw the newest entry to the Bingo Book and it was utterly hrious. "Naturally, Mei was trained by me, after all."

    That made Tsunade snort derisively and add her piece into the conversation. "Really? Maybe you should have taught her a bit of restraint... I mean, not that I amining. These threesomes with Rei when Mei starts pushing and pushing only for him toter find us to scratch the itch." Tsunade yfully smirked at Konan who wanted to groan.

    Mei wanted to further her rtionship with Rei and was starting to get more and more flirty by the day but Rei was unwilling to take that step until she was fifteen. This resulted in some tension which was mostly resolved in the embrace of Tsunade, or Konan, or both. Most often both as the twopetitive women made a game out of it.

    It was then the door slowly creaked open, instantly silencing the conversation, and into the kitchen walked a freshly awoken, still sleepy Mei on her wobbly feet. She was d in light-blue pajamas with cute teddy bear pictures strewn all over it, and her hand was under her shirt, most likely scratching her belly. It was quite obvious the girl was still half-asleep and worked more on instincts which made Rei, Konan, and Tsunade chuckle in amus.e.m.e.nt at the youngest member of their merry band of Yozora.

    Mei instinctively walked towards Rei and sat on his right side, promptly leaning on his shoulder with her entire weight and blissfully nuzzling her cheek and sometimes even nose into his shoulder.

    ''Well, the girl is certainly getting bolder and bolder.'' Tsunade frowned but kept quiet. She could hardly fault the girl she saw as a surrogate sister. After all, she did rub on Rei quite a lot yesterday night. And the night before. And the night before that. And the... ugh. In short, quite a lot.

    It was then she saw the amusing resigned look on Rei''s face and decided to give him a bit of help. "Oi, Rei''s ramen!" Tsunade eximed, making Mei snap at attention, straightening her back and widen her eyes as she fervently looked all around the table only to cutely pout when she didn''t find what she wanted and Tsunade received a heated re, making her chuckle.

    "You tricked me!" Mei grumbled and snatched a mug of coffee straight away, uncaring about the food at the moment. Her body also rxed and again leaned on Rei but this time it was more reserved, measured, and careful not to cause any difort.

    Tsunade just waved her hand dismissively and threw the Bingo Book at Konan who caught it and her eyebrows went up into her hairline as she started snickering to herself. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #.-mei''s-prank_51162813661500045 for visiting.

    "You really outdid yourself. How did you persuade the Bingo-Book-makers to issue that?" Tsunade asked, barely holding in her own snickers while Konan wasn''t faring much better.

    Rei tilted his head, not knowing what was so hrious since he was busy making breakfast. He leaned more towards Mei and looked at the page of the Bingo Book in front of her to get a proper look only to cringe. His eyesnded at the newest entry to the Bingo Book, The Yellow sh of Konoha, Minato Namikaze. The problem, however, was that his picture was him in battered pink attire with an openly gaping mouth in bewilderment and wide bulging shocked eyes present on his face, and to top it off, neon green spiky hair.

    "Ou..." Rei winced. ''Poor guy. Bingo Book photo is something that should represent the ninja. I doubt this would win Minato much respect though. At best he would be regarded as a poof.'' He briefly nced towards the gleeful Tsunade who had a wide mischievous grin and her narrowed scheming eyes stared into space. ''And I bet I know who exactly won''t let him live it down.'' Rei chuckled and shook his head as he started eating his toast.

    ...

    Meanwhile, in Hokage Office, one very tired monkey just finished an all-nighter of paperwork and thinly smiled in an indulgent way at the small but new Bingo Book where the biggest achievement of his sessor, Minato Namikaze, was currently written. Konoha finally gained SS-ranked ninja!

    ''I was putting this off until I finish my paperwork. Now I can finally peek at the greatness of Minato, and indirectly at that of Konoha. This is exactly the thing Minato would need to endear Daimyo and the vige council to help him and stop all opposition to him attaining the position!'' Hiruzen almost proudly teared up, putting his pipe into his mouth and with shaky hands opened the book.

    Needless to say, the second he saw the shocked-looking ninja in pink with neon green hair having Konoha headband, his pipe actually fell from his mouth as his expression froze and his heart almost gave out. Thest thing Hiruzen thought before he fainted was...

    ''What is this shit!?''

    ...

    Minato Namikaze was not having a great day.

    When Kushina heard he was marked as SS-rank by the Bingo Book, she was ecstatic, and never before Minato felt so much pleasure and attention as what she showered him with during the following night. They celebrated his victory. His triumph over Iwagakure. Him alone ending the war even! But most importantly, his survival.

    It was very hard to finally convince Kushina to teach him Uzumaki seals and Minato was aware there would be no way he could finish his Flying Thunder God Second Step without that. This victory, therefore, belonged to Kushina as much as it did to him and his girlfriend showed exactly how delighted she was.

    So why was his day so bad?

    Eh, it had something to do with his girlfriend actually opening the Bingo Book that was delivered in the morning onto their porch and seeing his picture... Now, Minato had his Flying Thunder God technique but even he couldn''t quite dodge the frying pan that impacted his forehead and sent him flying towards the floor as nine streams of crimson hair rose into the air behind the furious Kushina in an apron. Minato was really not sure why he was sent flying by his girlfriend but...

    The suggestion he is having an ongoing affair with Might Duy might have helped though.

    Now, if only Minato found out how exactly did the Bingo Book got ahold of such precise information about his meeting with the man and even supplied a photo of the two huggin, ahem, in a manly embrace of youth, shedding tears together while their noses might or might not be quite close. Well, Minato did need the best physical conditioning and Duy was arguably the best guy to go for it.

    ''That''s some serious photographing skills to get us in such a suggestive way.'' Minato idly thought.

    s, now Minato had to pay for his folly of not telling his clearly enraged girlfriend who was glowing crimson... and holding two frying pans... and her chakra was cracking the floor... and she was ring at him...

    "I always found it strange how much time you spent with Duy." Kushina growled.

    "Eh... honey? It''s not like that, we only... uh," Now, in a day where Minato was in a better state of mind, he would certainly just shut up and endured through the anger but today was not that day. "exchanged some liquid Youth?"

    The walls and the ceiling suddenly cracked as the killing intent burst out of Kushina whose eye was now madly twitching and Minato just watched in horror with his mindpletely nk except for one thought.

    ''Oh... shit.''

    He didn''t manage to run...

 Chapter 129 - Ch129. The conclusion of the war

    <h4>Chapter 129 - Ch129. The conclusion of the war</h4>

    With the demise of thousand high-ranked Iwa ninjas, the war came to a screeching halt.

    Iwa was put on a heavy stopper since their ranks suffered immensely and their overall power dropped. Plus the families of strong and influential ninjas were usually other strong and influential ninjas. Needless to say, Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Butcher, as they started to call him in Iwa, became the public enemy number one.

    Despite everyone in Iwa wanting nothing more than to kill him, they didn''t have enough power to continue the war. Many died, a lot of money was wasted, the country became poorer and the Daimyo was pushing for the war to end for almost half-year now. The loss of one thousand ninjas was just thest straw. A very painfulst straw at that.

    Iwa... ceased all hostilities.

    Sunagakure gained a considerable edge at this time and could push deeper in Land of Earth territory but they had their own problems. The new Kazekage, Rasa, was utterly incapable of having a cordial rtionship with the Wind Daimyo. In short, the vige suffered a shortage of supplies andcked mary support.

    Rei thought the Wind Daimyo was an idiot since the second Suna lost the war, his head would roll and the Land of Wind would either get a new ruler or copse into a brutal civil war between the various nobles and their territories in the country. Both options were quite nasty... s, the Wind leadership just didn''t see it.

    This made Rasa unable to continue the war and also cease all hostilities with Iwa. In short, Suna was now out of the war and exactly nothing changed between Iwa and Suna from what was before the war. No borders were redrawn, no mary satisfaction was paid, nothing. The war was aplete waste of time and lives. The only thing that really changed was that both viges were now weaker... this having a much worse effect on Iwa than Suna. Then again, Suna was much weaker than Iwa initially anyway.

    Kumo wasplicated. They wanted to continue warring, if only against Konoha but since the 3rd Raikage died, A, the new Raikage wanted to hear nothing about a more offensive approach. Especially after the debacle near the shores of the Land of Earth where thousands of Kumo troops were destroyed by mercenaries of all things. That sealed the deal and Kumo became defensive in nature.

    As for Konoha... nothing changed. Through the entirety of the war, they were on the hard defensive, creating stalemates and barricading their enemies from attempting to cross the border of the Land of Fire. Rivers of blood flowed to ensure the war was fought in smaller countries between the major nations.

    And while the war was as good as over when Minato triumphed against Iwa''sst offensive, for the next few months, a sort of a cold war continued since no peace treaty was signed. The date of such signing was currently in a month in the Land of Iron. Half-year the countries just sat on their eggs, watching and waiting for what would happen while trying to preserve whatever strength they had remaining. And when they realized their enemies had no strength to continue... only then was decided the war would end.

    Konoha however cemented their position as the strongest nation and as the one that came out on the top in this conflict, the second Minato became the Fourth Hokage. There was an incredible blockade to that by the Uchiha n that wanted one of their own as Hokage, the Hyuuga that wanted a n ninja other than an Uchiha as the Hokage, and surprisingly by the Aburame and Inuzuka ns that didn''t think having someone with such a ridiculous Bingo Book picture should represent the vige. After all, Minato did be a sort of aughing stock all over the nations despite his SS-rank. One peek at his Bingo Book picture and nobody would take him seriously.

    This meant Minato was on the edge. The most influential ns didn''t want anything but say f.u.c.k you to his face for various reasons while the Third Hokage, Jiraiya, and many nless shinobi wanted him in the office. Surprisingly the Ino-Shika-Co ns decided to stay strictly neutral in this conflict. Well, the Nara n did and everybody knew who called shots in that particr alliance.

    And then, much to Yozora''s amus.e.m.e.nt, it all came crashing to the decision of the Senju n. With the influence Tsunade''s n had in Konoha, her word could either make or end Minato''s career. And Tsunade did exactly as was expected of her. She safeguarded Rei''s interests and made sure to get a whole lot of concessions for herself by giving Minato her vote. In short,e the next war, she would not even be expected to help Konoha and they were utterly unable to make a missing-nin out of her. Considering the economical advantages in favor of the Biri-Biripany she asked for... Minato ended up wanting to rip his hair out after that particr meeting with ''old blond greedy hag''.

    Needless to say, he underestimated the range of Tsunade''s hearing and wasˇ­ reprimanded for such an insult. Poord couldn''t leave his bed for a week due to pain. Thankfully, it took only a week for Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and the entire council to seed in begging Tsunade to finally heal Minato''s injuries that even the best of the best medic-ninjas in the vige couldn''t heal.

    The second the war officially ended, Tsunade would be out of the vige too without anyone being able to stop her, no matter what kind ofw or regtion they pull. No way was Rei having his sweet gentle Tsu in the vige when Kyuubi gets ripped out of Kushina and this way it would at least be all legal rather than having Tsunade run away and depend on Hiruzen''s softness for his students. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #.-the-conclusion-of-the-war_51191575446879060 for visiting.

    Minato became the Fourth a week after his legs were finally pulled out of his ass, nobody said Tsunade was particrly merciful, and that meant Konoha had SS-rank ninja as the Kage and the God of Shinobi as someone who could move freely. Hokage, after all, could not leave the vige for long periods of time either due to his administrative obligations or because he was the main protector of the vige. But with Hiruzen no longer being the Hokage and his newfound ability to be sent into the field...

    Yup, the war really ended in the favor of Konoha, now it only had to be officially doc.u.mented. No matter what Kumo would like to proim, they didn''t have enough firepower to even utter a word against Konoha and other nations didn''t either. In the end, Konoha once again prevailed as exceptional ninjas rose during the conflict, their path paved by the rivers of Konoha fresh blood. As usual...

    And while the other nations were preparing to attend the treaty meeting, the Mizukage was preparing to attend the treaty meeting AND schemed onest stunt during this war. After all, no vige would have their respective Kage in their vige since every single one of them was heading to the Land of Iron shortly and as long as his n happened before he put his signature on that damn paper saying the war was over, nobody could legally say anything to Kirigakure about being underhanded. As if he left the killing of Himeno unanswered.

    Little did the Mizukage and the other leaders of viges knew... he was not the only one seeking to take advantage of Kageless viges.

 Chapter 130 - Ch130. Ichibi

    <h4>Chapter 130 - Ch130. Ichibi</h4>

    Sunagakure was in turmoil.

    Stormy clouds dark as night gathered above it, creating a sight never before seen in the vige where rain never fell. The entire vige was covered in a nket of shadow, not even one ray of light getting through the clouds that sparkled and roared with barely contained lightning. The ninjas of Suna ran left and right, evacuating civilians, trying to find out what was happening, trying to find out whoever was responsible...

    And then it started. Rainstorm fell like drops of water as big as eyeballs cropped the Sunagakure, desecrating its name as now the vige looked more to be hidden in the flood of water.

    "Karuhiko! What did you find out!?" Pakura screamed through the deafening sound of rain and lighting raging all around, not enjoying being literally bathed in water due to the rain. She even had to use water walking if she didn''t want to have her feet ankle-deep in the water.

    Karuhiko, one of the best sensors of Sunagakure waspletely shaken. The water level was ever-so-slowly rising, and he really didn''t want to find out what would happen once the lighting started raining down instead of staying in the clouds. Not when the entire vige was flooded by water.

    "I... The storm..." It was almost painful for him to convey his findings. "The storm is natural." He said,pletely defeated.

    Pakura''s mood soured as she heard that. Natural... that meant no chakra was in the clouds or water... which meant there was no hope that defeating the caster would stop it. They couldn''t even send Wind techniques at the clouds since they were too high up in the sky and their techniques wouldn''t reach.

    Pakura quickly created thirty small, marble-sized orbs of Scorch Release and moved them around her to evaporate the water in the hope to keep the flood-level down.

    ''No... there is no way this is natural!'' Pakura thought in dismay. ''Who... Downpour.'' It hit her. The only ninjas who could do this were Rei and Konan of Kiri. That was not so hard to realize considering only they were famous for suchrge-scale water attacks. ''But what is their goal?'' Pakura desperately thought, sending even more small orbs of scorch style up in the air, vaporizing the water as it fell.

    The vige was now a mix of vapor that was constantly being riddled with big drops of water and reforming. The sizzling sound of evaporation fought with the deafening fall of the rain. The visibility was nil at best as the nket of darkness, vapor, and water covered the Sunagakure. The civilians and ninjas alike shook in their boots from all the helplessness and despair... not knowing what to do.

    Pakura quickly lostmand. There was no way to coordinate men when her orders wouldn''t go further than a few feet through all the noise around her. She couldn''t even use signnguage due to the abysmal visibility and vapor that covered the vige like a mist. Unfortunately, Suna didn''t have mind arts to connect with each other as the Yamanaka n did and in this kind of situation, they were inly f.u.c.k.i.e.d and Pakura knew it.

    Forsaking the defense of the vige for a second, Pakura thought what could be the attackers'' goal as she continued creating small orbs of scorch to fight the heavy rain. It did create the current situation and maintained the utterly abysmal visibility but Pakura couldn''t stop. That would mean letting the water-level increase. Considering there were natural walls of hardened sand around Sunagakure... letting the water-level rise could very well end with creating ake where Sunagakure stood,pletely flooding it. And even then Pakura couldn''t create enough scorch balls to prevent the water-level risepletely. She was able to only slow it down. After all, the vige was huge and Pakura could cover a few blocks at best. So... the water slowly rose, covering more and more of the vige.

    ''This had to happen two days after the Kazekage left.'' Pakura gritted her teeth but then it hit her. There was only one valuable thing Sunagakure had readily avable. ''The bastards are after Ichibi!'' Her eyes widened before hardening. Pushing half of her whole reserves into one massive orb, she guided it far up the sky above the vige, and then, using her sheer knowledge of her vige, she navigated through the thick vapor towards the main hidden treasury of the vige where the Ichibi sealed into a jar was currently held.

    ...

    Rei finished copying most of the high-level Jutsu scrolls and the sealing of ten percent of the Tanuki''s chakra... and damn was the beast loudly cussing during the process. Rei would naturally leave the Ichibi for Suna as he did up till now. He only needed a sample of its chakra and honestly, he only took ten percent because the sand-f.u.c.k was just so annoyingly loud, Rei loved hearing the screaming cussing. For Ichibi, he even stopped mitigating the pain of chakra absorption after a few seconds in his presence.

    ''The sage of the six paths really must have liked them vulgar.'' Rei shook his head in amus.e.m.e.nt.

    He was about to walk away when... on instinct, Rei raised a Water Wall in time to intercept a ball of scorch release, sending superheated vapor all over the room before Rei blew it away with a burst of Wind Jutsu.

    And there she was. The Hero of Sunagakure, Pakura of the Scorch Release. Gasping for air with wide eyes betraying how scared she was, meaning the subtle fright-inducing illusion seals inwoven into his ck garbs worked, shivering despite the hot air just blowing past her, meaning the chilling illusion seals also worked, but determined to stop him.

    ''Cute...'' Rei thought in amus.e.m.e.nt. The woman would clearly not give up despite being downright horrified and wanted nothing other than to faint.

    "You won''t steal Ichibi!" She cried out, barely capable of doing so without stuttering and two scorching balls appeared next to her shoulders before they flew at Rei, not even giving him time to answer.

    "I think I already got what I wanted." Rei quipped and raised his hand in the direction of the iing balls and...

    All Pakura could see was white. The entire room was covered in... snow?

    ''How!?'' She mentally shrieked, noticing her scorching balls freezing of all things and only then the change in temperature hit her as she barely heard Rei''s whisper before she fainted from the mix of low temperature, fright, stress, and exhaustion.

    "Snow Release: Snowfield."

    Rei hummed as his new mix of Nature Energy, Wind, and Water Release covered the room in the nket of white snow that had the ability to steadily bring the temperature lower and lower. The temperature in the room was getting chillier by the second and Pakura''s body was horribly shivering despite her being unconscious. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #.-ichibi_51228359409066413 for visiting.

    Rei could only sigh as he canceled the Snowfield. He didn''t want to kill Pakura. If anything, she would be a nice addition to his future ns if Sunagakure betrayed her. He didn''t want to be a rogue ninja for the rest of his days and the most prudent way to achieve freedom was to create a vige. Modern-styled vige, at that. No way would he do all the administrative work himself as the other Kages do. Pakura was up there with the most important people to secure for this n so he couldn''t just let her die.

    Not to mention, he was quite impressed by her determination. Where others would flee with their tail between their legs, she stood her ground. The woman wasˇ­ something else, Rei decided.

    ''I guess that kind of foolish bravery will have to be beaten out of herter on. Fighting a battle where she would surely die without even knowing if it was the only wayˇ­ I am sure Mei would like to have her own apprentice in due time.'' Rei chuckled, picking her up onto his shoulder before disappearing from the treasury room.

    The clouds above the Sunagakure finally cleared, letting the ever-present desert sun warm shine on the vige as the vapor slowly disappeared, leaving only glittering water flooding the vige, reaching up to three meters in height. The civilians hiding on the highest floors and ninjas in the streets fell on their butts in relief, thanking whatever deity it was finally over and they survived.

    Oddly enough, not even one casualty came from this ordeal.

    On the floor of the highest building in the vige, the Kazekage Tower, unconscious Pakura peacefullyid, right under a massive message carved into the roof. Its contents...

    ''The Yozora was here!''

 Chapter 131 - Ch131. Yonbi

    <h4>Chapter 131 - Ch131. Yonbi</h4>

    Roshi stared at the blue-haired woman in ck garbs. Surprisingly, her attire had a hood that she decided not to use for whatever reason since she was clearly here to fight him if the slight chilling aura in the air was any indication. Roshi really couldn''t understand. What he did understand, however, was his immediate need to get serious. The woman was standing there as if she waspletely uninterested in him and yet, it was so obvious she was there for him.

    ''I can''t read a damn thing from her bodynguage!'' Roshi mentally screamed. That was bad. That was a skill only the most skilled learned. The girl in front of him was bad news... was what the instincts that kept him alive for the past several decades and through two shinobi wars.

    s, bing old as shinobi was something that made Roshi quite arrogant.

    "Whose way do you think you are crossing, kid?" He straightened up to add the additional inch to his already pitiful height and sneered. "I survived the God of Shinobi, Hiruzen Sarutobi, do you really think some pathetic upstart like you can block my way? Begone!" He said in a wizened old tone but the blute in front of him, much to his dismay, only tilted her head without even a single twitch in her expression.

    "I am... that doesn''t matter." Konan impassively stated. "Yes. I can block your way. In fact, I just did. You stopped, and I am blocking it." She said in a ''are you blind?'' kind of even tone. "As for what I want... would you be amenable to parting with some of Yonbi''s chakra? I can promise it will be quick and painful." She stated, her expression still ice cold but her piercing eyes staring straight through him.

    Roshi''s face darkened. ''Quick and painful? Part with Yonbi''s chakra? This bitch wants to kill me? Ha! Not gonna happen!'' He prepared for a battle.

    ''I hope this Iwakagure''s pathetic imitation of Konoha''s monkey has half-brain toply. I am still not sure I can draw the chakra painlessly with me beingpletely talentless at using seals and the jinchuuriki chakra containment seal is quiteplex.'' Konan depressingly thought. It would be so much easier if the man relented and let her draw the small amount of chakra.

    Neither noticed the misunderstanding between them growing.

    "What do you need the chakra for anyway." Roshi tried to get a bit of information from his would-be assant and Konan was impressed.

    ''So he can use brain? Hm, from what I saw of Iwa ninjas, that''s a very rare ability, indeed!'' She mentally praised. "Ah, we just want a sample. I doubt we have much of a use for it but having it wouldn''t hurt. At worst, we can leave it to rot in storage."

    ''She wants to drain Yonbi''s chakra from me, to kill me... without even knowing what to use the chakra for!? Rot in their storage!?'' Call Roshi dramatic but that kind of death... he couldn''t ept it!

    The air became heavy.

    "So this is just for some research subject not worth shit in your eyes?" He snarled, making Konan hum as she thought about it for ten seconds inplete silence.

    "Pretty much..." She answered atst.

    "Argh! F.u.c.k you! I won''t die!" Roshi had enough and charged at Konan.

    ''Die? Who wants to kill you?'' Was the only thing Konan could think of before she had to engage in hand-to-handbat with obviously more experienced ninja in such discipline.

    The fight continued as the two exchanged blows, Konan keeping on the defensive. By now, she was very proficient in deflecting and parrying blows. Many broken bones during spars with Tsunade taught her exactly how to redirect the force of a much stronger punch or kick than what Roshi could currently dish out.

    From Roshi''s point of view, he was winning, and winning easily at that. Sure, he might not havended even one proper hit but the woman being pushed back without even a chance to retaliate! She was trying to get out of the deadlock of his furious punches with no luck! He was winning!

    All the while Konan was frowning. ''How the heck do I activate the chakra draining seal?'' She pondered in frustration, failing to do so for the 20th time during their taijutsu fight. ''Why the heck was I sent to do this!?'' Konan mentally angrily huffed. Rei had to know about how stupidly untalented she was with seals. There was no way she could use, much less createplex seals. The only kind of seal she knew and could do was simple storage one and various kinds of explosive seals and that was quite enough in Konan''s opinion!

    Unfortunately for Konna, this was one of these instances where Rei wanted to show her she needs to pull her weight and start learning more about seals. Her suffering was appreciated. It was all for the Greater Good of the Sealing Arts, after all.

    The fight continued and no matter how it seemed that Roshi was winning, the mental pressure on him was raising when even after minutes he still didn''t, no... couldn''tnd even a ncing, much less a solid hit on the petite woman who was still looking at him utterly unimpressed without even breathing hard.

    "Gah! I''ve had enough! Lava Release: Lava Stream!" Roshi spat out a river ofva right into Konan''s face and jumped back onto a nearby tree as the ground disappeared under the searing orange liquid.

    He watched as Konan''s body started sinking into the flowingva, her expression was still impassive which impressed him a lot considering how much pain she must have been in.

    The top of her head finally disappeared under theva and Roshi released a sigh of relief. "Well, that was a nice warm-up." He grinned but his grin fell almost instantly as the spot where Konan sunk suddenly erupted in a fiery explosion and the blute just apathetically walked out of the slowly solidifyingva.

    "What? How!?" Roshi eximed, not believing hisva couldn''t hurt her! Not even her clothes were signed!

    Konan just rolled her eyes and fed more of her mix of water and earth chakra into her paper, water chakra countering the fire attribute ofva and her earth chakra overpowering Roshi''s own. ''As ifva attacks could faze me after training Mei...'' She suddenly froze. ''On second thought, that''s probably why Rei sent me against this man. His attacks are primarily Lava-based. Hmm~, food for thoughtter, perhaps.'' Konan rxed and looked at Roshi. "You are really unlucky, you know? No matter what kind of Lava attack you use, I can just brush it off." She said in an apathetic tone with a hint of mocking pity which made Roshi mad.

    He gritted his teeth and decided. ''Getting into Lava Chakra Mode might take a bit of my lifespan but for this bitch... I am quite willing!'' Yonbi''s Chakra erupted around him, enwrapping him in dark orange bubbles mixed with a light orange aura as the temperature around him rose to searing heights. He was about to gloat, trying to unnerve his enemy when he froze, noticing a small and calm, barely present smile on his opponent''s face.

    And then... nothing. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #.-yonbi_51251537753733391 for visiting.

    Konan deadpanned, looking at the idiot who actually went into Bijuu Chakra Mode knowing there is somebody trying to get his chakra, meaning somebody knowing seals. Naturally, Rei would never send her against full Bijuu, not because he thought she couldn''t take it but because he would loathe to endanger her. Konan''s first order was to get a seal that would knock her opponent out the second he tried using Bijuu chakra in their fight.

    "I see... Rei added something-something to his anti-bijuu seal." Konan slowly started giggling, watching as Roshi''s body slowly morphed into a female. "So this is the added function of providing a month of despairing doom he was talking about." She calmly nodded, her lips still twitching upwards as she kneeled next to the newly-changed redhead. It took her about a half-hour of trying until she finally managed to siphon Yonbi''s chakra... needless to say, by the time she was finished, Konan was utterly peeved and needed some much-deserved relief.

    "I was told to leave a message... hmm~." Konan''s eyes gleefully glinted in a mischievous light that didn''t spell anything good for poor Roshi.

    Poord, ahem, gal, gained a new tattoo right across her chest saying...

    ''Yozora was here.''

    For the following month, Roshi hid in a forest and refused to show his new feminine charm due to shame. To hisplete delight, after a month he finally changed back into being male but something stayed the same. For some reason, his female self was unlocked and Roshi felt weird and...

    Yozora... was still there.

    Until the end of his days, Roshi never went to public baths anymore.

 Chapter 132 - Ch132. Nanabi

    <h4>Chapter 132 - Ch132. Nanabi</h4>

    Tsunade stood with her arms crossed under her chest and her face hidden deep under the hood of her ck cloak, staring at the slowly gathering ninjas of Hidden Waterfall Vige. Sure, maybe challenging the entire vige by her lonesome self via breaking the legs and arms of some arrogant s.e.xist jonins did not give her the best first impressions but she was a woman on a mission.

    Rei wanted her to ''show Takigakure they are weak to protect jinchuuriki'' were his words. Tsunade had no idea why exactly he cared enough and not just ordered her to sneak in, break some skulls, take the chakra from the utterly defenseless newborn who wouldn''t even notice, and discreetly leave without leaving even a single trail but she was notining, alright?

    She was missing a good fight and one versus a minor vige was as good of a fight as she could get since Konan''s earth-hardened paper rain was simply too strong to ovee for her and Mei was not yet on the level to give her a proper challenge.

    ''Oh, the woes of mine...'' Tsunade amusedly shook her head, astonished that such arrogant thoughts passed through it. When she was a teenager, she would have never thought she would end like this. A man she adored, a ce she could call home, a family that always had her back whether emotionally or physically if needed, and tons of love, s.e.x, and cozy weing feeling. It was really something dear to her since she never felt like that growing up as one of thest members of the fabled Senju n, something she would fight to the bitter end for.

    "So? Are you finally gathered?" Tsunade asked the man in front of her, the supposed leader of the vige, in a highly impatient tone while tapping her foot on the floor. She was waiting for a half-hour already, dammit!

    No answer.

    The Taki ninjas were quiet and stared at her dumbly.

    ''Well...'' Tsunade awkwardly shuffled. ''Maybeing here to attack them and then wait for them to gather their forces and evacuate the civilians right in the middle of the vige center might havee out as stupid.''

    "Yes... we are ready. Thank you for waiting." The Taki leader awkwardly nodded, not knowing how to feel about his current situation. Frankly, he could see his fellow ninjas were also utterly baffled and had no idea what exactly was going on. Were they attacked? If so then why the f.u.c.k was their attacker just standing in front of them, waiting? Was this some kind of joke to the clearly feminine figure? Needless to say, anger sparkled in most Taki ninjas at the arrogance shown to them.

    "Well then, what are you waiting for!? Come at me!" Tsunade loudly eximed, letting her hands fall from under her chest to freely hang alongside her body and crouched slightly while spreading away her legs in a taijutsu stance.

    At her shout, all hell broke loose.

    The Taki ninjas leaped at her, kunais zing, shurikens swishing through the air, only for the projectiles to be sent flying away alongside the first line of the Taki ninjas. Nevertheless, the army of Waterfall didn''t get discouraged as the air started to be full of powerlessly sailing bodies of theirrades whenever a squad approached the invader.

    Tsunade stood her ground, not moving even an inch from her position, using her arms and hands to redirect every weapon, deflect every projectile, throw every exploding tag into the air, punch away every ninja who approached while doing it lightly enough to not kill anyone.

    Genins, Chunins, and Jonins alike rammed into her defenses, trying to engage her in hand-to-handbat while overwhelming her with their numbers, only to despair when they noticed they were unable to make her take even one step back as she still somewhat rxedly stood in her initial ce.

    Blocking a punch, grabbing a wrist, throwing her opponent into the air, away from her. Using her elbow to hit a forearm of iing punch to steer it away from her body, clench the cor of her opponent, and throw him into her another would-be assant, causing both to be out ofmission. Letting a kicknd on her stomach, smirking at how her clearly jonin-level opponent flinched as the bones in his leg rattled due to the impact, grabbing his ankle and using him as a club to bat away three other opponents before also throwing the half-unconscious man away.

    Tsunade was brutal and efficient, her steel-like body not even feeling the blows she allowed tond thanks to the mixture of Rei''s technique of melding Nature energy into the body and her own Sage Arts. Not that the barely noticeable ck highlights around her eyes would be noticed to be as anything else than an eyeliner even if she didn''t wear the hood.

    Since she started using Sage Arts, Tsunade felt her body bing nigh imprable. ''Except for Rei, of course... hehe.'' She daydreamed, grateful for the hood hiding her blush and small nosebleed as she distractedly bated away yet another jonin, breaking a bit more of his bones than she initially wanted.

    Seeing the poor man, the Taki ninjas stopped their vain attempt at attacking her and retreated, creating a distance between them and Tsunade who didn''t move even an inch since the start.

    Seeing she is not interested in moving, the Taki leader gritted his teeth. He asked her for an nth time what she desired to achieve by doing this before the fight started but she always only shrugged, saying she came here to y with them!

    "What the hell do you want!" He shouted agitatedly. This was his vige! Not some yground for bored monsters!

    "You want me gone?" Tsunade teasingly asked, leaning forward which would normally show her cleavage, and make the man into a stuttering fool. A secondter, she frowned when the Taki leader just nodded seriously without even trailing his gaze towards her cleavage before she slightly stiffened and suddenly felt an urge to facepalm. ''I am d in a full-body ck cloak! Of course, seduction would not work... Stupid!'' Not that Tsunade ever received training in seduction but as a kunoichi, she clearly learned a few tricks on how to make a man not pay attention. "If you want me gone so bad... Wanna make a bet?" Her love for gambling showed.

    The Taki leader frowned. "What would be the stakes?" He was aware there is no way out of this situation than indulging the kunoichi in front of them.

    "You throw everything you can on me for five minutes. Any Jutsu or technique. As long as you can make me move even an inch from my ce, you win and I leave.", ''After I get the chakra of Nanabi, of course,'' Tsunade added in her mind, "but if I win and don''t move, I want to see the child with Nanabi sealed inside of it." She quickly saw the reluctance of the Taki leader and so she decided to force him to ept through his subordinates. "You know, until now I never went for a fatal hit. Not one of your subordinates is dead yet. I think it would really be in your best interest toply with my bet." She shrewdly voiced out with a teasing tone that caused a shiver to run up the spine of every single Taki ninja present. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #.-nanabi_51281549089359214 for visiting.

    Not long after that, the second round started.

    Technique after technique rained onto Tsunade in hundreds and she decided to get at least mildly serious...

    Wind Jutsus... were blown away by the wind pressure of her punches.

    Fire Jutsus... were stifled by the violent winds generated by her punches before they could even approach her.

    Water Jutsus... were dispersed as the water was sent flying away, yet again by the pressurized winds of Tsunade''s punches.

    Earth Jutsus... an earthquake-causing stomp was enough to snuff out any chakra in the ground that could potentially endanger her winning the bet.

    Honestly, three minutes in, and the Taki ninjas knew they were utterly outssed when they saw the nonchnce of their enemy, punching the air andpletely mitigating whatever Jutsu they threw at her.

    At thest minute of the contest, the Taki ninjas just shook their heads in exasperation, knowing they lost.

    Ever so reluctantly, the Taki leader presented baby Fuu, making Tsunade coo at the small girl which caused the baby girl to giggle and prompted Tsunade to swoon even more. This in return made all the frustrated Taki ninjas lower their heads in shame when they saw Tsunade take a step forward to get a better look at the girl.

    ''Defeated by a baby not even a month old!'' They wanted to cry.

    Tsunade really liked the chocte-skinned baby. She was cute but that didn''t stop her from discreetly activating the Bijuu chakra draining seal hidden on the palm of her hand as she put it on the girl''s stomach, tickling her. Five secondster, Tsunade had the sample for Rei without anyone noticing.

    ''I wonder how long it would take Konan to do this. I bet paper-brain would have to rely on angering the Yonbi Jinchuuriki in order to activate the knock-out seal.'' Tsunade chuckled.

    She knew how Jinchuuriki are normally treated and since she quite liked the small baby girl, Tsunade turned towards the Taki ninjas. "You will treat the girl right. I don''t want to hear about any physical abuse. If you don''t like her, don''t bother with her. But you won''t beat her up nor will you stand still seeing she is physically abused. And god help you if I hear she was r.a.p.ed in this vige because, at that moment, the annihtion of Takigakure will be assured. Do I make myself clear?" She threatened, releasing some of her killing intent that silenced any possible protest and made the Taki ninjas take a step back. Only now the fact that the woman was really a monster was hammered down. The killing intent was almost inhuman in their opinion!

    Tsunade worked hard to intertwine her killing intent with her Senjutsu Chakra, making it even more terrific, after all.

    The Taki ninjas only very reluctantly agreed to her demand so Tsunade added something. "If you really can''te to love and ept the girl when she is about to be a genin, I wille and take her away. My visit was more to show you how utterly outssed you are and how her presence could be a threat to the vige since you don''t have the strength to protect her."

    ''And just like that, I made my n to take the girl under my wing when she is a teenager eptable.'' Tsunade grinned before silently disappearing.

    The only indication the Takigakure was ever invaded were the various marks of Jutsu all around on the surrounding buildings. The Taki leader let out a relieved, stressed, and tired sigh before his eyes narrowed as he spotted something written in front of him, right on the spot the woman was standing during the fight. He actually had to take a step back to see it since the writing was quite big.

    After he read it, he blinked. Then blinked again. And then let out an exasperated groan when he recognized the ground was marked by almost unremovable Earth Jutsu.

    The writing stated...

    ''Yozora was here!''

 Chapter 133 - Ch133. Nibi

    <h4>Chapter 133 - Ch133. Nibi</h4>

    Kumogakure was quite busy this time of the year. It was the harvest season and that, for a mountain vige like Kumo, meant their ninjas run back and forth between bodyguarding, bandit extermination, and supply delivering missions for farmers and various traders going anding to sell their crops. It didn''t help the situation that the Raikage left some days prior to the peace treaty. While the ninjas were grumbling about signing such a worthless piece of paper that eventually meant nothing, the civilians were quite happy. s, it was happiness brought by ignorance. Not that the ninjas would enlighten the civilians about it.

    If anything, the Raikage wanted nothing more than to storm Kirigakure in revenge for the death of his beloved. To kill every single man and woman from Kiri who was part of the Nagori Isles invasion. To kill Ringo Ameyuri who was themander...

    His rage was legendary after that mission. He single-handedly reduced an entire mountain to rubble and cemented the public opinion on his position as the Third Raikage''s sessor. What many didn''t know, however, A was also afraid.

    Afraid of Rei of Kiri, the monster that man-handled him and Killer B as if they were children.

    Mei, wearing a straw hat and a bit battered old-looking civilian clothes, merrily strolled through the gate to Kumo, not even being stopped by the guards since she was just one of the numerous children of farmersing and going to help their parents to sell the crops. As long as they couldn''t feel chakra from her, everything was just peachy.

    Just like that, Mei infiltrated Kumogakure. Through the front gate, inwardly snickering that Rei''s chakra hiding technique and some old clothes were all she needed to get in.

    ''But really, the Kumogakure is incredibly beautiful.'' Mei looked up the houses built either on the tops or on the sides of the mountain and the bridges connecting them. It was an ethereal sight and she really believed no other vige could surpass Kumo when it came to the natural beauty of the ce. ''Not really it has anything on Rei''s dimension though...'' Mei scoffed and turned to enter a side alley.

    Apparently, that was not such a bright idea since the second she was far enough, five thugs who obviously followed her into the alley blocked her path. They were about to open their l.u.s.t-fully grinning mouths but... Mei couldn''t really be bothered. Five kunais and five thudster, she was again on her way, deeper into the alley.

    When she decided she was sufficiently out of sight and nobody followed her...

    "Boil Release: Steam Clone Jutsu."

    The air thickened until a small amount of smoke soundlessly burst out, not unlike when someone creates a shadow clone, but unlike shadow clones, this smoke didn''t reveal a body, rather it gathered into a smoke-like figure of Mei.

    "Here," Mei handed each clone a pouch with a set of hundred spying seals which the clones quickly absorbed into themselves, causing it to sink into the smoke. "put this all over the vige. Especially in restricted areas." Mei ordered and the five figures vanished as if dissipating.

    ''Ha! Who said I can''t be subtle! Take that Konan!'' Mei smirked, remembering Konan''s distraught expression when she showed the woman this sneaky use of her Steam Clones. They can dissipate into the air, bing wisps of barely noticeable chakra, and get wherever they want, capable of squeezing themselves even through the smallest of crevices. The only thing capable of showing them were incredibly strong seals... which meant Mei''s clones were much, much better than Konan''s when it came to sneaking around.

    Needless to say, Konan''s eyebrow twitched for days on end, much to Mei''s delight, when that little tidbit became clear. And then... much to Mei''s displeasure, Konan came with the marvelous idea of... ''let Mei take care of the spywork!''... and just like that, the tables turned and now it was Mei who was perpetually scowling and Konan who was smirking like a loon at her suffering.

    After all, Mei hated sneaking around. Melting something? Easy. Bathing enemies inva? Sure! Drowning somebody? Fun... But sneaking around? Nu-uh! Having hundreds of clones sit around in a room, shifting through the material on spying? Bleh. Maintaining a spywork? No. Freaking. Way!

    Fortunately or unfortunately, Rei intervened, and Konan stayed in charge of the spywork while Mei became the person who was tasked to spread the spying seals. Not that it lessened the yfully condescending smirks of Konan that threw into Mei''s face that insufferable message of ''I am still more useful to Rei!'' Konan liked to subtly portray.

    Despite everything, Mei could only wistfully smile as she really couldn''t imagine her life without these small rivalries between herself and her sisters.

    Hours passed quickly while Mei toured the civilian-essible parts of Kumogakure, trying out the local cuisine, getting to know some people, and just eavesdropping to get some information while she waited for her steam clones to be finished. Finally, three hourster, all five hundred spying seals were installed, no one from Kumo the wiser.

    ''And now, thest part of my mission.'' Mei nodded to herself and used a SelfWithdrawing seal her clone put near her target.

    ...

    Yugito Nii was a twelve-year-old and already a ninja of Kumo for two years. She was not like Uncle B despite knowing they were the same. He was a hero while she was mocked. He was the right-hand man of the Raikage while she...

    Her throat hitched as she remembered her unpleasant memories and the shes of her sword became faster, more ferocious, scarring the poor wooden dummy on the empty training ground far away from the vige.

    She wanted to run. sh. She wanted to prove herself being useful. sh. She wanted to gain respect. sh. She wanted to be treated normally. sh. She wanted to get stronger. sh. She wanted her suffering to stop. sh. She wanted many things but...

    That was when an amused snort woke her from her anger-induced rampage. "You really love shing things up, don''t you? You would get along well with our resident sword loon." A feminine voice alerted Yugito to the presence of somebody unknown to her.

    Her body instantly tensed as she quickly turned around only to blink when she spotted a bit older auburn-haired girl in civilian clothes. Worse yet, the girl didn''t seem like a ninja. Her posture was far too rxed andzy. She didn''t give off that tense feeling other ninjas do. She was a perfect picture of a harmless civilian.

    "Who are you and how did you get here? This ce is off-limits." Yugito evenly warned only to get a pointed and piercing look from the girl. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #.-nibi_51312350178896419 for visiting.

    "Oh~, is that so? Fine," The girl uncaringly shrugged. "I am Mei, by the way." She sat down into the grass and Yugito barely prevented herself from gaping. The civilian girl justpletely ignored her warning! "If you don''t introduce yourself I will call you Grrr-chan, ya know? Since you were growling at the poor wooden dummy."

    That pulled Yugito out of her reverie. "I am Nii Yugito, genin of Kumogakure." She nodded but totally ignored the girl when she patted the patch of grass next to her, signaling Yugito to sit. Yugito just stood a few feet in front of the girl, prepared for a fight.

    "You can call me Mei. I came here because I am interested in you." Mei stated with a hum in her tone, causing Yugito to flinch and almost take a step back due to how intensely Mei''s eyes trialed over her body. "I see you were trained on what it means to be a kunoichi from an early age." Mei lightly said, a bit of... a feeling Yugito couldn''t quite put her finger on... in her tone.

    "Yes, I have trained since I became six years old." Yugito nodded. It was not like the entrance age to Kumo Academy was a secret.

    Mei only snorted derisively at that. "I am not talking about that." She shot Yugito a knowing look that made Yugito''s breath hitch, and her body tense. She took a step back while taking a stance with her sword, preparing to pounce at Mei at any indication of hostility. The girl might look, seem, smell, even feel like a civilian but Yugito now knew the girl was certainly NOT just a civilian.

    "I have no idea what you are talking about." Yugito stated and Mei raised an eyebrow at her.

    "Why are you taking a battle stance, then?" She asked with apparent amus.e.m.e.nt, causing Yugito to scold herself. "You really are only a kid..." Mei chuckled, making Yugito irritated at being called a kid. "But tell me... how long are they raping you?"

    As if a bucket of cold water was poured over Yugito. "I... I ha-... no idea..." She sputtered, her mind aplete mess while she tried to make herself appear small as her body uncontrobly shook. That was something she desperately tried to hide and not even her teammates knew about.

    Mei just gave the poor girl a pitying look. ''Female jinchuuriki... I should have expected this, shouldn''t I?'' Mei wistfullymented. She thought Kumo would treat the girl properly due to Killer B but, apparently not. ''And here I wanted to juste here, grab some of Nibi''s chakra and be on my merry way...'' She sighed in irritation.

    "Stop!" Mei''s firm voice rang through the training ground, stopping the distraught Nibi Jinchuuriki in her tracks as she fearfully looked at Mei. "I was spat on, stepped on, beaten, starved, cursed, had rocks thrown at me, and the only thing that saved me from being r.a.p.ed is my master. Quite honestly, I thought you would avoid that fate since Killer B is so famous and seen as a protector of the vige." Mei tilted her head in a pondering manner and Yugito could only listen, unable to tear her eyes away from her. "Hmm... I see, it was the war, wasn''t it?" Yugito flinched, "Neither Killer B nor A could watch over you so the people who didn''t like you had easy ess and a free hand to do whatever they wanted with you. Typical... If I had to guess, it was Kumo Councilmen who love to abuse you, no? That''s why you have to keep your mouth shut or face the consequences." Mei slowly guessed what exactly happened to Yugito.

    Yugito started shaking again and tightly closed her eyes only to feel herself being gently hugged, something she never felt before. It didn''t take even a second for Mei to feel Yugito melting into the embrace, creating a sour taste in Mei''s mood. "I am Mei of Kiri," Yugito''s eyes shot wide at that, "I can protect you and give you a home where you will be appreciated. The question is... Do you want to be protected?"

    Mei reached her hand towards the crying Yugito in a silent offer.

 Chapter 134 - Ch134. A stray cat

    <h4>Chapter 134 - Ch134. A stray cat</h4>

    Rei looked at the sheepish Mei and the quiet shy-looking quivering blond girl she dragged into his dimension.

    "Care to run that by me again, Mei?" He asked, nkly blinking at his second apprentice sh soon-to-be-lover sh current pain in the ass.

    "Uh... you see, Yugito needed home and I thought... you know." Mei briefly nced at Rei''s face, noticing his unreadable expression, and lowered her head again.

    "So... you basically stole a jinchuuriki from Kumo." Konan pointed with an amused tone.

    Yugito suddenly found herself staring at the floor while fidgeting. She knew taking Mei''s offer is basically treason which is certain death. She also knew that despite it looking like she was kidnapped, the Kumo Council would just spin their usual bullshit and put the me on her. Not to kill her, but to gain even more hold of her. She hated them to her core. But... she didn''t want to inconvenience Mei, one of the very few people who were nice to her.

    Sure, Killer B was nice to her and tried to look out for her but he was always away, fighting on the front lines. A, B''s surrogate brother, was also trying to be nice to her but Yugito knew it was more because of B rather than out of his own volition. She was not that close to either of them and that''s why she epted Mei''s proposal. There was just nobody genuinely waiting for her in Kumo.

    "Hey! Rei wanted a sample of her chakra. Now, here she is," Mei gestured to Yugito who looked between her and Rei inplete shock. "I would say I fulfilled the mission requirement better than anyone!" Mei gave Konan a defiant stare.

    "And by doing that you most likely utterly pissed the Raikage off. Please, at least tell me you didn''t leave the mark behind." Rei asked hopefully.

    "Uh... no? I made sure to mark the entire training ground with the ''Yozora was here'' mark." Mei tilted her head confusingly, causing Rei to facepalm. "You know what?" He drawled tiredly, "F.u.c.k the Raikage. Anyway," He turned towards the fearful Yugito, "wee to our home." He smiled ruffling the girl''s hair which made her flinch and Konan and Rei suddenly understood why exactly Mei dragged Yugito back with her.

    ''I guess a sudden contact with a man will be a bit too much for her in the following weeks. It will take a bit to get the mental trauma out of her.'' Rei turned towards Mei. "Since you brought in the stray cat, you will feed, bathe, and train her." He told her jokingly, making Konan snicker while Mei looked as if she just ate a lemon. She didn''t consider who would take care of Yugito. She definitely didn''t think it would be her... "Consider her your pet and your first apprentice." Rei quipped and turned around to leave Mei''s room alongside Konan who was mirthfully snickering at Mei''s predicament.

    The two left and the room descended toplete awkward silence.

    "Uh... am I a bother?" Yugito asked unsurely only for Mei to drop back onto her bed and bounce up and down for a bit with an audible groan.

    "No..." Mei answered with a pout. "I have no clue how you interpreted that but if you were a bother Rei would have thrown you out, no questions asked. That was basically him allowing you to stay here. I just..." Mei grew silent only to let out a frustrated yell and started iling her arms in the air, startling Yugito for a moment. Her frustration finally dropping, Mei calmed down and continued, breathing a bit harder than usual, "I am just angry at myself for not considering who would take care of you. I could have pinned you on Konan if I did." Mei sullenly said.

    ''So I am a bother...'' Yugito sweatdropped while also feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach as sadness overcame her. ''Even here nobody wants me.'' She bit her lower lip.

    "It would have been infinitely better for you," Mei continued a bit miffed at saying that, causing Yugito to stop her self-pitying and snap her gaze back to Mei who stillid on her bed. "Konan trained me, Konan trained Ringo, Konan trained Tsun... ahem," Mei coughed, "my second sister Tsu. Only Tsu can match Konan when ites to the women here and even that is only when Konan is not using some of her Jutsu. Being in Konan''s care would give you the best training avable. That''s why I wanted to pin you on her." Mei exined and Yugito''s heart warmed as her eyes widened at being told Mei thought about what would be best for her.

    "This Konan... is she... Konan of Kiri?" Yugito asked unsurely. The woman looked around eighteen at best and definitely didn''t seem to be somebody who tore Kumo fleet to shreds by herself, brutally killing thousands in the process. Nor did she look like someone whose specialty was drowning people alongside their own castles.

    "Yes... she is the strongest one of us women here." Mei huffed.

    "But I thought you gained your SS-rank sooner?" Yugito tilted her head. Mei''s story about how she decimated the Iwa army of ten thousand mercenaries and over five hundred ninjas was legendary. Sure, many versions were outright retarded but still! Mei''s fame was a big factor in why Yugito took the offer of protection. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#.-a-stray-cat_51324892020268913">#.-a-stray-cat_51324892020268913</a> for visiting.

    "And who do you think trained me, duh..." Mei rolled her eyes, causing Yugito to avert her eyes in shame but for the first time since she entered Rei''s dimension, a small smile appeared on her lips. "Konan can be a bitch sometimes. Especially during training. I might want to one-up her to satisfy my vindictive pettiness," Mei acknowledged that very easily, too easily in Yugito''s opinion, "but I look up to her, you know? She is like a mother I never had to me." Mei quietly added with a nostalgic smile.

    Yugito didn''t know what to do in this emotional situation and did the only thing she knew would calm her if she was distraught. She unsurely walked towards Mei, dragging herself above her on all four as the girl stillid on her bed, and then Yugito suddenly hugged the surprised Mei whose arms sn.a.k.e.d around Yugito''s torso, both enjoying theforting feeling of their embrace.

    "Ne~... wanna be friends, Yu-chan?" Mei suddenly said, causing Yugito to frown at her new nickname.

    "Hm." Yugito made what sheter deemed to be at the same time the best and the worst mistake in her life... she agreed.

    "Good! That means I will have to train you so I won''t be embarrassed by your strength! I wonder if Ringo would like a sparring partner..."

    The poor stray cat had no idea what was in store for her in the future.

 Chapter 135 - Ch135. Sanbi 1

    <h4>Chapter 135 - Ch135. Sanbi 1</h4>

    The next day came and Yugito was settling in well.

    Unfortunately, the operation to round up the remaining samples of bijuu chakra couldn''t wait despite the surprising addition of Yugito. Yesterday, Konan acquired Yonbi''s chakra, Rei got hold of Ichibi''s chakra, Tsunade took a liking to the Nanabi girl and got some of her chakra while Mei brought in a freaking Nibi jinchuuriki...

    Now only Sanbi, the most important of the bunch, remained.

    Why was he the most important?

    Because Rei wholly believed in using whatever waves Akatsuki will create in the future to provide yet another cover for his next steps. For that, Sanbi had to go to Yagura. Well, there might or might not be a scheme of Rei... or two involved in that but details aside, even the messages of ''Yozora was here'' were basically just warnings to other viges that Yozora can threaten them... at least, that''s what the viges would see, and partially, that was really their purpose.

    But Rei had something else in mind when he asked his girls to ry this message after their tasks are done. These messages were a direct provocation to other small gatherings of strong ninjas...

    Groups such as...

    Nah, there was no other group than Akatsuki like that. Or will be, since Akatsuki was not yet created.

    Anyway, the problem with these mercenary underworld organizations was rather simple. They mostly relied on a good reputation, especially at the start. Akatsuki needed to be the best in the underground sphere to gather sufficient funds. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#.-sanbi-1_51325631828392696">#.-sanbi-1_51325631828392696</a> for visiting.

    So, Rei thought hard and long, basically from lunch to brunch, and at the end of his enlightenment, he found a very simple solution to the equation. He just had to create his own organization and make it famous. Not through mission sess rate, rather through attacking other viges or their strong ninjas. Humiliate a vige here, poke a jinchuuriki there, perhaps show a middle finger to the Raikage and vo, Yozora would be famous.

    As for attacking jinchuuriki, Rei knew it had no relevance as of yet butter? When Obito finally bes dead set on Project Moon-Eye? Oh, Rei would pay a fortune to see the expression of the future Obito when he finds out that some group called Yozora was in possession of the Nibi jinchuuriki and that they attacked some other jinchuuriki as well. When the boy finally realizes he haspetition...

    Better yet, once Yozora gained notoriety, Akatsuki would have to step up their game in order to get more funds so Rei hoped they woulde to light sooner than in canon and other nations would focus on them. He certainly nned to help this to happen as best he could. Not that it would be so hard since he knew Akatsuki were a bunch of arrogant self-centered pricks.

    Meaning they would never rest until they im first ce in the notoriety.

    Rei decided they could have it and he would even give some intel on them at the right time to the right people. The more eyes on them, the less on him.

    Nobody could say he was not generous!

    ...

    "I feel bad for the girl." Tsunade impassively said, looking at the cave where Rin was screaming bloody murder as the Sanbi was in the process of being stuffed into her.

    It was already evening so she found a spare minute to visit Rei, Konan, and Mei observing the ce while Ringo was preparing herself. This was her mission.

    "She could have been a good medic if only she learned how to freaking fight. Stupid fangirl of that Kakashi boy. All she knows is healing which is nice but utterly useless in the field if you are captured in a second." Tsunade brutally summed up Rin''s situation, not leaving the girl any dignity left.

    Sure, Tsunade wanted to see at least one medic on a team but that didn''t mean she would suffer an ipetent medic ninja who could not even properly throw a kunai. If there was something Tsunade hated more than people who dismissed her, it was medic ninjas who didn''t train to fight and kill.

    "I am ready." Ringo suddenly said, d in her own ck cloak with a hood and two chakra metal swords strapped on her waist.

    She was doing some serious observation for thest hour. Rei and the girls got the prime seats to watch how one of the best assassins of Kiri worked. And even Rei had to agree that he didn''t put as much thought or consider as many angles as Ringo did when nning on executing an attack on the enemy base. It was both weird and gratifying to see that Ringo learned something useful even after her apprenticeship to him ended.

    Rei had set up some observation seals inside the cave... how, not even Ringo who meticulously watched it knew, but thanks to them, he and his girls sans Ringo, who was currently sneaking closer towards her first target, the two guards at the entrance, could see what was happening inside without actually having to leave thefortable nearby hill.

    "Atta girl, Ringo made yet another twods lose their heads!" Mei eximed, watching two heads fall towards the ground and Ringo catching them before they finalize the fall and gently cing them on the ground. She then fluidly caught the falling bodies and soundlessly dragged them into the bushes before also depositing the heads there.

    "Yeah, well... that was fast." Rei nodded. Ringo''s movement of preventing bodies from creating any sound was certainly well-practiced. Even he doubted he could do as well as she due to the sole reason of him not really having the needed muscle memory for it. Obviously, by now, Ringo was doing it on instinct alone.

    Rei then snapped his fingers, activating the observation seal and a hologram-like structure of the cave appeared on the right side while a screen appeared on the left side in the air.

    The girls gawked at it, seeing something like that only in cinemas and Rei smirked. ''It is so easy to impress.'' He shook his head.

    While this world had Televisions, in fact, his Biri-Biri Company sold the best of them, they were not really that widespread nor ''modern'' so seeing such a screen was something of a novelty for the girls. ''Well, that just means I will have to add television to the house in the dimension. Maybe we could have a nice evening with popcorn while watching movies together?''

    Rei stopped thinking about it when he noticed Ringo bypassing the first line of defense, starting to take care of the chunins from behind.

    "Let''s see what is in our newest member, shall we?" Konan calmly said with a slight trusting smile.

    "Hmph, it''s not like this is hard for Ringo. This mission is actually right up her alley! Why are you making such a big deal out of it?" Mei snorted, crossing her arms. She wanted to end this quickly by ''smoking'' the Kiri ninjas out but Rei put a quick stopper to that so she was now a bit butt-hurt.

    Tsunade just watched in amus.e.m.e.nt, not really knowing Ringo''s skillset or ability all that well due to her spending much of her time in Konoha. She stayed quiet and just observed.

    Rei sighed. He liked Ringo and didn''t like her endangering herself before she was deemed strong enough by him... s, the woman wanted to prove herself and here they were... His gaze sharpened when she finally felled thest chunin in the first line of defense. While he was impressed she didn''t alert anyone, Rei knew this was just a start.

    "This is where the real challenge begins..."

 Chapter 136 - Ch136. Sanbi 2

    <h4>Chapter 136 - Ch136. Sanbi 2</h4>

    Ringo released a sigh of relief as sheid the body of thest chunin in the first defense line soundlessly on the ground. She could feel how rusty she became at this during the years of war and the half-year she spent in the Uzu Inds with Rei. Normally, she would not even feel weary but now... now she was actually a bit annoyed because her instincts were a bit dyed. She almost alerted the enemy to her presence on three separate asions, which was unforgivable in her opinion.

    ''The more I train with Mei, the louder in my approach I be. Sigh, that girl is really a very bad influence on me, isn''t she?'' Ringo bitterly smiled, walking up the wall until she crouched upside down on the ceiling, sneaking deeper into the cave.

    ''Rei said the Rin-woman managed to run away but I see no way she could do such a thing with all these ninjas around. The Mizukage must be bonkers if he really wants to unleash Sanbi in Konoha. Sure, some tree-huggers would die but Konoha would gain Sanbi which in turn would surely be an unimaginable loss in the opinion of the Council. What is the old coot thinking he is doing?''

    Ringo mulled over the actions of the Third Mizukage as she silently walked on the ceiling, high above the heads of Kiri jonin. It was quite easy to avoid any and all sentries when she knew the protocols and how Kiri trained their jonins and ANBU to counter this exact way of infiltration. Hence, it didn''t take long for Ringo to be behind the second line of defense, the one manned by jonins. She turned around and started looking for lone targets.

    Ringo knew she would be unable to terminate every jonin and ANBU but the sess of her mission depended on the number of Kiri ninjas she would be able to dispatch without anyone noticing. She only needed to thin the proverbial herd in order to create an opening for herself.

    After three minutes of searching, Ringo scored. She found two jonin going at it like rabbits in a remote area of the cave. Needless to say, the man and woman could only look at each other in shock as her sword ran them both through.

    ''I am really good at connecting people''s hearts, am I not?'' Ringo smirked but it didn''tst long before she noticed the man pissed himself as he died... right into the woman and Ringo grimaced. ''I didn''t need to see that to lead a happy life.''

    Ringo hopped onto the ceiling again and searched some more through the jonin area.

    Her next target was two men ying cards in a room sculpted into stone. Obviously, these were the highest-ranked jonins since they were here only to observe andmand. Not like it helped them when Ringo appeared crouching on the table and before they could even widen their eyes, each of her two swords removed one head. Thankfully she didn''t need to worry about the sound of falling bodies since they were in a quite remote area of the cave system.

    "These chakra hiding and self-soundproof seals of Rei are in cheating." Ringo pouted a bit before gathering all valuables, weapons, and exploding tags from the corpses. Not like they would actually need them anymore.

    Ringo proceeded with her mission. Creating a lighting clone to kill via quick shock, wrapping her fist in lighting chakra and ramming it from the back through the chest of one ninja, using her swords for quick kills, or simply throwing a shuriken or kunai at a vital ce fast enough for her victim to be unable to react... She managed to kill twelve Kiri jonin out of thirty-six. She counted... Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#.-sanbi-2_51374236362655425">#.-sanbi-2_51374236362655425</a> for visiting.

    Honestly, not everything was that smooth. Many of them noticed something off but thankfully her instincts and experience were good enough for her to dispatch them before they alerted others.

    But...

    "Now the hardest part, huh?" Ringo frowned.

    She knew ANBU were specially trained for this. She also knew she could not keep the fact that some jonin disappeared hidden for long. Moreover, she had no idea what kind of tracking Jutsu bullcrap would the ANBU have. For all she knew, they might already be alerted to her presence and preparing despite the jonin being utterly oblivious. After all, only very skilled trackers can ever make it into Hunter Squads of Kiri ANBU, and that most of the time means some special type of Jutsu for such things.

    Ringo moved towards the ANBU area, this time not on the ceiling because she knew the ANBU would be too careful for her to let her sneak on the ceiling. While the jonins were asionally looking up, the ANBU would have hidden sentries posted even on the ceiling and the walls. In fact, it was a standard procedure.

    ''This might be a bit of pain in the ass...'' Ringo mentally grumbled as she spotted no less than four ANBU guarding every single of the three entrances to the third and final defense line in the cave.

    Two stood right in the middle of the corridor while one was above them on the ceiling, hiding in the shadows... but it was thest ones who worried Ringo. They were hardest to find for the sole reason of being members of the Hozuki n which meant they hid in a puddle of water near the wall slightly behind the two ANBU guards standing in the corridor.

    ''If I want to get through I will have to either soundlessly kill the guy on the ceiling in a way that won''t alert anybody... bah, that''s impossible!'' Ringo whined.

    This set-up was incredibly well thought out. The guy on the ceiling watched the entire corridor from above, and that meant he had his eyes always nted on the two ''obvious'' guards below him. The guy in the puddle however served more as an ambusher for any idiot who made it this far and was ipetent enough to not spot an unnatural puddle on the ground.

    Noughing! It actually happened more often than not in the shinobi world!

    The real problem was the puddle guy had a clear line of sight on the guy on the ceiling at any given moment. Meaning no matter who Ringo attacked, the other three would be alerted the second she showed up.

    After ten minutes of observation and consideration, Ringo decided to go for the middle path.

    The guys on the left one looked a tad bit too familiar with each other... not due to how they acted but due to how deceptively rxed they were in each other''s presence. ANBU never took their guard down, not even towards other ANBU but the guys there trusted the others which meant they had a fair share of missions together under their belt which in turn meant their teamwork was better which... would be bothersome and could cost Ringo precious seconds.

    The ANBU guarding the right path, on the other hand, were certainly not familiar with each other. Their senses were so high-strung one almost noticed Ringo with the corner of his eye before she stepped back into the shadows. She had to be still for an entire minute for the guy to finally decide it was just his imagination. The fact there were over thirty jonin and even more chunin ahead surely had a value in him deciding not to check more closely. Sneaking on these guys would be a in bother.

    That left Ringo only with the middle path which was still troublesome but clearly, the puddle guy was not familiar with his teammates and was alert, the guy on the ceiling had hots for the female standing guard in the corridor and his gaze lingered on her from time to time while the woman and the man standing next to her in the middle of the corridor were clearly former teammates since they were rxed to each other. These guys had their guard up too but their teamwork would not be as good as the guards on the left nor were they as alert as the ANBU on the right path.

    Ringo narrowed her eyes and joined her hands into a hand seal as a n formed in her mind. Clearly, she would not avoid the fight and the fact the missing jonin would be noticed sooner orter made the decision for her. She could only confront them.

    "Let''s do this... Kage Bunshin No Jutsu." She whispered.

 Chapter 137 - Ch137. Sanbi 3

    <h4>Chapter 137 - Ch137. Sanbi 3</h4>

    Ringo created five clones in total. Two for the right and left side each and one for the middle path where her real body was going to hit. The clones quickly sneak into their positions as the ns start. The ones on the right and left side distance themselves from the ANBU guarding the corridors and create a smallmotion not far from that ce, drawing at least some ANBU away and creating confusion among them.

    Honestly, the cavern corridors were all interconnected and this was a bit risky n but if she didn''t make the side corridors'' guards busy, the risk would be way bigger. As long as she dealt with the guards in the middle corridor quickly enough, she might even be lucky enough to lower the number of ANBU guards in thest defensive line with the actions of her clones.

    It didn''t take long for sounds to start spreading from neighboring corridors and Ringo grinned. The guards in front of her certainly looked restless enough as she watched them from behind a small protrusion on the wall near the ceiling, cowered in shadows, while her clone was a bit further away.

    Ringo''s clone nted a low-powered explosive tag on the wall of the corridor quite far away from the guards before taking an appropriate distance and hiding in the shadows as the exploding tag ignited.

    The explosion alerted the guards almost instantly, making the two visible ones move towards the spot. They were far from the puddle and ceiling guy when they finally arrived only to see a scorched wall. But clone or not, Ringo was still way better at sneaking around... they didn''t even manage to widen their eyes as two swords pierced their hearts from behind by the clone lurking in the shadows before it dispelled.

    While the two visible guards went away, Ringo infused as much lighting chakra into a kunai and threw it towards the puddle guy. Not even ncing if he noticed and prepared to dodge, Ringo ran on the ceiling towards the ANBU hidden there. She could only hear a sizzling sound of lightning in water and a loud scream as her sword impacted the tanto of thest remaining ANBU, pushing him back. Clearly, her kunai hit spot-on.

    Ringo could see the minuscule widening of the ANBU''s eyes as he realized just who was shing swords with him and... panicked. After all, not every day one found himself crossing des with a legend from his vige. His hesitationsted barely a split second. A small flinch that would mean nothing in front of most jonin but s, Ringo was not most jonin. Her instincts red and before even she herself knew it, her sword slightly tapped her enemy''s de away, with minimal strength in order to do it as soundlessly as possible, before the tip of her sword quickly found its way into the ANBU''s chest. The man was dying before he finally recollected his wits.

    Ringo''s eyes also widened in surprise at how she reacted and she only barely managed to catch his body and stick it to the ceiling with her chakra as she ttened herself byying on her back there just in time for a unit of four ANBU to run under her through the corridor.

    ''Fortunately, they are too busy to look up.'' Ringo mentally sighed, hopping onto the floor and with a quick flick of her wrist, she threw the cloak of the corpse currently sticking onto the ceiling around her shoulders and put his mask on.

    Sure, she will probably be discovered if someone pays her too much attention but now? When the second defensive line in the cave is ''under attack''? Ringo doubted anyone would care about one masked ANBU walking around.

    Ringo walked through the corridors, avoiding the rushing ANBU. Whenever she met such a group, she pretended to make haste as if she was going to report... and nobody really even raised an eyebrow at her despite her heading deeper into the cave rather than to check out themotion.

    The further she walked, the more apparent it became that the chunin and jonin were just a diversion. In the cave must have been stationed at least a hundred ANBU andpared to that, the first two defense lines were quite pathetic.

    Ringo really couldn''t help but chuckle and praise herself for making many of the ANBU head outside of the third defense line in order to check out whatever setup her clones made. From time to time, she could even hear explosions going off and only one of her four shadow clones on the sides dispelled so far. Honestly, reputation or not, she didn''t like her chances at sneaking inside with such skilled sentries all over it. The entire ce was more guarded than a damn castle of a major Daimyo!

    After twenty minutes of walking through the cavern corridors that resembled abyrinth, Ringo finally arrived at the main hall where the sealing of the Sanbi just finished. The whole room was big, almost massive, with a stone altar covered in seals and four big crude stone pirs covered in big sealing tags. On the altar, a small n.a.k.e.d form of teenage femaleid, only her Konoha forehead protector was still on her head as she drooled onto the altar and asionally twitched from pain.

    Ringo winced when she saw the girl. Killing might have been her job but she at least made sure to make it as painless as possible whenever the target was not somebody deserving it. The girl on the altar though, she was clearly put through hellish pain and her brain was still in the process of rebooting.

    Ringo didn''t wait and walked towards the girl while discreetly molding her lighting chakra. Before anyone even noticed her actions, she was sufficiently close to the altar and that''s when all hell broke loose. The old farts that were Kiri Seal Master tried to desperately distance themselves, the guarding ANBU tried to rush closer to Ringo, and Ringo pped her hands.

    A loud bang resonated through the cave before a static noise unbnced everyone in range. The second this happened, powerful lighting tendrils coursed out of Ringo''s connected palms, creating a cage around the altar,pletely cutting out the guards.

    ''To think this is not even a Jutsu yet, just an exercise for maniption of my lightning chakra...'' Ringo smirked and walked towards the girl before she took a sealing tag given to her by Rei and after twenty minutes of trying drew some of the Sanbi''s chakra into it. Missionpleted, Ringo sighed as she saw her lightning cage being surrounded by no less than thirty ANBU and flexed her chakra.

    The lighting cage instantly morphed but the ANBU guards didn''t have time to rush in since the lightning took shapes of various animals... bears, wolves, dogs, deers, and many more, before it started engaging the ANBU who did their damnedest to avoid the moving concentrated lightning constructs. The biggest of them, however, was a big Chinese dragon made of lightning that rammed its head into the side of the cave, creating a way out through the wall.

    Ringo briefly nced at the waking girl on the altar and shook her head before uncaringly walking out.

    ''And just like that, thest piece is collected.'' Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#.-sanbi-3_51433314191474070">#.-sanbi-3_51433314191474070</a> for visiting.

 Chapter 138 - Ch138. Kazekages return

    <h4>Chapter 138 - Ch138. Kazekage''s return</h4>

    Rasa returned from the Kage Summit where he signed the worthless piece of paper called the Peace Treaty. Honestly, he didn''t really know what actually was the purpose of the doc.u.ment except for being an agreement for the official end of the war.

    Sure, it had a few stiptions here and there but frankly, Rasa didn''t even remember what exactly these stated since nobody really could enforce them, hence they were not worth remembering. He was sure that Kumo would breach it in three to five years tops without even knowing they did it. After all, the new Raikage looked young and brash, and worse yet, he looked driven to strengthen Kumo at all cost.

    Rasa secretly heard him yelling threats at the Mizukage while asking for the heads of every ninja who participated in the mission that resulted in the death of his fiancee. Needless to say, the Mizukage just smiled with amus.e.m.e.nt at the young brute.

    Rasa was just d Suna was far away from Kumo so he would not be forced to deal with the man much.

    Crossing thest sand dune, Rasa finally spotted his beloved Sunagakure... and promptly froze.

    "Oi, Baki... is that mist?" He asked in disbelief.

    "That is mist, my Lord." Baki nodded, not knowing what else to add.

    "But... shit!" Rasa cursed and instantly sped up towards the vige. ''Did the water-f.u.c.ker breach the treaty already!?''

    Fortunately for Suna, the Mizukage had no interest in them.

    The visit from Yozora happened two days ago but there was still an enormous amount of water all around constantly in the process of vaporizing. The entire Sunagakure was veiled in a thin cover of water vapor.

    Rasa didn''t even look at the guards standing at the sides of the corridor in the sand wall. He just ran forward, passing the bewildered chunins at a speed they could not follow.

    ''Why are chunin guarding the gate when they can''t even intercept someone at jonin level speed?'' Rasa idly thought but it was quickly squashed as he finally entered Sunagakure.

    He stared in bewilderment at the houses made of hardened sand soaked in water, some of them partially dissolved. The buildings in Suna depended on the environment where rain never happened. This new... flood or whatever it was, destroyed quite a bit of building and the damages... oh the damage! Suna looked half-buried in sand and half-flooded by water! Even now the Kazekage was actually ankle-deep in the water.

    "What the heck happened to my vige!?" He screamed with wide eyes.

    "Oh, Lord Kazekage," One passing jonin saw him and jumped in front of him, taking a kneeling position before slightly frowning due to having to kneel in the water. "Er... we survived a storm? I have no idea but the sensor ninjas are saying it was natural. Pakura however says it was not and that she briefly fought the enemy. She was found passed out on the top of the Kazekage Tower with what the Council believes is a ''message'' from those who attacked us."

    ''Pakura?'' Rasa''s eyes narrowed but nodded the ninja to lead the way.

    He really didn''t like that woman. Always criticizing his decisions, saying what she thought would be a better decision. Worse yet, since she became the ''Hero of Suna'' in the war, she actually had some support in the Council and that was that. Maybe her advice had merit but couldn''t she give them in private so he won''t be publically undermined? Nope, he really didn''t like that woman.

    The Kazekage arrived at Pakura''s room in the hospital and saw her sitting in the bed, giving orders to a few jonin which only soured his mood.

    "Jonin Pakura, who gave you the right tomand my forces?" He coldly asked the bedridden woman.

    "Oh, Lord Kazekage," Pakura smiled. "Councilor Saruna gave me themand since this situation is non-standard." She informed him indifferently. "I started with having our ninjas help with getting rid of the water and the repairs of the half-copsed buildings."

    ''Our forces? F.u.c.k.i.n.g Saruna! I gave her themand because I knew she would not under any circ.u.mstances pass it to someone else!'' Rasa inwardly cursed while his face stayed impassive. He clearly miscalcted and the second there was a problem, Saruna passed themand to someone else in order to not be med if she did anything wrong.

    "I see..." He jerked his head down, trying to pass it as a nod. "Then could you describe what exactly happened?"

    "Yes, sir. Two days ago, a heavy storm impacted Sunagakure. I quickly asked for the help of our sensor ninjas who assured me it was natural. There wasn''t much I could do about it in that case so I started trying to vaporize the water with my Scorch in order to prevent the vige from beingpletely flooded. Sometime during this action, I realized that if this was not really a natural urrence, the enemy would most likely aim for the treasury. The rain was too thick and themunication with others waspletely cut so I risked it and went alone." Pakura stopped her droning out how the events happened and grimaced. "I... it was the guy who was hired by you to help us get past the Iwa border outpost. The Yozora..." She trailed off, knowing this information didn''t look well for the Kazekage. It might not mean much but it has certainly shown a bit of ipetence on his part.

    Rasa bristled at that. The political situation in Suna didn''t look all that well for him. He and Pakura''s supporters were in direct opposition. Funnily enough, Pakura herself didn''t give any indication of being interested in the position but that didn''t mean anything since she was the only ninja capable of facing him in the vige. This entire thing just proved she was morepetent than him and he didn''t like it. He could already see some councilmen harping at him for months, uncaring he was not present during the attack.

    "What of the Biri-Biri representatives?" He asked. It was them who rmended Yozora so...

    "I have had them interrogated. There was no real need for anything serious in that regard since they were very cooperative. We have information of what exactly Yozora is," Pakura gestured towards the table where the report lied. "I must say... I was taken down by one Jutsu. I... I have no idea how to even start thinking of fighting that monster." She quietly added, lowering her head.

    The room suddenly descended into silence as the Kazekage took the doc.u.ment and read through it. The present ninjas were all jonin-ranked and seeing one of their strongest say she had no chance... it didn''t bode well for them. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#.-kazekage''s-return_51451356527001425">#.-kazekage''s-return_51451356527001425</a> for visiting.

    ''Rei of Kiri? SS-rank? What the f.u.c.k is somebody like that attacking Suna for? ording to this report, nothing was stolen too despite him being in the treasury.'' Rasa read through the doc.u.ment and sighed in relief, ''At least the seals in the treasury worked and nothing was destroyed despite the snow covering everything... Seriously, snow? In the desert? What the f.u.c.k is that guy? At this rate, we can write him off as a natural disaster instead of a ninja!''

    Rasa nced at Pakura and his eyes gleamed. ''Maybe I could?''

    "I see... this is troubling. Jonin Pakura, what is the extent of your injuries?" He asked.

    Pakura shook herself from her sullen mood and raised her head to look at the Kazekage. "I have many cracked bones, torn muscles, and... I was half-frozen when they brought me to the hospital. ording to the medics, I will stay in bed at least for a half-year followed by another half-year of retraining myself to get back into shape."

    "Very well. Job well done, Jonin Pakura." Rasa nodded before turning around and walking away with the report on Yozora. Despite his stern face, he was inwardly grinning.

    ''Looks like luck is on my side! I was talking with the Mizukage about how we could help each other out but to think a Kiri nuke-nin would attack Suna...!''

    Rasa was almost skipping with tion. He couldn''t just assassinate Pakura. He needed a good reason to get rid of her. After all, the Daimyo liked the woman. Rasa even tried to find out if she pulled kunoichi on the old decrepit fool but apparently there was no hanky-panky between the two. But because of this connexion, Rasa needed to get rid of Pakura quietly and legally. He was aware it would considerably weaken Suna but the woman was too dangerous to him. Daimyo''s support, many supporters in the council and among ns, moreover fame and being liked by the general popce and non-n shinobi? It was as if the woman was aiming to be the Kazekage.

    The saddest part was, she didn''t even realize her actions were threatening Rasa, causing him to think of a way to be rid of her.

    ''I thought it would take years to send her on her way but this... this made it all so much easier! I have to send somebodypetent to Kiri, after all. I just hope the Mizukage won''t ask for too much for this help since I will be providing him with a quality bloodline breeding sow.''

    As such, Pakura''s fate as an ''emissary'' to Kirigakure was already sealed, a year before she even recovered.

 Chapter 139 - Ch139. A leisure morning

    <h4>Chapter 139 - Ch139. A leisure morning</h4>

    It was morning, almost a month after the end of the war and Rei sat behind the kitchen table in his newly built house in the Uzushio, trying to doodle seals in the middle of the circle made of nine paper tags with samples of all of the bijuu. Seriously, it was a strenuous job and he was at it for quite a while now.

    ''The things I do for my girls.'' Rei sniffed and wiped an imaginary tear before his face split in a shit-eating wide grin. ''But damn, having a personal Bijuu will be so worth spending the time on it!''

    Suddenly n.a.k.e.d Tsunade groggily walked into the kitchen, yawning while pressing the bedsheets to her b.r.e.a.s.ts. Rei looked at her and smiled.

    "Already awake? I thought it would take you more to recover." He cheekily stated, making Tsunade roll her eyes as she approached him and tenderly pecked his lips.

    "I am Senju. If anything, stamina is my good point." Tsunade nuzzled her head into the crook of Rei''s neck while sleepily pulling her body into hisp. "Yesterday''s ''celebration'' took a whole lot out of even me, however. I doubt Konan will be up before noon. As for Ringo and Mei... er, I doubt they will walk today. Seriously, what the heck was Vibration Style. To think you can handle all four of us." Tsunade mock-red at Rei with a sullen pout.

    ''Senjutsu for the win!'' Rei''s lips twitched in amus.e.m.e.nt. "Shush. If I remember correctly, it was mostly you who..."

    Rei was interrupted when Tsunade pressed her lips to his again.

    "What happened in the bedroom stays in the bedroom." Tsunade whispered while giving him a warning look, causing Rei to give her an amused epting hum as his hands sn.a.k.e.d around her waist and pulled her n.a.k.e.d body closer into his chest, only the thin bedsheet and Rei''s clothes separating them, before surprising her with a sudden make-out session as he stuck his tongue into her mouth, causing Tsunade''s arms to lock behind his neck and press his head more into hers. She really missed these kinds of mornings during her time in Konoha...

    After five minutes they separated, a trail of saliva still connecting their mouths as their infatuated eyes stared at each other. Tsunade was starting to get increasingly aware of Rei''s hands tenderly rubbing her sides while Rei enjoyed how Tsunade''s fingers lovingly yed with his har.

    Their lips again met, this time in a quick peck as a loud growl of Tsunade''s stomach interrupted them, creating an awkward silence between the two lovers.

    "Ah... I-, I am going to get you something to eat." Rei said after a while, making the embarrassed Tsunade stand and relocate to the chair next to Rei''s one, letting him go to prepare her breakfast.

    ''And here I really wanted him to bend me over the table.'' Tsunade sullenlyid her head on the table, pouting while letting the bedsheet covering her fall on the ground.

    When Rei came back to the table after five minutes, he wasn''t really surprised that Tsunade was n.a.k.e.d. In the past month since she came back from Konoha to permanently stay with him, they had s.e.x almost on daily basis so sitting next to her n.a.k.e.d form didn''t really do anything to his focus anymore.

    He sat into his previous ce while cing the te with sandwiches and some bacon in front of Tsunade. With a barely restrained smile, Rei watched as Tsunade whose eyes were already closed as sheid on the table, first started cutely sniffing with her nose. Once... twice... thrice, before she was scrunching it and subconsciously leaning her head closer towards the food he prepared. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#.-a-leisure-morning_51464059161206664">#.-a-leisure-morning_51464059161206664</a> for visiting.

    "I swear, your food should be banned as a very potent addictive drug." Tsunade huffed and raised her upper body from the table with an annoyed groan mixing with a delightful m.o.a.n before she started eating and Rei turned back to his little sealing project, enjoying asional satisfied sighs from Tsunade.

    "By the way, Konan''s clone dropped off the reactions of the various viges to our little Bijuu chakra gathering a month ago." Rei started after he saw with the corner of his eye that Tsunade was finished with eating and was now just licking the tips of her fingers like azy cat.

    "So~?" She drawled. "Why would their reaction even matter?" Sheid back onto the table with a content sigh, causing a small blush on Rei''s cheeks when he saw how her b.r.e.a.s.ts squished against the table. Needless to say, Tsunade''s content smile only widened at his reaction and her eyes mischievously sparkled but she kept herself frommenting.

    "It matters a lot, really. The Kazekage, for example, decided to get rid of Pakura sooner than expected." Rei said not raising his head from his sealing project.

    "Hm~, so this Pakura will be our new sister?" Tsunade asked, a bit interested. No matter that it grated at her pride and she promised to get more stamina, yesterday Rei f.u.c.k.i.e.d all four of them to the ground so she naturally weed another addition to their family, pride be damned.

    Rei shrugged. "I like the girl. No... I like her a lot. Unique bloodline, a mastery at kunai-handling that could potentially rival even Ringo''s sword skills. She was a solid S-rank ninja for years. Plus I already made my preparations. The rest depends on her. If she is willing, then yes, she will be one of your sisters, thest one of them, in fact. I don''t intend to breach the number five, mind you." Rei hummed while erasing the entire left side of the seal with a frown as he understood the foundation was fundamentally wed.

    "Last one..." Tsunade muttered under her nose before sighing dejectedly. ''Yup, definitely have to step up my stamina training and potentially pull the girls through it too if Rei decides to refuse taking more than five girls. Damn, such a pain!'' She huffed before refocusing on the important stuff to get her current predicament out of her mind. "What about the other Hidden Viges?"

    Rei shed Tsunade a knowing smile before turning back to his seals. "Well, the Raikage actually made us the public enemy number one when he saw the message in the training field where Nibi Jinchuuriki usually trained. I heard his pissed half-scowl, half-snarl, an exaggeratedly twitching left eyebrow, and hriously twitching chest from anger was a quite ridiculous sight." He lightlymented and Tsunade snorted at the mental image. "Oh, and his hair supposedly stood up from how ''shocked'' he was too." Rei added, causing Tsunade to be unable to hold it in as she started openly snickering.

    "I can see how that information matters." Shemented between her snickers.

    "Then there is the Mizukage..." Rei continued, "Fortunately for us, Ringo was not seen so he has no idea it was us who infiltrated the cave which helped the girl run. She still died by impaling herself on her teammates lightning Juts-"

    "Chidori," Tsunade nodded, "It was a shocker when I heard the Namikaze brag about the new technique of the Hatake brat." Rei smiled, knowing what would follow. "And it was even better when I tantly told the cheerful idiot that I saw it used by Kiri ninja years ago when he tried to register it as an A-rank original in front of the Council. The Hatake brat was so furious and even the good-natured Minato red at me!" She merrilyughed at the memory. "Though their protests quickly quieted down when I used Chidori in front of the whole council, my eyebrow smugly raised at them. It is a known fact that lightning is not my nature and I never really met with neither Minato or Kakashi so they could not teach me the technique."

    "Let me guess, you told them you thought it looked cool so you learned it." Rei chuckled.

    "Exactly." Tsunade beamed. "Poor Kakashi didn''t get his original move."

    Both shared a smallugh at that before Rei calmed down and continued with telling her what Konan''s spywork found out.

    "Iwa has no idea anything ever happened to their jinchuuriki. The gender-confused guy must have been quite embarrassed at what happened to him," Tsunade smiled, "and Konoha... well, the blondie is neck-deep in paperwork while two of his students are dead, and another is depressed and he has no time to really juggle between his new position, his newly pregnant wife, and hisst remaining student. I doubt he expected so much stress when he took up the hat. He probably didn''t expect shit thrown at him byzy civilians who just slide their own paperwork to him instead of doing it themselves either." Rei shrugged.

    There was a reason why he vehemently avoided any position of power in Kiri. Sure, his status as secretly pending nuke-nin was one but he actually wanted to avoid being pulled into the political games and siding with one or the other side. Minato was currently between rock and hard ce since wealthy civilians wanted the civilian council to stay even after the war ended, the n heads wanted it to end, and the advisors didn''t get swapped yet due to Minato not having enough time to consider their substitutes. So far, the councilors wanted the civilian council to stay but that was more due to personal... gains, rather than for the good of the vige.

    Surprisingly, the Hokage''s paperwork actually only increased since the establishment of the civilian council despite its main function was to lessen the bureaucratic burden on the leader.

    ''Sad thing... bing the big honcho. A truly sad fate, being unable to push work on somebody else.'' Rei gently shook his head, spotting that Tsunade actually fell asleep. He formed a chakra string and pulled the bedsheet from the ground, putting it over her shoulders while using Chakra Sealing Method to channel Temperature Seals on the bedsheet to make sure Tsunade is warm and won''t catch a cold. As he watched at her content smile as she slept, Rei sighed.

    In the end, everything he did was worth it if he could enjoy and share his happiness with his girls.

    ---

    Author Note:

    Yeah, sorry, I was really between making lemon with Mei and Ringo but then I decided against it. There might be some teasing R-18 scenes with themter on but I won''t do full-blown lemon.

 Chapter 140 - Ch140. Training 1

    <h4>Chapter 140 - Ch140. Training 1</h4>

    Rei leisurely sat on the porch of his mansion in the Uzushio, contently watching Mei and Ringo spar with weapons while hordes of his clones were rebuilding the vige. He especially loved Mei''s sullen exasperation at the bored andpletely almost half-asleep look on Ringo''s face.

    "Well, at least we know Mei will not be a swordsman." Rei chuckled, sipping the tea Konan prepared for him.

    "I guess... It is quite amusing how she is iling her tanto around like a petnt child." Konan who sat next to Rei shook her head. "Then again, pitting her against someone as skilled in kenjutsu as Ringo is not providing a very beginner-friendly learning environment."

    "She is certainly not giving up though." Rei quipped.

    "You know she is taking it as a way to bolster her stamina?" Konan barely restrained herself from grinning. "She at first tried to follow Tsunade in her suicide physical training but..." She amusedly snorted, "she didn''tst for three hours."

    "As if yousted more than six." Rei rolled his eyes, enjoying Konan''s huff.

    "Not my problem she literally breaks, heals, rebreaks, and re-heals her body as she infuses chakra and healing chakra into her muscles, bones, and organs while she is in Sennin Mode, her body brimming with senjutsu chakra. It can''t be called training. It''s more of a self-torture. I doubt any Interrogation squad would be able to break anyone who manages to get through five hours of that no matter their method. The feeling of having your muscles slowly pulled from your bones is frankly disgusting only surpassed by having your beating heart being repeatedly squeezed enough to constantly damage it while she pumps healing and senjutsu chakra through it." Konan shuddered, rubbing a spot on her ribcage, "I am telling you Tsunade is crazy. We should never give her a Kaguya to y with. It made her bat shit insane! The best part? She with a gleefully grinning expression told us she can not provide us with any pain-numbing drugs or Jutsu so we should just suck it up and take it as pain tolerance training. How f.u.c.k.i.e.d up is that!?" Konan was almost hyperventting as she finished her rant. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#.-training-1_51494142185889801">#.-training-1_51494142185889801</a> for visiting.

    Needless to say, even Rei was surprised at Konan''s outburst. ''I guess there is a first for everything, eh?'' He thought as silence fell on the two of them, only the sounds of Konan''s quickened breathing and the background noise of Mei and Ringo''s fight interrupting it. Rei stared at blushing Konan in disbelief as she averted her face to avoid his gaze before he started loudlyughing. "So there really exists something that can break even yourposure, eh, Konan!"

    "I would like to see your reaction when she cuts you open and sticks her hand through the cut into your body before proceeding to grope your organs." Konan sullenly sniffed.

    "Nobody told you to join her training." Rei shrugged uncaringly.

    "You really have no care in the world, do you? She can kill herself by doing that." Konan sighed and Rei grew silent for a moment. It was only his serious look that prevented Konan from saying anything else.

    "I can understand Tsunade and her reasons for doing it." Rei told Konan with a rueful smile. "She is jealous, you see." He saw Konan was about to interrupt but he just took hold of her hand and squeezed it, signalling for her to listen, "You have your paper Jutsu which is disgustingly overpowered if applied in a correct way. You can throw meteorites made of earth-chakra-hardened paper willy-nilly, Konan. Leveling a vige is not really a problem for you. Then there is Mei who has her own two bloodlines with even more destructive power than yours. Do you really not see how that could make Tsunade feel a bit useless and jealous of you?"

    "Jealous? Why? She has Wood Release and Shikotsumyaku." Konan tilted her head.

    "You and I have Wood Release too. That really doesn''t count. As for Shikotsumyaku... that is exactly why she is undergoing such brutal training. If there is one thing Tsunade is proud of, it is not her Wood Release, Sennin Mode, or her medical knowledge. She is proud of her ability as a physical fighter because that is seriously the only thing she is excelling in between the three of you."

    Tsunade could not passively strengthen her body with Nature Energy like Rei did every day almost all day. Honestly, take away all the ninjutsu variants with Nature energy from Rei, he would still have an incredibly powerful body after almost over a decade of using that method. His way of strengthening it was gradual and took a lot of time but he could honestly overpower Tsunade in Sennin Mode.

    Tsunade actually approached Rei before she started with her insane body training. The punch line of every body strengthening technique using chakra or any energy was ording to her repeated breaking of the cells while recreating them stronger as chakra nourished them. This way, the body gradually became stronger. Hence, Tsunade decided to... quicken the process.

    "She is the best medic ninja in the world. She knows her limits and won''t go beyond them nor will she cripple herself. The stronger her body bes, the easier and safer it will be for her to use the Shikotsumyaku. That bloodline is really twisted. There are adverse effects of using it and a whole lot of problems. And while most of those are negated by her Senju physique Tsunade requires a strong body to use Shikotsumyaku without much of a strain. Actually, nobody but she could use it to its best capacity since any internal injury, no matter how small, caused by using that bloodline she will discover and heal thanks to her vast medical experience. Tsunade is actually building herself into the juggernaut of the team, you know?" Rei said,pletely trusting that Tsunade knew what she was doing.

    Rei was really a bit curious about the limits of the Shikotsumyaku when used by a Senjutsu user with a ridiculously strong physical body. She wouldn''t even need to use it outwardly. Just ting her organs and the inward side of the skin in internal bone armor would make her incredibly hard to injure considering that the Shikotsumyaku makes the bones way denser than normal and with the addition of chakra... it was as if she wore te mail made from chakra metal under her skin.

    "You didn''t mention Ringo..." Konan tried to change the topic as it grew a bit ufortable. She didn''t want to question Tsunade''s capabilities as a medic but her methods... Konan really didn''t like seeing Tsunade suffer because of her damn pride.

    "I doubt Tsunade counts Ringo as important enough to care about her as she cares for you and Mei. It will take a lot of time until that happens. Plus Ringo is weak for now and her specialty is clearly tracking and swords. No real world-breaking bloodline to speak of either." Rei hummed and Konan nodded in understanding.

    "I see. She does have a long way to match even Mei..." She said, her eyes straying towards the redhead who was boredly deflecting Mei''s wayward shes. Konan really didn''t think Ringo could survive Mei for longer than three minutes if the girl tried to really kill her. After all, it was Konan and Rei who trained her and they put a whole lot more effort into it than when they trained Ringo. Mei was, in the end, loyal only to them since the start.

    "Not really, I saw some of her ideas and I can tell that Mei would really have to step up her game if she wanted to stay above Ringo inbat power." Rei''s eyes sparkled with excitement, "Despite everything, when ites to lighting release, Ringo is a genius and she indeed deserves praise. Her newest technique is frankly mind-blowing."

    Konan just raised her eyebrow at him in a questioning way which made Rei frown a bit.

    "Don''t give me that look. I was really, really surprised when I saw what she came up with and while we kept it a secret, my clones helped her with the technique for three months already. She is almost finished with it. Honestly, it can probably make herpletely impervious to Mei''s mist," Rei gleefully smirked, "and I can''t wait to see what face will the pipsqueak pull when she realizes it!"

    Konan slightly smiled and shook her head before her eyesnded once again on the petite sword-wielding redhead, her opinion of her slightly changing. ''Maybe... I am a bit too harsh on Ringo? Maybe I am still underestimating her.''

 Chapter 141 - Ch141. Training 2

    <h4>Chapter 141 - Ch141. Training 2</h4>

    Both Konan and Rei watched Mei and Ringo in silence, Rei leisurely enjoying their sword fight, in which Mei was grossly outmatched, while Konan observed only Ringo and her movements. She was not interested in the farce of a fight whatsoever.

    Slowly, Konan''s discerning eyes started widening as she spotted what she previously didn''t even bother noticing.

    ''Her style changed?'' Konan pursed her lips in concentration. ''Indeed... it did change!'' She frowned, ''Ringo became slower? No... she stopped dodging. Why would she...'' Konan narrowed her eyes. Someone who didn''t intimately know Ringo''s fighting style would not catch up on it but Konan had trained the redhead! If anyone knew how Ringo fought, it would be her. ''She no longer dodges everything. She fights as if she was heavily armored and most of her opponent''s attacks didn''t even matter.''

    Rei smirked as he saw the focused look on Konan''s face with the corner of his eye. He quickly understood that Konan noticed. Ringo''s style simply became more reckless. Blows that she would previously in no way let even graze her, the weakest but dangerous ones, now ever-so-slightly scr.a.p.ed her. She still tried to evade but... Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#.-training-2_51501789643589827">#.-training-2_51501789643589827</a> for visiting.

    ''The new technique of Ringo is a game-changer for her and I made sure the girl understood it.'' Rei thought while merrily shaking his head. ''I really look forward to when she is finallyfortable testing it in a real fight.''

    Just then groggy Yugito walked out of the house, rubbing her eyes and stretching like a cat.

    "Good morning." She mumbled, just loud enough to be heard.

    "O~, Yugi-chan, finally awake?" Rei teased while gesturing towards the spot next to him, causing the girl to happily nod and sit where he told her to.

    "As if you didn''t know I woke up..." Yugito cheekily puffed out her cheeks. The month she spent with Rei and his girls really improved her overly serious nature and she became more yful, truer to her feelings. She was no longer wary whenever Rei was around.

    A secondter, Rei''s clone stepped outside with a trail of scrambled eggs, toasts, and two fishes for the resident cat. Naturally, it started to prepare breakfast the second she woke up since Rei had the entire ce covered in various seals, among which, various detection seals were quitemon.

    Yugito''s expression brightened like the sun when she saw the trail with breakfast, and especially the fishes. Rei proudly chuckled when he heard her audibly gulp her saliva down. The girl was getting quite used to his cooking.

    Without even waiting, Yugito started chomping on the fish first. "Yes, yes... eat up, kitty. Mei wanted to start your training today. You will need all the energy you could muster." Rei shrewdly grinned. He knew what Mei prepared and honestly, Nibi Jinchuuriki or not, he was pitying the girl.

    ''Maybe I should teach Mei somemon sense when ites to instructing others? ... Nah, practice is better than a thousand words. Sorry, Yugito, your sacrifice will not be in vain!'' His lips slightly twitched which was noticed only by Konan who hid her silent snickers behind the sleeve of her purplish-ck kimono.

    Yugito started choking on her food, clearly wanting to say something in return if her narrowed re was an indication but Konan spoke first. "Well, I think you should stretch before Mei is able to get you in her care. Anyway, Rei, you promised me a sparring match yesterday. Still up for it?" She leaned closer towards him and kissed his cheeks with an expectant expression, making Rei''s eyebrow twitch.

    In the end, he sighed and relented. He knew there was no avoiding it. ''She clearly knows I hate fighting her because it is so hard to hit her. Why the heck did she have toe to enjoy sparring against me? It is pure torture chasing her all over the field! Damned Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, I clearly remember she got this bad habit of enjoying making her opponents irritated when she started sparring against them with her clones while she hid in the treetops, snacking on sweets as they made fools of themselves.''

    Rei stood up, resigned to his fate, and followed excitedly skipping Konan to the nearby empty training field while leaving Yugito to her much needed breakfast.

    Unfortunately for him, there was no member of the Seven Swordsmen present so it was him who had to suffer. Needless to say, his desire for Ringo''s new Jutsu to be showcased and Tsunade''s power-up was not entirely without any ulterior motives. He desperately needed a new ''y-mate'' for Konan!

    ''Maybe I should fetch Kisameter on?''

    ...

    "This is pure bullshit." Yugito subconsciously muttered as she watched the fight between Rei and Konan. Yes... fight. It was not a sparring match. Not when both threw around assuredly lethal moves! "What kind of madmen did I agree to join?" She drylyughed.

    Most of the time, the only thing Yugito could see was blue lightning shes and a flurry of paper slices. She couldn''t even hear the sound of fighting as the sound of static deafened her and more often than not, she had to cover her eyes from the ferocious winds generated from the exchange. She got only glimpses. Glimpses of severed limbs andˇ­ Well, she now really didn''t look forward to the training Mei prepared for her if this was any indication.

    ''This... isn''t that simr to the Raikage''s speed!?'' Yugito mentally screamed.

    In the field, Rei, holding his chokuto, zapped from one ce to another, cutting Konan''s limbs, piercing her heart, decapitating her... only for the blood to sprout the second he shed through her flesh. Then a secondter, the blood burst into uncountable red paper slices as her body changed to variously colored paper slices.

    By that time, however, Rei was already exchanging blows with yet another Konan who attacked him a split second after he scored a hit on the previous one.

    ''Hagoromo, have mercy on my soul!'' Rei whined.

    ''IT,'' He cut of Konan''s hand, ''JUST,'' He turned around and pierced the head of the Konan that appeared behind him right through her eyeball, ''NEVER,'' He kicked the body away, getting his sword free out of her head and fluidly shing towards the right, slitting the throat of the next Konan, ''ENDS!'' He kicked behind himself, hitting the knee of the next Konan, unbncing her while he heaved the sword up and brought it down on her in a downward sh, bisecting her.

    The entire surrounding was now just a flurry of paper, forcing Rei to saturate his body with lighting chakra and bolt away from there in order to avoid being caught in them.

    This repeated again and again and again... for the next hour.

    ''7150, 7151, 7152, 7153...'' Rei counted.

    "How many freaking times do I have to almost kill you until you are satisfied, Konan? It''s been an hour already!" He stopped, lowering his sword and Konan appeared in a flurry of paper four meters in front of him, totally fine in pristine condition.

    "I take it, you like my newest masterpiece." She said with a very rare full-blown content smile on her face, making Rei scowl.

    "Only you could create such aplicated yet perverted thing from a foundation made on most basic Jutsu. It''s damn annoying!" Rei huffed, ring at the woman who giggled, making him involuntarily smile.

    ''Why is it only during these moments when I ampletely irritated that she forgets her facade? Not cute at all...'' Rei hummed, also slightly smiling without even realizing it.

    "So? Did you see through my newest Origami Technique?" Konan proudly asked.

    "Are you really going to call it Origami Technique?" Rei asked in disbelief but Konan just yfully shrugged.

    "That is a very big part of it, after all." She innocently blinked at Rei''s fed-up yet piercing and using stare.

    In the end, Rei had to admit his defeat and sighed. "Fine. Whatever." He grumbled.

    "So~, my technique?" Konan tilted her head with a small coy smile, causing Rei to stop his grumbling and snort in derision.

    "What technique?" He asked with thick sarcasm covering his tone, "All you do is Kawarimi right before you are hit with a singr slip of paper while activating the storage seal on that paper which pops in a paper clone mid-Kawarimi. There is that henge sustained by the clone itself that makes it seem as if my attack really hit you and blood actually spurted out before the clone dissolves back into paper slices a secondter. All you do is use Clone Technique, Kawarimi, and Henge." Rei wanted to scream. "So why the f.u.c.k is it so hard to freaking hit you! What is this bullshit! You didn''t even try to dodge! You didn''t take even one step during the entire fight! Kawarimi, Kawarimi, Kawarimi! The f.u.c.k is that shit!?" He raged.

    Konan just heartilyughed at his outburst with a teasing look. "Cool, isn''t it?"

    "Cool my ass..." Rei whispered under his nose. He was moving at solid Raikage-level speed when the guy was using his Lighting Armor and yet... despite his senses being enhanced, even he couldn''t spot the moment when she substituted herself with the paper.

    ''To think her Origami would reach such a level. She is a monster, no doubt. At this rate, there is no way to win against her without arge massively destructive area of effect Jutsu. The way she used Henge to actually simte blood and gore while she transfers herself to her opponent''s blind spot and attacks while he is distracted due to scoring the hit. That''s outright nasty. I can see how most shinobi could fall for that. Everyone stops for a millisecond if their enemy doesn''t dodge an obvious attack they are certainly capable of evading. Whether they want or not, their brain starts to think about whys and... that momentary pause is when she strikes from behind. It would take some serious battle and danger instincts or high sensory ability to react to that.''

    Rei''s eyes gleamed with happiness despite his sullen appearance. He was naturally d Konan was getting even stronger.

    Rei sighed to calm himself down and decided to indulge Konan who had this ''praise me'' shine in her eyes. "I must admit," He shook his head in disbelief, "the way you fluidly connected the three basic aspects of shinobi arts into a singr technique and made it into something like this..."

    There was a reason why the basic three Jutsu were... well, basic. The Henge was an introduction to the lowest level Genjutsu. The Basic Clones were also supposed to be Genjutsu aimed technique but their purpose was to make sure the students have at least basic chakra control. And Kawarimi was a preparation for ninjutsu. One just stretched his chakra, connecting it with a thing they wanted to swap with and well, then swapped. This meant it was not teleportation. Just chakra maniption.

    As Konan demonstrated, she could swap with any of her uncountable paper slips since they all contained some of her chakra. It was basically a teleportation technique in her hands since she didn''t need to reach with her chakra. The entire thing barely cost her anything and she could probably do it with her eyes closed for an entire week without a single break.

    ''How broken Jutsu...'' Rei inwardly chuckled and walked towards Konan and with a gentle smile, he lovingly rubbed her head while tenderly hugging her. "Good job, honey."

 Chapter 142 - Ch142. Meis idea of training

    <h4>Chapter 142 - Ch142. Mei''s idea of training</h4>

    Konan and Rei finished with their sparring match and alongside still bbergasted Yugito, they went towards the training ground where Mei prepared something special for her kitty charge.

    The second Yugito showed her face, excited Mei dragged her towards the middle of an... obstacle course if it still could be called that. Rei could somewhat see parts of the obstacle course used to train ANBU ramped up to insanity levels. Lethal traps, maiming traps, and worse yet...

    ''So this is why Mei wanted those area-effective chakra constricting seals, gravity-heightening seals, and water-like environment simting seals.'' Rei thought with a sweatdrop as his throat went dry.

    ''And they say my training methods are brutal.'' Konan mentally deadpanned at the clueless Mei. She couldn''t help but feel proud.

    ''Does she want to kill me?'' Yugito did the clever thing and fearfully took a step back. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#.-mei''s-idea-of-training_51530625248718026">#.-mei''s-idea-of-training_51530625248718026</a> for visiting.

    "This," Mei proudly gestured towards the huge death trap she prepared, "is my masterpiece! As the Jinchuuriki of the Nibi, you are naturally nimble and agile so training those aspects is a must!" She eximed with twinkling eyes, making everyone''s face twitch. "So I asked myself, ''Hey, Mei, how could we help Yugi-chan?'' and the answer was obvious! Obstacle course!"

    "Uh... M-Mei...s-sensei?" Yugito asked unsurely, looking at the obstacle course. "A-And the corpses around?" She pointed towards the bodies or parts of bodies still strewn all over the course.

    "Ah, that?" Mei dismissively waved her hand around, "Don''t worry. I just borrowed them for testing purposes!"

    Rei facepalmed.

    Konan approvingly snickered.

    Yugito gulped.

    Only now that she took a closer look did she notice... ''They are all B and A-ranked rogue ninjas from the Bingo Book. All of them are jonin level!'' She mentally freaked out.

    Not paying attention to the fidgeting blond Jinchuuriki next to her, Mei tilted her head in a pondering manner. "Though, I am not really sure why they all decided to take a permanent vacation from this realm after starting the obstacle course. The best of them didn''t even get half-way through..." Mei shook her head in disappointment. "Yare, yare."

    ''Permanent... vacation?'' Yugito took another step back. She didn''t need a permanent vacation from her living state. ''Maybe I should have stayed in Kumo...''

    "Mei," Rei butted in. "Maybe it would be prudent to shroud Yugito in your Steam Armor to ensure she is not fatally injured." Jinchuuriki or not, he didn''t see a twelve-year-old finishing even ten percent of the insane death sentence of an obstacle course Mei prepared. Not when experienced jonins apparently died, not getting past one-fourth of it.

    Mei looked a bit conflicted at making it easier for Yugito. She clearly had great expectations of the younger blonde but...

    "Mei," Konan gave the girl a meaningful but amused look, making her flinch and quickly nod in eptance. "Good girl." Konan smiled at Mei while inwardly she was facepalming. ''No matter how you look at it, with all those restrictive seals affecting the entire area of the obstacle course... even chunins would be reduced to civilians. Just the water-simting seal would make this almost impossible ordeal unless one had incredible body strength but...''

    Rei walked towards the two girls, wrapping his right arm around Mei''s shoulder to cheer her up while wrapping his left around Yugito''s to make her feel better. He felt there were things that just had to be said. After all, this was also training for Mei on how to train someone.

    "Mei you are expecting too much of Yugito. She is barely high genin to low chunin level right now. You can''tpare her to yourself when you were twelve. You were already training for years with us at such an age. Yugito didn''t have personal trainers. If you want to help her train, you gotta start slowly and be mindful of her needs. Not..." His voice turned awkward, "try to kill her with the first exercise."

    It took some persuasion but in the end, Mei relented to go easier... much easier on Yugito. Needless to say, the resident kitty-holder was ted at hearing her life was spared from having any restricting seals ced on her during the course and the fact her life was safeguarded by Mei''s Jutsu, Rei''s seals, and to give her a bit morefort, even Konan created full body underwear from her earth-chakra-hardened paper slices for the girl. Much to Yugito''s dismay, they didn''t have the heart to outright cancel it since Mei put her heart into preparing it.

    Half-hourter, Yugito stood in front of the entry point of the course, nervous as all hell while she felt up the invisible Steam Armor shrouding her. Seeing she needed encouragement, Mei walked closer to her and gave her a brief hug.

    "Yugi-chan..." She firmly addressed her. When she was sure she had Yugito''s full attention, her voice softened, "I know you had a very hard and sad upbringing. I had too. I remember every rock, punch, or kick thrown at me. The only advice I can give you is to not try to forget but remember and steel your resolve. Train so it can''t happen to you again. Train so nobody can treat you like trash again. I can give you training. I can teach you. But... it is you who needs to repeatedly break your limits. It will be painful and at times you will cry in hopelessness but trust me, it is worth it." Mei said with a gentle encouraging smile.

    ''A bit flimsy speech at cheering her up but it would do.'' Rei chuckled, shaking his head.

    ''How cringy.'' Konan who sat in Rei''sp slightly smiled and leaned her back into his chest. ''Then again... that might be exactly how she felt training under me and Rei.''

    They watched as Yugito gained a determined look and turned towards the obstacle course.

    And then, it started.

    Yugito ran inside, masterfully running through the first corridor which was riddled to the brim with projectile trap seals that spewed kunais when somebody was near them. She almost made it look easy.

    "Eh... She is actually using Surface Walking to run on the wall where the amount of trap seals is the lowest. At least we can be sure she can use her brain well." Konan pointedlymented, causing Mei to be a bit depressed when she remembered the numerous hours of Konan telling her she was doing cool-looking but moronic things.

    Yugito reached the second obstacle. Verticallyid poles in a sea of swirling fog that kept close to the ground. The half-melted slowly sizzling bodies in the fog gave Yugito a clear image of what would happen should she fall.

    With a gulp, she used all the nimbleness and dexterity of a cat she could muster in order to jump from pole to pole, trying to get through the obstacle as fast as possible. She stepped on the third pole... and discovered the room was not as simple as it first appeared.

    "Ah, gravity enhancing seals with an area of effect around the pole, isn''t it?" Konan asked, observing the panicky blonde as she almost fell into the melting fog.

    "Yup, some poles have none, others have seals with different gravity-scaling. This entire exercise is built to make her control her bnce at will and be ustomed to gravity or pressure shifts in the environment." Mei said, proud of herself toe up with it.

    "Look! She managed tond on the fourth pole!" Rei said, changing the topic.

    He was not about to discuss how asinine this entire exercise was. One misstep and you are in a melting mist. Yugito had to step on very small poles of various sizes. The smallest could fit only one tiptoe while thergest barely had ce for one and half of her small foot. Needless to say, the ones on the smaller side were moremon. She also needed to be capable of adjusting her gravity center in a split second to adjust to sudden gravity pressure change due to the seals. The only thing that was missing would be something to force Yugito to go quickly instead of her own pace. Now that would make the creator into one right asshole.

    Yugito was doing well, she noticed she had time to adjust so she jumped from pole to pole, taking at least five minutes to get used to the sudden gravity shift on each pole. Even those that didn''t have gravity seals were quite challenging since she was expecting the gravity shift and when it didn''te, she got unbnced. Many times did Rei think she would finally fall as she iled her hands, only her natural cat-like bnce saving her.

    Konan could see Mei getting excited as Yugito was about to jump from the tenth pole to the eleventh. She only managed one ''Uh-oh.'' before...

    Rei deadpanned, seeing the pole under Yugito fall down a second after shended on it, causing her to fall into the melting fog. Only the Steam Armor around her prevented the girl from being made into a mushy goo by the fog. Rei slowly turned his gaze towards Mei and gave her a dry look.

    "Really?" Now he understood why so many jonins died without evenpleting one-fourth of the course. It was the work of apletely sadistic bastard! The whole thing was made to be impossible to pass.

    "Yup. It wouldn''t be an obstacle course without proper traps to give her a bit of a push!" Mei brightly smiled before frowning. "But to think she would fail at the second obstacle out of twenty... You were right, Rei, Yugi-chan needs a more refined approach!"

    ''I am not gonna ask what exactly refined means. Clearly, Mei got her inspiration and training ideas from somewhere,'' He nced at amused Konan, ''Sorry, Yugito. It''s for your own benefit. This concerned observer is unable to ease your suffering!''

 Chapter 143 - Ch143. Practical Training 1

    <h4>Chapter 143 - Ch143. Practical Training 1</h4>

    Ringo stood in between a small man in green spandex with thick eyebrows and Konoha headband who was on his ass and the group of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

    "Well, well, I heard the Mizukage sent his seven best to cause some mayhem in the Land of Fire but to think you would be bullying..." Ringo nced at Duy and shuddered, "whatever that green creep is."

    "Ameyuri," Raiga Kurosuki sneered. "Shouldn''t you be hiding in some hole? Going rogue... bringing such a shame to the title of Kiba Wielder. I will enjoy making a funeral for you." He said, reminding others who was the woman in front of them. Funnily enough, half of them were new wielders. Capable but nothing like the ones in Mei''s generation.

    "Sparkling Shitstain, you can''t even handle your own little sword. Making this into a pissing contest? Seriously? Acting cool doesn''t suit you." Ringo rolled her eyes, ignoring his enraged spluttering, and drew the chakra des she received from Rei years ago, attracting the attention of the swordsmen. They naturally knew a quality de when they saw one. Ringo decided to indulge them. "These two have no names. Rei told me it is the swordsman who should be known, not the swords. While I might not wholly agree, I can see his reasoning. You all are nothing. You have no reputation by yourselves. You are known for the reputation of the weapons you wield. The reputation that was given to them by the feats of their past wielders." She slowly trailed her gaze on each of the seven in front of her, "But... you are not them."

    As someone who grew up on stories about the ''heroics'' of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Ringo was really disappointed by the current generation. They might not be weak and each of them is at the very least experienced A-rank ninja but...

    The war was very costly for Kirigakure. Especially the failed attack on the Land of Fire. Not to mention the viciousness of A after his fiancee died.

    Kirigakure ninjas were forced to invade the Land of Lightning because of the decision of the Council but A was putting his everything to ughter as many of them as humanly possible. Considering his Lightning Armor, he was doing pretty well for himself.

    Haruto Kurainare, the previous holder of Samehada from Ringo''s generation, died in the Land of Lightning. His squad was intercepted during one of their missions by Kiri hunting squad led by A himself. The man knew he could not win against A and his hunting squads. Even if he disregarded the tant disadvantage of being outnumbered one to five, his squad members were not trained ANBU like the Kiri ninjas.

    Haruto also knew he could not run either since A was much faster than him. So, Haruto chose the logical option. He gave Samehada to his squad and told them to run while he, holding an ordinary katana, stood his ground against A and all his hunting squads. The man actually managed to hold them all long enough for the Kiri ninjas to run away with Samehada. Without his sacrifice, Kiri would have lost one of its seven des that day.

    ''Compared to that...'' Ringo wryly looked at Fuguki Suikazan, the newest wielder of Samehada.

    She could see the man waspatible with the sword. If he were not, Samehada would not choose him. Butpatibility only meant he had high enough chakra reserves and his chakra was tasty enough for Samehada. Without the sword, the guy was a bitcking, to be honest. Ringo knew of him, and even now she asked Konan for intel about the wielders of the seven swords. Frankly, Fuguki depended too much on Samehada''s abilities in her opinion which made her respect for the guy drop.

    Samehada was overpowered. Even a total beginner genin-level swordsman could defeat a chunin-level opponent with the sword by just waving it recklessly. Hence, Ringo didn''t feel the need to respect Fuguki himself, rather than the de he was wielding.

    Her eyes trailed towards the wielder of Kubikiribocho Juzo Biwa, and she smiled. The man was a total asshole but Ringo couldn''t say he was not skilled.

    ''Mari, your sessor just might live up to your expectations.'' Ringo mentally noted with a small amount of relief.

    The previous owner of the Kubikiribocho, Mari, was the only other woman in the group in Ringo''s generation. She was vicious and fought for every single bit of infamy. In the third war, she, despite being only an A-rank ninja, killed at least one Konoha S-rank ninja, Uchiha no less, and twelve A-rank ones. Not to mention over fifty B-rank victims of her Silent Killing. Out of all of the members of the seven, it was Mari who dealt the biggest damage to the enemy forces. The woman was one hell of a battlefield assassin.

    Honestly, Ringo would even go as far as saying the woman created the Silent Killing method. Sure, the previous owners did use Kirigakure no Jutsu in tandem with the sword but it was Mari who improved it to such a degree that it actually became an art of killing.

    ''Mari always said that there is just something magical about assassinating people with a big-ass cleaver.'' Ringo inwardly chuckled, full of mirth.

    Unfortunately, Mari died in the failed attempt to invade the Land of Fire.

    Kubikiribocho was one of the ''unimpressive'' swords. Its ability was not overpowered. Drinking blood to repair itself? Bah...

    But that only meant the wielders of the de had to be that much better skill-wise. ''And hungry for fame.'' Ringo grinned at the obvious desire to prove himself in Juzo''s eyes.

    Kubikiribocho was weakpared to the abilities of other swords. Hence, its wielders always aimed to make it more and more known. Make it taste more and more blood. With Juzo... Ringo was satisfied.

    ''Yup, that guy is so not getting killed today.''

    Then her gaze fell onto thest member of the current generation of the seven who was worth her attention. To her eternal irritation, it was the wielder of Kiba des, Raiga Kurosuki, or as she dubbed him, the Shitstain.

    ''How I would love to kill him...'' Ringo seethed, ''But Rei wants him to live.''

    It took quite a bit of persuasion for Rei to make Ringo promise him she would not kill Raiga. After all, Rei was not omnipresent, much less omnipotent. If the guy survived, there was a chance he would end up meeting the kid with strange dojutsu again and Rei was mildly interested in the kid. As for Raiga? Rei didn''t care about the guy! He was only a convenient tool to find the crippled kid with dojutsu, whatever he was called.

    ''Well, the surroundings are slippery and my hand could always slip and cripple the bastard.'' Ringo offhandedly hummed.

    Thest four... Jinin Akebino, the wielder of Kabutowari, Jinpachi Munashi, the wielder of Shibuki, Kushimaru Kuriarare, the wielder of Nuibari, and Arata Haruna, the wielder of Hiramekarei.

    Now these four, Ringo was killing for sure. They were all from her own generation, therefore dangerous and highly experienced in using their respective des.

    "Oh yes... I will enjoy testing my new Jutsu on you." Ringo whispered to herself as she looked at the four of them with a battle-hungry look while raising her right arm and de towards the sky. At that moment, all four of them had simr thoughts.

    ''Damn, did we have to encounter this kind of crazy!?''

    The cloudy heavens rained lightning.

 Chapter 144 - Ch144. Practical Training 2

    <h4>Chapter 144 - Ch144. Practical Training 2</h4>

    "Lightning Release: Lightning Susanoo Armor."

    Streams of crackling blue lightning continuously fell from the sky, connecting with the tip of Ringo''s raised sword. Every time a stream fell, a loud booming sound and strong shockwave followed, sending Duy who was close flying back and forcing the members of the Kiri Seven Swordsmen to leap back and brace themselves to not be blown away.

    It was Raiga Kurosuki who first noticed what was happening. The natural lightning that should have dispersed after falling from the sky, actually gathered around Ringo, wrapping itself around her body while bing more concentrated. He knew she was doing some kind of insane and powerful Lightning Jutsu, a Jutsu that would instantly kill even him, the best Lightning User of Kirigakure. That''s why he wanted to stop her...

    The other members of the seven noticed a bitter and instantly wanted to disrupt Ringo but the shockwaves were too strong. No matter what they did, they were kept at bay, gritting their teeth in frustration and watching as the natural lightning started to be visible and shape up into a pulsing blue fiery aura.

    Five seconds passed and the blue aura started slowly solidifying, creating electric-blue samurai armor on Ringo made of natural lightning held together and shaped by lightning chakra. She looked as if she was armored in mini-Susanoo, only two intense electric-blue orbs shining from the fearsome helmet.

    Dropping down the arm with the sword she used as a lightning rod, Ringo mumbled. "I still have to train a lot to do this instantaneously." She was really disappointed with the time it took her to create the armor coating.

    Her brown eyes turned electric-blue as a side-effect of pulling una.d.u.l.terated Nature Energy into the lightning chakra armor. It made the armor stronger but also allowed her to enter something Rei called pseudo Sage Mode. Instead of bncing the Nature energy with the chakra in her body, Rei said she is bncing the Nature Energy in her armor made of natural lighting with the chakra in her body while her lightning chakra was holding it all together. To get that right was quite the pain in the ass. After all, it was impossible to do it normally. It was Rei who found the solution to that little problem after a month of researching...

    Duy was bbergasted to the core when he recognized what he was watching. The woman in front of him half-opened all of her inner gates! Shuddering fright washed over him as his bushy eyebrows disappeared in his hairline. Never once would he imagine it was possible to open an inner gate half-way and use it to perform a Jutsu!

    Duy''s fright only increased when the armored form of Ringo half-turned towards him and the electric-blue intense orbsnded on his small frame. Ringo looked at him for a second before speaking. "Run along towards the team you saved. This will get messy fast and you are frankly in the way."

    Duy had no idea how to react to that but his fear was instantly suppressed when after hearing her speak about his son. He jumped up, "YOUTH!" and started running in the direction his son''s team left.

    All seven members of the Kiri Swordsmen and Ringo deadpanned at the green blur.

    ''And just like that, the green screaming weirdo lives on to spread Youth-induced heart attacks all over Konoha.'' Ringo sighed. ''ording to Rei, having two of them in one vige might just be the thing that could finish the vige off at ater date. Nevertheless, I am a bit disappointed if that was the best Genjutsu user of Konoha. He didn''t even use his unbreakable Youth Genjutsu Rei praised so much.'' She shook her head in disappointment with a rxed posture but the corner of her eye already stalked her first prey.

    Fuguki Suikazan only barely managed to raise Samehada in order to block Ringo''s sh who just appeared in front of him without any telling sign.

    ''Shit! Her speed was enhanced to such a degree!?'' He thought in a slight panic as sparks flew from the spot where Samehada met Ringo''s nameless chakra de covered in a bluish fiery aura that asionally crackled with lightning.

    The panic quickly subsided however as he realized they were almost matched when it came to strength. That was a big surprise too though. He was considered to be one of the physically most able in the Kiri Seven Swordsmen. After all, wielding a greatsword required a great deal of strength. So the former wielder of Kiba des, swords that needed agility and flexibility instead of strength, was quite surprising.

    Fuguki shed the bored Ringo a brief grin as he saw hisrades react and jump towards Ringo. They were still a bit far away but... ''Hah, touching Samehada with a sword covered in chakra? This woman really learned nothing during her brief stay as one of the Seven!''

    There was a reason why Kiba wielder never fought against Samehada wielder. There was just no way to parry or block a sword that sucked chakra when one was relying on coating his swords in chakra.

    The fiery lightning aura around Ringo''s de instantly vanished and Fuguki''s grin widened. He did not notice that Ringo already let go of that sword which made him a bitte in seeing her second de approaching his waist. When he finally spotted it, he could only move Samehada''s handle to the left, blocking Ringo''s second sword with it.

    ''F.u.c.k, even handle can suck chakra!?'' Ringo inwardly cursed as she felt the chakra in her sword quickly disappearing and let go of her remaining sword.

    Samehada was now positioned horizontally in front of her at the level of her head since Fuguki was a giant of a man and she only reached his chest. He was fully grinning at her with a mocking gaze at the now disarmed woman. He could not believe how easily he forced her to abandon her weapons! In his opinion, she was the biggest shame of the Kiri Seven Swordsmen!

    "Ha! You got rust-"

    And Ringo who was still d in the Lightning Susanoo Armor simply willed her lightning chakra to make the natural concentrated lightning extend from her palm and a shining blue sword made out of natural lightning appeared in her left hand in a split second.

    Instead of attacking, Ringo just swiftly positioned the back of her sword in the middle of Samehada''s handle, between Fuguki''s hands that were holding the upper and lower part of the long handle of the greatsword. Her right hand also shed and another sword made of concentrated natural lightning appeared.

    Chill ran up Fuguki''s spine. No wonder she let herself be disarmed if she could create lightning swords at will! He knew he had to do something and since the back of her lightning sword was connecting with Samehada''s handle...

    Samehada hissed in pain as it tried to suck chakra out of the sword. Ringo''s de however just slightly shimmered. Unlike the fiery lightning aura that coated the des from chakra metal, her current created swords were mostly made of natural lightning held together by Ringo''s lightning chakra like the rest of her armor. Samehada managed to eat up the lightning chakra but all Ringo had to do was keep supplying the sword with more and more of it to make it keep the shape while Samehada was getting constantly zapped as it tried to eat the chakra.

    Needless to say, it didn''t take even a split of a second for Samehada to refuse to eat the chakra. Fuguki could force it but at that point, he had other problems. While he tried to make Samehada eat the chakra from the lightning sword, Ringo shed the sword in her right hand at his neck in a piercing move.

    Assessing his situation, Fuguki quickly realized he had only two options. He could not evade while holding Samehada because of the sword hooked around the middle of Samehada''s handle. Refusing to be disarmed, he went for the other one... offense.

    Letting go of Samehada''s upper part of its handle with his right hand and at the same time, pulling his left hand that held the handle on the lower part back, Fuguki smashed Samehada into Ringo''s unprotected left side without any obstruction since the sword in Ringo''s was still hooked around the middle of Samehada''s handle.

    Fuguki''s eyes widened when Ringo didn''t even budge from the force of Samehada''s de mming into her.

    His n was simple, shred into her left side and send her flying away, freeing Samehada and creating distance. But Ringo didn''t move even an inch. The Lightning Susanoo Armor on her left side was shimmering not unlike the lightning de, just on a bigger scale while Samehada was shrieking in horrific pain, trying to wiggle away from the armor of natural lightning covering Ringo. Even the erged spikes that covered her whole left side and were supposed to shred her couldn''t even pierce through the armor!

    Fuguki didn''t have much time since Ringo''s sword was almost upon his neck... His left hand let go and he jumped back while Samehada finally disconnected from Ringo''s armor and fell on the ground next to her, wheezing in pain while smoke was rising from between its scales.

    Ringo smirked at Fuguki who was looking at her with immense rage and a bit of humiliation at being disarmed in a four-second-long exchange. Ringo didn''t have much time to gloat, however. The other six members of the Seven were already upon her, their swords shing, piercing, and stabbing into her figure with a loud ng, or boom in case of Shibuki... but their wielders'' ferocious winning grins disappeared when her armor blocked all of their attacks without even leaving a scratch on the armor.

    "Well, so much for that..." Ringo amusedly quipped and pulsed the chakra in the lightning swords she held.

    A split secondter, the swords burst into arge energy wave that mmed into the six swordsmen surrounding her and sent them flying back at breakneck speed while the lightning swords dissolved.

    Fuguki hatefully watched as his associates were flung away and Ringo casually bent down, picking Samehada up by its handle. Samehada tried to pierce her hand with some spikes but again, they could not prate the armor covering Ringo''s hand and one fast zap made the sword very obedient.

    Ringo, with a gleeful smile, pulled out a special stasis storage scroll given to her by Rei. Normal storage scrolls could not store living things, hence, Samehada or any other of the Seven Swords, for that matter, could not be stored, no matter if they possessed sentience or not. Hence, this feat required special high-level fuinjutsu.

    Fuguki could only helplessly watch as Ringo stored Samehada and put the scroll into her pocket, all the while she stared straight at him with a mirthful gaze.

    ''Haaaa~, why is he ring at me so much? I am a ninja, not some honorable samurai who would throw the de you dropped back to you. I would naturally take the only thing that could possess any sort of danger in this fight out of the equation as soon as possible. Does he even realize this is basically one versus seven?'' Ringo thought, resisting a strong urge to shake her head in disappointment at him.

    Her armor didn''t take much chakra since she only had to hold the natural lightning together. But once Samehada started eating the chakra from arge area, she had to quickly resupply it and... Just the single second when Samehada was connected with her left side cost her two percent of her whole reserves.

    ''There is no way I would leave such a weapon in the hands of my enemies.'' Ringo sighed as she connected two chakra strings with the handles of her nameless chakra-metal des on the ground and pulled them back into her grip, coating them in her Lightning Susanoo Armor which made them many times sharper and tougher. She only started with the Fiery Lightning Aura coating her des at the start of her fight against Fuguki to goad him into a false sense of security when she dropped her des, after all.

    ''Well then...'' Ringo''s eyes shed in giddiness when she saw Fuguki taking out an ordinary greatsword from a storage scroll while the other six members of the Kiri Seven Swordsmen stood up and prepared for a fight, ''Let''s start the real testing of my new technique!''

 Chapter 145 - Ch145. Practical Training 3

    <h4>Chapter 145 - Ch145. Practical Training 3</h4>

    Juzo jumped at Ringo the second he regained his bnce, forcing her to block a sweeping sh from his Kubikiribocho with her right de. Not even a split secondter, Jinin''s Kabutowari''s ax met Ringo''s left de as sparks flew all around. Jinin''s blow was much stronger than Juzo''s but nevertheless, it fulfilled its purpose and Ringo was now in a deadlock.

    Ringo knew Jinin would most likely use his hammer to strengthen the force behind his ax so she leaned on her left leg, putting as much weight onto it as possible to brace for the impact that woulde from her left side.

    Jinin smirked pushing himself from the ground into a spin... and before Ringo registered what he nned, his hammer impacted... Kubikiribocho instead of his ax. Ringo, who was still blocking Kubikiribocho with her right de and was bncing herself for a strong blow from her left side, didn''tst even a second before her guard broke and Kubikiribocho met her waist, bending her and sending her flying through the air to the left.

    Despite preferring working solo, the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist knew what teamwork is and could work together seamlessly. This was shown by the direction Ringo was sent flying to, straight at Jinpachi, the wielder of Shibuki.

    Ringo tried to regain her bnce by twisting in mid-air but a string caught her leg, again making her unbnced as Kushimaru kicked her chest, sending her back on her track towards Jinpachi even faster than before. Kushimarunded onto his feet, and instantly fell onto his ass as smoke started rising from his right leg, the one he used to kick Ringo''s armor. Clearly, he got zapped by the natural lightning in return and would not regain his nimbleness anytime soon.

    Jinpachi held Shibuki like a baseball bat and when Ringo''s body was finally in his striking range, he swung... a booming explosion resounded from his Explosive Sword as the dust was sent into the air. The ball of dust was broken up not a secondter by Ringo''s body that was sent flying in yet another direction by the explosion, right at the wielder of Hiramekarei who was already waiting for her with a hammer made of chakra.

    Ringo however twisted her body mid-air as she was about to reach into Arata''s striking range. This time, there was nobody able to stop her. Her foot kicked the ground whichpletely changed the trajectory of her ''flight'', making her crash through the air towards the ground instead of towards Arata. Crouched on all four, Ringo slid on the ground in front of Arata who didn''t expect her to do something like this.

    Ringo seamlessly transferred all the kic force from her flight into sliding, mitigating it slightly, and then she pushed against the ground, again changing the sliding into the spin... It was so fast that Arata didn''t even have time to register when exactly she appeared in front of him as her body was about to spin from right to left and with that, her right de was rushing towards his neck.

    Ringo was already in Arata''s guard. He didn''t have time to change the shape of Hiramekarei and with a massive weapon like the chakra hammer, it would be hard to counter so he was forced to go defensive and block. Pulling the hammer slightly towards his left, Ringo''s natural-lightning-coated de crashed into the chakra-made hammer-head, cracking the ground under them from the force, causing Arata''s knees to bend.

    Nevertheless, Arata was already in the process of changing Hiramekarei into the shape of two swords to match Ringo''s dual-wielding. He was indeed the best to block her or stop her momentum as both used energy-made or coated des and both could dual-wield.

    And as Ringo spotted he divided Hiramekarei into two while changing its shape into some kind of oval chakra des... she decided to take the kiddy gloves off. The twerp was really arrogant if he wanted to fight with two swords against her of all people.

    Her left arm snapped into action, shing towards the left de of Hiramekarei as Arata was barely done with the division of his sword... Needless to say, he couldn''t put as much strength behind his block and was sent sliding back, ending the deadlock of their right des.

    Ringo didn''t wait for him to regain his bearing and jumped forward, viciously shing her swords, getting faster and faster... one sh, two shes, four, eight, sixteen... lightning bolts cracked and snapped all around the duo of a petite redhead who was like a rushing bull and a tall blue-haired man who barely managed to block with his big oval swords made of chakra. Ringo''s speed was increasing by sh and Arata had really a big problem to block her fast-pacedbo. Slowly, he started redirecting, parrying while retreating backward...

    Ringo''s swords stopped as three desnded on her from behind. Kubikiribocho, Kabutowari, and Kiba wielders put their best into it, wanting to injure her while she was focused on Arata. Kubikiribocho stopped on her neck. Both of Kiba''s des were shing with lightning and trying to dig into her right side, in an upward stab that would reach her heart, and right leg, right above a quite important artery. And Kabutowari''s ax was in the middle of her back, right alongside her spine, as Jinin smashed his ax into it.

    The battlefield stilled.

    Arata was gasping for air, happy he held Ringo down long enough for the others to attack. His two Hiramekareis were crossed over his chest, stopping one of Ringo''s stabs a few inches in front of his face. Really... lucky.

    "Pffft." Ringo suddenly snickered.

    Hearing that, the four swordsmen around her stiffened. Three of them felt a chill go up to their spines when they realized that... ''How the heck is there not even a scratch on her armor!?''

    Kubikiribocho stopped on the armor coating her neck, many cracks appearing on the de as the natural lightning reverted most of the force of the blow back onto the de. Juzo''s eyes widened. Sure, Kubikiribocho was broken many times but never by its own attack!

    The lightning coating of Kiba des shimmered down to inexistence almost instantly as the electric energy was absorbed by Ringo''s armor. The only reason the Kiba des were not damaged was their lightning attunement and Raiga was forced to step back as his des uncontrobly shook from the impact, causing his whole body to tremble while his wrists screamed in pain as he tried to not let go of the vibrating Kiba des.

    Kabutowari... the second Jinin stuck his hammer onto the back of its ax, trying to use it as a wedge to break through Ringo''s armor and dig into her spine, the force waspletely negated. At least from his perspective. He didn''t feel a thing. His ax though... the whole force of his blow and that of Ringo''s armor''s counter was focused solely on the ax, causing it to shatter into pieces as two opposing forces squished it. Needless to say, Jinin was horrified at part of his sword that was supposed to be able to prate any defense being broken!

    ''Lightning Armor: Force Reflection.'' Ringo''s eyes gleamed. ''Did the idiots think I would not prepare for them?''

    The previous exchange where she was sent flying was enough of a lesson for her. Clearly, having superb defense didn''t mean she could not be unbnced or sent flying. It might be still in the stage of development but Ringo naturally already implemented a few tricks into her armor to increase her defensive and offensive power.

    Arata didn''t see what happened behind Ringo. He still thought she was affected by the three blows to her back and he just had to keep her in a deadlock while his associates prate her armor and finish her off but...

    With a mocking smile, Ringo suddenly lengthened the de he was blocking. The one he stopped just a few inches in front of his face. And Arata was sent onto a permanent vacation as his head was skewered by a de made of natural lightning, creating a charred hole into it.

    ''Didn''t expect that, did ya, f.u.c.ker?'' Ringo cheered while the lengthened part of the de made of natural lightning retracted back into a coating around the chakra-metal de.

    ''Shit!'' The three swordsmen behind Ringo had all simr thoughts, wanting to distance themselves from her. They weren''t stupid and knew the hunter just became prey.

    But Ringo would not let them go so easily when they had the guts to attack her back, right?

 Chapter 146 - Ch146. Raijins Descent

    <h4>Chapter 146 - Ch146. Raijin''s Descent</h4>

    Ringo''s des gleamed blue as she spun on her heel, sending a piercing stab at Jinin who now held only the hammer part of Kabutowari. He quickly put the hammer-head in the path of Ringo''s sword, blocking it but Ringo was no longer paying him any attention as her feet impacted Juzo''s chest, cracking most of his ribs while breaking some as lightning from her armor shocked him unconscious and the kick sent him flying way back, causing him to let go of Kubikiribocho that quickly spun in the air until it stopped by its de burrowing into the ground.

    ''Two down.'' Ringo hummed, half-turning her head towards Jinin who just now realized he was used only as a diversion.

    The situation was quite bad for him. He was closest to Ringo, half of his weapon was destroyed, Raiga was behind him without any way to help him fast enough for it to count, and other remaining members of the Seven who were capable of fighting may have been on their way to intercept Ringo but it was apparent they would not make it before she attacked him.

    Jinin took a defensive stance with his hammer. For now, he had to endure...

    Ringo looked behind where Kuriarare Kushimaru was running at her, trying to hide his injured leg by acting alright. She then nced to the right where Jinpachi Munashi with his Shibuki was also approaching at a fast pace. To her left, Fuguki Suikazan ran at her with an ordinary katana.

    ''Smart...'' Ringo thought as she looked at the giant of a man. She knew he could run faster. That meant he was letting others engage her first. For someone who lost his sword, which was his best advantage, this was indeed the best approach.

    And finally, in front of her were Jinin, and Raiga who was still slightly trembling but looked determined to kill her.

    Ringo smirked. There was just onest test to do. Stabbing her swords into the ground, their Lightning Susanoo Armor Coating disappeared the second she let go of them and lightning started to surge around them. The sky above her also started crackling with blue bolts as Ringo''s lightning chakra seeped into the swords, making them perfect lightning rods.

    "Watch out!" Raiga shouted as his eyes briefly widened when he recognized the technique. Gritting his teeth, he started pouring his own lightning chakra in big amounts around himself in preparation for Ringo''s technique. "That''s Raijin''s Descent!"

    He was, however, toote...

    "Lightning Release: Raijin''s Descent!" Ringo gleefully shouted, grinning like a loon with her arms theatrically spread apart, her hair standing up from both excitement and the exhrating feeling of the static electricity coursing through her body.

    From the ck clouds above, two blue lightning dragons coiled around themselves in a swift descent. Their maws as big as a house deafeningly roaring at the ground they were fast approaching.

    It barely took two seconds since they appeared high in the sky for them to crash on top of Ringo''s head... a deafening ''Booom'' resounded through the surroundingnds while the lightning painted the world blue as the lightning energy instantly raced through the area.

    The trees in the radius of a few kilometers lost all of their leaves. The trees in the radius of a few hundred meters became charred. The ground in a hundred meters radius became shallow but still a massive crater and the air crackled with spontaneous electric discharges all over the whole supercharged area.

    Raijin''s Descent...

    A secret self-sacrificial technique passed from Kiba user to Kiba user through special scrolls. The so-called above S-rank one-time final army-killing move.

    Ringo was hunched over with her knees bent from the strain of two S-ranked Lightning Dragon Jutsus smashing together into her as she discharged arge amount of lightning chakra around herself. It was not to protect her body, rather it was a part of the technique. She had to envelop herself in the pure una.d.u.l.terated lightning chakra of the amount of high-level S-rank Jutsu that would supercharge the two S-rank Lightning Dragons upon impact.

    When the three S-rank level energies met head-on, pushing against each other? Naturally, the two S-rank Lightning Dragons would win because the amount of energy was bigger...

    At this point, the user who is serving as director for the two Lightning Dragon Jutsus would be torn to shreds because of the immense pressure of three S-rank forces focused on one point... her.

    But the Jutsu would continue.

    The power and energy contained in the two S-rank Lightning Dragon Jutsus would literally be deflected from being vertical to being horizontal due toing into contact with the S-rank lightning chakra the user exerted. This would also boost the two S-rank Lightning Dragon Jutsus before it would all explode in a horizontal surge of lightning energy and pressure, devastating kilometers ofnd around the area of impact.

    It was not only Madara and Hashirama who were well above their peers in their time. Every vige had one or two of these ''hidden'' experts who could fight these two even if such a fight would mean sacrificing their life. Hashirama would never decide to go the peaceful way and hand out the bijuu in wishful thinking for peace if the viges could be easily conquered by him without much bloodshed. His diaries certainly said enough. In the end, he was raised to be a ninja, not a monk.

    "Shit..." Ringo let out a deep breath and cursed. She could already feel the bruises forming on her body as her bones creaked. "Thankfully, nothing is broken or cracked." She gritted her teeth through the pain as she straightened herself and stretched her protesting muscles who were just put through a literal shredder made of pure energy.

    She would never use the Jutsu if she didn''t know she could survive it. Her armor would protect her but... Kirigakure had some recounting on Madara''s and Hashirama''s power and Raijin''s Descent was something made to counter Madara''s Susanoo or Hashirama''s Wood Techniques. In close range, the trees would be literally liquified and Susanoo would be breached, injuring the user if not killing him.

    "Sixty percent of my chakra, huh?" Ringo bitterly smiled as she realized how much of her chakra she had to use to concentrate her Lightning Susanoo Armor in order to prevent her muscles from tearing and bones from breaking. The armor still had massive cracks all over it but was somewhat intact. ''Well, considering this would be way above my chakra reserves limit before bonding with Rei...'' She subconsciously smiled while a slight blush dusted her cheeks as she thought about that while looking around, not forgetting she is still inbat.

    The first person she spotted was Raiga Kurosuki who was a few meters away from her. He was kneeling on one knee, tightly gripping Kiba des stabbed into the ground as faint, slowly dissipating bluish shimmering coating covered his body and swords. It was almost depleted and the man himself was already unconscious because of chakra exhaustion but he survived. If he was even a meter closer to Ringo, his chakra reserves wouldn''t make it.

    ''Well, I was ordered to leave him alive.'' Ringo sighed and shook her head, ''I so hate calcting these things.''

    The next thing Ringo realized was that Jinin who stood closer to her and was in fact, in front of Raiga when she started her technique, was nowhere to be found. ''I guess he was vaporized alongside the hammer, then.'' She shrugged.

    Not every weapon could withstand such concentrated lightning chakra at such a close range. Kiba survived because it was from the start attuned to lightning. Her own nameless des were covered in a protective chakrayer... but Kabutowari? It had no chance without Jinin coating it in chakra and the guy had no time for that.

    ''What a pity to lose one of the seven swords...'' Ringo clicked her tongue.

    She looked to the right where Fuguki should have been located. Honestly, she didn''t put much thought into his survival so she had no idea if he withstood the Jutsu.

    The second Ringo spotted his body, she mirthfully chuckled.

    ''The Earth Dome he hastily created for his protection must have been run through instantly, burying him in the dirt without him even knowing how or when he was knocked out.'' Ringo analyzed the situation as she saw Fuguki''s half-buried bend-over unconscious form with his legs sticking up towards the sky from the ground. The guy survived only because he was lucky that his nose didn''t get covered. ''Then again, the dirt most likely grounded most of the lightning, causing him to survive. How lucky...''

    Left side... Ringo only nodded when she saw a bit charred but still breathing form of Juzo Biwa. She kicked him far enough for the energy discharge to give only a slight caress to him.

    Merrily walking towards the half-liquified, half-broken Kubikiribocho, Ringo amusedly noted that the ''weakest'' of the seven swords actually survived her technique at close range. She took it by the half-destroyed handle, ''He can still regrow it to its former state if he sacrificed about two hundred liters of blood and fifty times of his chakra reserves.'' She threw it towards Juzo, where itnded with an audible ng.

    "So, Jinpachi is dead..." Ringo''s eyes lingered on the dust-covered Shibuki on the ground, "that explosion maniac would never let Shibuki out of his hand willingly." Her head turned slightly, "Hiramekarei is also fine but Arata''s corpse was vaporized. Huh? No big loss there..." Ringo briefly pondered if she should take Hiramekarei but decided against it. One sword taken and another destroyed was enough spoils for now. Kiri still needed its swordsmen.

    Ringo rxed. "I guess this is i-"

    Kushimaru''s Nuibari stabbed into the biggest crack on Ringo''s chest, right above her heart. Sparks and lightning discharges flew around as the Nuibari trembled from the strength its user used to push its tip against the imprable yet cracked lightning armor.

    Ringo blinked and Kushimaru sweatdropped as he realized he f.u.c.k.i.e.d up.

    "Oya? You are still breathing?" Ringo asked as her empty hand snapped in Kushimaru''s direction, taking hold of his masked face before she pulled him closer towards her.

    Normally he would surely dodge since he was the most agile of the seven, even surpassing Ringo''s past self but now... Kushimaru''s left side was incinerated. Hecked his left hand, hecked half of his left leg, half of his left chest and stomach... only the fact his wounds were burned shut prevented him from bleeding out by now.

    Ringo sighed in exasperation. ''Kushimaru was always vicious little shit. Of course, he would try to score a killing blow despite being half-dead when his enemy finally rxed. How the hell did he even survive?''

    She didn''t try to talk to him. There was nothing to talk about. She just started a Chidori on her free hand and speared his chest through, tearing his heart out before using lightning discharge to destroy it. Blood started slowly dripping from under the chin of his mask as his body ckened.

    Kushimaru Kuriarare died.

    Ringo threw his body onto the ground and stretched her arms up before leisurely walking towards her chakra des stabbed into the ground and picking them up.

    ''Oh well, job well done. Time to go home, I guess...''

 Chapter 147 - Ch147. The start of a... town?

    <h4>Chapter 147 - Ch147. The start of a... town?</h4>

    Pa treon - 41 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    Rei caressed Ringo''s hair as she dozed off in hisp after she carefreely threw Samehada at Yugito with words, "I think this one will fit you well considering you are jinchuuriki...". It was funny how no matter Yugito protested that Greatsword and nimble cat-like fighting style didn''t go together, Ringo just shrugged her off and said she believed Yugito would find a way before promptly monopolizing Rei''sp for herself with a smug self-satisfied expression.

    "She must be really exhausted," Meimented, half-ring at Ringo d only in a skimpy yukata after taking a long bath to scrub off all the dust from her fight. "How could it be so," Mei started carefully poking Ringo''s butt, making her whimper, "bouncy..." She muttered to herself while her free hand wasparing her own...

    Rei just chuckled and let the girl to her own fantasies while he read his notebook where all his rough ideas on his Bijuu project were written. It was a very slow-going and tiring process. His days were filled with research, research, s.e.x, and more research... but he was sure it would be worth it in the future.

    Strong or not, neither of his group was at the level of the end-game Naruto or Sasuke, much less Kaguya. The anime made it seem so easy...

    In under four years, a total orange-loving Hokage-screaming loser became a deity level powerhouse.

    In under four years, an edgy duckbutt-hairednguage-impaired Hn!-avenger-wannabe became a deity level powerhouse.

    All because of some nonsense about being the reincarnations of Indra and Asura, some magical eye-power, and beast sealed in the stomach.

    ''When one really looks into how exactly Naruto and Sasuke got so strong, it is really sad because they are nothing but predetermined to be such. What hard work? I bet at least half of the jonin put more hard work into being a ninja than Naruto''s bird brain could everprehend or Sasuke''s avenging tunnel vision could discover.'' Rei sighed. ''I am so jealo-, ahem, pissed!''

    Bing Jonin was not really all that easy. The amount of seemingly useless skills one had to perfect was mind-boggling. It was not all just about fire-power and killing things. Not entirely.

    Rei was putting in the hard work. Training, studying, researching, earning money, ying politics through the Biri-Biripany, and much more. He was progressively getting stronger too! He was also making his girls stronger and was delighted when they put in the needed effort to be incredibly strong without him even having to ask them for it. But the main characters? What the f.u.c.k was with some old deity-ss world-peeking geezer touching the two boys and them suddenly gaining the necessary additional power to face against Kaguya.

    ''Maybe I should have chosen some plot-armor bullcrap during my reincarnation?'' Rei hummed jokingly, getting back to his Bijuu-creation research as he enjoyed Ringo''s silky hair in between his fingers and her soft cheek pressed into his thighs.

    In the end, as long as he had his girls and all people he cared about were happy, was there even a reason toin?

    ...

    Rei sat on his couch with Konan sitting on his right side with her back straightened and with a pondering expression on her face while Tsunade was sitting on his left side, leaning on his arm, totally uncaring about the meeting. Only these two knew what Rei wanted to say and while Konan was racking her brain to think about how to improve or make Rei reach his goal easier, Tsunade didn''t care. If Rei told her to do something, she would do it but leaning on Rei was more enjoyable than thinking about the current topic.

    Opposite them, Mei sat in Ringo''sp. Since they found amon interest in weapon forging, Ringo and Mei became almost inseparable... and together, more often than not, even mmable. Rei might have repaired five houses per day thanks to his clones but Mei and Ringo destroyed at least twelve per week in their ''sisterly'' arguments that left craters all over Uzushio.

    Both were a bit curious about what Rei wanted to talk about since he grouped them all together but while Mei''s eyes were gleaming in interest, Ringo had a bored expression. There was no way Rei would call all of them together for a fight at this stage so... meh?

    "I called this meeting because the rebuilding of Uzushio is mostly finished. We have a vige... now we need vigers." Rei said, taking a teacup from the table.

    Mei and Ringo instantly snapped at attention.

    "We are finally going to make a ninja vige?" Ringo''s eyes gleamed.

    Since she got to know Rei will eventually make his own vige, she wanted to create a group simr to the Seven Swordsmen... s, she was currently the only swordsman and with Mei, they were in the stage of finding out how to create swords on par with Kiba at the very least. That was partially the reason why she took Samehada, the most incredible of the Seven Swords. She needed an example to study...

    "No..." Rei shook his head, causing Ringo to dete, "We are making a civilian town with the goal of making it into a very important trading hub in the future." He continued, and enjoyed Ringo frowning for a bit before he added, "Officially at least."

    Ringo and Mei looked at each other, tilting their heads in confusion.

    "What do you think the ''hidden'' in Hidden Vige stands for?" Konan added, a bit annoyed at their dull expressions. ''Modern Ninjas... really.'' She scoffed, making both Ringo and Mei blush a bit from shame.

    "I didn''t think of that..." Mei admitted with a high dose of sarcasm in her tone before her tone turned to seriousness as she looked at Rei. "So you want the ninja vige to be hidden behind the appearance of a civilian town? You know that won''t work for more than a few years, right? Konoha already tried that."

    "Of course not. The actual Ninja Vige will be in a different location and we will use seals to thoroughly hide its existence. But that''s not important for now. First, we need to build Uzushio into an important trading town and for that, we need people."

    "Why not use the merchants and employees of the Biri-Biripany?" Ringo asked but Tsunade gave her a deadpan look, causing her to sheepishly smile in confusion which made Konan giggle and Tsunade groan.

    In the past months, Tsunade took over Konan, or Na Kona as was her alias, and became Nadetsu Juusen, the new director of the Biri-Biripany with her Wood Clones that could literally be molded to a different image. Nadetsu Juusen was a tall tanneddy with an average chest, blue eyes, and blond hair of a darker shade. There was no way to rte her to the real Tsunade in any way. Plus the wordy with her name was some, childish, and elementary no self-respecting ninja would actually believe it to be more than a dumb coincidence.

    "Obviously it''s to avoid exposing that Uzushio and the Biri-Biri have ties. The entire sess of the Biri-Biripany is built on the fact that we have no affiliation with any vige or nation and provide equal services to everyone at the same price." Tsunade exined with a patient tone before gesturing to Konan. "It took Konan and Karubo years and the entire third war had to happen to firmly establish this fact in the minds of our clientele who believed us to still be biased towards Kirigakure since we originated in the Land of Water. Make no mistake, the Mizukage and the Water Daimyo were pissed at us for not showing any favoritism towards them during the war. Showing a favorable rtionship is fine but outright putting our people to Uzushio is a tant show of favoritism and bad for the business. And I am not even talking about the message such an action would send."

    Despite her tendencies, Tsunade was groomed to be very skilled in politics and economy from an early age. It was just that most of the time, she disregarded everything in favor of resolving her problems with a straight punch to the noggin.

    s, the second Konan discovered there was a bit more to Tsunade''s mind than rampaging around like a drunk half-mad badger and healing, she started grooming her, Nadetsu Juusen, to be her ''sessor'' as she started showing that she, Na Kona, was ''ill'' and would eventually step down.

    In Rei''s opinion, it was a good move since Tsunade was indeed more able in these matterspared to Konan. Naturally, that particr agreement took a lot of intimacy, a promise of more time spent together, which Rei nned to do anyway since he missed her when she was in Konoha... not that she had to know that... and Konan had to ''donate'' twenty of her paper clones to do the paperwork for Tsunade. After all, paper Jutsus were a huge advantage there. All in all, Tsunade only dealt with the direction of thepany and the most important stuff.

    "So? You will probably want highly loyal people acting as merchants for Uzushio and the first inhabitants so... I guess the strategy will be the same as what you told Karubo to do to get employees for the Biri-Biri? We are going to save some poor bastards and offer them a safe haven, food, andfortable life and slowly build their feeling of belonging... some basic maniptions, maybe?" Tsunade bit the tip of her finger and Rei smiled, patting her head.

    "I, Konan, and Tsunade are going to the Land of Grass. Ringo and Mei can focus on their forging or training Yugito in Mei''s case," He gave the pouting girl a knowing look before his expression shifted to seriousness itself, "but please, stop fighting in the open. If you feel the itch to destroy a big plot ofnd, go to the Dimension." He strictly said, narrowing his eyes at the two women who gulped and started frantically nodding.

    Rei smiled. "That is all I wanted to say to you."

 Chapter 148 - Ch148. Harima Village 1

    <h4>Chapter 148 - Ch148. Harima Vige 1</h4>

    Three figures were walking on the muddy road in the countryside of the Grass Country, d in ck cloaks. These cloaks were the same and yet different from the ones Yozora members wore. Thanks to a special Illusionary Seal, they were tattered and seemed to portray a guise of poverty while still being fully capable of covering the wearer''s identity.

    Rei never really understood why Akatsuki members always wore their cloaks. Or how the heck did they manage to infiltrate a hidden vige while wearing it, for that matter. He was a ninja and the first thing ninjas did NOT do was scream ''I am here'' with his clothing. That was also the reason why neither he nor his girls wore their ninja forehead protectors anymore.

    Finally, Rei and his party arrived at the entrance to Harima Vige.

    Despite this vige being quite far away from the war frontier, many of its inhabitants attempted to flee only to be returned by Kusa ninjas who needed them in the vige to grow a special kind of poisonous nt for them.

    Needless to say, the average lifespan of Harima Vige inhabitants working with these nts was around thirty-five.

    The vige was dependent on the Kusagakure for everything from food to even things like shovels. It was already a miracle they had their own well. Kusagakure would never let them be independent since a lot of their ie came from what the vigers grew there.

    "Are you sure we are at the right ce?" Tsunade questioned, frowning at the small wooden huts, more often than not having many cracks, beingpletely in disrepair, or showing previously destroyed parts unevenly patched with nks of wood. Tsunade turned towards Konan with a pissed off look, "You said an Uzumaki family is living here?"

    Rei only nodded in agreement. Long ago he distributed bloodline identifying seals of his own creation to the peddlers and merchants working for the Biri-Biripany. He had quite a lot of ces where Uzumaki n members lived in rtive peace but he nor the Biri-Biripany could not do anything during the war in most cases.

    Frankly, so far the Biri-Biripany found means to take in only twenty Uzumaki from the 212 discovered cases of people with bloodline ties to the Uzumaki n. Most of these didn''t even know they were Uzumaki n members and more often than not they were affiliated with some ninja vige.

    At this point, they have so scattered the revival of the Uzumaki n without any major help would be just a pipe dream.

    "Just remember that Uzumaki are not our primary objective." Rei lightly said and started walking towards the vige.

    ...

    Kazuto Kareki looked at the vigers gathered in the square, all underfed and wearing shabby clothes with many tears. His cold brown eyes scanned every single one of them until they stopped at one pale-skinned young girl with red hair, amethyst-eyes, sunken cheeks, and a slightly bulging stomach.

    Kazuto could only click his tongue at that. He knew the brat she was expecting is his. He made sure none of the male vigers dared to approach her and his men knew well she served him exclusively.

    The position of overseer of Harima Vige was a poor one without any way to get rich since the vigers didn''t have much but nobody could say it didn''t have at least some advantages.

    ''But who would have thought she would get pregnant?'' Kazuto red at the woman who was kneeling a bit away from him, causing her to flinch. ''Should I just kill her? But she has that bite-heal ability! If it came out I killed her when she could be such a valuable asset for the vige...''

    Kazuto was not really exceptionally strong. During the entire war, he survived on his smarts rather than brawns and even his high position was thanks to his skills in ttery.

    This situation was not really different. He kept her ability in secret for the entire duration of the war for his own benefit. Whether it was satisfying his l.u.s.t with what was in his opinion the prettiest girl in the vige, or having an easy to use healing tool...

    ''Meh... I will just take her to the vige and when the higher-ups get to know of her ability, they will take care of the matter for me. As long as I y my cards right, a bit of threatening her with her parents will be enough to ensure her mouth is shut after I take her to Kusagakure. Nobody has to know I knew about her ability for years.''

    Kazuto''s eyes thennded on the two people in theirte thirties kneeling next to the girl. s, they would have to die the second the girl left the Harima vige to tie loose ends. He could only sigh in sadness at that. His poor subordinates will be saddened. The girl''s mother was the second prettiest woman in the vige despite her ''advanced'' age.

    Honestly, Kazuto didn''t like it when he took over the post. He outright hated how the vigers were treated but... The position of overseer of the Harima vige was the only thing that prevented him from being sent to the front-lines.

    At first, he only took the redheaded girl as his servant only from pity because he knew the ninjas appointed as his subordinates were always those nasty, vicious, and bitter forever genins who just love to make other people, those weaker than them, suffer to alleviate the feeling of their own ipetence and stress from living on the edge.

    But as years went by, he got used to it. He only did what was necessary for the Kusagakure to thrive... at least, that was what he told himself every time he saw his servant girl cry in the corner.

    ''The stupid cow doesn''t even know how good she has it. Other girls would jump to be in her ce.'' Kazuto mentally scoffed when he saw the girl clutch the hem of her tattered clothes with her hands.

    "Kaya Uzumaki, you will apany me to the Kusagakure. It is time to start being useful to the vige that is feeding you." Kazuto bluntly eximed, making the girl and her parents'' heads snap in his direction with scared expressions. He smirked, walking closer to her before grabbing her hair and yanking it back to make her look at him. "Don''t worry, you will still be considered my ve... What? Do you have a problem with my decision?"

    They could only lower their heads in eptance.

    Neither Kaya nor her parents wanted her to go alone to an unknown vige, much less a militaristic one like the Kusagakure when she was pregnant. Life in the Harima Vige was notfortable and most of the time it could be called downright cruel because of the ninjas who were stationed there for the vige''s ''protection''... but at the very least, they knew what to expect from such a life and were already used to it.

    Work diligently in the fields, bear with some bullying from the ninjas, not like they could overdo it too much, and spend as much time in theforting presence of the family in order not to mentally break.

    Going to the Kusagakure was a big unknown and it scared Kaya to think how she would be treated there. If the way her family was treated here was any indication, going to Kusagakure frightened her to no end. Especially since she would not have her family to encourage her.

    "I sure as hell do have a problem with your decision, twat!" A low gruff growl of a very pissed woman resounded through the surroundings as a monstrous killing intent and chakra pressure flooded the square.

 Chapter 149 - Ch149. Harima Village 2

    <h4>Chapter 149 - Ch149. Harima Vige 2</h4>

    Tsunade, wearing a nk white mask, suddenly appeared behind Kazuto who suddenly found something grabbing his shoulder and pressing him down with massive force, causing him to fall on his knees.

    With an abrupt twist of her fingers, Tsunade snapped his cor bone, making him scream and attempt to trash but her grip was too strong for Kazuto to break free. She saw the silent and verbal interaction between him and the barely fifteen-year-old frightened and underfed Uzumaki girl and she didn''t like the conclusion of her findings at all.

    Tsunade expected the Uzumaki family not to have a very easy or nice life since Rei chose the vige for recruitment, which meant the living conditions must be frankly a wholesale shit but to think the entire vige would be abused by ninjas of their own country? That was unthinkable.

    Not even one of the big five would dare to do a stunt like this openly. Sure, they do a lot of nasty business, sometimes even massacre is involved but ongoing abuse against civilians is something that would make their clientele drop faster than a meteorite if it was known. Poverty was widespread... but bullying of the popce was something only bandits did. Not to mention the shitstorm the Daimyo would cause if it reached his ears. There would simply be a hell to pay.

    "Treating an Uzumaki like shit in front of me... you must have balls of steel!" Tsunade quietly said in a dark tone, causing the people around to get chills. "Let''s put them to a test, then."

    Kazuto suddenly found his field of vision shifting into the blue sky as he was flipped back. Brief pain impacted his senses when his back roughly met the ground before he was even capable to register what was happening. And then... white searing hot pain overwhelmed him, causing his vision to go blur. He wanted to scream, thrash around, curse, but his mind waspletely numb from pain, unable to think about anything else, and his body was paralyzed.

    Tsunade gritted her teeth as she noticed Kazuto fainting and lifted her foot from the bloody fleshy bony mush that was previously Kazuto''s crotch. "Looks like your balls were not made of steel, after all." She derisively snorted and every man in the vicinity, even Rei, suddenly had an overwhelming urge to ascertain their important bits are alright and as far away from Tsunade as possible.

    "You know... not even steel could withstand your stomp." Konan''s voice snapped many Kusa ninjas out of their reverie but it was toote. Every single one of them who were close to the kneeling vigers found their heads took a short trip towards the ground as Konan''s razor-sharp spinning paper disks cleaved through their necks so fast, they didn''t even notice when they died.

    Tsunade just rolled her eyes and turned towards the ninjas further away from the vigers but Rei had it already solved. He didn''t use anything extraordinary. Just hundreds of ten-centimeter long water needles skewing the twenty or so remaining Kusa ninjas and the job was done.

    In the end, the ninjas stationed in the Harima Vige were at best high genins ability-wise. The so-called failures who were unfit to do anything else due to their bad personality and low talent. It would be an embarrassment if Rei, Konan, and Tsunade couldn''t finish them in under five seconds.

    Rei steadily walked towards the crowd of kneeling, and now scared, vigers, stopping only when he was five meters away from them. Every single pair of eyes were on him, showing fear and anxiety. After all, they did just see him and hispanions ughter their ''protectors''.

    ''Fear? That''s fine. Anxiety? Also understandable... But it is that small hope in their gazes that makes me assured we won''t have to do much work to persuade them.'' Rei thought as a satisfied smirk appeared on his face.

    "Hello everyone, we came with an offer you just can''t turn down..."

    ...

    The talks were finally finished.

    The vigers jumped at the offer of relocation and a chance at a new and better life almost instantly, only a few older ones had a few questions that Rei readily answered to ease their worries.

    Needless to say, he also exined what exactly he wanted in return, and that was for them to learn and improve before entering his service. After all, this was a business deal, not a charity and he made sure they understood that part.

    Rei was willing to provide better life and education but the vigers would be expected to join Uzushio Trading Company, UTC in short, and strive to make thepany and the Uzushio better.

    "Well then, time to go." Rei pped his hands and activated a seal he left on the edge of the square. Instantly, an oval-like portal appeared in the air a bit above the seals. "This is a portal that will get you to Uzushio and apply the Secrecy Seal we talked about before." Rei gestured towards it.

    The secrecy seal was what Rei decided to use as a security measure. It was ced via chakra on the heart of the recipient, meaning removing it with any currently avable means would be impossible to survive.

    The seal basically prevented the recipient from disclosing vital information about Uzushio and not to be so totally totalitarian, Rei even added a function that would improve physical health, fitness, and even brain a bit through circting theirtent chakra. With that, nomon bandit would be able to pose a threat to his new workforce after their bodies get a bit of time to adjust and they pass some rudimentary training!

    The vigers started going through the portal under Konan''s supervision and Rei walked towards the corner of the square where Tsunade was talking with the Uzumaki family.

    "How is the family meeting going?" Rei asked jovially, causing all four of them to turn towards him.

    "Fine," Tsunade smiled, no longer wearing her mask, "Uzushiogakure apparently started evacuating civilians the second they heard about the invasion. Kara and Kentaro were members of one of the groups that seeded to run away." She offhandedly pointed towards the two older people.

    "Hello," Kentaro sheepishly smiled, not knowing how to act towards Rei who nodded at him.

    "I gather you heard my offer." Rei stated, crossing his arms under his chest.

    "Yes. We would like to join." Kara started after pinching her husband silent. The poor man looked like a kicked puppy. "I must admit, we ended up here because we were afraid of being discovered. When we came, this was just a quiet rural vige far away in the countryside and it was only ten years ago it all changed and nobody was allowed to leave anymore." She sighed but her eyes were warily looking at Rei.

    "You will be allowed to leave from Uzushio but the seal will prevent you from talking about it. After all, I n to make it a merchant town so being isted is a big no-no." Rei exined with a smile.

    "Fine... It will be better for our daughter and grandchild anyway," Kara sullenly relented. She knew their chances to survive would be nil if she refused. "Not like we could get an education and a good earning job offer for us anywhere else."

    Rei could see both Kara and Kentaro were hanging on thest thread of hope. If the new Uzushio treated them badly, it would probably crush their spirit. He chose to give them onest reassurance.

    "Ah, don''t worry. Tsunade is somewhat of a family with you and she would beat me up if I didn''t treat you well." Reiughed, gesturing to the woman who was chattering the time away with Kaya a bit away from them while also giving the young pregnant girl a quick medical check-up.

    It didn''t take long for the Uzumaki family alongside the other vigers to leave through the portal and Tsunade rejoined Konan and Rei.

    "So... portal? That''s the first time I am seeing it." She hummed.

    "Well, dear," Rei sn.a.k.e.d his hand around her waist and pulled her closer, "You are not the only one who improved. My clones are non-stop researching new seals. This one will be a good way for our future most trusted merchants and ninjas to go around the Elemental Nations without anyone being able to intercept them. The problem is only the means to keep it all secret for a long period of time."

    "Hence, the Secrecy Seal." Konan added.

    "Hence, the Secrecy Seal." Rei nodded, his c.o.c.ky smile getting wider and wider. "Don''t worry, for our future ninjas I have a better version in the process of making. No matter what, I will make the first really hidden vige in the Elemental Nations."

    "So? What about him?" Konan pointed at the only alive resident of the vige except for them.

    "Ah?" Tsunade turned her head towards the fainted form of Kazuto, her lips twisting into a scowl, "Just leave him there. If he survives, living with such an injury will be hell and if he dies, it would take a few days of hell anyway."

    Both Rei and Konan nodded, turning back towards the portal and walking through it.

    The second the portal closedˇ­ the fields of poisonous nts suddenly red up in fireˇ­ there was no need for Rei to leave thest batch of them avable for Kusagakure, now, was there?

 Chapter 150 - Ch150. New SS-rank?

    <h4>Chapter 150 - Ch150. New SS-rank?</h4>

    The Third Mizukage sat in his office, drinking his afternoon coffee and reading hisst report for the day when suddenly, various n heads and division leaders, basically the whole freaking Council, barged into his office looking constipated.

    "What are you all doing here?" The Mizukage tilted his head in confusion only for the councilmen to angrily narrow their eyes at him.

    "You sent the Seven Swordsmen to the Land of Fire!" Tsurumi Suiran, the head of the Suiran n, barked out in an usatory tone.

    ''Oh! So that''s why the old geezers are gathered here looking at me as if I stole their spare teeth!'' The Mizukage finally understood before he returned back to his paperwork while starting to talk.

    "Ah, no worries. The treaty had a few loopholes and this is one of them." He dismissively waved his hand around while feeling smug about this scheme of his. "Due to the nature of ninja work, there was no way the treaty could contain a use ofplete forbiddance to enter a territory belonging to one of the five big nations. The treaty only said a big force is forbidden to be dispatched onto the territory. I sent only seven of them. No matter how you look at it, nobody can say anything." The Third Mizukage smiled smugly, thinking how he used the system to screw Konoha and the Land of Fire over.

    "Mizu-" One of the councilmen patiently started but was quickly interrupted by the Mizukage.

    "Mah~, mah~, don''t worry. Everything is just fine. I know that ordering them to destroy a few important towns might be too much but I have full trust in our Seven Swordsmen. They know when to run. Plus," He took out a few files, "I have already made sure to create fail-proof doc.u.ments saying the mission was a valid one given by a noble from the Land of Earth who hates Konoha and lost a lot of money due to the newly established taxw of the Land of Fire. All ways how anyone could screw us over diplomatically are covered. Now we only have to wait for the Seven to return."

    "Lord Mizukage, the swordsmen r-" The head of the Hozuki n tried but...

    "You are still not convinced?" The Mizukage frowned, not raising his head from the doc.u.ment he was the whole time reading. "You really think the ability of our strongest ninja group is so weak?" He sighed in exasperation and continued in a bored drawl, "Fine... I can assure you nothing can happen to them. Konoha is still consolidating their power and most of their jonins are focused on border outposts. Most of their ANBU are on illegal and secret missions out of the Land of Fire. The only Konoha ninjas doing missions located inside the Land of Fire are chunins at best and our Seven Swordsmen can eat those guys for breakfast. This entire thing was meticulously nned. I even used a lot of our ANBU to draw Konoha''s attention elsewhere so our boys can rampage all they want in the Land of Fire while I am focusing on tightening the defense of our territory in case Konoha wanted to retaliate. Not even a mouse will move in the Land of Water without us knowing about it. See? I got it all thought out. No need to worr-"

    "SHUT UP!" The head of the Yuki n, Himeno''s father, burst out as he red at the Mizukage who finally raised his head and looked at the elder in bewilderment and confusion. "I''ve got enough of your bullshit! We came to tell you the Seven Swordsmen have returned! Four are dead, and the remaining three will need a few months of recuperation at best, and at worst their injuries will never heal, permanently lowering their fighting potential! The mission ended up in a failure! The second they were heading towards the first targeted town, they encountered a freaking Ringo Ameyuri who merrily ughtered her way through them without even getting a single scratch! Moreover, she destroyed Kabutowari and stole Samehada!" He finished while breathing hard, greedily gulping air and gripping his chest. Just remembering it almost gave him a heart attack!

    The more he talked, the more the Mizukage''s expression darkened. How could they be back so soon? Then his question changed. How could they have failed? The second the Yuki n elder mentioned Ringo, however... there was only one response the Mizukage was able to give as his expression turned ugly with a grain of powerless hopelessness in it.

    "F.u.c.k it all! Again them!?"

    ...

    Minato Namikaze sighed for the n-th time as he filled his hundredth paper in the office of the Hokage.

    ''If I knew I would be a paper-yer upon achieving my dream, I would never volunteer for this shit. Fighting hundreds of Iwa ninjas was much more enjoyable than bickering with old geezers, doing paperwork... and why the heck do I feel as if my work became ridiculous? Leading this vige is worse than exining to a five-year-old boy that girls do not have cooties or giving the talk to my students!'' Minato mentally raged, ''Is it only me or the councilmen in this vige are all mentally disadvantaged? Why the heck do I have to sign paperwork about taxes? Isn''t that the whole reason why the civilian council was formed? To ease the Hokage''s workload in times of war? For someone who vehemently refused to be dismissed after the war ended, they clearly are happy with not fulfilling the reason why they even exist!''

    "F.u.c.k.i.n.gzy sly old snakes who can''t do anything butin and whine! See how I dismiss you..." Minato mumbled under his nose as anger started rising in him the more paperwork that didn''t belong to him but the members of the civilian council he saw on his table.

    s, not even his four shadow clones were capable of being satisfactory help to Minato in his new duties.

    As he was thinking of a way to y the civilian council alive, the door suddenly creaked open, causing Minato to smile widely as his pregnant tomato of a wife, not that he had the guts to call her that to her face, walked inside his office with her confident grin.

    "Yo, Minato! What''s up? Enjoying the paperwork?" Kushina cheerfully asked, innocently smiling but Minato wisely kept quiet as he spotted her threatening gaze. ''Hehe, serves you right, taking my hat and putting the kicking devil inside of me, bastard! You can forget about having s.e.x for the next half-decade at least!''

    "Ye-yes, dear?" Minato unsurely answered with a twisted expression while in the back of his mind having a very, very bad premonition of his very own personal armageddon happening without him having any ability to stop it.

    "Good. I am sure this won''t destroy your good mood then." Kusha nodded in satisfaction and sat in the guest chair in front of his desk with a delighted groan before she put on his table a small book and slid it towards him.

    "What is it?" Minato took the book into his hands and froze for a bit. "Another new Bingo Book? Now? Thest one came two weeks ago..." He narrowed his eyebrows in worry.

    It was a huge secret but the Bingo Book only updated once per two months. If the update came sooner, that meant someone extremely extraordinary was put into it and they could not wait.

    Minato browsed through the pages until he came upon a new entry...

    "This is gotta be some cruel joke, right?" He looked with a hopeful expression at his exasperated wife who just shrugged, "Fourth SS-ranking from Kirigakure? Seriously? Plus this one is yet another rogue ninja? That makes four rogue SS-rankers all from Kiri and all of them are most likely in one group. Let''s see... she was given the title by Kirigakure? That''s rare, they didn''t give such a high ranking to anyone yet." Minato nodded, realizing how serious this was. For a ninja vige to give their own rogue ninja SS-rank? It meant something serious must have happened thatpletely frightened the vige higher-ups.

    "Huh? She was given the title for... oh f.u.c.k it all to hell!" Minato stood up and banged his palm onto his table while gritting his teeth after reading how exactly she earned that title. "Say what now? She killed four members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Kiri and injured three of them to the degree they would need months of recuperation? Stole one of the Seven Swords and destroyed another? And this all happened on the territory of the Land of Fire and I am only getting to know about it from the Bingo Book!?" Minato''s chakra red from anger, forcing Kushina to offset the pressure with her chakra.

    "Lord Hokage!" The secretary quickly ran inside as she felt the chakra re, only to stop in her tracks as she spotted the furious re of Minato and the four ANBU guards frozen stiff on the ceiling.

    "Go and call the Council Meeting." Minato''s voice was quiet but very menacing, "I want to see what that snake Danzo has to say about this. There is no way he did not know about it."

    Needless to say, the Konohagakure''s Council Room was not peaceful that night.

 Chapter 151 - Ch151. Uzushio Development 1

    <h4>Chapter 151 - Ch151. Uzushio Development 1</h4>

    A few months passed since Rei led the upants of the Harima vige into Uzushio, causing it to experience a mind-shattering change.

    After setting the new upants in, Konan''s and Rei''s clones were made to thoroughly educate the people from the Harima vige for the entire first month. It was quite a bother too since there were around two hundred people from the Harima vige.

    From the experience, it was obvious it was a waste of clones that could do something else so Rei used the portal to bring back all the Uzumaki from the Biri-Biripany under some kind of fake pretense. These people had to wear a hair-color altering seal anyway since the Uzumaki n members were a highly sought-aftermodity even now in the ninja circles of the Elemental Nations. It would not do, to have an abundant amount of bright-crimson-haired people in one ce.

    Rei just had to put the Secrecy Seal on them, dismiss them from thepany, and bring them to the Uzushio Vige to teach and prepare the new upants for their future work as traders. Rei wanted to recreate the Uzumaki n under his order anyway so this was something that had to eventually happen.

    What took him by surprise, however, was how obnoxiously grateful the Uzumaki nsmen were. Rei finally understood why Naruto was... well, Naruto. Apparently, it was in his blood.

    It was not as if the Uzumaki people were stupid. They just couldn''t live without showing their gratitude for being saved. Rei was actually very bbergasted when he realized he would not need to put any effort into bringing them under him since... they already recognized him as their leader. In the end, the sullen Rei reluctantly expended five clones to teach them useful Seals and the basics of sealing. If they decided to be so loyal, it was his duty to make them useful, no?

    Just like that, the first n of Uzushio was formed, numbering twenty-three.

    For the following month, Rei and Konan were run ragged, gathering any and all Uzumaki they could get their hands on without people noticing and the Uzumaki n count in the Uzushio quickly rose to an astonishing hundred and fifty-two... without anyone in the Elemental Nations even realizing.

    At least, Tsunade was making their work easier by settling the neers in the vige by herself.

    It was also quite annoying exining to over a hundred people their heritage and then persuading them toe to Uzushio. Fortunately, most of them lived in remote ces with harsh conditions so many jumped at the offer and only a few of the wealthier ones had to be brain-r.a.p.ed of their recent memories through seals after vehemently refusing to join no matter what Rei or Konan did. s... their loss. Literally.

    Slowly, twenty educated Uzumaki from the Biri-Biripany taught other Uzumaki what the Biri-Biripany deemed as the basics of necessary knowledge for their employees. These then taught others and the chain reaction continued until Rei found himself with a vige full of people that could knowledge-wise pass for an average merchant.

    But Rei was not satisfied and ordered them to scram and learn intermediate and advanced stuff before bragging in front of him! What good are merchants who are unable to swindle even nobles, much less the Daimyos, to him? He needed real professionals!

    Rei also started going rounds around the ces where people were treated the worst for various reasons. Whether it was because their feudal lords were stingy pieces of shit or because the countries were so poor there was just no way to survive... Rei collected them all like pokemons.

    The size of Uzushio was gradually expanding, day by day tens of new people were brought into the town by Rei. Naturally, since Rei himself brought them over, he was regarded as their ''savior'' and the new leader. He could only shake his head in exasperation while thinking... ''Orochimaru, you really are a genius. It''s so easy to get loyal followers by saving desperate people, ku, ku, ku!''

    As the poption grew bigger, Rei suddenly found himself in a need to create farnds. His main supplier of food was the Biri-Biripany and while it cost him exactly nothing since thepany was his, he would rather Uzushio be self-sufficient than digging into his pockets. Even if he didn''t pay for the food, thepany supplied it at loss to its profits... which meant in the end, Rei suffered loss anyway.

    It was such a sad fate too! Hence, the vigers had to learn how to farm. It was all for the Greater Good of Rei''s pocke-, ahem, of Uzushio''s well-being!

    Most of the people Rei brought to Uzushio came from small rural viges that focused on farming anyway so getting the Uzushio farming project started was not such a hard thing. A lot of farmers wanted to continue their life-long profession but Rei first ordered them to get a proper education. Only when they attained at least an intermediate level of knowledge did he allow them to sign up for a piece ofnd around Uzushio to start their farms.

    Well, not like the intermediate level was something extremely tough. Even an average farmer could pass the test with an eptable grade in two months if he put his all into it. For basic grade, three weeks were enough while the advanced would take half-year. These timeframes were naturally for average people so the few geniuses that were found actually managed to learn it a lot faster. One even attained advanced grade in under three months.

    Honestly, finding talent through this method while also making sure that Uzushio''s future will be assured to be extraordinary due to the intelligence of its upants was much easier than Rei previously thought. There were only a very few of those who refused to learn... mostly because the level of education provided to peasants and farmers in the world was abysmal at best.

    There were civilian schools... but these were only in big towns or ninja viges. Even then ninja school had much higher requirements in things like math and even then it was only learning stuff that could potentially help in their future ninja careers like calcting throwing angles, distances by the shadow cast on the ground, etc. The civilian school mostly focused on things like how to run a business, and so on. These were for daughters and sons of wealthy merchants, after all. Other kids were simply homeschooled. The ninja schools also mainly focused on brainwa-, uh, indoctrin-, ahem, well, teaching the kids who their owner is, or the so-called Wills of Elements.

    The most educated people were generally nobles followed by wealthy merchants. What Rei was creating in Uzushio... no noble could be bothered by it. Nobody in this world would educate the entire vige to the level surpassing even merchants or nobles in some subjects. Well, nobody ever used Rei of being sane...

    Thanks to the education, the farmers who signed up for a piece ofnd didn''t have a hard time grasping some ''advanced'' farming techniques or usage of farming tools Rei provided. He, Tsunade, and Konan could use Mokuton and they made sure to create special trees they gave to that small vige in Amegakure when they first started their journey all over the Uzushio. Putting the effect of that together with some special seals and farming tools... Rei estimated a harvest could be up to six times a year with the yield being three to five times as bountiful as normally seen in this world.

    Rei was basically using Nature Energy and Sealing Arts to shamelessly cheat his way through. His shamelessness power level reached 9000 when he created an auto-gathering paper tag for crops that could gather them in a certain radius. Naturally, thanks to the Secrecy Seal, the vigers had enough chakra to activate them on their own. The tag had a sealing matrix with a seal that gathered the crop and deposited it into a special storage seal on it. Honestly, being a farmer was probably the easiest profession in Uzushio with the number of cheats Rei provided for them. Whether it was nting, watering, or gathering... The farmers were basically just supervisors who sat in their rocking chairs while fishing most of their days away.

    Well, food supply was the most important thing when it came to self-sufficiency so Rei had it well covered while making sure the people would love doing the job since the taxes were extremely high at 50% of each yield. s, with six harvests per year and the cheating farming tools provided for free... especially since the order was done by Rei, their savior, the farmers reluctantly relented. It was only when they calcted their losses and gains did they find out that the tax didn''t even matter. They would get rich by just sitting on their asses, tending to their plots ofnd from time to time by taking a stroll through it and activating the seals.

    In a short six months... Uzushio had over three thousand inhabitants and over fifty farms all around. The people were getting more knowledgeable, showing their talents in various fields. It was a lot of work for Rei, Konan, and Tsunade while Mei and Ringo were closed in their workshop, trying to make progress in making a special sword close to one of the Seven Swords of Kiri and blowing the ce up at least once per two days.

    The Uzushio Vige was very small for now. Not even one-fifth of the whole ce was filled but something great, something never before seen in the Elemental Nations was steadily being created.

 Chapter 152 - Ch152. Righteous Kidnapping

    <h4>Chapter 152 - Ch152. Righteous Kidnapping</h4>

    Rei and Tsunade were lying on a nket, fiercely making out while their hands roamed the body of the other as they panted and m.o.a.ned in between the kisses. Tsunade''s feet were firmly locked around Rei''s waist while Rei''s body was pinning her down onto the nket, pressing his chest on hers.

    It was already midnight and both were very disheveled, their clothes torn in many ces since they were at it for eight hours straight. By now, it was only their training as a ninja and countless nights spent together that prevented both of them from acting on their l.u.s.t, undressing, and having straight out s.e.x with each other right on the hill close to the vige of the Kaguya n they currently ''watched''.

    Who said something so senseless such as the observation jobs were boring?

    Suddenly, Rei stopped and pulled a bit away from Tsunade who let out a protesting groan, pulling herself up to reach for his lips only to be stopped by Rei putting his hand on her cheek and gently caressing it, waking her from the pheromones-induced desire.

    "We will have a guest in a minute. Let''s tidy ourselves up." Rei pecked her lips for one more time before pulling a new set of clothes from his Dimension Storage Seal and started to change his attire.

    Tsunade huffed at that. She finally got her alone time with Rei and it barelysted eight incredible sweet hazy quick amazing... hours. ''Shit, I really do love him beyond all reason, don''t I?'' She bit her lower lip while her cheeks painted themselves red as she realized just how much she had fallen for Rei. Sighing in resignation, Tsunade also pulled out a new set of clothes and started redressing.

    A minuteter, exactly as Rei said, a white-haired woman wearing white kimono walked towards them. Her pace was slow, almost timid and Rei instantly saw a few bruises on her face, no matter how low she tried to hold her head to hide them. Her steps were measured, calm, and careful but it was all too easy to pinpoint the smallest of winces every time she stepped on her left foot.

    ''So she is our contact in the Kaguya vige? The one who wished our help to flee?'' Rei frowned and from the corner of his eyes, he could see that even Tsunade had her own conclusions from the state of the woman. These were certainly much worse than his since she was a seasoned medic ninja. Rei could only mentally shake his head. ''Well, I can guess why the woman would desire to run from the Kaguya n. Meh, their loss, my gain.''

    "Hello, my name is Chizuru Kaguya, nice to meet you." The woman bowed low as she introduced herself. "Am I correct to presume you are Rei and Konan of Yozora?"

    Rei lifted his eyebrow at her polite speech while Tsunade chuckled. "I am Rei," He introduced himself before pointing at Tsunade, "and this is Tsunade. We heard you would be interested in emigration?"

    "Yes... when I was visiting Kuzari town with my husband I certainly discreetly showed a desire to... change my current owners to a local merchant from the Biri-Biripany who promised to arrange this meeting. I would be willing toe under your employ if you are willing to treat me well." Chizuru subconsciously rubbed her left forearm as she spoke in an even emotionless but polite tone.

    Tsunade didn''t answer. She just abruptly moved towards Chizuru who stiffened. Her posture instantly changed to a defensive one as her pupils dted, only to rx when Tsunade showed her hand glowing in a coating of medical chakra. Chizuru then, still somewhat warily, let Tsunade approach her and when Tsunade ced her palm onto Chizuru''s bruised cheek, the white-haired woman took a sharp breath from the nice feeling it gave her. A stray tear rolled down her left cheek as she showed a bitter smile and sniffed. This single gesture of kindness was actually one of the nicest things in her life.

    Rei on the other hand watched the woman like a hawk before smirking. "And your real purpose being?"

    Chizuru barely restrained herself from taking a step back before sighing and giving Rei a sheepish expression. "As expected, I really can''t keep secrets. My desire is for women of the Kaguya n who desire a safe haven to be epted by you. At first, I wanted to see the conditions and the way you will treat me, and if I deem it appropriate, I would request-"

    "Fine, fine..." Rei waved his hand in annoyance. The woman was just too... polite. Honestly, it was a bit irritating for him. "We can take all of those who are willing to leave with us right now. Do you still want toe and check the conditions by yourself or are you willing to gamble?" He shrewdly asked.

    Chizuru slowly looked towards Tsunade before lowering her head. "I ept. If you can take all of us then I would be d." She quietly said.

    "Well then... god for you that Tsunade made the preparations." Rei said, making Tsunade darkly chuckle.

    "Yup, I wonder how effective my newest anti-Kaguya drug will be..."

    ...

    The chilly night wind spread through the Kaguya vige as the time neared 1 am. Slowly, a mist started to form, nketing the area but the guards did not panic as this was natural for the Land of Water. They only checked if there is a chakra in the mist and when they discovered there was none, their shoulders immediately rxed.

    Minutes ticked by as the mist thickened and soon, by the time the clock rang 2 am, the mist covered the whole vige in a thick white mist. The Kaguya nsmen slowly became weary and sluggish, their eyes dropping as their bones appeared to be heavier and heavier in their bodies.

    The whole vige... fall asleep.

    At the entrance, Rei, Tsunade, and Chizuru watched as the white mist with zero visibility cleared in under ten seconds, only faint wisps of it remaining in the area.

    "To think such a way to defeat the fabled Kaguya n existed..." Chizuru whispered to herself in utter astonishment as she remembered the pill Tsunade gave her to counter the effects of her drug that was spread through the vige alongside Rei''s mist.

    Chizuru, like every member of the Kaguya n, lived with a simple perception of the world. Violence and brutal physical might were supposed to be the greatest thing. Thanks to the Kaguya physique, even poisons that would be instantly lethal to others only made them ill for an hour or two. When Chizuru saw her nsmen fall unconscious due to some unknown drug? She was scared beyond the grave and suddenly Tsunade became somebody to be regarded only with the utmost respect.

    From then on, the entire mission was incredibly easy. They strolled around the sleeping vige, feeding pills to women at whom Chizuru pointed, exined the situation, watched how those women rejoiced, before gathering in the square when Chizuru''s entire group of around sixty young women was awake.

    After that, both Tsunade and Rei created around thirty clones each and sent one clone with one woman to gather other people in the vige they would be taking. This time, they didn''t wake them and they would be relocated while unconscious.

    "Man~, who would think I would be kidnapping young kids and girls?" Rei whined as he watched around 40 sleeping kids under 5 years old being ced on the square right next to the sleeping forms of around a hundred girls up to 17 years old. "I somehow feel really dirty..." Rei deadpanned, making Tsunade giggle.

    "Well, just imagine what would be of them without us doing this." She tried to cheer him up, causing Rei to give her a yful look.

    "Sure... we can count this as righteous kidnapping, then." He nodded with a snort.

    It didn''t take long for around three hundred of the Kaguya nsmen, most of them still asleep, to be relocated to Uzushio.

    Just like that, the biggest case of missing people greeted the world.

 Chapter 153 - Ch153. Uzushio Development 2

    <h4>Chapter 153 - Ch153. Uzushio Development 2</h4>

    There were naturally a few problems with the Kaguya n members when they woke up.

    The sixty women did their best to persuade the older teenage girls to be co-operative while calming down the kids. Unfortunately, twenty of the most crazed ones had to have their memories adjusted and were promptly dumped back into the Kaguya Vige the following night, with theirst memory being going to sleep two days ago. Uzushio didn''t need crazed Kaguya-style gangbang loving masochistic fanatics.

    Not like they could reveal what they experienced even if their memories somehow restored themselves. The Secrecy Seals were already in ce the second they used the portal.

    The kids were trickier though. These couldn''t just be discarded because they could still be raised to ept their situation. Temper tantrums were amon sight that day. Thankfully, the Kaguya n tempered their kids with some tough, steely love with the appearance of a cane so crying was not a habit the Kaguya children had.

    Rei decided to follow a simple rule. Desperate times, call for a desperate solution... he showered the kids in modern board or card games while offering them candy and chocte. In short, he used honeytrap!

    And it worked spectacrly...

    ''As expected of me... cough, cough.'' Rei smugly thought about his achievements while giving the disbelieving Tsunade and Konan a meaningful look. ''Ha! Superpowers or not, kids will be kids! Just look at Ophis!''

    In the end, the number of the Kaguya nsmen who epted their situation was 272. Most of these were women and the males were only kids under 5 years old. This was because of the Kaguya customs which clearly stated any boy aged 5 or above had to start the n training... which usually started with a bucket load of brainwashing to be loyal to their n first and foremost to the point of sacrificing their lives for it. s, these kids simply were just not worth the effort in Rei''s eyes.

    But Rei was patient and he could wait a decade or so for his Kaguya n members to grow. No pressureˇ­ Especially the lil'' crying bundle that was stolen from the house of the Kaguya n head... little Kimimaro.

    Uzushio now had two ns. Uzumaki and Kaguya. For now, both lived in the samepound, which was quite intentionally done by Rei so these people could grow closer to each other. Rei would not suffer internal n disputes in his own vige! Being at odds in certain situations was fine... but if he could make them understand and help each other, teach them how to work together instead of against each other from the start, Rei would try his damnedest to do so. This also came with the added benefit of Uzumaki teaching Kaguya kids their ways. Whether they were about the love for their family orˇ­ the reverence they had for Rei.

    ''Maybe I should stop copying Orochimaruˇ­'' Rei thought about the prospects of having the Kaguya kids grow up into his fanatics due to the care of the ever-so-loyal Uzumaki. ''Then againˇ­ maybe not. After all, Orochimaru was the favorite pupil of Sarutobi. He knows his stuff when ites to manipting impressionable children.''

    Surprisingly, the Uzumaki n members were steadily learning and developing their sealing arts. For now, it was nothing extraordinary but they could ease up the time of Rei''s clones that had to keep up with creating the supply of goods for the Biri-Biripany so Rei could delegate more research work to these while paying the Uzumaki sealers amission for making the seals in his stead.

    The other thing the Uzumaki n and even some civilians showed an interest in was forging. And for forging, they needed metal.

    Simply said, Rei decided to start hiring miners and reopen the chakra metal and iron ore mine near Uzushio. The Uzushiogakure of old was the main supplier of chakra metal in the world and the mines were far from depleted.

    Naturally, like with farmers, Rei made sure the miners had an easier job than normal. Instead of carts, there were storage scrolls, The pickaxes were all enhanced with seals and had a special feature of adding weight to every swing. The miners didn''t even have to be that strong for these pickaxes to be effective. Honestly, Rei could make some automated mining factory with seals and his rock clones but this was a good way to broaden the number of jobs in the vige.

    Just like that, the storage houses in the vige that previously contained only crops now started to be filled with storage scrolls containing a whole lot of chakra metal, iron, gold, silver, and more. The future Uzushio Trading Company gained their first saleablemodity.

    The next thing Rei put the effort into were docks. Creating sh.i.p.s was not hard since Rei, Tsunade, Konan, or even their clones could do so without any hassle with just a few hours a day and a bit of effort put into Mokuton shaping.

    Considering Uzushio was an ind nation, sh.i.p.s were important and Rei made sure to put Mokuton and Sealing Arts together to create floating fortresses when it came to both defense and offense. The best part in Rei''s opinion, however, was the natural camouging seals all over the hull that could make the ship invisible unless in close proximity. After all, why fight with pirates when you could show them the middle finger without them even noticing?

    Thest part Rei needed was capable sailors but that was quickly solved by secretly sending some capable men and women to the branch of the Biri-Biripany that focused on naval trade where they would learn under the supervision of an experienced captain. Rei could almost see how a yearter they would return, and Uzushio would gain their very own trading fleet!

    ''Just a year more and Uzushio Trading Company can start operating!'' Rei smiled in content. Yesˇ­ the fleet was thest thing Uzushio required before rejoining the world stage.

    And while Rei was doing all this, Tsunade was training carefully selected people in medical ninjutsu and knowledge needed for doctors. Thanks to the Secrecy Seals that improved the physique of the residents, nobody got ill for months now so the hospital was not really needed. Only when a woman got pregnant she approached Tsunade''s clone for a check-up and there were even a few births, such as the young Karin Uzumaki, on whom Tsunade instantly called dibs and the girl''s future in the medical field became sealed, but apart from that, medics were not needed yet.

    Unfortunately, Tsunade was irked that she was the only one capable of doing these things so she gathered her own pupils from those with exceptional chakra control and started their hellish fast-track training.

    Rei could only pity them... poor bruised saps.

    Konan, on the other hand, focused on creating a library. Naturally, there were no ninja arts but the size was five times the library of a Daimyo from a major nation. Any notable piece of paper that could enrich the knowledge of the residents, Konan gathered and put in there. She also made sure to hire five librarians who took care of the ce since she could not do so while creating the paperwork system of the vige.

    Naturally, the vige could not be without its leader. For now, that position was filled with Rei but he knew Konan was already grooming Kaya Uzumaki for the position. Thankfully, there was no real resistance to that from the Uzumaki n. Even the twenty members who came from the Biri-Biripany didn''t utter a singleint.

    But while Rei could manage tons of paperwork with his clones, Kaya would be hopelessly outssed. That''s why Konan was creating a hierarchy and putting together a government system not much different from what was used for the Biri-Biripany, only on a more concentrated scale. Basically, the leader would deal only with the most important stuff pertaining to the well-being of the vige and its development while under the leader, numerous heads of various departments would have their own paperwork and so on and on...

    Well, Konan had it all thought out so Rei didn''t care much about it.

    The Uzushio was slowly bing more and more lively, especially since the people started to invent their own things or ways to earn money like the shrewd merchants they were educated to be.

    Just a few months passed since the establishment of Uzushio and yet, the ce was already starting to thrive.

 Chapter 154 - Ch154. I am going to win

    <h4>Chapter 154 - Ch154. I am going to win</h4>

    Rei and Konan watched Yugito swing Samehada at Mei d in her Steam Armor and cleave through her as if she was made of paper. A bit away, the real Mei cursed at seeing that, gnashing her teeth at smug Ringo who just won the bet of ''who has the better armor''. The Jutsu that previously made Mei invulnerable to any attack from the Yellow sh, was reduced to just an uselessyer of steam in front of Samehada.

    "So carefree..." Rei chuckled, looking at the sky of his dimension.

    "Isn''t it fine? Being carefree, I mean." Konan sighed in contentment and leaned closer to Rei who just lovingly pulled her even closer as they watched Mei trying to attack Yugito who countered almost everything with Samehada or used her nimbleness to dodge.

    Mei was naturally not going all out but she was using enough power to take down A-rank ninja without a problem. The improvement rate of Yugito was incredible, especially since she was taught Shadow Clones. That technique was really created for Jinchuuriki...

    It has been a while since Yugito was ''recruited'', and Rei was really astonished when he one day found himself in front of the kneeling blonde as she swore herself into his service while he was still half-asleep due to just waking up. Rei had no idea how to feel about that. One part of him wanted to reject but the other knew Yugito would be useful so he dazedly nodded in eptance at the time...

    Just like that, he earned himself a devoted kunoichi.

    ''At least she doesn''t have any romantic feelings towards me.'' Rei felt immense relief because that would be just awkward since he didn''t spend much time with the girl due to thest months being very busy. He saw her more like a cute little kitten living in his house. Mei''s pet of a sort.

    "So... what about Konoha?" Rei asked Konan, admiring how Yugito kicked Mei''s chest and sent her flying back only to reveal it was just a clone.

    "Hmm? You mean the nine-tailed fluff that appeared and devastated quite a lot of the vige while killing the Fourth Hokage?" Konan tilted her head, "Meh, they will get back up on their feet. It will take years but the peace treaty is still valid. No new war ising." She shrugged in disinterest.

    "And the jinchuuriki?" Rei asked, wincing as Mei brutally slugged Yugito right into her right cheek.

    "What jinchuuriki? The fourth supposedly killed the immortal beast, no?" Konan sarcastically eximed in a mocking tone while appreciating how Yugito returned the punch by kicking Mei''s stomach.

    Rei derisively snorted, "Please... I can''t believe Konoha higher-ups are stupid and naive enough to hope other viges would believe a make-believe story such as ''our Hokage killed the strongest Bijuu! Cower before us!'' The entire thing is the biggest joke the entire Elemental Nation ever heard of." He rolled his eyes. "It''s as if the Konoha in their stress and panicpletely forgot the other viges have their own Bijuu and know their own fair bit about them."

    "Yeah... Konoha is pretty much theughing stock of the world right now. The only measure of respect theymand is due to them winning thest war." Konan nodded just as Mei''s experimental sword blocked Samehada which was promptly blown away by the seal incorporated into Mei''s sword. "Hooo~, who would have thought the sword would actually work?" Konan added with an interested smile.

    "Yeahˇ­" Rei''s lips also curled to a small smile, "Ringo and Mei will eventually create incredible swords. To think their repelling sword would work so spectacrly to repel even Samehada..." Rei said before kissing the temple of Konan''s head to get her attention. "So? Back to my question... the Jinchuuriki?"

    Konan happily hummed, averting her pondering gaze from the sword, and stopping scheming about how easy it would be to steamroll through an army if her ninjas had these repelling swords, before starting to talk, "In an orphanage, supposedly for his own protection. His status is apparently kept as an S-ranked secret... except, Raikage received the report about the boy yesterday and Tsuchikage today. Heck, they even know his parentage. Both could care less whose son the brat is. They are well aware he would not receive proper training the second they heard about the rumors about the demon reincarnation into a small boy. So far, neither is interested since they have bigger problems on their hands due to the war just ending."

    "In the end, it is just a simple attempt at manipting a child by the Third Hokage, huh?" Rei wryly smiled. "Dammit, if only the little brat was not a member of the Uzumaki n. It would be all so much easier." He eximed while watching Yugito sh des with Mei in a bitter endurance match where neither of them had an advantage.

    "You wanna snatch the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki?" Konan turned towards Rei in astonishment, her gaze clearly asking, ''Are you serious?''.

    "Maybeter..." Rei dismissed the idea but Konan knew what it meant. Rei could care less about the boy.

    "I know our activities in the past year were a bit too concentrated on saving the poor and helpless but we are not a charity, much less an orphanage for the unwanted." Konan shrugged, losing interest in the topic, and looked back towards the fight between Yugito and Mei. Yugito was keeping up only thanks to her status as a Jinchuuriki, the fact she was holding Samehada, and due to Mei not brutally aiming at Yugito''s body, instead Mei was only trying to disarm her.

    "I have no idea what I am going to do. I can let the little guy suffer. I can help him. I can manipte him. I can snatch him... Choices, choices and consequences." Rei mirthfully chuckled. He was still tempted to just let nature run its course but... maybe he could give it his own twist? "And what about the case of the viges disappearing? Did the ninja viges finally give up their respective investigations?" He changed the topic just as Mei managed tond a blow on Yugito, injuring her left upper arm.

    "Let''s see..." Konan became a bit dazed as the information was ryed to her by her clone, "Sunagakure already called it off and just signed it off as some kind of unnatural Sandstorm. The vige was in a very remote and deste area, after all."

    "Figures. Rasa has other problems than hundred or so civilians going puff into the air." Rei nodded, already predicting this oue. "Oh~, would you look at that? Yugitonded a right hook just after dispelling Mei''s smoke armor! The girl''s instincts really are incredible!" He excitedly smiled.

    "Considering both refuse to userge-scale ninjutsu... they are so-so, I would say." Konanmented with brutal honesty in her voice. "Anyway, the Tsuchikage is acting as if nothing happened, not even a bit bothered by a few remote viges disappearing. He probably thinks it is the work of bandits taking the vigers and selling them as ves. Considering he is not getting any request to rescue them... he firmly believes in no pay, no way policy."

    "Good for us, then." Rei just smirked. ves were yet another good way to increase the poption of his vige but he had to be careful and not attract much attention from Onoki. He was a bit afraid that clearing these viges out would somewhat put Onoki on guard and hinder this option but... Now it just seemed as if Onoki was making it easy for Rei on purpose.

    "Konoha has no idea since we didn''t take anyone from the Land of Fire. Kumogakure is seething and looking for the reason, not that they would be able to figure it out... The problem is Kirigakure." Konan quieted down.

    "Yeah..." The corner of Rei''s mouth twitched.

    Who would have known that taking away three hundred Kagyua n members would send the hot-blooded morons into a frenzy and cause them to march straight towards Kirigakure where they would attempt to massacre everything that moves! How stupid one had to be to attack a vige with tens of thousand strong experienced force of killers with only a few hundreds ofbatants head-on?

    In short, the Kaguya n was no more.

    At least, that was what the world believed. s, it would be a decade at the very least before Rei could prove the world wrong.

    Rei smiled and watched Yugito and Mei shake each other''s hands with smiles on their exhausted faces. Jinchuuriki were quite capable andpatible with the clone training method. He sighed as he really had no idea what to do about lil'' Ruto. Nevertheless...

    "And so the plot begins..." Rei reached his hand towards the fake sun in his dimension with determination shining in his eyes as he silently promised to himself, "I... am going to win."

 Chapter 155 - Ch155. Pakura 1

    <h4>Chapter 155 - Ch155. Pakura 1</h4>

    Pakura was slowly and leisurely walking towards Kiri, sent on a diplomatic mission by Rasa. All around her were mist-filled forests and her senses were ring at her, telling her she was being followed but she already expected that. The Kazekage himself told her it would happen and she shouldn''t be too worked over it. She epted it. After all, Kirigakure would not just leave a foreign ninja roaming free on theirnd.

    Nevertheless, Pakura was still cautious and kept her guard up. She was almost half-way on her way towards the vige through the Land of Water when her senses red into high heavens and she only managed to whip out a kunai into each of her hands as her eyes widened. She nimbly started to deflect the flurry of projectiles flying her way while acrobatically jumping from side to side, weaving through the trees and using their trunks as temporary shields.

    Pakura deflected thest projectile and red into the mist as she could feel her body getting numb from a small cut on her thigh.

    ''I am poisoned!'' She thought in panic and tried to counter the poison with her chakra only for her stomach to sink when she found out it was impossible. ''Chakra Poisoning and partial paralysis!? How? This is a poison only Sunagakure can produ-'' Her mindpletely halted.

    "What''s the meaning of this!?" Pakura screamed only forughter toe out of the mist as ten figures appeared. They were all d in Iwa shinobi attire but what made her widen her eyes was that she recognized them! They were quite famous Kiri Hunter Ninjas!

    "Why?" She asked as her mind was swirling with possibilities.

    One shinobi smirked at her provocatively, his eyes clearly condescending as he twirled his chokuto in his hand. "Well, Suna sc.u.m, wouldn''t you like to know... Now, be a good girl and let us kill you." He smiled widely and Pakura''s eyes steeled. There was no walking away from here, it seemed. She would have to fight.

    Pakura wasn''t just standing while they talked, her chakra was ready and the second he finished his monologue, she pushed it to create three Scorch Release Orbs andbined them in a blink of an eye into one big ming orb several times as high as she was. She held it with her chakra above her head and with a snarl, she threw it onto the Kiri Shinobi while jumping backward.

    White vapor exploded as the orb hit the ground and vaporized everything in its range. The vapor quickly spread and engulfed the entire battlefield, thickening the mist around even more.

    Pakura was in the process of conjuring more of her ming orbs while panting from exertion due to pushing her chakra through the poison effects when she could feel her thigh to be pierced, forcing her to drop onto her knee and grit her teeth in pain.

    "You bitch! You killed Akio!" Another man shrieked, giving away his position.

    As she heard him from the mist, she raised her kunai, just in time to block a sword about to decapitate her.

    ''Shit! They are all masters at Silent Killing and moving through the mist!'' Pakura thought in despair as she could barely see three meters in front of her.

    The sword stopped, and Pakura could feel yet another senbon aimed at her other leg, and with a great deal of effort, she twisted her body into a roll, making the senbon hit the ground. She sprang up and put her entire weight on her uninjured leg as she protectively held her two kunai at the ready while secretly kneading her chakra for her Scorch Release as she started deflecting more and more senbon flying her way while her back faced a tree.

    She was f.u.c.k.i.e.d and she knew it. The initial flurry poisoned her and her body was getting number and number by the second. She could only move due to her extraordinarily strong chakra coursing through her body and somewhat forcedly mitigating the poison. A normal Suna jonin would already be apletely paralyzed lump of flesh lying on the ground.

    Also, she was an agility-based shinobi. One of her legs useless basically meant game over for her. She steeled herself and decided to take as many of them down together with her.

    It was then that a raiton coated sword pierced the tree she was leaning on from behind and her lower abdomen with it, making blood spurt from her mouth. She looked at the piece of sharp steel in her andshed out with her orb, vaporizing the man behind the tree.

    With a painful groan, Pakura pushed the sword out of her body as she dropped on all four, coughing blood while panting. She could feel the poison spreading through her body more and more as she slowly grew weaker and started to lose even the remaining control over her chakra.

    The remaining Kiri men appeared in front of her, smiling in amus.e.m.e.nt.

    "Just give it up. You won-"

    That was as far as the man got before Pakura''s kunai embedded itself into his forehead. This however alerted the others and her follow-up scorch orbs missed.

    Pakura cursed and stood up. "Well... If I am to die, you areing with me." She brokenly smiled, her eyes the picture of exhaustion as she was pressing on the wound on her bleeding abdomen.

    Three ming orbs appeared around her and the bloody sh in the mist-covered forest continued.

    ...

    Pakura sat beaten, leaning her back onto the tree as her right hand was raised upward, pierced through the palm with kunai to the tree. One of her legs, the one that was previously hit by a senbon, waspletely numb while the other was broken at the knee, twisted at an unnatural angle. That was not as worrying as the fact it was lying in front of her unattached to her body. Her other arm... was full of cuts and senbons pierced it in many ces as she used it to shield herself in desperation while the menughed and jeered as they used her as a target for throwing practice. They were actually surprised she could still move it after the fiftieth senbon pierced it. They clearly didn''t aim for anything vital but instead focused on the painful spots.

    The men stopped throwing and quiet ensued in the clearing. Pakura raised her head to see them approaching her and took a shuddering breath as she coughed blood, making the trail of blood flowing from the sides of her mouth even redder.

    How she would like to vaporize these men! But whatever poison they used, it was specifically engineered against her... She was unable to control her chakra fluidly. Well, she could but not enough to throw her bloodline around anymore. Her best bet was taijutsu and kunai but her body was already a wreck. No... this was game over and she knew it as tears trailed down her cheeks. She only wanted to know one thing.

    "Why?" She rasped out as she looked at the three men. She managed to kill seven of them. All of them elite jonin level. That was what earned her the current torture they were putting her through. If she didn''t kill them, her head would roll and it would at least be painless.

    One of the men scowled at her question and sighed as he crouched down in front of her and grabbed her hair, yanking her head up to look at him.

    "Why?" He smirked condescendingly. "Suna offered you in exchange for peace... Hero of the Suna." He mocked, gleefully enjoying Pakura''s shaking eyes at the revtion that this was not a coincidence. "This was yourst mission from the start, bitch." He pped her cheek, arge bruise appearing on it.

    "Rensatsu," A man next to him started but was cut off with the scoff from Rensatsu.

    Pakura still couldn''t believe she was sold to Kiri. She sacrificed her entire life for the vige. Academy, Training, War, More Training, Training Disciple... She had never had time for herself. She gave herself to Sunagakure and this was how she was repaid?

    With wide eyes, she stared in horror at the three men as her throat went dry. It was so unfair.

    "I know, Akabo." Rensatsu, the man crouching in front of Pakura said in annoyance. "I won''t hit her again."

    "Good." Akabo grinned as his hand went to his pants. "I was really looking forward to this." He eyed Pakura''s broken and bloody body with a want in his eyes, making her shudder. She knew what would follow. Hours upon hours of being their s.e.x toy. She stared at them in despair, unable to move...

    ''This is it?'' Tears streamed down her cheeks with even bigger intensity as she watched two men unbuckle their pants, leering at her, while the third went away in annoyance, clearly disgusted but uncaring to her plight.

    She shakily stuck her tongue slightly out, between her teeth. She would prefer a swift and painful end rather than a miserable and... humiliating one. She was about to bite her tongue off as her eyes closed.

    Her mind was hazy and afraid, confused due to the revtion she was sold out by her own, no less. She was shaken enough to let out the only thing, the first thing that came to her mind.

    ''Help, please. I don''t want to die, yet...'' She sobbed but it was obvious no help woulde. She was here to be ughtered, set up by her own Kage. Her thoughts suddenly shifted into a desperate wail as a mad determination showed in her exhausted eyes. ''Sunagakure, Rasa, I curse you to hell!''

    Pakura forcefully bit down on her tongue.

    (Cliff-kun, yahooo!)

 Chapter 156 - Ch156. Pakura 2

    <h4>Chapter 156 - Ch156. Pakura 2</h4>

    Pakura''s teeth jerkily touched her tongue in full force about to bit it off while she tightly closed her eyes. Ninja or not, death is death and humans fear it like the gue. Pakura was simply no different. While she might not exactly fear it in the height ofbat, suicide was still a big mental pressure for her.

    As her teeth went through the firstyer of flesh on her tongue though... her entire body froze,pletely paralyzed. No matter how she tried, she was unable to twitch even a singr muscle.

    "Holy shit, I was almostte! Damn, Tsunade really knows how to hold onto somebody!" Suddenly a disgruntled loud voice resounded right in front of her, causing Pakura to widen her eyes as a young man in the process of hastily pulling on his shirt just popped into existence there, kicking the two approaching Kiri ninjas away. Unfortunately for them, their pants were half-down so there was not really much resistance they could offer.

    For better or worse, Rei didn''t really pay attention to where his foot flew. One received a nice kicker into the crotch, sending him flying a few meters back while the other got himself a nice one right into the noggin.

    "Oh!" Rei realized he kicked somebody only after feeling the impact, "Sorr-" He was about to apologize when he saw Pakura and he finally understood why his ''rms'' went off. Honestly, he actually forgot he had her marked... "On the other hand, I am not sorry at all." Rei scowled, bending down to pick up Pakura''s cut-off leg.

    Paralyzed or not, Pakura was inwardly gaping inplete disbelief. At least, the three remaining attackers of hers were also as surprised as her. One was rolling on the ground, holding his crotch while the other was wailing, holding his face. Lying on the ground, Pakura idly wondered how strong that kick had to be to disable two highly trained Hunter Ninjas.

    Rei didn''t like the state he found Pakura in. She was the only user of Scorch Release, meaning valuable. Even if Rei didn''t take her bloodline into consideration, the woman could still fight one of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri with only kunais. She had the potential to be someone really incredible and Rei wanted to see her work for his future vige.

    ''So I was a bit toote, huh?'' Rei sighed as he crouched down next to Pakura''s paralyzed form... only to find out the woman fainted a few seconds ago. He frowned as he realized the woman would most certainly die if he didn''t get her to a medic asap, ''I better take her to Tsunade. A chance to get S-rank ninja for free is not something I am gonna pass up on.''

    Rei heaved her up on his right shoulder while holding her unattached leg in his left hand. He was about to teleport away when he stopped and slowly turned towards the two groaning men on the ground... his lips twisted into a feral grin as two shadow clones popped up next to him, both eager to try out reactions of the human body to new mixtures of chakra with nature energy.

    Needless to say, when the third man who left when he saw hispanions wanted to have their fun with Pakura finally came back, the only thing waiting for him was a bloodied tree bark and underneath, a puddle of Pakura''s blood.

    A chill went up the man''s spine when he realized both Pakura and his twopanions just disappeared... At first, he quickly put his guard up, waiting for some kind of ambush but even after a few minutes, nothing happened. He then thought about what could be the reason for neither of the three to be present. Heck, the woman was literally nailed to the tree so her disappearing was really disgruntling.

    And after he went through various scenarios, the man finally came to the crux of the situation.

    "Shit! I will have to report this to Mizukage! I am so dead!"

    Needless to say, the Suicide Squad almost gained a new member that day.

    ...

    Rei sat next to Pakura''s bed, leisurely reading Icha Icha Paradise. Naturally, he read it because of the plot, not the smut. He had enough smut going on at home, after all... Right?

    ''God, if only it was not so boring, sitting here and waiting for her to wake up!'' He mentally whined.

    Honestly, Pakura was a bit too close to death by the time Rei managed to get her to Tsunade. The woman already lost an almost lethal amount of blood, and if she wasn''t a ninja, she would be six feet under half an hour before Rei got to her. For example, it took even Tsunade hours to reattach the leg properly.

    Today was the third day Pakura lied in the newly established hospital in Uzushio. Sure, it might have been Rei''s fault that he forgot about her but in his defense, Pakura should have been sent to Kirigakure only after Yagura became the Mizukage, and yet... here she was.

    ''Looks like the butterfly effect is really a thing,'' Rei inwardly sighed, ''How... troublesome.'' He thought, turning the page in his book. Only with the corner of his eye did he notice Pakura subtly stirring.

    She slowly fluttered her eyes open and Rei praisingly noted she had her guard up even before she did so. With her eyes finally open, Pakura quickly took in the room in which she found herself...

    "I willmend you for being careful. I am Rei and I saved you... well, you should be able to remember that part." Rei drawled before the woman coulde to some misguided kind of her own conclusion.

    Pakura shifted, finding her upper body bare, only covered in bandages, and quickly pulled the sheet up, causing Rei to smile at how shy the supposedly toughest woman of the Sunagakure''s younger generation was.

    "Where am I?" Pakura asked, her tone low and measured, guarded even.

    ''Oho~, she is definitely mentally probing her body and muscles while looking for escape routes.'' Rei smiled at how her eyes almost unnoticeably flickered from side to side at times.

    "Uzushio... that''s not important." Rei dismissively waved the Icha Icha book at her in a silly manner, making her rx while distracting her, "What is important is that I have an offer for you since Suna betrayed you which gives you only two choices. You can either die as Sunagakure and the Kazekage wish or you can go rogue. In case you decide to go rogue, we, Yozora, could possibly find a spot for you. If you choose the first option, please, at least kill yourself somewhere far away from the bedsheets."

    Pakura could only dumbly nod at him. She... was really speechless for a moment.

    "Uh..." She coherently summed her feelings up before shaking her head to get out of the daze, "So... er, I... you are offering me," She pointed at herself in bewilderment, "a chance to join Yozora? The same Yozora thatpletely enraged four out of five major ninja viges? The same Yozora that could infiltrate any vige they wished? Yozora... the rogue ninja organization which has three SS-ranks?" The more she talked, the more weirded out Rei''s gaze became.

    "Hm... didn''t know we are so famous. In a nutshell? Yeah, you can join." Rei had an urge to pat her head due to how cute her disbelieving expression looked but he held himself back. Kunoichi and all that funk... who knows if he would not lose his hand if he tried to touch her head without warning her first. "Honestly, I had my eyes on you for some time now," Rei said, causing Pakura to narrow her eyes slightly and shuffle back a bit. Especially since she saw the Icha Icha Book in his hands. "and no, I did not orchestrate this nor am I some kind of closet pervert." He uncaringly shrugged, "Anyway, I had you marked with a Locator Seal. The only reason why I waste to save you was how unexpected the situation was."

    ''I can''t really tell her I waste because Tsunade wouldn''t let me leave the bed, right? Meh... it was unexpected for her to get sent to Kirigakure so early. Half-truths for the win!'' Rei inwardly cheered. ''Nowˇ­ let''s hope she never asks for the entire description of the Locator Seal functions. She did getpletely paralyzed before fainting so maybe? Nahˇ­ I am not going to open that can of worms.''

    "I have so many questions I have no idea where to even start." Pakura started,pletely lost. She had no idea what to do in this situation.

    ''Uh, oh...'' Rei, as if instinctively, threw the book he was holding at her, making her catch it on reflex.

    "Read it. The plot is fine, the smut is second-rate and I think I am being generous, and at theplete end of the book, I wrote basic info about Yozora and what I would want from you if you join and what I am offering you in return." Rei exined, not even giving her the chance to ask her questions, before standing up from his chair. "Tomorrow we will talk about it. Make sure to think it through."

    And with that, Rei walked out of the room, leaving the bbergasted woman to her own devices. He called this move an ultimate tactical retreat.

    The door closed after Rei left the room and Pakura''s shoulders instantly sagged, the bedsheet edge slipped out of Pakura''s hands, exposing her bandaged body while tears started to stream down her cheeks as her hand subconsciously rubbed the ce where her leg was severed as if to confirm this was really happening. Pakura let her body fall back onto the soft bed, sobs escaping her lips while her free hand worked hard on wiping the rivers of happy tears when her brain finally registered how close she was toˇ­

    "I am still alive." Pakura''s face bloomed into a beautiful smile, her eyes turning towards the closed door with sincere gratitude in them, "Thank you so much!"

 Chapter 157 - Ch157. Pakura 3

    <h4>Chapter 157 - Ch157. Pakura 3</h4>

    "I ept!"

    Rei momentarily halted, his hand on the handle of the door in the motion of opening them.

    ''Well, that was quick. And here I thought we would at least exchange greetings first...''

    It was already a day since he gave her the book and Rei was sure she looked through every nook and cranny of the room, tried to get outside at least fifty-three times only to be stopped by a nurse or a doctor with Tsunade-certified training under their belt... needless to say, Pakura stayed put. She then tried to look for monitoring devices, checked and re-checked her kunais which were left on the table near her bed in order to give her a bit of safety, and spent hours near the window, trying to find out as much as she could about Uzushio through it. On top of all that, she also made damn sure the food nor water she received is drugged or poisoned. Rei was only d one had to be Seal Grandmaster to even detect his monitoring seals.

    ''Then again, her vignce is really fitting for a kunoichi.'' He mentally mused.

    Fortunately, Pakura didn''t try to get out of the room nor did she be violent. The ce was, after all, still a hospital.

    "Why so sudden?" Rei asked while finishing opening the door and walked in. "I thought you would want to negotiate the terms or something."

    "I don''t really have a choice here anyway." Pakura sighed. "It''s exactly as you said. I might be the Hero of Suna and people there might love me for putting my life on the line during the war for them but... Rasa is the Kazekage. Coming back and announcing what happened would only lead to a civil war and Sunagakure is in no state for that. It would ruin it. That means..." Pakura balled her hands into fists, "The higher-ups would just give up on me and dere me a missing ninja. They would choose to abandon me and weather through some public unrest because of that rather than having a full-blown civil war on their hands." Her expression turned bitter.

    Of course, Rei knew all that but he let her talk to vent her feelings a bit. The woman seemed to need just that at the moment.

    "As for going rogue..." Pakura continued in a bitter tone, "The second Suna deres me a rogue ninja, Konoha will follow because of their alliance. Kirigakure will also put the kill on sight order on me if only because it is a mark of shame that I survived the ambush from ten of their hunter ninjas and destroyed their plot to implicate Iwagakure. As for Iwagakure, I killed quite a lot of them during the war. No way I would find peace in that country." She shrugged amusedly, "The only real possibility is Kumogakure and while the new Raikage is rumored to be putting some old policies down, they would still sooner breed me against my will to reproduce my bloodline rather than have me on their roster."

    Well, they are basically more barbaric and showy Konoha." Rei quipped, making Pakura smile at the jab on Konoha''s hypocrisy. It was no secret Konoha liked their bloodlines a bit too much.

    Frankly, Rei knew it would end this way. It might, at first nce, be easy to hide in the wide world. After all, there are only so many ninjas that would hunt for her, no? She could always hide in some remote ind in the far south or something, right? Or in the continent on the opposite side of the Land of Water. There are not many ninja viges and it is quite big too...

    But in reality, ninjas, for better or worse, roamed through every nook and cranny of Elemental Nations. All it would take was one who would recognize her without Pakura knowing about it and stopping him for good, and there would be a hunt for her. ANBU from all viges, mercenaries, and worst of all, the fellow rogue ninjas would all scramble to get their hands on the bounty for S-rank ninja''s head or body. Especially since she was the sole user of Scorch Release.

    "Anyway, being in the organization with three SS-rank ninjas would give me far more protection and opportunities than going by myself." Pakura honestly said.

    She was very grateful for being saved and it might or might not have yed a role in her final decision. When she was on the brink of death, knowing that Sunagakure betrayed her... all she wanted was a ce where she would be safe and for somebody to save her. It was the very first time in her life she ever wanted to be saved. Pakura believed in training, in giving the effort if she wanted something. She never depended on others more than necessary. But for the first time, she prayed to be saved and something she thought to be a miracle happened. The man in front of her saved her and then offered her a safe haven. While she was still a bit wary, Pakura decided to stay.

    Not to mention, if the man in front of her was able to conceal the existence of the whole Uzushio vige during its formation, hiding one more rogue ninja would be no problem for him.

    "Just tell me what exactly you are expecting of me." She asked, hoping Rei would not say anything outrageous.

    "Well, I am in the process of making a new hidden vige, you see. I need somebody capable to be my Jonin Commander." Rei shrugged. Konan already called dibs on the secretary role, Tsunade wanted to be the head of the medics, Ringo quickly decided she would pull the reins of Hunter Squads and ANBU, and Mei decided she would be a housewife.

    And as it usually happens between men and women, Rei was informed about their decisions only after they were set in stone and there was no way to change their minds.

    ''Not like I can offer you any other position... Sorry, Pakura.'' He thought, feeling a bit exasperated.

    "I can do that." Pakura smiled in relief. Position of Jonin Commander for a soon-to-be-established hidden vige? Rei wanted to give her protection and on top of that offering her a rxing but prestigious job?

    Pakura ashamedly averted her eyes. If Rei asked a lot out of her, the next request would be so much easier...

    "But... Er, in the information you provided, you wrote I would be allowed to leave the vige, within reason of course." Pakura started a bit unsurely, "You also described the Secrecy Seal. I am fine with that but would it be possible for me to covertly go to Suna and have a talk with my apprentice? I practically raised the girl and she would surely follow me..." She looked at her hands.

    Naturally, Pakura understood that Uzushio was still hidden from the world and Rei didn''t want people to know of its existence just yet. Making this request was a bit awkward for her but she loved Maki as if she was her own.

    Rei momentarily halted. ''So... She is basically giving herself to me as if gift-wrapped and even offering to pull her apprentice with her? Two for the price of one? The one being for free at that? Sure... why the hell not?'' A Cheshire grin spread on his lips.

    "I see no problem with that. In fact, let me give you a lift to Sunagakure."

 Chapter 158 - Ch158. Land of Snow 1

    <h4>Chapter 158 - Ch158. Land of Snow 1</h4>

    Rei, sitting in the armchair in the corner of Daimyo of the Land of Snow''s office, watched the unsuspecting man as he walked into his office, humming a happy tune. It was a bit sad sight in Rei''s opinion since the man didn''t even know he was about to die in a few days. Or maybe he suspected something going on? It would certainly exin the more frequent visits to his beloved daughter and hiring little and depressed Kakashi to protect her for the next few days.

    At least the man had enoughmon sense to expect someone trying to kidnap his closest family to get an advantage over him during the talks between Yukigakure and the Daimyo of the Land of Snow that will be happening in two days.

    Despite all that, Sosetsu Kazahana, still could not see his brother Doto betraying him. ''How sad...'' Rei thought with an eye-roll. The man was not stupid. He just... always tried to see the best in people.

    Then again, because of that, he always did what he thought was best for the people of the Land of Snow. A trait that made Rei think highly of the man... and ridicule him at the same time. The problem was not that he did so. The problem was Sosetsu did nothing substantial to protect himself and his daughter, to deter anyone trying to take the country from him.

    "I see the life of a Daimyo is quite busy." Rei announced his presence to the man shifting through paperwork with a sour expression.

    Rei enjoyed how the man stiffened when he registered he was not alone. "And yes... the security in this castle sucks hard. You may think about updating it... Nah, scratch that. You should fire every idiot you call a guard first. I spotted five sleeping on duty, one going at it with a maid, three ying cards, five talking about their scary wives and shivering as I walked right past them, and... well, you get the picture." He sincerely added.

    Thoughts shing through his mind could almost be seen shing through Sosetsu''s eyes as his expression changed almost every second. From stunned to scared, changing to resigned, only to morph again when he heard Rei''s jab at the security. It changed to a hopeful one.

    "Since you are giving me such advice... you are not here to kill me, are you?" Sosetsu asked in a quiet voice that made it obvious the man was scared beyond belief while trying to look brave.

    "That is quite a naive thing to ask. Would I really answer truthfully if I was an assassin?" Rei couldn''t help but smile. "But no. I am not here to kill you."

    Hearing the answer, Sosetsu sweat-dropped.

    ''So is he or is he not an assassin!?'' He mentally cried in a sullen way.

    "I came to propose a, let''s call it a business deal." Rei said, standing up.

    He walked towards Sosetsu''s table, making the man more and more ufortable as Rei came closer. When he was finally near the table, Rei reached his hand into a pocket of his ck garb, purposefully being slow about it while enjoying how Sosetsu''s nervousness levels shot through the roof, making the man sweat like a pig. Rei then quickly whipped his hand out of the pocket and mmed it onto the table.

    Sosetsu''s heart almost jumped out of his throat at the sudden movement. His body, however, really jumped back on reflex. Or at least, it tried to. His chair blocked his attempt, causing him to flip over alongside it, his feet shooting into the air.

    Rei peered in satisfaction at the groaning mess of a man he most likely frightened to death and he couldn''t help but chuckle at Sosetsu as he tried to scramble back up while gasping for air.

    "Didn''t I tell you I am not an assassin? What are you jumping for?" Rei innocently asked, getting only an annoyed grunt in return.

    Sosetsu finally managed to stand up and sit again behind his table, this time a lot less wary of Rei than before. Seeing him read through the doc.u.ment he mmed onto the table while being somewhat rxed, Rei inwardly grinned. ''Well, that worked perfectly, didn''t it?''

    The more Sosetsu read through what Rei came to propose, the more horrified he became. A huge frown appeared on his face and his wide eyes stared at the text in apprehension.

    ''Well, at least he didn''t freak out. I will give him that.'' Rei mentally praised. After all, how many men could stay calm when finding out the preparation for their execution are already in ce and they have no way of surviving past the next 2 days? Worse yet, his daughter was also already marked for kidnapping at the very least.

    Honestly, there were many ways Kazahana Koyuki could end up after this little rebellion. Running away from the country was a very good oue. She might have been only a child but she was an heir to the throne in the Land of Snow. Meaning she could be a corpse quite fast. That was also a quite good oue for her, to be honest. Doto''s wife at thirteen, prisoner, ve, toy, experimentation subject in Yukigakure were all possibilites.

    Rei made sure to portray the situation somewhat realistically, leaning more towards a pessimistic oue for the girl. He was here to persuade Sosetsu and what he wanted from the man was a whole lot. He needed Sosetsu desperate so letting the man know his daughter would be saved by the Konoha ninja he hired was a big no-no.

    "Oh, and yup, these doc.u.ments arepletely truthful. If you wanna proof I can provide one, no problem." Rei smiled widely at Sosetsu.

    "You want me to give you the Land of Snow." Sosetsu said,pletely bbergasted as he leaned on the backrest of his chair, rubbing his eyes.

    "I certainly wouldn''t call it as such. Nevertheless, don''t forget I offer you and your daughter safety." Rei shrugged. Sure, he might be a bit cruel here but honestly? Sosetsu had full ountability for his and Koyuki''s situation. If the man were more vignt and more perceptible to the ugly side of human nature, if he actually employed some skilled ninjas as guards, Rei would not be here today.

    The most ironic part of it all was that the Land of Snow, and by extension Sosetsu, was literally drowning in money. Thend was quite harsh but their science was top-notch. They were the only party that could be loosely calledpetition to the Biri-Biripany in the world, despite both focusing on different things and therefore never going into a direct confrontation with each other.

    Sosetsu was quiet for ten minutes and Rei simply sat on the couch for guests. He knew this decision was a massive deal for Sosetsu and the Kazahana family.

    "I want you to guarantee me you will treat the people of the Land of Snow justly and fairly." Sosetsu finally said in a resigned tone. In the end, the man chose his daughter before his country.

    ''Define justly and fairly, Sherlockˇ­ I am sure Mei would think melting somebody who she deems a prick is quite just and fair in her humble opinion.'' Rei inwardly snorted but outwardly he only rolled his eyes. ''But... I can work with this.''

    "Nah, do it yourself. Sure, I want control of the Land of Snow and the final say but I never said I want to manage it. Consider yourself hired into the position of the Daimyo." Rei jovially stated. "I want to create a new hidden vige so I have no time to manage an entire country. If you want the people to have good lives, then simply stay as a manager of sorts. That way you can check what I do and how I do it. Frankly, I think me being here would give this country more benefits."

    "Hidden Vige? But we already have Yukigakure..." Sosetsu suddenly quieted down and Rei nodded at him, seeing that the man understood his meaning.

    "Well, since they are going to betray you, the Daimyo, I would say they desperately need reforming. And coincidentally, the right man for the work stands right in front of you!" Rei barely held himself back fromughing, the entire situation was incredibly humorous if one wasn''t on the receiving end.

    Sosetsu stared at Rei with an open mouth when he finally managed toprehend the magnitude of what Rei wanted from him. He wanted to create the first nation ruled from the shadows by the hidden vige in it. And he wanted to keep it secret to boot.

    Nobody would know the country was in the hands of another if Sosetsu agreed to stay. And Sosetsu didn''t think he had a chance to leave.

    Even if he left... what then? While he might be able to gather some support in foreign countries, it would all simply go down to the benefits he would offer these countries. His daughter? Something belonging to his people? Territory? Even if he wanted to retake the country from Rei, he would have to promise something in the possession of his country to others or wed away his daughter. That meant...

    "Okay, I will continue being the Daimyo." Sosetsu''s shoulders slumped in resignation. He then suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked at Rei with an inquisitive gaze, "To whom am I actually giving my country for the safety of my daughter?"

    Rei pursed his lips, "Well, you might know me. I am a bit famous these days." He reached his hand over the table for a handshake with a pleasant but somewhat mischievous smile stered on his face, "Rei, the leader of Yozora, nice to meet you."

    Sosetsu fainted.

 Chapter 159 - Ch159. Land of Snow 2

    <h4>Chapter 159 - Ch159. Land of Snow 2</h4>

    Tsunade and Yugito sat on the floor of Koyuki''s room, watching the girl y with her dolls as they talked. Rei asked them to keep an eye on the girl and both decided they could not be bothered with sneaking around so they asked the owner of the castle to introduce them to the little excitable girl.

    From there, it went just peachy. A few cheek-pinches here, a lot of head pats and head rubs there, and a tiny bit of obvious praise to calm down the fl.u.s.tered pouting girl and Koyuki officially decided she now has two new onee-chan.

    "She is quite cute, right?" Yugito wistfully smiled at how innocent the girl around ten was. Honestly, it was an endearing sight but when shepared her younger self to Koyuki and remembered what she was doing at that age... it filled her with a desire to brutally murder someone. Preferably the closest councilman from Kumo.

    "Yeah..." Tsunade chuckled, her eyes following Koyuki, "She reminds me of my younger brother." She sighed sadly. It was not the bitter sigh of the regretful and lost woman, however. Rei made sure she faced the fact Nawaki died head-on and now Tsunade, while sad about it, no longer dwelled so much on it. It was just something that happened in the past, something unable to be changed.

    Tsunade actually put quite a lot of thoughts into the research of resurrection Jutsu. If her uncle was able to create such a Jutsu forbat purposes... was she supposed to be a lesser Senju or something?

    She indeed could bring somebody back to life by now. The problem was it always needed something to bnce it off. Sacrifice, lifespan, unimaginable amount of energy... and most importantly, it needed to tinker with soul and that was the thing which finally convinced Tsunade to just let it go. She was simply unwilling to tinker with the souls of her kin.

    s, after studying the topic, she only hoped her uncle would one day appear in front of her so she could smack him right into his noggin for creating the Impure World Reanimation and not creating a proper failsafe the Senju n could use against it. Sure, he created and put into the n library a way for the summoned Senju to break the hold the user had on him. Such a thing was so easy that even a paralyzed genin could do it if he knew the proper way. Problem was, Tobirama probably never imagined the Jutsu could be used by anyone other than a Senju.

    Yet another thing that made Tsunade seething mad at her supposed sensei. How the heck did Senju n Jutsu appear on the Forbidden Scroll? She knew for a fact her uncle never put it down there! His diary certainly said so!

    "What about you and Rei? Did you think about having kids yet?"

    Tsunade was suddenly pulled out of her reverie by Yugito''s question. It took her a few seconds toprehend what her fellow blonde was asking. She nkly blinked... before snorting.

    "Do I look like a motherly type?"

    "Yes, you look like someone who would like being surrounded by family." Yugito deadpanned, making Tsunade open her mouth but stay quiet which made Yugito involuntarily smile. ''Spot on! Way to go girl!''

    In the end, Tsunade just sighed heavily before looking at Koyuki and discerning that the girl was thankfully not paying attention to them in favor of the new wooden doll she was given by her.

    "It''s...plicated. Having a kid would be easy, you know? Just disabling the anti-pregnancy Jutsu for ten days and with the pace, we are going at it... But we are all just so busy nowadays. When we were in Kiri, our days were more or less leisure but now? Rei is shoulders-deep in nning, researching, creating these pseudo-Bijuu of his, taking in refugees, setting up the Uzushio Trading Company, and now here we are. I help with settling people in after they arrive in Uzushio, train new medics, help at the hospital... There is just always something going on! I even have to drag him to bed every other day!" Tsunade pouted and Yugito giggled.

    "Yeah, you are the only one who ever took Rei by his cor and pulled him out of the living room by force, his expression was just so hrious!"

    Tsunade cracked a small grin, "That''s nothing. Konan can be far scarier when she gets going. It''s just that she would never direct it at Rei. One time she dragged Ringo to the training ground before leaving her there half-dead without care. Fortunately, their rtionship improved a lot since then but still..."

    "Wow, what did Ringo do to deserve that?" Yugito excitedly asked and Tsunade showed her a grin before starting to narrate how Ringo jumped at Rei like a bitch in heat and how Konan gave her a proper beat-down for it.

    ''Sorry, Yugi.'' Tsunade thought, very pleased she managed to change the topic. ''But kids, huh? With how slow our bodies are aging after being tempered by the nature energy in Rei''s dimension, there will be millennia before they lose the ability to reproduce. No rush there. I certainly am not bringing a new Senju onto the world when just one little slip-up would basically mean all of the five ninja viges hunting him or her down for the Senju bloodline.''

    Tsunade had no illusions that her kid would be able to use a very potent mokuton. She theorized that the parents of her grandfather simply had too strong Senju Bloodline and Hashirama was gifted with extraordinary sensory ability. He simply could sense nature energy from an early age, somehow discovering how he could create mokuton through it. It was all just one big coincidence, to be honest. And that was also why the other Senju werepletely unable to awaken it. They eithercked sufficient Senju Physique or Sensory abilities capable of sensing it, no matter how fleetingly. No wonder her grandfather kept quiet every time he was asked about his unusual bloodline.

    Tsunade and Yugito chatted their time away, going from topic to topic. Tsunade had to admit, the younger blonde grew on her during the days they spent together since Mei brought her from Kumo. She only had no idea if it was because of both of them being blondes or some other mysterious force but Yugito was very easy to talk to for Tsunade, not to mention amusing. The kitty-girl was so easily distracted. At times, Tsunade likened her to a cat staring at a ball of yarn.

    Yugito suddenly stiffened mid-sentence, her ears perking up as a small breeze ruffled the curtains on the sole open window in the room.

    "Yugito, I think a cup of tea would be lovely. Would you mind bringing some, please?" Tsunade asked, making Yugito tilt her head slightly to the right and slowly nod as her shoulders slumped.

    "Yeah..." Yugito heaved herself up and leisurely walked towards the door, briefly stopping before her hand reached the handle. "Milk or sugar?" She innocently blinked, to which Tsunade chuckled.

    "Sugar. Tons of it."

    "Gotcha."

    With that, Yugito left with a nimble spring in her step, seeming a bit happier and somewhat anticipating.

    Tsunade alsozily stood up and walked towards Koyuki before gently rubbing her head to get her attention. The pouty girl looked at Tsunade with a small re, not liking being interrupted from her ytime.

    ''So spoiled,'' Tsunade almost shook her head at the sight but she knew she could not fault the girl. Growing up with no mother and a Daimyo for a father? The people who raised her were servants and well... paid to fulfill every whim of her. They were servants, period.

    Tsunade didn''t wait for Koyuki to start speaking. That would be stupid. She leaned slightly forward and asked, "Do you like butterflies, Koyu?"

    Koyuki, already prepared to give her biggest onee-chan a piece of her mind, stopped in her tracks at the question and scrunched her forehead.

    "Un." She unsurely nodded after a while of pondering.

    "Do you want to see one?" Tsunade lifted an eye-brow in a coaxing manner.

    "Un?"

    "Are you sure?" Tsunade teasingly asked.

    "Un!"

    "Then look!" Tsunade pointed forward, making Koyuki turn around, her back facing Tsunade.

    The time almost stopped as Tsunade who was slightly leaning forward used her posture to quickly spin her body around on her toes. It was so fast, the man standing behind her, about to plunge kunai into her back, only managed to widen his eyes as Tsunade slugged him into the face, sending his body into the air, causing him to fly through the open window behind him.

    And while surviving being dropped from high ces was a mandatory thing for tree-hopping, chakra-using ninjas, unfortunately for the man, having his cheekbone broken in multiple ces was quite distracting, causing him to go st.

    While the man was having hisst flight, Tsunade used the force of her spin to carry her on her toes, stopping only when she did a whole 360 degrees, ending up in her previous position, just in time to smile at the peeved little girl who didn''t manage to find a butterfly.

    Koyuki was about to protest when she spotted a small, colorful, and finely-crafted butterfly made of wood, perching on Tsunade''s pointing finger, causing her to whoop in excitement. Tsunade just crouched down and started ying with the girl.

    Twenty minutester, the door slowly opened, and Yugito walked in, holding a tray with three cups of tea. But Tsunade quickly discerned something changed. The air around Yugito was more subdued... satisfied.

    Yugito put the tray on the floor where they previously sat and started sipping on her milk-heavy tea. It didn''t take Tsunade long to coax the girl into chasing her new wooden butterfly that could somehow fly. Naturally, Tsunade really appreciated the chakra strings.

    Sitting down on the opposite side of the tray, Tsunade smiled, "Did you have fun?"

    "It was... sugary." Yugito shrugged and Tsunade snorted, looking at the small, almost indiscernible bit of blood on the cuffs of her right sleeve. A testament that Samehada saw some use in the previous minutes.

    Milk always calmed Yugito down while sugar gave her so much energy she just had to get a proper beat-down from Mei or be all fidgety for the whole day. The second Tsunade told her ''tons of sugar'', it basically meant ''go nuts''.

    "How many?" Tsunade asked as she took her cup of tea and grimaced the second she took a sip. "Sugary indeed..." She mumbled, causing Yugito to chuckle and wordlessly put the third cup of tea in front of Tsunade who gave her a small re.

    "Twenty. Not bad. High chunin, maybe? For a small vige such as Yukigakure, it is a considerable force considering they mostly give guys like this rank of jonin." She said as if she was talking about the weather but Tsunade only shrugged.

    Ten minutester, a disheveled, bloodied, exhausted, panting and high on adrenaline Kakashi with an ANBU mask strapped onto his face barged into the room with kunai in his hand, ready to... and then he froze the second his eyesnded on the leisurely sitting Tsunade, sipping her tea.

    "Oh, hello there, Kakashi. Having a fun afternoon, I see. Tea?" Tsunade swept him with an amused look and tilted her head as she innocently pointed at her previous sugar-bomb of tea with an inviting smile.

    Kakashi... fainted.

 Chapter 160 - Ch160. Sosetsus problems

    <h4>Chapter 160 - Ch160. Sosetsu''s problems</h4>

    While Tsunade and Yugito babysat Koyuki, Sosetsu was being babysat by Rei.

    Sosetsu was currently sitting behind a round table in the meeting room of his castle, waiting for the Yukikage to show up for a little bit of chat.

    ''The prick is really taking his sweet time.'' Rei, who was hidden in a dark corner of the room, thought bitterly. The Yukikage was supposed to be there for an hour already. ''Sigh, if only the Land of Snow had some kind of strong standing army... Yukikage would never dare to do this.''

    This was a problem with small ninja viges. They usually cared for country politics because it was bringing them some benefits. The bigger countries had no such problems for one reason or another. For example, the Land of Wind. Yes, the Daimyo hated Rasa with a passion which could be seen in the steady economic decline of Suna. It was nothing much as of now but Rei knew it would get a whole lot worse. So then... why won''t Rasa simply assassinate the Daimyo and put somebody who favors him on the top?

    That''s what happens most of the time behind the scenes of the countries with small ninja viges when they get far too much power. No longer do these viges have to painstakingly beg for funds while wagging their tails at their owners. They simply use what they are the best at to be the said owners.

    Rei saw Sosetsucked three things many Daimyo of richer and bigger nations had.

    Firstly, they had their own freaking ninja guards. Assassination suddenly became a whole lot harder when ten jonin level ninjas guarded the target. It would most likely be stopped before the guy was dead which would result in retaliation and Daimyo''s kind of never yed fair in this department. They would never use open warfare against ninja viges because... well, they would lose. Instead, they almost always used money. Refusing to fund them, ruining their reputation by spreading the fact they tried to assassinate him, and so on and on. Hence why every ninja who epted a mission to assassinate some kind of Daimyo, no matter how small the country was, was already written off as a rogue ninja. If he managed to sessfully aplish the mission without anyone knowing about his identity, this record would vanish and nobody would talk about it. If he didn''t... well.

    Secondly, reputation. On paper, the whole concept of a vige of superpowered ninja warriors seems strong, nice, and appealing. How the heck could such a thing be toppled by a powerless withered old chump such as Daimyo, right? Shouldn''t he be afraid?

    And here Rei wanted to groan every time he thought about this. Surprisingly, no ninja vige was self-sufficient, and it had an excellent reason. A reason why he went for a ce such as the Land of Snow which is ruled by a kind-hearted but still somewhatpetent wimp such as Sosetsu. The Daimyo more often than not had control over merchants to some degree.

    Konoha was a picture-perfect example of this. The supposedly strongest vige that is able to rally up and work together, civilians and ninjas alike, to protect it even when they are facing enemies on three fronts. During the war, the civilian council made damn sure to do their work and give the Hokage time to focus more on the war efforts than running the vige. Now? They are subtly sabotaging the vige whenever possible. And Rei knew not all of it was because they were bored. The Fire Daimyo had his own grubby hands in it.

    The Hokage knew it. The Konoha Shinobi Council knew it... but what can they do when the man who is feeding them is behind the scenes? Especially after the catastrophe with Kyuubi? At the very least, it had its advantages. So many merchants sh saboteurs meant they were the richest vige and didn''t fully depend on the Fire Daimyo. But this was just yet anotheryer of dependence on the Daimyo in itself. Konoha ns knew their wealth came to existence thanks to the Daimyo and his support of their businesses. Merchants prefered to do business with them, gave them discounts, and much more. There was really not much the Hokage could do when even the n heads were supremely reluctant to deal with the civilian council simply because of who stood behind them.

    And then... the civilian council couldn''t do too much damage to the vige either. Firstly, most of their wealth kind of depended on the existence of ninjas, and secondly the Daimyo wanted the vige to exist as some kind of a buffer. Since these ninja viges sprang up, there was no war between the major countries of the elemental nations. The wars were fought by the ninjas while the Daimyos and nobles watched from the front rows as if it was some kind of sport, asionally sending in a few samurai squads to deal with some breaches if enemy ninjas actually manage to enter the country.

    The system worked like clockwork in every major vige. While the ninja viges had brute power, the Daimyos and the nobles were political and economic powerhouses who simply used the system that had been set up for centuries to hinder them and keep them exactly where they wanted... which was horribly missing in the Land of Snow, causing the Yukigakure to grow a bit too big pair... of horns.

    ording to Tsunade, the sole exception to this rule was Konoha when it was ruled by the Senju. And it had a good reason why the Fire Daimyo started harassing it only around ten years after Sarutobi became the Third Hokage... and the Senju n was on the brink of extinction.

    Rei nced into the opposite corner of the room where the young Kakashi was hidden,pletely oblivious to Rei''s presence in the room. Seals sewn into the clothing were simply that broken.

    ''It is kind of ironic, isn''t it? The masters of espionage, infiltration, and assassination are being spied upon by lowly merchants. All that is needed is a list of their expenses and some rumours for the Daimyo or the nobles to know what is currently going on in the vige. The saddest part,'' The corner of Rei''s lips twitched, ''most jonin have no idea it is going on. After all, there was a perfect reason why Sarutobi was so thrilled,'' Rei rolled his eyes, ''when the younger monkey wanted to be one of the Fire Daimyo guards. I mean other than the fact it was a bit humiliating for his son to be one. Lazing around on the ceiling while making sure that probably the safest man in the whole country is safe... Prestigious position my ass.''

    The door finally opened and inside walked a small man with shaggy brown hair and a self-important expression, d in what looked like armor. Rei blinked before a proverbial lightbulb went on in his head. ''So that is the earlier stage of the chakra armor? The only selling point of Yukigakure? Looks a bit bulky and useless, to be honest.''

    "Suzufumi, wee." Sosetsu smiled and gestured towards the empty chair opposite him.

    Mikado Suzufumi, the Yukikage, just walked towards it, not even bothering to greet Sosetsu. Behind him, on his right side was Doto and on his left side was Nadare Roga. Both gave at least a slight bow to Sosetsu before sitting down next to Mikado. After all, it wasmon courtesy. Even if Doto nned to kill his brother, he would at least bow in greeting before he got to the bloody work. The man was still his brother...

    ''Ouch, judging by the way Doto and Nadare are looking at the uncultured prick of a Yukikage, the guy is not supposed tost long in his position.'' Rei noted with amus.e.m.e.nt. ''Well, not that it matters now that I am here.''

    Mikado grunted and his gazended directly on Kakashi, causing his lips to briefly twitch before he narrowed his eyes at Sosetsu.

    "Let''s get straight to the point, Sosetsu. I want independence."

 Chapter 161 - Ch161. Negotiation?

    <h4>Chapter 161 - Ch161. Negotiation?</h4>

    Sosetsu stared at Mikado,pletely startled out of his wits. He knew the snow bastard would ask this exact question but never would he expect he would be so blunt and rude about it. It was finally driven home for Sosetsu just how arrogant Mikado was.

    ''This is the man leading a vige that is supposed to protect my country from the shadows? I really screwed up with Yukigakure, didn''t I?''

    His eyes then trailed to the figure of his brother, Doto, hiding a measure of surprise. ''What the hell is he doing here?'' Sosetsu''s mind went into overdrive, trying to think up a good reason for him to be present. He liked his brother and still wanted to refuse he would actually have a part in this scheme but him being in the presence of the Yukikage was a deep blow to that trust. ''So... in the end, everything in these doc.u.ments was really true.'' Sosetsu mentally slumped in defeat while outwardly maintaining a picture of courtesy.

    "I am willing to give you some level of independence for certain concessions on your part but autonomy is impossible. What do you say?"

    Mikado looked at Sosetsu funnily as if he couldn''t believe what he was hearing. He didn''t even try to hide his disbelief and let it show on his face, maybe even a bit exaggerating it on purpose.

    "Are you sure you want to be like this?" Mikado airily asked, giving a nce at Doto, "Look, we are both leaders. We both want the best for our people-"

    Rei almost snorted when he heard that. He made sure to investigate the Yukikage a bit beforeing here and Mikado Suzufumi was a picture-perfect example of a selfish money-grubber. The only thing he ever invested in at his own expense was the chakra armors and even that was because the guy was for some reason somehow obsessed with them, spending millions of Ryo on their development. Honestly, Rei was baffled by it. The bulky junk wasn''t even that good.

    Sure it could protect a person against ninjutsu and give him an overall boost to his abilities through a mechanical chakra cirction system to key points of the armor. On top of that, albeit slightly, the armor still helped with chakra control, making jutsu more powerful and less demanding on the user. This made even a genin have capabilities of a jonin after a few months of practice which was awesome but the thing had to be built mostly with light-weight chakra metal, hence expensive as heck.

    On paper, it was perfect war gear. In reality? The main problem outside of the cost was that the wearers could only reach jonin rank with it. Meaning the second they encountered S-rank ninja or above, they would be ''melted'' almost instantly. After all, it still had many weak spots and openings that could be poked, let''s say with a kunai.

    Then the users of the chakra armor often got too used to using it and stopped developing their own capabilities, relying on the armor instead. That meant the quality of the Yukigakure ninjas actually lowered since the armor started to be manufactured.

    "Think hard about what is best for this country, Sosetsu." Mikado continued with a pressing tone, "I don''t think a civil war is something you would like to have on your conscience. I am actually giving you a way out here, you see? I am trying to help you! By giving Yukigakure full autonomy, we will still help the Land of Snow. Naturally. We are living in it, after all. It''s just that the price will be a bit hig-"

    "Utterly ridiculous," Sosetsu finished for him in a cold and a bit angry tone. "That''s what you want to say, right?"

    Sosetsu knew Mikado cared mostly about Yukigakure''s power which tranted to chakra armors which meant they needed more money. What Mikado tried to do here was to get autonomy so he could actually start taking a ''protection fee'' from the Land of Snow and be able to approve more... human-oriented experimentation when it came to the armors by himself, not needing the permission of the Daimyo.

    "In the end, you want money and power over the state. Don''t hide it, be clear! Don''t you have any pride!?" Sosetsu barely held himself back from shouting.

    Hearing him, Mikado frowned, his eyes hardening. This was not a result he imagined. Not in the slightest. He always took Sosetsu for a weakling who could only butter up to the masses. The sheer thought of such a person trying to oppose him was an utterly ridiculous notion for him.

    "I think," He started in a measured manner, making sure to put weight in every word, "that you should look more into the long-term gains rather than the short-term losses. Once Yukigakure develops better armors and starts mass-producing them, we will be the strongest ninja vige!" Even the emotionless and depressed Kakashi lifted an eyebrow at that while Rei only facepalmed at Mikado revealing such a thing while knowing there was a ninja from a different vige present. The man probably didn''t count on Kakashi surviving today. "The Land of Snow will be the most impo-"

    "No. Do you really believe some piece of metal can make you the strongest? Once you have strong chakra armor in great numbers then what? You will need wearers, more ninjas. You will start mass recruiting from themon popce. You will eventually start a war! A war I doubt we would be able to win no matter on how high pedestal these chakra armors are in your head! Absolutely not! I refuse!" Sosetsu turned towards Doto, "Don''t you see it, brother? His goals are insane! Why are you...?"

    Sosetsu however quieted down before he could finish that sentence as a very controlled killing intent of Reinded on his shoulders, making him choke the words back, showing a conflicted expression. In the end, he just deted with a sigh.

    Rei already told Sosetsu what Doto''s ns were. To ask him why he wanted to create a coup right now would screw quite a bit of Rei''s ns so he simply had to stop Sosetsu from being an idiot and blurting out he knew about their ns and preparations.

    Doto simply shook his head at his brother, inwardly highly amused at his antics while Mikado was simply exasperated. ''Here I go out of my way and try to persuade the fool and he just won''t budge! Ugh, how frustrating! Fine! Let''s go with this.''

    "Lord Kazahana, I see you are unreasonable simply for the sake of being unreasonable instead of trying to be constructive here. I am going to give you onest chance so listen very carefully. If the happiness and safety of your people is not such a big deal for you, then I wonder if your daughter is important enough?" Mikado said and the entire room becamepletely still.

    ''Damn, that was quite a straightforward threat.'' Rei thought, awkwardly grimacing at how it was said.

    Sosetsu felt chills creep up his spine as nervousness started filling him, making him fidget. Under the table, he gave Kakashi a hand-gesture, ordering him to go to Koyuki. Kakashi only very reluctantly listened and sneakily but hastily left the room, not even leaving a clone behind.

    ''I guess experience is something he would have to build up some more.'' Rei hummed, looking at the intense staredown between Mikado with threatening narrowed eyes and fidgeting Sosetsu who, while looking like a scared chipmunk, didn''t break off the eye contact.

    Normally, now would be the time to quietly wait and re at each other until Koyuki either appears captured or a message of her safety reaches Sosetsu. The negotiation would not go either way unless Mikado decided to straight-up kill Sosetsu but that would create more problems for him than solutions.

    ''And that''s where Dotoes in.'' Rei''s lips stretched into a smile as he prepared to defend Sosetsu when he saw Nadare and Doto ncing at each other from behind the unsuspecting Mikado.

    To his misfortune, Mikado didn''t have the best reflexes as he was too used to eating and shrugging off hits when wearing the armor. His only reaction to having a sword run through his heart from behind was to look at the de sticking out of his chest with wide disbelieving eyes as a trail of blood slowly flowed from the corner of his lips down his chin. He was dead before he could evenprehend how.

    As Nadare pulled the sword out of Mikado, letting his corpse fall down, Sosetsu only despondently watched Doto going for a kunai, lunging at him with a ferocious expression. It really drove the point that his brother wanted to kill him home.

    As for Rei... ''Here we go!''

 Chapter 162 - Ch162. The battle for the Land of Snow 1

    <h4>Chapter 162 - Ch162. The battle for the Land of Snow 1</h4>

    Doto''s kunai quickly pushed its way towards the apprehensive Sosetsu while Doto''s face showed a mad glee. He could already see himself sitting in the Daimyo''s seat, controlling this rich country as he wished. The only problem was...

    Rei''s hand grabbed Doto''s wrist, stopping his hand in its tracks just when the tip of the kunai was only a few inches away from Sosetsu''s chest. Doto blinked uprehendingly, his brain momentarily refusing to process he was interrupted when he was so close to finishing his ns.

    "Mah~, sorry but this dude is under my protection." Rei said jovially, enjoying the bafflement on Doto''s face and the frozen smug smirk on Nadare''s.

    Their surprise didn''tst that long, however. Nadare quickly sprang forward, going for an attack on Rei whom he judged to be the bigger threat than Sosetsu while Doto''s eyes focused on his brother, showing a murderous enraged glint. He clearly wanted to take advantage of Nadare slowing Rei down and finish Sosetsu off. Not that Rei would allow that.

    As Nadare''s sword came dangerously close to the leisure Rei, he only deflected it with the back of his hand, sending the de forcefully to the right, causing it to pull Nadare''s arm alongside it while leaving his front wide open.

    He was wearing the newest product of Ringo on his hands. Silvery tight-fitting gloves weaved from very thin strands of chakra metal. In the end, they were still metal but the sheer flexibility, lightness, and most importantly, toughness... these boys were supposed to be able to block a swing from one of the Seven Swords of Kiri and still be in a serviceable shape. Ringo simply refused to stop forging, reforging them and getting help from the Uzumaki n to create her first-ever masterpiece. Only when the gloves withstood ten brutal shes from Samehada in her own hands did she reluctantly agree she was somewhat satisfied with their performance.

    The best part? Unlike the Seven Swords, the gloves could be mass-produced and modified. Yugito even asked for retractable ws in hers... which was a bit problematic since the gloves looked like silvery butler-style gloves from Rei''s previous world. Ringo was an assassin and it showed in her forging too. She wanted the gloves to be easily concealed otherwise she would simply make tougher, stronger, sharper gauntlets instead of gloves that didn''t have the capacity for that much material or seals on them.

    Rei quickly gave her the design to the butler gloves and Ringo fell in love with them almost instantly. The sole problem was, they would stand out in the crowd as there was no equivalent in the world and once their future ninjas got famous for using them, they would be easily recognizable.

    That''s where Tsunade came in and had the Biri-Biripany mass-produce simr gloves from cotton and started selling them, creating a new trend, at first in the world of nobility and from there it spread to the merchants, andter to the normal people. She earned piles of Ryo, made thepany more famous for releasing such a fashion trend... and most importantly, made sure the gloves Ringo made would be nothing to bat an eyelid on even in the crowd of normal people.

    As for Nadare''s sword... that pitiful excuse of a sword could only get duller the more it shed with them. The single deflection already chipped the de. Rei estimated that the sword could handle no more than five shes before it broke in front of Nadare''s eyes.

    Rei also didn''t take the chance to use the created opening in Nadare''s defense. He only used the momentary surprise of Nadare and stepped to the side, closer towards Sosetsu while sending the approaching Doto flying back with a light kick to his gut. Rei then stepped back, pushing Sosetsu closer to the wall. He was now in front of the Snow Daimyo. If either Nadare or Doto wanted to get to Sosetsu, they first had to go through him.

    The first to attack was Nadare. He once again shed the sword at Rei who simply caught the de in his gloved hand, slightly grimacing, ''So this is the strength produced by the chakra armor?''

    Seeing his grimace, Nadare grinned. Despite his sword being caught, his mood actually improved as he let go of it, fluidly drawing a kunai from a pouch on his belt and shed at Rei again. By that time, Doto was already on his feet, rushing towards Rei''s other side, also having a kunai in his hands. Apparently, he decided to first end Rei and only after that focus on Sosetsu.

    Rei who was holding the sword in his right hand found himself in a disadvantageous position as Nadare''s kunai was approaching him from the right side and Doto''s from the left while he only had his left hand free. Or at least, that was what Nadare and Doto thought.

    Rei simply snapped his left hand towards the right, bitchpping Nadare away, sending his body spinning through the air until the wall stopped him. Instantly, Rei used his left foot to snap-kick Doto''s ship, causing him to lean more towards Rei''s left side which bought time for Rei to snap his left hand from the right towards the left and p Doto towards the ground as his grimace turned into a pitying frown.

    "Man~! I know it is just an early version but these armors are shit." He whinily drawled as he mentally noted Doto was just a genin-level ninja if taken into consideration his actual strength without the armor while Nadare was chunin at best. "To think it would only increase your physique this much..." Rei shook his head. ''If I had topare the effect... It simply made them from cheap and small fishing boats into battlesh.i.p.s with cannons. Still... as surprising the huge boost in their power it provides, it is a bit underwhelming for its actual cost.''

    Rei could see why Kakashi could have a problem dealing with the guys and even understood where their confidence in taking on the world came from. They could probably take on smaller ninja viges with just a few teams of chunin.

    ''I will have to take a few armors and let Ringo and Mei study them to find out how exactly they work. They might create a gear working on simr principles but waaaaay cheaper. As it is now, the armors are just a costly shit. Wearing clothes made of diamonds would be cheaper than one of these suits. If I was in my old world, I bet I could afford a nuke for one of those.'' Rei inwardly chuckled, getting out of his pondering only when he heard Sosetsu''s voice.

    "Why, Doto?" Sosetsu whispered towards the groaning mess on the floor. Somehow, the man actually managed to stay awake after Rei bitch-pped him with the chakra metal gloves.

    ''Eh, should have hit stronger, shouldn''t I? That guy''s skull must be quite thick!'' Rei blinked at the sight, half-expecting Doto''s neck to be already broken.

    "I-It''s always yo-you!" Doto wheezed through the pain. Jonin would bepletely fine eating such a hit and chunin could also shrug it off after some time but Doto was barely a genin-level and as such, it was not advisable to meet chakra metal with his cheek head-on. It was prone to cracking.

    "What?" Sosetsu awkwardly furrowed his brows, not understanding what his brother meant. What was it that Dotocked? Luxury, money... and as shameful as it was for Sosetsu to admit it, even women. Doto had everything he ever wished for. From birth, both of them were given only the best and Sosetsu was actually d that the work and burden of being the Daimyo fell from him. It was a very tough job from time to time. There was no need to burden his brother with it. So then... why would his brother want to kill him? Didn''t he have asfortable a life as possible?

    "I-I should have been the Daimyo! I sho-should have the weapon that you are building in my hands! The crystal...ugh!" Doto started to get progressively louder and Rei didn''t like it so he kicked the nuisance in his ribs, shutting him up.

    "Crystal?" Sosetsu''s eyes widened. ''So he was after the Spring Generator? But... what weapon? It is just a device to bring spring into this country.'' Sosetsu stood there, gazing at his brother in utter bafflement.

    "I should rule... I am the better one of the two of us... I..." Doto continued madly mumbling through the pain.

    It was then Rei took Nadare''s sword by its handle and ruthlessly shed Doto''s throat, making the man look at him with wide fearful eyes as he gurgled while blood poured out of him like a waterfall.

    Rei turned towards Sosetsu who watched in horror as his brother''s blood flowed on the floor and Doto slowly died, "Sorry. He would die anyway and the longer it would take, the more awkward it would probably be for you." He shruggingly said, showing he was not sorry in the least, while looking towards Nadare, noting he had his neck broken.

    Sosetsu could only wryly smile at such logic.

    ''And killing my brother in cold blood in front of me is not awkward for you at all?''

 Chapter 163 - Ch163. The battle for the Land of Snow 2

    <h4>Chapter 163 - Ch163. The battle for the Land of Snow 2</h4>

    "Well, then... it''s time to go, I guess." Rei said after a while of letting Sosetsu stare at the lifeless corpse of his brother. He could at least give the man a bit of time to mourn the guy. Common courtesy or whatever they call it.

    Sosetsu awkwardly grimaced but gave a short nod to Rei. On one hand, he was d and grateful for Rei protecting him and making sure his daughter is fine. No matter his goal, without him, Doto knew he would most likely die today and Koyuki''s life would be either turned upside down... if she survived, that is. On the other hand, though, Rei just killed his brother in front of him.

    Hatred... no. Sosetsu didn''t feel hatred.

    Revenge? After seeing Rei''s capabilities and knowing of his identity, that would be just a suicide. Honestly, slightly hoped Rei would show himself to the Yukikage who would recognize him and back off. Sosetsu knew this was just his wishful thinking.

    Rei of Yozora had no avable description at all so even if he stepped forward and introduced himself, the Yukikage would either get a bit wary orugh him off on the spot. He would nevertheless think he is an impostor either way though. There were just so many rumors about his supposed look and Rei didn''t fit even one of them. He was not a bulky three meters tall giant capable of crushing skulls with his hands nor was he an old unassuming expert with a sharp cold gaze... in short, the number of his rumored appearances was off the charts. As such, the number of impostors also grew. There were only a handful of people knowing how Rei really looked and most of these had his Secrecy Seal on them anyway.

    Sosetsu was actually surprised he felt only a slight apprehension towards Rei. Two days, that''s how long it took Rei to persuade Sosetsu that handing over his country is actually a very good deal for him and the people of the Land of Snow. The number of benefits Rei could provide...

    ''And yet, he killed my brother. So why am I not resenting him for it? Is it because Doto tried to kill me? Was I always such a cold person?''

    "Oi, Sosetsu!" Rei called out again, snapping Sosetsu out of his thoughts.

    "Huh?"

    "I said let''s go. I still have work to do, ya know? I promised to keep you safe, after all." Rei rolled his eyes at the slowpoke.

    "What do you mean... work to do? The people who wanted me dead are finished, no?" Sosetsu asked in a confused tone, making Reiugh as his amused gazended on the bewildered older man.

    "Do you really think they would smugly march here, attempt to assassinate the Daimyo, and take over the country with just the three of them?" Rei''s eyes sparkled in an ''are you an idiot'' kind of light. "I mean, sure, they were pretty stupid but... nah, they were not THAT braindead. Of that, I can assure you."

    As if to prove his words, numerous huge explosions rattled the capital city of the Land of Snow, sending the entire city into chaos. Sosetsu''s eyes widened in horror as he quickly jumped towards the closest window, looking outside of it. The capital... was on fire.

    "What they came here to do is to overthrow you." Rei''s leisure voice resounded from behind Sosetsu who was getting more and more worried about the people of the city.

    "What is going on!?" He hurriedly turned towards Rei with a desperate expression, demanding answers... and Rei, happily obliged.

    "This was not some pitiful assassination attempt where you are finished by getting rid of the assassin. Yukikage himself would not make his way here just to assassinate you. That kind of thinking is just silly, isn''t it? No, thisˇ­" Rei smiled widely, "is the start of a bonafide civil war!"

    ...

    Chizuru Kaguya swiped the sharpened bone that was previously her forearm through the neck of her unsuspecting victim, quietlyying his body onto the floor while making sure to keep a hand on his lips until he stopped trashing.

    "This is so tedious!"

    She heard a quiet whine from next to her as her partner, Kurumi Uzumaki, alsoid the dead body of her target onto the ground before they continued on their way through the dark halls.

    "And look! A few droplets of blood fell onto my kimono! That''s just awful, don''t you think, Chi-chan!?" Kurumi whisper-screamed.

    ''How did this woman manage to get into the Stealth Corps again?'' Chizuru mentallymented her misfortune of being partnered with the unceasing chatterbox with a mile-wide temper for this mission. Chizuru''s expression soured, ''Oh, yeah... I took her in because of her superior concealment seals, silly me.''

    The duo sneakily continued through the hallway, using shadows and mostly sticking to the ceiling to get past the patrols before ambushing them from behind and taking them out without setting off any rms. Just like that, they were making a steady advance deeper into this base. It was not only them either. Ten teams of two were currently sweeping through the base.

    The Stealth Corps was Chizuru''s pride. When Rei started making the basic structure of his future vige, she offered to lead a kind of ANBU-like organization but what she had in mind was a bit different. It took a whole lot of proving herself capable before Rei gave her the position too. There was no way she would not be proud of it and develop it the best she could.

    The Stealth Corps was for ninjas who didn''t put much value on shy Jutsu. It was a ce where skill with weapons and mastery at stealth was the most appreciated. That didn''t mean they didn''t have any shy Jutsu of mass-destruction under their belt. On the contrary, firepower considered, each of them was required to be able to obliterate a small building. But the members of the Stealth Corps trained a lot differently than what the ninja viges generally offered their troops. This was all in order to be able to finish whatever mission in the stealthiest manner possible. After all, they were ninjas, and staying quiet was quite a valuable skill.

    "Chi-chan! I found the main room!"

    Chizuru almost flinched at the volume of her partner''s whisper. She really had no idea how they managed to stay undiscovered with Kurumi being so loud all the time. ''It must be some kind of weird seal, I am sure of it.'' She helplessly sighed.

    Not many Uzumaki entered the Stealth Corps. In fact, so far, she had only two Uzumaki working under her. This was primarily because the Uzumaki n created their own division... Chizuru called bullshit. ''They are just so damn loud there is no way for them to get into the Stealth Corps and they clearly know it so they don''t even try!''

    "Come on, Chi!"

    ''Or at least, most of them do...'' Chizuru deadpanned at Kurumi who was urging her to order action. Frankly, Chizuru knew she was a bit too harsh on Kurumi. The woman was the best she had. If Kurumi didn''t want to be found, nobody in the Stealth Corps would be able to notice her even if she was in in sight. Considering the Stealth Corps were the best trackers Uzushio currently had...

    And that was without Kurumi using her special concealment seals. Her hiding skills were just that absurd. Growing up as a thief on the streets in the capital city of the Land of Wind certainly had given the girl the necessary skills.

    "Fine... Let''s take them out." Chizuru quietly said, noticing Kurumi''s eyes glint as a very thin metal wire guided by chakra started to sneakily drag itself from her sleeves. It sn.a.k.e.d an inch above the walls, reaching the ceiling where it continued its way above the unsuspecting Yuki ninjas who were currently in the middle of coordinating themunication.

    Since she was a close-rangebatant, the first to attack was Chizuru. She sent five bone bullets from the tips of her fingers at the Yuki ninjas in the room, instantly killing two while three managed to lean away on sheer reflex, already swiping a kunai in preparation for a fight... and die right after that as Kurumi''s razor-sharp wire came down from the ceiling and quickly enwrapped around their necks, pulling them up, separating their heads from their bodies before both parts fell onto the floor with an audible thud.

    "Ahaha, aren''t these Yuki ninjas a bit too easy? There was not even one jonin guarding them!" Kurumi loudly eximed, no longer worried about whispering which only made Chizuru groan at her as they both walked into the room and shut down allmunication channels of the Yuki ninjas.

    "Well, they are a small vige. Their jonins are most likely fighting in the city. Also..." Chizuru looked at the corpses and her lips twitched, "Why do they wear full-body heavy armor made from metal if they leave their necks and faces mostly exposed?" She mumbled to herself before a man appeared in the middle of the door.

    "Lady Chizuru" He slightly bowed, "the building is cleared. The Communication Headquarters of the Yukigakure forces is no more. We have one injured and no casualties."

    Chizuru only smiled and nodded as she activated themunication seal, starting to speak the second it connected, "We are done here. Theirmunication is down, you can go in." She turned the scroll off, turning towards Kurumi who gave her a winning pose while happily looting the corpses. Chizuru nkly blinked before chuckling at the scene.

    ''Thief indeed.'' She shook her head and turned towards the man.

    "I guess, this is it for us. Let''s go home. Give the order to retreat."

 Chapter 164 - Ch164. The battle for the Land of Snow 3

    <h4>Chapter 164 - Ch164. The battle for the Land of Snow 3</h4>

    The main defensive force assigned to the protection of the capital of the Land of Snow was the Uzumaki n. The second the Yukikage walked into the Daimyo''s pce, ten members of the Uzumaki special division, the Sealing Monks, activated massive seals on ten various spots around the capital city, enveloping it in a massiveplex sealing barrier called Homnd Protection of the Ten, which would prevent anyone living in the city for more than five years from getting hurt for the next ten hours.

    As for why five years... it was a necessity. The ninjas of the Yukigakure are expected to live in the vige. It is a rule there, meaning this way no ninja of the Yukigakure would be affected and protected by the barrier. Even the infiltrators spend at most a year away from the vige.

    And while this meant that not all of the citizens of the capital would be protected, the bigger chunk of them had their safety guaranteed even if an explosion tag went off on their position so the Uzushio forces could fight freely without worrying much about the original inhabitants.

    The members of the Sealing Monks were all Grandmasters in the Sealing Arts. That was one of the entry requirements. They were also all Uzumaki n members so that meant they had to be Grandmasters by the Uzumaki standards. In recent years many of the Uzumaki reached this stage thanks to personal tutoring from Rei''s clones, which only earned him even more respect among the Uzumaki n.

    Honestly, Rei thought it would be a damn shame if he disregarded this aspect of the Uzumaki n. They simply could not stop themselves from studying sealing. Even someone who never ever saw a seal was drawn to it and naturally curious about its working. Even if an Uzumaki waszy, dumb, or hyperactive, they would still dutifully study sealing for hours on end. Rei just used this trait of their n to make sure his future vige had an ample number of Sealing Grandmasters and many more who strived to reach that stage. For now, there were only thirty-four of them but even that number was ridiculous considering other viges would be happy to have even one in their employ.

    As for the cringe-worthy name of the division... Mei thought it would fit but her suggestion was quickly rejected by almost all Uzumaki. In the end, Mei sullenly rejected any other name, making the name-choosing process to be dyed. At this time, Mei persuaded most of the Uzumaki kids that were around ten that the name Sealing Monks was incredible.

    It wasn''t even that hard. Some sweets and a few books on elementary sealing and vo, the kids were bothering their parents to no end, trying to push for the name Sealing Monks. The frustrated parents tried to push for the name also if only to stop their children from constantly annoying them which created pressure on the leaders of the Uzumaki n, and in the end, Kaya Uzumaki, the newest leader of the Uzumaki n, was forced to name the division the Sealing Monks, giving the smug Mei a re with a sour expression.

    ...

    Pakura, who was crouching on a rooftop of a building next to Ringo, raised her eyes towards the shimmering sky with a bit of an excited grin, ignoring the numerous explosions going off in the close vicinity.

    "Okay, guys! The Yukigakure started their attack, our Sealing Monks have done their part in making sure not one of them can get away or injure anyone of importance, and the Stealth Corps cut off enemymunication! It''s time for us to join the fray!" Pakura ordered, making the air turn serious around her entire force of a hundred jonin-ranked ninjas who started running towards their first target.

    This was the Strike Forceposed of a hundred jonins formerly from Kiri that fought under Rei''smand on the Nagori Isles. The ones that were sent there to be sacrificed. When the war ended, not even a hundred and fifty were left of the original two hundred.

    So when the time came and Rei found himself in need of some high-level ninjas, he quickly remembered those outcasts that didn''t quite fit in the political climate of Kirigakure. Needless to say, it didn''t take much enticement for more than one hundred and thirty of those still alive to join him. All it took was to promise them to take in their families as well and Kirigakure gained over a hundred new rogue ninjas overnight.

    And what shitstorm that was!

    Pakura was a bit nervous. She was supposed to be the future joninmander and that was why she was leading this mission while Ringo was here only to make sure not one of her ninjas lost their life during the mission. Something every single member of the Strike Force was grateful for.

    Normally, having to face over a thousand Yuki ninjas, who were around chunin rank with some jonins mixed in, with a force of only a hundred jonin would be called a suicide but withmunications disabled, and the Yuki ninjas currently split up into multiple groups of twenty all over the capital city... Pakura''s job was to simply go from group to group, annihting them in an orderly manner while they could not ry any messages. This was not a ''thousand-plus versus a hundred'' kind of battle. This was over fifty times a hundred versus twenty.

    Shortly, the Strike force reached its first target, twenty Yuki ninjas d in the cheaper, older type of chakra armor. Before the distressed Yuki ninjas even spotted something was wrong, a hail of kunai descended on their position, making five of them into a pincushion while the other fifteen were skilled enough to mostly dodge the initial shot.

    "Who are you!?" One of them shouted but received only silence in return as the hundred jonin of the Strike Force jumped towards them. The battle itself was a quick affair. Yuki ninjas were chunin-level and vastly outnumbered by the excited Strike Force.

    Simply, it was a ughter for the Yuki ninjas. The ninjas of the Strike Force were war veterans used to fight together, used to face much stronger people, and used to use tactics to ovee greater odds. Inparison, this was not hard. The more the Strike Force fought, the more its members realized...

    ''There is no excitement in this! This was supposed to be my first mission in almost a year but... why is it so boring!?'' They internally screamed as they ganged up on the poor Yuki ninjas who wanted to do nothing more than to scream at these cheaters.

    "Okay. Let''s move on." Pakura said as she finished off thest of the group while wryly sighing. She was a bit peeved she could not use her scorch release and show her real might but her kunai would have to do for now. Really, this was supposed to be the very first mission for these ninjas and Pakura was sure all of them wanted to show off. They just had no idea Konan''s n would make it so easy but tedious for them. "We still have a few tens of these groups left until the work is done!"

    The entire group could think only one thing.

    ''Why the hell did I volunteer for this? Oh, yes, I wanted a bit of excitement, dammit!''

    ...

    At the end of the day, what was supposed to be a civil war, ended in overwhelming favor of the Daimyo of the Land of Snow and Rei. Only a very few of the Yukigakure ninjas survived, and even then, they were all captured.

    Now... It was time to march into the Yukigakure itself.

 Chapter 165 - Ch165. Yukigakure 1

    <h4>Chapter 165 - Ch165. Yukigakure 1</h4>

    Mei stood on a dune of snow, in the mountain range on the north of the Land of Snow where the Yukigakure was supposed to be located.

    "This is really a well-hidden location." Mei frowned, seeing exactly nothing through the freezing snow hail that was ongoing through the entire year in these mountains. Her mouth then suddenly widened into a gleeful grin, "I can see why I was sent here!"

    Mei''s hands started going through various hand seals at breakneck speeds as her chakra was poured outside of her body. The temperature quickly rose and the piles of snow started melting at a visible rate under the influence ofva-natured chakra. It was not even the effect of the Jutsu yet, merely the chakra Mei was sending from herself through the snow around to deep underground.

    As the chakra gathered in one spot, the ground suddenly pulsed and the world grew silent for a brief moment before a loud eruption ofva shook the whole area. The huge stream of orange superheated liquid reached high into the sky before its deadly searing droplets started raining back onto the snow-covered area, changing it into a massive pit of sizzling and hissing hot mist. The only thing safe from the excruciating heat was Mei alone.

    The ninjas in Yukigakure watched with bated breath as thend in front of their vige was rained upon by dropletsva. Every single one of them was certain this was not a natural urrence. Which meant... they were under attack. Despite that, deep in their hearts, neither of them wanted to face the person capable of using such a powerful Jutsu.

    s, desire or not, they were ninjas of Yukigakure and since a threat appeared so close to their vige, not even an hourter, around thousand highest-ranked ninjas who were not participating in the battle for the capital of the Land of Snow, found themselves passing the gates of their vige, heading towards the still sizzling area in front of it. Most were honestly hoping whoever threw that Jutsu into the wind would be already gone but everyone knew the chances of that was effectively nil.

    The Yuki ninjas ran all the way towards their destination, taking extra care to not be ambushed. It took them ten minutes to reach the location where the Jutsu originated and look and behold, right in the middle of the now muddy in that looked as if a war was fought on it, stood a woman d in ck ANBU clothes and nk white mask with kanji for ROOT on its forehead, impatiently waiting for them with her arms crossed on her chest.

    Before their leader could even start questioning the mysterious woman, she spoke with an impatient tone. "Finally! You took your sweet time getting here!"

    "Who a-"

    "That''s not important. What is important is that you have something the Roots of Konoha covets. I came to tell you to hand it over."

    "Wha-"

    "No, no, no, don''t even think to disagree! You saw what I can do. Imagine what a war with Konoha would look like. Hand it over!"

    The leader of the Yuki ninjas was really having a profound headache at the demands of the crazy masked redhead. Honestly, he had no idea what Konoha could want from them but judging by the chakra levels and the pressure the woman was continuously sting them with, he had no ns to sh with her anytime soon.

    "I-, I have no idea what you want from us. Is it the chakra armor? If so I am sure when the Yukikage returns, he will certainly talk about trad-"

    "Chakra armors!? You mean the useless crap your entire force is wearing? Nah, you can keep that. I came for something else! Hand it over!" She stomped her feet onto the ground, creating cracks all around the ce where she stood.

    ''At least tell me what the f.u.c.k do you want!'' The leader of the Yuki ninjas wanted to cry.

    ...

    Yukigakure was positioned in the snowy mountain range. Many would think there was only one path in and that was the in in front of the vige where Mei was currently trying and seeding being annoying while stalling for time.

    Konan on the other hand was using the universal entry path to any settlement above the ground, the sky. As Mei attracted the attention of the vige, Konan flew inside through the very scarcely protected back of the vige that faced a mountain. Nobody would expect such an attack but Konan was a ninja, something the Yukigakure defense designers forget to ount for.

    Konan had her clothes change into the attire of Yuki ninja. Her own Paper Transformation Jutsu was far superior to its genin equivalent. Then again, it was A-rank Jutsu since she first had to change her body into paper and then mold the paper to a new appearance. Now, however, she was using only the clothes variant and since her clothes were always made of paper, it didn''t take even half of the reserves a normal Henge would.

    Konan proceeded to create hundred paper clones in an alley that was out of the hand and with those, she started doing her job. Going around the half-empty vige while putting tags with spying seals into the walls of important buildings, the Yukikage office, and even on the streets.

    Rei decided to let Yukigakure off the hook. Part of the reason for his decision was the fact he didn''t have enough ninjas. Uzushio currently had around three hundred of them but even with their superior seals and skills, Rei had no confidence in taking over Yukigakure without losing even one of them.

    Well, he and his girls probably could do that with some massive ninjutsu, wiping huge parts of the vige out of existence, but the only reason why the mainbatants in the defense of the capital of the Land of Snow were ninjas currently staying in Uzushio and not Rei himself was to get his forces some experience and see how well they can work together. He did that because he was certain no one from Uzushio would be hurt, much less killed.

    But attacking Yukigakure was a different matter. Konan knew Rei wanted to use Uzushio as cover. People that mattered knew of Yukigakure''s existence and its dominance in the Land of Snow. Rei simply wanted this belief to stay alive. Hence, the vige would survive in order to cast a shadow on the creation of Rei''s new vige.

    After all, nobody would expect there would be two hidden viges in one nation. Yukigakure would certainly not allow that, right? Well, Yukigakure would have an existential crisis soon enough with most of their jonins and Kage killed. Not like they would find out about a new vige rising in the Land of Snow anytime soon.

    As such, Konan''s clones were now making sure they had proper eyes in Yukigakure while the original was traversing the deep underground tunnels. These tunnels were the only thing the man captured a week prior didn''t know about. The poor sod was simply a too low rank. Well, at least he knew they were there.

    In short, if the group wanted to know what is deep down here, they had to send somebody to explore. And since Konan had a mission in Yukigakure anyway, she decided to take a little stroll.

    Konan knew the strongest and highest-rankers of those who stayed in the vige are right now being messed with by Mei. It was not like Mei could not troll her way through the Yuki ninjas for a few hours. Her chakra pressure was too big to not make these generic chunin chaps shitting their pants.

    As such, Konan walked through the underground tunnels with an excited skip in her step, looking around searching for a treasure.

    "Now then, let''s see what do I find here..."

 Chapter 166 - Ch166. Yukigakure 2

    <h4>Chapter 166 - Ch166. Yukigakure 2</h4>

    Pa treon - 38 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    The deeper into the underground tunnels Konan went, the dimmer the light became. It would be actually spooky if, ''Wow, the one who designed this really had to have a big ir for dramatics. A pity I have the night-vision seal on me.''

    Konan saw her surroundings as if it was a bright day with a clear sky. After ten minutes, she finally arrived at the door. Briefly ncing behind herself, Konan smirked at the sight of the tunnel littered by kunais, senbon, shurikens, many of them no doubt lethally poisoned.

    ''Looks like my little stroll set off every trap in here.'' Konan shrugged. She was honestly too deep in her thoughts to notice that anything was trying to harm her. Suddenly, Konan''s face lit up, ''This might be the very first potential w of Mei''s Steam Cloak! I have to tell her about this when I return.''

    Konan was using her own Wind Release version of the defensive Steam Release Jutsu Mei used to y with Minato. It was a bit iffy to use against strong high-level piercing attacks or something extremely destructive on a wider scale but kunai? Those had no chance of prating it. All in all, it was a good passive defense since the Jutsu was not hard to maintain. Naturally, this wouldn''t reach the defensive power of what Mei used against Minato but anything ssified below B-rank would be stopped which potentially rendered any sort of trap useless unless.

    Konan carefully opened the door, making sure to prevent them from letting out any sound that could rm anyone on the other side. This appeared to be a wasted effort however because the second she took a peek at what is on the other side, it was just an empty spacious room, resembling aboratory. On the right side was unfinished chakra armor of unknown type, a new prototype, most likely, and on the left side was a singr cell where a woman of thirty was sitting on the floor and leaning on the wall. She had white unkempt hair, simr to those of the Kaguya bloodline butcked their other tells. The biggest difference from them, however, were their icy-blue pupil-less clear eyes andplexion as pale as snow. One could even mistake her for a sick person. Her feet and wrists shackled with chains connecting her to what seemed like a box with cores for the chakra armor.

    Konan quickly put it all together and understood that the woman she saw was essential to the production of the chakra armors because her chakra somehow activates the cores. ''I wonder how that works...'' She blinked as she noticed the exhausted barely alive woman directly staring at her with a pleading gaze that just washed over her with almost no effect. ''Hmm, let''s ask somebody who was present for the entire process, then.''

    Konan simply walked towards the cell, crouching there be on the eye-level of the chained woman. "Hello," She smiled, ns forming in her head, "Let''s make a deal, shall we?"

    The chained woman opened her mouth but no sound came from her throat, telling Konan that it was a damn long time since she drank something. It was only then that Konan noted the transfusions in the corner next to the cell. ''Oho~, so she is not fed nor watered? Only receives nutritious transfusion? Heh, this will be easier than I thought, won''t it?''

    "Don''t strain yourself. What about this?" Konan used her chakra to create a ball of water and levitated it into the cell where the chained woman almost pounced onto it while Konan analyzed her further.

    ''No signs of violence... well, if she was so important in the creation of the cores for the chakra armor, then I guess they would not want her damaged. Sunken cheeks and malnutrition...'' Konan took another peek on the transfusion, ''that means whatever they are injecting into her veins is mostly spent on the production of chakra necessary for the cores, only leaving enough for her body to barely survive. Fortunately, I put quite a lot of nature energy and medical chakra into the water ball.''

    The next second, Konan was stunned, however. She expected the woman to be slightly healed since her medical chakra was frankly crap but contrary to her expectations, the second the ball of water, a small amount of nature energy, and medical chakra waspletely drunk, the woman underwent a mind-boggling change.

    First to change was herplexion. It brightened up. While it was still snowy-white, it no longer looked sickly, instead, taking frosty shade. Her eyes acquired a spark of life in them and the ck circles under them disappeared while an almost invisible snowke-like pupil appeared in her eyes. It was so small, one would miss it without having a proper look. The woman''s body noticeably filled up but the chakra was apparently not enough so she still looked somewhat malnourished.

    What really shocked Konan was not the recovery though. As miraculous as that was, it had nothing on what exactly caused the recovery, ''She used Nature energy alongside her chakra! This... natural Sage Mode!? How the heck did a third-rate vige such as Yukigakure catch somebody capable of the Sage Mode?'' Konan couldn''tprehend what she was seeing.

    What she couldprehend though, was that the crap that was supposedly the chakra armor actually ran on Senjutsu chakra... somehow. And that was huge! The morons of Yukigakure who invented this must have had no idea what this meant!

    Konan suddenly froze, ''Wait... didn''t Rei tell me there is some kind of a reactor to change this snowy shithole into a spring-filled fantasynd? Oh... that son of a-'' And that was when Konan understood that Rei knew the value of the technology invented in the Land of Snow all along. ''Of course,'' She facepalmed, causing the still chained woman to look at her weirdly, ''there is no way Rei woulde here only because it is the northernmost country, hence way out of the hand of anyone who could ever get curious.''

    Despite them never bing hostile with each other, the state-ownedpany of the Land of Snow was the only technology-orientedpetitor of their Biri-Biripany. That meant their technology had to be spectacr but Konan never imagined it would be powered by nature energy! The scientist in the Land of Snow probably had no idea they created self-replenishing batteries capable of being powered by the Senjutsu chakra or nature energy. If they did, they wouldn''t do an idiotic thing like make a power-suit out of it...

    Konan''s gaze snapped back to the woman behind the bars, now holding a bit of a predatory glint, causing the poor woman to scoot a bit back at the level of interest Konan was showing her. It was certainly reminding her of the crazy scientists who liked to experiment on her.

    A clone suddenly popped up behind Konan and started to gather every research paper and equipment into a storage scroll. Konan certainly had every intention topletely clean the room, not leaving even a single paper behind.

    The chained woman looked ndly as the equipment of the room was vanishing into storage scrolls, now sure the blute in front of her is certainly not a part of Yukigakure. The spark of hope renewed in her mind so she steeled herself and unsurely spoke, "Er, hello, I am Yukimi Yuriko, yo-you mentioned some kind of deal?"

    Konan just widely smiled at the clearly desperate woman and chuckled to herself. "I changed my mind. You areing with me no matter if you want to or not."

    And with that, the distraught and bewildered Yuriko could only watch as her fate was decided for her. She only hoped she would be treated better than what she experienced in Yukigakure as the excited gleam in Konan''s eyes didn''t fill her with many expectations towards her future.

    As for Konan... ''As if I would leave somebody like this roam free. Just imagine what we could do if instead of the girl, we used Rei''s dimension as the power-source for the batteries. Hehe...''

 Chapter 167 - Ch167. The reason why the Land of Snow

    <h4>Chapter 167 - Ch167. The reason why the ''Land of Snow''</h4>

    "We are back and bringing gifts!" Konan jovially said as she opened the portal to the mansion in Uzushio where they currently stayed and stepped inside, right into the living room.

    Mei was somewhat sullen on the way back from Yukigakure, muttering something about snow-brained dunderheads but Konan didn''t pay much attention to her. Now that they were back, Konan barely finished her first sentence when Mei rudely whizzed past her, flopping down onto an empty seat next to Ringo who was polishing her swords, and released a fed-up sigh.

    That only prompted Pakura and her apprentice, Maki, to shoot her amused nces, momentarily breaking their excited but quiet chattering which was bing a more and moremon sight these days. Especially since Pakura tried to stick to Rei like glue since he saved her and Maki tried to stick with Pakura.

    Nowadays, seeing Rei in a room without these two when they were at home was almost an impossibility and it took some weeks for Mei and a bit less for other girls to get used to it. Even the corners of Tsunade''s eyes seemed to twitch a lot these days whenever Pakura was nearby. Only Konna thought it was cute how the strict and no-nonsense S-rank kunoichi got all fl.u.s.tered whenever she was alone with Rei.

    As for Rei... he decided to simply take it in strides and mostly tune them out. Most of the time, there was Maki right behind Pakura and that meant they could entertain themselves by chatting while he worked on seals anyway.

    "Gifts?" Rei asked, stopping his game of cards with a very disgruntled and obviously losing Tsunade who eyed the pile of papers promising free favors she lost in thest hour. He looked towards Konan who excitedly walked in and then he tilted his head at the sight of an unknown white-haired woman wearing Konan''s cloak over her quite tattered and already useless clothes.

    Konan just gestured at the woman, "This is Yukimi Yuriko and you wouldn''t believe where I found her and what she can do..." Konan promptly walked towards Rei and sat on hisp before starting to exin what she found deep in the underground tunnels of Yukigakure just as Yuriko took the closest seat to the door in the room.

    Needless to say, Rei was bbergasted at the fact the chakra armor cores had to be jump-started by Senjutsu chakra of Yuriko. His mind quickly started to go through theories upon theories of how is that possible and his eyes almost shone when he realized the potential of such a discovery, especially since he owned a dimension filled with the most potent, never-ending free nature energy.

    Rei gave Yuriko a not-so-discreet once-over and made her nervously fidget which made Tsunade a bit sorry for her. Once upon a time, Yuriko must have been a strong and proud kunoichi. Especially if she knows how to use Senjutsu. That was not something somemon chump could learn. The only one she knew with that ability was her grandfather so it was an incredible achievement and prompted a question of how exactly did she get caught by a third-rate vige such as Yukigakure. s, now... Yuriko was nervous, afraid of her own shadow, and flinching at every sudden movement. Simply, the woman was a mess.

    ''Ten years of imprisonment and used as ab rat. It would be useless to talk about her reaching her full potential in such a state. She would need a whole lot of mental therapy if she is going to get anywhere close to where she was before that experience. As for exceeding it...'' Tsunade sighed and shook her head, joining Ringo, and Mei in not caring about the situation. With that, the conversation ended for her. Whatever scientific crap they were going to talk about was not her problem. She was a doctor and that''s where she drew her line.

    "Looks like the Land of Snow is an incredible treasure trove." Rei leaned back into the couch with a gentle and satisfied smile, enjoying Konan straddling him while their eyes refused to part.

    "Aha! I knew you had an ulterior motive ining here the second I discovered Yuriko!" Konan poked Rei''s chest with her pointing finger, narrowing her eyes at him in a cat-like manner. "Spill. What is the really important thing you acquired here? I doubt it is the country or a ce for a vige. We could as easily make one in othernds or heck, even underwater, if we wanted. There must be more to ''why here''."

    Rei could only give her a wry grin, ''As expected of Konan. She knows me too well to not realize it.''

    Shrugging, he started speaking, "Yeah. The biggest reason was the ''Spring Generator'' as they call it." All of the people present knew what he was talking about. After all, Rei did tell them about its existence even before he even went to the Land of Snow. It was just that neither of them knew of its real importance. "The thing is... what the Spring Generator does is basically, in simple terms, persuading nature energy to switch its attribute. The nature energy might be the same everywhere but in snowynds it has a bit of a different aspect than let''s say in forests. The generator does not change the nature energy itself, it just tricks it into changing the aspect which affects thend." Rei''s face twitched at such an idiotic description but honestly, this was the simplest way for all to understand.

    Tsunade, as the only Senjutsu user present apart from Rei, actually snorted, causing Rei to chuckle at her before humming in agreement.

    "Nature energy is everywhere and it is shaping the world around us. Its predominant trait that every Sage could tell you is that it can NOT be changed at will. Even when a Sage mixes it with his chakra to create Senjutsu Chakra, it is not like the nature energy ceased to be nature energy. That is the whole reason why using it is dangerous. That is the reason why this entire thing is just so ridiculous. These scientists did something even people like Hashirama were unable to. As for exining the theory behind it... that would take ages so I will just say the important stuff," Rei shrugged. He could feel all pairs of eyes in the room having their utmost attention on him.

    "What the scientist of the Land of Snow managed was basically create something that could revolutionize the world. A way to use devices to affect the environment through nature energy which is the main element forming it. Just imagine instead of changing the environment to spring, changing it to ava-filled ce. It would be an instant bye-bye to an entire country. A forbidden Jutsus would lose their ''forbidden'' meaning if this fact came out." Yes, Rei was really surprised when he found out the scientist in this backward world created something more powerful than an actual nuke by a sheer fluke. And while setting it up would be hard and require time and utmost secrecy... it was still not an impossible task and that is where the problemsy. "There is no way I could leave something like this in the wind. Nope, I naturally already secured all blueprints and ns for the generator. Fortunately, no single person knows how to create the whole thing."

    This revtion shocked some and scared the other people in the room. Just imagining such a power...

    As for the problems with setting it up, this was a world with ninjas in it. Secret operations were something that happened on a daily basis here but they usually didn''t have much of an impact.

    "Anyway, we should probably return to the original theme." Rei said, pulling the girls out of their thoughts as they looked at him with confused gazes so he turned his head in the direction of the newest addition and reminded them, "Yuriko."

 Chapter 168 - Ch168. Yuriko Yukimi

    <h4>Chapter 168 - Ch168. Yuriko Yukimi</h4>

    "Where to start?" Yuriko gazed at her hands while looking a bit lost.

    "What about starting on how did you actually get yourself into the position of a prisoner?" Rei quipped, trying to help Yuriko find some good point to start her life-story while also making it easier for her to start talking now that she had certain guidelines and something different than her past torturous years to focus her attention on.

    "Right..." Anger shed through Yuriko''s eyes as she remembered what happened to her but this anger quickly disappeared as she bit her lower lip before forcing her body topletely rx. Her eyes gained a determined glint, knowing she had to get it off her chest if she was toe to terms with those feelings.

    Taking a deep breath, Yuriko slowly started, "I was a part of the now-almost-extinct Yukimi n, the founders of Yukigakure. It was actually my grandfather who founded the vige." Yuriko said a bit self-mockingly while her voice shook at the memory of her childhood.

    The second Tsunade heard her, she halted for a moment and her attention almost doubled. She could not believe how simr the circ.u.mstances between them were. Looking again at the woman with slumped shoulders who was projecting a dejected aura all around herself, Tsunade could only wryly smile. She briefly wondered if she also became such a sorry sight if she didn''t meet Rei.

    "Since young, I lived in luxury and the only thing expected from me was to better my ninja arts. Especially my bloodline which seemed to be extraordinarily strong. Grandfather often used to say that ording to the records of our n, I am the first in two centuries to have such strong blood." Yuriko said in a sad nostalgic tone, not even knowing how many memories this evoked in Tsunade. When Rei naturally noticed it but he could only gently put his hand around Tsunade''s shoulder and cuddle her closer to himself in order to give her a bit of constion.

    "Things like cooking, cleaning, and so on were not important. All I had to do was focus on developing my bloodline Jutsu, the Snow Release which is capable of absorbing the chakra of the enemy and replenishing our chakra with it among other things."

    "And I guess you got curious how it works on a deeper level. That''s how you learned elemental Sage Mode, isn''t it?" Rei nodded. It was a possibility. After all, Hashirama''s situation was not much different. If the bloodline was capable of transferring the chakra of one person and remaking it to fit another before replenishing his reserves... there simply had to be nature energy involved in that.

    Tsunade''s research showed that there are many bloodlines that unknowingly use nature energy in their Jutsu without even the caster noticing. For example, the Kaguya n. Their body is very sturdy and that is because of natural reserves of nature energy it takes in. These reserves are very small and it can''t really be called Sage Mode as there is no mixing with chakra involved but instead, these reserves are needed for the ''body maniption'' with which the Kaguya n members make holes for their bones to stick out from their bodies and then seal them shut. If somebody attempted to coat their underskin with bone armor as Kaguya could, it would be a very painful experience to live with. It is only thanks to these natural reserves of nature energy that the members of the Kaguya n do not scream in pain every time they use their bloodline and are able to use it so efficiently.

    Honestly, Rei had to admit that chakra was a wondrous but also a very unknown thing in this era. No Uchiha would tell you they use and need mostly Yin Chakra for their Sharingan. Why? Because they do not know about it! They never bothered to study it that deeply. As a ninja n, they are focusing on the development of Jutsu and do not try to understand how exactly it works. Their exnation is... It''s our bloodline, duh... And that''s it.

    Tsunade spent a lot of time working this out with the pair of Sharingan eyes Rei bought on the ck market for a literal fortune. With the Third War being barely over, one would not believe the things that he could get in the ck market. Anyway, it was proof that there is more to the bloodlines than it appears at the first nce. Some bloodlines, such as Kurama, Hyuuga, not to even mention, Akimichi giant-shift bullshit, simply have to work with something stronger than the chakra of an individual. There is simply no way for a singr Akimichi to have enough chakra to be erged by a factor of a hundred, no matter how fat he is.

    "Yes... after prodding and probing, I learned to manipte the non-chakra energy in the air... er, Nature energy, as you called it." Yuriko gave Rei a meaningful look. For her and her n, this energy was something new. As for Sages... she never heard of them.

    "But... back to the topic." The atmosphere in the room suddenly grew downtrodden as Yuriko slumped her shoulders even more before continuing, "Since I was busy learning the ninja arts, I had no time to do menial tasks. I was given an attendant... a ve if you will." The air around Yuriko grew heavy as her killing intent involuntarily poured out of her, earning her a few raised eye-brows. Even Maki, the newest member of the group had already experienced far heavier killing intent from Yugito or Mei when they spared so this was frankly nothing but amusing. Nevertheless, they quickly understood this ''attendant'' will y a crucial role in this story. Yuriko gritted her teeth before she barely restrained her anger to get the next sentence out of her. "His name... Mikado Suzufumi."

    "Oh boy, I think I know where this is going..." The corner of Rei''s lips twitched. "Mah~, you will be delighted to know he died by being literally backstabbed by his right-hand man and had enough time to realize what happened to suffer through the betrayal. Not the most painful of deaths but a very pathetic and enraging one indeed."

    That remark created a small satisfied smile on Yuriko''s lips but her face still showed a slight discontent at being unable to kill the man herself.

    "I was good to him, you know?" Yuriko started in a low tone, "I never treated him like a ve. There were other ves but he had so much freedom and his life was simply better because of me. I even allowed him to practice ninjutsu from scrolls belonging to my n! And then... twelve years ago when our n was not in the best shape because of the Second Ninja War, I turned my back on him after a long and exhausting fight and with a slight dull ache on the back of my head, the world suddenly grew dark." Yuriko''s eyes showed exactly how helpless and bewildered she felt at this betrayal.

    It was almost poetic. The man who stabbed her in her back died by being stabbed in the back by a man he trusted. Rei only barely held himself from chuckling, mostly to not seem likeughing at the distraught woman. Mei, Ringo, and Tsunade didn''t have such a problem. They all chuckled, grinned, and snorted respectively which earned them a disapproving re from Konan and Pakura.

    "After that, I found myself in the underground cell we used as a prison for important people. Now, I was a prisoner in the vige belonging to our n and I had no idea how or why..." Yuriko sighed, "But Mikado came a few hours after I woke up to gloat. He actually managed to pull off a revolt. The ves of our n apparently didn''t like that in times when people of the Land of Snow mostly starved and froze to death on a daily basis, they had a safe ce, a warm bed, enough food for a minimal amount of work. Our n, or at least most of it, never mistreated their servants as it was counterproductive but... maybe that was a mistake." Yuriko quietly said, looking conflicted and confused. It was obvious she had no idea why exactly did their servants betray them.

    "Mikado said the reason why many of the Yukimi n died during the Second War was the drugs our servants were putting into our food." Yuriko lowered her head to hide the tears that started streaming down her cheeks with her hair before she wiped them away. "Most of my family died in the war. The n was so weakened that Mikado, who was one of the most skilled people in the ninjutsu in the vige after the heavy losses the Yukimi n incurred, was capable of killing almost everyone who could give him at least a bit of resistance. He killed them in their sleep... I should not have let him get stronger." Yurikomented, growing silent for a moment as her gaze grew distant.

    "See? That''s why you have to use Seals to put safeguards on people!" Rei burst out, nodding in agreement to himself, highly satisfied at being proven right. Only after getting a few disapproving looks from his girls did he add in a small voice, "I mean... if you want to enve somebody, you gotta make it foolproof, no? Not that I would ever put such a failsafe on you... Hehe."

    Rei... didn''t realize his girls silently agreed with him and only red at him because of how inappropriate that remark was at the moment.

    Yuriko, whose mood slightly improved watching Rei getting red at for his remark, decided to continue. On one hand, she was on the verge of breaking down, on the other, she knew it was important to not bottle it up. "It was hell for any captured member of my n, especially women and children. Mikado especially liked me watching how he and his subordinates torture my nsmen in various ways while showing me how superior he apparently is to me." Yuriko shuddered, her thighs mped together and her arms hugged her body as she tried to make herself seem small. "The first five years, it was pure torture and I was thest of my n alive, living only to satisfy Mikado''s vanity. It was onlyter he thought about creating chakra armor after a lot of experiments..."

    Yuriko was now openly sobbing in between the words and Tsunade decided to cut this short. She pulled herself away from Rei and stood up before walking towards Yuriko and hugged her while whispering ''All is fine, you are no longer there.'' until the woman finally calmed down.

    "Yeah..." Rei slowly started when he saw Yuriko finally calm enough to listen, "I think we can wrap this up. Tsunade... would you mind showing her her room and tucking her into the bed?"

    Before Tsunade could react, Yuriko almost desperately asked, "What will happen to me now?" She simply had to know what to expect as surviving being a test subject once more... she would rather kill herself.

    "What do you mean?" Rei snorted in a ridiculing manner, "Do you think we will use you to create these cores? Bah, if you can do it with your bloodline, we can definitely learn it with our bloodlines or different methods. Using you is simply inefficient and insufficient! You can simply stay here until you fully recover and teach us how to do that little nifty trick of yours. After that... do whatever you want. You can leave and roam the world or join my new vige. It will be up to you." Rei nonchntly shrugged. He had no intention of holding Yuriko against her will after he learned how to create batteries working on nature energy from her. The Silence Seal was on her the second she stepped through the portal so Rei was not afraid of her talking about Uzushio or his group.

    After all, as Yuriko''s life-story proved right, safety measures were EXTREMELY important.

 Chapter 169 - Ch169. Location of the new village

    <h4>Chapter 169 - Ch169. Location of the new vige</h4>

    Days passed and the whole fiasco with the failed coup, for better or worse, sent waves through the world. The minor ninja viges started, or at least tried, to be extremely friendly with their Daimyo while the said Daimyo decided to be a bit more cautious of their supposed protectors.

    Helping a member of the royal n to be the Daimyo was fine... at the end of the day, the title would still belong to someone belonging to the said n, but this was the first case of the open rebellion of a ninja vige where its leader tried to usurp the power for himself. And that subtly shifted the entire political situation between Daimyo and ninja viges in the whole world.

    As for Yukigakure... they were disgruntled. Those who knew about the rebellion were bbergasted the strongest ninjas from the viges lost and on top of that, never came back. Those who didn''t know about it, those of low rank and strength, were on the contrary bewildered the vige higher-ups tried to do such a thing.

    But both groups had one thing inmon. They both were utterly happy that the Daimyo of the Land of Snow was generous enough to not give the order to execute them or at least, the order to disband the vige.

    Just like that, Yukigakure, while weakened beyond belief, continued to exist.

    ...

    In the days after the rebellion, while the ninjas of Yukigakure were too afraid to leave their vige, Rei finally found a good spot to set up his vige. While Yukigakure was situated in the northern part of the country with its back tightly protected by an impassable and dangerous mountain range, Rei decided to establish his vige on the other side of these mountains.

    The reasons for this were simple. The mountain range was the literal edge of the world... well, not really since Rei knew the world was not t but as far as the inhabitants of this world were concerned, the mountains were the end. They were so far north, nobody ever found a good reason to try and cross them. After all, the Land of Snow was the northernmost ind of the elemental nations and beyond that... nobody has a clue what is there.

    The mountains were also incredibly dangerous. While the Land of Snow, or as it was nowadays being renamed after Sosetsu used the Generator, the Land of Spring, changed its climate, the mountains were not included. In front of Yukigakure, the ins that were previously covered in a monumental amount of snow were now covered in colorful flowers and fresh grass but the mountains behind the vige are still covered in snow. The reason for this... the scientists simply refused to step into these mountains to set up the device needed for the generator''s influence to reach there.

    And this worked just fine for Rei.

    The mountain range was very treacherous. Massive avnches, sharp and steep cliffs with a deceptive nket of snow on them, and their sides frozen enough for sticking exercise to not work, and if that was not enough, because of the harsh environment, the animals inhabiting the ce were also a lot stronger than usual. Chakra made sure of that. While it was just a passive strengthening and the size of the animals was only slightly bigger than normal, facing a pack of snow dire wolves enhanced by chakra was no joke even for ninjas.

    These mountains were the best natural shield Rei could ever hope for. Nobody would have any valid reasons to even suspect the vige is anywhere near them, even if they somehow found out it was located in the Land of Sn-, Spring. After all, only a total madman would have guts to go into these mountains, much less set up an entire vige there, no?

    That left people with only one way to identally reach the vige without crossing the mountains. The sea.

    Frankly, Rei was not worried about that. In this world, adventure-seeking explorers were rare. Everybody was too busy trying to survive and get stronger or richer in this war and conflict-infested world. The closest thing to ''explorer'' was merchants who sailed on the sea to sell their goods in a different country and even they would never get off their normal course in fear of sinking in unknown waters.

    Plus, this ce was so far up north that nobody had any valid reason to even go here. On top of that, the Land of Snow was too big for merchants to take detours around it. The climate was freezing, the winds were slow... it would take at least half-year to sail around the ind. It was simply not worth the time. And that was without taking into ount the various dangerous creatures living in these waters... yeah, Rei was fairly positive the vige''s location would stay hidden unless he outright said where it was. No idental stumbling upon it was happening anytime soon.

    "It''s beautiful, don''t you think?"

    Rei''s shoulders suddenly felt added weight as Konan embraced him from behind, pressing herself to his back and leaning her chin on his right shoulder while her arms took a tight but loving hold of his chest.

    Rei involuntarily smiled, enjoying the sudden warmth of his lover as he took yet another look at the surroundings around the hill he was standing on. High snowy mountains, blue glittering sea, whitish forests... yeah, the surroundingnd was indeed a sight to behold.

    "Yes... but the weather leaves a lot to be desired," Rei let his body shudder a bit.

    "Mhmm," She distractedly hummed as she started to rub her hands on Rei''s chest in an attempt to make him warmer. "It will take a lot of work to make this ce habitable." The corner of Konan''s lips twitched upwards, "Tough."

    Rei could only helplessly groan. In a way, he brought it upon himself. The second his girls saw the climate and felt the cold, they promptly turned around while shivering and left through the portal, back into the warmth and coziness of their mansion in Uzushio where they stayed for the next week under warm nkets before the shiver went away. Only Konan and Tsunade stayed, and even that was to give Rei a smug yet encouraging smile that obviously meant, ''I told you so!''.

    "Even with the current amount of clones, it will take at least a year to cover the entire ce with a huge sealing matrix that would make the ce pleasant and warm without affecting the surroundingnds." Rei half-grumbled. He could not afford to spend more clones on this. His clones were already spread thin with researching new seals, building the new vige up, taking care of Uzushio development, setting up the Uzushio Trading Company, and much more.

    ''Saving Pakura was one of the best things I could ever do. Without her, I would have to take care of my current shinobi forces. Thankfully, she ispetent enough to basically act as the Kage in my absence...'' Rei fondly thought about how big of a help Pakura was before his cheek twitched, ''now if only she was not so clingy.''

    "But that''s fine, I would loathe forcing my people to live here if it was not a pleasant and a good ce to live in. I never realized that..." Rei apologetically shook his head. He always knew he would have to spend a lot of time making this piece of inhabitablend a cozy and warm home for his vige. He just didn''t realize it was quite as bad as this.

    Rei, as somebody whose body was enhanced by nature energy on a daily basis for thest twenty-plus years, felt only a slight chill but Mei, Ringo, and Pakura apparently almost keeled over the second they stepped through the portal.

    "I know," Konan quietly said, enjoying the moment. It was not often she got to spend time with Rei alone. She knew Rei would give her as much alone time as she desired if only she asked for it but that would be simply selfish so these moments were very rare and cherished by her. "I can feel it too. It is cold but... nowhere near the minus forty Celsius degrees, the thermometer is showing. Since you showed me how to enhance my body with nature energy, I never cked. At least, this will show Mei to be a bit more diligent with the exercises she deems useless."

    Rei put his hand on Konan''s, squeezing it slightly. "A pity, really. If she did practice the exercise diligently every day, I could ve... ahem, use her to help me out with the vige." He said in a very regretful tone, causing Konan to chuckle.

    "Yeah... a pity Tsunade has apany to direct. Otherwise, you could make cheapbor out of her too." Konan quipped.

    Tsunade was a Senju and Sage. She was somewhat resistant to cold thanks to her Senju physique that started adapting to the environment straight away but the second she activated Sage Mode, she felt no difort due to the cold whatsoever. Standing in Konoha forests and standing in this freezingnd was no different for her.

    "Speaking of which... you-" Rei teasingly started but Konan quickly cut him short.

    "Tu, tu, tu..." She yfully poked his cheek with her pointing finger, "I am far too busy with setting up the routes for the Uzushio Trading Company to y builder with you," She said in a sincere tone but her eyes gleamed with unveiled amus.e.m.e.nt at the situation.

    Rei could only sniff in distaste, "In the end, I was abandoned!"

    A peaceful silence spread between the two as they watched the hive of clones tirelessly work. It was only ten minutester, Rei decided to break the silence as he remembered,

    "Speaking about Tsunade and Mei, how is that n going along?"

    A slight vicious light shed through Konan''s eyes but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, leaving only a pleasant smile on her face, "Ah... Tsunade is really invested in that. Unfortunately for her, as much as she would want it, she can''t go and do the talks with Hokage. If not her appearance, manner of speech, voice, habits, her gestures could reveal her..." Konan let out an annoyed sigh, "So we decided it would be me who will go negotiate with Konoha. It shouldn''t be hard, the air in there is currently quite explosive."

    "Ouch..." Rei chuckled, now knowing the poor saps fell for their n. "In the end, the trust between them was only so much..." He shrugged and without a warning, spun on his heel while lifting the body of Konan, who yelped from surprise, and putting her on his shoulder before creating a portal to his room in his dimension, "Since you will be away in Konoha for a bit, I think a few days spent together are in order!"

    Nobody saw Rei nor Konan for the following week.

 Chapter 170 - Ch170. Trouble brewing

    <h4>Chapter 170 - Ch170. Trouble brewing</h4>

    "What did you do?" Hiruzen asked, puffing on his pipe while half-ring at Danzo who stoically stood in front of his desk.

    "I have no idea what you are talking about, Hiruzen." Danzo answered, his eyes showing confusion while his expression was as if set in stone.

    Partially, he was telling the truth. Danzo simply did so many things that he really had no idea what exactly Hiruzen meant. ''How the heck did he even discover anything suspicious?'' Danzo thought while internally frowning. He spent the majority of his time covering the tracks so this entire meeting was highly unusual and a very surprising thing to happen.

    "What am I talking about?" Hiruzen almost quietly asked, his rage shing through his eyes. This was something Danzo got to see only very rarely. The expression full of anger filled with the promise of pain...

    ''Uh, oh...'' He thought warily but he really had no idea what Hiruzen meant. "Yes. Tell me... please." He added to show some measure of respect. An enraged monkey was very hard to deal with, after all.

    Hiruzen''s expression twisted but he barely kept calm, just throwing a letter at Danzo who caught it with almost practiced ease.

    "Read!"

    Danzo furrowed his brows at the pissed tone of his long-time ''friend'' and started reading the letter. The more he read, the more his always-expressionless poker face came closer to breaking from the sheer shock he was feeling.

    But before Danzo could voice out any of his doubts, Hiruzen started speaking, "How about exining why ROOT is still in function? I remember very well that years ago I gave the order to disband it, Danzo!"

    Silence descended on the office as the air between Danzo and Hiruzen turned chilly, both staring at the other with unflinching determination in a powerful show of wills. What was really surprising though... was the result.

    Hiruzen slightly lowered his head, not enough for it to be taken as defeat or, Sage forbids, submission... only enough to show how tired he was at having to wipe Danzo''s ass.

    "I am not angry because ROOT is still operating." Hiruzen wearily sighed as he started talking in an old and tired tone, "That was given the second you tried to assassinate me after the death of Fourth Hokage on my way to the Fire Daimyo to reintroduce myself as the new temporary Hokage."

    "I never did that. You must be mista-" Danzo started but Hiruzen just dismissively waved him off with his free hand, not even bothering to acknowledge the excuse.

    "No, Danzo. What I am really angry at you for is the tant stupidity showcased here." Hiruzen''s voice started to slowly but surely get stronger, "If you want to lead a freaking SECRET organization with no ties to Konoha, DO NOT teach your emotionless drones to introduce themselves as ''Roots of Konoha'' during their supposedly secret missions, for f.u.c.ks sake!" By the end, Hiruzen was standing on his feet, sping on his chest while breathing hard from yelling at Danzo.

    Danzo however just simply grimaced knowing the cat was out of the bag. Not because of the letter. Not because the Hokage knew. But because this situation did not give any sense whatsoever for Danzo and the old monkey was his best bet to make at least some sense out of it. Oh, he didn''t want to... how he didn''t want to speak with Hiruzen openly about ROOT. Danzo was not an idiot and knew this probably would be used by Hiruzenter down the line to majestically screw him over but Konoha now faced a serious threat so the cards had to be put on the table.

    "ROOT didn''t do it." Danzo said impassively, letting his face rx into a wide scowl.

    It was an open secret among the members of Hiruzen''s genin team that while Danzo had an impressive poker face that simply could not be seen through, the second the man rxed his facial muscles, his act was utterly incapable of masking what he really thought. This was a big part of the reason why Danzo always wore his grim look. Which was why Hiruzen believed every wording out of Danzo''s mouth the second he saw his confused and enraged scowl.

    "I have no memory of allowing such a mission."

    Danzo was the head of ROOT. That simply meant he was the one who handed out missions to his ninjas and he knew one thing for sure. He did not send even one of his ninjas to the Land of Snow in decades. Hence...

    "The report is bullshit, you want to say?" Hiruzen flopped back down into his chair, not knowing what to think anymore.

    First, a few days ago he received a report that there was an attempt at revolt in the Land of Snow. This didn''t mean much at the first nce but since then, he always had some pretentious noble from the capitol ''visiting'' Konoha in the guise of the treaties between the vige and the Daimyo slightly changing in the favor of the Daimyo. Honestly, Hiruzen was too old and tired to care about these small things.

    Who cared if ninjas were not allowed to step into the Daimyo pce without an escort from the Daimyo''s ninja guards? Who cared if they had to report their presence in the capital to a special secret Samurai guardsmen? Konoha was not revolting anytime soon, plus missions in the capital were almost as rare as SS-rank ninjas so these ''restrictions'' had basically no effect on the vige at all. Still... it was very time-consuming and tiring to have talks with nobles, even if they were about unimportant things that would simply reassure Daimyo about their loyalty.

    Hiruzen thought that was the end of the Land of Snow fiasco but he was clearly wrong.

    After the Daimyo of the Land of Snow won against the rebels, which didn''t take even a day, an impressive feat in Hiruzen''s opinion... Yukigakure simply gave up two dayster. Well, nobody could me them, really. The really important people of the vige were killed in the revolt and what was left was not strong enough to even be called a vige. They should be happy the Daimyo didn''t outright disband the vige for how weak it was.

    And thereinid the current problem. The letter, which was still tightly clutched in Danzo''s angry grip just as he started speaking.

    "Yes! I have never sent my ninjas so far north and nobody trained by me would act like an idiot! Announcing where theye from? That-"

    "That. Doesn''t. Matter!" Hiruzen gritted out. Danzo was pushed too far too suddenly and Hiruzen couldn''t believe this made his friend blind to the real matter at hand! "The most important thing is that ROOTs existence was revealed! This is an officialint letter from the Daimyo of the Land of Snow on behalf of Yukigakure for the actions of Konoha''s ''secret'' ROOT division!"

    Danzo suddenly grew pale... "Meaning the dignitaries of other countries will have free ess to it." He muttered almost wordlessly, causing Hiruzen to stiffly nod.

    ROOT was an incredible concept but it only worked if they were totally secret even from the higher-ups of Konoha. Over the years, the organization did various things and caused mayhem in too many ces. The only saving grace was nobody knew they belonged to Konoha. Oh, people suspected but that was it. Suspicion was at the end of the day just... suspicion.

    The second evidence startsing about ROOT being Konoha''s division though... all the families of the victims of assassinations... Danzo could almost see the map of the Elemental Nations getting painted in the colors of Konoha enemies. After all, every eyewitness that caught even a nce of the nk white mask with the words ''ROOT'' on it, now knew to me Konoha for it.

    "Kidnapping a member of the Yukimi n from the vige and having over a hundred eye-witnesses to the said red-haired female agent''s introduction as somebody belonging to ROOT..." Hiruzen continued, "It honestly would not matter and we could just dismiss it as lies. The Daimyo of the Land of Snow would have no leverage... if only the Biri-Biripany didn''t join the fray and confirm his ims to be truthful. The same Biri-Biripany that holds incredibly high rtions with many Daimyo''s, important nobles, and wealthy merchants. The same Biri-Biripany that is one of the richest in the world. The same Biri-Biripany... that was totally impartial and has the best reputation there is."

    "The same Biri-Biripany we desperately need if we want to recover after the Kyuubi attack in a reasonable time-frame." Danzo finished it for Hiruzen.

    This was the main problem. The Daimyo of the Land of Snow somehow managed to convince the Biri-Biripany to support his ims. Frankly, Hiruzen didn''t think this was hard. It was a well-known fact that Biri-Biri and Snow Corporation never shed and their rtionship was very cordial.

    The men stared at each other silently before Hiruzen decided to act like a Hokage for a moment, "I want you to disband ROOT. This time for real, Danzo." He started in amanding tone, "I let it go on for far too long. Its presence became detrimental for the vige. A weekter, an emissary of the Biri-Biripany will arrive in Konoha in order to negotiate the reparations for the acts of ROOT in theirnds. We both know it doesn''t matter if it was your ninja or not or even if the usation is actually real. There is simply too much political power being thrown around and too little time to prove ourselves innocent." Hiruzen sadly shook his head, ending his speech. Konoha needed the goods of the Biri-Biripany... and the Fire Daimyo was far too friendly to their representative in the capital of the Land of Fire to ignore thepany. The best Hiruzen could do was to go head-first into this already lost negotiation with their emissary and try to reduce any sort of payment they would ask for while keeping their rtionship on a good basis.

    Hearing Hiruzen''s order, Danzo just turned on his heel and silently left the office, silently swearing to find out who yed him for a fool. Without the support of so many Daimyo, Konoha could just throw around its weight and past achievement but now... ''Damn it all to hell! So many years of my effort wasted in a blink of an eye!''

    The second Danzo closed the door behind himself, a man appeared from the shadow of Hokage''s chair, "Will he really do it? Disband the ROOT?"

    Hiruzen could only exasperatedly yet tiredly shake his head.

    "If only, Raido-kun... if only."

 Chapter 171 - Ch171. Visit to Konoha

    <h4>Chapter 171 - Ch171. Visit to Konoha</h4>

    "Wee in Konoha, Miss Kona." Hiruzen greeted the representative of Biri-Biri, a pale-skinned woman with shoulder-long blue hair, d in an azure kimono as her discerning and sharp amber eyes nced right and left from person to person, measuring them. Hiruzen''s stomach sank at the sight. He never expected the ''negotiator'' would be the previous president of the Biri-Biripany!

    Konan, or as she was known by her alias, Na Kona, came to Konoha to negotiate the reimburs.e.m.e.nt Yukigakure would receive for the attempt to kidnap a member of the Yukimi n, the founding n of Yukigakure, and a tant attack on the vige, which was actually a breach of the peace treaty signed after the third ninja war between all the ninja viges.

    Most viges in one form or another broke the treaty but the important thing was to keep it all hush-hush. If it came to the light and was important enough... a situation like this could easily happen. Konan couldn''t help but grit her teeth hard in order to prevent herself from mockingly grinning like a loon and she was still unable to wipe the smile from her facepletely. The most she managed was to keep her lips set in a small gentle smile.

    Normally, an usation such as this would mean shit and would bepletely ignored. Normally, Konan would beughed off with some crap-like excuse from the Hokage and that would be it but...

    ''Rei really had a good idea with making Biri-Biri the picture of neutrality and making connections with every important Daimyo family there is. One word from us and suddenly, this became the talk of the year... better yet, nobody can use us of siding with Yukigakure, much less being the one who orchestrated all of this. I meanˇ­ what could possibly be our reason to do so, right?'' Konan mirthfully thought while exchanging pleasantries with Hokage and his council. The Biri-Biripany was simply too important to ignore and so this entire thing was blown out of proportion so fast, Konoha had no time to counter-attack.

    A mere dispute between Konoha and Yukigakure became something every country closely watched. This... was the closest the countries got to the start of the fourth ninja war since the third ended. Konoha was weakened beyond belief after the Kyuubi attack and only the peace treaty and Hiruzen''s swift orders to strengthen the borders prevented the war from breaking out again right after that incident. God knows Kumo certainly wanted to jump at Konoha at the earliest opportunity.

    And nowˇ­ who would have thought Konoha would have the guts to tantly break the peace treaty when that piece of paper was half the reason why Kumo and Iwa sat tight in their viges instead of marching to Konoha and razing it to the ground out of sheer spite.

    The reason why Konan found this situation so hrious was that she knew Konoha waspletely innocent in the matter. After all, it was her who took Yuriko away from Yukigakure and Yuriko was in no way a happy citizen as it was portrayed in theint. The supposed ROOT ninja was just Mei in disguise and yet... Konoha was unable to say anything in their defense because of the division in the vige. Heck, most jonin doesn''t even know that ROOT existed.

    Danzo can say his ROOT didn''t do it all he wanted but Hiruzen has no idea what ROOT actually does. He knows nothing about their missions and Danzo''s assurances were, quite literally, worthless in this situation. Even if Danzo let the ANBU search through ROOT headquarters and gave all doc.u.mentation to Hokage, which he would never do, it would not help because a simple ''you must be hiding the doc.u.ments'' or ''you already destroyed them'' would suffice topletely shut him up. There was simply no proof ROOT didn''t do it and at this point, it didn''t even matter if ROOT actually was responsible. Konoha had to grit their teeth and pay up to prevent a war they were in no shape to fight.

    "I must say, I am very grateful to the Biri-Biripany for stepping in and preventing a war from breaking out because of this incident, Miss Kona." Hiruzen amiably said, gesturing at a pre-prepared chair for Konan.

    Konna chuckled, unable to keep it in. The man was actually thanking HER.

    "No, no... war would simply postpone too many of our projects so we decided to step in and use our influence to resolve this dispute between Konoha and Yukigakure." Konan answered while shaking her head as she sat down on the luxurious chair.

    Any Konoha ninja would know Konan was somebody important the second he got to know she received a chair in front of the council. In order to show their importance, anyone answering to the council was left standing in front of them.

    "Well, then, gentlemen..." Konan took the lead in the discussion. She crossed her legs and put her hands on her knees while leaning her body slightly forward as her amber eyes gleamed in excitement. "Shall we begin the negotiation?"

    ...

    Konan naturally didn''te to Konoha alone. She was supposed to be an important person and that meant a bunch of bodyguards and attendants. These people were currently housed at the best hotel in the vige, finally resting after a long trip. It was already evening when they arrived in Konoha and they knew they would probably stay a few days in the vige until the negotiations were over. Moreover, tomorrow, Konan will most likely assign them some kind of work so they wanted to enjoy their free time to the fullest while they could.

    Only one of Konan''s tag-alongs did not share this mindset.

    Ringo sneaked out of her room, d in ck clothes heading to fulfill her own mission while Konan provided a distraction by requesting the council to gather despite it being practically already a night.

    ''Heh, everybody is so focused on these negotiations, even the patrols are lighter than what they normally should be.'' Ringo thought as she slipped past two chunins hidden on a rooftop, watching the still-busy street. She basically stood only a few meters away from them but Ringo was not one of the best Kiri assassins for nothing. The chunins had no idea she was ever there. ''Hmm, correction. Konoha is just ipetent.''

    Continuing through the empty back alleys and asionally using rooftops to get to her target, Ringo finallynded in a crouch on the rooftop next to the orphanage. Staying hidden for an entire hour as she observed the surroundings.

    Done with observation, her eyes darted to the right, towards an old house opposite the orphanage, while narrowing, ''The first set of guards...'' She spotted the ninjas asionally taking a peek through the window. Ringo clicked her tongue as she looked to the left where a restaurant was located. ''Two watching from there.'' These two were actually very well hidden and only their unnatural interest in the orphanage gave them away.

    "And if my chakra sensing is true, three more are hidden inside the orphanage. Daaamn~, this is pain." Ringo quietlyined to herself as her body started to move again.

    While she was observing the situation, a clone of hers disguised herself with make-up and found a spot close-by the two observers in the restaurant. Getting a signal from the original, it quickly used an invisible chakra string to trip a nearby waitress, causing her to spill the contents of her tray right onto the disguised ninjas. Needless to say, both of the observers quickly stopped paying attention to the orphanage when their hair was full of sticky noodles.

    The two in the restaurant solved, only the two in the house opposite the orphanage became a problem. Well, not really. They only looked out of the window asionally unlike the two in the restaurant who stared at the building almost religiously. Ringo simply sneaked inside the orphanage right after the ninja behind the window turned around.

    ''And I only have to avoid the three nuisances inside.'' She thought as she silently walked through the dark hall. By now, it was way past curfew and the children were already asleep while the workers could be heard talking in the kitchen, the only lit room in the whole building. Ringo simply silently ran like a shadow around the open door to the kitchen, heading towards the room with the younger kids.

    Finally getting to the door behind which her target slept, she could feel three a.d.u.l.t presences inside. Suddenly, Ringo''s smile widened into a predatory grin when one of them felt somehow emotionless. ''Heh... let''s see how this will work!''

    Crane, a member of Konoha ANBU, was watching the young two-year-old Jinchuuriki sleeping after yet another day of being rejected by the kids and caretakers alike. It was a bit of a bother to stay silently put in the corner and observe the kid. Really, for two years nobody even came close to threaten his life, and yet, he and Bear had to watch him.

    ''Maybe it''s time to finally resign from ANBU?'' Crane contemted, knowing well he took this mission upon himself because he was aszy as any Nara. After all, two years of peace in ANBU? He basically exploited the situation to make his career skyrocket! And...

    Suddenly his eyes were attracted to a closet inside the room where a small amount of lightning crackled. Crane''s eyes widened as he realized, ''Shit! We are not alone!''

    Before he could even attempt to sign hispanion, Bear, to be silent, a man wearing a mask with ROOT on the forehead ran out of the closet and in one move jumped outside through the window.

    The two Konoha ANBU watched dumbfounded for a second before their brains rebooted and both promptly gave chase...

    Ringo stepped into the room through the door, amusedly watching both guards running after the ROOT operative. Honestly, she thought one would stay behind to watch the kid but she was apparently wrong.

    "Well, an easier job for me, I guess." She shrugged and approached the sleeping blond kid.

    Putting her pointing finger on his forehead, Ringo red her chakra into her hand, activating the seal put there by Rei before she left Uzushio. She watched as the Kanji from the seal slithered down her hand onto the kid''s forehead where they set themselves in a circle before promptly disappearing under his skin.

    "Rei said he has no idea what to expect from this, kid," Ringo whispered to the sleeping boy, "but I hope, for your own sake, you won''t end up like me. Brainwashed and willing to sacrifice yourself for ungrateful ingrates who couldn''t be bothered to throw you away on the first opportunity after you lose your usefulness. I guess... only time will tell."

    Ringo turned around and silently left. The rest... was not her problem.

 Chapter 172 - Ch172. Afternoon with Pakura

    <h4>Chapter 172 - Ch172. Afternoon with Pakura</h4>

    Rei and Pakura were having a pic on a grassy hill near the Uzushio vige, both somewhat awkwardly pondering how to start a light-hearted conversation.

    "Damn," Rei chuckled, "this is harder than I thought. I think this is actually the first time we are truly alone."

    Pakura worked as Rei''s Jonin Commander which currently, while the vige was not yet built, meant she temporarily took the role of his secretary. The problem between them became quickly apparent. Despite Pakura''s obvious affection towards Rei, they were both used to being professional towards each other so now that they were alone, it was hard to have a casual talk.

    It was actually Konan who was responsible for the current situation. Pakura got surprisingly along well with the resident blute who was also of the strict and no-nonsense type during work. Their simr personality and approach towards work made the two girls close considering they both worked together on many projects.

    And since Konan was the best at psychology out of Rei''s girls, she quickly noticed Pakura''s feelings. Well, at least, she did so sooner than others. Noticing it didn''t require any psycho-analytical skills, really. Pakura sucked at hiding her feelings in every meeting that didn''t pertain to her job so once she started spending some time with Rei and his girls during her free time, the cat was out of the bag pretty fast.

    It was only a half-yearter after Pakura''s arrival when Konan noted Rei started to notice Pakura more. At first, it was just a few additional nces but the two were clearly being drawn to each other. And yet... Rei refused to make any advances despite all four of his girls giving him their blessing. After all, even now, he was run ragged by his projects whether in sealing or in the vige creation, and on top of that, he had to find time for all four of his girls.

    Well, Rei was notining. Work could go stuff itself. For Rei, his girls were his priority but still... time was precious, and getting involved with yet another woman? Rei didn''t really think he had time for that.

    As such, two days before she left for Konoha, Konan took the situation into her own hands, and somehow, here they were... Rei and Pakura were ordered to go on a pic date with a no-nonsense ''I-dare-you-to-disobey'' kind of tone.

    '' ''If it works it works, if not, at least you know where you stand with each other!'' ... She said'' Rei thought as he side-nced at the fidgeting woman sitting next to him. ''Ei, whatever.''

    "How is training Maki going?" Rei started. He really had no idea what else than their work to talk about with Pakura. With his girls, it was just so easy as they always had amon topic but now...

    Pakura furrowed her brows, not expecting such a question, and her mind slightly panicked as she hurried to create a coherent answer, "It... is fine?" She said unsurely, making Rei chuckle which only made Pakura fidget nervously even more.

    Seeing her state, Rei decided to help her out a bit. He knew Pakura had no time to spend on interaction with males and he had more experience from dates with his girls so...

    Rei put his hand on hers, squeezing it slightly in the reassuring matter and when Pakura''s face snapped in his direction adorning a stunned expression, Rei just gently smiled at her. It was not an easy feat since he was quite nervous but he was a ninja and acting was a fundamental skill of his profession.

    Thankfully, Pakura considerably rxed after seeing Rei''s calm smile and shuffled a bit closer to Rei. The duo started to snack on the sandwiches while looking at the sunset painting the Uzushio orange in pleasant silence, their hands still connecting.

    "So..." This time it was Pakura who started speaking, "Er," She sheepishly avoided Rei''s eyes, "this is actually the first time I am on a date with anybody."

    Silence again descended on the duo, making the time awkwardly drag on until Rei decided to... "Neh, Pakura?" He hummed, getting her attention, "Let''s just... act like usual, okay?"

    "Fine." Pakura chuckled and amusedly shook her head, "To think Konan would forbid us from discussing anything work-rted."

    "Yeah, I don''t think that will work for us."

    "Right... It''s actually my fault." She sighed but her eyes stared into the distance in a nostalgic way, "I have nothing but Maki and my work. From an early age, I was led to work hard for my vige. Pakura, get stronger... Pakura, our vige needs you... Pakura, you have to support the vigeˇ­ Pakura, your Kekkei Genkai..." Her lips twisted into a distasteful mocking smile, "I had never time to have a normal life. Even Maki was literally thrown into my arms with orders to train her to the best of my ability because she showed a promise. It wasn''t even my own decision to take her in as my apprentice." She sadly muttered.

    "And now... work is the only thing you know and love Maki as if she was your own." Rei amusedly hummed in acknowledgment while putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to him, "We all found it a bit strange that you don''t have even one hobby or interest. You just spend all your time on your duties as my Jonin Commander."

    "I am actually very happy about getting the position, you know? It consumes just enough time that between training Maki and focusing on my duties, I don''t have time to think about the betrayal of Sunagakure."

    "You know... at some point, it wille out that you are alive. You will have to face it one day." Rei gently reminded her but to his surprise, Pakura just took a refreshing breath and brightly smiled in a way as if a burden fell from her chest.

    "That will not be a problem!" She assuredly stated. "As long as I have Konan backing me up, nothing is impossible. I am sure she would be able to persuade the Sunagakure higher-ups I am dead even if I stood in front of the council itself. All she would need was their doc.u.mentation of my apparent death." She snickered. After seeing Konan''s mind at work in political maniptions, Pakura really pitied any vige trying to make problems for Rei''snds through diplomacy.

    "Cheers to that," Rei smirked and reached into the basket, pulling out two bottles of water before handing one to Pakura. "Honestly, just as Tsunade is scary good at the economy, Konan''s niche is politics. That''s actually why she was sent to Konoha for the negotiation instead of Tsunade going herself... among other reasons."

    "Speaking of which," Pakura''s eyes gleamed in interest made of schadenfreude as she excitedly turned her body towards Rei, "I heard you got news from her yesterday. How does the negotiation with Konoha go?"

    The second it was decided the emissary will be Konan, it was an established fact that Konoha is f.u.c.k.i.e.d. What remained to be seen, however, was what mood Konan will be in during the negotiations. Mei and Tsunade even bet on how much Konan would make Konoha suffer.

    Needless to say... "Tsunade lost the bet. Her guess was too small." Rei quipped. "The negotiations are almost wrapped up after these two weeks. They only discuss some minor unimportant things now so Konan will be returning quite soon. ording to Konan, it was quite dramatic. In the end, she only managed to secure a reparation payment of 1 000 000 000 Ryo." He nonchntly said with a shrug.

    Hearing the sum, Pakura actually spat out the water she recently drank and started coughing while hitting her chest to calm down from the shock Rei gave her. "Can you repeat that!?" She asked almost hysterically after she finally found herself in a condition good enough to talk again.

    "You heard me correctly." Rei smugly smirked. "We both know that Konan is a miracle worker, alright!"

    "But... How!? 1... Such a sum is no small matter for a vige! That kind of..." Pakura couldn''t help but feel bbergasted.

    "Konan promised to give Konoha a fifty percent discount on the products of the Biri-Biripany for the duration of their debt. Considering they were given ten years to pay the reparations..."

    "I see," Pakura grimaced, now understanding why Konoha was fine with epting such an exorbitant price, "It wouldn''t be impossible to actually profit if they took advantage of it. Buy in bulk and then resell."

    Rei simply snorted, "Do you really think Konan of all people would let Konoha screw with her? Oh, I am sure the Konoha council and Hokage think they are smart but... I know Konan. She already sent a proposal to ration the goods sent to Konoha with her report. This discount given to them doesn''t work for Konoha, instead, it is only for goods sold on Konoha''s territory, meaning if Konoha decided to buy elsewhere, they will have to pay full price."

    "So Konan wants Tsunade to cut the number of goods sent to the Konoha territory by... 50%?" Pakura inquired. It seemed logical to her. This way, there won''t be any loss, only an abundant profit but Rei quickly put that notion to a sudden stop when he amusedly shook his head.

    "She will cut the supply by three-quarters." Rei gleefully stated and Pakura shuddered when she realized the implications.

    "Oh... Konoha is so f.u.c.k.i.e.d. They will actually have to buy from elsewhere for full price at this rate!"

    "They sure are. They thought they would be able to wave the contract in front of ourpany and demand goods at a dirt-cheap price and Konan is using exactly that arrogance. Sure, the contract does state we will have to sell our goods at half the price on Konoha''s territory but there is nowhere written we are obliged to deliver as many goods as Konoha desires."

    "And without being able to resell our goods, Konoha won''t be able to make the money to pay for the reparations, hence they will have to use what they have safely deposited in their coffers. That is actually a very insidious scheme. Damn, Konan is ruthless. Using only a single hole in the contract to make Konoha pay almost two times their annual ie." Pakura leaned closer to Rei, her eyes sparkling in glee.

    Rei blinked and his eyes slightly widened. It was only now he realized they somehow got too close during their heated talk about the negotiations. Pakura''s face was basically just a few inches away from his and her body was pressing itself into his side. Rei, seeing their position, made his mind.

    ''Here we go. Let''s make it count.''

    Leaning forward, he kissed the startled girl. Needless to say, the remainder of their date was spent in silence as the two enjoyed each other''s lips, their conversation about work long forgotten.

 Chapter 173 - Ch173. Consequences of the negotiation

    <h4>Chapter 173 - Ch173. Consequences of the negotiation</h4>

    Days slowly passed and Konan returned, almost glowing with happiness. The mary payment was but one single thing among many she managed to negotiate and honestly, Konan thought this was the performance of her career.

    To name a few results...

    Konoha''s ninjas were forbidden to enter the Land of Snow. If even one ninja belonging to Konoha was found within the territory of the Land of Snow, it would instantly be a matter between Daimyos of Snow and Fire and the Biri-Biripany would take the side of the Daimyo of Snow. And with it, the other countries.

    The Hokage would disband the ROOT organization for good. Well... Rei didn''t put much faith in Hiruzen of all people as he was almost sure Danzo would just screw with him anyway and keep ROOT active out of the sight but officially ROOT was supposed to not exist anymore.

    The best part, however, was that all viges and countries now knew ROOT is ''disbanded'' which basically meant that if even a single ROOT agent was caught and confirmed to belong to that organization from hence on, Konoha would be shit out of luck with their own Daimyo due to the diplomatic shitstorm it would cause. Sometimes, diplomatic pressure can be much more devastating than brute force.

    At least, Danzo would have to be more discreet and careful in his operations from now on and as such, nothing would go as smoothly or quickly for him as it was up till now.

    And since the massively overpriced payment was mainlypensation to the Land of Snow and the Yukimi n, Konoha naturally had topensate Yukigakure too since they were the ''main'' victim whose founding n was ''kidnapped''. Konanined for days about how much nitpicking went into it. She knew exactly which techniques she had to ask for and by the end of the negotiation, copies of at least a hundred D and C ranked techniques were handed out into her hands to be given to Yukigakure. Within those, there were even some high-ranking ones such as Shadow Clones.

    Sure, Tsunade brought the technique with her when she moved the Senju library into the mansion in Rei''s dimension but now that Konoha ''handed'' it over to Yukigakure, Rei can simply ''buy'' the technique from Yukigakure and nobody can say he stole it from Konoha when the ninjas of his future vige use it. After all, Shadow Clones was a strictly regted and safeguarded technique of Konoha so having a foreign ninja using it would create some friction if there was no ''justifiable'' reason for ''how'' exactly it was possible.

    As for the low-ranked techniques... of course, they would get to Yukigakure only after Konan made copies. Needless to say, these were all techniques whose presencecked in the Senju library. They would surely be useful for someone after being put in the library of the new vige.

    Honestly, tricking Konoha with the discount for the Biri-Biri goods was just icing on the cake. Not a week passed after Konan returned when she received a missive from Hokage, requesting a bigger supply of goods in the Biri-Biri shops located in Konoha.

    Reading it, Konan... simply blew a raspberry and with joyousughter cut the supply by an additional ten percent.

    Even after the Kyuubi incident, losing a lot of lives and having a part of the vigepletely demolished, Konoha was still considered the strongest and while there were attempts to usurp this ce, they failed. Nobody could have guessed it would be a simple reimburs.e.m.e.nt and greed that would actually make Konoha fall from their grace.

    Paying double their annual ie in ten years timeframe... the budget for Konoha grew even tighter than it was before and many of the rebuilding projects slowed to crawl. The richest vige was officially having financial problems and for the first time since its creation, the Fire Daimyo had to send mary support to Konoha apart from the standard funding.

    The higher-ups of Konoha became theughing stock of the decade while the name of Na Kona became the equivalent of a devil who dethroned Konoha from its position of strongest via giving them a discount. Konan''s alias sent shudders through the leaders of various countries and hidden viges even more than Madara''s name.

    After all, no matter how scary the legend Madara left behind was, Konan could make their life very unpleasant for a very long time very fast with a bright innocent smile.

    After Konan''s return, she was especially d that Pakura and Rei became a lot closer even though it made her disgruntled that the thing that bonded them was their work in the vige. Here she put so much effort into making them not talk or even think about work and they dared topletely ignore her!

    The worst part... she could not even call Rei a workaholic because he just made sure to spend most of his time with her or her ''sisters'' despite his heavy workload. It was as infuriating as it was ttering, really.

    Tsunade, on the other hand,ined about Konan''s negotiation in Konoha because the Fire Daimyo was writing oneint after another.

    At first, the guy was full of giddiness when he heard about the discount Konoha would be receiving. After all, the Biri-Biri didn''t just deal with seals for ninjas. They had various luxury goods, electrical appliances, gadgets that made life easier... nobles and Daimyos simply loved having them and the Fire Daimyo most likely already saw himself with his new and cheaply-acquired goods.

    But then, the supply to Konoha was cut and one very happy Daimyo became a very angry and unhappy camper. He literally camped his own desk in his office and spent his time writing letters to Tsunade who was the current head of the Biri-Biripany under her alias.

    Needless to say, Tsunade was bbergasted and exasperated, not knowing what to do. The Senju n always had good rtions with the royal family of the Land of Fire. There was a lot going on behind the scenes between the two and it had a lot of importance but on the other hand, the Fire Daimyo had no idea that the head of the Biri-Biri was a Senju. Plus weakening Konoha, as distasteful as it sounded in her mind, was a good step for keeping the world bnced. Somehow, the second Konoha lost its ce as the ''strongest'' hidden vige, the other viges didn''t descend into a frenzy and try to attack them.

    No... the other Kages actually seemed content with the situation and just sat tight on their asses, focusing on developing the economy of their own viges. Heck, nobody was even arming up as the purchases of weapons dropped by five whole percent despite them being ninja viges.

    In the end, the Fire Daimyo had to just suck it up and because Tsunade refused to budge.

 Chapter 174 - Ch174. The village hidden...

    <h4>Chapter 174 - Ch174. The vige hidden...</h4>

    Months slowly passed and soon it was two years after the incident written into the history of the Elemental Nations as the biggest f.u.c.k-up of Konoha. Exactly as Rei predicted, Konoha''s sudden drop in momentum and their loss of the title of the strongest slowly started yet another subtle power-struggle among the Kumo and Iwa, the only viges strong enough to im such a title. It was nothing concerning and far from a conflict capable of escting but thanks to it, Rei finallyunched Project UTC.

    Uzushio Trading Company appeared in the world and climbed to the heights of top-sspanies of elemental nations in less than a month after it started to supply various never-before-seen goods on the marketpletely unobstructed since all who could and would make it harder for them were supremely busy with their own problems.

    The two most likely countries to block them, Earth and Lightning, were locked in a silent childish flexing contest. Konoha and the Land of Fire had a lot of problems with hashing out their economical situation to meddle and could only silently gape like fish when they heard about the re-emergence of their long-thought-to-be-extinct ally. Kazekage was currently too busy with a ridiculous ring match with the Daimyo of Wind and was quite spectacrly losing. The Land of Water was... quiet. Too quiet and Rei knew what that meant. In the past year, things started to look quite bad for the bloodline users. It was still in the state of quiet before the storm but from the current tension, Rei was sure the initial massacres will begin soon enough.

    But... that waspletely fine now. That was the whole point of pushing his other unimportant projects to the side and finishing the vige! Now that the UTC and ever-loyal Uzumaki n were up and around on their own independent feet and his vige was finished, the only thing that remained was to wait for the shitstorm to start and reap the rewards. After all, why bother putting in the effort and years to train ninjas from scratch when the Kirigakure would so sincerely push their own bloodline ns away? The only way the situation could be better would be if they actually really gift-wrapped them but other than that, it was damn perfect.

    There was very little the desperate ns with the threat of extinction looming over their heads wouldn''t do to survive.

    ...

    Reiid on the sofa in his new mansion on the hill overlooking his newly-built vige, the same hill from which he and Konan observed his clones at work just a few years prior.

    Building the vige was honestly a major pain in the ass he will certainly avoid doing in the future. It couldn''t be done in phases as what Rei had in mind required him to imbue seals into thend before the building process even started, then also imbue seals into the buildings as they were being built, and at the end, cover the walls of the buildings when they were finished. Only after all of that could Rei add the finishing touches... something he did only yesterday... and add a wide-scale sensory barrier around the whole vige.

    Honestly, even with the overwhelming force of the free ''cloned'' menialbor, there were simply so many details in the process that it took literally ages to finish.

    On the brighter side, now that the seals were set up, Rei''s control over the vige was incredible. He was especially proud of its warmth and cozy atmosphere despite being in the northernmost part of the ''known'' world. With the seals, Rei could effectively control the weather around the vige on his whim.

    That also helped with setting up numerous training grounds with various different environments that were graded on the difficulty of surviving in them. But no matter how Rei tried, the harshest ce was still the one where the natural environment was preserved. It was just so frigging cold not even jonins would dare to do a survival test there.

    Suddenly, a soft groan resounded through the room and Rei looked at the waking mop of green hair on his chest with a fond smile. He and Pakura really bonded over theirmon efforts for establishing the vige in the past two years. Well, figures two people would find a way towards each other when spending most of their time together.

    "Wha''z up?" Pakura sleepily drawled, still half-asleep rubbing her face on Rei''s shirt.

    "You fell asleep when we were going through the finishing touches on the sensory sealing barrier." Rei informed the woman while subconsciously stroking her hair which almost caused her to purr.

    It took a few head-pats and a cup of coffee to get Pakura''s brain up and running again and soon, the two people found themselves cuddling on thefortable sofa while staring at the vige through a massive one-way seals-made window in the study of Rei''s mansion.

    "We created an amazing ce..." Pakura said, awe seeping into her tone as she watched the numerous tall towers almost mockingly reaching the heavens, surrounded by houses.

    "That we did." Rei''s lips widened into a mysterious smile that always made Pakura pout, knowing he was not telling her everything. Good thing she was focused on the vige as she leaned her back on his chest so she didn''t see it.

    They might have worked together for years, he might have to admit he was fond of his green-haired ''secretary'', and his girls definitely liked Pakura but there was no way Rei would tell her all of his secrets until she was bonded to him.

    Honestly, there was nothing ''hidden'' about having tall towers in his new hidden vige and Rei knew Pakura had more than oneint about them but he never listened, always just shrugging her off with a knowing and infuriating smile.

    Rei needed these towers and he figured if anybody was capable of firstly, venturing into these inhospitable cold parts on the edge of the world, and secondly, seeing through the illusionary sealing barrier covering the whole vige, then towers or not, there was not really much that would hide the vige from such a person.

    Well, he could have built his vige in the spacious system of the underground cavern located in the nearby mountains but Rei didn''t want his people living in caves of all ces. No matter how majestic of a city he would be able to carve in there.

    The purpose of the towers was simple. They, alongside the houses and the streets, were a part of a massive sealing formation that focused on converting nature energy into electricity, making the whole vige have an inexhaustible source of energy all year long without the need for power nts. The best part... unless one was better than the Uzumaki Seal Grandmasters, there was no way to sabotage the sealing formation.

    It was not like the formation could only produce electricity either. It literally powered up the seals all over the vige, whether they were the weather control seals, sensory barrier seals, anti-spying seals based on intentions, gravity seals put over certain training grounds... simply, the whole vige was an amalgamation of seals and they needed a power source so why not use something like nature energy that is ever-present in the world?

    For that, the cement of every house, street, and tower in the center of the vige was carefully thought of and seals were ced in the foundation of these buildings, making various pathways through the whole vige, in order to make the sealing formation with the sole purpose of energy production and management. Without it, Rei was afraid the ce would most likely already be a smoldering piece ofva-filled crater considering the tens of thousands of seals working at once. There was simply something bound to go wrong, blowing the entire vige up.

    Good thing too, that Rei knew enough about seals to prevent such an amateurish mistake as overcharging the seals from reducing his future vige to a pile of rubble. If you can''t manage something... simply make it automatic.

    "Speaking of which... you never told me how are you going to name the vige." Pakura quipped in an inquisitive tone but Rei simply chuckled. He honestly never thought about it.

    "Let''s go with something simple, shall we? ... Considering we are on the opposite side of the mountain range than Yukigakure and we will certainly want our name to be known but we also do not want people figuring our whereabouts from it..." Rei hummed thoughtfully before a mischievous glint passed through his eyes and his lips stretched into a grin as he stared at his vige through the window, "We shall be known as the Vige Hidden on The Other Side."

 Chapter 175 - Ch175. First Council Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 175 - Ch175. First Council Meeting</h4>

    "I hereby announce the beginning of the very first council meeting of our ''Other'' vige." Rei quipped, finding humor in making it sound so unimportant it was almost casual. Not that it would be anything but since this supposed first council meeting was happening in the kitchen of Rei''s mansion while his group ate breakfast. It just so happened, he had every important person present so... why not?

    On Rei''s right side sat Konan d in light-blue kimono, sleepily munching on a sandwich. She, during thesest two years, shed every responsibility of hers to the Biri-Biri firm and hand-picked plus trained people to take care of them. Right now, she waspletely free and so one nice sunny day a few days ago, she kicked Pakura from her post of Rei''s secretary and delegated herself to the position. There was really nothing anybody could do about it, really. Even Rei could only whistle and look away.

    Konan also acted as the head of the Intelligence department with all the spying paper clones she had all over the Elemental Nations in the offices of important people. When the vige became more popted, Konan was expected to pick some apprentices and teach them some of her self-made Jutsu good for spycraft.

    On Rei''s left side sat still a bit sullen Pakura, eating her own breakfast. After Konan took over her duties as Rei''s secretary, it meant Pakura didn''t spend that much time with Rei because of her work. That was a very enlightening experience for Pakura as she found herself searching for various reasons to spend time with Rei. It was then Pakura really understood she loved Rei since any excuse of the type ''we work together, it''s only natural we have a good rtionship'' became a moot point. Since then, Pakura decided to move into Rei''s mansion.

    Yet another thing Rei had no say in. Not that he didn''t wee Pakura with open arms though.

    Pakura was the Jonin Commander of the vige and now that she lost her duties as Rei''s secretary and held only this position, she found herself with quite a lot of free time and as such, she decided to spend it with Rei. Just like that, because Pakura had no idea how to spend time with somebody other than work and training, Pakura''s training to be stronger began.

    Next to Konan was Kaya Uzumaki who with droopy eyes supported her cheek with her hand, trying to fully wake up. Kaya was the Head of the Uzumaki n and the Sealing Corps. It was meant to be a temporary thing until they found an Uzumaki with royal blood but Rei knew better. It was not like anybody protested her being the n head either. Since Rei delegated her to the position, the members of the Uzumaki n respected the decision of the man who saved them. s, in the past years, Kaya showed herpetence and ability to lead the n, bing very popr among her nsmen. The second it became apparent Kaya''s daughter Karin held one of the Uzumaki bloodline Jutsu''s, the deal was sealed and Kaya suddenly found herself stuck in the position even if she didn''t really want it that much. Yesterday, she came to talk with Rei about sales of a new seal and it was veryte when they finished so she spent the night in the mansion.

    Rei could only sigh in exasperation and hope she would get married soon. After all, Kaya''s home might be countries away but for them, it was only a single portal away so he clearly understood the meaning of her stay... not that he would take her up on her quiet invitation. He had enough problems with four horny girls who demanded his attention and Pakura who was slowly also starting to be one of them thanks to Konan''s oh-so-helpful guidance.

    On Pakura''s other side, sat Chizuru Kaguya, the head of the Kaguya n and also the Commander of the Stealth Forces which was basically the ANBU of the vige. What was she doing in Rei''s mansion though? Well... Rei would also like to know. The Kaguya n had an entirepound in the vige, after all!

    Unlike what Rei imagined, Chizuru became Tsunade''s training partner and they liked to think of uses for Shikotsumyaku which more often than not made them forget the time so Chizuru was prone to spend the night in one of the guest rooms.

    Next to Kaya was Mei slowly munching on cereals,pletely disinterested with whatever was going to be discussed. Fortunately for her, she was just an odd wheel in this meeting since she refused any position. Not like Rei would give the brat one unless she persuaded him she could be responsible. Honestly, he really had no idea how her canon counterpart could be the Mizukage. She was just so childish at times...

    Next to Chizuru, Tsunade was reading reports from the Biri-Biripany. She was the head of thepany as well as the head of the Medic Corps of the vige.

    Next to Mei was Ringo who refused any position despite being the first pick for the head of the Stealth Corps. She instead focused on her forging and Rei had to admit, his vige would be so over-geared it was funny. Every vige had some kind of special weapons but the supply was really low. That meant only up to ten ninjas could be geared with those at any given time. But thanks to Ringo''s new hobby, Rei could already see that his new vige would have no such problem. Ringo was creating one amazing weapon after another, weaving seals into them with the help of the Sealing Corps. So far, the weapons she made that were only slightly worse than the Seven Swords of Kirigakure already numbered in hundreds. Rei had no desire to force a position on her when she was basically making his new vige overpowered just by focusing on her hobby. He only made it clear he expected her to train a few apprentices in her tracking and assassination techniques. After all, she still was the best tracker possibly in the whole world.

    On the other side of the table, Yugito and Maki were giggling while gossiping together, not paying any attention to the old folks. Usually, Mei was with them but the girls already knew to leave Mei alone when she is upset. Yesterday, Mei nned to sneak into Rei''s room but the talks with Kaya took so long she fell asleep so today she was supremely pissed despite showing neutral expression. No way was Maki nor Yugito going to talk to Mei before she approached them. They didn''t want to end as Mei''s stress-relieving punching bags in the name of training. No, thank youˇ­

    ''Waitˇ­'' Rei discreetly narrowed his eyes. ''I will have to get some allies of male gender into the leading positions. Being the sole male in council full of women...'' He shuddered, just realizing it as he gazed at the full gathering of his council members, feeling really outnumbered. Sadly for Rei, he already knew that with Konan being his secretary, the leading positions could be given only to people she approved of being worthy of his trust. It was justˇ­ ''I reallyck male friends, don''t I?'' Depressing thoughts struck Rei.

    The council meeting continued as everyone tried to wake up as they ate their breakfast. It was nothing grand. At best, they discussed the budget which was really smooth since nobody had to argue. The vige was packed with money due to the Biri-Biripany and the Uzushio Trading Company acting as cash-cows for it. No way was Rei going to be dependent on the Daimyo for funds. That was simply a recipe for a disasterter down the line.

    Another topic was promising kids from both the Uzumaki and Kaguya n and Pakura also mentioned that some of the kids of the hundred-plus Kiri jonin, who fought under Ringo on the Nagori Isles, were already old enough to start their ninja training. For now, these matters were in their hands but Rei already told Pakura to make a department under her that would take care of the new blood. No way was Rei, as the leader, going to take care of such things as putting together teams. As if he was going to waste the time of his jonins with teaching brats only to produce their sub-par clones skill-wise. No... Rei already had a better system in mind but sadly, it would be feasible only when the number of ninjas in his vige increases.

    The meeting was finally ending a half-hour after it started. Frankly, it could be over in ten but they still ate during it and nobody really hurried. When Rei finally announced the council meeting is over, Mei spoke,

    "I have a question."

    The second Rei heard her tone, his lips twitched, realizing her mood and what was most likely the reason for it. This was not the first time she failed to sneak into his room. Normally, she actually manages it but is kicked out by either irritate Tsunade or Konan since these two could be damn scary after a stressful day.

    Unfortunately for Mei, she was one of those who found it embarrassing to ask for a date or spending a night together. She preferred to appear uninvited and while more often than not that resulted in a threesome when Rei already had promised to spend time with another girl, sometimes Mei was simply shit out of luck, and the next day she would have this cold poker face...

    "Go on..." Rei nodded, wondering what inane thing she came up with this time. Honestly, he really loved her for bringingughter into his usually busy life.

    "I would like to ask... now that we already have the vige going, can''t we go deal with the hideout of the Madara guy?" Mei dropped the bomb, causing all to stop what they were doing and look at her in bewilderment, neither knowing where that came from. Seeing their expressions, Mei hurriedly continued, "I mean after we got the sample of the Sanbi''s chakra, I know that Konan created a clone to follow that Obito guy before we left. I thought it would be stupid to fight a man who was once praised as one of the strongest two ninjas of the strongest generation but now he would most likely already dropped the bucket, no? Konan said he has thousands of these wooden human-like things growing there so... shouldn''t we go and take care of that? Nobody makes an army without intention to use it, after all."

    ''Aha... here we go. Her usual bullshit.'' Rei brightly smiled. When she mentioned Madara, Rei had no idea what she wanted but the second she spoke of those wooden things, he got it. Considering Mei was pissed and irritated... she probably just wanted to melt something and thousands of Zetsu''s most likely seemed like an appropriate target.

    "No... it''s not like we didn''t go and kill Madara because I didn''t have enough confidence to do it. He was old and his body was frankly useless at that stage. The only real threat would be his eyes if he had them in his eye-sockets." Rei rolled his eyes, remembering Madara''s eyes were with Nagato. Speaking of which... he should probably ount for Nagato in his n... "But Madara''s n is really beneficial for us so sorry Mei, I can''t let you relieve your frustration with his army. After all, we need him to dere war on all viges for my n to seed."

 Chapter 176 - Ch176. Plans delayed

    <h4>Chapter 176 - Ch176. ns dyed</h4>

    "That''s a good reform, just make sure to contain any protests. If you proceed with it exactly how we discussed, it should work spectacrly." Third Mizukage told Yagura Karatachi, the new Fourth Mizukage of the Vige Hidden in the Mist. Yagura was quite young but Third Mizukage figured there was not much his apprentice could f.u.c.k up with him as his supervisor. Mist desperately needed a new leader as he didn''t win any favor with the n heads for ignoring the rumors about how horrible their ns are. It was either give the hat to Yagura and work hard to help the ns or watch as they revolt... yeah, that was not happening anytime soon if the Third had any say in it.

    Thankfully, Yagura was smart and they started to make reforms that would help the ns and cleanse the false rumors among themon popce and... the new civilian-born ninjas. Yes, the whole situation became somewhat convoluted to a degree it simply could not be ignored. At first, the Third let it continue to curb-stomp the overinted pride of the ns but it grew so rapidly, he found himself in so much shite, it forced him to abdicate.

    His advisory duty done, the Third excused himself and stepped outside of Yagura''s office. Everything was going just fine. Sure, losing his position might have been a bit mncholic for him but... he could admit he was getting too old. Being an advisor to the new Mizukage was a lot more peaceful profession for his old age anyway.

    Humming, the Third put his hands into his pockets and suddenly froze as he found a folded paper in one of them. Stopping he took it out of his pocket and unfolded it, cursing under his nose. "Expenses report for the new barracks. Shit... this is actually important." He muttered and resignedly turned around, heading back to the office of the new Mizukage.

    Stopping in front of the door to the office, he was about to knock when his hand halted just an inch away from the wood of the door and a frown appeared on his face when he heard an unknown voiceing from inside. The Third Mizukage furrowed his brows and decided to listen for a second.

    "... more ninjas... reforms can provide... money... follow the n... fight against..." He didn''t hear every word since even without silencing seals activated, the door was made of a special wood that dampened the sound so any unwee listener would most likely not understand what was discussed even if he was pressing his ear to the door as if his life depended on him. It was only his incredible sense of hearing that allowed the Third to hear as much as he did. "Sharingan Genjuts..."

    ''Oh, shit!'' All hairs on his body abruptly stood when he realized what was going on inside of the office.

    Not even thinking, the Third Mizukage kicked the thick wooden door, snapping them out of their hinges and sending them flying into the office where theynded with a loud crash that alerted every ANBU around the building.

    ''Not even that loud crash woke him up? That must be some mighty strong genjutsu.'' The Third frowned, looking at the assant and instantly noticing the red-eye behind the mask. ''Uchiha, huh? ... Wait!'' He scrunched his face before gaping in astonishment. "Yo-, you... how?"

    In front of the Third Mizukage stood the exact copy of the scapegoat Rei described as the attacker of the capital of the Land of Water. ck coat with red clouds, orange swirly mask with only one opening for an eye behind which was a Sharingan, short ck hair...

    ''How is this possible? The description is spot-on! But... this man was supposed to be fictional!'' Thoughts shed through the head of the Third Mizukage. He knew it was Rei who was responsible for the incident in the capital city. The man in front of him was no imitator of the description either. He left out a lot of features described by Rei such as the Sharingan eye but the ninja in front of him was an exact replica of what Rei described. A realization suddenly dawned on him, ''Rei... that shithead actually described a real person!''

    The Third quickly snapped out of his bewilderment and Obito was forced to duck lest his upper body got riddled by a multitude of lethally poisoned senbons. He was still somewhat surprised that somebody actually walked in on him casting genjutsu at the new Mizukage. Because his Mangekyo was not a Genjutsu enhancing type, he had to reform and strengthen it periodically otherwise Yagura would break free from it. It was simply lucky that Mangekyo strengthened his illusions enough that even a jinchuuriki could be influenced.

    "I have no idea what you were trying to do to Yagura but you are not walking out of here alive!" The Third Mizukage shouted and leaped at Obito, engaging him in a taijutsu bout. Obito blocked, evaded, and parried a few blows before a good opportunity appeared.

    The Third Mizukage was inwardly frowning while throwing punches at the intruder. ''He is quite good in taijutsu... to match a Kage.'' His eyes gleamed as they noticed an opening in the center of his opponent''s c.h.e.s.t. He quickly struck... but before getting the hit in, from his sleeve, a kunai suddenly appeared and flew into his hand. The steely tip entered the body of his foe on his way towards the heart and the Third Mizukage involuntarily grinned but his eyes quickly widened in disbelief and shock as his hand started phasing through his enemy.

    Obito quickly let his whole body phase through the Third Mizukage and pivoted on his heel, about to stab a kunai into the Third''s back.

    ''I won!'' He thought but...

    Three Kiri ANBU appeared around him in shunshin, mid-sh with their tanto des, and Obito was forced to again activate his intangibility, letting the three swords phase through him while his own kunai and hand harmlessly entered the back of the Third Mizukage.

    ''This is bad...'' Both Obito thought.

    He didn''t like his prospects now that the entire vige was alerted. He might have fought against Minato but he knew he was almost killed because he was arrogant enough to think he could match his teacher in one on one. If Minato used kunai instead of Rasengan and struck something vital during the fight, Obito would be dead right now. It just so happened that blunt force was negated a lot by the Zetsu-like flesh that merged with his body, allowing him toe unscathed from his a.s.s being rasenganed. Not that it didn''t take him two months to recuperate that particr hit.

    But even if he could be intangible, fighting an entire vige? He didn''t have enough skill for that yet. ''Gotta run, then...'' Obito decided while frowning as his eyes strayed towards Yagura, ''It will be hard to get close enough to cast the genjutsu again. The jinchuuriki will be a lot better guarded this time around.''

    As he realized his revenge was at the very least dyed, a murderous glint passed Obito''s eyes, and one of the poor ANBU who he was fighting against, got the brunt of his anger as Obito''s kunai found itself too close to his neck. Blood sttered on the floor from the slit throat of the ANBU as Obito kicked another ANBU away, breaking a few bones, while twisting his body mid-air and punching away the third one.

    Obito then tried to use the momentary shock of the Third Mizukage due to the death of hisrade and use his Mangekyo to swirl away but the Third Mizukage proved his life-long experience by not standing like an idiot and watching him get away. He threw a senbon right in the middle of the swirl, forcing Obito to cancel his technique and lean out of the way of the senbon.

    "I said you are going to die here." The Third sneered while ncing at the dead body with the corner of his eye. ''That said, this man is really dangerous. Best wait for reinforcements. His intangibility is a real problem but it must have some form of weakness... Not once did he attack with things inside of his body so he probably can''t be tangible while something is in the location where his body is supposed to be.''

    "Haaaa~, I really didn''t want to waste this." Obito released a tired sigh before his personality did a back-flip. "Tobi is just a good boy on an errand! He has no time for dying so... See ya, old man!" Loads of explosion tags suddenly flew out from under Tobi''s coat, making the Third Mizukage''s eyes go wide as he jumped to the still zed-eyed Yagura and quickly weaved hand-seals for water ninjutsu to redirect the force of the explosion away from them.

    A huge explosion rattled the center of Kirigakure as the Mizukage Tower gained a new opening right through the wall of the Mizukage''s office.

    Letting the water shield down, the Third Mizukage clicked his tongue when he saw the burnt corpses of the two ANBU who helped him but he realized it was inevitable. Even he survived only thanks to his experience and instincts. Honestly, the water shield jutsu he used... he didn''t even register he was performing it before it was already shielding him. The explosion simply happened too fast.

    "So he escaped, huh?" He voiced out, displeased. A secondter, a squad of ANBUnded on one knee in front of him but before they could even utter a single sound, the Third spoke, "Put the vige under a lockdown. We have an intruder here." Turning around, the Third Mizukage went to see if he was able to break Yagura out of the genjutsu.

    He had no idea that Obito was already far away from the vige, nning how to kill any nuisance to his n like the Third Mizukage to enact his vengeance for Rin''s death.

 Chapter 177 - Ch177. Jiraiya in Uzushio 1

    <h4>Chapter 177 - Ch177. Jiraiya in Uzushio 1</h4>

    "Wee to Uzushio, Jiraiya-sama."

    "Thank you! Eh. beautiful..." Jiraya beckoned the woman responsible for reviewing doc.u.ments at the gate to the vige. "Could you tell me... where can I find the hot springs?" He asked, his grin turning loop-sided, only for the woman to look at the old creeper in obvious but polite disgust.

    "I... It''s three streets away that way." She answered with a broken smile, fully intending to alert the proper authorities the second he left.

    Clueless Jiraiya simply nodded before briefly pondering about inviting the juicy redhead wonder in front of him for a date but decided to bite his tongue. After all, he was a ninja on a mission! ... and the woman looked really repulsed by him. ''Sigh... what did I do now? Such disrespect for super perverts!'' He thought despondently while shaking his head in clear amus.e.m.e.nt.

    Contrary to the popr belief of anyone familiar with Jiraiya, the very first thing the Sannin did was walk around the Uzushio, creating a mental map of the vige... or at least, the allowed parts of it. Jiraiya could only narrow his eyes as he noted how many areas were inessible by travelers despite the vige not being ''officially'' one of the hidden viges.

    ''Trading town, they call it. And yet, barely forty percent of the vige could be toured. This is fishier than Sensei''s rtionship with Danzo. Well, no fear. First the hotel and then...'' Jiraiya''s face suddenly loosened, ''RESEARCH!''

    Needless to say, the people of Uzushio were very startled by the weird, loud, and creepy white-haired old man running through the streets of their vige as if his life depended on it while looking for a hotel, having a perpetual perverted grin on his face.

    ...

    "I finally understand why Sarutobi-sensei always said Uzumaki are to be feared. No wonder even the Second Hokage was utterly terrified by them! These demons actually created anti-peeking seals!" Waterfalls of tears streamed down Jiraiya''s cheeks as heined at the injustice he encountered, "How dare they... criminals!"

    Unfortunately for Jiraiya, his research was interrupted due to hisplete inability to peek in the hot springs. That was when he was forced to take his hat off and pay respect to the Uzumaki sealmasters. Poor guy was forced to do the only other way of researching he knew... going to a brothel.

    Fortunately for Jiraiya... in the past two years, Uzushio became one of the main trading hubs in the world due to the incredibly high living standards of its inhabitants and the unusual goods usually using seals to work.

    This sess naturally attracted all sorts of people. Thugs... the Uzushio police force could handle. These usually found themselves outside of the vige with so many bruises and broken bones they would never dareing closer than a kilometer away from the vige. But as the number of visiting merchants increased, the Uzumaki n who all but ruled the vige had to make a few concessions and allow a few brothels to form.

    ''Ah~, the Redhead Heaven... I think I shall report to Sensei that the mission got dyed and I will be spending a few months on this heavenly ground! They certainly know how to use the reputation of Uzumaki to attract customers!'' Jiraiya giggled before sighing in content as a frown set in on his face, ''Just a pity no real Uzumaki was among those redheads...'' His eyes narrowed in suspicion while his lips expression twisted sourly. Jiraiya still remembered Kushina and from her, he knew the most likely features of an Uzumaki woman. Needless to say, it was easy to spot none of the girls there were actually from the Uzumaki n if one knew what to look for.

    ''But... Uzushio is using brothels to gather intelligence in their own vige. That''s... not really good. This is one of the main trading hubs, meaning there are many people with even more secrets passing through. Who knows when some important noble idiot from the Land of Fire gets his tongue undone by a pretty big-b.r.e.a.s.ted redhead just because he was foolish enough to drink that incredibly strong sake they serve.''

    Naturally, Jiraiya was very experienced in this field, especially when it pertained to courtesans and their job. He dedicated a big part of his life to the small nuances of information gathering in this field, with him owning a massive chain of brothels all over the Land of Fire and even other countries under various aliases using scapegoats as his public image. He knew exactly what subtle maniptions are used to make the clients more agreeable to disclose their secrets. Jiraiya was actually quite surprised he didn''t find any subtle genjutsu-inducing seal inside the establishment with this being the territory of the Uzumaki n. He certainly used those in his establishments.

    Not that he was actually persuaded there was none of those. It just meant they werepetent enough to hide them even from his trained eyes.

    "This is such a drag!" Jiraiya w.h.i.n.ed as his perverted grin appeared on his face again in full. "Now I just have to go there again to totally ascertain there is no ulterior motive at work and stea-, ˇ­ er, unveil all their methods of getting the information! Yeah, our ninjas will benefit greatly from knowing what to expect from the ce! I will dly sacrifice myself for the Greater Good of Konoha''s male poption!" He nodded inplete conviction and righteous tears moistening his eyes.

    Jiraiya was far from the first Konoha ninja visiting Uzushio. Many merchants traveled there and that meant a lot of foreign ninjas from all over the Elemental Nations came with them as their escort. Obviously, only an idiot would believe there was no specially selected ninja supposed to act as a spy and find out as much about the vige as possible. There were naturally tons of covert spies in these ''escort'' parties and yet...

    ''From what Sarutobi-sensei said, not one of our previous spies managed to find out what is in the restricted section of the vige. I would bet mypletely worthless ninja pay Uzushio is secretly training ninjas and waiting to get stronger before dering themselves a bona-fide hidden vige.'' Jiraiya''s thoughts again became serious. ''The n is sound though. Like this, they will... no,'' He frowned, ''Correction, they already have a lot of support from foreign Daimyos who arepletely in love with their products. There is no way for any Hidden Vige to openly attack them and not cause a major diplomatic incident. Looks like their previous destruction indeed taught these redheads something. They have as much time as they need to get to the level of the major five but nobody can really antagonize them. After all, they are just merchant viges, right? Why would ninja viges bother with them, no? You dare to spy, or god forbid, attack the suppliers of my favorite product? Look how I will cut the funding for your vige to negative numbers, you sc.u.m!'' Jiraiya mockingly imitated an enraged Daimyo in his head as he snorted. Yeah, Uzushio became nigh untouchableˇ­ officially, that is.

    Jiraiya found it almost poetic. The people behind the newfound rise of the Uzumaki n must be really knowledgeable in the way how the world worked. Uzushio didn''t rise to monumental heights in two short years because of overwhelming power but because of politics and using an exact moment where all major powers were either dealing with their own problems or with each other.

    In an ideal world, Uzushio would be razed to the ground the second it became public knowledge the Uzumaki n is trying to re-establish it. They would be destroyed just because they were a threat in the past and honestly, that waspletely enough for Iwa and Kumo to act. ''But we don''t live in an ideal world...'' Jiraiya snorted. ''Power is nice and all but politics is what really matters unless you are on the level of Madara or Hashirama.''

    The only way to ''attack'' Uzushio was covert one, outside of the official records. Not one spy who was sent to Uzushio was actually there on an ''official'' mission to spy on Uzushio. If they died, or worse were discovered, during it, they would simply be written off as rogue ninjas working on their own. Their fates would then be not Konoha''s problem anymore.

    And that was what really drove Konoha''s higher-ups sparse... ''Every single spy we sent was discovered AND discreetly returned to us with a mocking description of how utterly useless they were.'' Jiraiya wouldugh if it were only people trained by Danzo but some of these spies were trained personally by him and that made it personal. ''Worst of all, not one of them actually remembers how they were discovered. They simply cked out and the next thing they remember is being outside of the vige with a message directed to Hokage and bruised ck and blue. Who knows what kind of information was pulled out of them while they were out of it!''

    And that... was in nutshell the reason why the best spymaster of Konoha was currently on a vacation from chasing whor-, ahem, Orochimaru. He would find out what nefarious things were going on in this vige full of gingers! Who knows what other atrocities other than anti-peeking seals were brewing up under the visage of a peaceful town. No longer was it just a job for his vige. Now it was his pride as a super pervert that was beckoning him to find out for sure.

    And then... Jiraiya was suddenly pulled out of his righteous contemtions as a knock resounded through his room, causing him to furrow his brows as he knew he didn''t expect anybody to visit.

    ...

    In an office in one of the Manors in the Uzumaki vige, Kaya''s mother, Kara Uzumaki was rxing with a smoking pipe in her mouth and her feet resting on her desk while her husband contently massaged her shoulders and hummed a rxing tune. Oh... Kara had no illusions how they would spend the night. Even if her selfless husband did so much only to make her feel better without expecting anything in return, it would be only fair to reward him, no?

    "You say one of the girls in the Redhead Haven reported Jiraiya of the Sannin trying to pull information out of her during the act?" Kara asked,pletely amused while enjoying the hands of her husband kneading the muscles around her neck.

    Her secretary, a tall red-headed man, nodded. "Yes, Kara-sama, how do you wish to proceed?"

    "Ah... leave it and give the girl a raise." Kara shrugged, "My daughter is certainly already aware of our new visitor with his not-so-discreet attempt at peeking in the hot springs and he would no doubt receive his warning soon. I just really hope he will be arrogant enough to ignore it... Hehe." Kara''s eyes glinted.

    After all, shaming one of the Sannin? Wasn''t that the best way to gain a reputation for Uzushio? Howe it became so easy to be famous in the ninja circles? The opportunities could be said to be throwing at them, no?

    ---

    Author Note:

    Okay, I ampletely sure there will be peopleining about topics such as whores and brothels breached in this chapter but... dudes! We are talking about Jirayia here. Not to mention those would be sphemy! Where ELSE than a brothel would the guy go if he couldn''t ess hot spring.

    So... nope, not going to bother with peopleining about it.

 Chapter 178 - Ch178. Jirayia in Uzushio 2

    <h4>Chapter 178 - Ch178. Jirayia in Uzushio 2</h4>

    Jiraiyazily stood up from his bed and went to open the door. His right hand was cautiously preparing to grasp the hidden knife in his sleeve while his left hand was opening the door. Naturally, he didn''t let himself be wide open, and instead, most of his body was obstructed by the door.

    "Jiraiya of the Sannin?" Asked the masked green-haired slim woman with orange bangs who stood in front of his door.

    "Yes." Jiraiya nodded, now knowing what to expect. He was quite famous these days so he would half expect a warm wee such as a visit from resident ANBU if he stepped into a hidden vige. The problem was... Uzushio was supposed to be just a normal trading city.

    ''To think they wouldn''t even try to hide the fact there are ninjas in the city...'' Jiraiya stared, half in disbelief that Uzushio had the gall to send the ANBU, he judged the woman''s identity by the mask, they were not even supposed to have to give him a greeting. ''The leader of Uzushio must have considerable balls to do this. That''s one man I wouldn''t want topare the s.e.x.u.a.l prowess with!'' He grudgingly admitted with new-found respect, totally clueless about the leader being a woman.

    "I was sent by Kaya-sama," Jirayia''s eyes slightly widened at that admission, causing him to instantly reconsider his willingness of prowessparison, "to give you a very simple warning. We know you are Konoha''s spymaster so... don''t spy. You won''t like the consequences." The woman dryly stated, not amused at all at the raised brow her statement earned her. Jiraiya clearly didn''t take her seriously and if his expression was any indication, he found the entire situation extremely hrious.

    "Eh, don''t worry, cutie. I came here to enjoy my vacation!" Jiraiya jovially stated, "So... what''s your name? If you want to keep me from spying, it would be best to keep an eye on me, no? I don''t mind being watched over by someone of your... proportions." He said as he started to discreetly ogle her curves.

    Jiraiya honestly could not help himself. He might not be able to see the woman''s face but her body... he could tell she was an extremely dangerous and totally gorgeous individual. Frankly, he was hooked. His addiction to these kinds of women probably stemmed from his infatuation with Tsunade. It mostly resulted in him being beaten but he simply couldn''t resist.

    Jiraiya''s merry mood brought up by the juicy female in front of him quickly came to a screeching halt as his danger senses suddenly red to high heavens and the hair all over his body suddenly stood up. His eyes connected to the narrowed brown orbs as sweat started appearing on his brows from the sudden shot of temperature in the room. Jiraiya was honestly unable to react to such a subtle yet potent killing intent he was currently bathed in. His body cramped up, prepared to strike as his instincts warned him but his mind told him: Not yet. Still safe.

    This contrast made Jiraiya into the miserable sweating mess of nerves he was now. His instincts wanted to attack but his bodymanded by his confused mind didn''t... couldn''t move. He was not paralyzed nor frightened. He was simply confused by all the signals his senses were receiving and his mind was unable to tell his body what to do with them. There was killing intent at full st aimed at him and yet, it had no d.e.s.i.r.e to do harm. There was danger staring right at him yet it felt so peaceful his mind couldn''t figure out how to react.

    Naturally, Jiraiya didn''t have a clue what his body and mind felt. He was simply... confused as his instincts and reflexive reaction to danger honed through life-threatening battlespletely failed him in the face of this ANBU. He felt as if he was staring at a dangerous snake baring its fangs at him and yet, the woman in front of him was simply calmly staring at him.

    Time slowly passed as the two motionlessly stood opposite each other when Jiraiya suddenly widened his eyes into saucers as his mind was ruthlessly yanked from its thoughts when the curtains and sheets caught on fire.

    ''Shit! Howe I didn''t notice this heat!'' Jiraiya hurriedly thought, feeling his throat dry and parched as if he didn''t drink anything for a week when his senses finally caught up with what was happening around him. Honestly, he doubted he would be able to do anything but croak out some unintelligible sound if he was to talk.

    Jiraiya could feel his skin blister, sending a jolt of hot pain through the surface of his body. Water was evaporating straight from his body that screamed at him in boiling agony while his brain was shutting out from the sheer heat he was under. His dry lips desperately yearned for a bit of wetness while his eyes started to sting, causing him to blink due to difort as he gritted his teeth at how agonizing it was to do something as simple as breathing.

    The room was bathed in scorching warmth embracing everything it engulfed. Jiraiya''s rampant instincts screamed at him to get away, to stop whatever was trying to mummify him alive, to do something! He was about to attempt using a jutsu when...

    "I am called Sun, Jiraiya-sama."

    Everything suddenly stopped to a halt at the soothing voice of the woman who still calmly stood in front of him as if the world wasn''t a smoldering hell just a second ago.

    A frightening chill ran through Jiraiya''s body as he realized there was no heat. No life-threatening scorch. No blisters on his skin. Nothing. He was fine as if everything he felt was just one borate illusion.

    A rattled breath involuntarily left Jiraiya''s lips at the realization and his brows furrowed in desperate confusion, ''What the hell was that!? A killing intent? Genjutsu?'' His eyes nced at the ckened remains of the curtains and the burnt spots on the sheets, causing him to gulp. ''No... that was no genjutsu and it was obviously much more than a simple killing intent. But... She didn''t use any chakra! How in Rikudo''s name was she able to...'' Jiraiya cautiously eyed Sun, his hands jumpy as if he expected her to attack him any moment now.

    "As for the date," Sun started speaking again, causing Jiraiya to jump a little, "I am not that desperate. Just remember the warning."

    With that, the woman shunshined away, leaving Jiraiya dumbly stare at the ce from where she disappeared. Thoughts were shing through his head too fast for him toprehend and it was only now that he noticed how erratic his heartbeat was. Slowly, his mind started to get out of its numb state, sharpening and Jiraiya found out he was... trembling. His body was shaking and a small sting made itself known, causing him to look at his hands with an iprehensible look full of confusion only to find himself clutching kunai with no idea when he drew it. His grip was so strong, his nails dug deep enough into his palm to draw blood.

    For a moment, Jiraiya stared at his hand with kunai, his expression turning difficult as conflict shed through his eyes before he finally found enough strength to take a deep breath before slowly closing the door.

    "That was... scary." Jiraiya let his coiled muscles calm down, trying to forcefully rx his nerves while he shakily walked towards his bed. "I didn''t feel such dread since Tsunade found me peeking at her." He muttered in a haunted tone before it became grumbling, "What was she anyway? Tsunade''s apprentice?"

    Poor Jiraiya would never know his thoughts couldn''t be truer.

 Chapter 179 - Ch179. Jirayia in Uzushio 3

    <h4>Chapter 179 - Ch179. Jirayia in Uzushio 3</h4>

    It took a whole week for Jiraiya to finally calm down his jumpiness after the sudden scorching wee by the so-called Sun. A week he fruitfully spent marking every useful information about the essible part of Uzushio he could get his hands on. He was Konoha''s spymaster, after all! Even the creepiest and hottest scare of his life wouldn''t be able to prevent his peeking tendencies from resurfacing.

    Now, Jiraiya was sneaking through the dark back alleys of Uzushio, on his way to the closed-off parts of the vige. He was perfectly aware of being monitored this past week. That''s why he left a shadow clone with enough chakra tost for two days in his hotel room. Jiraiya had no illusions his shadow clone would stay there either. He knew it would not be even an hourter his shadow clone would go and try to find a pretty girl to flirt with. That too was exactly ording to his n, no matter he had no control over that marvelous quirk of his clones. This way, the annoying observers would see exactly what he wanted them. Him, flirting with somebody. Perfect alibi.

    ''All I have to do now is to sneak in, get as much intel as possible, and sneak out without being discovered and nobody can pin anything on me, hehe.'' Jiraiya thought while sidestepping yet another of the hidden rm seals that littered the back alleys close to the restricted areas.

    He was already in the section in-between the restricted and the essible areas, nimbly traversing the shadowed parts of the alley while using chakra to hide. Unfortunately for Jiraiya... that was where his little infiltration quest ended, for the Uzumaki n was not foolish enough to leave easy-to-spot rm seals all over the alleys without any reason.

    Jiraiya''s sight blurred as his body suddenly felt weaker, causing him to support himself with his hand on the nearby wall. His world spun before he was driven to his knees at the feeling of weakness. At first, Jiraiya thought it to be a genjutsu and tried to re his chakra only to find out... he couldn''t ess it. His eyes briefly widened in panic before rolling back as the man''s body powerlessly fell forward, unconscious.

    Not even a second after his body hit the ground, two figures stepped out of the nearby shadows. One of them was the green-haired Sun while the other was Kaya Uzumaki who prodded Jiraiya with her foot a bit.

    "This never gets old. They always spot all visible rm seals and get c.o.c.ky." Kaya chuckled. The thing that defeated the mighty Sannin was actually one massive chakra suppression seal ced in-between the essible and the restricted area. Anyone who was entered, civilian or otherwise, would drop down unconscious because their bodies and minds would register them being near chakra exhaustion despite them having their reserves full. Actually, Kaya had no idea about its in-depth workings. All she knew that anyone who was not keyed into it would be incapacitated, hence no spy ever reached the restricted section. Well, there still was the threat of flying but considering the entire restricted section was under the same chakra suppressionˇ­

    "You know that he would not spot this trap no matter how long he looks around. The seals are in the walls and deep in the ground. It''s not really a matter of skill at sealing anymore." Sun, or moremonly known as Pakura, said as she took off her mask. She decided toe to Uzushio herself the second it was confirmed Jiraiya was skulking around... which was almost a month ago. Clearly, after this month, she held some resentment for the man because his presence kept her away from Rei.

    "Yeah, you got a point... Still, it doesn''t make it less hrious how everybody so valiantly steps into the chakra suppression field only to keel over a secondter. If they waited a bit on the edge, they would get out of it easily after recognizing something was wrong but they all just hurry and by the time they realize their chakra is acting weird, they have no time to escape." Kaya seemed almost wistful as she said that. "Uzushio is frankly imprable due to this seal. If only it could be made portable. We would win every single fight because our enemies would just drop unconscious."

    Pakura snorted as she crouched near Jiraiya and started to look through his pockets, "You know that''s impossible. Rei had twenty clones drawing seals for half a year in order to set up the chakra suppression field all over the restricted section of Uzushio. The thing requires far too many seals and far too much precision to make this portable... Oh, here it is!"

    Pakura smiled at the small scroll she found and unrolled it, quickly reading the contents while Kaya busied herself with trying to discern the location of her ANBU guards. She was something like acting Kage of Uzushio so she knew they were somewhere around her but these ninjas trained by Ringo... honestly, even though Kaya prided herself in being chunin level ability-wise, she had not even smidge of an inkling of where exactly her guard detail was located.

    ''Maybe they ditched me? I would most definitely not even notice...'' Kaya frowned only to be pulled out of her thoughts as her hand instinctively sprang, catching the scroll Pakura threw at her. Kaya''s eyebrows furrowed, giving Pakura an inquisitive look but only got a ''go on'' gesture in return.

    Kaya swept the contents of the scroll with her eyes only to derisively snort after she was done. "There is nothing of importance. He found out exactly nothing in thest week of visiting brothels day and night." She rolled her eyes. Yeah, Kaya might have felt a bit of contempt for this so-called best spymaster of Konoha. Especially after seeing him ''at work''.

    Pakura, however, had a different opinion, "You know I took you with me to give you a bit of a lesson." She sighed, her eyes gazing at Kaya in an admonishing way, "He did not find ''nothing''. He found out a lot actually. Sure, the information in that scroll is easily essible to any spy who could be bothered spending some time snooping around the unrestricted areas. But with all the information he found out and categorized, Konoha ninjas will have an easier time limatizing in this vige, giving him a bit of an edge over ninjas from other hidden viges. He mapped out everything from the best shops and their location to the quickest escape routes." Pakura lectured as a smirk appeared on her face, "And look! He even included all the brothels and his personal ratings. Isn''t it just a delight to know your mother''s Red Heaven is his personal favorite?" Pakura mentioned, knowing Kaya''s opinion on the topic, and giggled at the peeved expression of the redhead.

    "Don''t expect me to be proud of that." Kaya huffed and angrily stomped her foot into the ground. She was not happy with this part of her mother''s holdings. Far from it. No matter how good of an informationwork it provided.

    "Alright, alright," Pakura shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt as she put the scroll back into Jiraiya''s clothes. "Don''t get so angry with me. It was just a simple joke, jeez." She said as her eyesnded back onto Jiraiya''s body, and her slight gentle smile slowly turned into an irritated sneer while her eyes narrowed in anger.

    ''Oh, boyˇ­'' Kaya somehow started pitying the white-haired man.

    Frankly, Rei told Pakura to let it go and leave Uzushio to sort this situation with Jiraiya out. She... didn''t listen. She simply could not. As someone raised on stories of the Sannin, someone who knew about Jiraiya''s prowess in espionage... she could not calm down knowing he was currently in Uzushio. So... she personally went to sort the situation out.

    The worst mistake of her month.

    Jiraiya, to be perfectly honest, was an incredible spy. Three whole weeks, he preserved in probing and prodding the defenses of Uzushio from every possible angle, trying to find a way how to secretly enter the vige. The first week? It was funny, hrious even. The second? It started to be irksome. The third, however, Pakura had had enough of seeing his hundredth attempt without him getting the hint it simply won''t work.

    Thankfully, just as Pakura was about to decide to go and make eunuch from Jiraiya, the man finally realized he is not as good with seals as he apparently thought himself to be and stopped making an idiot out of himself by trying to deactivate the disgusting amount of detection seals around the vige, ced there by the best Uzumaki seal-grandmasters in Uzushio.

    Pakura''s judgment might have been a bit screwed though. Jiraiya rightfully deserved to be called Seal Master as he didn''t trigger even one detection seal in the three weeks he tried to get past them. Pilfering some knowledge from Minato who was taught by Kushina or not, Jiraiya was simply too inexperienced and didn''t know the right techniques to do anything with Uzumaki seals. If one simply looked at his skill level andpared it with other non-Uzumaki seal users... then yes, Jiraiya was one of the best.

    s, this was Uzushio he was trying to get into...

    So... with Jiraiya unable to get in secretly, he opted for going in boldly. He walked inside through the main gate. Jiraiya actually briefly thought about disguising himself first but if the security seals around the vige were any indication, he quickly determined it would not work, and being discovered would make everything worse for himself.

    For that, Pakura respected his ability as an infiltrator and the sheer guts he showed by tackling this in such a straightforward manner. If this was any other vige, he would probably seed too since it took some time even for Pakura to notice the swap of the man with his shadow clone. Only a tracking seal she snuck into his pocket during her brief visit alerted her that the white-haired bastard in front of her was not the original and led her to the location of the real Jiraiya before he was knocked unconscious.

    "Now... how to punish the man in the most humiliating way that would make Rei praise me." Pakura''s eyes darkened and glinted in a peculiar way that made Kaya take a step back when Pakura turned towards her with a mischievous smile, "Hey Kaya... You said the brother of the Earth Daimyo, one of the five grand nobles of the Land of Earth is currently visiting the vige, right?" Pakura''s eyes started to hover over Jiraiya''s unconscious form, narrowed in a catlike way with a bit of glee in them. "I wonder..."

 Chapter 180 - Ch180. Jirayia in Uzushio 4

    <h4>Chapter 180 - Ch180. Jirayia in Uzushio 4</h4>

    ''Sofortable...''

    Jiraiya woke up to feeling a euphoric sensation as his body sank into the soft mattress, unwilling to open his eyes and lose the sluggish enjoyment of being on the edge of the dreand. He didn''t feel this good for months and was quite reluctant to let it go. Slowly getting a feel to his hand, Jiraiya''s lips stretched into azy smile as he recognized what he was touching through experience alone.

    A warm and tender body of a woman. The most pleasant thing he ever got to know.

    Taking a deep breath, Jiraiya''s nose was instantly assaulted by the air filled with the smell of s.e.x, reassuring him that yes, yesterday he scored. If it was possible, Jiraiya''s lips would stretch even into a bigger smile as his still half-asleep mind slowly gathered the facts.

    His hand slowly crept up, dragging itself on the skin of the woman... the more it explored, the more Jiraiya''s smile started changing into a frown and his brows started furrowing.

    ''What is this? Squishy?'' Jiraiya''s mind slowly woke up, making the spymaster''s brain work as his fingers sank into...

    Jiraiya abruptly opened his eyes, freezing at the sight in front of him.

    Horror crept through Jiraiya''s body as he saw the pile of pure fat lying next to him, taking up three-quarters of the whole bed. She was at the very least a head taller than him and thrice as wide, causing Jiraiya''s eyes to almost pop out of their sockets. His body shivered as he realized what he thought to be b.r.e.a.s.ts was actually her double chin causing him to retract his hand at a speed even Raikage would praise.

    Just as Jiraiya''s mind was close to finally rebooting, a loud farting noise resounded through the room, causing Jiraiya to scrunch his nose and realize that... the smell of s.e.x, was only in his head and dreams. What he really smelt was more... putrid than anything else.

    Needless to say, Jiraiya''s horror only increased. He would have nightmares of this morning for months toe, he was sure of it.

    So scary was his waking experience that hepletely forgot to think about how he got into this situation and what he was doing yesterday. These things were not at the forefront of his thoughts when he had such a disastrous situation at hand. After all, waking up next to a prettydy was quitemon in his life of debauchery. Waking up next to... whatever it was thatid next to him... now that was something he never wanted to experience again.

    ''I couldn''t be drunk enough to do... this, could I?'' Jiraiya yet again shivered as he carefully stood up from the bed, looking for his clothes, as quietly as possible in order to not wake up the whale on the bed

    As Jiraiya was half-way to putting his pants back on, the door suddenly opened, "So you are finally awake." A gruff old voice said, not sounding very pleased with the situation but also having a bit of resignation in its tone.

    Jiraiya... didn''t expect to be discovered. Hearing the voice was a big surprise for him, causing him to trip on the pants that were around his knees, sending him face-first into the stomach of the whale of a woman, abruptly waking her up and hugging him in reflex as if he was an overstuffed teddy bear.

    The woman blinked off the sleep before sweeping her brown hair from her blue eyes with her stubby hand. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was, causing her to flush while Jiraiya''s hands desperately iled around, trying to get him away from her because of the acuteck of oxygen his face deep in her fat folds was currently experiencing.

    "Oh, papa?" The woman yet again blinked.

    "Good morning, Tsuname." The man who opened the door greeted, "I see you slept well." He added, a smirk creeping up his lips at the suffocating Jiraiya.

    "Huh?" Tsuname tilted her head before she finally realized she was embracing somebody. The second her eyes fell on Jiraiya, they lit up like stars in the night sky, full of happiness. "Yes! Meet my hubby, papa!"

    Jiraiya at longst managed to get hold of some of his strength and push himself away from what he now feared as the fatball of suffocating doom. Coughing, half due to his earlier predicament and a half because of what he just heard, he eximed, "Hubby!? What? I didn''t agree! No way! I swore to be single for life! Yeah!" He desperately shook his head and tried to pull away from Tsuname. "You can''t force me to... ah?"

    Jiraiya suddenly stilled as his eyes finallynded on the face of the man in the door and hisplexion turned paler than Orochimaru.

    ''Ah, shit.'' He thought, recognizing the man who was frowning at him. Jiraiya''s face then robotically turned towards the massive woman who called that exact man papa and Jiraiya felt despair embrace him as he realized the situation. ''Ah, double shit.'' His eyes then strayed down, onto the sheets where a small patch of dry blood was located and Jiraiya''s mind almost stilled to halt. ''Ah, triple SHIT! This time I really did it!''

    "I see you finally realize what you did yesterday and its consequences, Jiraiya of the Sannin..." The man, Kazuhiro Iwako, stated. He was the brother of the Daimyo of the Land of Earth and one of the three most important nobles of his country. His tone then changed to utter discontent as he added, "My new son-inw."

    Jiraiya could only faint in horror.

    ...

    "Was it necessary?" Kaya asked the smirking Pakura who sipped on her tea. "It was simply down-right cruel."

    "Ah, Kaya, it was the most beneficial choice for us. Killing Jiraiya is simply dumb since Konoha knew he went here to investigate. But Konoha also knows what a horndog he is, you see." Pakura snickered. "You know that each country has its own customs and it just so happens that one of the five greatest nobles of the Land of Earth where taking the v.i.r.g.i.n.i.t.y of a willing daughter of a noble is as good as marriage was visiting Uzushio. The fact his ugly daughter couldn''t get engaged to anyone no matter how good of a deal he offered is just making the entire thing better!" She smugly exined, "The poor old perv had no chance from the start."

    Kaya facepalmed, "And it just so happens this whole thing will either make Konoha and Iwagakure who hate each other''s guts a bit closer, preventing any possible spark of war." Kaya was a bit unwilling to admit it but the n was well thought out. "With Suna being preupied with the feud between the Kazekage and the Daimyo, Kirigakure being on the brink of the civil war, and Kumogakure being the sole threatening existence... yeah, if Iwagakure and Konoha show themon front, no matter how frail and false it would be, Kumogakure would not dare start anything big."

    "Or..." Pakura uncaringly shrugged, "Jiraiya will act like a dumbass and run which would actually start a war between Konoha and Iwagakure, weakening them even further which in turn would probably make Kumogakure join. In the end, the Biri-Biripany would make more profit for the time being. I don''t see any loss here. Both options mean the focus on Uzushio will significantly reduce which would decrease your workload by a lot."

    Kaya couldn''t believe what she was hearing. Yes, she knew this was a do-or-die kind of deal. Either Jiraiya is smart, stops his life of debauchery, and suffers a marriage with the oh-so-noble oversized girl, or he runs... starting a war.

    Honestly, in no way was Konoha able to afford a war at the moment. It was weakened due to Kyuubi and then even its economy suffered because of the debacle with Yukigakure. As much as the Third Hokage likes Jiraiya, this was a mess he could not clear up for his pupil. One man''s happiness simply wasn''t worth the continued existence of the entire vige.

    In short, Jiraiya damn well knew what the answer would be if he asked Konoha for help.

    Kaya shuddered at the cruelty of Pakura''s revenge for wasting her time. Damned if do, damned if don''t. ''But to think Pakura thought about how her actions would benefit Uzushio before doing something that would change the entire political climate of the Elemental Nations... I see, this is why she is Rei''s Jonin Commander, huh?''

 Chapter 181 - Ch181. Vengeance 1

    <h4>Chapter 181 - Ch181. Vengeance 1</h4>

    ''ng''

    Rei parried yet another sh from Yugito who was swinging Samehada at him. It was years since he held a sword and his wrists made this fact clearly obvious to him as they painfully protested every time Rei''s and Yugito''s swords shed.

    In the past years, Rei was far too preupied to train so he mostly depended on his shadow clones. That, however, had its bright and dark spots. In things like Sealing, Ninjutsu, and generally, anything to do with knowledge and energy maniption, he got infinitely better than he was before. The physical aspect, though, suffered.

    It was not that he lost his muscles. They were nourished by nature energy and could not shrink or diminish. It was his muscle memory that became a problem. Funny thing... shadow clones could train muscle memory and to some effect, even transfer it to the user but Rei found out it was not reliable because the muscles of his clones were, in the end, not his and therefore his own muscles didn''t learn anything.

    Ergo the situation with his wrists and some other joints...

    When Rei previously blocked with his sword, he always minisculely turned his wrist which would ease the power behind the sh. He did these things instinctively. Now, however... Rei had a really painful time after the first half-hour of the spar when he realized he forgot to do this and his wrists were screaming at him in pain for it. Jinchuuriki-powered Samehada was no joke to block, after all.

    It was then Rei noticed his entire body moved somewhat off. It allid in small details. His h.i.p.s didn''t lean to the appropriate side while he was shing. His ankles didn''t ease up to be more flexible and prepared to jump to either side. His abdominal muscles were a bit more tightened than necessary. His form was simply a mess.

    ''Well, not that anyone other than probably Tsunade and Konan noticed.'' Rei thought as he deflected a downward cleave from the massive Samehada without even moving a half-step. The force behind Rei''s deflection caused Yugito''s body to fly back a few feet before shended and slid on the ground to a halt, making her end up on one of her knees as she panted, trying to regain her breath.

    Fortunately for Rei, Ringo was far too engrossed in her new forging project so nobody bothered to inform her there will be a sword fight. Something Rei was sure she would throw a fit at ater date. As long as she didn''t see his atrocious form though, it was a win-win for him. He knew he would never hear the end of it.

    "Being a bit less straightforward would help you a lot, Yugito." Rei said, causing Yugito to groan as the exact same words Ringo tells her when she trains her came out of his mouth. Rei, not really caring about her outburst, continued, "Samehada might be a bit too big and it surely prevents you from utilizing your max speed and numbness but that''s just because you are too focused on a fighting style based on the type of your weapon. Yes, you have a two-handed cleaver in your grasp but you are Nibi Jinchuuriki with the natural grace, nimbleness, and speed of a cat. Use it. Samehada doesn''t need more than a touch to injure anyway."

    Yugito''s eyes lit up. Ringo never exined what exactly she meant with those words so when Rei borated, Yugito was very grateful. She stood up, still somewhat shakily, and channeled her chakra into her body to prepare for another sh as a new n formed in her mind.

    Yugito dashed at Rei, hurling Samehada through the air towards Rei''s right side. Obviously, her strike was easily deflected. Despite the massive size of Samehada, Rei could simply overpower her strike before she could get anywhere close to his body. Considering he didn''t use chakra on his de because of knowing Samehada would just eat it... yeah, Yugito was very resigned since be it Ringo, Rei, or whoever from Yozora, they had their own way ofpletely negating the biggest advantage of Samehada.

    This time, however, Yugito gambled and her gamble clearly paid off. She used the force of Rei''s deflection to spin her body in the air alongside Samehada, sending a kick at Rei''s head, making him duck, and slightly disrupting his bnce. The force carried her body and Samehada, making it spin and suddenly the de that came at Rei from the right side was rushing at him from left with a momentum Yugito would never be able to create alone.

    Rei''s eyes widened at Yugito''s n as he realized he used too much power to deflect the strike. Depending on the power of the opponent''s deflection to set up a follow-up attack was foolish because experienced swordsmen could simply alter the force behind their deflection, disrupting these ns. That most often than not ended with the idiot who tried impaled through his c.h.e.s.t or head. But...

    ''The girl has the natural bnce of a cat!'' Rei cursed. Even if he realized her n and countered it, Yugito would simply use her cat-like bnce and nimbleness to find a foothold. Rei had to admit the girl really came up with something ingenious this time.

    For the first time during the spar, Rei was forced to step back from his starting spot as he impaled the tip of his sword into the earth, barely blocking Samehada. His entire sword trembled from the power behind the sh, passing the impact to his arm which also slightly shook.

    Rei noticed Yugito''s body was still in the air but before he could counter-attack, she channeled her chakra into Samehada, making the shark-skin de ergen. Samehada shocked Rei by twisting its tip with the mouth around the de of his sword, clearly aiming to take a juicy bite out of his side.

    ''Yeah... I guess this time she deserves it.'' Rei chuckled and nodded, "You win. I guess, you passed my requirement," He said and before Yugito knew it, Rei''s sword that was next to her sailed through the air into Rei''s hand via almost invisible chakra string. After all, letting go of his sword was one thing, having no way to retrieve it another. "But... there is still Ringo''s requirement." Rei sternly reminded the delighted girl, causing her to pout.

    "Quite rusty, eh?" Konan''s voice resounded from behind Rei and before he could react, he felt her lean on his back as her arms tightly embraced him. "I think we are due some... exercises, don''t we?" She whispered into Rei''s ear, causing his body to stiffen...

    ''Wham'' Tsunade''s hand light-heartedly pped Konan''s shoulder, breaking the intimate atmosphere between Rei and Konan.

    "Rei... I, on the other hand, think we should talk about the unnecessary strain you put your body through during the fight." Tsunade slowly said, her tone low. Needless to say...

    "I think I am going to visit Ringo, hehe..." Yugito quickly realized she didn''t want to be present for this and left even before finishing the sentence, not leaving Tsunade a chance to stop her and berate her for hurting her body during the fight. Yugito could feel her h.i.p.s hurting from thest twist in the air she did and she had no illusions that Tsunade didn''t notice. Thankfully, as a jinchuuriki, she didn''t need a healer for such trivial injuries.

    Just like that, Rei was left alone, gaping at being so easily abandoned in the clutches of...

    "You are NOT going to fight with a sword against opponents of Yugito''s caliber before you regain your muscle-memory, am I clear?" Tsunade firmly spoke as her hands gently grasped Rei''s cheeks, and locked his head in ce so he could not avert his eyes.

    Rei could only smile at the concern Tsunade was showing for him as he enjoyed her warm hands on his cheeks. All three of them knew she was exaggerating and overreacting but... that was simply Tsunade. For her, Rei, Konan, Mei, Ringo, and Pakura were family and so she took care of them the best she could. And they loved her for that.

    "Yes. I won''t put my body through strain that even chunin can handle." Rei said in an amused tone, causing Tsunade to click her tongue at him.

    "Smartass." She leaned forward, affectionately kissing him on the lips. "I know Konan wants to talk about some reports with you so I will be with my apprentices if you will need me. See you tonight, Rei." She onest time c.a.r.e.s.sed Rei''s cheek with her thumb before turning around and leaving with a skip in her step.

    "You are in for some healing and s.e.x tonight, I see." Konan chuckled, letting go of Rei before stepping back.

    "I am honestly surprised she didn''t order me toy down so she can heal me." Rei shrugged. "But... what report?" He changed the topic.

    Rolling her eyes, Konan took out a few doc.u.ments. "The date for signing the peace treaty between Kumo and Konoha was set." She smirked at him knowingly, "Is that why you let Yugito win? You said you won''t let her go and have her revenge before she makes you move in sword-fight and pass Ringo''s stealth training... and here we are."

    "And here we are," Rei repeated in a light-hearted tone. "Honestly, she was strong enough a year ago but..."

    "But you wanted to be certain nothing could go wrong." Konan nodded in understanding. Yugito grew on them during the years. In Konan''s perspective, she was... well, not-really a daughter but a bit more than a pet. Officially, Konan would refer to her as Ringo''s apprentice or Mei''s friend though.

    "Doesn''t hurt that the situation is extremely favorable. If we y our cards right, we might even get some cash for her enacting her own revenge." Rei hummed before his eyesnded on one particr report which made him halt.

    Konan naturally noticed the sudden shift in his posture and tilted her head before noticing what he was reading.

    "So the Third Mizukage was assassinated, huh?" Rei finally said with a detached tone. He had a lot of memories of bickering with the man and while they didn''t exactly like each other, it was still a nostalgic feeling to remember those times. "Guess the swirly bastard wasn''t much impressed with his ns to manipte Yagura getting dyed because of the Third."

    "Not that you were impressed either. I distinctly remember you destroying half of your personal training ground with fire that day." Konan quipped.

    "Eh... can''t fault me for that. My ns got dyed by years, ya know?" Rei shrugged, "It still isn''t best. By now, the civil war should have been starting but because of that single intervention, it will take years for us to be able to collect some desperate bloodline ns from the Land of Water."

    "The reports say he was run through with a de from behind without him even noticing. Ironic, really. An assassin was assassinated." Konan mocked in her deadpan tone.

    In a way, she was right but Rei knew Obito had a cheat-like bull for his Mangekyo Sharingan and the Third Mizukage was a marvelous schemer, assassin, and strategist but a head-on fighter he was not. At least not in the leagues of the Kages of his generation. Yet another reason why Rei stacked seal after seal on his territory to prevent nuisances like Zetsu or Obito from entering. Honestly, any space-time ability would not work on the territory of his Other-sided Vige without being keyed into the sealing barrier... or ten.

    "On a happier note... up for a shower and lunch?" Konan asked while l.i.c.k.i.n.g her lips as her eyes wandered on Rei''s body.

    Raising his eyebrow, Rei''s lips twitched, "Now that is an offer I simply can''t refuse, can I?" He chuckled, giving the doc.u.ments back to her before he grasped her hand, his mind trailing towards the enticing girl in front of him.

    ''Now that she mentioned it... I can take a break for a shower. Few hours won''t kill anybody, right?''

 Chapter 182 - Ch182. Jiraiya married!

    <h4>Chapter 182 - Ch182. Jiraiya married!</h4>

    Jiraiya wanted to die.

    It was three days since he got ''married'' ording to the customs of the nobles from the Land of Earth and so far it was an utter nightmare.

    Imagine his horror when his father-inw, Kazuhiro Iwako, a man in his mid-forties started to lecture him, the best member of the legendary Sannin, the spymaster of Konoha, the most stunning man in the Land of Fire, the Super Pervert in his early fifties himself, about all the rules and regtions of being married to a noble dy''!

    ''More like a noble whale! Do you have any idea how hard is it to sleep when the girl in the bed clinging to you feels as if the entire mountain has been dropped on your back!? If I wasn''t such a strong shinobi, I would be squashed!'' Jiraiya shuddered and mentally g.r.o.a.n.e.d, blinking his haunted eyes tiredly as he realized his father-inw was still making his shovel speech to him. ''Man~, is he still going on? This reminds me of the times when I was scolded by Sensei for peeking in hot springs as a kid. Jeez.'' He almost rolled his eyes.

    "...And that, Jiraiya-kun is the rule number 269 of our household. Do you understand?" Kazuhiro sternly said. Jiraiya, however, couldn''t really take the situation seriously. Not when Kazuhiro''s bald head was in such a good angle that it basically shone when light from the windownded on it.

    In the end, Jiraiya could only dumbly nod in agreement. He didn''t even know how to feel. Finding amus.e.m.e.nt in the shine of a bald man... he knew how childish it was of him but can you me him? After being told that, no, his ''research'' is forbidden from now on? That he can no longer visit any fine establishments and has to staypletely faithful to his new wi-, wife? That there are more rules he will have to live by than in the goddamn shinobi rulebook?

    "Now, this morning my daughter conveyed her wish to go shopping." Kazuhito started, attracting Jiraiya''s attention, causing him to stare dumbly at his father-inw in a way that obviously said ''and what does that have to do with me?''. Kazuhito, however, just smiled at the man who taught the Yellow Butcher. "Don''t worry, I volunteered you to apany her and be the gentleman whopliments her looks and carries her bags. Just a bit of advice though. My daughter never stops her shopping spree before an entire carriage is filled. Good for you that you are such a strong ninja and will be able to carry her stuff around, no?" Kazuhiro''s eyes gleamed in amus.e.m.e.nt at the abject horror that appeared on Jiraiya''s face.

    Yes... Jiraiya really wanted to die. He only hoped Sarutobi-sensei would know how to get him free from this torture.

    ...

    Hiruzen stared at the missive in front of him, his mind refusing toprehend what it was saying. Now, Sarutobi was an old man who lived through many wars and saw many things. Many things that others would believe to be an utter fantasy and write them off as impossible. Things such as Danzo actually disbanding his ROOT or massive fox devastating his vige. Inconceivable things.

    But this... this had even him, the wise Professor, in a bind.

    "Jiraiya... married? Earth Noble?" Hiruzen muttered, his right hand slowly creeping closer to his c.h.e.s.t as if to grab his weak heart and trying to prevent it from having a heart attack while his mind swirled, trying to make any sense of what he just read.

    Oh, Hiruzen was an old political monster and he could clearly see the diplomatic shitstorm his apprentice caused. It didn''t matter if Jiraiya tried to... omit... mentioning them in his letter. What Hiruzen couldn''t seem to ept was the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.

    Here he tries his all to protect the weakened Konoha. To make good ties with other countries. To please the angry Daimyo who is still a bit resentful he had to fork out so much money because of the ROOT f.u.c.k-up. To bnce the issues between the civilian council trying to demilitarize his military vige and the shinobi council trying to grab as much influence for themselves. Everything from cating the angry Uchihas for being relocated to the outskirts of the vige to verbally kicking the smug Hyuugas down a few pegs was in his job description. Honestly, Hiruzen was just happy that Naras were sozy, Akimichi too busy stuffing their cheeks to care about politics, and Yamanaka too small to matter. It really made his job, which was basically a wholesale nightmare in the current situation, a lot easier.

    Now imagine his surprise when his apprentice, Jiraiya, suddenly undo years of hard work with his sleeping habits. This was Konoha and naturally, as a vige hated by all of the Land of Earth, Hiruzen focused on allying with people who had simr opinions towards the rocky country. Being in a situation where his options were either allying with the Earth Country or going to war with them?

    ''Jiraiya... just had to f.u.c.k around so much he f.u.c.k.e.d away all of my efforts, right?'' Hiruzen''s bulging eyes shook in the helpless realization that most of the alliances he so painstakingly formed will inevitably crumble under the weight of this new situation. ''Years of effort wasted. So much paperwork... for naught.'' Hiruzen thought with a dry throat, feeling the pressure as if wanting to vomit while tears glistered his wizened cheeks. Suddenly, he simply couldn''t hold it in as he felt the world crashing around him.

    Half of Konoha heard the scream of impotent primal rage originating from the Hokage Tower, causing the citizens to worry if Kyuubi got free.

    In his office, Hiruzen was slumped over the letter from his previously favorite student, contemting his life choices.

    ''I should have focused on grooming Tsunade. Why must my two male apprentices be such failures? One is a pedophile scientist with a perversion for immortality and the second is a perverted f.u.c.k-up who is capable of putting the vige in a tough spot despite not even being present in it.'' Hiruzen sniffed, barely holding himself back from crying. ''At least Tsunade waspetent enough to not cause an international problem for the vige.'' He realized, feelingpletely empty. Taking in a brush, Hiruzen started to shakily pen a reply to Jiraiya.

    You reap what you sow. Enjoy the marriage.

    There was nothing else Hiruzen could say. He was far too angry and no matter that Jiraiya was his former favorite, this was simply too much even for him.

    ''Am I really the only man in this vige that works for its well-being opposite to all of the idiots who do everything in their strength to get it closer towards destruction?'' Hiruzen''s empty eyes momentarily strayed towards the picture of his sessor and predecessor at the same time, Minato, and his mind instantly remembered Naruto who was supposed to be raised by Jiraiya before the man fled. ''Even the jinchuuriki has to be taught about the Will of Fire by me personally despite there being hordes of people who were friends with Minato and Kushina. Don''t tell me the supposed ninjas of this vige are blind enough to not see the tant resemnce.'' He scoffed.

    ''Yes... at least Naruto is obedient and growing up to be loyal to the vige.'' Hiruzen sighed.

    If only he knew the truth...

 Chapter 183 - Ch183. Vengeance 2

    <h4>Chapter 183 - Ch183. Vengeance 2</h4>

    Finally, after a few months of relentless effort, Yugito received her pass from Ringo. It was not easy. Far from it. Many times she wanted to snarl and curse the woman when she bruised ck and blue went to sleep. Pain became a constantpanion and Yugito really understood that the woman she thought to be the quietest and most ''normal'' out of Rei''s wives was actually craziest of them all when it came to training. Yugito was only d she had a natural grace, nimbleness, and sense of bnce of a cat otherwise... she shuddered at how much harder the training would be for her.

    But now that she finally passed... she could, atst, have her vengeance.

    Yugito d in her kunoichi attire stood on the top of one of Kumogakure''s towers, breathing the chilly night air as she reminisced about her time in the vige while looking around the clouds-covered towers in the mountains... her birthce.

    Kumogakure was a really nostalgic sight for her. As someone who grew up half on the streets, Yugito knew quite a lot about theyout of the vige. But after spending so much time with Mei and her family, Yugito no longer felt that Kumogakure was her home. It took but a few lessons from Konan to understand. She was a kunoichi of Kumo. She was a jinchuuriki of Kumo. Naturally, she was indoctrinated to be loyal to Kumo.

    Looking back, Yugito doubted she would follow Mei if her friend didn''t surprise her in her moment of weakness. But as it was, Mei approached her when she felt especially down, and here she ended up. On the roof of a tower where one of the councilors responsible for her misery lived.

    The man... wasn''t going to survive tonight.

    Yugito sneaked inside the tower through the window, opting to enter from the top rather than the bottom where most guards were concentrated. She nimbly and soundlessly strode through the dark halls, melding her presence into every shadow to make her small body even less spottable to others.

    The first patrol was easy to bypass. She only had to use the teachings of Ringo which said... if you can''t go through or around without being spotted, you have to go from above. Yugito carefully walked on the ceiling to get past the team of two ninjas who patrolled the halls. They were not anything extraordinary by any stretch. Simple chunins but still annoying to dodge in narrow hallways of the tower without being spotted.

    The second patrol group was also easy if a bit riskier. Yugito hid behind a corner and waited for them to pass, ready to strike if they turned in her direction and saw her. Fortunately for them, they didn''t.

    It was the third time she saw guards that became a slight problem. Two guys who stood in front of the door leading towards her target. Really... there was no dodging those.

    "Always be smart about proceeding forward, silence is the key, huh?" Yugito muttered the third rule of assassination Ringo taught her and her eyes shrewdly gleamed.

    Using the cover of the night, Yugito used chakra sting to entwine around a leg of one guard. Chakra strings were one of the most practiced things in Ringo''s training montage because of how ''easy'' and dead useful they were in many practical uses. Sadly, one had to have incredible chakra control to make them almost invisible and Yugito was a jinchuuriki...

    Yeah, she was extremely d she chose nighttime for her little operation. Her control still s.u.c.k.e.d enough to make creating invisible strings impossible.

    Her string prepared, she then sneaked on the ceiling to get above the guards. After she was in the position, it was entirely too easy to drop in front of them while shing the throat of the guard who didn''t have the string around his ankle while the one that did was pulled up, screaming bloody murder only for no sound to leave his throat because of a silencing seal Yugito pped on his shoulder mid-drop. Yugito''s hand caught the body of the man whose throat she slit and ced it onto the ground before finishing off the man who hanged upside down on the chakra string by his ankle.

    Two corpse storage scrolls and two shadow clones that henged into the guardster, and Yugito was ready to enter the room. After all, it wouldn''t do for someone to stumble into these parts of the tower and discover the door unguarded. That would ring too many unnecessary rms.

    Putting a silencing seal on the door, Yugito slowly and soundlessly opened them, sneaking inside. One very delightful part of being Nibi''s jinchuuriki was her ability to naturally see at night so the darkness in the room didn''t bother Yugito one bit. She frowned, however, as her s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e nose caught the smell of s.e.x in the room, and then she saw the man whose life she swore to end. He simply lied there under the sheets, soundly sleeping without any alert with three women dr.a.p.ed over him, also asleep.

    ''And this is why Rei made sure to drill into my head all those alert seals.'' Yugito inwardly hummed.

    The vulnerable man in front of her was one of the most skilled jonins of Kumo. Or at least,... has been. Life in luxury and attending to political matters clearly considerably dulled his instincts. The man was still fit and muscled but...

    ''No matter who or how powerful your target is, they are as vulnerable as any backward farmer while sleeping. Choose the moment of your strike wisely. Assassination rule number five.'' Yugito remembered and couldn''t help but agree.

    From there, it wasn''t hard to use chakra strings to move silencing tags on the walls and then some knock-out tags onto the bodies of the women while also putting chakra restraining tags onto the man himself. This clearly woke the councilor up as he started thrashing around with his arms and legs bound, trying to scream for guards. His panic was simply music for Yugito''s ears.

    Yugito amusedly watched as the man tried to get off his bindings only to fall down from the bed and stifle a painful groan before moving like a worm on the ground. He still didn''t notice her standing in the corner which made Yugito''s sadistic streak just that much more satisfied. The man had no idea what was going on and his mind was in chaos. Eh... Yugito would let him stem in it for a bit. There was no need to hurry so much anyway.

    It took but five minutes for the man to finally calm down. Seeing as his restraints wouldn''t fall off no matter how he thrashed, he tried a different method.

    "Hello? Anyone there?" He asked with a shaky voice. As a political superpower in Kumogakure, he knew he had many enemies but this was his tower. His home. The ce where he was most guarded. He could do anything inside and nobody would even notice. To think he would be attacked here... the man was now really, really scared.

    Yugito slowly nodded as she stepped out of the shadows. She didn''t have THAT much time. There were still four more unwilling participants to her tor-, ahem, as Tsunade would call it, hands-on anatomy sses.

    "Y-You!?" The councilor shrieked, dread creeping into his gaze. Political opponents could be negotiated with. Assassins could be paid off. But the woman in front of him? He knew he did her wrong. Horribly wrong but he never even in his worst nightmares would imagine seeing the previous jinchuuriki again!

    The moment he saw her cold gaze, he knew he was f.u.c.k.e.d beyond measure.

    "I... N-No. I didn''t want to hurt you!" The man started in panic, pleadingly staring at Yugito whose lips twitched upwards at these words. "I-"

    "I don''t want to hurt you either." Yugito interrupted him with an uplifting voice. Causing the panic of the man to slightly decrease. "I simply want you to suffer." She added indifferently as if she was describing the weather, causing the eyes of the councilor to shrink.

    It would be only in the morning that Kumogakure would learn how bloody the previous silent night was, getting only a single message in return.

    A message saying,

    ''Yozora is displeased.''

 Chapter 184 - Ch184. Raikages reaction

    <h4>Chapter 184 - Ch184. Raikage''s reaction</h4>

    "You think the one responsible for killing five councilmen is Yugito?" Killer B asked A in an incredulous tone, his eyebrows rising almost to his hairline, even forgetting to rap.

    "Yes." A grumbled. "Remember that investigation about her treatment by the vige I secretly conducted after Yozora took her?" Raikage sighed in sadness, remembering how the woman he thought of like a niece was mistreated. "She would have the biggest motive to do... that." He said a bit shaken from what he read happened to the five councilmen. Honestly, death would be merciful at this point for them.

    "But... Yugito? Joining Yozora by her own will?" Killer B asked, not wanting to believe Yugito would betray her vige. Deep down in his heart, however, he knew that she had every right for it. He knew he could not fault her for this decision. That didn''t mean he wanted to believe it though.

    "Yes. It is actually a miracle," Raikage rolled his eyes but B could see how grumpy and angry he was, "that this incident happened after I signed papers for their retirement and eventual clean-up."

    "Ah. The Hyuuga incident..."

    "Yes... I lost my Jonin Commander because of these swines." A harrumphed. "Now I can''t even give them up to Konoha for their mistakes." Raikage rubbed his temples, trying to prevent his rising headache. "Could you believe we were sent the body of Hizashi Hyuuga, the twin of Hyuuga patriarch, despite sending a letter that the demand for the body of their n head was not official and we do not require it? The old Monkey really does everything to lower the influence of the ns."

    "We were used as scapegoats, heh..." Killer B smirked.

    Everybody knew that the Hyuuga n was on the rise after Uchihas fell out of grace and were relocated to the outskirts of the vige. How better to make them fall in line than subtly creating some internal conflict? Sarutobi didn''t even have it that hard with Kumogakure council idiots providing every tool needed for him. The fact that the Hyuuga n is divided into two branches was just the icing on the cake.

    He could exchange a life of a single jonin from the Hyuuga n for instability in the n, lowering their influence and diverting their eyes to something else than ''bing Hokage'' or getting more direct power in the vige, and the me wouldpletely be on Kumogakure. All he had to do was keep the letter saying Kumo didn''t want the body of the Hyuuga n head secret.

    "I knew I should have sent the letter through the official channels, preferably our Daimyo but there was just no time for that. I thought... hoped that this mistake of these five councilors would not implicate Kumogakure but to think Sarutobi would use this situation to take the Hyuuga n down a peg. Sigh." Raikage shook his head. Since he got the report about the failure of the mission to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress, the mission he never approved of, his headache was on the rise. After all, it meant somebody in his council was trying to screw him and the whole Kumogakure over.

    Needless to say, finding out the idiots who did that wholeheartedly believed doing something that could start the next Ninja War was for the good of the vige was a shocker in itself. Sure, Kumogakure came out of the previous war in the best shape but that didn''t mean they could go and provoke everyone. Not when Konoha was getting chummy with Iwagakure due to Jiraiya''s marriage.

    "So... what did little Yugi do to the bastards?" Killer B asked, almost eagerly. He already decided to write a song about it! Now he only had to dig for the small details to incorporate into it.

    Yes... Kumogakure had a reputation of kidnapping and breeding members of bloodline ns but this didn''t mean it happened on a daily basis. In the years the vige stood, only less than twenty such cases happened, none of them under A''s administration.

    A made sure to execute every f.u.c.ker who hurt Yugito but the five who were on the council and had enough leverage with the nobles of the Land of Lightning. Those, he couldn''t touch so easily. He just waited for them to make a mistake and now that they authorized the kidnapping of the Hyuuga heiress, he had them by the balls only for someone from Yozora to turn them into heavily crippled piles of barely living flesh. On one hand, it was vexing he couldn''t deliver his own justice to them, on another, if it really was Yugito... then he could be fine with it, he supposed. Not that anybody else could use the fire of Nibi with enough precision to inflict hours of torture on the victim.

    A simply wordlessly handed the report to B, letting him learn what Yugito did to them, and watched as B winced or grimaced at times.

    Yugito was brutal. First, she cooked their limbs one at a time. That alone must have been incredibly painful, leaving them begging for death. Only when the damage of a limb was so extensive theypletely lost the feeling of pain, Yugito severed said limb. Brutal torture by fire. Even B was green after reading about it.

    Then, Yugito took their manhoods off. She did it in a way as if she was chopping a carrot. One circlet at a time. Needless to say, even Gyuki inside of Killer B shuddered and whimpered at such cruelty.

    It was only when all of that was done and the men couldn''t scream anymore, Yugito took their tongues and eyes away and burned most of their skin. All five were now in the Kumogakure hospital, limbless, tongueless, eyeless, and d.i.c.kless burned piles of flesh. Killer B didn''t know if he should be proud of the revenge little Yugito enacted or if he should run the f.u.c.k away from her anytime he sees her. As a ninja, he found it impressive but as a man... it was downright frightening for him.

    "I now see why you think it was Yugito. Nobody would have good reason to go this far with them." Killer B nodded with a gulp as he handed back the report. "But... is it alright?"

    "What do you mean?" A grunted, focusing on the paperwork in front of him.

    "You hate Yozora, don''t you? Is it fine that Yugito apparently joined them?" B asked, raising his arms and entering a rapping stance. "I am sure, you want a lure. You feel hate, mate. This is a chance for Yozora''s bounty to go risin'', are ya gonna let it go missin'', brozza?"

    A looked at B, totally unimpressed with the brief musical addition. "B..." He sighed and leaned on the backrest of his chair. "I do hate Rei, Konan, and Ringo Ameyuri. They killed my fiance." A''s eyes frosted before showing a resigned gleam. "But I am the Raikage. I have to think of the vige. Anybody who can get inside a ninja vige without raising any rm, torture five high-profile politicians for a whole night without anybody even knowing it was happening, is a threat not worth antagonizing. If I was not so sure it was Yugito? I would probably blow a gasket and secretly try to do something about it. That said, I am still going to secretly find a solution to this intruding problem of ours." A frowned, "But for now, I gotta let grudges go. Especially if Yugito actually joined Yozora."

    Frankly, A was dismayed. He so wanted nothing more than to dispatch hundreds of his ninjas to hunt Rei, Konan, and Ringo down but he had no idea about their whereabouts, skills, or current strength. Yozora still did a few jobs once in a while but they faded to the background, lurking in the shadows. This current incident was actually the first major happening caused by them in thest four years.

    Kumogakure let its guard down for a moment and Yozora gave them a painful reminder of why that is a bad thing to do.

    A looked at the picture of a woman and sighed. He really had to let bygones be bygones. For the vige, and for Yugito. After all, A knew his fiance would want him to look after her sister.

    Even if the girl chose to serve somebody other than Kumogakure.

 Chapter 185 - Ch185. Final bonding

    <h4>Chapter 185 - Ch185. Final bonding</h4>

    Rei watched as Pakura d in a sandy-yellow tight-fitting kimono that highlighted her curves well, stepped through the portal into his dimension. This was the first time he ever saw any kind of make-up on her face and he had to admit, the woman was gorgeous. Her lips glistened with pink lipstick, adding a cute vibe to her usual strictness. A bit of dark green eye-shadow went incredibly well with her hair and highlighted her eyes nicely. Her hair waspletely let freepared to her usual bun held by a senbon but it was obvious that Pakura spent quite a lot of time making her hair slightly wavy and appear so silky.

    Rei was firstly baffled when she requested to be dressed ording to Wind Country wedding customs for this day. "I am giving myselfpletely to you. Naturally, I want to look my best!" She said and to that, Rei had no valid argument. He was simply happy Tsunade or Ringo revealed their feelings on the matter because Rei knew that since Pakura pointed it out, they were miffed for days that their bonding was not perfect because they didn''t get to wear wedding dresses.

    And then Rei saw his other girls step in and his jaw dropped as he understood why they never revealed their dissatisfaction.

    Here he was, d in a totallyid-back baggy bright green shirt he wore on Sundays andfortable ck pants, looking like a crazy vige bum while all of his five girls looked gorgeous beyond belief. There was obviously something he was not told!

    Konan had an expensive-looking Levander kimono that blended with her blue shoulder-length hair decorated by a blue origami rose of a lighter shade, marvelouslyplementing her clothing and hair color. Her mischievous smile clearly betrayed whose idea this dressing up was. Somehow, Rei couldn''t find it in himself to be angry at thosescivious light-blue lips she was lightly biting in invitation. Adding Konan''s almost sparkling big amber eyes full of happiness... yeah, Rei never had a chance, did he?

    Tsunade opted for green haori ending a bit above her knees with an intricate leaf pattern all over it and her hair was all in two blond pigtails lying on her c.h.e.s.t, reaching her lower abdomen. It was obvious the piece of clothing was dear to her heart since it didn''t exactly look new but was still well-cared for. Rei quickly put two and two together and realized this was the attire in which, ording to Tsunade''s stories, her grandmother Mito appeared at her wedding. Rei softly smiled at his sentimental medic, getting a content grin in return.

    Mei... Rei spotted she really grew up well. Instead of a kimono, she had the tailors of Uzushio create her a ''western'' dress. Rei could only wryly smile. He described it one damn time and the girl became as if infatuated with the idea. There she stood, in azure light dress ending a bit below her knees, her plentiful red locks all flowing over her also almost reaching her knees. Oh, how Rei loved her silky crimson long hair... In Rei''s old world, this would in no way count as something on par with what his other girls wore, at least from a symbolic point of view. Here though? It looked well and fit Mei''s personality well. Simple but daring. Not that Rei would ever say that out loud.

    Andstly, Ringo. His little swordsman had a ck kimono dress with a flowery pattern that went very well with her red hair which was freely flowing down her back with two bangs covering the sides of her faces, reaching her c.h.e.s.t. Surprisingly, her hair was decorated with small braids and two hairpins resembling a ck butterfly were preventing the bangs froming into her face. Needless to say, this was actually the very first time he saw Ringo dressed up so beautifully and Rei made sure to carefully store this memory into his mind. After all, with her personality, it very well might be thest time.

    Konan was the first one to approach, mostly because of some sense of seniority the girls decided among themselves. Konan was supposedly the ''leader'' while Tsunade was her substitute whereas others were on the same level in the pecking order. Rei was just d his girls didn''t fight for something as senseless as a ''better'' position and were content with how things were right now as he had no intentions of treating one of them better than others.

    "I see you didn''t get the news." Konan stated when she saw Rei''szy attire. If they didn''t know each other, it coulde across as insulting. They spent hours to make themselves look gorgeous for him and here he stood, in his most casual baggy clothes.

    Fortunately for Rei, his girls were fast to the uptake and instantly turned towards Mei who was supposed to inform Rei. Konan raised her eyebrow, Pakura slightly red, Tsunade was amused, and Ringo... well, she didn''t turn to Mei, and instead her eyes trailed over Rei while she licked her lips.

    "What?" Mei crossly asked, "Don''t look at me like that! Does it even matter if he knows we want to make this into a sort of a wedding night? So what if he isn''t dressed up?" She pointed at Rei in a dismissive manner, "I personally love the moments when we are rolling in the sack the most... when we arepletely n.a.k.e.d. I care not what he wears and I know that neither of you wouldn''t really mind if he was n.a.k.e.d either so where is the problem?" She defensively stated and Rei had to fight his urge to take a step back from how weirded out he was at this opinion of hers.

    ''Wait...'' His eyes slightly widened as he saw the other four girls turn to him, ''don''t look at me like that... No, no, no. Stop with that understanding gleam of sudden realization in your eyes!'' He took a step back at their hungry stares and hotly added, "Oi!"

    "What? She is totally right." Tsunade uncaringly shrugged, causing the girls to snicker and giggle.

    Rei could only wearily shake his head, not even realizing he was slightly smiling. After all, deep down, he had the same opinion. These dresses were nice and all but he wouldn''t overly mind if they were n.a.k.e.d in front of him. But he also knew the girls wanted to dress up and show themselves to him so he kept quiet and enjoyed the sights.

    "Let''s just... start, okay?"

    No matter how tired of the situation Rei acted, the girls spent a lot of time with him so there was no deceiving them. Especially not when he really couldn''t help himself and take more than a few appreciative side-nces all over them.

    Happy with themselves, the six people decided to proceed with the main event. The bonding ceremony for Pakura.

    Soon enough, Pakura found herself in Rei''s embrace as they stood in the middle of the sealing array while the other four girls encircled them, standing in their own designated ces. Bonding six people to each other with one main bond between Rei and Pakura, and multiple secondary bonds to the girls was no joke so Rei had to spend two days re-creating the process to make it safe.

    The girls started to feed their chakra into the seals, causing them to slightly light up and Rei, knowing Pakura deserved this to be a happy memory, in that precise moment where they were bonded, leaned forward, cing a gentle loving kiss onto the surprised woman, causing her to melt in his embrace.

    Just like that, the bonding was finished. Outwardly not very impressive but inwardly... a lot has changed.

    The group decided to take the next few days off from their work and spend them together in Rei''s dimension, justzing around, making out, and having s.e.x,pletely carefree and without any work or worry. It really reminded Rei of the dream he had in his previous world. He wanted to be rich, carefree, and have a loving wife. He was always a bitzy. And yet... here he was, putting so much effort into building his own vige and getting stronger when he could just shut himself and his girls in his dimension for a few centuries, focusing on indulging in carnal d.e.s.i.r.es and basking in the warm feeling of being loved. There was nothing he needed anymore.

    But he couldn''t really do that, could he? Tsunade, Pakura, and even Ringo had a few people or at the very least sentiments in that world and they would be sad if they were killed or destroyed. In the end, Rei didn''t want his girls sad. Hence, he decided to solve the threat of the Otsutsuki n once and for all. ''Baby steps. One thing at the time.'' Rei mentally hummed.

    It was at the pic two days after the bonding that Pakure timidly raised the important question.

    "So... can I consider you my husband now?" Her nervousness was almost visible as she asked that while subconsciously fidgeting.

    The whole meadow suddenly grew deadly silent as five pairs of eyes intently locked onto Rei who nkly blinked as he opened his mouth but his mind refused to supply him with an appropriate answer.

    The mood of the girls soured when even after a few seconds they didn''t get a positive answer. Fortunately, Rei slowly nodded and finally found words.

    "I... guess?" Rei unsurely agreed, causing the girls to happily beam at him but their eyes still held some concern at howckl.u.s.ter the answer sounded. Rei, not seeing that, continued, "I have no idea, to be honest. Well, in Uzushio and my Other-sided Vige, we can consider being as good as married. I frankly always considered those bonded to me as my wives. I simply do not know if from the legal point of view we can be considered married since there was no official wedding." He exined.

    Hearing that, Tsunade quickly added her opinion, "It doesn''t matter."

    Pakura nodded, "Only weddings between nobles, Daimyos, or important people in shinobi viges are recorded. A wedding between peasants is not and the only proof is a scrap of paper they receive that proves that yes, they are married. There is also no way to ess a record of a wedding from Suna.. say, in Konoha. The countries do not share these things so as long as somebody says he is married, you can either believe him or not as there is no real proof." She said.

    "Well," Rei smiled. He never really paid attention to these things so he had no idea. Good thing his gi-, ahem, wives did so he won''t have to waste time researching. "then I guess I have no other option than to graciously give you the title of my wives and shower you with all love I am capable of, the opinion of others be damned." He sagaciously nodded.

    "Damn straight." Five sweet womanly voices rang through the meadow at once.

 Chapter 186 - Ch186. Artificial Bijuu 1

    <h4>Chapter 186 - Ch186. Artificial Bijuu 1</h4>

    Rei and his wives were in the middle of their vacation when Rei decided it was time to finally perform the second reason why he wanted them in his dimension. After all, he finally finished his little bijuu project.

    Rei led the girls into a room containing a massive sealing matrix spreading through the roof, walls, and concentrating on the floor where six circles with the exact same distance between them were inscribed.

    "Each of us will sit in one of these circles." Rei informed them after seeing the curious looks they were shooting the sealing matrix. None of them ever saw so many seals concentrated on such a little ce. Even Tsunade who had the most knowledge about sealing among the women knew that this should, by all means, result in one massive explosion after the seals start to interact with each other. Suddenly, a realization shed through their heads.

    "This is why you limited our ess to the Dimension! You were testing this, weren''t you?" Konan asked but her admonishing tone clearly conveyed there was no need for an answer.

    Rei could almost see the mouths of his wives opening as thoughts were shing through their eyes that red at him worriedly. He had to act fast and say something or be bombarded by angry verbal spanking from five women who felt wronged. ''Dear me...'' Rei bitterly thought.

    "Yes... Now, I won''t doubt your intelligence by lying and saying I used clones for it. We all know there is no way of using only clones for something like this." Rei hurriedly started. His remark thankfully stopped the iing nagging but it was obvious the storm didn''t pass yet. "I had to oversee it myself and..."

    "How many?" Tsunade interrupted in a quiet tone and a deathly silence descended on the group. She raised her and red at Rei before seeing he was reluctant to answer. "How many near-death experiences did it take for you to seed?" She repeated her question and crossed her hands under her blossom in a displeased manner.

    The other four also didn''t look very pleased with Rei at the moment. Even Mei understood the implication of what exactly Rei had to do to create the sealing matrix. Such a thing would be extremely explosion-happy and ident-prone. In order to oversee it, Rei would have to be close to it. And since not much of the Dimension was damaged, Rei most likely cut the parts the matrix was located in off from the rest of the dimension, creating a smaller sub-dimension. That only meant Rei was most of his time in the recent years trapped in a small sub-dimension with a very explosive sealing matrix that could most likely go off into the air like a sted bijuu-dama any moment of a day just because two strokes in a kanji disagreed with each other.

    Oh yes, Rei''s wives were not having a good time imagining that kind of situation.

    Rei awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he wryly smiled at his girls. He had no idea how to appease them so he went with, "Eh, don''t worry about the number too much... at least it gave me practice for some defensive Jutsu. I can now say with utmost certainty that even bijuu-dama would be hard-pressed to kill me!" He eximed.

    s, instead of the relieved look he was expecting, the five women in front of him only deepened their res.

    ''That was a bad thing to say, wasn''t it?'' Rei idly thought before the screaming began.

    Five hours. That''s how long it took for the five women to calm down. Never in his dreams would Rei think Konan could be so loud. Honestly, he wasn''t an idiot and knew this would be their reaction. Being ninja meant getting better at reading people and he frankly expected Tsunade to plummet him to the ground for this. Researching the sealing matrix was veritable suicide. Thankfully, Tsunade only screamed her frustrations at him until her throat was hoarse and then clung to him as if her life depended on it. In a way, that was way worse than punching him with her super-strength because it really conveyed how hurt she was and it certainly made Rei feel bad.

    Closed-off small sub-dimension going off in one massive explosion... yeah, Rei actually had to spend half-year inventing seals capable of keeping him alive from that before he even started with the real work. Of course, that was after he was almost blown to smithereens due to the first failed attempt... not that he would mention that to his girls anytime soon.

    Rei made sure to blurt it out like that because that way, he expected the least damage. He naturally knew the second his girls saw the room with the matrix, the lightbulb would go off in their heads and they would instantly understand what it meant.

    If Rei actually shared the method he was using to invent the sealing matrix for creating artificial bijuu, he was sure that he would find himself prevented in any way possible from continuing. Hence, he kept the method secret. He could only thank gods none of his girls knew enough of sealing to guess the process and how explosive it was without actually seeing the matrix.

    Fortunately, the five women now reluctantly sat in five of the circles while Rei took the sixth.

    "Remember to follow the steps." Rei reminded them onest time, getting a few eye-rolls in return which prompted him to smile. He trusted each of them too much to believe they could ever botch it up.

    Pushing a wisp of his chakra into the starting sequence, the sealing ''ritual'' began.

    ...

    Tsunade was pissed. Knowing her husband was trying to perform suicide for years made her almost tear up from the sheer rage. She simply didn''t understand why this was even necessary. Weren''t they already strong enough? Surely, even her grandfather would have problems facing them now. And yet, Rei still wanted to give them an edge. For what?

    Her whole being was filled with euphoria as her senses were being bathed in an ocean of soothing nature energy, engulfing her in its entirety. Winds picked up despite them being indoors, chakra started leaking from their bodies into the seals without them even having to do anything. It was all very calming but despite feeling ted, Tsunade knew better. She was the medic ninja of the group and well aware the sealspletely shut off the feeling of pain in their bodies. She mentally shuddered at thinking how painful this would be without that. The seals that leaked chakra would most likely set every nerve ending on fire.

    The nature energy and the chakra were furiously smashing into each other, the seals slowly taming them and molding them into something else after the energies merged.

    The first five minutes were pure bliss.

    The next fifteen minutes were still very enjoyable but worry started to seep into Tsunade''s mind.

    It was however thest forty minutes that had her frowning when the chakra didn''t stop leaking. Naturally, as someone who almost died from such a leakage, Tsunade was scared witless when her chakra levels hit 20% full. Since Rei bonded to her, saving her life, she never once went under fifty percent of her full reserves. One could say she had an almost hysterical fear of being low on chakra and this situation was not helping her mental state... not at all.

    Inwardly freaking out, Tsunade trembled as even more chakra left her. She shared this worry of hers with her new family but now... she regretted it. Rei would certainly not make this matrix if she did. Tsunade wanted to curl into a ball and start whimpering.

    And then, she heard Rei''s voice, "Now! Imbue the secondary consciousness!"

    Cold calm swept her shaken mental state, and as if in reflex, Tsunade used the technique derived from shadow cloning Rei taught her, to create a secondary consciousness and imbued it into the chakra/nature energy construct in front of her.

    With that... her mind grew numb and Tsunade felt as if somebody hit her head with one of her super-powered punches sans the pain. Disoriented, she felt her head spinning and her senses going haywire. For a second, Tsunade thought she was feeling things from two different perspectives and it was beyond weird but when she was about to focus on this feeling, she was dragged into her own mind, her head snapping back as if pped.

    Anf Tsunade could feel her chakra again. Her full reserves. Of which, 90% were currently cutely yipping at her. Her own chakra... alive.

    Speechless... didn''t give her current state any justice.

 Chapter 187 - Ch187. Artificial Bijuu 2

    <h4>Chapter 187 - Ch187. Artificial Bijuu 2</h4>

    Rei evenly stared at the ck fox cub in front of him, getting an even stare from the fox in return before chuckling. Leaning forward, Rei took the cub into his hands and put it on his l.a.p where the ck fox cub curled into a ball and tiredly yawned before falling asleep.

    ''Little bastard,'' Rei''s eyebrow yfully twitched, ''Here he falls asleep when I have to keep myself awake. Damn was this tiring!''

    Rei slowly rolled his shoulders as his eyes started looking around, checking his wives.

    Tsunade looked in wonder at her own blond fox that looked as excited to meet Tsunade. Rei smiled. The fox was definitely as excitable as Tsunade when she was surrounded by family.

    Konan was highly amused as she patted her blue fox that almost preened at the attention by straightening her back and slightly lifting its muzzle. Rei could only subtly nod to himself. That reaction was definitely something Konan would subconsciously do every time he showered her with attention.

    Mei was a bit lost, not knowing what to do when her auburn fox jumped into her l.a.p and demanded attention. Honestly, Rei could instantly see the simrities between the fox and Mei.

    Ringo had her crimson fox already in her hands, nuzzling it to her cheek. Rei could however inly see the curious gleam in the eyes of both Ringo and the crimson fox as they subtly took the measure of their surroundings.

    Lastly... Pakura. Her fox was green and both Pakura and the cub seemed almost hesitant to move from their spot as they eyed each other. Rei was about to look away when Pakura and the fox nodded at each other as if reaching some kind of understanding and then the fox slowly walked towards Pakura who started hesitantly rubbing its fur with a totally awkward expression.

    Rei couldn''t help but burst intoughter at that. It was the exact same expression Pakura had on her face when they had s.e.x for the very first time.

    Rei''s suddenughter broke the atmosphere around each pair of human and fox, causing ten pairs of eyes to redirect at Rei who tried to wave his hand to show he needed time in order to calm down.

    "Sorry, sorry. It''s just... Pakura was too cute there." Rei mischievously said which made Pakura flush crimson red and give him a slight re. It didn''t take her long to figure out what he meant by that.

    Neither did it take long for the other women who threw Pakura knowing looks, causing her to groan while still subconsciously gently rubbing her fox.

    ''Yes... too cute.'' Rei mentally decided, showing a proud smile.

    "Let''s stop teasing her, shall we?" Konan started speaking as she turned to Rei, "I would like to know how..." She waved her hand around her fox, "this actually works."

    Rei slowly nodded, "Yes. It would probably be best if I exined what the foxes exactly are and how they came to be." He threw Tsunade a concerned look. It was ever-so-obvious the woman had a hard time pulling her gaze away from her fox and her bodynguage... well.

    "Your first concern would undoubtedly be your chakra reserves, right?" Rei asked, getting nods in return. "They feel full and yet, you have only ten percent in your body. Don''t worry, that is normal. Your reserves will fully replenish," Rei smirked, "and the chakra in the fox will also quickly grow."

    Hearing that, the women looked pensive before Konan again took the leading role and very carefully asked in a bit disbelieving tone, "You... are saying our reserves will more than double with this?"

    She really couldn''t believe it. When Konan heard about the term ''bijuu'', she never thought it would be her chakrae alive. The problem with that was it was HER chakra. The second Konan''s hand touched her fox, Konan knew she could still siphon chakra from the fox and freely use it for Jutsu.

    Rei gave her a winning grin, "Nope." He quipped and gave a dramatic pause to let his wives ept the fact before he yfully continued, "They will increase by more than a hundred times. I really have no idea how much exactly the final number would be." He dropped the bomb, blowing the minds of his wives away.

    Konan and Rei already had more chakra reserves than even Madara and Hashirama so getting such an increase was something the women really could not even imagine. After all, if Madara and Hashirama are the strongest ording to their knowledge... what exactly are they bing?

    "To begin the exnation," Rei started, happy he had the full undivided attention of his wives, "let me give you a small briefing of what exactly Bijuu is. Shukaku, for example, is not made of sand as many would believe. He is actually the chakra in the sand and the seal markings on his skin. That''s why it does not matter how many times you cut him in half. He would always simply reform. The concept on which the foxes are based is the same. They are beings made of your chakra." Rei stopped for a moment, letting that fact settle down.

    "Now, I could not actually create a soul. After all, I do not own some miraculous eyes of circr bullshittery like the Sage of the Six Paths that could create anything with but a hand p. Hence, you had to create a secondary consciousness and imbue it into the chakra during the creation process. In the process, this consciousness was strengthened, reshaped, and so on, and on... not important." Rei dismissively waved his hand, "What is important is that the foxes are part of you given sentience."

    Hearing that, the women involuntarily smiled and cuddled their fox closer to them. It was almost instinctive. The only difference was Tsunade who held hers almost protectively.

    Rei''s lips stretched into an almost gleeful smirk before he continued. The next part was the reason why he could proudly proim himself a genius. "That means their chakra which is a mix of your own chakra, nature energy, and bijuu chakra they can now produce, is yours to use as you see fit. You can merge with the fox, boosting your reserves in both potency and capacity. Especially since the foxes do not have a limited body of flesh, hence their reserves can grow to insane proportions if we look at it from the perspective of human standards. While they have less chakra than Shukaku right now, with time, they will surpass nine-tails. Of that, I have no doubt." Rei exined, causing the women to look at the cute little foxes in a new light.

    They were not just pets. The women quickly understood what Rei meant. These were tools that would help them grow stronger. And yet... Rei''s wives knew that the bond they felt between themselves and their fox was not idental. Rei clearly wanted them to treat the foxes with love.

    "Once they grow up, you can use them as Summoning Animals you basically hold within you. And since they were made from your chakra and consciousness, they will never betray you. The best feeling for them is being merged with you, being at home. I also added a few seals on them," Rei winced saying that. The room they were in was a mess. Many seals were burned off,pletely dispersed, basically destroyed. The seal matrix was unusable and Rei would have to invest half-year of effort to recreate it. Not that he would ever do something like this again. "thanks to these chakra maniption seals, the foxes will be able to change their sizes at will. Any questions?"

    The room descended into silence as all five women pondered if there was something they wanted to know about.

    "How long till they grow up?" Mei eagerly asked.

    "Few years... which means," Rei nced at Tsunade, "you will have to separate." That obviously didn''t go well with the women but Tsunade looked positively hurt. "They have to be in my Dimension in order for the nature energy to nourish them, boosting their growth and chakra reserves. Before you ask, yes, they could do it while merged with you but it would take centuries instead of years."

    "Rei''s dimension can be called one big energy battery." Konan nodded in understanding.

    "Which means, they will need to be babysat." Rei smiled when Tsunade instantly perked up, "There are six of us so we will rotate on a daily basis while the seventh day we can take a break from work and spend in the Dimension together."

    "I can delegate most of my work to one of my best apprentices and spend more time with the cubs." Tsunade interjected, causing the others to narrow their eyes at her. Only now did the other four women notice that something was off with her.

    Rei''s lips twitched at Tsunade''s remark, "We all need some bonding time with them," Tsunade lowered her head. "But fine. If you can delegate your work, do so. Just... don''t let me down by cking. After all, it was you who wanted the position of the Head of Medics, Tsunade."

    Tsunade looked mollified but also a bit hurt that Rei would consider her cking. Looking at her blond fox... she couldn''t in good conscience say she wouldn''t do it though. Reluctantly, she nodded and decided for herself that she will teach more medics to show her dedication to Rei while also creating more free time for her to spend with her cub.

    "Also, I have to say I am sorry, Tsunade." Rei sheepishly added, causing the women to turn to him with interest springing up on their face, before turning to Konan, "If you remember, when Tsunade bonded to us, her soul was fractured."

    Konan smiled, "And this was a way to rectify that, wasn''t it?" She then smirked at Tsunade, "But I see there were some side-effects, heh?"

    Rei could only sigh in exasperation.

 Chapter 188 - Ch188. Tsunades soul

    <h4>Chapter 188 - Ch188. Tsunade''s soul</h4>

    Hearing Konan and Rei discuss a possible problem with her soul, Tsunade instantly became serious. She might not know what it exactly meant for her, and the years since bonding with Rei she never once found a problem with her health, but better safe than sorry.

    "I didn''t really put much thought to Tsunade''s problem with her soul, to be honest." Rei slowly started exining the situation. Making sure to be nonchnt about it which told his girls it was nothing to get worked over for. "Firstly, it didn''t really affect Tsunade because none of her techniques depend on her soul and my senses were telling me she was not affected whatsoever. I actually watched her very closely but when no change urred even after three years and nothing seemed wrong with Tsunade, I simply shrugged it off for the moment. If Tsunade was Yamanaka, the whole situation would be probably different since her techniques would tremendously weaken but as it was, curing her was not very important at the time." Rei stopped, making sure his meaning was conveyed.

    "Is it really fine? Fractured soul sounds kind of dangerous." Mei voiced out, frowning, as she scooted closer to Tsunade in a supportive manner.

    "Well, that''s not really what her ailment was, actually." Rei gave Mei a reassuring smile, "At the time, I didn''t have enough knowledge about souls so I called it as I saw it but it''s not as if Tsunade''s soul is missing a piece. It sure as hell does look like that to my senses but as I got more knowledgeable, I figured out it is not really so."

    Hearing him, Konan, Tsunade, and Pakura perked up, interested in the topic. After getting reassurance from Rei that Tsunade was fine, Ringo stopped caring and decided to y with her fox. Mei, on the other hand, was still close to Tsunade but she also didn''t care about whatever theory Rei was about to portray. If it was really important, he would force her to learn it anyway.

    "From what I know, and do take into consideration that I am no expert by any sort of a stretch," Rei started, "Souls are energy-based constructs... well, sort of? Anyway, Tsunade''s soul wascking energy without any way to replenish it. Our bonding patched her soul up, preventing more energy leakage but it didn''t help in any way to replenish the lost energy. And that''s where Tsunade''s bijuues in." He grinned. He might not be an expert on souls but his understanding of Tsunade''s problem was good enough to create a solution. The side-effects... those were negligible at bestpared to whatever could happen to her because of her weakened soul. Rei wasn''t about to leave her in that state, not when he had a solution to it. He was not nearly enough delusional, reckless, or arrogant to think there would be no consequence whatsoever if he let it drag on.

    "You used the nature energy to somehow strengthen my soul during the process of creating Blondie." Tsunade interrupted as an understanding gleam suddenly shed through her eyes.

    Rei raised his eyebrow at her, surprised she figured it out but there were more important things right now. "Blondie?" He asked, almost amused.

    Tsunade cutely blushed and her eyes lit up with joy as she nodded. "Since she is blond, I will call my girl Blondie."

    "That''s actually nice." Konan interjected, the corners of her lips slightly up, "Then mine will be Indigo."

    "Emerald." Pakura said, joining the conversation as she stroke her almost preening fox.

    "I will go with Auburn," Mei nodded, following the theme set by Tsunade. "It''s simple and reminds me of my beautiful hair."

    "In that case," Ringo held her fox on the level of her eyes as she stared at it intently. "You will be Crimson, understood?" Only when the fox nodded did Ringo smile and briefly kiss its muzzle in satisfaction before putting it back into her l.a.p.

    "I guess, there aren''t many choices left for me." Rei chuckled before looking at the sleeping ck fox in his l.a.p that was also the only male of the bunch. "Sorry, buddy, ording to the naming theme you were deemed to be ckie." He said with a mocking undertone as if he slightly pitied the fox which caused Tsunade to give him a slight unamused re, recognizing the jab at her naming sense.

    "Naming aside." Rei continued, looking at Tsunade with a bit of proudness in his eyes and also a veiled surprise. "I am actually surprised you recognized what strengthened your soul."

    Tsunade shrugged, "You threw me enough hints. At first, I thought my senses going so haywire I couldn''t recognize which way is up or down was a part of the ritual but now I know why I felt that way and why it felt so familiar. Nature Energy simply supercharged my senses too much as it flowed..." Tsunade''s expression became a bit puzzled, "not really into my body but still inside of me? The actual feeling is hard to exin. Anyway, the side-effects?" She added a bit worriedly.

    "Don''t worry. It''s nothing major. You probably noticed how we all share a liking for our foxes. They are akin to an inseparable best friend to us. But in your case, your bond is much, much closer. Considering she," Rei pointed at Blondie, "was born out of your chakra and consciousness, it isn''t even that wrong, ya know?" He knowingly smiled at the bbergasted Tsunade.

    "I... Right." Tsunade looked at her hands, unwilling to raise her head higher for the moment.

    "If it makes you feel any better, I think you will be a good mother to Blondie." Konan added, causing Tsunade to grow even quieter as her cheeks gained pink dusting while the other girls either silently snickered at her embarrassment or gave their own encouragements.

    "Thank you." Tsunade eventually muttered, grateful for the opportunity. Blondie might not have been her real child but she felt attached to her nevertheless. Tsunade knew Rei didn''t want children. Not yet, anyway. It didn''t even matter as much since their lifespan was lengthened to incredible proportions so they had a few centuries before even thinking about it. But Tsunade craved family ever since she lost hers. Being able to feel a motherly bond to her little fox was... almost heavenly for her.

    The group spent the next few moments relishing the pleasant surprise as they yed with their new additions before Rei decided to continue the conversation.

    "So, any other questions?"

    At first, it looked like everybody was content. Rei knew his girls were curious and most likely had loads of questions. But he also knew they would not ask unless they were at the end of their wits or it was something they really deemed important.

    That''s why he was really surprised when he heard Tsunade''s voice.

    "In fact... yes." She started unsurely before growing determined, "I would like to ask why. Why exactly do you focus on making us stronger? We are probably the strongest ninjas alive when ites to chakra reserves and maniption. And yet," She swiped her hand around, indicating the foxes, "it is still not enough. I want to know why." She bit her lower lip. She really wanted to know and more importantly, she needed to know if there is something she could help Rei with.

    "Eh... because I am bored?" Rei weakly tried, only getting eye-rolls in return which turned his expression a bit sheepish. "Fine." He sighed. There wasn''t a question of ''Should I reveal it?'' in his mind. All five of the women he loved and trusted so he started talking.

    "You see, a thousand years ago...

 Chapter 189 - Ch189. Plans and reasons

    <h4>Chapter 189 - Ch189. ns and reasons</h4>

    "You see, a thousand years ago, a person from the Otsutsuki n came to this to gather chakra fruit." Rei started, causing his wives to look at him strangely. Chuckling, Rei continued, "A lot happened, this person betrayed herrades, stabbing them in their back in order to have the fruit for herself... or that''s the story as I know it. Who knows if it is the truth. Too many years passed since then, after all." Rei shook his head before bing serious again. "But what is important is that this person ate the chakra fruit, bing the Progenitor of Chakra, the Rabbit Goddess Kaguya."

    "Goddess?" Konan looked intently at Rei. "You are training us to fight a Goddess?" She added almost in disbelief.

    "No, not at all." Rei smiled at Konan''s baffled expression, something not seen that often. "In a fight to the death, you would lose to Kaguya even if you teamed up and possessed fully grown bijuu. No, leave Kaguya to me. Who knows, maybe you will get another sister out of it?" Rei mischievously joked. He seriously didn''t believe that. Not really. Kaguya was... well, for a human, calling her Goddess was not that wrong if one took into consideration what she was really capable of. "Anyway, it''s not Kaguya who is important here. She was betrayed by her two sons and sealed in the moon. But I digress. They had their own reasons and it is hard to say who was right and who wrong."

    "Moon?" Tsunade muttered, for a moment forgetting she was in Rei''s dimension and subconsciously looking up. Realizing what she did, her cheeks pinked.

    Rei simply appreciated the cute sight and calmly smiled at Tsunade, "The problem here is not Kaguya. Well, not yet anyway. The problem is the Otsutsuki n."

    "You said they came to this." Ringo slowly started, "That means they are in fact NOT from this, right?" She asked with a bit of an unbelieving undertone, finding it kinda hard to ept that aliens existed.

    Rei nodded, causing Ringo to bite her lower lips as a need for more intel shed through her eyes, her mind switching into her Assassin mode. She needed info, their weaknesses, their habits, their...

    Suddenly, a soft blue ball of chakra tenderly impacted Ringo''s forehead, getting her out of her funk as the other girls giggled.

    "Calm down, Ringo. We have a few decades until they attack." Rei said, "In fact, I have an idea how to hide this from them but it would need a LOT of power, time, and resources. But I am up for it. I didn''t build my vige only to have it destroyed by some wannabe pale-skinned fruit-muncher."

    "And I guess, having a Goddess as a power source, would really help these ns, right?" Mei quipped, making Rei blink at her before nodding with a grin.

    "But Kaguya is a piece of work in itself. Getting her out of the moon would be incredibly hard. Getting her to cooperate with us would be difficult because I have no idea what her mental state is or if she is really affected by the chakra fruit or not. If I get skilled and strong enough to safely pull her out of the moon while being capable of stuffing her inside of it again? Sure, we can try getting her on our side. If not? F.u.c.k her. Not worth the risk." Rei seriously said, causing all five women to instinctively straighten up.

    Rei didn''t have any qualms about doing something others would consider a veritable suicide attempt for years. Now he actually says that there is something he thinks is dangerous enough that the risks are not worth the possible results? The girls naturally knew what exactly that meant. Any normal chap trying to pull that off would most likely not survive the next day. Thoughts about getting Kaguya out of the moon quickly left their minds. It would be better to leave that to Rei.

    Even Konan decided to focus on something else. Sure, she handled many things but when it came to decisions that really mattered or would propel them a head above the shoulders of others, it was always Rei who made the decision. Konan could live with that. She trusted Rei with her life so there was no need to bother with what to do with a possibly murderous god-like being who was sealed for a millennium. ''Rei will figure it out.'' She mentally shrugged while her expression was the perfect image of calm with a slightly amused smile as her mind was deciding what lingerie to take into bed tonight to properly motivate her Rei.

    "How strong do you need us to be to contend against Otsutsuki?" Pakura asked the important question as she distractedly patted Emerald. She was the weakest of the group and while she was slowly catching up, this revtion meant she didn''t have the leisure of being half-assed in her training.

    Rei helplessly shrugged at her question. "I have no idea, to be honest. The bijuu are a nice step-up and it will give us the energy levels necessary to contend against them in case I will be unable to iste this. After we got the bijuu into ourselves? Then we will have to learn more about chakra and its possible applications. We know nothing about it." Rei bitterly stated.

    "Ah..." Konan''s eyes slightly widened as if she realized something.

    "I see..." Tsunade muttered, her tone a bit mischievous.

    Ringo simply raised her eyebrow at Rei in an ''Are you serious?'' manner.

    Pakura stayed stoic but the corners of her lips were twitching. She was one of those who was setting up the system in Rei''s hidden vige. While she had no idea what good it would be when she was setting it up, now she understood why it was done that way almost instantly.

    "I, on the other hand, don''t see!" Mei pouted and crossed her hands under her c.h.e.s.t, supported by Auburn who heatedly yipped in agreement.

    "That''s not very surprising." Konan smugly smirked before continuing in an admonishing tone that had Mei silenced in a jiffy, "You refused any position of management in the vige and don''t bother with what is going on with it. You would naturally not make the connection." She shrugged. "If you did, you would know that our vige has a bit of a different promotion system than others. Not only our ninjas need to reach some standard of power before they can be promoted, every chuunin aiming to be a jonin has to invent a new technique and hand it to the Promotion Board to be reviewed. We made it into a rite of passage of sorts. To think Rei added it so that every single ninja of ours cane up with a new way to use chakra for us when we reach the stage where we need a bit of inspiration to get stronger..." Konan giggled. "It could be actually called cheating."

    Rei simply grinned at Konan, "My vige, my rules. Even if they knew, they can''t reallyin. Not with the benefits our vige offers." He then moved his gaze towards Ringo, "But yes. Once we get to the level where our chakra reserves would be pretty much big enough and our enemies would have simrly massive reserves, it would alle to technique and that''s why having hundreds of working chakra usage concepts from our dutiful ninja force will be helpful. They don''t have to make something powerful. Just something to give us a push in the right direction. We can develop the technique to be powerful but we need at the very least a working foundation. This way, we won''t have to spend our time trying toe up with one."

    "I just now realized." Tsunade raised her eyes towards Rei, affectionately gazing at him. "You really couldn''t be bothered what happens to the world, could you?" Her tone was almost sad but also content at the same time. Tsunade''s eyes slowly trailed over her sisters, "As long as we are fine, you wouldn''t care." Tsunade bitterly smiled, tearing up. "Thank you, Rei. For doing so much for me."

    Rei and his other girls stayed silent with their own thoughts, as they listened to Tsunade''s muted happy sobs as she tried to regain control of her emotions. Rei... didn''t want to go into this discussion because even he knew it was a lost cause. And now that Tsunade said it aloud, his wives knew it too.

    In the end, his reasons why he cared what happens to the Elemental Nations were simple. Tsunade was still fond of Konoha. Konan was proud of the Biri-Biri Company she helped build up. Pakura didn''t want to see Suna destroyed. And in some way, Ringo still cared about Kirigakure.

    That... was honestly it. He simply didn''t want to see them sad.

 Chapter 190 - Ch190. Visiting the Daimyo of Fire

    <h4>Chapter 190 - Ch190. Visiting the Daimyo of Fire</h4>

    Rei, d in an ornamental kimono usually worn by nobles, with a dressed-up Tsunade on his arm, came in front of Toyotomi Hideyori, the Daimyo of the Country of Fire and slightly bowed in greetings. The man actually showed surprise at their attendance as since the fiasco with ROOT, the diplomat from Land of Spring never attended his birthday parties. The rtions between their countries were that bad.

    Toyotomi was naturally shocked when a man wearing a kimono decorated with the symbol for the newly-renamed Land of Spring appeared in front of him. Especially since Tsunade freaking Senju, the hardest-to-find person on the damned continent was his date.

    Toyotomi distinctly remembered Hiruzen Sarutobi asking him if his spywork caught a whiff of Tsunade''s whereabouts. The old coot clearly wanted to beg his former apprentice for money from the Senju ounts but without her explicit permission, Hokage or not, the ounts stayed sealed. s, the former Sannin and best medic in the world proved to be far more elusive than even Jiraiya the Sannin who was currently resignedly sat in the corner near the table with deserts while his new whal-, ahem, wife, stuffed her cheeks with sweets.

    Happy development, that. It certainly made dealing with Earth country diplomats easier.

    But back to the problem at hand... Toyotomi beamed, more at Tsunade rather than the man next to her, and warmly said, "Wee. I hope you will enjoy the party."

    ...

    The party was over and Tsunade sat on Rei''s lower back, straddling him as she massaged his stiff shoulders. Rei really deserved a lot of attention for putting up with Jiraiya''s antics. And the white-haired man didn''t even know Tsunade was his wife yet. Thankfully, there was Jiraiya''s wife to drag himˇ­ somewhere. Unfortunately, that meant nobles and merchants swarmed Tsunade and Rei like hungry sharks.

    Soˇ­ yeah, in Tsunade''s honest opinion, Rei really deserved some proper pampering. Then again, that might have been her inner pervert speaking. Something about having her husband m.o.a.n under her gentle touch was oddly satisfying and very arousing. It perfectly satisfied her inner d.e.s.i.r.es and stroked her ego in a way that made her feel all warm and fluffy inside of her smug heart.

    Is it any wonder she threw a vase at the dipshit who interrupted their massage session which resulted in a cracked skull, three broken ribs, and a fair bit of bruises for the guy after the thrown vase embedded him into the wall behind him?

    From there, it didn''t take long for disgruntled Tsunade, a fearful squad of samurai that decided to be at the very least three feet away from the seething female at every time, and amused Rei who loved how Tsunade absentmindedly yed with his fingers to calm her anger down while they waited for their inviter, sitting in a quitevish meeting room in the Fire Daimyo''s Castle.

    The door to the room opened and the Fire Daimyo stepped inside, a relieved friendly smile on his lips. The smile however didn''tst long and quickly faltered the second he saw the frown and narrowed eyes of Tsunade.

    Rei had to mentally praise the guy for resisting the naturally obvious urge to step back.

    "A-, Ah, hi, Tsunade. I see you are still quite the fire-cracker... hehe." Toyotomi averted his eyes as Tsunade''s expression became even more annoyed, and awkwardlyughed.

    "Toyotomi... you better exin yourself fast or I will give you a reminder of our ydates where you made me mad the first and also thest time." Tsunade sharply said, causing the samurai in the room to straighten up in preparation.

    Rei only watched in amus.e.m.e.nt as Toyotomi subconsciously rubbed his b.u.t.t, not even realizing it himself, and a grimace appeared on his face. "I''d rather not get spanked again." He quietly muttered and sat down on the opposite side of the table behind which Rei and Tsunade sat. "Anyway, I would like you to heal my son. I was looking for you for quite some time now but you were always... uh, unavable." Toyotomi suspiciously nced at Rei.

    Tsunade nodded, "Yes. That''s half of the reason why we even are in the Land of Fire." She said, causing Toyotomi to dete in relief, causing Tsunade''s lips to stretch into a content smile as she said her next words. "I also wanted you to meet my husband, Rei Yotsuba from the Land of Spring. It was him that made me, as you said, unavable. I was kinda lost on the way out of his bedroom." She giarised Kakashi.

    Tsunade''s words froze Toyotomi''s happiness and turned it into an arctic cold chill that crept up his spine as he stared with horror at Tsunade before slowly moving his eyes towards Rei, only to look back onto Tsunade, his horror only growing as he saw the woman''s hand on her stomach.

    "Please... don''t tell me you are pregnant." Toyotomi, pale as a ghost, breathlessly rasped out, his eyes the depiction of terror.

    Tsunade giggled.

    Toyotomi knew Tsunade never giggled. Toyotomi was about to faint from the sheer consequences of this when Tsunade''s voice pulled him out of his brief misery.

    "No. Of course not." She deadpanned.

    And just like that, Toyotomi felt all weight as if lift from his shoulders while his upper body leaned forward, and his forehead impacted the table from the sheer relief. Letting out a brief groan, Toyotomi drawled, "Don''t spook me like that, Tsunade. I had enough international incidents tost me a few years." He sighed before mumbling thest part for himself. "You are too old for kids anyway.

    "Nice to meet you Hideyori-sama," Rei decided to interject before Tsunade ttened the man who apparently didn''t ount for enhanced hearing of shinobi, "I must say Tsunade didn''t talk much about you." He half-stated and half-asked in an unsure manner.

    Toyotomi snorted and Rei was yet again surprised at how casual this meeting became. "Of course she wouldn''t talk about me. Once upon a time, we were engaged but she decided to be a ninja rather than my wife. At best, we are childhood friends now." Toyotomi helplessly shook his head. "That said... your rtionship is still a massive pain in the a.s.s." He gave Rei his best stern piercing look but much to Toyotomi''s surprise, Rei just shrugged as if he didn''t care and Tsunade giggled... again.

    Toyotomi could feel the beginning of a profound headache forming.

    "And why exactly would it be a problem?" Rei asked.

    Despite all that, this short meeting held many new revtions for him. Tsunade was engaged to the Fire Daimyo? Shocker. She was his childhood friend? Poord.

    And for some reason, Tsunade being with him... no, being with a foreigner was apparently a problem. Rei really didn''t like where this was going as it might justplicate his previous ns.

    Rei nced at Tsunade, causing her to fidget a bit as she threw him an apologetic look, "Sorry, I only remembered it now. You know how I hate politics so I never gave this much attention." She suddenly stopped herself and with her eyes gestured towards the samurai standing at attention near the walls.

    Toyotomi quickly understood the gesture and sent his samurai guards and the hidden member of his ninja guard out of the room before strapping a secrecy seal on the table. Civilian, he may be, but he had a few tricks up his sleeve.

    "Tsunade is talking about..." He started.

    "Shh!" Tsunade sternly silenced the man before fluidly grasping a needle in her hair and pulling it out, causing her hair to fall onto her shoulders. With a flick of her wrist, the needle sailed through the air towards one of the corners where it nailed a previously invisible figure to the wall, straight through his forehead.

    "ROOT." Tsunade deadpanned at Toyotomi who gained a look of realization before his eyes sparkled with barely hidden anger. Neither Rei nor Tsunade had any doubt that there would be harsh words exchanged with Hiruzen about this. After all, the Daimyo spent millions of Ryo because of the diplomatic fallout from thest incident with ROOT, and after that, he gave his explicit order to have them disbanded. To find they ignored it and one was spying on his meetings...

    ''Sucks to be Sarutobi right about now.'' Rei mentally snickered.

    "Well, now that we are alone, could you tell me what this is actually about?" Rei turned to Tsunade who sheepishly nodded, squeezing his hand a bit stronger now while her eyes nervously looked at his.

    "Ah... you see, he is talking about the Secret Section 27 of Konoha Creation Treaty between the Senju n and the Hideyori royal family. You see, Konoha is different from other hidden ninja viges on a very fundamental level. The section is about the creation of the Autonomous Country of Konoha..."

 Chapter 191 - Ch191. Konoha Creation Treaty and its results

    <h4>Chapter 191 - Ch191. Konoha Creation Treaty and its results</h4>

    "Autonomous Country of Konoha?" Rei did almost a double-take, understanding what Tsunade was telling him. Konoha basically didn''t belong to the Country of Fire. But... "How? That''s not how things are now. Hokage is definitely under themand of Daimyo... well, figuratively speaking, at least."

    Tsunade gave Rei an awkward smile and shrugged before giving Toyotomi a meaningful nce, urging him to exin.

    "Right," Toyotomi sighed in exasperation, "There is no freaking way Tsunade would pay enough attention in her studies to know this ''political bullshit'', as she would im." He mockingly shook his head before stiffening as Tsunade leaked a bit of her killing intent at the poor guy. To be honest, the amount Tsunade leaked betrayed that she was at most quite annoyed. She really didn''t like having her embarrassing moments revealed in front of her husband.

    "Anyway..." Toyotomi coughed and averted his eyes from Tsunade to Rei, trying to ignore her. "The Hokage is basically something like a Regent." Seeing how dubious Rei looked, Toyotomi gave him a knowing smile, "I have no doubt people who actually know this could be numbered on one hand. That''s why it works and why Konoha can ''elect'' their own Hokages as if they were like every other vige. But ''elected'' Hokage is under the Daimyo of the Fire country in the proverbial food chain. To be honest, thend on which Konoha stands belongs all to the Senju n whereas other ns only rent it for free as was decided in initial negotiations when new ns became a part of Konoha while most of thend is rented for a ridiculously small fee. That''s why Konoha is such a good ce to live in for civilians, and especially merchants. The cost ofnd there is very low. s, the Senju ounts are very fat due to collecting a part of the rent from the whole vige while the other part goes to the treasury of the governing body. Mito was really one scarily smart woman." Toyotomi snickered.

    "Oh... so that''s why it was so easy to relocate the Uchiha n to the outskirts after the Kyuubi incident. They simply did not own thend on which their residential area stood so they could be ordered to clean it up and get the f.u.c.k out of there by..." Rei stopped for a second before promptly facepalming. "ah, Hokage is also overseeing the usage of thend, right?"

    Toyotomi could only shrug in a ''what can you do'' kind of way and started exining.

    "Hashirama was naive but my grandfather often said the man was not stupid. He could see the mess in his own n when Elders tried to grab more political power. And they said the Senju n was very family-oriented and friendly. If it was bad in the Senju n, Hashirama knew it would be worse in other ns. He made sure to have his wife, Mito Uzumaki, right next to him when they were creating the treaty doc.u.ment. The woman was supposedly quite fiery and wouldn''t give a quarter no matter what." Toyotomi said, taking a sip from his tea, "Hence, the final treaty was made. The Konoha was to be run as it is today, with their Hokages and stuff, and the other hidden viges copied it. What is secret though, is that Senju Mito made damn sure to add a fail-safe use into the treaty, saying that the Head of the Senju n can dere himself a Daimyo of Konoha if the ruling body was corrupted, seizing the proverbial reins. After all, the Senju n already owned all of the Land. They already were Daimyo in all but name and power, of which, neither would be hard for the n to quickly acquire. Not when the Hideyori royal family would support them." Toyotomi finished the history lesson.

    "But nobody ever approached me with problems with thend when I was in the vige during the third war. If I owned it and nobody needed anything from me..." Tsunade mumbled, narrowing her eyes.

    Toyotomi nced at Rei, "Your husband is correct, Tsunade. Hokage has the right to oversee the usage and distribution of thend if the Senju n head doesn''t want the duty. Considering you never signed up for it..." He trailed off. "I think the Hokage hopes you have no idea about the treaty since your n died off so fast. He knows how disinterested you are in politics. Plus, you never really showed any knowledge of its existence, did you?" Toyotomi remarked, causing Tsunade to still as memories shed through her eyes. Memories of her sensei asking questions... She remembered what she told him. She said she would definitely not want more responsibilities on top of running the hospital.

    "That son of a bitch. He basically confirmed I don''t want to do it without even mentioning what exactly ''it'' is." Tsunade clenched her jaw in disbelief. "He tricked me." She added, her eyes wide.

    "Konoha''s higher-ups must have been over the moon when they got to know you can not have children." Rei carefully stated, not liking where this train of thoughts is leading them.

    "I... wh-, what?" Tsunade stammered, caught off guard by the suddenness of that statement since she was still in the process of epting that she was tricked by her own sensei. Despite her initial surprise, she lived with Rei for well over a decade and that, for a skilled kunoichi, meant she at least somewhat knew how his mind worked. It didn''t take her long to understand what he was insinuating. "Ah." Her eyes dimmed and her fists clenched as anger flooded her. Sure, it was a baseless suggestion but it made a disgusting amount of sense. Especially with the new revtions.

    Rei gave Tsunade a side-nce and squeezed her hand in a reassuring manner, getting a weak, extremely fake smile in return. "We have no proof of it yet. Don''t be so down. Maybe we are wrong."

    "What are you talking about?" Toyotomi asked, frowning at being left out.

    Tsunade and Rei looked at each other, and Rei gave her an uncaring shrug, meaning it was up to her if she wanted to tell him. Sighing and rubbing the bridge of her nose, Tsunade started in a somewhat sullen manner, "Sarutobi told me he knew somebody was hunting the surviving Senju nsmen in the period between the first and the second war but he had no way to counter it. I gave him quite the scolding for not telling the Senju n that it was happening. For all we knew, we were simply unlucky and fate had it for us. But... I understood that it might have started panic or whatever reason he threw at me. I understood his reasoning why he didn''t tell and focused on investigating, why it was all so secretive."

    Hearing that, Toyotomi showed a baffled expression but deep down, he was angry. Not many knew that the Senju n was very close allies to the Hideyori family in the past. To think they were hunted down until only Tsunade was left... To think the Hokage didn''t do anything meaningful to prevent it. To think they would even conceal this fact...

    Toyotomi suddenly stilled as realization hit him and his rage instantly subsided. His face turned pale and his eyes darted from Rei to Tsunade, getting what they were not telling. "You... you actually think somebody from Konoha was responsible for the Senju demise." He summed up the unspoken thoughts, his eyes wide from disbelief.

    "There is no other way. We know somebody from Konoha had a hand in it." Tsunade bitterly shook her head. "It''s fishy as hell once you start to look at it as one incident rather than multiple unfortunate idents spread through the years. Every other n was fine, just the Senjus suffered. While others had close to ten failed missions per year, and even then the ones who failed usually returned, the Senju nsmen had also around ten failures but most of them were fatal. Sure, the Senju nsmen were very skilled and sent on dangerous missions but... you know." Tsunade sighed. "I just never even in my wildest dreams thought Sarutobi-sensei would have any reason to cover it up on purpose."

    "Or directly have a hand in it." Rei quipped, causing Tsunade''s shoulders to slump even lower. Realizing his mistake, Rei winced and scooted closer to the downtrodden woman, embracing her close to his c.h.e.s.t. "He had no motive. We... er, I knew that Sarutobi is a right bastard." Rei spoke towards Toyotomi while c.a.r.e.s.sing Tsunade''s hair. "But we never could think of any motivation why he would support the Senju purge. After all, he was Tobirama''s pupil..."

    "So was Danzo." Tsunade spat.

    "... and he truly cares for Konoha." Rei finished, not minding Tsunade''s interruption.

    "But with this new revtion, it became self-evident why he, as the Head of the Sarutobi n, would not want the Senju n alive. The use in the treaty is simply a preventive measure if the vige became corrupt. The Senju n had every right to do this and every n head of that time epted it, knowing the honorable Senju would not abuse it. But..." Toyotomi sighed.

    "It would be awfully convenient if the Senju n disappeared and nobody could usurp Konoha''s leadership on a whim, wouldn''t it?" Rei continued. "Why stop somebody helping get rid of the problem, no?"

    "But Tsunade is his pupil. Someone he loves like his own daughter. After confirming she knew nothing about it..." Toyotomi nodded.

    "But Danzo has no such problem. Once Tsunade started digging in the old files and even got the blood samples proving that somebody purged the Senju blood from Konoha... all bets were off."

    "Hence the numerous assassination attempts when I was in Konoha. And here I thought it was because of me blocking his bills. I... I still don''t think that Sarutobi is directly responsible. I wouldn''t be surprised if he knew about it and knew exactly who was behind it but... I don''t think he had a hand in it." Tsunade added, having enough for the day. She nudged Rei, "Let''s end this here. I need my cuddly time to get my head away from..."

    Rei instantly leaned forward and kissed Tsunade the second she started speaking in that depressing way. "That''s fine." He smiled.

 Chapter 192 - Ch192. Breakfast with the Daimyo

    <h4>Chapter 192 - Ch192. Breakfast with the Daimyo</h4>

    Rei yawned as hezily flopped into a seat opposite the Fire Country Daimyo sitting behind a small cozy table in his gardens, enjoying breakfast. It was weird that there was not even one maid around him but surprisingly enough, Rei''s senses told him that maids were not the only thing missing. There was not even one guard around.

    ''That''s some hefty level of trust he is showing me.'' He hummed while rubbing his tired eyes.

    "Not enough sleep?" Toyotomi chuckled, biting an apple.

    Rei could only shrug. "It''s not like I can''t go on without sleep for a week. Butforting sad Tsunade? Especially since sad Tsunade is an indulgent Tsunade? No matter how pleasurable that is, it is also incredibly tiring."

    "Yes... I heard someints." Toyotomi''s eyes shone with mirth, "While the silencing seals did their job, the surroundings still received quite the... pounding." He smugly said. "I heard the rooms around yours vibrated from the sheer... activity. Some of the servants even suspect it was a small earthquake."

    Rei was far beyond being embarrassed by this, nor was he in the mood to entertain the man. He knew Tsunade was wild even without trying to forget her anger and emotional baggage. Shrugging, Rei showed Toyotomi he wouldn''t be embarrassed due to his words, which made the Toyotomi sigh in defeat.

    "I guess, I should expect some degree of patience and level-headedness from you. Especially since you are used to dealing with Tsunade. Honestly, I was ted when I heard our engagement was canceled. I couldn''t help but feel a slight fear towards her after I got my first beating when I... ahem, no forget it."

    "No, no, no. Do tell." Rei smirked, grabbing himself a slice of bread, some butter, and jam.

    Toyotomi looked quite ufortable but despite that, he decided to continue the tale, deeming it a long-forgotten past anyway, "When I tried to touch her c.h.e.s.t." Rei snickered hearing that but Toyotomi quickly continued to give a proper excuse for his actions, "I had a good reason, mind you. I was six and my father just told me kids were made from a loving touch between a girl and a boy. I naturally was curious." Toyotomi shrugged, returning Rei''s amused smile.

    "Dealing with Tsunade is not hard. All it requires is a whole lot of loving touches," Rei gave Toyotomi a meaningful nce, "and a body that can withstand her idental use of superstrength." He shrugged. "Despite what her personality would imply, once we really started to love each other, she is a very un-troublesome woman to keep around, as Naras would say. She is unsurprisingly independent and surprisingly low-maintenance. Well, yesterday was a clear exception to the rule but one gotta admit the topic was a bit too much for her emotions. But I doubt you sent a servant to wake me up in order to discuss the nuances of the rtionship with Tsunade." Rei said, looking directly at Toyotomi.

    "I see. Fair enough." Toyotomi nodded and instantly grew serious, "I just wanted to warn you that you should leave by the evening if you want to have a chance at sessfully evading Konoha ANBU inviting Tsunade back ''home''." He gave Rei an apologetic smile. "The ninja guardian from yesterday was one from Konoha and I can''t possibly reproach him from sending a missive about Tsunade''s presence back to Konoha, now, can I?" He sighed in irritation before rubbing his temples.

    "Insubordination? Wau." Rei eximed in mock cheer as he grabbed an orange.

    "Not really. I forgot to order him to keep it secret. The second he left the room he was on his way to send a message to his beloved Hokage. Some guards they are. That''s why I have to get people from the Fire Temple to bnce the number of Konoha''s ninjas around me." Toyotomi waved his hand dismissively. "Don''t get me wrong, they do their jobs but..." He stopped bitterly.

    "But their allegiance is not fully for you. Yeah, that must suck considering they are here to guard your very life." Rei nodded. "Anyway, don''t worry about Hiruzen. I kinda thought he would be present at your birthday party so I counted on him knowing we are here."

    "Ah... I never invite Hokage to my birthday parties. Too many diplomats who would be offended. Frankly, I don''t like him all that much. Too maniptive for my tastes. Told him exactly where he can stick his grandfatherly act the second he tried it on me when I took over from my father." Toyotomi rolled his eyes. "Well, I might have threatened to cut the funding in half if he pissed me off too much." He unrepentantly shrugged and bit into a toast in a very satisfied manner. Chewing and biting with enjoyment written on his face as he reminisced about that moment, Toyotomi finally gulped down the food and added, "That was frankly one of the best moments of my tenure as the Daimyo. The sour look of the usually grandfatherly dipshit was priceless. My father might have been naive and easy to manipte for more money but thankfully, I was taught by my mother."

    "Yeah... no. Still gonna make a run for it. I don''t wanna meet with the man. We will be off your hair by the time for dinner, right after Tsunade heals your son," Toyotomi visibly deted in relief at that, "and I discuss with you the real deal I came for." And just like that, Toyotomi tensed again. Friendliness was all good but when deals were mentioned, he had to act like a Daimyo, no matter if it came from a husband of his childhood friend.

    "Deal?" He asked warily but Rei only rolled his eyes and suddenly, a file appeared in his hand. Rei then put the file on the table and slid it towards Toyotomi who grabbed it and started to read it. Rei watched as the Fire Daimyo''s expression went from wary, to a surprised, then to approving, only to set itself in relieved, almost giddy one after he was done reading the offer.

    Then the realization struck Toyotomi hard as a frown appeared on his lips. "I can''t ept it. Don''t get me wrong, it is the best and most fair offer that came to me in years but nobles won''t ept it without proper excu-, uh, reason."

    "Then use me bringing Tsunade here and her healing your son as a springboard." Rei advised and Toyotomi looked at him with an unreadable gaze.

    "You... already have this all nned, right?" He slowly said after a while, causing Rei to smirk and scoot a bit to the right, making Toyotomi tilt his head before he noticed groggy Tsunade pass him and sit next to Rei, sleepily cuddling into his side with a cute content smile and messy bed hair.

    "The second trade routes between the Land of Spring and the Land of Fire are opened, it will be even better than a non-aggression pact, thus cementing our neutrality even further." Rei shrugged as his headnded on the top of Tsunade''s head, gently stroking it without him even realising he was doing it. By now, it was something so natural for him it was instinctive. Watching the disy, Toyotomi inwardly smiled and decided the two are good for each other as he listened to Rei, "That''s why our Daimyo is so fine with giving some benefits to the Land of Fire in this deal."

    Well, naturally, Sosetsu, the supposed Daimyo of the Land of Spring, was not ''so fine'' with it. He had no opinion about it one way or another. The guy was simply happy it would make the civilians live even morefortably. Honestly, since Rei became the real owner of the country, its wealth multiplied several-fold and the people were happier than ever. That was all Sosetsu wanted.

    "Okay..." Toyotomi slowly nodded and then smiled. "Let''s negotiate, then. Section three of the trade agreement is a bit..."

    "Shut up, it''s too early for politics." Tsunade grunted in annoyance, putting her head on Rei''s shoulder, peacefully dozing off much to the amus.e.m.e.nt of the two men.

    Both knew their talks had to be postponed.

 Chapter 193 - Ch193. Leaving the Fire Capital

    <h4>Chapter 193 - Ch193. Leaving the Fire Capital</h4>

    Tsunade and Rei sat in a tavern near the Western Gate of the Fire Capital, enjoying their afternoon with tea and a bit of innocent cuddling. The attention did wonders to stop Tsunade''s mind wandering back towards the spections about Hiruzen''s part in the Senju extinction and Rei was hell-bent on keeping it that way. He even decided to teleport back home to inform his girls that he and Tsunade are taking a week-long vacation and will travel back home on foot rather than teleporting back.

    That naturally prompted a few protests from Mei and suddenly, Rei found himself promising a private week-long time to each of his girls, not even knowing how or when.

    This day was also quite hard for Tsunade. The talks about the Konoha Creation Treaty continued, causing her a stark reminder of what happened to her n while also highlighting all the reasons Konoha''s higher-ups could have for it.

    This time, however, Rei was more focused on the other founding n, the Uchihas. He doubted Madara would sign a treaty so favorable to the Senju n without getting anything in return for his own n.

    Turns out that while the Senju gotnd, and it really didn''t look all that profitable at first nce, the Uchiha n got many permanent exemptions for tax and trade. Rei didn''t need to think hard to find out why such an imbnced treaty was signed. In a way, Uzumaki Mito screwed the Uchiha n over with this treaty since they got immediate returns and a chance to get rich fast all the while the Senju n part looked quite unappealing from a financial standpoint. They got thend and had to rent them for free to ns. At that time, most of Konoha''s popce was made of ns, hence the returns were abysmal. No wonder Madara would sign it. Rei wouldn''t be surprised if the man was ted and gleeful at the time.

    Rei knew how ''scheming'' n heads could be. They had to be good in business and diplomacy but he doubted even the current n head of the Uchiha n would figure out how insidious Mito made the entire treaty without spending weeks of pondering and referencing economy books. Madara? He had no freaking way to see it. He might have been abat prodigy of titanic proportions but businessman he was not. At best, Madara was passable in the field because, at the time of the vige formation, the n heads didn''t really need as much knowledge in such matters as nowadays when most profitable ns are those who have businesses in the vige.

    It was simple, then, ninja ns earned most money through doing ninja missions. Now? Now the really rich ns are focused on producing strong ninjas only to uphold tradition and reputation while keeping the n strong. It is more a matter of pride and standing in the vige rather than money.

    s, only when more and more civilians came to Konoha, the Senju started raking in money on a monthly basis, bing the ric.h.e.s.t n in the vige in a few short years. Not that anyone noticed since, by that time the n was already in half-shambles, half-extinct, and the Senju n was not known for its wealth in general, nor were they inclined to show how much money they had. In short, nobody even knew how wealthy the n was, except the Hokage.

    The next part that interested Rei was how they managed to convince Madara to sign the treaty with a use that would let the Senju n head takemand of the vige in case of corruption. ording to Toyotomi, Rei was looking at it from a bad angle.

    The Senju n got a special privilege but the Uchiha n also got something simr. Sadly, neither Toyotomi nor Tsunade could tell him what exactly the Uchiha n received. No matter what privilege they received in return for letting the Senju n seize the vige if it became corrupt. It must have been equally good for Madara to sign the doc.u.ment. All Toyotomi knew was that it had something to do with the seat of Hokage. Needless to say, Rei could make a guess and if he was right, it would be quite obvious why Madara was so pissed when Hashirama was chosen to be the first Hokage.

    Well, at the very least, Rei now finally understood why Hiruzen wasn''t that sad after the Uchiha massacre and why Danzo was so driven in getting rid of them. The entire reason was politics... who would have guessed, right?

    The second part of the day, after the breakfast and the talks, was Tsunade healing the Daimyo''s son, a man of thirty years old. It wasn''t hard to heal him, per se. The problem however was that it was not an illness but poisoning by a very rare and slow-acting poison from Kusagakure. Fortunately for the man, the poison was very easy to get out of his system and Tsunade did it in ten minutes tops. The real danger of the concoction was how undetectable it was.

    Needless to say, neither the Daimyo nor his son was amused by that revtion and the shitstorm began. The Daimyo ordered a search through the belongings of literally everyone in the castle. Hundreds of samurais made a whole lot of mess, heedless of the protests. Honestly, both Rei and Tsunade found it quite funny, considering their own belongings were stored in the dimension and their room was basically empty.

    Not even an hour after the order was given, the poison was found in a drawer of one of the Daimyo son''s concubines. The one who bore him his oldest son and his heir since his own wife only had daughters.

    One quick interrogationter, the boy was no longer the heir and the concubine... well, Rei had no idea what happened to her or the boy afterward. He knew enough to not get entangled in such a royal pain in the a.s.s as that situation.

    All in all, Rei was damn happy because finding this out and helping in the matter only made it easier for Rei to negotiate the trading agreement between the Land of Fire and the Land of Spring more in the favor of the Land of Spring for him.

    The main reason why he came to the Land of Fire finished and knowing staying longer in the Fire Capital would be unpleasant because of the following events, Rei and Tsunade quickly decided to be on their way.

    As they rxedly sipped their tea in the tavern while sitting near the window and watching people passing by on the streets, three ck blurs whizzed through the crowd,pletely without any notice from the civilians. Rei and Tsunade''s eyes, however, saw these three figures clearly which told them it was time to leave the city.

    "Konoha''s ANBU." Rei sighed, "I guess, the Hokage already knows of your presence in the capital."

    "Yeah," Tsunade bitterly smiled, "Time to leave the city."

 Chapter 194 - Ch194. Anko Mitarashi 1

    <h4>Chapter 194 - Ch194. Anko Mitarashi 1</h4>

    Anko Mitarashi leaned on the tree behind her, gasping for air as her useless injured arm dangled from the shoulder of her beaten and tired body. She was actually quite surprised she still had the arm attached considering she used it to block most of the explosion from the trap she so unwittingly sprang up.

    ''F.u.c.k. The mission report said it was just a bunch of bandits! What the heck is this!?'' Anko mentally cursed, feeling her exhaustion as hopelessness started to creep into her heart.

    Around her, three men vigntly awaited her next action. All three would clearly be able to get to chunin rank if they were ninjas. Anko could only wince because of the bruises forming on her reasonably uninjured hand and legs while she hatefully epted she lowered her guard at the worst possible moment.

    The mission she set out to finish was the basic extermination of a bandit camp. Nothing hard, ording to her standards and record ofpleted and survived suicide missions.

    Everything went just fine too... at least until she had fifty corpses under her feet and decided to search through the camp.

    Who would have guessed there would be a high-level fuinjutsu explosive trap in a camp full of basically a bit stronger civilians!?

    Worse yet... who would have known four chunins would jump at her the second a tree stopped her momentary flight due to the explosion.

    Fast-forward a quite shameful beatdown where she was forced to repeatedly retreat, and here she was. Leaning on a tree to keep standing. Her working limbs were bruised as hell. The arm that ate up the explosion was bloody and somewhere even charred. She could feel her body reaching her limit due to exhaustion. Sweat was flowing into her stinging eyes and stuck her hair to her skin. She felt like vomiting and barely suppressed the pain her body was screaming at her in.

    What made it all worse was that the three men in front of her were considerably okay which only hurt her pride. She was almost jonin level! Four chunins should be easy to deal with... normally. s, she was quite disabled due to the explosion. Anko could only keep pushing her torn muscles in order to not have her head leave her shoulders. Not that the fight was a particrly long one but she was a bit satisfied that she managed to kill one of them.

    But by the looks of it, this was a game over for her. There was only one way to get out of this alive and even that had only a small chance of sess. Yes... Anko could clearly feel the pulsing pain from her shoulder where the ursed Cursed Seal was.

    ''Should I use it?'' Anko reluctantly thought, knowing the repercussions.

    "Let''s just kill the bitch, Orochimaru-sama..."

    And just like that, Anko''s mind froze, not paying attention to whatever was said afterward.

    ''Oro...chimaru?'' The realization hit her like a proverbial truck. This was a test. It could not even be called a trap. No... her bastard of a former teacher most likely sent them to test her willingness to use the Cursed Seal.

    Any notion of using the only thing that could save her life was instantly rejected. Anko simply refused to give Orochimaru the satisfaction of activating the seal... not even if it cost her her life.

    Gripping her kunai harder, Anko prepared for onest stand. If she was to die at the hands of Orochimaru''s subordinates, she decided to take as many of the bastards out with her.

    Seeing the change in her attitude, the three chunins tensed for a second, before chuckling at the absurdity of it all. The woman in front of them was barely standing. She will not be able to take a few steps forward, much less run at them. If they decided to make a pincushion out of her, she won''t even be able to dodge. Really... her determined stare was actually incredibly hrious to them. The woman was beaten. Now it was only a matter of how they would finish her off.

    They rxed...

    Anko hated the smug glint their eyes were giving her. More than that, she was ashamed that somebody could be so rxed when facing her in a fight. It reminded her of the times when she was a little girl facing the big badass snake Sannin who decided to train her. And she utterly hated how she missed those times.

    Suddenly, red droplets impacted Anko''s face, causing her to owlishly blink, her brain trying toprehend what happened when her eyes finally registered her three attackers, gaping at her with zed soulless eyes, their bodies riddled with...

    ''Are those wooden spikes?'' Anko''s mind,pletely shocked, barely managed toe to this conclusion as her eyes saw wooden spikes impaling the three chunins so violently, it caused blood stter all over her.

    Anko... fainted.

    ...

    Tsunade sat behind a wooden table in a basic small wooden house she created with her mokuton and was in the process of trying to write easy-to-understand medical scrolls for the medic-nin academy course. Rei was currently outside, hunting for dinner. While they had enough food stored in the dimension, Tsunade could only wistfully smile. She knew well that Rei wanted to hunt something and then spend time with her, preparing and cooking it. In some sweet misguided way, it was his attempt at cheering her up. She snorted. If he wanted her cheerful, all he had to do was bend her over the table she created.

    Tsunade''s eyes momentarily flickered towards the bed in the corner of the room, at the nuisance she saved earlier today and the most probable reason why Rei didn''t simply do exactly that. Really, Tsunade was honestly starting to regret saving the bothersome unconscious girl.

    The second Rei left the house, Tsunade made damn sure to create more rooms and applied silencing seals. She could understand why it would be awkward having s.e.x in the same room the unconscious girlid in but... she vehemently refused to hold herself back just because there was a stranger in the house! No more.

    Tsunade saw the girl''s body twitch and knew she was on the verge of waking up. Sighing to herself, Tsunade stored her half-finished medical book, just as Anko''s upper body abruptly rose into a sitting position on the bed, her eyes warily looking through the room as if she was a cornered animal on the verge of a panic attack.

    It was then Anko''s eyes met Tsunade''s unamused stare and widened out of proportion.

    "Tsu-Tsu-Tsunade-sama!?" Anko stuttered in disbelief, causing Tsunade to roll her eyes at her.

    And just like that, Anko... fainted... again.

 Chapter 195 - Ch195. Anko Mitarashi 2

    <h4>Chapter 195 - Ch195. Anko Mitarashi 2</h4>

    Rei was making dinner while Tsunade amusedly watched awkward Anko stare at the cup of coffee in front of her with an unreadable expression, most likely questioning how she got into her current position.

    Anko couldn''t believe she was saved by Tsunade Senju of all people. ''What is with this month and me meeting the legendary Konoha ninjas one after the other? First I am sent as a contact to Jiraiya-pervert, only barely getting out before he could visually molest me as a relief from his overbearing wife. Then on the way back towards the vige while doing a side-mission I am ambushed by some Orochimaru''s throwaway butt-buddy mooks only to be rescued by the ever-elusive badass Tsunade Senju because of whose hiding ability even Hokage is ripping his hair out due to frustration? I must have spent a decade worth of misfortune in this month alone!'' Anko wanted to cry. Sure, she was happy her life was saved but... the woman, who was the shining idol for most of the Konoha''s kunoichi poption, not only saved her but also saw her on her lowest and THEN she even fainted after meeting her and squealing her name in surprise like some damned fangirl!

    Yes, the blushing Anko wouldn''t refuse a hole to hide in as Tsunade stared her down with barely restrained snickers. ''At least the coffee from this Rei person is quite good and isn''t poisoned or drugged. Yup, positive thoughts.'' Anko thought as her eyes quickly swept the man while outwardly her face scrunched into a grimace.

    It was then that Tsunade took out a folder and started reading. Anko only managed to spot her picture as her eyes widened, realizing this was her file that should be locked in Konoha''s archives!

    "Anko Mitarashi, 17 years old, Chunin..." Tsunade momentarily stopped before her lips twitched, "with Jonin level skills but red-taped for promotion by the Council for being Orochimaru''s apprentice, and by the Hokage for unstated political reasons. Proficient at poisons, snake summoning, fire Jutsu, yadda, yadda, yadda, lots of expected junk saying literally nothing." Tsunade rolled her eyes as she turned the page while Anko gaped at her to which Tsunade just returned an innocent smile to her, causing Anko''s mouth to snap shut in disbelief as Tsunade continued reading out loud.

    Personal files of a ninja or kunoichi contained the mostprehensive intel on their abilities, rank, missions, current standing in the vige, and stuff like that. There is no way somebody who was not in the vige for years could get their hands on a copy of her files! Anko really couldn''t believe this was happening. Tsunade was basically narrating her life for her.

    Tsunade, on the other hand, took a great deal of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in this small power-y of hers. Without Konan''s incredible intelligencework, this would be impossible. Normally, Tsunade or Rei would never consider revealing they are capable of procuring a file from the archives of Konoha but Anko was a wild card they stumbled upon by total ident as they walked home from the Fire Capital. There was a lot of improvisation in this and honestly, Tsunade begged Rei for permission to try her n because she saw herself in the girl. If Anko was just some normal kunoichi of Konoha, Tsunade would simply leave her lying next to the road and be done with it but Anko was a pariah. Someone who suffered Konoha''s wrath for something out of her control. For the Good of Konoha.

    Rei knew Tsunade probably wanted tosh out at Hokage in some way and this could provide her an outlet so he made sure to listen to her n and not get in the way, the intel of their spying capabilities be damned.

    "... and that''s all." Tsunade gave the bbergasted Anko a knowing look, "I only left out you are red-listed." She mockingly shrugged as if it was nothing important before continuing in a deadpan, "Honestly, I feel I should praise you for not defecting the first chance you got."

    Now that woke Anko up, "I will never defect! I am not a traitor!" She heatedly stood up and shouted, her hands tightly balled into fists on the table.

    Tsunade only raised her eyebrow, happy at the reaction she drew out from the kid, knowing it was real. "You are in the Red List of Konoha for the fourth continuous year. You either f.u.c.k the missions up so often they should kick you out of the force for being a waste of space, resources, and oxygen and throw you into the nearest brothel where f.u.c.k.i.n.g is actually rewarded, or you are a bonafide confirmed traitor with many friends who they can''t really just casually call out on the act and so they are only waiting for a single mistake to get you. One way or another, there is no other way to get on the Red List for such a long time."

    Anko stood there, mentally anguished that Tsunade, her childhood idol, would think this of her,pletely forgetting the fact that the woman had her file. "N-No! I am neither of those! I made a deal with the Third Hokage!"

    Tsunade''s eyes shed. She naturally knew of the deal between them. In fact, Tsunade probably knew more about the girl than she herself knew but this was not about that. This was about showing Anko Hokage''s machinations. Only then would the girl consider joining their side. Tsunade was not nearly stupid enough to simplye up with an offer before she showed the girl the ''right'' path.

    Rei watched from the stove as Tsunade put her persuasion skills to use, still somewhat amused that it actually worked on THE Anko Mitarashi. s, this was not the T&I Expert yet. This was a girl who did not get such a position and training pertaining to it. A girl who survived her certain demise due to luck just a few hours ago and was still quite shocked by what was happening around her.

    "Oh~, do tell. What deal did the old geezer propose to you?" Tsunade asked, causing Anko to finally calm down and flop back onto the chair. For a moment, suspicion flickered through her eyes but it went as soon as it came. Seeing that, Tsunade gave the girl a proud nod, somewhat mollifying her.

    "Lord Hokage told me the old geezers on the council will always hold back my promotion so he gave me a deal," Anko childishly pouted, irritation clear in her gaze. Tsunade only cared for one thing, however. The clear respect the kunoichi in front of her held for the old man Third. That was a problem. "I was supposed to be listed for five years in the Red List and then I will be promised promotion and a position in one of the specialized divisions of Konoha."

    Hearing such a ridiculous pile of bull, Tsunade couldn''t help but sigh tiredly as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Do you even understand what the Red List is, kid?"

    "Of course! It''s where ninjas suspected of serious crimes or those who failed important missions are put, causing them to receive the most dangerous missions to redeem themselves and prove their loyalty to the vige." Anko said irritably, "I did my research before epting the deal. But Hokage promised that as long as I could be patient andst five years there, it would persuade the Council of my loyalty and I could get a promotion."

    ''Well, she is not wrong. Surviving five years without even a speck of suspicion in the fabbled suicide-mission list would mean she is either that capable or really loyal. But...'' Tsunade inwardly hummed before cringing, "And do you know what being put there for five years means for your career from the political standpoint?"

    Anko''s face shifted to a nk expression as she stared at Tsunade with total confusion that made Tsunade sigh yet again at the clueless girl. "You don''t, don''t you?"

    "I... Who cares? I am a kunoichi, not a politician." Anko frowned, causing Tsunade to chuckle.

    "Silly girl, you really remind me of myself." Tsunade smiled. "The vige is built on politics. And you wonder why you find it hard to be promoted?" She chided lightly, enjoying the embarrassed blush it elicited on Anko''s cheeks. "Let me put it into a perspective for you, okay?" Tsunade asked and quieted down, waiting until Anko got into a good mindset to listen.

    After a few seconds of clear indecisiveness on her face, Anko decided to seriously nod. Clearly, there was something she was overlooking and since Tsunade Senju wanted to exin these political reasons why her decision to ept the deal was stupid, she would listen. But she would also make sure to not take anything at a face value. She trusted one Sannin already and it didn''t pay out so well for her. Anko was subtly preparing to make a run for it if this was some borate trap. She wasn''t dull. Anko could recognize how maniptive the setting was but the topic was simply too... much. Here, Tsunade, one of the most loved kunoichi to ever hail from Konoha, and a former pupil of the Third Hokage, was telling her the Third screwed her over. Something was clearly fishy here. It wouldn''t be bad to y a shocked trusting girl for a bit longer to find out what. Plusˇ­ she really wanted to hear what Tsunade thought her being in the Red List for so long meant.

    Unfortunately for Anko, Tsunade was not the best medic in the world. Somebody not even trained in hiding his tells could not hope to hide their attitude in front of her.

    Tsunade smirked, "You see, from a political standpoint, you are a nuisance..."

 Chapter 196 - Ch196. Anko Mitarashi 3

    <h4>Chapter 196 - Ch196. Anko Mitarashi 3</h4>

    "You see, from a political standpoint, you are a nuisance." Tsunade dryly stated, causing Anko to furrow her brows in a show of confusion. "The n heads do know you are not Orochimaru''s subordinate but unless you are close to them or are somehow profitable for their n, they will not stand up for you. So, Anko Mitarashi, are you profitable to some n in Konoha?" Tsunade asked despite knowing the answer.

    Anko looked a bit conflicted at having it spelled like this to her. Naturally, she knew about this but some things are better left unsaid. Now her mind wouldn''t stop thinking what assholes the n heads are. "No." She simply shook her head.

    Tsunade hummed before continuing, "Then there are civilians which are the worst of your problems." She started with a sentence she knew would get Anko''splete attention. "Konoha''s civilian council is made of a few seats for wealthy merchants and civilians who have influence in certain fields. These seats are just like n head seats and seldom change the a.s.s sitting on them. And then there are elective seats where elected civilians sit to safeguard the interest of the general public. These seats change every three years and have nothing to do with the ninja stuff..." Tsunade paused for a moment, her eyes smiling at how Anko leaned forward, "at least, that''s what they would like you to believe. In reality, these people have some indirect influence over ninja matters and unfortunately for you, it is these people who will never see you as anything but the Snake Whore." Tsunade brutally stated, causing Anko to wince before lowering her head in a pondering manner as a concerned frown etched itself onto her face.

    Despite Tsunade''s goal of manipting Anko to their side, she did somewhat care for the girl. If only because both were in some form screwed by Konoha and neither really d.e.s.i.r.ed revenge on the vige. They were simply alike and Tsunade liked that. Even if Anko decided she wanted nothing to do with them, Tsunade would count it her victory if the girl at least started thinking about how the ruling system in the vige really works and why some unworthy individuals get promoted to jonin rank while having only chunin level skill, or why some people with clearly jonin level skill can never get their promotion.

    Seeing Anko raising her head again, Tsunade quickly noted the resigned look in her eyes. ''So the girl got it, heh?''

    Honestly, Anko was not dumb. She would not be alive after being assigned one suicide mission after another for years on end if she was stupid. She was simply disinterested in politics. Once Tsunade nudged her in the correct direction, Anko coulde to the conclusion herself.

    Civilians didn''t understand how the ninja world worked. For them, a rumor of her being this vile traitorous bitch who likes to f.u.c.k with whoever is avable before stabbing them with a poisoned kunai was all they knew about her.

    "I see how getting support from the civilian side of the council would be... difficult." Anko said with a grimace, making Tsunade snort at her choice of words.

    "Difficult, she says. They hate you almost as much as the Kyuubi brat, girl. But unlike him, you don''t have a chakra factory stuffed in your gut which means you are not really all that important to the vige. No... civilians will not give you any sort of support be it due to fear or contempt and the other parts of the vige''s council see no worth in helping you either. Especially since you were on the Red List for years, you idiot." Tsunade clicked her tongue, still in disbelief, somebody was stupid enough to agree to be put on the Red List for years.

    "What do you mean?" Anko asked. "What does being on the Red List have anything to do with civilians?"

    Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose and looked at Anko with a difficult expression. "You know... every time a ninja is about to be promoted, the council has the right to put a stop to the promotion. Sure, they have to get at least three thirds of the council in favor for this to pass, which means it almost never does, but that''s not really a problem in your case, is it now? The problem is, the second they see your track record and the amount of time you were Red Listed, they can argue you are unstable, ipetent, or untrustworthy. Neither of which is a good thing to have on your resume if you pursue a promotion. You were put there for four years, Anko," Tsunade sighed in exasperation, "and one can not simply officially state that the reason for your cement there is a ''deal'' with the Third Hokage. You would beughed out of the council room if you did that. Do you understand where I am going with this?"

    The more Tsunade talked, the more disgruntled Anko appeared. Until... the realization settled in. "I am never gonna be promoted, am I?" Anko whispered with wide eyes. "This is why I was always passed up when it came to promotions. This is why I was always selected for the promotion process but was never chosen as a ''fitting'' individual to pass it and receive one, isn''t it?" She spoke with a resigned undertone full of hurt, hanging her head in disappointment.

    Tsunade gave the downtrodden girl some time, slowly sipping her tea and enjoying the silence. She was d Anko was getting the right conclusions by herself so she doesn''t have to waste time persuading the girl. She was certainly clever enough to understand the implications and put events that happened to her in the past together.

    "Holy shit, purely judging by my track record, I am the most probable person to betray the vige." Anko suddenly eximed, unshed tears wetting the edges of her eyes.

    "Yes... the only ce where they would ept you is T&I and even then it is more to have you always surrounded by experts at spotting and putting down traitors rather than to fulfill your wish for promotion. I believe that is exactly what Hiruzen aimed at when he proposed such a deal. Funny thing is, if you declined, you would already be in that division by now if only to have more experienced eyes on you. The Elders and the n heads would strong arm you there if you wanted it or not. The only thing stopping them is your cement on the Red List active rooster. Worse yet, getting the rank of Tokubetsu Jonin would not be hard in the T&I department since it would depend more on your direct superior rather than the council and you certainly have the skills necessary for it. Jonin rank would still be impossible though. I have no idea what Hiruzen promised you but even he can''t push through the council and give you the rank of Jonin without expending quite a bit of his political capital... which he would certainly not do. Not for you." Tsunade shrugged, enjoying the gaping expression of the girl who was inwardly surely cursing like a sailor.

    "Why?" Anko weakly asked, not understanding. If what Tsunade told her was true, the Third Hokage made her ruin her career, assigned her to the worst missions for years, and won''t be able to fulfill his part of the deal.

    "Because you were young, stupid, easily maniptable, and most importantly, the vige just lost quite a lot of troops due to the Kyuubi a few years prior." Rei brutally interjected from his position behind the stove as he cooked. Hearing him, Anko''s head snapped to him but he didn''t bother looking at her and focused on the food as he continued. "My guess is that the Hokage needed somebody doing the missions Red Listed individuals usually did. He could not red-list people on a whim and even those strong individuals failing somewhat important missions had to be pardoned in fear of losing them on suicide missions, therefore reducing the overall strength of the vige. He needed someone expendable for the suicide missions. Someone whose death would not matter but also someone who could pull it off. And damn girl, you did pull off four consecutive years! Talk about real talent." Rei chuckled, not even needing to see Anko''s mortified expression to know how she felt.

    "You want to tell me I am expendable!?" Anko ground her teeth in anger and red at Rei''s back, only to be stopped by Tsunade''s narrowing her eyes and seeping a bit of her killing intent outward. That quickly froze any fiery anger Anko could feel, causing her to involuntarily shiver. She quickly realized her former sensei had nothing on Tsunade when it came to a pure killing intent.

    "We will get to that." Tsunade told the girl, releasing the pressure she put on her. "Next on the council are Elders. I believe I don''t have to tell you much about them."

    "No... they made their hatred of me widely known." Anko tightly squeezed her fists, preventing her anger from resurfacing.

    "What they most certainly didn''t do, was tell you their hatred of you is totally faked." Tsunade quipped, causing Anko''s head to snap in her direction and uprehendingly blink at her. "Elders seldom do something based on emotions alone. You can always count that they have some sort of vision or a n. Especially Danzo. I must admit, I have no knowledge of why they act as if they hated you so I can only give you my guess. You are hated by the general public? They also hate you because it appeals to the masses. I doubt this is the real reason when it concerns you though so you should be always on your best guard around them. At best, they will be neutral to you but there is nothing you yourself can do to make it so. The initiative has toe from them and their emotions can be easily swayed by the political winds." Tsunade amusedly said.

    "Another dead end, then." Anko nodded, somewhat epting now. "The political winds hate me." She shrugged, causing Rei tough. "Thest part of the council is the Hokage." Anko''s back straightened, only to freeze when her eyes met Tsunade''s gaze. The sadness in her eyes was something even Anko found hard to deal with. Thankfully, Tsunade started talking soon enough, distracting Anko from these thoughts.

    "Anko, you are a Snake Summoner." Tsunade stated, getting a nod from the young girl but when she saw her expression... "You totally don''t get it, do you?" Tsunade pointed out with a tired sigh. "Fine... more exnations, then."

    (Cliff-kun says hello!)

 Chapter 197 - Ch197. Anko Mitarashi 4

    <h4>Chapter 197 - Ch197. Anko Mitarashi 4</h4>

    "Tell me, Anko, who gave you and is still the main summoner of the Snake Contract?" Tsunade started, continuing with her tactics of leading Anko to the answers rather than outright telling her.

    Anko''s eyes widened at the question, her mindprehending the meaning behind it as her lips set into a frown. "You want to tell me the reason why I am distrusted is that I am a Snake Summoner?" She asked a bit miffed.

    Tsunade just shook her head, "It''s more than that. You see, the Summons are not exactly allied to a vige. Let''s talk about something famous... for example Toads of Jiraiya. They will listen to him and work for him in exchange for whatever he promised them. But if, hypothetically, someone new performed the Kuchiyose no Jutsu and got into the Mount Myoboku because of hispatibility with toads, the Toads would not refuse him just because he is from Iwa, Suna, or whatever vige. The person would probably not be the main summoner of Toads until Jiraiya''s death and only in case, Jiraiya doesn''t find a worthy sessor. Such a person would be in a very simr situation you are currently in."

    Anko scrunched her eyebrows as she thought about the implications before a conflicted look appeared on her face, "My snakes will not betray me. I can''tmand most of them but those I befriended and use I believe are loyal to me." She said.

    Anko never thought about it this way but it made sense. If Orochimaru was the main and only summoner of snakes, he had decades to form a trusting, or at the very least, profitable rtionship with them. Adding to that the fact snakes are not the most trustworthy animals... yeah, Anko could see why Snake Summons could be a bit of a problem. But she still believed in her snakes!

    "Maybe, maybe not, nobody can know for sure." Tsunade uncaringly shrugged, causing Anko to grow irritated. "That''s not the point. You should be d Orochimaru never saw a point in creating a cordial rtionship with his summons as I and Jiraiya did. For him, Snakes were tools to use that had a certain price in sacrifices. That was it. And that is the only reason why your own snakes are most likely not spying on you." Tsunade sighed tiredly and Anko looked as if she just ate something sour, "You gotta understand Anko, most ninjas, maybe even some n heads, do not know nor care about these small nuances of summoning contracts but the Hokage and the Elders certainly do know. In their eyes, the main summoner of snakes is Orochimaru and he had it for decades before you were added. They have no idea or care in the world that Orochimaru probably never formed enough trust for snakes to betray their secondary summoner. For them, you are a constant threat but they can''t just get rid of you. That would simply send a bad message and the Snake Contract can, after all, be still useful to the vige."

    Anko was listening in rapt attention. Orochimaru never really went all that deep into the theory of the contracts. He simply told her to get a few snakes, make a deal with them or beat them inbat. As long as they find her worthy, they will help for a price. Thankfully, Anko didn''t always listen to every word and so she managed to befriend several snakes, rather than making them business partners of a sort.

    It was when she realized that, her eyes shed with surprise, "The Hokage is waiting to see if I can get more Snake Summons. He..." Anko stopped in disbelief.

    "He hopes you would get enough snakes on your side to be able to spy on Orochimaru. He knows exactly what kind of a man Orochimaru is and what kind of rtionship he has with his summons. He also probably grossly underestimated Orochimaru in this particr matter, though. In your ce, I would be d if there is no spy among my own summons rather than trying to subvert animals so deceitful as snakes. Say, are there some snakes who joined you and provided support for you right after Orochimaru abandoned you?" Tsunade trailed off, seeing the answer clearly on Anko''s hurt and betrayed expression. In order to prevent the girl from making some kind of hasty mistake, Tsunade quickly added, "Well, there is always a chance they really wanted to help you."

    That seemed to calm Anko, if only slightly. By now, she heard enough revtions, suggestions, and logical assumptions about her standing in the vige, how others... people who actually matter... see her, and how even her own damn summoning contract can f.u.c.k her side-ways. Anko, while outwardly looking only slightly peeved, was inwardly a total mess.

    "I guess that is not the end of it, heh?" Anko bitterly chuckled and put her hand on the left side of her neck. So many reasons people hate her and still, the main one was not even touched upon. She always believed that if there was one reason why the people of Konoha were justified in their actions against her, it would be the Cursed Seal.

    "Yeah, but you already knew that." Tsunade rolled her eyes at the self-pitying girl. "I won''t give you the spiel about how you are Orochimaru''s apprentice and how untrustworthy that makes you. Adding to that the seal on your neck? Orochimaru might as well have branded you as his property and shipped you off to his enemies. Nobody knows what he can do to you through the seal. Can he control you? See through your eyes? Feel what you feel? Gain ess to your memories? Seals can do many nasty things and all Konoha knows is that he can easily paralyze you through pain and honestly, that is enough to never send you on a mission pertaining to Orochimaru. You are simply useless against him and he could, potentially, torture you topliance through the seal." She finished and quieted down, letting Anko process what she just told her.

    Judging by the quickly changing twisted expression on Anko''s face, the girl finally put her brain to use and understood that nobody ever told her the function of the Cursed Seal. She knew it was supposed to make her stronger. She also knew Orochimaru had fail-safes in the seal. But... she never really thought about it from the angle of, ''what else could be in the seal''. After Jiraiya examined it, he never informed her of his findings, after all. Only that it was impossible for him to erase because it was far tooplex.

    After three minutes of thoughts and emotions raging in her head, trying to make heads and tails of her current situation, Anko''s shoulders slumped down in defeat. "Fine,y it on me, Tsunade-sama. What do you want from me?" She resignedly asked.

    Tsunade was not about to insult the girl''s intelligence by denying it. Free lunches were very rare in the world and anyone who survived being a ninja for a certain period of time knows that a seemingly selfless helping hand is usually guided by hidden benefits. Hence, it is very dangerous to ept offered help without knowing what exactly would the other get out of it. Tons of people earned their traitor status by simply believing in the wrong ''samaritan''.

    The blonde rxed and looked at Anko with a knowing smirk that announced her victory. Simply theoretically, Anko could go back to Konoha, pretending nothing ever happened, but it would be hard to act clueless and never slip up now that she knows certain motivations of the higher-ups. Both knew no matter how good of a kunoichi the girl is, she was no long-term infiltrator. She WILL slip up if she refused Tsunade and returned. And once the higher-ups see that Lil'' Anko got a bit smarter, that she doesn''t fully trust Hokage as she used to... with her current status in the vige, Anko wouldn''t be surprised if the council thought her new cautious behavior was somehow influenced by Orochimaru and that would be the end of her.

    After all, the only good weapon is one who doesn''t ask questions. And Anko was not nearly as delusional to believe she is important enough to keep alive if she started showing curiosity and knowledge of things people didn''t want her to know.

    It was only now that Anko, in her resigned and defeated state, actually understood what Tsunade did. She closed all paths to retreat by informing her of things that will forever bug her and affect her behavior while also giving her a reason to not trust her superiors.

    ''She yed me. Coming back from a mission where I met Orochimaru''s subordinates andpletely changing my behavior? I would be doomed without even being able to justify the change! I can''t really say to the Hokage''s face that I now know what a bastard he is.'' Anko realized with grudging respect while also feeling a bit betrayed as she motionlessly stared at her clenched hands.

    "What if I told you I can resolve pretty much all of your problems?" Tsunade tilted her head, "I am still the head of the Senju n, you know? I can give you the much-needed protection of a n."

    "And the price?" Anko whispered, causing Tsunade to grin.

    "Mah, don''t worry. If anything this will be more beneficial for you than me, girl. I want..."

 Chapter 198 - Ch198. Back in Konoha 1

    <h4>Chapter 198 - Ch198. Back in Konoha 1</h4>

    Anko Mitarashi despondently walked through the main gate of Konoha, briefly stopping in front of the booth with the gate guards who looked at her inquisitively before asking some questions and telling her to sign some papers. Honestly, Anko was d when they let her go to report to the Hokage ten minutester.

    ''Asking me questions about my mission... who the heck do these little shits think they are! The Hokage?'' Anko angrily thought.

    She was a bit too fed up these days as she could no longer lie to herself and see Konoha as her home. Because of that blunt realization, more and more ws and small intricate ''traps'' became apparent to her senses. It was not like she didn''t know about them but more like she refused to believe people did it out of malice toward her. But now...

    For example, the gate guards. The position of a gate guard might seem boring and it really is, but it is also a very prestigious one. Not everybody can be relegated to the duty of a gate guard and those that are, are usually there for a long time. It is usually an aplished chunin with highbat ability, good track record, and the person also must be highly trusted and known in the vige. The gate guards have quite a leisure duties, sitting all day near the gate and checking the arrivals andings of people, but they also must train regrly and have check-ups on their skills. The second their skills start to deteriorate, the gate guard would lose his position. After all, being a gate guard means they are the very first in the line of unexpected attack on the vige or the very first people who can spot an infiltrator.

    ''And yet, these supposedly high ranking and splendid chunins who were awarded the positions of the gate guards show aplete dismissal of the protocols when ites to me. Heck, do they think I would b about my mission to them?'' Anko seethed as she marched her way through the viges, the civilians and ninjas alike getting out of her way the second they spotted her stormy expression.

    It was not like the gate guards acted rudely. They were always polite and good to her. That was why it hurt Anko so much. She thought them to be her friends.

    After a very thorough retrospective, Anko came to a single realization. Gate guards were always the good guys in her books. Kind, polite, always joking... But then she realized that every single time she came, they asked, always offhandedly, something about her mission. Every. Damn. Time.

    That''s not how concerned friends behave. It was simply a trap. The only thing that saved her from falling into this pitfall was, much to her shame, Orochimaru''s teaching about when to keep her mouth shut. The only good thing the bastard taught her.

    The problem with their behavior was quite simple. When a ninja arrives in the vige afterpleting a mission, he can NOT say ANYTHING about the mission. After all, he can not know what would the Hokage deem as ssified information.

    If Anko said something about the mission and then the Hokage decided it was ssified? It would not be the two ''friendly'' gate guards who would have lost their heads for spreading secrets. It would have been her!

    That''s why the protocols are iron-d in this. One never reveals parts of the mission before the Hokage deres it finished and decides if some parts of it are supposed to be ssified. After that? The non-ssified parts are all free game and most likely discussed in pubs to get some bragging rights by exaggerating them.

    That''s why it never really struck her as odd that the two gate guards ALWAYS asked for information about her missions. After all, they were just fishing for some new rumors, no?

    Well, ording to Tsunade, apparently not. Gate guards are maybe the only two chunin ranked people in the whole vige who have these protocols drilled into their head the most since they deal with it on a daily basis.

    Sadly, once Anko considered her memories and experiences from a different perspective, they mostly confirmed what Tsunade told her. Anko spent two days with Tsunade and Rei but these days brought her so many shocking revtions she was exhausted when they parted their ways. Although... she did learn a whole lot about vige politics and n politics. After all, she had to pay Tsunade''s price and for that, she needed to know certain things.

    Anko involuntarily smiled at how right Lady Tsunade was. The things she wanted from Anko... she really didn''t mind doing.

    As Anko thought about these things, she didn''t even realize how fast she arrived in front of the Hokage Tower. ''I guess, it''s time to face the old man.'' With a small frown, she entered.

    ...

    "You said four of Orochimaru''s subordinates ambushed you and when you were about to be killed, Tsunade saved you?" Hiruzen asked in a slightly miffed tone. He sent ANBU to the Fire Capital with orders to bring Tsunade back to Konoha but they returned with empty hands, lots of colorful words from the Daimyo at Hiruzen''s person, and yes, that was something that worried Hiruzen greatly, but still, the inability to contact one of the two remaining loyal Sannin was grating on his nerves.

    Imagine his surprise when the message from one of the Daimyo''s guards, saying that Tsunade attended the Daimyo''s birthday party, reached him. Worse yet, she was married to a foreigner! His heart almost stopped there and then after reading it. Hiruzen needed twenty minutes to calm his erratic breathing which almost killed him through the sheer blood pressure!

    Hiruzen shuddered at the implications while assassination ns started forming in his head. The foreigner would simply have to go. For the Will of Fire.

    "Yes." Anko politely nodded, enjoying the distraught expression of the Hokage.

    "Then why did you not bring Tsunade back to the vige, Anko!?" Hiruzen asked, only barely managing to keep most of his frustration out of his tone.

    "With all respect... I don''t think I could have beaten Lady Tsunade." Anko shrugged. Even the Hokage could not punish her for that. She never received orders to apprehend Tsunade, after all.

    Hiruzen clearly knew that as his frown turned sour, partly at her uncaring answer, and partly at how disobedient Anko acted. She was always boisterous and had her own ir but she never once acted disrespectfully towards him. She was too much in his grasp to act out. Further, it was mighty fishy that Anko acted like this after meeting Tsunade. It might be nothing but stillˇ­ Hiruzen was worried.

    "I see, is there anything else, Chunin Mitarashi?" He concluded the debriefing, secretly deciding to assign some more watchers to the young kunoichi.

    Anko noted his colder tone and the change in how he addressed her but right now, she only found it funny. Tsunade didn''t do much when it came to teaching her how-to in the political field but she made sure to hammer the basics of interaction with Hiruzen and what to look for. By now, Anko was sure she knew all his subtle tactics at manipting her into feeling various ranges of emotions.

    This particr technique was one that should evoke inadequacy and spark in her guilt at being disrespectful to her superior who was always kind to her. After all, he always called her ''Anko'', which pointed out some sort of closeness between them.

    ''A bit colder tone, and Chunin Mitarashi, is it?'' Anko''s lips twitched.

    "In fact... yes." Anko affirmed, causing Hiruzen to blink, not expecting an answer like this. "I do have a letter from Lady Tsunade." She continued with a merry tone that made Hiruzen''s eyebrow twitch, his expression as if screaming, ''Then why did you not bring it up sooner!''

    Anko simply shrugged and slowly walked towards Hokage''s table before putting the letter on it and stepping back. It wouldn''t do to make quick movements. Not with her reputation in the vige. Not with four ANBU on the ceiling.

    As Hokage reached towards the letter with a hopeful expression, no doubt wishing Tsunade would visit the vige soon, Anko couldn''t help but inwardlyugh her a.s.s off. She knew what the letter said. After all, it was the payment Tsunade promised Anko.

    ''Oh, I can''t wait to see the hope on his mug turn into stunned disbelief!''

 Chapter 199 - Ch199. A letter for Hiruzen

    <h4>Chapter 199 - Ch199. A letter for Hiruzen</h4>

    Anko watched the Hokage with bated breath as his eyebrows furrowed in worry at the first sign of the Senju n insignia on the letter. Outwardly, she was as cool as cuc.u.mber,pletely impassive with a mild but restrained curiosity showing in her eyes. Exactly as an obedient ninja should look in front of his Hokage whom he handed a secret missive. Inwardly though? Inwardly, Anko was almost jumping from the sheer anticipation of Hiruzen''s reaction. She was also very worried too. Tsunade warned Anko that she would have quite a few problems in the immediate future. Thankfully, she also gave her the necessary tools to mitigate most of it.

    While Anko was inwardly gloating, Hiruzen was looking at the insignia with hidden indignation, not liking where this was going. Tsunade he knew would never send him a letter marked like. This was not a letter from Tsunade Senju but the n head of the Senju n. That really didn''t put Hiruzen at ease.

    Nevertheless, inside of him a small hope that it would be just a deration of her marriage and notice of her impending visit to Konoha sparked in his c.h.e.s.t as he opened the letter and started reading.

    ---

    Hiruzen Sarutobi,

    In my capacity as the Head of the Senju n, I, Tsunade Senju, notify you that one, Anko Mitarashi, is from hence on a ward of the Senju n. As such, I demand in my capacity as the Head of the Senju n, Anko''s immediate discharge from the Red List.

    ---

    Reading that, Hiruzen''s stomach sank. He gave a tentative nce at Anko, noticing her dispassionate visage, and inwardly sighed, realizing she most likely already knew. As if acting clueless could fool him. He started reading again.

    ---

    Sarutobi... you WILL cease all attempts at maniption, understood? You also will NOT assign any ANBU to watch her. I won''t stand for such treatment of one of mine!

    ---

    At this part, Hiruzen winced. He already nned to have ANBU on Anko 24/7. She was Orochimaru''s student and now had the zealous backing of the Senju n. She just became one very dangerous girl. There was no way he could leave her unsupervised. Who knows what kind of mayhem she would have caused!

    Unfortunately for him, Hiruzen was aware that the second his ANBU were spotted by Anko, and he was sure they would have been spotted, she would inform Tsunade and Tsunade would cause problems. Problems he did not need in the current political situation with Uchihas rearing their ugly heads.

    ---

    If you are worried about the Snake Summoning Contract, know that I made damn sure to find out which of Anko''s snakes are loyal to her and which are not. Right now, none of her summons are disloyal to her. I PERSONALLY made sure of that.

    ---

    ''Uh-oh, Tsunade is basically telling me there were some disloyal snakes in Anko''s employ before she went through them.'' Hiruzen understood the hidden message.

    ---

    My husband, on the other hand, made sure to erase the Cursed Seal on Anko''s left shoulder. No longer do you and your old flunkies on the council have to fear Anko suddenly turning traitor because of that. Meaning... I don''t want to hear even one word about her not being trustworthy! Just try to manipte the council in this direction, Hiruzen, I dare you! I will raise hell!

    ---

    And just like that, all ns of discrediting the new ward of the Senju n crashed in front of Hiruzen''s eyes. So far, Hiruzen wasn''t worried. Sure Anko gained some political clout. She also gained a reason to distrust him. And she would most likely ever-so-slightly slip his maniptions. But he always had the option of citing her Cursed Seal to get her in line. Now though?

    Hiruzen''s eyes snapped at Anko''s left shoulder, making her instantly aware of which part of the letter he was currently at. She really couldn''t help but give him a genuine smile and enjoy as he winced. Tsunade told her that even Danzo would most likelyy off her case now that there was no possibly mind-controlling seal on her.

    That day, Rei truly became one of Anko''s heroes and her loyalty became irond, if not very well hidden fanatical one. After all, he pulled a piece of Orochimaru''s soul out of her! Anko was still shuddering at that thought.

    Hiruzen, with his ns regarding Anko nowpletely ruined, continued to read, somewhat miffed but still mostly okay. After all, Anko was still not all that important in the grand scheme of things. Sure, she could make some waves in the vige now but he decided to let Tsunade have her way. It would be infinitely worse if the waves came from the Head of the Senju n rather than an unimportant ward of the said n.

    On another, more important, note, I am fine with you overseeing thends of Konoha in my stead.

    ---

    Reading that sentence, Hiruzen stilled, his face bing white as snow.

    ''She knows.'' He thought in untold horror. ''Shiiiiiit!''

    ---

    That said, I will make use of my right to demand changes if I deem them right and I WILL expect you to respect my wishes. Thends on which Konoha is standing are MINE! There won''t be ANY argument if I decide to change something. It is my RIGHT.

    Such are my demands in ordance with my rights as the Head of the Senju n, and thews of Konoha. If you, for any reason, decide to impede my birthright any further, I will make sure toin to the Daimyo. Don''t misunderstand, Hiruzen Sarutobi. I am perfectly aware of what that would mean for Konoha, and the Sarutobi n, and I already made sure the Daimyo is fully willing to go along with that.

    P. S.: Make sure you remember that, old man. I had a nice long chat with Toyotomi about these things and I must say I am not amused. In fact, I am furious. Don''t give me a reason tosh out because I am not trusting myself from keeping calm enough to not cause a disaster for you.

    Tsunade Senju, the Head of the Senju n, the founding n of Konoha.

    Hiruzen gazed at the letter with unblinking, empty eyes, not knowing if he should be d or worried. On one hand, Tsunade gave him permission to oversee thends of Konoha, meaning she was not really interested in them. On another, he was regaled to a glorified manager for her. Arguably, he was always that but now he had somebody looking over his shoulder.

    The real problem was the threat Tsunade used and that she didn''t mention only him but also the Sarutobi n. Hiruzen could already see it. A dispute between him, the Hokage who got the vige through two shinobi wars, and the Senju n backed by the Daimyo. It would simply cause a civil war as people would start taking sides. For one, Hiruzen had no illusions about whose side would Danzo join. And there were many ns who didn''t exactly trust him. Heck, even Uchihas would most likely join the Senju n if it came to that. Hiruzen had to ept that his pupil decided to have her way or start a civil war.

    ''Why would she be so sure it would lead to a civil war, though?'' Hiruzen asked himself. Suddenly, his eyes widened as a realization hit him. He hastily read through thest two paragraphs. His heart almost stopped when he finally understood, ''She knows about her right to be a Daimyo of Konoha if the council is corrupted!''

    Panic gripped him. He knew well just how corrupt the current council was. As unsettling thoughts swirled through his head, Hiruzen suddenly heard Anko clear her throat.

    "You are dismissed, Chunin Mitarashi." He distractedly said, not paying her much attention.

    Anko nodded and turned on her heel, leaving the room. ''Hah, All ording to Lady Tsunade''s n. The old man is far too preupied with the realization that Tsunade, someone who is not even in the vige, can cause mayhem, andpletely disregarded me, someone who IS inside the vige and on the payroll of Tsunade. Heh, time to do my job, I guess.'' She inwardly shook her head in bemus.e.m.e.nt and went on her merry way to finish the first stage of Tsunade''s n.

 Chapter 200 - Ch200. Back in Konoha 2

    <h4>Chapter 200 - Ch200. Back in Konoha 2</h4>

    Anko wearily walked through the streets of Konoha on her way to her most favorite Dango shop in the vige. She desperately needed some unwinding and there was no better way to aplish that than getting stuffed with the food of gods.

    When she arrived in the vige, it was barely lunchtime but now, it was alreadyte evening and Anko could only grumble that visiting several n heads took her so much time. s, if she wanted everything to go smoothly, she needed to deliver a few messages from Tsunade before Hiruzen got his head out of his a.s.s and stopped focusing on Tsunade who was currently unreachable. Anko simply needed to cover all her bases and safeguard her position.

    ''God, how I hate politics.'' Anko mentally w.h.i.n.ed as she sat at the table near a window and ordered her favorite vors of Dango before starting to remember her tiring day.

    Her very first visit was to Shikaku Nara. This was not a coincidence. Tsunade made sure to choose who to visit first properly.

    Shikaku Nara seemed to be deep within the Hokage''s backside. He was the Jonin Commander and that meant something. He was one of the most trusted aides of the Hokage in the shinobi matters. Hence, Anko was really surprised when Tsunade wanted her to visit the man first.

    Now, that meeting shook Anko to her core. Tsunade didn''t exin much about ns but the letter she handed over to Shikaku must have requested an exnation for her if the annoyed and half-whining look the half-asleep man shot her was any indication.

    And so, Anko got to know exactly how deep the politics in Konoha reached.

    The position of the Jonin Commander was the dream of many ninjas in the vige. Tough luck though, since as it appears, only a Nara could ever be appointed as such. The Hokage only made a show of the appointment to keep the masses dreaming as a motivation for improvement.

    ''Really, how Nara-ish to make a backroom deal with the First Hokage to safeguard a good, well-paying job where the most required thing is good strategic thinking. It actually makes a whole lot of sense considering the job is very easy-going in times of peace. A perfect ce for napping the day off while being as important as it gets.'' Anko snickered.

    The actual damn thing was apparently written in the more obscurews of the vige. A very serious set of requirements had to be met for a non-Nara to be a Jonin Commander, one of which would be no avable Nara of jonin level strength smart enough to fill the position. Hence, no matter what Hiruzen did, he HAD TO appoint Shikaku into the position and thus, being a Jonin Commander didn''t really show that the Hokage trusted you. Apparently, that was the whole reason why Danzo didn''t get the job.

    Because of these backroom deals with Hashirama Senju, however, the Nara n was an ally of the Senju n. The n head of the Senju n requested the Nara n to support Anko? Shikaku simply had to do so to honor the alliance.

    A good thing that Naras didn''t bother with politics beyond what was necessary because they found them boring. The danger of being backstabbed by a Nara or them not honoring an alliance was almost nil.

    With the Nara n on board, Anko had an easy time persuading the Akimichi n. If instant agreement the second they got to know the stance of the Nara n and an invitation to dinner could even be called ''persuading''.

    Anko had to shake her head in amus.e.m.e.nt at the Akimichi n. Maybe if she pulled her head out of her a.s.s when she was younger and approached one of these ''big-boned'' people instead of feeling pity for herself, she would actually find real friends.

    The Yamanaka n head also easily agreed to give his support to her. Not like the man had any other choice since both the Akimichi and Nara ns already made their stance clear. The Yamanakas were the most neutral n in the list of people Anko had to approach but Tsunade showed her cunning by ordering Anko to deal with Naras and Akimichis first. Now, if Inoichi did something different, it could potentially make his n stand against his long-time allies in the vige which wouldn''t be good for him or the n. Neutral or not, his side was chosen for him before Anko even knocked on his door.

    And that led Anko''s mind to reminisce about herst visit. The Hyuuga n.

    Yes, much to her eternal horror, it was these white-eyed assholes who were the closest supporters of the Senju n. Or... at the very least, who had to lose the most if they didn''t support the Senju n.

    Apparently, the Hyuuga n businesses were very dependent on the Senju n businesses. In short, the Hyuuga n patriarch looked almost constipated after Tsunade pulled this card on him. Knowing how legendary their arguments in the council room were during the Third Ninja war... Anko could see that the man didn''t expect Tsunade to know about how much influence she had over him and his n. After all, even if the Senju n owned the businesses supporting their own, Tsunade did not attend to the day-to-day matters and never showed any knowledge or interest in them. At best, she received her cut and let the businesses run themselves.

    Anko could see the gears in Hiashi''s head running and the utter bewilderment that Tsunade actually knew something about her family finances other than spending the seemingly unending supply of money flowing into her family ounts. The man sat motionless opposite Anko, staring in shock at the letter from Tsunade for ten whole minutes after reading it.

    Naturally, it wouldn''t do for assholes to deal with easy problems the easy way. Even someone like Anko, someone hopeless in economy and running of a n, knew the Hyuugas had no other choice than to give their full support behind Tsunade on her whim. The second Hiashi spotted the special seal of the Senju n head on the letter, it was as good as an order from Tsunade, someone who could ruin many of their businesses. It wasn''t even that Tsunade asked much of the Hyuuga n. Just show of support which would essentially cost them nothing.

    So... what did the cold-faced bastard do?

    He naturally called a meeting of Elders and dragged Anko straight into it! An issue that could be resolved in twenty minutes tops, and that was when Anko ounted for Hiashi''s ten minutes long shocked state, was now stretched to three hours of debating between elderly men... yeah, Anko had had enough of living by the time she left the Hyuuga Compound with a ringing headache.

    Is it any wonder she needed her daily dose of Dango thrice over after such a nightmare?

    Worse yet... ''I will have to babysit the white-eyed princess for their support? How the heck did that happen!? Shit, Lady Tsunade will be so disappointed in me for letting them have their way and getpensation for her demands.'' Anko mentally w.h.i.n.ed. She knew that promising something in return for their support would show weakness they would no doubt try to exploitter but she was just so damn tired of all the pointless talking.

    In hindsight, she fell right into that trap. She should have refused to attend and demanded an answer from Hiashi. Even giving him time to consider it would be a nice power move, showing she had everything under control. It wasn''t like the Hyuuga n could refuse. But no... she just had to do the stupid thing and let them challenge her patience. A battle, she disgracefully lost and promised to train young Hinata in return for their support.

    It was then that amotion outside the Dango shop caught Anko''s attention. Naruto Uzumaki was sitting on the ground with an angry shopkeeper hurling insults at the boy before huffily turning on his heel and stomping his way back to his shop.

    Shrugging, Anko started tiredly munching on her Dango without any real excitement.

    ''Mah, the brat endured years of ridicule, he can endure two more days.''

 Chapter 201 - Ch201. Shocking Council Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 201 - Ch201. Shocking Council Meeting</h4>

    "Any idea why this meeting was called, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked in his emotionless tone but an underlying curiosity was unmistakable in his eye. Every n head had a right to call for a council meeting if they had a serious issue to be discussed. Such a call, however, needed the approval of two more n heads since it was not the Hokage calling it. This rule was actually a nice little way to get around the Hokage.

    "I have no idea, my friend." Hiruzen answered as he walked towards the council chambers without a worry. Hiruzen knew thews of Konoha by heart and as such, he was aware that whatever would be discussed would not be overly important in the grand scheme of things. While the n heads could bypass him in this way, they would still need his approval for any major change. "My guess is either some dispute between ns or an announcement of a new business venture of the Nara n." Hiruzen shrugged.

    Danzo, though, was very nonplussed by that answer. The whole problem was that it was the Nara n calling for the meeting. The Nara n never did things like that. Not once since the founding of Konoha. ''Announcement of a business venture my a.s.s.'' Danzo mentally grumbled. ''The whole n is sozy they would wait however long until the next scheduled council meeting to announce something like that.'' He rolled his eyes, not even deeming it necessary to mentallyment about the stupid idea of the Nara n being in a dispute with someone else.

    It would take a murder or kidnapping of their nsman to get them motivated enough to move their asses. Danzo knew. After all, that was the reason why he purposefully avoided recruiting any Nara into his ROOT. He had enough problems without the motivated Nara n on his a.s.s. No amount of intelligence and strategic brilliance was worth that.

    Entering the council chamber, both Danzo and Hokage were greeted by the entire council already seated. Shikaku Nara, the man who called the meeting, was slouching in his seat with droopy eyes, around him Inoichi Yamanaka and Choza Akimichi, the two n heads who granted their approval for the meeting. Around them were the n heads of the Hyuuga, Aburame, Inuzuka, and Uchiha ns.

    It pained Hiruzen to see that sorry state.

    At the start, there were no less than seventeen ns in Konoha, all with a healthy poption. Now? Most n seats on the shinobi side of the council were empty. Some, like Senju, out of choice, others, like Kurama, out of necessity. While the Senju n had only one member and thus wouldn''t normally qualify for the council seat by normal rules, they were rich, and most importantly, a founding n. Tsunade could sit on the council if she so wished.

    The Kurama n, however, wasn''t nearly as important and because of their abysmal numbers in recent times, their privilege to sit on the council was lost. But the Kurama n was only the most recent one to lose this privilege. There were Hatake, Mitarashi, Sarutobi, and many other ns that didn''t fulfill the membership quota to sit on the shinobi council.

    As such, from the initial seventeen, only seven n heads now sat on the shinobi council. A pitiful state, really.

    The civilian side had ten members. Five seats were taken by rich merchants entrenched in very important business fields that provided the vige with weapons, food, and other necessities. These seats were quasi-hereditary since the merchants usually gave the seat alongside their business to their progeny when they retired. The next five seats were voted in by the people of Konoha.

    Erging the civilian council was one of the follies Hiruzen agreed on to lighten his burden during the third war. At first, it was only five seats with the important merchants but now... now Hiruzen actually had a hard time finding a proper excuse to dismiss the five voted-in civilian members.

    It certainly was not a fun time, having ten civilians and only seven shinobi on the council.

    Not when thest set of seats belonged to the Elders, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Shimura Danzo. That was yet another can of worms that usually gave Hiruzen a headache. The elders'' support was very fickle. On one issue, they could support the shinobi council, on another the civilian one. Thankfully, the Elders were quite limited in their influence.

    Andstly, there was him, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage. Twenty-one people in total if one didn''t count all the ANBU skulking around the shadows in the room.

    ''So then... what is she doing here?'' Hiruzen''s eyes trailed towards the cheerfully humming Anko Mitarashi sitting in a guest seat as she waited for the start of the session and suddenly, Hiruzen no longer felt all that worry-free about this meeting.

    ...

    The council meeting started and Anko restlessly waited through all the inane procedures, all the meaningless talks, and making sure everybody was present despite clearly seeing nobody missing. Yup, she really didn''t like politics and the formal procedures that needed to be followed. She was dying of boredom despite the patience brutally instilled in her by Orochimaru.

    Finally, thirty minutes after the start, Shikaku was given the word. Anko watched the man lift his head from the table and confusedly look around after Choza nudged him before the gears in Shikaku''s head started working as he lethargically stood up.

    "I called this meeting on the insistence of my n''s long-time allies, the Senju n." Shikaku slowly let out in a measured drawl that gave everybody ample time to realize why Anko was present. At least, the ninjas did while the voted-in civilians were as clueless as it gets. Anko straightened her back, not due to the clueless and disgruntled nces from the Elders and the Hokage, but due to what wasing next. "The Senju n asked me to present a case of custody for one, Uzumaki Naruto, to the Senju n because of his heritage as a scion of the Uzumaki n and his blood ties to Tsunade Senju through her grandmother, Mito Uzumaki."

    The second Shikaku stopped talking and flopped back into his chair, a deafening silence engulfed the room. Not even the ANBU guards dared to breathe after hearing that.

    The topic of custody of Naruto Uzumaki was a frequent one a few years back. The n heads wanted a boy, either to strengthen their ns or simply to give him a home. Even the ever-istionist Aburame n tried to gain custody of him, if only because they knew the burden the boy carried. s, Hiruzen Sarutobi was the Hokage, and with the help of his Elders and using the hatred the civilian council had for the boy, he made damn sure to block any and all such proposals.

    Hiruzen was blindsided by this. He spent thest few days trying to figure out Tsunade''s angle. He knew her. She would not be appeased so easily. At the very least, the second she got to know about her birthright, he expected her to storm her way into Konoha and try to yell his brain out while also causing an unhealthy amount of coteral damage to vent her frustration. This... calm and collected letter with a working threat and set of reasonable demands was so far out of his apprentice''s modus operandi, Hiruzen was really worried.

    ''She baited me.'' Hiruzen understood. ''She made me waste time on her knowledge of the Konoha Creation Act while...'' His eyes coldly stared at Anko Mitarashi, the viper who slithered under his feet without him noticing.

    Hiruzen was not stupid. He knew well that Tsunade was the only one who could take care of Naruto even if he disapproved. They shared blood and that meant something. That was yet another reason why her absence in the vige didn''t bother him much. Unless she was in the vige, she couldn''t get custody.

    But now...

    Anko watched with an expertly hidden glee as the Hokage''s eyes swept through his fellow councilmen and his lips set in a concerned frown. She felt proud of herself for pulling this off. Especially since it was so obvious neither of the Elders knew what was going to happen in the meeting.

    ''Maybe this maniption and ckmail stuff is not all that bad. The process is dull and boring but the result is sweet!'' Anko inwardly grinned while outwardly she projected a sweet innocent smile that fooled nobody.

    She watched as Hiruzen sat in his seat, most likely mulling over the situation and what he could do to prevent it but in the end, the old man simply sighed and called for a vote.

    And so, the council voted.

    The five civilians from the important merchant families voted for giving custody to the Senju n. Tsunade had far too much ckmail on them for them to not give their vote in her favor.

    As expected, the Hyuuga, Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, and surprisingly even the Aburame ns voted in the Senju n''s favor.

    But the Hokage, the elders Homura and Koharu, the remaining five voted-in civilians, the Uchiha, and Inuzuka ns voted against the proposition.

    Only Danzo abstained with a small knowing and calcting smirk.

    ''Unfortunately for the cyclops wannabe, Tsunade put the matter into the most dependable hands in the entire Konoha.'' Anko amusedly observed the relieved looks on Hiruzen''s face.

    Shikaku stood up and actually smiled. "Naruto Uzumaki is a civilian with a n heritage. He is not yet a shinobi of the vige, hence the votes of the Elders hold no value ording to thews of the vige. As expected of Elder Shimura, you know ourws by heart." Shikaku said in a voiceced with amus.e.m.e.nt as Koharu and Homura flushed, Danzo''s smirk froze, and Hiruzen''s pupils dted. "As such, the vote is eight to ten in favor of the proposition. Since the child is not yet a shinobi, the Hokage can not overrule this." Shikaku nced at Hiruzen before turning towards Anko, "Congrattions, Anko Mitarashi. Your and your n''s guardianship of Naruto Uzumaki was approved."

    Anko simply hummed andfortably leaned back into her chair as the screaming contest started as the unhappy civilians realized that the Snake Whore, as they called her, was the only ''member'' of the Senju n present in the vige.

 Chapter 202 - Ch202. Narutos new home

    <h4>Chapter 202 - Ch202. Naruto''s new home</h4>

    Naruto curiously stared at the woman who caught him during one of his pranking escapades and was currently walking through the vige while holding him under her armpit as if he was a sack of potatoes. Admittedly, he would normally struggle but his body felt oddly sluggish, preventing him from moving much. Naruto was not stupid, he recognized when he was beaten with no way out.

    Then, in Naruto''s opinion, yet another surprising thing happened. The woman walked into a secluded part of the vige. A part that Naruto recognized as the Senjupound. To his shock, the woman who kidnapped him only stopped in the backyard of one house and dropped him onto the ground, causing him to groan in slight pain as he impacted the hard surface face-first due to being unable to move his body. Maybe it wasn''t that smart to verbally antagonize her during their trip...

    "Yo, brat," The woman squatted near him and started talking in a very annoyed manner. "I am Anko Mitarashi, your new guardian as of two hours ago."

    Now that was something that sent Naruto into a shocked silence, causing him to choke on his unspokenints. His eyes widened and his mouth started opening and closing while his mind was unable toprehend what exactly was going on.

    "Yeah, yeah, I know. Shocking, right?" Anko dismissively waved her hand. "Anyway, Lady Tsunade wasn''t happy when she got to know her blood rtive was treated badly by the vige. She couldn''t reallye back due to the political climate in the vige either and that''s where I came in. For the foreseeable future, we are stuck together, pipsqueak. Get used to it." Anko grinned, causing Naruto to nch.

    A thousand questions were swirling in Naruto''s head all at once but only one was important enough that he found himself voicing it out without even realizing it. "I... I have a family?" Naruto''s body shook in... even he didn''t know what. Was he relieved? Angry? Sad?

    Anko slightly winced. She knew the kid wouldn''t take the revtion well. Sighing, she shrugged, "Yeah. Sorry, kid. Your family is not in Konoha and getting to you is harder than you would expect. I suppose Lady Tsunade could get to you at a moment''s notice but it would cause a lot of trouble for her. The Hokage would never allow it and even now it took a lot of ckmail for me to be your guardian which put you into the purview of the Senju n." Anko cautiously added, observing Naruto for his reaction.

    And as expected, Naruto hid it well but Anko was not a high-ranked for nothing. The brat already knew his mother''s name and... "I am d you already have mistrust towards the Hokage." She grinned at the widening of Naruto''s eyes.

    "I have no idea..." He started.

    Anko then quickly poked Naruto''s forehead, right where the seal ced on him by Ringo was located, instantly silencing him. The very same seal that gave the kid knowledge when he needed it and functioned as a lie detector of sorts. Rei had no idea how would that go but it was an experiment to see how would Naruto grow up if he had something teaching him the important stuff and showing him who is and who isn''t trustworthy.

    "Oh~, I think you know exactly what I mean, ne, Naru-chan?" Anko''s grin widened as the kid realized she knew about his biggest secret.

    "You... what... how!?" He eximed. The ''thing'' giving him knowledge, teaching him, and causing him to know who he should trust was with him for as long as he could remember. It was his most important secret, the only thing he could depend on in his life. While people avoided him, the voice in his head always told him what to do to survive. Always taught him how to better himself. How could the woman in front of him know about it!?

    "The seal on your forehead was created by Rei, the husband of Lady Tsunade, when it became apparent you were an Uzumaki and there was no way to help you directly. They couldn''t really take you in since you are a jinchuuriki." Anko slowly said, looking for any sign of shock on Naruto''s face. When she found none, she mentally nodded. The kid already knew. "Konoha would not allow it, hence, it took them so long to get someone to take care of you."

    "Which is you." Naruto slightly narrowed his eyes at Anko who rolled her eyes.

    "Yes. You will live with me in the Senju Compound from now on. I will provide necessities for you and I will train you. You will start the academy soon... by the way, a good thing you didn''t pester the Hokage for early admission. It would only annoy the teachers there. Lady Tsunade isn''t really in a trusting mood so I was made to retire from my kunoichi duties for a few years and will now focus on your and my own training in the time being."

    "I will be trained? YATTA!" Naruto jumped up, cheering in a very silly way. Only a shuriken scratching his cheek stopped him in his spot with a ''deer in the headlights expression as he looked at Anko whose eyebrow was twitching.

    "Stop acting like an idiot. I know enough to recognize your facade. I have nothing against you using it to fool the idiots outside the Senju Compound but here you will act like yourself. Too much acting can be bad for you, lest you really start believing the act real." Anko admonished, walking forward and ruffling Naruto''s hair.

    For some reason, Naruto couldn''t find it in himself to give her a cheeky retort as he usually would. Nor could he tell her off for treating him like a kid.

    ''It feels kinda nice.'' He thought and blushed as he felt Anko''s hand ruffling his hair.

    "I too am not very liked by the vigers." Anko said, making the warm mood turn serious, "I know it is easier to show a facade of cheerfulness but it can hurt you if you overdo it. It certainly hurt me, kid." She bitterly admitted, "It took a nice heart-to-heart conversation with Lady Tsunade to show me what I was doing is wrong. I don''t want you to one day find yourself sofortable with your facade that it will be reality."

    Naruto briefly pondered Anko''s words and had to admit, he didn''t want to always be his naive, stupid, cheerful self. When he grew up, he wanted to be able to drop his facade but could he really get so used to it that it would be second nature to him? That was something he really didn''t want to experience.

    Deciding to change the mood between them, Naruto quickly changed the topic, "So... what will you teach me?"

    Apparently, that was a wrong question if the sudden vicious grin Anko gave him was any indication. Not a second after, a wave of a killing intent strong enough to make him stiffen, but weak enough that he could still move, engulfed him.

    "I will teach you how to survive."

    Naruto only barely dodged the kunai aimed at his shoulder as he thought...

    ''Maybe staying in my old apartment would be safer?''

 Chapter 203 - Ch203. Stirring in the Kirigakure

    <h4>Chapter 203 - Ch203. Stirring in the Kirigakure</h4>

    "Really, no rest for the wicked." Rei sighed as he recounted the past few days in his head.

    He and Tsunade came home three days ago. Tsunade instantly went into his dimension to cuddle with Blondie in order to... replenish her essential dose of fluff... as she called it. Rei also decided to check up on ck, finding out the foxes were already the size of a horse. That was quite a nice growth spur considering they were ''born'' only recently.

    What was not nice was Pakuraing to his dimension and telling him there was an emergency. Really, he was home not even for ten minutes and there was already some screw-up for him to fix?

    Fast forward to the current time, and grumbling Rei stood on a hill located in the Land of Water.

    "Inconsiderate prick. Couldn''t Yagura start with his genocidal urges a weekter? Three freaking days of paperwork, diplomacy, and preparations. Sigh, I really need a proper vacation." Reimented, only to get a nk gaze from Ringo who stood to his left, and an amused giggle from Mei who was on his right side.

    "You just came from a vacation." Ringo deadpanned, crossing her hands under her c.h.e.s.t.

    "That was not a vacation. That was a business trip. No matter if I spent most of it rxing with Tsunade, official doc.u.ments state it was not a vacation, therefore it was NOT a vacation." Rei defended, causing Ringo to sigh.

    "Mah, forget the workaholic. She would not understand what is the use of free time even if you spelled it to her. Honestly, she would never leave her forge if not for the fact she is your wife." Mei decided to donate her two cents to the conversation.

    "What''s that supposed to mean?" Ringo asked crossly.

    "Don''t give me that look. You only leave your workshop to eat with us, when you have scheduled training or sparring, and for s.e.x with Rei. Even now, you are mostly jealous you had no alone time with Rei before we had toe here." Mei snorted.

    "At least I wasn''t the one keeping half of the house awake yesterday. How dumb must you be to forgot the silencing seals?" Ringo sarcastically quipped.

    "Hey, I resent that. You kno..."

    Mei started but Rei''s hands suddenly grasped the shoulder of both Ringo and Mei, stopping their tirade. He didn''t even need to say a word for the girls to understand the meaning of his gesture. The arguments between Ringo and Mei never ceased and while everybody knew they didn''t put much heart into them, Rei really didn''t feel like listening to the two bickering women right now.

    "They are almost here." He said, causing both Mei and Ringo to straighten up and enter their professional facade.

    It took a few minutes but right on the decided time, three Mist ninjasnded in front of Rei and girls, led by Ao, the leader of the resistance, himself. Because of the fact that the Third Mizukage dyed Obito from influencing Yagura, the ns had more time to prepare. Thanks to Rei who warned them what was most probably the n of Obito and that he would most likely seed given enough time, many ns took the threat seriously.

    Frankly, if Rei was just some unknown chump, nobody would care what he was rambling about. But since he was a famous SS-rank ninja, his word was akin to gospel to them. Really, Rei couldn''t help but find it incredibly amusing.

    Because of the warning, the second the Third Mizukage was assassinated, the red lights started ring in the heads of the n heads. When Yagura finally started pulling anti-n reforms out of his a.s.s, the ns were prepared the best they could. Hence, the resistance was much, much stronger this time around.

    That, however, didn''t mean they could just storm Kirigakure and win. Not without heavy casualties, at least. Even with the bolstered numbers and many ns intact, the resistance was still outnumbered 1 to 20. Which is why Rei was currently in the Land of Water despite dearly wishing to be able toze around in his bed right at the moment. They wanted help and Rei, Ringo, and Mei were the poor sods who drew the shortest straws so they had to listen to their demands and possibly negotiate an agreement with them.

    ''I am never again ying a drawing game to decide who would deal with something like this.'' Rei inwardly grumbled. ''Even my luck is clearly against me.''

    "Greetings, Rei-dono. Please, follow us, our hideout is nearby." Ao said in a no-nonsense tone and turned around before starting to run.

    Mei, Ringo, and Rei looked at each other before helplessly shrugging and following.

    "So... why exactly did they choose you as the leader?" Ringo asked after a few minutes of silent running. She knew Ao and it was obvious the man nor his guards were not content with seeing her. For them, she was most likely a traitor. Not that Rei cared since he called as such too.

    "The ns bickered who should lead and in the end, it was decided the leader was to be someone not under the influence of a particr n." Ao unhappily grunted, showing just how much he loved his current position, "I was just the most skilled guy out of those who joined the resistance and didn''t belong to a n."

    "Sucks to be you." Mei snickered, causing even the Ao''s guards to join her briefly before they earned themselves a one-eyed re from their boss. That shut them up good.

    "I agree." Ao muttered and the group again fell into silence.

    Rei didn''t ask his questions in favor of observation. He knew Ringo only started the brief debate in order to give Rei a better picture of Ao. As if she really cared who or why led the resistance. Her questioning however gave Rei a better perspective of what to expect.

    ''So the ns are not as united as they would like to portray, heh... Well, naturally, they survived with more members than in canon. They were always somewhat entitled and now that nobody humbled them by culling out most of their popce, the ns would naturally bicker who is the biggest fish in the pond. Must be really annoying. No wonder they seek outside help, then.'' Rei mentally summed up Ao''s situation.

    Rei wasn''t really happy with what he heard so far. The resistance was outnumbered and the members had a hard time working together. They actually had to give the leadership to a third party to keep a semnce of order in their ranks. Many Kirigakure high-ranking ninjas were members of some n. Meaning, despite being outnumbered, the resistance should, at the very least hypothetically, be able to win against Kirigakure. Especially if they employed guerri warfare which is incredibly suitable for the Mist ninjas. They could weaken the Kiri forces enough that the chances of winning a head-on assault would be greatly in their favour.

    And yet, they wanted to pull Yozora into it. ''Somehow, I am starting to have a really bad feeling that they expect some hocus-pocus out of me that would resolve their current problem without any country-crippling bloodshed.'' Rei started to realize what exactly the Kiri ns wanted.

    This was not a desperate fight for survival for them. Not yet. They weren''t reduced to a few members. Not in this timeline. Rei actually cursed when he realized a snag in his n. This was something he overlooked.

    The ns simply wanted to return to theirfortable position of power in Kirigakure. This meant Yagura had to be removed without much infighting that would weaken Kirigakure, and cause the ns having to work overtime to keep their vige safe afterward. They simply wanted a fairytale oue with a happily ever after.

    ''Oh, well, no matter how ridiculous this is bing, it''s not like this situation doesn''t y right into my cards.'' Rei mentally shrugged. Eh, he would have to adjust his ns but maybe the current situation would be even more beneficial for him. Rei discreetly looked at Ringo with the corner of his eyes, ''The question is... how pissed will she be when I enact my oh-so evil n?''

 Chapter 204 - Ch204. Difference

    <h4>Chapter 204 - Ch204. Difference</h4>

    After arriving at the hideout of the Resistance, Rei, Ringo, and Mei marveled at the ce. All of them spent years in the service of Kirigakure and yet, neither knew about the ce. From the exquisite buildings and the crests on them, it was obvious the vige in front of their eyes belonged to a n which only made theirck of knowledge about it even more impressive. Kirigakure loved to keep track of any ce the ns owned, after all.

    Rei couldn''t help but smirk. It was obvious that some ns didn''t trust Kirigakure enough to abandon their previouspounds or reveal their whereabouts upon the establishment of the vige. The entire ce was quite spacious but it was also masterfully hidden by the local nature, and ording to Rei''s senses, some quite rudimentary but nevertheless quite effective fuinjutsu.

    ''Just wow. Kirigakure could run in circles around this ce for months considering the seriousck of fuinjutsu experts. The seals perfectly blend with the local nature and cover the vige. Quite ingenious, to be honest. Although... it wouldn''t work if the n vige was bigger.'' Rei wryly thought about how useless these seals would be for him if he tried to hide his own vige with them.

    His mind quickly stopped this contemtion as he noticed that to his right, Mei was walking with a small weing smile while secretly but constantly letting out a bit of her chakra seep into the air around her.

    ''Already taking preventive measures, eh?'' Rei noted.

    He was especially proud that he managed to discover Mei''s subtle use of her Steam Bloodline only thanks to his Senjutsu enhanced senses. This meant that even Ao who already sported his stylish eye-patch and no doubt monitored them non-stop with his Byakugan, would not get even an inkling of Mei''s usage of the chakra because to him, it would simply seem like a natural leakage of chakra into the surroundings that every person, even civilians, had. Mei simply leaked quite a bit more which could be chalked up to her massive chakra reserves.

    And thereid the reason why Rei was so proud. It didn''t seem as if Mei was using a technique. Not even to Byakugan. And yet, slowly but surely, the air was starting to get thinly saturated with her chakra, drifting away from Ao to different parts of the vige so he doesn''t get suspicious. It was not as if Mei needed a lot of her chakra in the air in order to do nasty stuff with it either.

    Rei''s eyes discreetly nced at Ringo who instantly noticed and her grip on the handles of the swords on her waist slightly tightened, notifying Rei she was ready to act upon being ordered. Her eyes were set in a cold facade and Rei knew if he told her to ughter every single person in the vige, she would do so. It was... reassuring, and yet a bit disturbing. But that was Ringo. After she decided to throw everything away for Rei, her determination only strengthened through the years and not one of his girls showed such unquestioning loyalty to him as her.

    Yes, his wives were loyal without a shadow of a doubt but Ringo was in the league of its own, clutching onto Rei after forsaking Kirigakure for him.

    Rei simply widened his smile, giving Ringo a signal that no carnage would be happening right about now, which elicited a small, almost pouty frown from the redhead while her grip slightly ckened.

    Obviously, the jonins escorting them through the n vige noticed her slight tensing and it created a quite stifling atmosphere which only somewhat eased up after Ringo became more rxed. Nevertheless, they had no idea what exactly caused the famous assassin in front of them to get battle-ready, and that, even if they didn''t outwardly show it... drove many of them scared shitless.

    Rei chuckled at the mirth in Ringo''s eyes. The minx clearly did it on purpose, giving the ninjas around a warning. And if the small widening of the distance between Ringo and the ninjas who escorted them was any indication, it worked spectacrly. Needless to say, Rei had no illusion that Ringo was simply ying around. She was clearly mapping out the vige, remembering any escape route, any important ce that could help in a fight... simply, her deeply ingrained cold calctive instincts of an assassin was in full throttle, devising n after n while analyzing the situation and the best way to terminate everybody around.

    Rei, on the other hand, was also busy with using his chakra to form seals under the soles of his boots as he walked, causing them to sink into the earth. It was quite an advanced technique and getting it to work with his feet rather than hands took a long time but this way, he could simply walk and distribute his seals on the ces he set his feet on without being noticed.

    From a perspective of a normal ninja, it would bepletely mind-boggling that the trio managed to do what they were doing without being noticed despite being surrounded by a Byakugan user and a vige full of ninjas.

    They finally reached their destination, a well-decorated mansion in the middle of the vige. The mansion was the grandest building around and Rei had no doubt the n heads of ns that formed the Resistance would be just waiting to manipte him to help them.

    Such was the disadvantage of working more with the Third Mizukage and never teaming up with other ninjas from Kirigakure. Sure, the n heads most likely saw him as a powerful individual but they were people who had power and influence for most of their lives. Rei was really curious just how many of them would take him seriously in this little political game of theirs.

    Considering the inactivity of Yozora in recent years...

    ''This will be a monumental drag, won''t it?'' Rei wearily sighed as he stared unimpressed at thevish mansion in front of them.

    The group entered and right as they passed the door, Ao turned towards Rei and started talking in an emotionless tone, "I will require you to leave your weapons here. They will be returned after the negotiation. Standard procedure, I hope you don''t mind." He swept the trio with his eyes, showing a bit disgruntled expression when he saw Ringo shrug and hand her swords to the ninja sh receptionist sh guard sh whatever else required.

    Ringo simply smirked at Ao, causing his eyes to narrow as a weary sigh left his lips. He knew out of the three ninjas before him, Ringo was the most dependent on her weapons and yet she waspletely fine with handing her swords over? The Ringo he remembered wouldsh out and bring hell to the mortal ne if anybody demanded her to give her swords away.

    Ao correctly assumed that what he was seeing was a whole load of trouble as his head started to hurt with a profound headache while Rei only amusedly handed over his kunai pouch to the receptionist. Ringo''s swords were still the same two chakra des he gifted her when Kiba was taken away from her. There was only one thing dearer to her in the world than these des and that was Rei himself. Even Tsunade, Ringo''s most favorite person out of Rei''s wives, didn''t reach the same level as the two des. But Rei also knew that since she started focusing on her cksmithing, Ringo made sure to improve the des immensely.

    ''By now, she can summon them with but a thought in a span of a split of a second from literally anywhere in the world. It would take a quite strong seal to prevent her to get her swords.'' Rei inwardly snorted, knowing Ringo had no problem with handing out her swords only because she could re-summon them anytime she d.e.s.i.r.ed.

    Noticing that Mei didn''t move to remove any weapons from her person, the guards spoke, "Lady Terumi, could you please hand over your weapons?"

    Rei noted how polite they were but... he guessed that was given considering she was the first SS-rank toe from their vige... ever.

    Mei simply grinned and shrugged, "I have no weapons on my person," She turned to look straight at Ao, getting his full undivided attention, "my chakra is all I need."

    The guards didn''t know what to do in a situation like this. Mei was an SS-rank kunoichi and offending her would be quite... ahem. They simply turned towards Ao and waited for orders.

    By that point, Ao''s headache increased. For a second, he had a bad feeling he missed something but in the end, he just nodded at a guard to search Mei.

    Seeing how stiffly the guard approached her, Mei chuckled. "Get it over with but make sure your hands don''t wander where they don''t belong. This," she gestured at her body, "belongs solely to Rei." And narrowed her eyes at the poor sod chosen to search her.

    A few very, very ufortable momentster for the almost crying guard, the trio was amused beyond belief while Ao was now actively rubbing his temples when he saw how the guard whimpered every time his hands approached Mei''s b.r.e.a.s.ts or lower body, causing her to tense up in warning.

    "She is clear." The guard said and Rei would even find his even tone impressive if the man didn''t have such a fearful expression on his face.

    Frankly, Rei found the entire situation exceedingly amusing, especially since Mei threw Ao such an obvious clue. ''Chakra is all I need? Seriously? She couldn''t have given him a bigger hint to what she was doing during their walk towards the mansion.'' Rei giddily thought, ''I really, really start to see why Itachi and Kisame would stop for a snack in a Dango shop in the middle of Konoha despite both being very notorious rogue ninjas and Itachi being one of the most wanted men from Konoha. It''s simply so fun to be surrounded by ninjas, especially elite jonins, the so-called cream of the crop, and seeing them utterly clueless when you do something. Ao having a Byakugan is just a cherry on the top.''

    Mei even hinted that she did something right into Ao''s face and the man, the former best hunter ninja of Kirigakure, simply couldn''t figure it out. ''Then again, if jonins could figure our tricks out, maybe we don''t deserve the title of SS-rank.'' Rei conceded in his mind.

    "Well, if everything is in order, I think it is time to meet the big bad boys." Rei quipped, getting an annoyed grunt from Ao who still couldn''t shake off the feeling he missed something.

    He was not a happy camper right about now!

 Chapter 205 - Ch205. I want...

    <h4>Chapter 205 - Ch205. I want...</h4>

    Rei, Ringo, and Mei were led into avish meeting room where the n heads and leaders of the Resistance already waited for them, debating about this or that. The second the trio stepped inside the room, everybody quieted down almost instantly and Rei could almost smell the curiosity in the air as the people turned towards them.

    The trio simply stared back inplete disregard and disinterest as the gazes washed over them. Rei was indifferent to it, Ringo simply didn''t care, and Mei didn''t want to get spanked by Tsunade because of letting her difort show so she donned an aloof facade.

    After all, Tsunade would be very upset if the five hours she spent hammering the political knowledge into Mei''s mind were in vain. Especially since Mei''s sole purpose in these negotiations was to look disinterested with anything they propose while making sure her mouth stayed shut as Rei handled talking.

    Rei''s lips quivered as he noticed the gazes linger on Mei a bit more than on him or Ringo. ''Well, I did take Mei with me because she is thest of the Terumi n and also because she is the very first SS-rank ninja from Kirigakure. Looks like it works like a charm. Their attention is more on her than me.'' Rei noted with satisfaction.

    These n heads knew well that he was the ''mysterious'' Rei of Kiri in the past. But they knew virtually nothing about him. Ringo and Mei though... Ringo was one of the best assassins Kiri ever produced in its existence and Mei''s ranking was too big of a deal. Hence, Rei who was standing a half-step behind the girls was not garnering much attention.

    "Wee," One of the geezers stood up from his seat and amiably greeted the trio, "we awaited your arrival, members of Yozora. I am very d Miss Terumi and Miss Ameyuri feel enough patriotism to show up in Kirigakure''s time of need. My name is Kagerou Yuki and..."

    Naturally, by that point, even Rei tuned the man''s speech out of his mind. As for Ringo and Mei... Rei doubted they got beyond the word patriotism without mentally snorting inughter. Both had to be strongly persuaded by Rei toe, after all. Mei hated Kirigakure with a passion due to how she was treated there and Ringo simply stopped caring about the vige.

    While Kagerou was passionately talking about their dreary situation while introducing this or that unimportant n head, Rei was getting more and more put off, ''The guy is talking as if he was the Mizukage who was overthrown by discontent children throwing a tantrum and was currently seeking a righteous help. Guess nobody told him to his face that it is he and his n who are trying to do the overthrowing.'' Rei sighed.

    Finally, after a lengthy introduction of every person in the room, the man quieted down and Rei took it as his cue to start talking, "Nice to meet you. I am Rei of Yozora, to my right is Mei, and to my left is Ringo. We found a request for help from you and decided toe and listen to your offer. Depending on the reward we will decide if we ept or not." He gave Kagerou a fake smile.

    The n heads in the room looked a bit exasperated when Rei insinuated that his help is not yet set in stone. Obviously, they expected these talks to go smoothly but Rei would have none of that. If they couldn''t offer a worthwhile reward, then why should he risk the safety of his people?

    "Ah, yes, yes, naturally." Kagerou stiffly nodded and gestured towards seats behind a big round table where the n heads sat.

    As the trio moved to sit down, Rei briefly nced at Ao who sat a few seats away from their designated seats and looked somewhat bitterly worried. Clearly, the supposed leader of Resistance didn''t have much of a voice in the important matters since he didn''t speak even once since they entered the room.

    "So... let''s skip all formalities. I am not very fond of those. Your offer?" Rei suddenly voiced out, stopping Kagerou in his tracks right as he spotted the man about to start babbling again. Many n heads frowned at such a disregard for the mandatory small talk but Rei would have none of that. He ignored the suspicious mutterings sounding a bit like, ''youngsters these days'', and stared at Kagerou with a hard gaze, causing the man to feel a bit out of ce.

    "As you wish..." Kagerou reluctantly nodded, unhappy his gift of speech would be pretty useless for these negotiations. He was, after all, chosen to be the spokesperson because he was a skilled politician who prided himself in talking his way out or into any deal he wanted. It also helped that it was kinda hard to ignore a hard gaze of a known SS-rank ninja.

    Unfortunately for Kagerou, Konan made sure Rei knew about his reputation which enabled him to put a stop to his silver tongue before the real negotiations even started.

    "As you know we currently need an aid to bring order back to Kirigakure," At that, Mei gave Kagerou an incredulous look and Ringo rolled her eyes, "but bloodshed would lead to a severe weakening of the vige. We seek your services for an assassination of the current Mizukage and subsequent take-over of the vige by our forces. As for your reward..." Kagerou slightly shifted in his spot, "We will naturally reward you most generously once the vige is back in our hands."

    Hearing that, Rei slowly nodded, "So... basically, what you are saying is that you don''t have money to afford our help." He started, ignoring how Kagerou''s expression darkened alongside the other n heads while Ao looked as if he just gained a sudden realization and started ring at the n heads. "I gotta praise your wording. If I was an inexperienced chunin, I would probably fall in line and agree to help you for not clearly stated reward," Rei continued with a straight face but everyone in the room recognized he was mocking them. "Obviously, people of yourˇ­ standing don''t deal with rogue ninjas much. We don''t do things for promises of riches. We don''t have an assurance that the vige would reward us or give us retirement funds if we get injured. Or did you think if you appeal to our past loyalties towards Kirigakure you will get us to easily help you? Sorry to say but we don''t owe Kirigakure anything. We will get involved only once we clearly know what we are supposed to risk our lives for."

    Rei was sweetly smiling. It went exactly how Konan predicted. Money was an issue when one ran a rebellion. Plus the civil war was freshly started. The n heads didn''t think it wouldst all that long and were unwilling to pay a huge price to put a stop to it. It also just so happened that Yozora was inactive for the past few years because the price for them to get involved was very high.

    Konan made sure to scout the people behind the Resistance and their situation. Rei came here knowing the circ.u.mstances clearly. Which is why he didn''t let them react to his mocking and continued talking, "That said, we do have something we want from you. Something I am sure you would be willing to pay since it won''t cost ns all that much."

    That stopped the various n heads short. Out of the people in the room, only Ao looked worried about what Rei meant. He was no fool and knew the n heads wanted the war to quickly end and get back theirfy positions in Kirigakure. Moreover, they wanted to aplish this without incurring much cost to the coffers of their ns.

    Ao, on the other hand, simply wanted the war to end because he had no illusions how it would affect the vige and how much blood would be spilled before it ends. There was a serious possibility Kirigakure would fall short of the other four major hidden viges if the war was prolonged and cost too many losses. The whole situation didn''t have any positive oue for Kirigakure in general. As a loyal Kiri ninja, Ao didn''t like that.

    Yes... loyal. As stupid as that sounded considering he was rebelling, he believed the removal of Yagura was necessary if Kirigakure was to survive and keep its position in the major five.

    That was why Ao was very nonplussed at Rei''s wording. Clearly, he wanted something and if the ns wouldn''t have to pay, it would naturally be the vige who would pay. It was the exact same situation that the n heads previously propositioned. The money for hiring Yozora was obviously supposed toe from the Kirigakure''s treasury after they took over the vige. Somehow, Ao doubted that Rei d.e.s.i.r.ed money, which was a whole lot more worrying thought.

    "I am sure we can at least hear your proposal out." Kagerou prompted Rei to say what he wanted from them, excited at the prospect of his n not having to pay anything in order to get help in the war.

    Rei smirked and briefly nced at Ringo. ''Gosh, I can already imagine the argument this will incur... Here goes nothing.''

    "I want Ringo Ameyuri to be the Fifth Mizukage." He loudly proimed, causing the whole room to fall into a deafening silence while Mei choked and Ringo''s eyes snapped to him and slightly narrowed in a cold furious bewilderment.

 Chapter 206 - Ch206. Might makes right

    <h4>Chapter 206 - Ch206. Might makes right</h4>

    The door closed behind the trio that entered their assigned room and Rei swiftly touched the wall, causing seals to spread through the room, securing it while destroying any surveince device or Jutsu.

    With room secured, silence spread through the room and Rei awkwardly looked at Ringo who had a very telling frown on her lips. Her discontent became almost palpable the second they entered the room and she made sure Rei knew it due to her discreet but intense stare through the entire negotiation.

    Ringo knew it wouldn''t do to show any form of surprise at Rei''s exmation that he wanted her to be the Fifth Mizukage. Discontent would be even worse than surprise and as such, she simply set her expression into a cold facade and used years of her training to rx the tension in her body and erase any kind of bodynguage that could give her away. She was simply happy she didn''t have to talk during the negotiation of terms.

    But now the tiring talks were over and she was locked in a secured, sound-proof room with Rei. Ringo''s eyes gazed into Rei''s and her lips opened, "What the hell was that?"

    Rei sighed, knowing he owed Ringo a proper exnation. It couldn''t be easy for her to stay indifferent during the hours he negotiated a satisfactory deal with the n heads. Especially since they were talking about her responsibilities, limitations, and rights once she became the Mizukage and didn''t even ask her about her opinion.

    "Sorry, Ringo," Rei started, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "but the opportunity was simply far too good to not go for it. I could only choose between you and Mei, and you know how Mei is. She wouldn''t be able to get past the first week of being Mizukage without blowing the entire Kirigakure up and calling it an ident."

    "Yes! You know how I am, Ringo." Mei teasingly interjected from her bed where sheid with her hands supporting her chin as she stared between Rei and Ringo with great interest.

    "You shut up." Ringo snapped at Mei, letting her anger briefly show before she took a deep breath.

    It had to be said, Rei was using Ringo''s love for him in his favor. He knew she couldn''t really argue against him. Mei, however, wasn''t so lucky and if she kept talking, she would be an apt scapegoat for Ringo to relieve her stress. Then again, Rei definitely didn''t think the Resistance would appreciate having their hideout leveled to the ground.

    "Mei, stay quiet." Rei stated, not averting his eyes from Ringo.

    "Okay," Ringo took another calming breath and slowly sat down on the side of her own bed. "I would like a more in-depth exnation."

    Rei wryly smiled and walked towards Ringo. He sat next to her on the bed and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him. Only when he felt her rx and lean into his body did he start talking in a calm and soft voice, "I came here expecting many things based on Konan''s intelligence. I expected leaving without making any deal which would mean pulling things from the shadows to get things done. I expected a contract of trade agreement highly favoring us. I expected benefits for Yozora. And I expected many other things." Rei noticed Ringo''s eyes bing a bit restless so he decided to go straight to the point, "More importantly, I expected the negotiations tost a few days, hence I would have time to ease you into the idea. Well, that obviously didn''t work since the second I saw exactly how much the ns wanted to end the war and how stingy they were about it..."

    "You pounced on their greed to get the ball rolling." Ringo nodded in understanding. "But I don''t want to be Mizukage. I love you, I love forging, I love swords... I can''t do paperwork all day or lead a damn vige! I have to agree that Mei would be utterly useless in such a position," A loud ''Hey!'' sounded from Mei''s general direction, "but I am not much better. If you want me to do this, I can. I will even with great reluctance stop my forging since I won''t have the time for it." Ringo''s expression showed exactly how painful saying those words were to her. Forging became her hobby after they settled in Uzushio but by now, it was her lifeline not unlike being one of the Seven Swordsmen was her lifeline in her youth. "But even then, I don''t think I can do a great job at it. This is Konan''s niche. This is something Tsunade was trained for. But me? I am a killer, Rei, not an administrator and definitely not a leader material." She added, lowering her head on Rei''s shoulder in resignation.

    Hearing Ringo out, Rei chuckled. It was so like her to ept whatever fate he presented her with without any questions. Her assassin training really shone through in this aspect of what made Ringo, Ringo.

    "Ah, don''t worry. That''s what the negotiations were for." Rei yfully said with a knowing smirk, causing Ringo to be confused whereas Mei''s eyes bulged out as she burst into almost hystericalughter.

    Enjoying the change of atmosphere from gloomy and resigned to a cheerful one once Mei''sughter filled the room, Rei simply sat back, contently hugging the confused Ringo who was slowly working out the meaning of his words as he c.a.r.e.s.sed her hair.

    Few seconds passed and Mei was still giggling, trying to stop herself in vain when astonishment appeared on Ringo''s face, "You... The entire time you epted the terms the n heads set up. It seemed that as long as I be the Mizukage, you care not if I am but a figurehead without any real power over the vige. The talkssted only a few hours and a deal was struck. Normally, something like this would mean days of arguing but you were oddly amodating, only asking for some privileges and advantages for me that ns were happy to give. It was all on purpose, wasn''t it?" Ringo finished, still in a bit of disbelief.

    It wasn''t as if Rei threw the negotiations. He secured a LOT of advantages for Ringo. But from the political perspective, he might as well make her into a political eunuch. Once she became the Mizukage, the deal struck today would strip away most of her power over the vige. Which also tranted into way fewer responsibilities for Ringo.

    "You yed them!" Mei almost wheezed from her spot on her bed. "The pricks probably think how brilliantly they outsmarted you and secured themselves help for the rebellion for no cost while also getting more power in the vige afterward all the while you got exactly what you wanted from the deal!" She snickered, punching the pillow in giddiness.

    Rei smiled, lowering his head slightly to look at Ringo who was leaning on his c.h.e.s.t, "Yes... Making sure Ringo doesn''t have to deal with the bullshit of being Mizukage was the least I could do for her since I asked her to take the position." Rei said and suddenly could feel Ringo''s arms affectionately tightening around his waist. Leaning forward, Rei softly pecked Ringo''s lips. "Plus nobody ever said you have to stop forging. Did you already forget we can teleport? All you will have to do is send a shadow clone to Kirigakure every morning and you are free to stay holed up in your forge all day." He shrugged with a mirthful smirk.

    Really, the n heads grabbed more power for their ns and by doing so, they inadvertently took the responsibilities upon themselves. But... "As for you being reduced to a powerless figurehead? That doesn''t matter at all. The important part is you holding said position." Rei said before turning towards Mei, "Tell me, Mei, what is Ringo?"

    Ringo furrowed her brows, thinking about the answer. She felt a bit stupid for not being able to answer instantly but Rei simply reassuredly squeezed her. He asked Mei because he knew Ringo would take a long time to get the answer since she would have never considered it from the necessary point of view.

    "She is an SS-rank ninja." Mei instantly answered, knowing what Rei meant. After all, she had enough bruises from all the sparring against Ringo to get such a thing thoroughly hammered into her brain. Especially since Ringo found a way to counter most of her techniques. Ringo didn''t have a special bloodline or some other kind of advantage. She was all about pure kenjutsu with Lightning Release Mastery. "It won''t matter if you are a political figurehead, Ringo. Not when you have the power to level the entire vige alongside its upants. The n heads have no clue what SS-rank means. They probably still see you as someone they could get easily rid of as they do with problematic S-rank ninjas." Mei shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.

    "Yes..." Rei took over, "Might makes right only applies once one is so much stronger than others that it is not even a fight. That''s why Hashirama and Madara could single-handedly change the way of life of the ninjas from the entire continent by just making their own vige. Kirigakure never saw first-hand what it means to be an SS-rank. They produced some pretty strong S-rank ninjas but there is a massive difference between S-rank and SS-rank. Hence, once you give Yagura a beat-down of a century, it wouldn''t matter what is written on some paper as the limitation of your power over the vige." Rei said in a smooth voice.

    "You want to take over Kirigakure through me." Ringo understood.

    "Not really." Rei light-heartedly denied, "I simply want to have the option to take over Kirigakure at any given moment. After all, Mizukage is a lifelong position unless you decide to retire. And with the nature energy packed into you and your bijuu... you will live a VERY long life. Just lucky that the ns so readily volunteered to take care of the responsibilities for you, eh?"

    "Now that''s positively evil." Ringo said as her lips curled up in amus.e.m.e.nt, "Somehow, I don''t think bing Mizukage is such a bad thing anymore."

 Chapter 207 - Ch207. Aos decision

    <h4>Chapter 207 - Ch207. Ao''s decision</h4>

    Rei sat alone in the dining room of the mansion, enjoying early breakfast after Ringo decided to cheer his night up after their little conversation about the Mizukage thing. Naturally, that meant Mei decided to join up and one thing led to another...

    Hence Rei needed a very big breakfast to get back his energy and due to his schedule as the leader of his own hidden vige, he was too used to waking up early to sleep in with the girls who were still deep in their dreams, snuggly hugging each other''s n.a.k.e.d form under the sheets.

    As Rei was eating his scrambled eggs, suddenly Ao sat opposite him, putting a te with buttered bread and some kind of fish on the table. Rei looked at him with a raised eyebrow, silently asking Ao what he wanted with his eyes.

    "I came to talk." Ao gruffly said, making Rei roll his eyes.

    ''No shit sherlock.'' He mentally grumbled but outwardly he simply sighed and continued eating. There was no harm in letting Ao talk and Rei had to admit he was quite interested in what the big bad rogue hunter wanted with the albeit smaller but certainly ''badder'' rogue ninja.

    "I had a very long night..." Ao slowly started with an expression that showed how unsure of what to say he was and Rei barely restrained a snort.

    "Yeah, me too, buddy. I doubt our reason for staying upte was the same though." Rei mirthfully quipped but Ao simply ignored the jab.

    "You see, I was always the guy sent to clean up disloyal pieces of shit like you." Ao indifferently stated. "Find, kill, get rid of the body. That was my job and I was good at it. And now, here I am, calmly talking with a person who could easily be at the top of my kill list. Funny, isn''t it?"

    "You mean the fact you think you got a chance? Yeah, it sure is." Rei nonchntly shrugged.

    Ao simply sighed in defeat. It was obvious to the man how ufortable he was with the current situation. ''It must be quite hard for someone like Ao to stomach not only hiring Kirigakure''s rogue ninjas for help but also deciding to make one of them the next Mizukage.'' Rei mentally summed up.

    "The meeting yesterday... it got me thinking." Ao said in frustration as his shoulders sagged but his eyes didn''t stop giving Rei a piercing intense stare even for a second. "I am no politician. I am a hunter ninja. I spend most of my life hunting and know the worth of power. I know exactly what you aim for with making Ringo into a Mizukage."

    "Oh?" Rei yfully hummed.

    Honestly, the second Ao started showing his feelings openly, Rei knew there is no need to worry about him despite the man clearly hating his situation. If he was really hostile, he would be all cold and ring. Rei really didn''t feel any need to hide his n from the man the second he showed his frustration openly. It meant he made a decision. Rei had no idea what kind of decision but it was certainly interesting.

    Then again, it was not like the n heads would renege on the contract. It was too good for them to do that.

    "I may not care for it but I know how the game is yed." Ao started, pulling Rei out of his thoughts. "But it appears that yesterday I was the only one who realized you do not exactly y the same game as the n heads."

    Rei slightly leaned forward with a disarming smile, supporting his chin with his hands, and listened.

    "It''s sad, isn''t it?" Ao bitterly frowned. Before Rei could react, however, he continued. "But I can understand it. The politics of Kirigakure were always corrupted. After so many generations of it, it is no wonder the n heads simply don''t get it."

    "Eh, you will have to enlighten me, Ao. I never cared for Kirigakure''s politics and definitely never got involved in them despite living in the vige for over a decade in the past." Rei said, subtly reminding Ao that he was once Kirigakure''s ninja and that he defected. For some reason, Rei really couldn''t help himself. He liked the conflicted look in Ao''s eyes every time it was brought up.

    "Right..." Aomented quietly but with a lot of sarcasm. "If you had no idea, you wouldn''t try to exploit the n heads'' ignorance." Ao added, hating how smug Rei looked. Suddenly, he gained a sad look, "It''s really vexing, you know? The n heads are supposed to know better but... I am not surprised. With the formation of hidden viges, the n heads became more of political animals, rather than people understanding the importance of pure strength. The heirs to the ns are mostly trained to quickly get jonin rank, getting so much preferential treatment it is not even funny. They no longer put as much importance on personal power as they do on politics. After all, S-rank ninja who normally could not be defeated by them are but a small annoyance once they use politics to make him a public enemy number one. That''s why your n is going to work."

    "Yeah, I always found it funny how the n kids liked to intrude on the academy graduation day,ing there already blooded, trained, and ready to kill whilepeting against scared kiddies with subpar trainingpared to them. But I digress... it''s all for the prestige of their n, no?" Rei added, causing Ao to wince.

    "I always hated when the n kids decided to participate in the academy graduation ceremony. Then again, that''s one of the reasons why I am fine with what you are doing." Ao exined and Rei lifted his eyebrow again.

    "What do you mean?" Rei''s demeanor shifted.

    "You know," Ao''s expression bitterly scrunched, "I always found it wasteful to kill off at the very least fifty percent of the graduating ss. So much talent wasted. So manyte bloomers killed... and for what? Sure, Kirigakure was raising jonin-level ninjas quickly and efficiently but our numbers were always lowerpared to other viges of the big fire. That''s also the reason why we are regarded as the weakest of the five despite our numerous advantages. Take Suna for example. They have a cold war between the Daimyo and the Kazekage going on. The Daimyo has had them under an embargo for years now and yet, Kirigakure can still not measure up to Suna. It''s pathetic." Ao looked straight at Rei, "Simply put, I am sick of it. Kirigakure needs a change. That''s why I betrayed my own vige and everything I ever believed in by joining the rebellion. Not because of the ns. These self-important pricks can burn for all I care. Especially after selling the vige to you without even realizing it. No... what I want is a better Kirigakure." Ao stopped and took a deep breath as if he was about to make a life-changing announcement. "That''s why... I want you to know that no matter how much I hate your traitorous a.s.s, I am willing to work with you as long as you make Kirigakure into a better ce."

    Saying his piece, Ao stood up and went away while Rei amusedly watched him, ''In short, Ringo is his best shot at Kirigakure being improved after the civil war, huh? Looks like the fifth Mizukage will have her faithful secretary, after all. Who knew? Good for Ringo, at least she will have a person who can fill the paperwork for her!''

 Chapter 208 - Ch208. Talks with the Water Daimyo 1

    <h4>Chapter 208 - Ch208. Talks with the Water Daimyo 1</h4>

    "Why exactly are we here?" Ao asked as he looked around thevish meeting room in the castle of the Water Daimyo.

    The civil war in the Land of Water was still in its starting phase and so far, probing attacks was all both sides were willing to use. Thanks to that, Rei didn''t have to worry aboutrge-scale battles erupting anytime soon. Hence, he and his girls had time to make and enact a good n.

    "We are here to meet with the Water Daimyo, duh." Rei nonchntly replied, causing Ao to scowl.

    "Obviously..." He quietly grumbled and gave up on getting a proper answer. Rei was already working with Resistance for a month and Ao quickly learned that if Rei didn''t want to reveal something, it was useless trying to figure it out.

    Rei, on the other hand, was also fed up with the Resistance. Or rather, with their leaders. They wanted him to win a war for them and so thisst month, Rei threw idea after idea on them only to have each one rejected.

    He couldn''t just go to Kirigakure and openly deal with Yagura because the n heads didn''t want coteral damage.

    He couldn''t have Yagura secretly assassinated because apparently, the ns wanted it known it was the Resistance who was behind the deed.

    He couldn''t simply defeat the Kiri ninjas in outposts across the country in order to diminish the Kirigakure''s forces and draw Yagura out because the n heads didn''t want the number of Kirigakure''s ninjas to be too small once they took over the vige.

    He couldn''t do this nor that...

    Honestly, after the past month, Rei was considering Mei''s idea of going for an indiscriminate rampage and destroying both the Resistance and Kirigakure alike. If only Kirigakure wasn''t in such a good strategic position...

    Only frequent visits to his wives and their foxes in his dimension alongside asional check-ups on his vige made Rei calm enough to not go nuts. Plus he had to admit that Pakura did a marvelous job of running the vige in his absence.

    ''Heh, there''s an idea...'' Rei hummed before the memories of the past month made him broody again.

    There were so many ways to win the civil war fast and somewhat cleanly but every single one of them needed some form of sacrifice the n heads were unwilling to make. With the amount of rejected proposals, Rei quickly began to see that this job would take years if he did things ording to the wishes of the n heads. Years, he was unwilling to put into the job.

    Fortunately for both Rei and the n heads, a new contract was signed after a practically loud argument. Well, there might have been one or two threats of joining the Kirigakure side if they pissed him off too much...

    Anyway, this time, the n heads stipted that as long as Rei gets rid of Yagura without ''unnecessary'' bloodshed... somehow Rei didn''t believe the old geezers yet realized they were at war... and without coteral damage to the vige, its forces, and its outposts, he was free to do his job as he deemed right without the n heads having any say in it.

    They basically asked him to win the war without doing any damage. Frankly, even the ever-serious Ao facepalmed after reading the new contract. For Rei, it was all fine though. He only wanted freedom of action.

    As for theirints at ater time... Who cared?

    For this use to be added, the n heads in return asked for a massive mary reimburs.e.m.e.nt in case Rei decided to abandon the contract. Yet again... Ao actually dropped his head on the table with a thud and g.r.o.a.n.e.d in disbelief in front of every n head while Rei signed it with a bit too amused smile.

    He simply wondered how they would even go about demanding the payment from him if it came to that... really.

    And so... this was where the situation led them. Straight into the Water Daimyo castle. A ce where Rei could FINALLY start his n of winning the ever-annoying civil war.

    "The fatass is really taking his sweet time." Mei mumbled, not liking having to wait for the Daimyo who she was sure was making them wait only to feed his ego.

    "That''s why I signaled Ringo to retrieve him." Rei light-heartedly said while shrugging amusedly, which caused Ao to snap into attention as his eyes instantly widened in pure horror and started hurriedly looking around the room for any sign of Ringo. He was too distracted to notice her leaving the room but now that Rei informed him... he could only fight back a forming headache as he imagined Ringo manhandling Daimyo into the room.

    "Unhand me! Do you know who I am, woman!? No! Don''t put my smelly sock into my m...mphhhffff!?"

    Ao whimpered when he recognized the terrified voice of the Water Daimyo and saw the door to the meeting room open with a bang while Ringo dragged the plump wriggling man by his right ankle while his hands were tied together on his c.h.e.s.t and his mouth was stuffed by a sock. Then suddenly, the Daimyo''s head impacted the door frame with a loud bang, causing a whimper to leave the plump man''s lips as he instantly quieted down while his tied arms shot to his head.

    "Here you go. One Water Daimyo delivered." Ringo indifferently stated as he lifted the man up by the scruff of his robes and sat him up behind the head of the table, ignoring his tearing up expression. She then proceeded to dutifully stand behind Rei, giving the sitting Mei a small whack to the back of her head to make her put her feet down from the table. "Be more respectful to the Daimyo, Mei!" She reproached, earning herself a deadpan stare from the younger woman, Ao, and even the Daimyo himself who still had the sock stuffed in his mouth.

    Realizing the situation, Ao quickly stood up and pulled the sock out of the man''s mouth, and untied his hands. Surprisingly enough, the Water Daimyo didn''t dare to open his mouth again and Rei alongside Mei were greatly amused at how he was shooting Ringo unsure and terrified nces.

    "Yeah so... as you probably already heard from your servants, I am Rei," Rei started talking, pointing at himself before snapping his thumb at Mei, "that is Mei, and the woman who dragged you in is Ringo. The dude to your right who is shooting you worried and mothering nces is not important." Rei nodded towards Ao who gave him a brief stink-eye before his gaze returned back towards the Daimyo.

    Seeing the Daimyo unsurely nod at him, Rei mentally grinned, ''There is no better way to shut these self-important pricks up than a healthy dose of fear.'' He nced at Ringo with the corner of his eye, well aware that she most likely swiftly took down every guard she encountered while dragging the Daimyo towards the meeting room. After all, there was a reason why they were not interrupted by hordes of guards by now. ''And I gotta admit Ringo learned quite well how to threaten somebody without even saying anything.''

    "We are here to request you putting a trading embargo on Kirigakure." Rei smiled at the Water Daimyo whose eyes bulged at the request.

    Next to the Daimyo, Ao''s jaw dropped. This was the first time he was hearing about it and sure, he knew it would be a very effective strategy since, unlike Konohagakure, Kirigakure was not all that self-sufficient but he also knew the Daimyo would never do this. Rei could as well ask the Daimyo to slit his own throat and be done with it.

    "I can''t do that!" As predicted by Ao, the Daimyo shrieked in fear after hearing Rei''s promation, "They will kill me!"

    "Right..." Rei slowly nodded, "let me rephrase that." He paused and Mei snapped her fingers, causing the Daimyo to quickly start choking on the air and gnawing at his throat. "The Kirigakure ninjas are not here. We are."

    And at that moment, Ao had to take a step back when he saw thepletely disregarding way Rei and Mei smiled at the Daimyo while Ringo simply indifferently stared at the ruler of the Land of Water.

    ''This is utter madness!''

 Chapter 209 - Ch209. Talks with the Water Daimyo 2

    <h4>Chapter 209 - Ch209. Talks with the Water Daimyo 2</h4>

    After a few moments where Ao could only helplessly stare at the ruler of his country choking on air, Mei again snapped her fingers and the Daimyo gasped for the much-needed oxygen while Rei started talking again in a calming tone, "I will make it easier for you. Here, a coupon for a two-month-long stay in Uzushio''s best hotel for you and your family. Just put the embargo on Kirigakure and go on a long vacation. By the time you return, the current problem will be dealt with and the country should be peaceful again. It will be again in the most optimal state for leeches like you to exploit people. Ain''t we simply the best for making life easier for you?"

    The Daimyo gulped, knowing there is no helping. After all, he saw Ringo manhandle even his strongest guards in two seconds and they were all capable of fighting jonins. He shakily reached towards the coupon and looked at it before his gaze turned back to Rei with an unreadable expression, "It says it will cost me 50 million Ryo." He unsurely half-asked, half-stated, bewildered at the huge price. Such a sum could afford him 50 S-rank missions!

    "And you think saving your life would be for free?" Rei threw the Daimyo an incredulous stare which instantly shut the man up. "Just put your most hated cousin, rtive, or whatever in charge while you go enjoy yourself and I am sure Kirigakure would get you rid of him for free in a vain attempt to lift the embargo. You can consider that a bonus, pal." Rei dismissively waved his hand.

    As terrified as the Daimyo was, he wasn''t a new hand at these things. He often hired Kirigakure to do these kinds of ''persuasions'' for him when some business partner of his got too stubborn. It was simply the first time the Daimyo was on the receiving end of these things rather than doing the ckmailing. That''s why the Daimyo was aware that the man in front of him, Rei, as he called himself, was extremely generous with him. He still had no bone broken and his fingers attached to his hands. More than those on the receiving end of his own ninja''s threats could say.

    It didn''t make the situation any less humiliating but it was the truth. Rei was basically telling him to provoke Kirigakure and then to scram but at least, he didn''t choose pain as the persuasion tactic. The Daimyo knew it could be infinitely worse. His shoulders sagged and decided to ept his fate. But he was still curious.

    "Why are you doing this?" The Daimyo asked, a bit of his regal aura returning to him.

    Rei tilted his head, but after a while, he decided to indulge the Daimyo, "The second you put the embargo on Kirigakure, the Fourth Mizukage will be forced to negotiate with you. But you will not be avable, will you? You will be quite unreachable by any means behind the strong sealing barriers of Uzushio. The poor sod ruling in your stead won''t be able to lift a direct order from the Daimyo. He will be only a temporary regent, after all. s, I have it on a good authority that Yagura will go bonkers and off the guy ruling in your stead anyway." Rei said, knowing that Obito didn''t care for anything but causing as much mayhem in the Land of Water as possible. This was revenge for Rin and if he could legally and justifiably make his puppet start an all-out war within the country, he would already do so. This way, Rei was simply speeding up the process. "Whereas we," Rei gestured at himself, Ringo, and Mei, "will be hired for... hmmm, say, fifty million Ryo, by you," He pointed at the disbelieving Daimyo, "to make sure your embargo won''t be broken."

    ''Wait... they want to GET PAID for protecting the embargo they are forcing me to sign off!?'' The Daimyo thought almost with tears in his eyes as he realized the man in front of him wanted yet another check worth FIFTY S-rank missions.

    "Hence when Yagura orders the assassination of Lord Daimyo''s regent, you will be able to challenge him for a battle in the name of the Water Daimyo." Ao finished, understanding the n, "But... are you sure Yagura would agree? I can''t see a reason why he would do such a thing."

    "Ah, let me worry about that, will you?" Rei chuckled. ''Ah, Obito will no doubt send Yagura to his death. There is no way he wouldn''t after this bes a political problem where other nations... purely hypothetically, influenced by the Biri-Biripany... start trying to intervene. If that happens, many things could go horribly wrong with his little n of collecting the nine bijuu. Civil wars are fine but he simply needs the status quo between the nations upheld while making sure the countries won''t start allying themselves tightly with each other.''

    Rei could only grin. Outwardly, the Resistance asked for help from other countries and even the Biri-Biripany. Everyone refused them, though, on the basis that they are simply rebels. Nobody wants to support rebels... or rather, even the people who would dly support a rebellion in other countries to gain benefits from it had their own problems at the moment. Danzo, for example, was dealing with a bit of an Uchiha problem.

    Therefore Obito should be quite reckless, thinking nobody wanted to intervene in the Land of Water. Rei was almost sure he would go for the assassination of the Daimyo''s regent if only to stir the ho''s nest even more. Rei was also certain Obito would curse the heavens once the Biri-Biripany did aplete 180-degree reversal on their non-interference policy after that. Hence, Yagura would be sacrificed in order to calm things down.

    "I am quite sure my n will work." Rei started, "and even if it doesn''t there are still other ways how to get what I want. Don''t worry, I will deliver this ''improved'' Kirigakure you so d.e.s.i.r.e, Ao." He shrugged before looking towards the Water Daimyo, "As for you... as long as you are a good boy and don''t obstruct the new Mizukage once the Resistance takes over Kirigakure, you are free to continue living your luxurious life of debauchery." He said mockingly.

    "New Mizukage... so they already decided who will get the position?" The Daimyo muttered before unsurely raising his eyes towards Rei, "And... may I ask who will be the new Mizukage?"

    Rei''s grin only widened at the question that made sweat appear on Daimyo''s forehead as a bad premonition appeared in his mind. He didn''t like where this was going. Especially when Rei just meaningfully lifted his eyebrow at the question in a very amused manner.

    "I look forward to working together." Suddenly a cold voice interrupted Daimyo''s thoughts, causing his head to snap behind Rei where... Ringo stood with a small condescending smirk.

    Daimyo''s eyes widened in horror and despair as he looked pleadingly at Rei, "You must be kidding me... Her!?" He whimpered when Rei simply nodded. The first person who ever manhandled him was to be the next Mizukage. ''God, help me.'' The Daimyo thought.

    The poor guy could only hope he won''t be forced to taste more of his socks for Ringo''s amus.e.m.e.nt.

 Chapter 210 - Ch210. Happy home

    <h4>Chapter 210 - Ch210. Happy home</h4>

    Rei and his girls stayed in the Water Capital only for two days to make sure the Daimyo and his family left towards Uzushio, leaving behind only a regent whose name Rei really didn''t care about who would announce the embargo in two more days.

    After they cheerfully sent the resigned Daimyo off, Rei decided to leave the Water Country no matter how much Ao protested.

    "It''s just a waiting game now. We can''t do anything until Ob-, ahem, Yagura moves. Having people from Yozora skulking around the capital would only hinder Yagura from doing the ''right'' thing and sending assassins." Rei told the exasperated Ao before teleporting home, leaving the poor guy ring at an empty patch ofnd.

    The second they arrived Mei instantly rushed off to talk with Yugito while Ringo got this overpowering urge to check on her forge. It certainly didn''t have anything to do with the three very concentrated bursts of serious killing intents from Tsunade, Pakura, and Konan focused on the two girls who spent months with Rei.

    Poor Rei gave the backs of his two runaway girls a slight re. He couldn''t simply run off to his office. Not with the peeved looks the three girls in front of him were throwing him. ''Damn, I knew telling them we areing back was a bad idea!'' Rei thought in regret.

    Surprisingly enough, it was the ever-serious Pakura who angrily marched towards him, causing him to stand rooted in his ce, deciding to take it like a man. She came close and stopped only a foot away from him, Rei already preparing himself for a verbal tirade when suddenly, Pakura''s lips hungrilynded on his. Before he managed to shake off his shock, Pakura was already hanging on his body, her legs tightly locked behind him.

    At first, he was bewildered, not expecting the most reserved of his girls to just jump him but then he decided to not think about it and started kissing her back, his hands snaking around her waist, downwards towards her b.u.t.t, lifting her a bit more.

    Seconds slowly ticked away as Rei and Pakura were immersed in their own little world. Finally, their lips separated and teary Pakura whispered, "I missed you. You could have at least visited more often." She lowered her blushing head, still possessively clinging to him. Unlike Konan and Tsunade, Pakura had her hands full with running his hidden vige so many times he actually visited in the past month, she was too busy.

    Smiling, Rei put his forehead on hers, making her even more fl.u.s.tered. "Sorry. I didn''t have all that much free time either. Trying to implement any kind of intelligence into dealings with the Kirigakure n heads was frankly torture."

    Rei only briefly noticed that Tsunade and Konan made themselves scarce and with a content feeling in his c.h.e.s.t, he started pecking Pakura''s lips as he marched them towards the bedroom.

    Little did he know that neither Tsunade nor Konan gave up and decided to give Pakura at most two hours of alone time. That night, Rei had to satisfy all three of them in what he wouldter describe as heavenly torture of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e.

    Why was he so stupid to show them how to use chakra in bedroom?

    ...

    The days started blending together as the girls took advantage of having Rei on hand. This was the first time he was away for so long. Sure, he stayed a week in the Land of Fire with Tsunade but a week was much more bearable than an entire month. As such, Rei had to deal with quite a lot of exasperating yet cute drama.

    To his utter surprise, most of it came from Konan who didn''t like the idea of being separated from him. Only now did it strike home that this was the very first time ever they separated for more than two weeks in their WHOLE life.

    That made Rei feel extremely weird when he realized how dependent on each other he and his girls became. Not that the feeling was bad but it certainly cemented his resolve to proceed with his ns. He absolutely refused to have his family live in a world where murder is asmon and natural as breathing. Not when the murderers had ess to veritable superpowers. In the end, he made sure to follow the only way to attain personal peace for his family and himself.

    Hearing a soft hum from above, Rei slightly opened his eyes and squinted at Konan who lovingly ran her fingers through his hair while leaning her back on the side of his sleeping fox, ckie, who was already the size of an elephant.

    Rei petntly decided to stay lying in Konan''s l.a.p despite being awake. He smiled at her, "Hello Konan," He then looked at the small, pup-sized fox happily lounging on the top of Konan''s head, messing up her hair, "Hi, Indigo, how long was I asleep?"

    The small fox yipped while Konan rolled her eyes, "An hour. I must say, I didn''t expect you to fall asleep. Tsunade must have been extremely demanding during the night." She yfully said in a knowing manner but instead of blushing Rei proudly beamed.

    "Sure was!" Rei slightly turned his head to the right side where Tsunade was ying with her fox, Blondie. "You know how hard it is to keep up with somebody with Senjutsu." He added with a mischievous wink, knowing this was the only way to make Konan embarrassed. She absolutely resented that it was her who was every time sent to the dreand through exhaustion when they had s.e.x.

    As for Rei... he loved it far too much. Especially since his girls started developing more and more Jutsu that could help them in that regard. s, a daily intake of Nature Energy still proved to be superior to whatever they cooked up, hence, Rei had loads of fun while his girls stayed determined to defeat his stamina.

    Only Tsunade could keep up with him in the bedroom, no matter how barely... which usually ended with their bed destroyed no matter how many strengthening runes Rei drew on it. Fortunately for him, Tsunade was craving more of an emotional satisfaction rather than a s.e.x.u.a.l one so they usually stopped before the house could copse.

    "The foxes are growing quite fast." Noticing how fl.u.s.tered Konan became, Rei said to her in order to get her to think about something else than their s.e.x life. "Indigo can already change her size at will." He praised, getting another proud yip from the fox on Konan''s head.

    "Yes, she is very simr to her mistress." Konan proimed winningly before her proud smirk faltered. "Though... that might be because I actually spend my time training her. Tsunade tries but Blondie always coaxes her to y rather than train while Pakura is stern but she is far too busy to give Emerald enough training. God knows that both Auburn and Crimson missed Mei and Ringo this past month. Even ckie missed you despite his grumpy self refusing to show it."

    A low grumble could be heard from the fox Konna was leaning on but it was promptly ignored by them, earning them an annoyed huff.

    "Yeah... we will have to ount for that the next time we have a mission like this. In the end, the foxes are our chakra made bijuu and deem our bodies to be their natural home. It can''t feel good to be outside, much less far away from us, for them." Rei stated and immediately sensed ckie rxing a bit when he heard him.

    Rei smiled. He knew ckie was considerate when he didn''t instantly demand being in Rei''s vicinity like Auburn and Crimson did with Mei and Ringo. ckie instead gave Rei space to first focus on his wives who felt a bit left out after their first month-long separation.

    "If it were not for the nature chakra and the growth increase in your dimension, we would love having them inside of our bodies." Konan grumpily said and Rei understood.

    It felt weird, seeing his chakra with sentience and outside of his body. Every second in ckie''s presence, Rei had this small almost unnoticeable urge to let him in and he had to prevent himself from doing so. It was an ever-unsatisfiable itch that just refused to go away.

    "Just a few more years." Rei tried to sound reassuring. "Anyway... shall we check up on Mei? You know, to prevent her from finding a world-ending Jutsu and then teaching it to Auburn." He joked but was unable to muster a smile when the words left his lips.

    After all... Mei already had one or two-ending Steam-based Jutsus that could feed on Nature energy after their initial casting. Whenever Mei was close to Auburn, she would get all these crazy ideas of new Jutsus for either Lava or Steam Release.

    Hearing him, Konan stiffened. They left Mei and Auburn unattended for a whole hour!

    "Now that you mention it..."

 Chapter 211 - Ch211. Chaos in the Land of Water

    <h4>Chapter 211 - Ch211. Chaos in the Land of Water</h4>

    Pa treon - 36 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    While Rei enjoyed his peaceful moments at home, surrounded by his loving wives, and trained the foxes, Ao, on the other hand, had quite a headache-inducing time in the capital of the Land of Water.

    After Rei''s departure, Ao decided to stay hidden in the city in order to witness if everything would go ording to Rei''s n. He was quite doubtful about it, after all. As someone who was the ex-leader of the ANBU Hunter-nin division, Ao knew well that usually, no n survives the confrontation with the enemy and when Rei actually left the country altogether, relying on his supposed plot to go as he intended without him influencing it in any way than he originally did... Let''s just say Ao spent the following day cursing at anything that moved. In his opinion, it was a very stupid move.

    Unfortunately for Ao, he witnessed firsthand how Rei threatened the Water Dayimo. That gave him quite an idea of Rei''s ways of solving problems. To say Ao was bewildered when the arguably most influential man in the Water Country was manhandled like a small misbehaving child would be an understatement. Three ninjas walked into the Water Pce and when they left, the Daimyo was shaking in his seat while all of his guards were knocked unconscious with almostughable ease.

    That was really the only thing that made him stay in the capital city. He wanted to see firsthand if Rei is really just c.o.c.ky beyond belief or if everything will go as he nned.

    ...

    Days slowly went by and the new Regent of the Water Country proved to be an utter waste of space as expected. The Daimyo chose his seventh cousin, a wholly unpleasant fat man who lived for partying, drugs, and whores. Needless to say, it didn''t take even twenty-four hours for the pce to be filled with a lot of... filth.

    Ao made sure to sneak around a bit and what he discovered didn''t please him. All projects for the following two months were stopped and the budget relocated which honestly disrupted the flow of the whole country. The pce was filled with high-end p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.es and people with a shady background as the bastard ying regent did backroom deals, using the country''s money to enrich himself.

    Sure, Ao knew the Daimyo did the same. The lengthy meetings that were more about enjoying this or that girl rather than really negotiating were quite well-known in the Kiri ANBU force. Not one female ANBU in the infiltration and assassination department was ying one of these ''easy girls''. But the Daimyo at least made sure the country and its government worked like a well-oiled machine and was moderate in his spendings. Nobody cared about his life of debauchery andvishness if their own lives were going just fine and the country was actually gaining money rather than losing it.

    ...

    Soon enough, it was already a month since Rei left and Ao could only sadly shake his head at the chaos that erupted in the Land of Water. Only a month passed... it was quite surreal for Ao to witness what a disaster an economical copse would be. The feudal system was ruthless and many countries had a wide divide between really poor people and really rich people with nothing in between. But the Daimyo''s made usually sure the country is stable if only for their own benefit. To witness how quickly the country could copse and how effective Rei''s actions were was quite shocking for Ao who his entire life believed that strength indeed makes right in some sense.

    Businessmen were dissatisfied due to the rate at which they were losing their money since the new regent disrupted the economy in the country with his budget allocation. A lot of underground trade was established and deals off the books started to be moremon. Smuggling activity also increased since the Kirigarure was put in the trade embargo, making part of it quite pointless.

    The real surprise was when the Biri-Biripanypletely ignored the embargo and started selling food to Kirigakure openly in exchange for bing its sole supplier of manymodities and sealing unbreakable trading agreements that wouldst decades. Ao knew the elders would be unable to break them if they ever got the vige back. It was official that the Biri-Biripany showed its support for Kirigakure and for that, thepany''s word will have a lot of influence in the vige, no matter who rules it. Ao feared such a scenario. Especially because thepany supported the n-hating Kirigakure.

    Many ministers of the Land of Water were angry with them for ignoring Daimyo''s words... they, however, quickly realized the country needed the Biri-Biripany more than the Biri-Biripany needed the country, causing them to promptly shut up.

    Kirigakure, on the other hand, fared quite well as far as survival went but the Biri-Biripany refused to sell them any equipment helpful inbat. Despite thepany being known for selling offensive seals in the Third War, the only thing they sold to Kirigakure were mundane things. Hence... Ao''s much anticipated moment, came just a month and a week into the reign of the new regent.

    The man was found dead in his bed, covered in his own fluids mixed with poison. He was butt-n.a.k.e.d with his nightlypanion nowhere to be found, only a single message on the bedside table saying the Fourth Mizukage expects the Water Daimyo to lift his embargo or suffer the same fate.

    And that''s when the real chaos erupted.

    ...

    The biggest supporter of Kirigakure in the past month was out of nowhere and with ruthless fierceness rallying other countries to ''punish'' such a horrible injustice as the Mizukage ordering the assassination of the Water Daimyo''s regent. It caused such a loud ruckus in the international diplomatic channels that Ao started suspecting if it really was the Mizukage ordering the kill. Only intelligence from Resistance that it was really so made his suspicions subside.

    It honestly made no sense!

    Why would thepany suddenly turn its back on Kirigakure? Right after they secured a very lucrative deal with them?

    Unfortunately, the Biri-Biripany was too influential, too big to be stopped by something simple. Its international scalepletely prevented any form of interference from Kirigakure''s side. They were simply too widespread and numerous for one vige to do anything about them. Especially in the territory of other countries and hidden viges. The only thing that could potentially help would be the assassination of thepany''s owner. There was however a small problem with that.

    Anybody with brains realized the man on the official doc.u.ment is not really the one behind the scenes and nobody knew who the REAL owner was.

    The finishing blow, however, came when the Uzushio Trading Company put their full support behind the Biri-Biripany. Suddenly the angered Daimyos in the countries surrounding the Land of Water found themselves in a position with even more support and potential financing in case they decided to retaliate against the daring actions of the Fourth Mizukage.

    There was a reason why the viges usually didn''t take missions to assassinate Daimyos. It was a diplomatic mess that would usually drag any potential gains to a steep negative. Suddenly, Land of Fire with Konoha, Land of Lightning with Kumogakure, Land of Earth with Iwagakure, and dozen other smaller countries with a few small-scale ninja viges were all roped in by either the influence of the two major international tradingpanies, vision of getting rid of one of the Big Five hidden viges, avenging the death of a noble, or whatever other selfish and greed-filled reason they could have had.

    The politicians of the Land of Water, the council of the Kirigakure with the Fourth Mizukage, and even the Resistance and its n heads... the entire country was on its knees both economically and politically with everybody who mattered pinning for the war that would bring demise to them.

    These torturous days... Ao could only silently stare at the wall in his hotel room in utter despair, wondering where did it all go so horribly wrong.

    Until he wasn''t.

    The Biri-Biripany gave Kirigakure an ultimatum.

    They would EITHER stop supplying Kirigakure with the merchandise... which would mean the vige will be unable to legally buy it from anybody else because of the exclusive trading agreement they signed... and on top of that, they would support the other countries in their quest to decimate the vige and take a generous amount of loot from it... which everybody knew would also decimate the whole country just because... OR there would be a battle between the designated proxy of the Biri-Biripany and Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage.

    At that, the whole world was forced to blink. It was such a stupid sounding announcement that nobody believed their eyes when they saw it. On one hand, they threatened to support the start of a new Shinobi War, one that would certainly affect the countries to a much bigger scale than the previous ones, and on the other hand, they wanted a freaking duel to resolve it?

    Two weeks of constant fear and subtle preparations for war. Two weeks of trembling in the face of what''s toe. Two weeks of mentally draining negotiations. And in the end... it all ended with a promise of a duel.

    That day, many leaders couldn''t help butugh their way to unconsciousness from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. In the end, no war started and no country really gained anything out of it. Since no conflict really began, neither the Biri-Biripany nor the Uzushio Trading Company was required to give any sort ofpensation to countries who rallied behind them in order to curry favors. At best, some deals that mostly helped both sides equally were signed. In hindsight, the Biri-Biripany actually gained from the whole worldwide tension the most as the countries started stocking onbat seals in massive amounts.

    The only one who really realized the depth of what just happened was utterly tired Ao as he dumbly stared at the announcement with his jaw dropped, realizing just how f.u.c.k.e.d up Kirigakure really was the second the Resistance asked Rei for help. The name of the Biri-Biri representative was, after all...

    Ringo Ameyuri.

    --------

    Author Note... or Just-A-Rant.

    My reasons?

    Well, they are colorful.

    MCs who scream about bing Hokage of people who actively beat and abuse them... which only makes me feel as if I was reading about a mentally crippled individual...

    Self Inserts who JUST DON''T FEEL REAL because they are so freakishly self-less and only focus on befriending Naruto and making his life better, disregarding the fact in around a decade there will be a continent-wide war where the MC will most likely have to face army-killers like Madara, Obito, Juubi, and even maybe Kaguya...

    Self-Insert fanfics where MC has these long-ass monologues about how they will save the world because they are Child of Prophecy for no other reason than being inserted into Naruto.

    Or where they want to save lives, saying Itachi, Kisame, Konan, heck, even Obito, deserve better than dying because they are essentially the good guys, right!? Sure... it''s not as if they, without any real remorse, killed loads of people to get where they are. Why not focus your entire existence to make the lives of people who don''t even know you exist better?

    Or where they act like a total moron, don''t train, don''t get better, and just decide to be aic relief just because they want to follow the plot so they, in their infinite wisdom, decided imitating Naruto''s idiocy was the way to go despite it being implicitly stated the SI is ''a.d.u.l.t''.

    I mean... really?

    So, yeah. My problem is two-fold. Firstly, if I was reincarnated or self-inserted into Narutoverse, my first concern would be, HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO SURVIVE! HOW WILL I GET STRONGER? Not... ying a punching bag for Konoha. Not... being the whipping boy for bullies at Academy. Not... how I could make Naruto''s life better without any benefit to myself. I could guarantee you if most of the authors of these fanfics REALLY got reincarnated or transmigrated, they would not give a shit about Naruto. They would be scrambling to get better at surviving.

    Like it or not, Naruto has HO-KA-GE supporting him. He gets away with shit that would see other people in jail, like painting the Hokage monument... or pranking stores, and damaging their goods... or pranking ANBU... or pranking npounds... He is also thest Uzumaki and kid of the fourth Hokage, which means, he has or will inherit a fortune in bank ounts, and if he doesn''t, something very fishy is going on. Hokage + Uzumaki Princess = 0 Ryo simply gives no sense. The money for reparation of the damage he caused with his pranks had toe from somewhere and I doubt it was old man Sarutobi paying for it. If Naruto inherits nothing, then there is a reason to believe the old monkey is really pulling a ninja on Naruto.

    I find it actually hard to believe I am writing this next bit but...

    In the entirety of team seven, the most talented person there is actually Sakura.

    There... I said it. And yes, I am ashamed beyond all belief because of it but that doesn''t make it any less truthful.

    Why?

    Well, let''s look at Naruto and Sasuke.

    Naruto -> Asura''s reincarnation, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, Jiraiya as a shitty godfather but one that at least teaches him something, Sarutobi''s unreliable support (the guy disregarded the kid stealing one of the most important scrolls in the vige... If that doesn''t tell you something then...), Senjutsu, Hagoromo giving him power... In short, Naruto went from utter waste of oxygen to a godlike being in under three years. But you gotta admit he had so many cheats stacked and wore plot armor so thick it would be hard not to reach such a stage even for an utter moron like him.

    Sasuke -> He is no better than Naruto. Sharingan itself is a cheat like no other. Then he gets Mangekyo, Eternal Mankegyo, Hagoromo gives him a boost, Sasuke gets Rinnegan. Sasuke was also taught by Orochimaru, which meant a lot of body-enhancing medicine, experiments, etc. He is the reincarnation of Indra. Honestly, the guy has assured OP-ness. It is in his blood.

    Then what about Sakura? She had the tutge of Tsunade. ... That''s all. Her fabled chakra control is nothing because it was caused by her abysmal reserves. Increasing the reserves meant Sakura had to train like crazy to get her chakra control up to snuff. So... I won''t call Sakura S-rank ninja for she is definitely not one. She is, however, a solid A-rank and whereas some people try and fail to get there during their entire lifetime, she achieved it in three years. She went from useless fangirl only worth for distracting horny bandits to one of the best medic-nin in Konoha. Sure,pared to Naruto and Sasuke she is still worthless on the battlefield... but who has worth whenpared to these cheaters when they face Madara or Kaguya?

    Compared to what Naruto and Sasuke achieved since graduating from Academy WITH their cheats and plot armor, Sakura achieved quite a lot WITHOUT any cheat-like inborn or gifted power.

    (Well, I still don''t like her so let''s move on...)

    A reincarnated person, on the other hand, would be the unfortunate chump who is most likely an orphan without any money nor people like Jiraiya just waiting to impart their secret knowledge to him. He would be like Sakura in that regard. Would he have time to freaking look after sad and hurt poor little Naruto who has more cheats stuffed up his a.s.s than Kami himself? Or try to befriend Sasuke who could steal all of his effort with naught but a look? Knowing the war wasing? Even if he trained like crazy, he would be the poord who has to look over his shoulder and try to stay in the shadows in fear of Uncle Danzo showing up offering candy for eternal servitude.

    As for Naruto? With his heritage, Danzo would NOT DARE to even try recruiting him. Too much politics involved. Too much scrutiny. Especially since ROOT should have been disbanded long ago. Honestly, I believe if Danzo really wanted Naruto in ROOT, he would have him there no matter what Hiruzen said. How hard would it be for his professional assassins, infiltrators, and spies to stage Naruto''s death and subsequent disappearance? I doubt it would be harder than pulling off the Uchiha massacre. So nope... I believe Danzo is the least of Naruto''s concerns. But for an orphan kid who shows himself as a prodigy to some degree? Well, Danzo would be there in a jiffy along with his brainwashing kit for dummies.

    And secondly, when I read these fanfictions, I, as a reader, am not interested in MCs long-term ns. Definitely not in Ch1. Why would I when I am almost assured the author will NEVER even reach the stage where his ns begin? There are so many fanfics with MCs having a chapter-long nning session of what they will doter on only for the fanfic to be cut short after ten chapters. I ask... what''s the point?

    And the best are SI into Naruto that after ten chapters of training with Shadow Clones, with more intelligence than canon Naruto, with the maturity of an a.d.u.l.t still show themselves to be far below canon Naruto skill-wise. Those that after all of that training get almost beaten by bandits. I kid you not, there are fanfics like that. One just has to rub his forehead after reading utter garbage like that. After all the posturing, all the bragging about how the MC is better and more trained than canon Naruto, he gets hit by bandits...

    Uh-oh...

    Well, I could rant on and on but I will cut this short and end it here.

    To say something nice in the end, I will simply state that I understand a lot of bullshit authors write. When you write fanfiction you can''t really take everything into ount. These slip-ups happen easier than I would care to admit and I am sure I had my fair share of them in my fanfictions. But there is an obvious difference between someone who tries to write something consistent and with some substance and someone who just pulls shit out of his a.s.s and throws it onto the screen, hoping it will form a fun story,pletely disregardingmon sense or any possible existence of brain.

    Well, that''s it. I vented my frustration :D. Feel free to simply state what you think about it. Just don''t get angry over something I wrote. It''s not worth it. At worst, feel free to ignore it.

    After all, we all have different tastes.

 Chapter 212 - Ch212. Pre-battle

    <h4>Chapter 212 - Ch212. Pre-battle</h4>

    Ao marveled at the stands set up by the Biri-Biripany. The fight between Ringo Ameyuri and the Fourth Mizukage became a very anticipated event if only due to the tension between nations it would solve.

    The Biri-Biripany went all out in preparation and made it into some kind of show, not unlike the Chunin Exams. Except, the arena was the entire region of Kuronami ins on the eastern side of the Land of Water. It was a very big empty inhospitable area with numerous water surfaces, many boulders, and trees strewn all over it. The entire ins were massive and it only hammered down the fact that the Biri-Biripany prepared well for a fight where one participant is a jinchuuriki.

    The entire observatory system was made by seals... that much Ao noticed. He, however, couldn''t recognize even one seal and that was a blow to his pride since he was quite proficient in the sealing arts, something the eyepatch covering his Byakugan eye was proof of.

    The main stands were in the capital of the Land of Water and many important people gathered to witness this battle, buying overpriced tickets for spots or VIP rooms left and right. Honestly, Ao was getting increasingly tired of getting to know how much was the Biri-Biripany milking the situation for all the profits it was worth.

    The stands in the Land of Water were not the sole ce for viewing the event either. Every capital city had something simr with seals that could transfer the image in an imitation of cinema. This was the first time a fight would be viewed by every country.

    ''The provider of the best seals worldwide, huh?'' Ao idly mused about the Biri-Biripany''s previous boasting. Clearly, they could back it up if they were capable of making an international broadcast of the fight.

    "Excuse me, are you Ao from Resistance?"

    A voice suddenly snapped Ao from his thoughts, causing him to tense slightly. Only when he noticed it was one of the Biri-Biri employees, did Ao partially rx his body and nodded in agreement while still not letting go of the kunai stashed in his sleeve.

    "Please follow me, Rei-sama is waiting for you." The attendant said and turned around.

    Ao had only a brief moment to reboot his brain before he numbly followed the man.

    ...

    Ao entered arge luxurious VIP room with afortable-looking sofa on one side facing a wall where the ins where the battle was about to start were shown.

    "Ah, hello, Ao." Rei''s voice interrupted Ao''s observation of the room, causing him to switch his sight on the people inside the room.

    Noticing the shift in Ao''s interest, Rei smiled and started the introduction.

    "This is Ao, the supposed leader of the Resistance," He said in a slightly mocking tone that made Ao frown before gesturing to the woman sitting to his right. "This lovelydy is Na Kona, the previous director of the Biri-Biripany. To her left is Nadetsu Jusen, the current director of thepany." Rei smiled at a slightly dark-skinned woman who gave Ao such a piercing look it made him momentarily freeze. Seeing their brief interaction, Rei quickly motioned towards the fidgeting elderly man trying to make himself invisible, "This is, as you already know, the Water Country Daimyo."

    Ao gave a respectful bow to the man despite hiding a small frown. ''First, he dares to threaten a Daimyo in his own castle and then he invites him to the battle that would decide the future of his own country and on top of that, he put him in a room with people who are so influential they could decide the fate of the Land of Water with a few signatures? No wonder the Daimyo is so jittery.'' Ao bitterly thought.

    Thinking about Rei and his actions, Ao quickly understood that most of it was a veiled but tant show of power. From ''persuading'' the Daimyo to take a vacation to setting up the battle in some weird Chunin Exam-like fashion. With each action, it will be harder and harder to stand against Ringo once she gets the position of the Mizukage. Rei was simply showing off Ringo''s backing to an extent that would make her frightening.

    ''All he has to do now is show that her own power is even more frightening and the n heads will be as meek asmbs.'' Ao held back a grimace, knowing there was nothing he could do about Kirigakure getting into Ringo''s hands anymore.

    Rei was observing Ao''s reactions to the presence of the Water Daimyo, noting that Ao guessed what was going on in the room. Unfortunately, Mei stayed with Pakura, Maki, Yuriko, and Yugito in the mansion in their hidden vige and will be watching the battle from there.

    ''It would be so much fun seeing the Water Daimyo fearfully squirm in Mei''s presence.'' Rei sadly sighed. Knowing the sort of person the Water Daimyo was, it would be poetic justice. ''s, the girl just had to go and invent another world-ending Jutsu and be grounded by Konan.''

    "Anyway, Ao,e and sit. It''s actually Kona who wanted you here. She is awfully interested in your future spot as Ringo''s confidant." ''secretary'', Rei mentally added with a snort.

    The blute gently smiled at Ao, causing his instinct to start screaming at him he is in danger. "Yes, I simply wanted you to sit with us when Ringo decimates your current Mizukage."

    Ao, however, could read between the lines very well. ''I see. I guess this is what I asked for.'' He nced at Rei who raised an eyebrow at him. Sighing, Ao nodded, "I understand. Thank you." And sat down in his designated ce next to Rei. ''Damn me and my mouth. I just had to say I wouldn''t mind doing anything to better Kirigakure.'' His mood somehow sunk. ''Now I am here with people who will get the vige in their grasp. I can''t evenin since I am sure they will improve the vige as I wished.''

    Shaking his head, Ao despondently watched the wall in front of him where the image of Ringo approaching Yagura in order to exchange some pre-battle niceties was located. He didn''t even notice when Rei imnted a seal that would prevent him from revealing his rtionship with either Konan or Tsunade who were in disguise. After all, it wouldn''t be nice if the connection between Yozora and the Biri-Biripany was known.

    Only then did his hands find their way around Konan''s waist and pull her onto his l.a.p before starting to kiss his way up her neck while she made herselffortable and leaned her back onto his c.h.e.s.t.

    "I wonder how long it will take Ringo to finish." Konan started in a purring voice, causing Rei to momentarily stop kissing her neck.

    "It''s a show first and foremost. She will probably take her time. Plus it''s the first time she can test her creations against something as sturdy as Sanbi Jinchuuriki."

    Tsunade snorted, "Right. She was oddly excited about the fight. I guess you made sure she looked at the situation from the correct angle, Rei."

    "I sure did." Rei cheekily answered before returning his attention to Konan.

    To say Ao was bewildered would be an understatement. ''So they are not just business partners. Shit, what did I get myself into?''

    Sadly for him, Rei wanted to make sure the man who will run Kirigakure in Ringo''s stead is trustworthy so his difort went ignored. The man didn''t even realize he was being watched and judged.

    On the screen, Ringo finally reached Yagura and the people in the room quieted down all thinking the same.

    ''And so it''s starting.''

 Chapter 213 - Ch213. Ringo vs Yagura 1

    <h4>Chapter 213 - Ch213. Ringo vs Yagura 1</h4>

    Ringo slowly approached Yagura who was already waiting in the center of the Kuronami ins. As she looked around, she noted that it was really a bleak area with nothing extraordinary in it. Nothing anybody would mind losing no matter how much they wreck the ce. Ringo''s lips briefly twitched upward at that thought.

    "You are taking your damn time, traitor!" Yagura sneered, only to receive a deadpan look from Ringo.

    Ringo, on the other hand, was inwardly amused and simply kept her pointed gaze on the Fourth Mizukage chibi in front of her while raising her eyebrow as if he was a misbehaving child. It took a few moments but Yagura eventually noticed and flushed red from anger. Before he could say anything, however, Ringo started talking.

    "You really are quite bad at taunting people, aren''t you, boy?" Her even voice spread through the ins in a dismissive manner that told exactly what she thought about Yagura. "Traitor? Really? Is that supposed to make me angry or something?" Ringo mused. "For your information, child, I had a good reason to go rogue and I epted the potential repercussions of it even before you even started attending academy. Not that it matters. In this world, only power matters."

    Yagura''s sneer increased the more Ringo talked. She not only tried to rationalize her turning traitor but she also had aplete disregard for him! He was a Kage, dammit!

    "Fine then! If it''s a power you respect, I shall show you exactly that. Let''s begin!" Yagura coldly whispered.

    Hearing him, Ringo gave him a patronizing smirk, "Stupid boy, the battle started the second we entered the i-." She cut herself off mid-speech and performed the most casual step backward in the history of ninjas with a bored expression just as three sharp tendrils of water shot upwards impaling the ce where she was standing not a second ago.

    "I am quite aware." Yagura smirked at Konan who still looked at him impassively.

    What he didn''t notice, however, was that her right hand was currently pointing downwards slightly in front of her. Lightning suddenly appeared on her outstretched pointing finger and crackled blue before a small beam zig-zagged forward, impacting the puddle from where the tendrils came from. As the Lightning Jutsu met the Water Jutsu, something never before seen happened that had the spectators knowledgeable in the Water and Lighting Chakra natures all over the continent gaping silly.

    Yagura''s water chakra in the puddle and the water tendrilspletely destabilized when it came in contact with Ringo''s Lightning Jutsu, causing them to fall apart, back into the puddle.

    Yagura''s smirk fell as he stared in muted disbelief at what just happened. It was a known fact that Lightning counters Water but that didn''t mean Water was powerless against Lightning. It just meant it would take either more water or more water chakra to overpower lightning-based techniques. Considering they were currently in the WATER country, surrounded by many WATER sources that could power up his Jutsu and significantly cut their chakra cost, Yagura wasn''t very worried about Ringo and the meager amount of Lightning she would be able to call forth by utilizing only her chakra reserves. The sight of a small, powerless bolt of lightningpletely disrupting his Water Jutsu made him rethink his previous assumptions, however. Especially since no matter how he tried, he couldn''t take control of the water in the puddle near Ringo again.

    "I know." Ringo''s voice snapped Yagura out of his reverie but it was far toote as the pointing finger on her right hand was already firmly aiming at his forehead. "Chidori Nagashi."

    The whole Elemental Nations, and especially one masked white-haired always-depressed young man, watched in bewilderment as the current of lightning tore its way through Yagura''s head near instantaneously while the man''s face was set in disbelieving expression. For a moment, the world grew quiet as Yagura just stood rooted in his spot before his tensed body finally cked towards the ground as his eyes rolled back.

    "Oh, well... I told you I knew." Ringo offhandedly noted as her eyes flickered to the left while her left gloved hand balled in a fist jumped up, blocking a tip of Yagura''s staff with her knuckles, causing her to be sent sliding on the ground for five meters.

    Ringo furrowed her brows as she looked at her right hand, shaking it slowly. "Damn... that slightly stung." She hummed in a content manner while inwardly pondering one of her inventions, her force redirection gloves she was currently wearing.

    Yagura watched unnerved, not expecting to be able to send her back only by five meters. Not when he put so much chakra into enhancing that one blow in that ambush.

    ''What the heck is she made of?'' Yagura inwardly screamed as his hands and staff couldn''t stop shaking, ''More importantly, what the heck was that lightning Jutsu!? It was damn near instant! My water clone had no chance to even notice it before he was destroyed.'' He shivered as a determination to not be hit by it.

    It was then Yagura noticed how impassive Ringo looked. She didn''t even draw the des on her waist nor did she take a proper stance. She just stood in her spot, slightly slouched as if it was a bother to even be there as she inspected her gloved left hand with a look of brief annoyance,pletely ignoring him.

    Anger suddenly sprang up in Yagura. This was not some private duel! This was as much a battle as it was a show to the whole Elemental Nations! He couldn''t be seen as weak! Despite that, his opponent didn''t even look as if she was even properly paying attention to him!

    Yagura knew that Ringo had her senses on him non-stop. He knew she was watching him like a hawk. Any high-ranking ninja knew that. But the wealthy civilians, chunin, and genin-ranked ninjas? The woman was making him look weak!

    Yagura sprang forward straight at Ringo whose lips set in a small smile. He brandished his staff at Ringo, his eyes flickering around, trying to find where she will dodge or if she will block. What counter will she use...

    And suddenly, the staffnded on Ringo''s body as she just indifferently stood in her ce with an amused expression, causing Yagura to stop in his tracks for a second.

    Yagura stared at Ringo in disbelief.

    Ringo stared at Yagura in mirth.

    "Is that all?" She suddenly asked, snapping Yagura out of yet another brain freeze as he took a half-step back mostly on instinct and started raining blow after blow on Ringo''s body.

    Many spectators winced as they watched the brutal beatdown Yagura was currently administering to the crimson-haired beauty.

    Shoulder, stomach, cor bone, ribs, t.h.i.g.h, knee, back to stomach... and so it went as the tip of Yagura''s staff violently danced all over Ringo''s unmoving body until...

    Yagura suddenly tried to hit Ringo''s head, only for her to lean it to the left, evading the blow. He tried again but the result was the same and so in a fluid motion, his staff once again found purchase on Ringo''s shoulder.

    The more blows Yaguranded, the more frustrated he was bing. The spectators couldn''t see it but the madwoman was grinning at him! There was not even a speck of pain in her expression. She was still looking at him in that patronizing way as if he was a small kid throwing a tantrum! He was moving at above-jonin speed and hitting her with strength that would tten average jonins for f.u.c.ks sake and she was acting as if she didn''t even feel it!

    Suddenly, Yagura''s eyes wandered to Ringo''s foot and shone with hope. He quickly redirected his staff mid-swing and stomped with its tip onto the center of said foot. The ground beneath Ringo''s foot slightly caved in as cracks appeared around him, causing Yagura to smirk in content.

    That slightpse in guard cost him dearly. He was too close to her and stopped his mad onught of blows. In one move, Ringo put her hand on the handle of her sword and in one fluid move, she partly unsheathed it while putting a lot of chakra to enhance her blow before driving its pommel into Yagura''s stomach, raising his feet from the ground as his body bend in the waist and was sent flying backward for a bit.

    Huffing, Ringo rolled her shoulders as she watched the Fourth Mizukagend on his feet, swaying from the blow she just gave him. Her body felt... fine. A bit sore but fine. ''I guess the force redirecting full-body suit is a smashing sess.'' A sweet smile bloomed on her face.

    Seeing such a satisfied and carefree smile on his opponent''s face, Yagura''s mind rapidly pushed any difort and pain from the previous blow away as he snarled, his eyes still looking at Ringo''s foot. ''Why isn''t it broken!? With the strength I put into that blow, at least some of the small bones in her foot should have snapped!''

    Noticing his look, Ringo''s smile widened, "I am currently testing a suit that can redirect force through its surface. Meaning, no matter how hard your hit is, I will barely feel a small percentage of its power." Ringo uncaringly shrugged before a sudden thoughtful frown appeared on her face before she added, "Naturally, it requires a special way of molding a Lightning chakra so only I can use it." She lied through her teeth to the entire Elemental Nations so nobody would pester her in order to sell it.

    In one particr room in the Capital City of the Land of Water, Konan alongside Tsunade snorted and Ao g.r.o.a.n.e.d at the obvious lie while Rei only thanked god that the lie would be obvious only for those who knew Ringo.

    Catching his breath, Yagura straightened up again, "I am done ying with you." He said through his gritted teeth but Ringo only looked at him curiously which drove him even more sparse.

    Out of nowhere, his body was coated in a dark orange shroud of chakra, and Ringo''s smile dropped, her face for the first time donning a dead-serious expression.

    "Damn... I wanted to leisurely test more of my inventions. Give me a break, kid."

    Yagura snarled.

 Chapter 214 - Ch214. Trying out knick-knacks

    <h4>Chapter 214 - Ch214. Trying out knick-knacks</h4>

    Ringo''s shoulders sagged as she reluctantly watched one orange tail forming behind the chakra cloak of Yagura. She knew going against a jinchuuriki while fooling around is stupid.

    "Since you want to y it that way..." Ringo discontentedly muttered, more for herself than others. Suddenly, the air around her shimmered and her voice reverberated through the ins, "Lightning Susanoo!" Instantly, blue armor simr to what samurai wore made of lightning sprang up around Ringo, covering her lithe form.

    The second those words left Ringo''s mouth, every Uchiha who ever heard of Mangekyo Sharingan stiffened. It was not only Uchiha''s either. Many high-ranking old ninjas who knew about the special ability of the Mangekyo Sharingan had their eyes bulging out after seeing the armor covering Ringo. It might have been only a human-sized armor but it was far too reminiscent of the real Susanoo that sent a shiver through the spines of these people. After all, Ringo Ameyuri was not an Uchiha. Worse yet, she didn''t have Sharingan. This moment would cause many doubts and spections among the higher-ups of the hidden viges.

    Yagura didn''t wait for the special moment to end. His mind starting to give in to the influence of the bijuu chakra, he instantly lunged at Ringo while she just leisurely summoned a sword through a modified summoning seal on her wrist. Yagura neared Ringo with speed only rarely seen in the Shinobi world, showcasing why he deserved the title of Kage. Ringo simply lowered herself into a basic stance, patiently awaiting her opponent to enter the range of her de.

    No threats or useless banter was exchanged as it was quite pointless at the second Yagura started using bijuu chakra. Now was the time for power to do the talks.

    Ringo''s sword and Yagura''s staff met... but instead of the expected struggle of strength, Yagura''s weapon was pushed back by an invisible force upon the sh, throwing his arms a bit off and disrupting his bnce.

    ''Oomph...'' Ringo huffed in surprise as the strength she had to put into that single sh was far more than she expected. ''Damn, the kid indeed do pack a punch.'' She frowned, unhappy with the performance of the sword she was holding.

    Bewilderment momentarily appeared on Yagura''s face, only for fury taking its ce a secondter as he reaffirmed his footing and attacked the patiently waiting and pondering Ringo again.

    Violent shes resounded through the in, leaving many cracks and small craters on the ground as bothbatants had extremely enhanced strength, either due to a bijuu cloak or a full-body elemental chakra armor. Every time the two ninjas shed, Yagura was pushed back by an invisible force while Ringo''s frown was increasing.

    Suddenly, after fifty or so exchanges, Ringo''s sword cracked when Yagura''s staff smashed into it. Yagura''s hands were yet again thrown off their intended course, pushing his body backward which gave Ringo the necessary time to do something she did for the first time in their duel. She lifted her left foot and strongly kicked Yagura''s gut, sending his body crashing a few hundred meters away while bouncing numerous times off from the ground.

    As Yagura was no longer an immediate concern, Ringo set her eyes on the now cracked de of her experimental sword and wryly sighed. ''It''s not really what I expected. I wanted our chunin to have at least a chance against a jinchuuriki with it but the amount of power I have to exert to not be blown away in a sh is not something an average chunin possesses. Not to mention it couldn''t really withstand even fifty shes with Yagura. Nope, this one is clearly a failure.'' She let the sword go with disappointment showing on her face just as the de finally s.u.mbed to the crack and splintered into many pieces.

    Ringo, however, was totally oblivious to the fact that a normal non-chakra metal de withstanding fifty shes with a jinchuuriki was abnormal or that expecting a chunin to be able to put up a fight against a jinchuuriki was madness in itself, no matter what tools he had. No... Ringo''s experimental sword was something extremely useful as a weapon that could imbnce opponent upon each sh was something ground-breaking in the fights between more evenly matched opponents and could give the user an incredible advantage in the form of an opening. After all, the sword managed to make even a jinchuuriki imbnced.

    s, in Ringo''s eyes it was simply not good enough while leaders of various viges could only drool as they watched the effects of the sword, many making a note to discuss potential sales with Ringo after the fight.

    Curiously lifting her eyebrow, Ringo threw thest dagger near her feet and watched the effect as a seal appeared in the ce in between the four daggers, the same ce where Yagura was currently standing.

    Yagura wanted to throw himself back at Ringo and continue his onught. He was nowpletely assured that leaving the woman time to make ns and prepare would be foolish. He had to push her and force her to make mistakes before capitalizing on them! He still held the edge in physical power and from what he saw speed. Although he wouldn''t put it past his opponent to downy her real speed. She was a Lightning User and Yagura was not stupid enough to not figure out she was most likely much faster than him once she actually decided to go all out. No... he had to use her yful approach towards their battle and score a solid hit.

    There was a bit of a problem, however. The air around him stiffened and he was unable to move as a massive pressurended on his shoulders. Yagura instantly noticed the seal under him and then he noticed the four daggers on the ground that clearly anchored the seal.

    ''What the heck is with this woman!? How many chakra weapons with special effects does she have? Did nobody bothered to tell her that they are supposed to be rare!?'' Yagura mentally grumbled while using his chakra cloak to force himself free from the seal.

    Ringo critically watched as the restriction seal created by her four experimental daggers slowly but surely gave out as Yagura''s body started to regain its mobility. Sighing she took out a pink rubber duck from her wrist seal before casually throwing it at the still mostly immobilized Yagura.

    The entire ins suddenly quieted down as the spectators watched in muted bewilderment when the duck impacted Yagura''s forehead... and harmlessly bounced off, only causing his head to whip back, creating an awkward situation.

    Yagura''s eyes stared upward with utterck ofprehension of what just happened. Shame started to rise inside of him. ''So... she is not satisfied with using her weird weapons. Now she is even throwing toys at me?'' Yagura ever-so-slowly lowered his gaze back onto the amused Ringo who watched him with almost a clinical degree of scrutiny. He had had enough. Clearly, two tails of his bijuu cloak simply won''t cut it. It was time to go all out.

    And then he froze.

    ''HOW!?'' Yagura frantically screamed as he noticed that he was no longer d in his chakra cloak.

    Ringo watched the spectacle in satisfaction, ''Aha! My anti-jinchuuriki Duckie worked! His connection with the bijuu was cut and the chakra cloak dissipated.'' She giddily noted.

    Ringo''s merry mood didn''tst long as Yagura''s expression set itself in a cold facade. "I''ve had enough." He stated, his tone betraying the degree of rage he was feeling. And then... red.

    Ungodly waves after waves of chakra sprang up from Yagura, pressing on thend around as earthquake shook the ins. Strong winds swept the surroundings with extreme pressure, making Ringo slightly bend her knees in order to withstand it. Orange chakra seeped from Yagura, expanding and slowly starting solidifying, gaining greyish color.

    It took barely a second but Ringo now found herself facing a few stories tall form of the Three-Tailed Bijuu who was ring at her with all the anger Yagura could muster.

    "Er... the Duckie only cuts the connection between the host and the bijuu, not seal it. Hence, the jinchuuriki can reconnect to his bijuu almost instantly. A desperate need for improvement is duly noted." Ringo nodded to herself as she stared at the behemoth in front of her.

 Chapter 215 - Ch215. Ringo vs. Yagura 2

    <h4>Chapter 215 - Ch215. Ringo vs. Yagura 2</h4>

    While the whole world gaped at Ringo''s Duckie''s ability to cancel the bijuu cloak, she took out her two chakra metal des and promptly covered them in her lightning Susanoo cloaking. Now she really looked like some dual-wielding mythical samurai made of lightning.

    Sighing in annoyance, Ringo stared at the massive three-tailed beast in front of her, ignoring the strong whish of wind Yagura''s transformation caused.

    "I am really fed up with this. I am an assassin. Why do I have to fight him head-on like a damned fool? What ''Show ''em your hidden powah, Rin-chan!''? What ''Let''s make it into a huuuuuge spectacle!?''? When I am done with this, I am going to strangle Mei for giving Rei ideas. I could simply sneak into Yagura''s house at night and peacefully separate his head from his body when he slept but noooo..." Ringo heatedly muttered under her nose.

    Just then Sanbi roared and Ringo had to quickly side-step a massive circrpressed few stories tall water de hurled at her at an almost inhuman speed by the beast, leaving arge trench behind.

    Ringo wryly smiled, "So, he is finally using ninjutsu, eh?"

    The water rose from the shore a kilometer away from the ce where they faced each other, towering above the ins as the angry Sanbi focused his gaze on Ringo whose brows furrowed at the five hundred feet tall wave quickly approaching her at brutal speed, washing away everything in its path.

    "Of course, the very first thing Sanbi would do is getting even more water on the battlefield. Because why not?" Ringo cursed their current location. In the past, the Sanbi was almost always sealed while he waszing around or sleeping because fighting him anywhere near the ocean was a in suicide what with hisplete control of water. Without first shackling him with some restrictive seals, there was no way to win against thezy turtle. Well, not for ordinary shinobi.

    Not a secondter, the massive tsunami seemingly crashed into Ringo...

    High in the clear sky, the lightning-armor-d figure of Ringo appeared after barely escaping being swept by the ocean of water. She quickly started molding her normal chakra with her lightning chakra under her feet in order to create a tform in the air where she could stand.

    Ringo grimaced as she got a nice look at the surroundingnds. It was only a minute and a few seconds ago when Yagura transformed and yet... the Kuronami ins were already covered in a nket of water while other massive tsunamis could be seen quickly approaching the area from the not-so-distant ocean, covering thends in even more water.

    Ringo watched the huge turtle turn its head, looking for her. Her shoulders sagged, ''What exactly am I supposed to do here?'' She thought irritably.

    Lightning was for precise and fast strikes that exploited weaknesses and gaps in the armor of the enemy in order tond ONE devastating killing attack. Water, on the other hand, used volume to both attacks and defend andpression for either cutting or burgeoning offense. As for fighting a massive armored turtle half-covered in an ocean of water under its control as a lighting user? Well...

    Cl.i.c.k.i.n.g her tongue, Ringo decided to at least hurl a few attacks at the turtle since finding an exploitable weak spot was quickly bing a profound challenge. ''Guess, there is really no other way than trying out what does and what doesn''t work. It won''t be a long time before the Sanbi discovers my position anyway...''

    Raising her right de above her head and gathering her lighting chakra on it, the air around Ringo started quickly cracking and chirping as more and more lightning appeared, concentrating and condensing on the de which was quickly getting superheated. Ringo waited and gathered,pressed, concentrated more and more lightning chakra on the de until it was one bright blue beacon visible for kilometers, causing Sanbi to finally notice it.

    Unfortunately for the beast, with Ringo''s proficiency in Lightning Chakra, the whole process took only two seconds. One blue bright sh of blue with an ear-shattering chirping shriek of lightning deafening the world, and Ringo almostzily swung her right de downwards in a wide arc aimed straight at Sanbi.

    The world watched as the blue lightning beam crashed in the massive three-tailed beast''s carapace in a sh...

    Sanbi was hurled back through the water, creating a temporary trench in it as the massive beast''s body pushed it away due to the sheer force of the lightning beam which propelled it five hundred meters back before the disoriented Sanbi finally somehow managed to anchor its tails and limbs into the ground while supporting its body with the water behind it in order to resist the pushing force of the sh.

    Blue crackling energy battled grey hard carapace, both stubbornly refusing to stop pushing against the other but in the end, five secondster Ringo''s lightning Jutsu lost its juice and slowly dissipated, leaving only the turtle standing on the ground without any water around it for a fifty-meter radius. Only thin water vapor remained as the lightning Jutsu vaporized all the water in the said range. Slowly, the walls of water around the beast where the lightning Jutsu didn''t reach started to crash down, again submerging half of the Sanbi under the water surface.

    Ringo watched from the sky, scowling. The beast waspletely uninjured! Sure, she managed to push it back but the armor stopped her attack from doing literally anything to Sanbi. ''This is such a drag... How am I supposed to injure it? It''s not like I can just bypass the... carapace?'' Ringo tilted her head while her eyes narrowed as if a light bulb turned on in her head. ''Oh... maybe?''

    Before she managed to finish that thought, however, apressed house-sized ball of water crashed into her at almost the speed of sound, hurling her through the sky.

    Stopping herself some hundred or so meters away from her previous location, Ringo cursed. ''Son of a... turtle. Ahem.'' She steadied herself before having to jump to the left to avoid yet another house-sized water bullet courtesy of Sanbi. She had only a second to notice how the beast was now sending a water bullet after a water bullet at her covering the entire horizon with them.

    Adrenaline coursing through her veins, Ringo started side-stepping, jumping under or above, and evading the water bullets. They may not be able to breach her lightning armor but they still caused her to deplete a bit of her chakra reserve due to the brutal force of impact that came with them. As she was dodging, Ringo also advanced closer and closer towards Sanbi through the air, the closer she got, the more house-sized water bullets she had to deal with and briefly, it made her ponder how much chakra the beast exactly had. Somewhere along her way towards the turtle, Ringo was forced to start cleaving the water bullets with her lightning-d swords, not having enough space to dodge.

    The hail of water bullets suddenly ceased, making even Ringo surprised, causing her to stop for a second before she realized the water under her started to move, as tendrils as thick as Kage Towers started to quickly advance towards her.

    "Shit..." Ringo cursed and pushed more of her lightning chakra into her armor, springing herself forward towards the Sanbi in one huge leap now that there was no water blocking her path. The turtle miscalcted and before the water tendrils could reach Ringo, she disappeared via sheer speed and reappeared on the top of the surprised Sanbi.

    For all of its crowd control ability, scarily dangerous water control, and almost unreachable defense, the turtle was quite slow and didn''t move much during a fight.

    Understanding that this was a very rare opportunity, Ringo quickly plunged both of her swords into the carapace of the beast, sinking them halfway through their length. It didn''t even breach five percent of the carapace but for Ringo''s n, this was enough. With a zapping sound and bright blue light show, Ringo started feeding the chakra from her armor to her swords.

    Sanbi screamed and roared in pain as the nature chakra from the lightning armor mixed with the lightning chakra of Ringo and wave after wave of the stuff entered its carapace, razing its path towards the beast''s flesh. Thrashing and bewildered, the beast quickly utilized its tail and smashed it into Ringo, sending her small frame flying while dislodging the two des from its carapace due to the strong grip Ringo had on her des. As they were dislodged, the des shot onest wave of lightning senjutsu chakra into the sky, causing a massive wave of pressurized air to spread through the surroundings, rippling the already raging kilometers of the water surface while Ringo''s body crashed a few tens of meter away from Sanbi, plunging deep into the beast-made ocean at breakneck speed, disappearing in it.

    For a moment... the battlefield quieted down, leaving only a serene scene of a massive sluggish turtle slowly shaking in pain surrounded by quietly calming water as thin water vaporzily covered the area while up in the sky, clouds slowly started to form.

 Chapter 216 - Ch216. Ringo vs Yagura 3

    <h4>Chapter 216 - Ch216. Ringo vs Yagura 3</h4>

    Ao watched the screen in shock, shaking in hopelessness as he thought, ''Is Yagura really unbeatable?''

    He knew Yagura''s Sanbi transformation was powerful but never in his wildest dreams would he imagine it to be so... so invincible! In just seconds he flooded entire ins in the water! That single move could possibly destroy the entire army!

    Ao''s thoughts darkened as he realized that putting an army against Sanbi was a suicide. Nothing short of a crafty and very powerful single ninja skilled in fuinjutsu could hope to beat the beast. There was simply no winning through sheer force.

    Ao''s eyes briefly lingered on the spot where Ringo''s body disappeared into the depths of the water, causing him to sigh in regret. ''I doubt anyone can survive inside of an ocean of waterpletely controlled by Sanbi. She must be already crushed to dust.'' It was then, however, that he heard a small chuckle from his right side.

    Turning, Ao found a very weird scene. Rei seemed amused, Na Kona was half-purring, half-smirking, and Nadetsu Jusen was goodnaturedly rolling her eyes, looking as if she knew some grand secret but found the ignorance of others far too amusing to share.

    "He bitch-pped her..." Rei said, visibly trying to hold back hisughter.

    "That he did." Nadetsu confirmed almost giddily.

    "En." Kona mirthfully added.

    Ao froze at theplete disregard for Ringo, "Aren''t you at least a bit worried for yourrade?" He icily asked, turning towards Rei.

    Before Rei could respond, Kona spoke with an eye-roll, "That''s what she gets for holding back."

    "She deserved it." Nadetsu snorted.

    "He bitch-pped her." Rei shrugged, still finding the situation incredibly funny.

    Ao was too bbergasted to give a verbal reply, instead, he simply stared at them in confusion. ''Could Ringo survive tha-''

    A loud booming sound suddenly resounded from the screen, causing Ao to whip his head back towards it in astonishment.

    Sanbi was calming down as the pain from being almost boiled alive through his carapace started to slowly dissipate. He was still somewhat vignt but his guard was steadily dropping. He could sense his water and so far it seemed the fight was over. He was about to revert back to Yagura when his senses started screaming at him.

    It took only a split of a second but the serene water surface first started angrily bubbling crimson before suddenly bursting with massive pressure as a huge crimson-colored torso of a fox-like samurai armor appeared, crackling with an inhuman amount of crimson-colored lightning chakra. The water slowly cascaded down its helmet and shoulders, sizzling and visibly vaporizing as did the water around the whole armor, covering it in hot water vapor.

    The armored titan ever-so-slowly stood up, towering even above the three-tailed beast, causing the ground to shake when its footnded on it. The air around the figure started shimmering from the sheer heat the special lightning it was made of produced, continuously boiling, superheating, and supercharging it from all the elemental chakra, nature energy, and bijuu chakra packed together. The surface of the massive fox-like armored humanoid samurai was gleaming as if burning with the crimson lightning, betraying what is happening to anyone knowing Rei and his girls'' secret.

    Ringo... finally decided to stop pulling her punches and started using Crimson''s chakra in the fight.

    It was not yet a full Bijuu transformation. Crimson was too young and weak for that. No, Ringo was simply mixing Crimson''s chakra into her own Lightning Susanoo in order to erge and strengthen it, causing the destructive potential of her lightning armor to skyrocket.

    Sanbi and the titan stared at each other, one bewildered, the other with gleaming crimson orbs of lightning full of mirth. A second of silence passed between them before they both lunged at the other, both aware their fight will being to an end soon.

    Sanbi''s body flew at the twice as big hulking mass of concentrated lightning chakra and scored a solid blow to its waist with its hardened carapace, causing the titan to slide a bit backward but it was far tougher than the beast envisioned. Water started rising around them, trying to bind the movements of the titan only to evaporate the instant it came in contact with the surface of the crimson lightning armor.

    In retaliation, the Lightning Susanoo of Ringo punched the Sanbi hard, sending it crashing back into the water while causing it to scream as it felt the searing heat. Unfortunately for Sanbi, it wasn''t made of element or chakra like some of its siblings so its body was quite boble.

    Sanbi wasn''t dazed for long and quickly returned the offensive by throwing more waves of water at Ringo''s Lightning Susanoo, making it sluggish and preventing its movement with the sheer volume of it. Sanbi knew that Ringo, as a human, didn''t have an unlimited amount of chakra, and sustaining such a giant made of special Lightning would quickly deplete her meager reserves. For now, he wanted to make this into a fight of attrition, stay the hell away from her and her damned superheated armor, and oust her through his chakra reserves.

    Ringo also knew she needed to end the fight quickly and be very showy about it. She still had time. Hers and Crimson''s chakra wouldst for a few minutes of an all-out fight but she couldn''t really let herself faint at the end or worse, be somehow defeated. After all, this fight was all about showing off for the entire Elemental Nations.

    As such, Ringo nced upward, noticing the angry ck clouds. She could feel the lightning .u.mting in them since they were caused by thest wave of her nature energy and lightning chakra when her swords got dislodged from Sanbi''s carapace when he smacked her away. These clouds could be partly taken as hers and by now, they were soaked in quite a lot of naturally formed lightning, just waiting to be used by her.

    Controlling the massive chakra armor she created, Ringo fought through the mass of quickly evaporating and yet also rapidly amassing water trying to pin her down and raised the searing crimson de belonging to her Lightning Susanoo above its head in preparation for a swing while taking it into both hands to enhance the final result.

    The world seemed as if it momentarily locked itself in that scene. The raging water as if froze. The shuddering air as if stopped. The water as if momentarily calmed. The angry skies as if halted. Even the Sanbi couldn''t do more than slightly widen its eyes and start hastily charging a bijuudama before the world as if moved again and Ringo''s Lightning Susanoo swung the de downward. And the heavens roared in rage...

    During the sh of Ringo''s Lightning Susanoo, the energy from the entire chakra construct was violently redirected into it, resulting in its instant copse. That, however, also meant, the sh had the energy levels of the whole thing behind it as a crimson lightning sh as big as a skyscr.a.p.er was hurled at Sanbi while the armor disappeared, leaving only Ringo in the air, in her human-sized blue lightning armor.

    As the crimson lightning sh approached Sanbi who now finished charging the strongest bijuudama he could, Ringo suddenly smirked. From above, an enormous amount of natural lighting suddenly fell towards the crimson sh mid-flight, colliding with it and enhancing it.

    And then, the gigantic sh met bijuudama.

    It all happened in a split of a second but the roaring and deafening explosion made even the strongest ninjas sweat as crimson mixed with blue, trying to overpower sun-like orange when the attacks met. In a sh, it was over.

    And with it, Yagura in the form of the three-tails and half of the Kuronami ins. Completely disintegrated.

    In that moment, the Land of Water lost one percent of itsndmass as Ringo coldly stared at the destruction caused by her attack, and the world... irrevocably changed.

 Chapter 217 - Ch217. Reactions to the battle.

    <h4>Chapter 217 - Ch217. Reactions to the battle.</h4>

    Author Note:

    Yeah, sorry, guys.

    I didn''t notice the chapters set on the timer for release ran out so yesterday there was no chapter.

    Good for you too, that I actually went to checkments on a spur of a moment otherwise I probably wouldn''t notice so soon :D.

    Anyway, have fun.

    ---

    "Did you see that, B?" The Raikage quietly asked as the screen in front of him showed the devastation caused by the sh of the massive Lightning Susanoo.

    "Which bit do you mean? There was quite a lot to be seen!" B rapped, causing Raikage''s eyebrows to twitch in mild annoyance andpletely breaking the dreary mood.

    "The lightning armor, you idiot! It is obvious that bitch based it on my Jutsu and yet it was manyfold better than my Lightning Chakra Mode!" Raikage yelled.

    "Yeah... wicked." B stated, no longer in his usual cheerful manner. His tone was serious and grim, showing he totally understood the threat Ringo could pose to them.

    Raikage copsed into his seat with a difficult expression as a pensive silence filled the room, both B and A pondering about what they just saw.

    It took a few minutes before Raikage slowly started speaking in a very tired tone, "I can''t believe it." He rubbed his forehead, "Just a few years ago, I could have killed the woman with one punch. ONE PUNCH!" He raised his fist, to emphasize the point while B nodded. Raikage huffed, "And now... the bitch responsible for the death of my fiancee is... that? The world is cruel B. So very cruel." Raikage slumped in defeat.

    B had no idea how to console his brother and even Hachibi was unnaturally quiet. They understood... A might have already given up on revenge but that didn''t mean his hatred for the perpetrators diminished. But now...

    Now Ringo Ameyuri, the woman leading the army that killed his fiance and shamed them into retreating showed she giarized A''s famed Lightning Chakra Cloak, made it into something much better, much powerful, and on top of all that, she went blow for blow against Sanbi, something only A''s father did. Thatst bit, probably stung A''s pride the most as B knew A always secretly admired the sheer power of his father.

    Worse yet, when she was a simple rogue ninja, A could always hope somebody would one day drag her dead or still-kicking-but-immobilized body in order to collect the massive reward Kumogakure was offering for her head. Sure, the hope was fleeting but it was still there. Now, however, Ringo would be the Fifth Mizukage of Kirigakure and that meant she was untouchable. Nothing short of war against Kirigakure would provide a chance to get at her.

    There was a problem with that train of thought, though...

    "She is a damn bijuu level threat." Raikage morosely muttered as B sat rooted in his ce, looking at him in sadness. "We will have to... have to, ugh, start negotiating an alliance with Kirigakure." A barely managed to let that sentence out. It was one thing to ignore them, and it waspletely another thing to try and befriend them when all he wanted was to destroy them. But... Kirigakure now had Ringo Ameyuri who could go head-on against a bijuu. They also had one jinchuuriki and will have another after Sanbi reforms while the civil war everybody expected to weaken them didn''t really cause all that much damage to their ranks. The number of their ninjas didn''t drop by much.

    In fact, Kirigakure came out of the civil war even stronger than it was before and that was what really infuriated A to no end.

    "B... go and call Mabui. I need to start preparations." A grunted, making B nod and stand up.

    ''Well, I don''t think I canfort him much. Nope... this needs a woman''s touch. Tell Mabui I shall, kono yaro, baka yaro!'' B walked through the door, stopping in the middle and half-turning his head to look at A. His expression was so serious.

    A stiffened in anticipation for what B was going to say. "Brozza... Don''t forget to activate the silencing seals this time." He quickly ducked and ran out of the office as a paperweight flew through the ce where his head was just a second ago while a loud roar shook Kumogakure.

    "B!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

    ...

    Almost catatonic Obito watched the battle from afar, not really believing what he just saw.

    ''Did that woman just disintegrate the three-tails?'' He thought in shock, his body stiff and unresponsive. ''I... this requires more thought. But still...'' He suddenly grew regretful.

    Obito, knowing it was fifty-fifty, still believed Yagura could win. Then again, he could also lose. But never even in his wildest dreams would he think Yagura would lose in such a manner!

    ''That girl is dangerous. Maybe I should invite her to Akatsuki? Then again... maybe not. She is now a Kage and if she was not agreeable to the offer.'' Obito shuddered. It would take only onepetent Kage and Akatsuki would have an incredibly hard time surviving. Fortunately for him, he steered far away from the at the very least semipetent ones. That''s why he mostly worked with Tsuchikage and controlled Mizukage. ''No... we are not yet strong enough to face that kind of... bullshit.'' Obito relented. He thought Nagato extremely powerful. Then again... maybe he thought wrong.

    "Yozora, huh? Maybe I should start paying more attention to them. Ignoring them just because they disappeared from the spotlight for a few years was clearly a mistake." He spoke in a totally serious voice, abandoning his childish act, tightly clenching his fists in anger, "They foiled my n to avenge Rin... Years of preparations and maniptions. Do they not understand how hard it was to catch a damned Kage-level jinchuuriki off-guard with my genjutsu?" Suddenly, Obito screamed in rage and started rubbing his hair in frustration as he realized... "I will have to start again from scratch!"

    If only the Biri-Biripany didn''t hire a member of Yozora to fight for them. His life would be so easy! But no! It just had to be the two most insufferable organizations in existence to band together andpletely ruin his ns! He tried to infiltrate or spy on the Biri-Biripany for years and he somewhat seeded, finding out they were not really a threat. They focused on money and business, hence, they were not directpetition for Akatsuki.

    No... Yozora was the problem. Organization much like Akatsuki. An organization capable of acting in the shadows, directing the flow of history ording to their wishes. It only now became apparent to Obito they probably manipted the Biri-Biripany to do their bidding, causing them to insert one of their own into a position of Mizukage. No... Yozora was shaping up to be a big headache for him and his ns.

    With a huff, Obito disappeared in a swirl, thinking how he should use his pawns in the Land of Water to set another anti-n civil war into motion.

    Unfortunately for him, he was underestimating the newfound caution of the n heads who will for all intents and purposes be ruling Kirigakure whenever Ringo couldn''t be bothered. Which meant, all the time.

    ...

    Anko leisurelyid on a sofa in the main house of the Senju npound in Konoha, her legs on the table and a half-empty bowl of ch.i.p.s on her b.a.r.e belly. She and the brat decided to watch this ''event of the century'' as the fight between Ringo and Yagura was advertised by the Biri-Biripany.

    She brought the viewing gem, which was ording to the brat who had all that fuinjutsu information stuffed in his head, a very nifty seal matrix that connected the viewing seal with the recording seal and then simply caused the viewing seal to produce a genjutsu of the events recorded by the recording seal, and they decided to have a nice afternoon watching the brawl.

    She was still notfortable with the thought of the brat calling her ''mum'' and the first time he did that, she showed him why exactly that was a bad idea. Nobody can say Anko Mitarashi was a bad mentor! The kid quickly learned that the only eptable way to call her is ''sis'' or better yet, ''Sensei''. And it took only a few broken bones and a shitload of bruises too!

    Then again... the brat was now scared of snakes. Oh, well... Anko decided the best cure for that was to throw even more snakes at him.

    They watched as Ringo Ameyuri fought against Yagura, andter Yagura in bijuu chakra cloak, and then a fully transformed Sanbi. The entire time, Naruto had a weird expression on his face and Anko was starting to worry. It was one thing to tell the kid he is a jinchuuriki and he will have a lot of power at hismand in the future if he trains it right. It waspletely different for him to see exactly what it means to be apetent jinchuuriki. Yagura might have lost the battle but that wasn''t because he was weak.

    "Will I really be that strong one day?" Naruto quietly asked with his hand on his stomach.

    Anko raised an eyebrow at him, still with well-hidden jealousy half-processing how it was possible for a kunoichi to beat Sanbi. "If you are a good boy." She replied teasingly.

    What!? Nobody said she had this ''taking care of a kid'' down the pat!

    Naruto gave Anko a weak smile. He knew she liked him and he loved how... normal his life became since she entered it. She was the first person who actually showed him she cared... even if it was only by making sure he trained a lot and ate well. It wasn''t always smooth sailing with Anko but in her own rough way, she showed Naruto she cared about him. It probably didn''t help that she was as scarred and clueless as him in that department. Neither really had somebody extremely close to them before they started to live with each other.

    "Thank you... Anko-nee." Whispering, Naruto turned around and left the living room, determination swirling behind his eyes. He will get stronger! If only to protect the only person who cared about him!

    Anko watched the small back of the child Lady Tsunade dumped into her care and sighed as her expression softened. "Well... so much for motivating the brat." She shrugged, her sight returning towards the destroyed Kuronoami ins on the screen, her eyes hardening. "Maybe... It''s time to start training more seriously."

    ''After all... I don''t want to fall behind Naruto too much. That would simply be embarrassing!''

 Chapter 218 - Ch218. Carrot and stick

    <h4>Chapter 218 - Ch218. Carrot and stick</h4>

    Yagura slowly opened his eyes and instantly g.r.o.a.n.e.d as he felt the weight of the world press on his beaten body. Or at least, he supposed he was quite trashed from all the pain his brain was registering when he tried to move.

    ''What the heck happened?'' He sluggishly thought, fighting through his increasing headache while his eyes tried to adjust from their sleepy state. Suddenly, his mind stilled as he realized, ''I am... free? The genjutsu was lifted!?'' His body instantly sprang up into a sitting position only to jerk in pain a secondter, causing Yagura to whimper in even more pain.

    "Easy there." An amused voiceing from behind him said before continuing, "Don''t make any sudden movements. Your body has many cracked bones and torn muscles. Thankfully, your organs are fine and nothing important is broken but still, from the amount of damage you will be bedridden for some days yet despite being a jinchuuriki. Then again, you did eat a point-nk bijuudama before being zapped by such an enormous amount of lightning it would vaporize you if I didn''t pull you out of there in time." An aristocratic-looking blond-haired man said as he finally entered Yagura''s sight.

    Yagura stared incredulously at the man, so sure he never ever met him that it even temporarily overpowered his guilt at having to watch his genjutsu-ed self order all those atrocities and wreaking havoc in his own country.

    "Who?" He rasped.

    Rei grinned and sat on a chair near the bed Yagura was ced on and handed him a ss of water. "Name''s Rei. I am something like Ringo''s boss." He shrugged at casually admitting that Kirigakure was now under his rule by proxy, causing Yagura to do a spit-take. "As you can probably tell, I nicked you before Ringo''s attack couldpletely disintegrate you to smithereens. As for why..." Rei meaningfully paused, enjoying the questioning and wary look on Yagura''s face before he grandiosely stood up, spread his arms wide, and eximed, "I deemed it beneficial to steal yet another jinchuuriki!"

    ''What am I? Some kind of toy?'' Yagura mentally deadpanned. ''Wait... did he say... another?'' His expression turned into an incredulous one.

    Before he could continue that train of thoughts, however, Rei chuckled and sat down, continuing speaking in a mirthful manner, "That said... you don''t really have much of a choice."

    Yagura''s back stiffened... and then the man wentpletely ck as if all tension suddenly left him while his body fell back onto the bed in resignation. His instincts alongside everything ingrained in him by the brutal training Kirigakure put him through were screaming at him to return the threat, to not just quietly take it, to... fight. And yet, his mind was far too exhausted to put up any pretense or participate in a meaningless power-y. After all, if he really discounted his feelings and all that searing self-pity... he really didn''t have much of a choice, did he?

    "What exactly do you want from me?" Yagura spoke in a resigned tone. "I won''t aid you in harming Kirigakure. If that''s your goal then you are at the wrong address."

    "Funny... From where I stand you were doing a good job of exactly that yourself before we decided to intervene." Rei replied with a chuckle, causing Yagura to grit his teeth. "Don''t even try to y a tough guy, Yagura. You are smarter than that. You are the first Mizukage who caused a civil war in his hidden vige. And despite it being nipped in a bud, you will be remembered for as long as Kirigakure will exist. You," Rei smugly pointed at him, "are the bad guy."

    Every sentence caused Yagura to visibly recoil and despite that, he stayed silent. Everything Rei was telling him was the truth. Both of them knew there was no way to im being put under the influence of Sharingan. Firstly, the Uchiha n and Konoha would be quite angry because of that... which would most likely mean Kirigakure would deny any such im, and secondly, there was no way to prove it now that the Sharingan genjutsu was lifted. This was one of these situations where his rumored strength was ying against him. After all, how could somebody strong enough to be a Mizukage before even reaching eighteen fall for a Sharingan genjutsu? Especially a jinchuuriki who has a bijuu in him? A bijuu that would normally destroy any attempt at mind-control? Heck, even he had no answer for that!

    Rei indungingly watched Yagura''s expressions change at a fast pace while thinking, ''Poor sod, not even knowing about Mangekyou Sharingan. No wonder he was caught off guard by it.''

    "Heh..." Yagura snorted, "Then tell me, what do you want? I am screwed either way." He stubbornly stared at the ceiling. Honestly, he just got out of months of being manipted by genjutsu and now he had to deal with this shit...

    "Technically, you are not screwed. You are simply presumed dead." Rei pointed out, enjoying Yagura''s eyes narrow in irritation. "As such, your affiliation with Kirigakure is effectively over. Can''t brand a dead man traitor, after all. Do you see what I want from you now?"

    "No..." Yagura whispered, realizing why exactly he was having this conversation. "I am not betra-"

    "Ah, stuff it." Rei interrupted, "Kirigakure is as good as mine anyway. Yes, I will let the n heads run it because it is honestly a bother. Yes, I will make sure it is improved and many reforms are passed for the betterment of the vige and its forces but I sure as hell don''t really care about the vige itself so it won''t be the best it could. Yes, I am nning to get it up to par with Kumogakure at the very least but then again, that''s for my own benefit. Andstly, I can also make a life for everybody in the vige infinitely more difficult through Ringo. Let me tell you, any goodwill or sentiment she could have felt for her own vige is now drier than the deserts in the Land of Wind." Rei watched Yagura''s body subtly reacting to his words and was pleased that he had his undivided attention now. "So... do make this easier for both of us and let''s make a deal. You will swear allegiance to me and my vige. Naturally, it will be enforced through seals put on your heart. You must understand my reluctance in trusting you without these seals... Mr. Fourth Mizukage." Rei added mockingly. "In return, I will let you keep tabs on Kirigakure andpose reforms you think are needed for the vige to improve. You will have a direct hand at making Kirigakure better. Plus, it''s not like the loyalty seals have only disadvantages or you lose your free will. I want a capable ninja, not a ve. The seals will prevent you ever again from being manipted via genjutsu. They will also adjust your bijuu seal and make it infinitely morefortable for Sanbi which shouldpletely calm him down considering hiszy nature. There are more benefits but, well, they are not really important right now." Rei shrugged and fell silent, letting Yagura digest what he just told him.

    Yagura wasn''t a novice in coercion and negotiations. He half-expected to be tortured when he declined so having the situation so tantly shoved into his face was a bit disgruntling but still... ''When he put it that way...'' Yagura bitterly thought. ''He was quite literal when he said I don''t really have a choice, wasn''t he?'' Yagura realized. Damned if do, damned if don''t. ''Oh, how I regret not bing a baker rather than a shinobi!'' He wistfully reminisced.

    The sales pitch was extremely tempting for him in the current situation. He was a criminal on top of being legally dead. Showing his face would simply earn himself a quick addition to the Bingo Book with a high reward whilst causing more problems for Kirigakure as Ringo will either be forced to hunt him down AND present his severed head, or worse, a new civil war would be caused because of that. After all, if the deed propelling Ringo to the seat of the Fifth Mizukage turned out to be fake... yeah, Yagura decided then and there he would rather wear a mask his entire life.

    If Ringo or Rei deemed Kirigakure ''not worth the effort'', well, let''s just say Yagura didn''t really want to see how many fools would attempt fighting against Ringo and get ughtered for it. Considering the average intelligence level of n heads, the damage to the vige would probably be irreparable.

    Hence, stick.

    On the other hand, Rei was offering him a chance to do the sole thing why he even became a Mizukage. He was offering him a chance to fulfill his dream. A chance to reform Kirigakure ording to his wishes. Admittedly, it was not much but in his situation? It was more than he could ask for. And if he did a good job... maybe, just maybe he could alleviate at least some fraction of the guilt he felt inside for what his manipted self caused.

    "Fine." Yagura answered after being quiet for half an hour of considering his options. "I will join you."

    Rei smirked, ''All ording to the n. I did promise Ao to improve Kirigakure and I would loathe putting such a task on the shoulders of one of my girls or, god forbid, my own. Nope, getting some poor sod to do it for me is the best option, isn''t it? Doesn''t hurt that Yagkura would see it as if I was doing him a favor either, right?''

 Chapter 219 - Ch219. New Kiri Council

    <h4>Chapter 219 - Ch219. New Kiri Council</h4>

    Two days passed since the Battle between Water and Lightning as the people started calling the sh between Ringo and Yagura. Honestly, it was quickly bing the stuff of legends on par with Madara and Hashirama. For the first time in history, normal people from all over the Elemental Nations got to witness a battle between high-ranking ninjas from thefort of their houses.

    The various ninja viges were of two minds on the matter. On one hand, people were shown the power of ninjas by someone who was a monster even by their most brutal standards. That could really lead to some unnaturally high expectations from their clients and it would be awfully awkward resolving any misunderstanding if somebody asks them to destroy this or that country. On the other hand, ninjas would be now feared or respected even more which was, yet again, a double-edged de in itself. Nevertheless, it was more of a useful kind in regards to ninjas.

    But one thing was set in stone. After seeing the battle, there wasn''t anyone, be it a Daimyo or a Kage, who was willing to antagonize Kirigakure. In fact, the vige was flooded with requests for alliances, trading agreements, and so on.

    Naturally, all were offered under the assumption that Ringo will be the Fifth Mizukage.

    ...

    The door to Kirigakure''s council room suddenly flew open, shutting up a nasty argument between the councilors of Yagura''s reign and the n heads who deemed it their right to be new councilors. All of them snapped towards the door, wondering who is the rude bastard trying to enter the room when they are discussing important matters...

    But before anyone could even let out a simple ''eep'', Ringo apathetically strode into the room. One look at her eyes and the councilors, no matter whether new or old ones, knew they would be unable to provoke the unimaginably dangerous woman. Most of them averted their eyes, trying to reign in their shudder but there were still some of them who couldn''t help but hyperventte when they remembered the battle between Ringo and Yagura.

    The old councilors simply feared for their lives but they didn''t have anywhere to go. All of them were Kiri loyalists to the core and as such, if the new Mizukage wanted them dead, they would prefer dying in their vige rather than going rogue.

    As for the new councilors, the n heads,... when they hired Yozora to resolve their problems, they never thought Ringo would be so... so... so frighteningly powerful. At best, they thought Yagura would be overpowered by sheer numbers or through trickery but never in their wildest dreams did they think Ringo capable of facing a bijuu head-on. Now they were stuck with her as their Mizukage and slowly, they started to understand why Ao was so cross with them for giving her the position. Who cared if they, ording to some doc.u.ment, had a free reign? Ringo raising one eyebrow had more weight than anything they could do or say! It was honestly a very striking reminder that ''might makes right''. One they did not really enjoy.

    Ringo steadily walked towards the furthest throne-like chair in the back of the council chamber and flopped into it with aplete disregard for anything even remotely resembling etiquette. She sighed irritably and swept the people in the room with a fed-up stare. "An hour ago, Ao sent me a message that you are bickering like a bunch of little children." ''And damn Rei for giving him a way to contact me...'' She mentally grumbled as the message interrupted her forging. "Care to share what is so important I had to be dragged into it?"

    The room descended intoplete silence. Ringo stared at the councilors, her eyes getting more and more fed-up by the second while the councilors tried to gather courage and their wits to reply.

    "Well?" Ringo drawled, her eyes stopping on Ao who stood by the door to the chamber, showing he was not a part of the council.

    ''Of course, it has to be me... It''s so hard to be one of the only twopetent people in the room.'' Ao wistfully thought before sighing in exasperation, "The n heads and the old councilors can''t decide who shall be the new council under yourself, Lady Ameyuri. Maybe you could state your ruling on the matter?" He added a bit mockingly.

    And with that sentence, tension returned to the room. The old councilors looked at Ringo with apprehension while the new ones with hope... causing Ringo to deadpan at Ao, her eyes clearly asking if this is really how leaders and high officials should behave. Much to her chagrin, he simply casually shrugged, letting her deal with the problem.

    Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Ringo furrowed her brows, "I am far too young to do this shit." She mumbled and while at the time it peeved her to no end, now she inwardly thanked Rei for giving her an idea of how to avoid running things. If only he didn''t decide to do it in the middle of their lovemakingˇ­ then again, she probably wouldn''t remember it if he didn''t choose that exact moment.

    "Fine..." Ringo reluctantly started, "As per Yozora''s contract with the Resistance, the n heads will gain the position of councilors." Quiet cheers and smug looks started appearing on the faces of the n heads before Ringo added, "Do keep in mind the contract clearly stated you are obliged to work for the betterment of the vige as a whole, rather than just your ns. If you break that, I will know," And she really would since Rei used his mastery of seals when creating the said contract, "and I will break you."

    Now that put an instant stop to the cheers and smugness of the n heads and the mood turned somber again. Quite a few of them quickly decided it would be in their best interest to stop scheming too as they were reminded that this was still a dictatorship.

    "As for the old councilors," Ringo nced at them, causing them to flinch. This was it. The Fifth Mizukage was about to decide their fate. "They will be put under investigation. If theye up clean and capable, they shall retain their position as a councilor." Ringo shrugged. "Doesn''t really matter if there are more seats on the council or not anyway. This way we will have more input, more people working towards the development of the vige, and it will also be harder to manipte votes. Not that I am going to let any who try walk away intact." She nonchntly added.

    The old councilors sagged in relief while the new ones were a bit miffed at people without the status of a n head bing councilors or their sudden inability to bribe or ckmail others to getws passed. Nevertheless, they could do nothing about it. Well, technically they had all the right but not one of them had the courage to speak up. Ao, on the other hand, started to get a bad premonition when Ringo smirked at him.

    "As for the person responsible for the investigation..." Ringo''s eyes met Ao''s pleading gaze, giving him only a cold look, "I think Ao is the least corruptible person in this room. He should do it. Any objections?"

    "I object!" Ao weakly tried, getting weird looks of respect from the people in the room except for Ringo who simply lifted her eyebrow amusedly.

    "Rejected." She happily said. "I look forward to your report."

    Ao g.r.o.a.n.e.d but nodded in understanding. After all, she was now his Mizukage and he would be damned before he failed her.

    "And with that, I believe my work here is done." Ringo hummed as she stood up and walked towards the door, "Don''t argue too much, kids. I don''t enjoy having toe and teach you to behave because your mo-, ahem, Ao gets too annoying. You wanted to rule the vige so rule it," She said as she stopped in the middle of the door leading outside the council chambers. The air suddenly turned heavy as killing intent flooded the room, making the upant sweat, "Properly. Don''t let me discover you are ruling it dishonestly. I want to see a clear improvement in the future."

    And with that she walked away, the killing intent in the air dissipating.

    It was then the various n heads paled as they understood that they might have screwed up with the contract more than they dared to admit. After all... ''She just dumped all the work on us, didn''t she?'' Many of them realized. Worse yet, ''What''s the point of being in politics if we can''t even use it to better our ns!?''

    s, they were already far behind the point of no return.

 Chapter 220 - Ch220. Start of a beautiful vacation...

    <h4>Chapter 220 - Ch220. Start of a beautiful vacation...</h4>

    "Ah, finally peace and quiet!" Rei eximed while enjoying the water in his indoor pool in the mansion in his dimension. He really couldn''t stop praising himself for installing one of the Spring Generators in his dimension, enabling him to change the weather at will. Thanks to that, he could have anything from white-covered snowy fields to tropical heats.

    "It''s not as if you did anything substantial. As far as I know, it was Ringo who did the heavy lifting." Pakura who sat in his l.a.p, leaning her back on his c.h.e.s.t, suddenly spoke.

    "Oi... now that''s just unfair." Rei dismissively drawled, not bothering to put any strength behind his words. "I negotiated and set up the entire thing. That counts, ya know?"

    "I guess I can give you some brownie points for kidnapping the Fourth Mizukage." Pakura nomittally hummed, snuggling more into Rei. "But... indeed. Finally peace and quiet." She sighed in content. "I was really happy when you gave me the responsibility to oversee our hidden vige while you were away." Pakura continued, her eyes half-lidded, "You didn''t choose Konan. No... you gave this responsibility to me. It really made my heart flutter." Pakura grimaced, "At least, it did before I realized just how much workload overseeing a vige in the height of its development boom without shadow clones means. God, it was hell on earth." Pakura shuddered, causing Rei to snicker at her.

    "That said," Rei started while gently stroking her hair, "you developed the Vige on The Other Side incredibly well in the past few months. Setting up small Spring Generators in the training grounds so the ninjas can set their own training environment, hashing out the finishing touches upon the organization of our ninja ranks, creating fake misleading alliance doc.u.ments with the Uzushio in case some busy-body decided to check what exactly is going on between them and us, and my personal favorite... your initiative to set up secret forward bases in countries that don''t have ninja viges. You saved me a lot of time, Pakura." Rei said and affectionately kissed the side of her neck in a show of appreciation.

    "Yeah." Pakura agreed, "I couldn''t really leave that project idle. Honestly, that idea of yours to set up booths where locals can issue missions and our troops can respond via teleportation seals... it was golden, it just needed some very precise but strict woman touch to improve all the imperfection. By my estimations, the project should be finished in a few months at thetest and we will have a forward base with teleportation-anchoring seals in most countries."

    "I see, but... Woman touch, eh?" Rei amusedly stated, making Pakura giggle as she lifted herself from his l.a.p and turned around, straddling him while leaning into his c.h.e.s.t and letting him feel her soft b.r.e.a.s.ts.

    "Yes. I would be delighted to show you what I mean." Pakura replied before her lips softlynded on Rei''s, giving him no time to gather his wits as her tongue started asking for entry. He did the only thing possible in that situation and his hands quickly found their way to her bottom, from time to time eliciting soft m.o.a.ns from the woman.

    Pakura and Rei made out for a few minutes, enjoying the presence of the other before they finally separated and Pakuraid her head onto Rei''s shoulder, contently sighing. Rei simply let Pakura take the lead, knowing she was not one for being overly passionate or hasty. They had the entire day off so there was no need to rush anywhere.

    "How is our new resident jinchuuriki settling in?" Rei asked, starting to c.a.r.e.s.s Pakura''s back while from time to time stimting her nerves by sending a flicker of his chakra into it through his fingertips.

    Squirming, Pakura whinily breathed out before answering, "He is, ah, go-od." Biting her lower lip, Pakura''s hands quickly found themselves around Rei''s neck as she started using her wind chakra to produce an effect of a soft, exciting c.a.r.e.s.s all over Rei''s body that was above the water surface.

    Feeling it, Rei smirked before leaning closer towards Pakura''s head on his shoulder and kissed her hair before quietly but smugly chortling into her ear, letting her know he acknowledged her attempt but it was still nothing extraordinary.

    Pakura hummed, trying to sound irritated but through the electricizing flickers of Rei''s chakra through her back, she really didn''t manage it. Then again, she had to admit her control of Wind chakra was not yet good enough. It certainly didn''tpare to what Konan could do with hers so Pakura gave up in trying topare herself with Konan and focused on making her touch as enjoyable for Rei as she possibly could. Plus Rei had an unfair advantage since he could use his Lightning Chakra even underwater without problems while controlling her Wind Chakra was a bit tricky underwater. Yup... there was no need topete, she grudgingly told herself.

    Pouting, Pakura continued speaking about theirtest free-loader, "Yagura for some reason made quick friends with Yugito. I guess it is some kind of jinchuurikipassion or whatever." She let out in one breath before a gasp tore out of her throat when Rei reached her weak spot on her back. "Last I heard, Yugito refused to help me with, aah, some easy and unimportant paperwork because she was helping him with s-some reforms." She shuddered.

    Rei simply smiled at the working ethics of his newest -, ahem, worker. The guy was quite good too! Happily doing his job for him and not even knowing it.

    Pakura pulled her body a bit away from Rei, looking him straight in the eyes with a small smile decorating her lips, "Enough about work. There are more... enjoyable pursuits we could do during our holiday." She purred, putting her forehead on Rei''s. "After all, we do have a few days of vacation in front of us. We wouldn''t want to waste them, now, would we?"

    ''Few days without any research or work does indeed sound nice.'' Rei''s eyes sparkled as he lightly kissed Pakura, starting an exchange of quick pecks between them as they both got more and more into the mood.

    Rei embraced Pakura''s body tighter to himself, indulgently smiling at her while his naughty hands reached towards...

    The door to the indoor pool suddenly burst open and the disheveled Maki gasping for air spotted Pakura straddling Rei as they sat in the pool, both giving her a bit bewildered but also irritated looks. Not knowing if she should blush due to the situation she found her sensei in or gopletely pale because of the looks her sensei is giving her, Maki decided to pretend she didn''t see anything and straightened up.

    "I-It''s an emergency! Anko Mitarashi just reported Uchiha Itachi and ROOT starting to act strange. The Uchiha Massacre ising!"

    Rei and Pakura stared at Maki, both capable of thinking of only one thing. ''For f.u.c.ks sake, the Kirigakure war just ended and now another bothersome situation sprang up!?''

    Their vacation was apparently cut short.

 Chapter 221 - Ch221. Uchiha Massacre 1

    <h4>Chapter 221 - Ch221. Uchiha Massacre 1</h4>

    The night was dreary and the moon shined red as the blood of the members of the Uchiha n flowed on the streets because of a silent assassin in the form of a 13 years old child. For many, even the most experienced ninjas, it would be a mind-boggling thing, one thirteen years old, who by all means should normally be with one foot out of the academy, ughtering his entire n.

    Then again, Itachi was smart and the master of genjutsu. But most importantly, he was trusted by the people in his n. And that... was eventually their undoing.

    ...

    Rei. carefully hidden by the best concealment seals he could put together, watched from the treetops near the Uchiha Compound as Itachi was doing a short work of his nsmen in the eastern part of it. Rei was also very pleased with the Shadow Corps of his vige. He knew he had around fifty of them and their leader, Shizuka Kaguya, hidden somewhere around, waiting for his signal to intervene, but for the love of God, he could not find their positions without using nature sensing which meant no normal ninja could discover them. This was incredibly good in Rei''s eyes since this outing could be said to be the very first official mass infiltration to a hidden vige by his troops. After all, Rei doubted Kumo or Tsuchi could sessfully get fifty of their best in the enemy vige without anyone being the wiser about it.

    Konan suddenly appeared next to Rei in a silent flurry of ck-colored paper and whispered, "The radicals among the Uchiha n are dead."

    Rei hummed in acknowledgment. He was not happy about it since most of these were high-ranked ninjas but he knew he couldn''t have everything. "Good job, Konan. Shizuka, the Shadow Corps is free to start collecting the Uchihas." Rei ordered and instantly noted the shadows briefly flickering as the ninjas of his vige got to work.

    Wryly smiling, Konan spoke, "I could have them bound in paper coffins with stasis seals in under twenty minutes."

    "Maybe but our ninjas need the practice." Rei nodded, knowing Konan waspletely right. Her paper technique was extremely good at covert operations during the night and considering she could color her paper ck and put knock-out, stasis, and teleportation seals on them... well, it could be almost called foolish to let the Shadow Corps do the job. Then again, Rei made a vige so he wouldn''t need to do everything himself. Maybe in a few years, he couldfortably sit in his living room while the vige ran itself? Well, one could dream.

    "Meh, you just want to see our ninjas work and feel proud of yourself." Konan rolled her eyes at him.

    "I can''t argue with that." Rei smirked. Sure, it was more of Shizuka Kaguya''s achievement that the Shadow Corps were efficient and well trained but... unimportant details.

    Konan chuckled, correctly deducing Rei''s train of thoughts, and decided to change the topic, "Shall we go? Itachi and this self-proimed Madara are still massacring our would-be kidnapping victims."

    "Yeah... I guess it would be prudent to put a stop to that endeavor. Honestly, there is no courtesy amongst thieves in this world." Rei dramatically sighed and stood up.

    Soon, both were on their way to intercept their respective targets.

    ...

    Izumi Uchiha desperately ran for her life as her heart thumped wildly in her c.h.e.s.t. She was confused and frightened, not understanding what was happening despite her fully m.a.t.u.r.ed Sharingan coloring her eyes red. The only thing she understood was that...

    It was really just sheer luck she spotted a small flicker in her peripheral vision and turned towards it which allowed her to notice her assant in time, making her able to dodge the attack. Izumi quickly understood the hooded man in ck clothing was far above her paygrade. As such, she did the logical thing and turned tail as if her life depended on it.

    As she ran through the Uchihapound, Izumi could notice a few instances where Uchiha ninjas tried to resist but they were quickly and most importantly, SILENTLY taken down before they could alert other nsmen. From what she briefly noticed, their attackers yed dirty, never really going one versus one against her nsmen and usually attacked from the back.

    Izumi contemted using Fire Release: Great Fireball to give others at least an inkling that something is wrong but every time she slowed down in preparation for the Jutsu, a chill ran through her spine which made her forsake her ns and run even faster through the shadow-covered night.

    ''How? We are in Konoha! Who could attack our n? We are supposed to be safe here!'' She frantically thought as she quickly ducked into a side-alley as her eyes spotted shadows flicker before Tadako Uchiha, her former ssmate from the academy, suddenly fell backward as if she was paralyzed. Itpletely scared her out of her mind. She had her Sharingan activated! She should be able to see clearly even in the dark! And yet she simply failed to notice the attacker through the veil of night!

    Disbelief, shock, confusion, and hopeless desperation filled the mind of the recently promoted chunin. She wanted nothing more than to get out of there alive. She wanted nothing more than to reach the house of her grandma and make sure she was fine. She wanted...

    Izumi finally ran out of the side alley into the street near her grandmother''s house before the sight in front of her made her freeze in her tracks. In front of her stood her budding crush, Uchiha Itachi, d in his ANBU gear and holding a katana with blood-stains on it.

    ''Ita...chi?'' Izumi, in utter disbelief, slowly moved her sight towards the opened door to the house of her grandma, the woman who raised and cared for her after she lost her parents. What really made her rooted in her spot, however, was the body of her beloved grandmother on the porch in the puddle of her own blood. ''No... Itachi wouldn''t! No! Not my grandma!'' Tears started streaming down Izumi''s cheeks as she fell to her knees. It was then, Izumi really understood why Sharingan was deemed to be a curse.

    The smallest signs of guilt on Itachi''s cold face. The droplets of blood falling onto the ground from his katana. The unrelenting and ruthless yet sorrowful look in his eyes as he looked at her. His posture that told a story in itself...

    No... no matter what Izumi wanted to tell herself, her Sharingan mercilessly gathered all information for her and made the scene burn into her mind withplete rity. The boy she dated... loved, killed the most precious person to her.

    "I am sorry Izumi. It was necessary." Itachi evenly said, taking a step towards her. "I didn''t want you to witness this." He said sadly, "I at least wanted to give you a fulfilling life before sending you off."

    Grief, betrayal, pain... hatred, as if something broke within her as she dearly wished what she saw was just an illusion. As the raw emotions filled her head to the point it felt painful... her eyes morphed.

    Itachi only managed to widen his Mangekyo Sharingan as two voices reverberated through the street, one in disbelief and another in grief, "Tsukuyomi!"

    The standing Itachi and the kneeling Izumi absently stared at each other for three seconds before Izumi fell head-first onto the ground, unconscious as tears of blood wet her cheeks while Itachi staggered backward, still in utter disbelief as his hand subconsciously reached towards his head due to the sudden headache.

    ''She almost fought me off right after awakening her Mangekyo?'' Itachi thought with wide eyes, gulping for air as a small tinge of jealousy made itself known in the back of his mind at what Izumi Uchiha just aplished. He quickly squashed that thought though. He knew Izumi was extraordinary but this... He wasn''t even able to imnt the illusion of a happy lifetime into her mind with her own Mangekyo so ferociously fighting his. Yes, letting Izumi see the corpse of her grandmother was certainly a mistake.

    "Such a pity." Itachi whispered before sighing and started walking towards the unconscious form of Izumi. "I am so sorry." He prepared to stab his katana into her when suddenly a bored and leisure voice stopped him in his tracks.

    "Eh... don''t worry. She will get better."

    Itachi''s head whipped in the direction of the voice, only to see a smug-looking blond man assessing him, no... Izumi as if she was a particrly interesting research project.

    "I think," The man started talking again, his lips stretching into an excited grin. "I just found a girl I really, really want to kidnap."

 Chapter 222 - Ch222. Uchiha Massacre 2

    <h4>Chapter 222 - Ch222. Uchiha Massacre 2</h4>

    Rei stood and waited for the thirteen years old Uchiha kid to finallyprehend that someone not of the Uchiha n just caught him ughtering the Uchiha n in the Uchiha district after he was reassured by the Konoha higher-ups that no non-Uchiha will be present for the so-called Uchiha Massacre. Rei had to admit, Itachi really froze in a totally Uchiha-like way.

    It didn''t take even two seconds but Rei recognized that Itachi was already over his shock and on guard. It wasn''t his expression. Far from it. His face stayed cold and expressionless despite the boy''s shock. So much that Rei was sure Danzo would praise the boy to the high heavens in his heart. No, it was the small, almost unnoticeable twitch of Itachi''s fingers gripping the handle of his katana that gave him away.

    "Who are you?" Itachi coolly asked, the only sign of his unnerved state being his tight grip on his weapon.

    "Does it really matter? All members of the Uchiha n who wanted to rebel are dead except your father. I am here simply because I don''t want to see the Uchiha n dead because some albeit skilled but still foolish prepubescent child decided to listen to barmy old men''s idiocy." Rei dryly said. He meant every word too. He simply omitted that his vision of the Uchiha n''s survival meant removing them from Konoha for good.

    In fact, there was no way Konoha could ughter every single Uchiha even if they rebelled. First, they were a founding n and had an important bloodline. Second, there were a lot of nonbatants and killing those would create a very dangerous situation for Konoha once the Daimyo heard of it. Third, with its reputation, Konoha could not afford to seem like a vige that executed innocents and there were a lot of innocent Uchiha ninjas who knew nothing about the rebellion.

    In short, Itachi was simply the naive but too-skilled-for-his-own-good kid who got manipted by empty threats into doing the deed for a hateful old man who couldn''t do it himself without causing a lot of problems for Konoha.

    Sadˇ­ really.

    Rei watched as Itachi started considering what he told him. Itachi''s eyes first showed surprise before a small flicker of hope shined between the cracks but was quickly squashed. Itachi''s gaze lingered on Rei and slowly, the emotions within halted, only a deep cold determination remained as Itachi made his decision and his eyes narrowed.

    ''So... this is the way this event will ensue, eh?'' Rei thought in amus.e.m.e.nt, slowly unsheathing his sword. It was all too obvious the boy decided to kill him first, ask questionster. ''Ah, well. I did want to test him, didn''t I?''

    Itachi only narrowed his eyes further, this time in wariness as he realized Rei''s gesture of unsheathing his weapon was simply telling him that his opponent could read him despite the extensive bodynguage control training. At first, he wanted to end it in one fast surprise strike but that was now impossible.

    Suddenly springing into action from his semi-rxed stance, Itachi shed at Rei in a wide arc, aiming for his neck, causing him to block the sh with his own sword. Itachi expected this and slightly crouched down, pushing his sword a bit away from his body, which also pushed Rei''s sword away since they were locked in a sh, and then Itachi''s free hand struck at Rei''s ribcage, easily grasping a kunai which flew into it mid-swing from Itachi''s sleeve.

    As he sidestepped the kunai and forced Itachi to retreat due to an attempt at striking his chin, Rei had to admit the kid had skill. From this single exchange, Rei understood Itachi''s preferred way of handling things. Misdirection and precise quick strikes to vital areas seemed to be the crux of Itachi''s style.

    Itachi watched the blond man in front of him with a small frown on his lips. He didn''t like this initial exchange at all. Naturally, he didn''t expect to kill a warry opponent with one strike. That said, he definitely didn''t expect the man shrugging off his illusions.

    Itachi always had to rely on precision and timing to breach the distance between him and a.d.u.l.t ninjas. When he first attacked his opponent, he used his Sharingan to make his actions seem a bit dyed from his foe''s perspective. He also cast it at thest possible moment. It should have either made his opponent dy the block enough to allow Itachi''s sword a clear passage towards its target or it should make his opponent need at least a split of a second to dispel it, giving Itachi much needed time to perform his follow up before his opponent could even realize it. And even then, he actually cast another illusion when he was about to strike with the kunai. One that made his strike seem aimed at the gut, rather than ribcage, two targets close enough that he could simply deviate his arm a bit from the previous trajectory so the illusions would be hard to spot in a reasonable timeframe, much less counter. With his timing, it should have been downright impossible to have time for dispelling the illusion.

    Hence, Itachi would have understood if his enemy jumped back. But the blond man simply shrugged both illusions off as if they didn''t exist! He did that while looking straight into his Sharingan the entire time! Thisbo worked against most jonins when they were c.o.c.ky enough to underestimate him and didn''t dodge. Even then most were smart enough to try avoiding his eyes. To think someone could counter him while looking straight into his Mangekyo that had an even better effect for enhancing illusions than three tomoe Sharingan...

    Needless to say, Itachi instantly understood just how outmatched he currently was since his strongest skill, his illusions, and his biggest advantage, his frightening timing and precision, were easily countered.

    ''Nevertheless, it doesn''t seem as if the man took me seriously. Is he simply testing me? To what end?'' Itachi analyzed when he saw his opponent not moving from his spot, simply waiting for him to do his next attack. ''Stalling? No... Fine,'' He sighed, ''I guess there is no other choice.''

    Itachi crouched in preparation for an attack... Honestly, he started feeling a bit of respect for his foe. If only because not for a second did their eyes separate during the fight. ''Let''s see how you will react to...''

    Casting three illusions on his enemy, Itachi turned around and ran away as fast as he could, bolting into a side alley to make it even harder for Rei to follow.

    Rei blinked at the silent, dark, and empty street where only he and the unconscious form of Izumi were left as a chilly breeze mockingly swept through it... It took his brain three seconds to reboot enough to realize what happened before he chuckled in amazement.

    "The kid actually ran?" Rei rubbed his forehead with his hand but his lips refused to stop smiling, "No wonder he went ces. He quickly assessed there is no way to win and retreated. Smart kid, I guess." Rei amusedly shrugged.

    Honestly, he felt a bit cheated but he had to give praise where it was due. Most ninjas Rei met so far in his long career were total crazed idiots not capable of correctly assessing their enemies from a brief controlled exchange. Most would at least try to fight, hoping for him to make a mistake they could capitalize on. The problem with that was that during the said process, they usually got injured enough that retreating suddenly stopped being such a viable alternative.

    As such, Rei could respect Itachi for briefly testing waters and then retreating when he realized that this is not really a fight he is capable of fighting. The only thing Itachi could really do was another Tsukuyomi since that could be called cheating in the ninja world.

    ''Then again, if he did that and I broke free out of it, which from Itachi''s point of view was most likely a slight possibility since I could shrug off his Sharingan illusions, he would be done for.'' Rei thought. He knew that Itachi was not yet his older Akatsuki self. The kid was thirteen! Rei actually felt a bit like a bully, facing him. Moreover, casting one Tsukuyomi to protect himself from Izumi''s Tsukuyomi should have been quite hard for Itachi. Another Tsukuyomi shortly after that would probably take him out of the fight, no matter if his enemy resisted or not. Yeah, he could really respect Itachi''s call to retreat.

    Shaking his head, Rei put Izumi''s body on his shoulder and created a shadow clone that took the corpse of Izumi''s grandmother. It was time to go.

 Chapter 223 - Ch223. Uchiha Massacre 3

    <h4>Chapter 223 - Ch223. Uchiha Massacre 3</h4>

    Konan materialized right in front of Obito who was finishing off an Uchiha chuunin with a stab straight through his heart.

    Obito slowly blinked and tilted his head, trying toprehend where the heck did all that paper appear from and who was the woman in front of him. Honestly, he was confused as heck. "Er... Tobi is a good boy?" He weakly tried as the body of the chuunin fell lifelessly onto the ground.

    "Obviously." Konan patronizingly nodded but her tone was totally sarcastic as her eyes nced at the dead Uchiha between them.

    It didn''t take Obito long to realize that something went horribly wrong with this straightforward operation. As such, he decided that useless banter was unnecessary and quickly sprang into an attack.

    Crossing the distance between himself and the patiently waiting woman, Obitoshed out with a kunai and gleefully watched as Konan tried to parry, only for her kunai to pass through him. To Obito''s surprise, the only sight of shock on Konan''s face was an almost pleased widening of her eyes. He didn''t have a long time to see her expression though and even less to contemte it. He quickly passed through her body in his intangible state and the second he finally separated from her, he quickly spun on his heel and plunged his kunai deeply into her upper back, aiming straight for the heart.

    Obito watched his kunai enter Konan as brief satisfaction filled him and thoughts of continuing with his mission sprang up in his head. It was only the sheer primal instinct honed for years of preparation to fight against the fabled Yellow sh that caused Obito to rapidly let go of the kunai embedded in Konan''s back and switch into his intangible state just as the Konan in front of him burst into paper slips and a very sharp tip of folded tessen suddenly poked out from his c.h.e.s.t, causing him to numbly stare at it.

    ''That would go straight through my heart.'' He realized how close to death he came as cold sweat drenched his forehead. ''I didn''t even realize when she got behind me!'' He slightly inclined his head to the side and instantly saw Konan standing there,zily holding the fan still stabbed through his intangible form while she was wearing an amused expression with one of her brows mockingly lifted upwards.

    It was an expression that reminded Obito of Kakashi''s condescension in his early years and for some reason, when he saw it on the deadly blute, it really irked him somewhat fiercely. Gritting his teeth, Obito spun his body in a burst of speed and sprang again towards Konan, aiming to engage her in hand-to-handbat as that would provide him the most advantage considering his intangibility.

    His fist neared the calm Konan and Obito expected her to block. That''s why he was very surprised when she didn''t react at all and his fist burrowed into her c.h.e.s.t all the way to the middle of his forearm. That''s why he was even more surprised when Konan''s body let out a small hiss as she briefly glowed orange before a resounding boom shook the street as numerous explosive tags in the paper clone reduced everything in their proximity to ash.

    "That almost got me." Obito murmured as he appeared a few feet from the small, newly-made crater in the middle of the street, holding his right arm that sported nasty burns through the tattered sleeve. He only barely managed to switch with a clone but the explosion still somewhat got him. His arm was half-buried in the paper clone and therefore his intangibility was useless at that moment.

    "Obviously." Konan''s leisure voice sounded from the crater and Obito, much to his shame, actually gaped for a second as she stepped out from the smoking crater, as fresh as daisies, ready for the second round.

    Quickly pulling himself together, Obito reassessed the threat the woman posed to him. Frankly, there were not many people he feared but the blute in front of him was doing quite a good job at making it into his personal ''don''t cross'' list all the while looking almost sinfully bored. Obito shuddered.

    ''She clearly knows how to counter my Mangekyo. I have to be careful in further confrontation.'' He thought and decided to attack again.

    For the next thirty minutes, Konan and Obito fought back and forth, ying an odd game of cat and mouse with their roles reversing after every strike. When Obito struck, Konan''s figure burst into paper and Obito usually found himself skewered from behind as new Konan always appeared there, no matter how prepared for it he was. It was supremely irritating, in his humble opinion. When Konan struck, Obito simply relied on his intangibility to both avoid damage and get an opportunity to strike back. Now that he was extremely cautious, his opponent was clearly having as much difficultynding a meaningful attack as he was since he was under the intangibility most of the time. Now if only he knew why the blute had such an amused and smug smile stered on her face...

    Obito shed his kunai through Konan''s neck, not at all surprised when his target burst into paper. He was already in the process of spinning around, expecting new Konan to appear from behind... only for his instincts to mockingly scream DODGE at him, causing him to jump away just as the thrice-damned tessen of Konan passed the spot his neck was just a second ago.

    Obito''s eyes widened as he slid to halt when he noticed that the Konan whose throat he slit was still there, her slit throat made of slips of paper, clearly not injured at all as her throat reformed in matters of seconds.

    ''So... not only she can burst into paper and appear behind me, now she can even disregard lethal damage by turning into paper? Isn''t this just in cheating!?'' Comined the sole ninja who could go intangible at will without any significant restriction.

    That singrpse in judgment was enough for Konan, however.

    A sharp pain suddenly erupted from Obito''s c.h.e.s.t as blood burst from his mouth. He could only briefly note that he was alive because he subconsciously leaned his body to the right and as such, the spike made of paper missed his heart. He fell on one knee, gritting his teeth at the satisfied expression of his opponent. "How?" He rasped in disbelief that he was caught off guard.

    "I counted... Obviously." Konan snorted and rolled her eyes at the wide eyes of Obito. Inwardly, however, Konan was a bit sullen that she couldn''t make the paper spike from exploding tags. Unfortunately for her, during the fight, she found out that Obito was far too s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to chakra and had almost inhuman instincts so she was severely limited in her offensive means. That''s why she didn''t even bother using wind chakra in the sh. With her opponent''s chakra-sensing ability, it would be a waste of chakra.

    ''Counte-, SHIT!'' Obito mentally cursed and spat the blood that pooled in his mouth as he realized with no small amount of horror the woman in front of him somehow grasped the limit of his intangibility in their short fight. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind and he couldn''t help but shudder. ''So that''s why she fought with me for thest thirty minutes! She was trying to gauge the limits of my abilities!'' Obito wanted to berate himself for his carelessness. The limit of his Mangekyo Sharingan was the only weakness he had considering he wasn''t losing his eyesight thanks to the Hashirama cells imnted in him. To think somebody would so easily deduce it during a fight!

    Yes, the woman in front of him was definitely getting on his ''feared'' list.

    Grimacing, he curiously looked at the dangerous blute in front of him and asked, "Aren''t you going to finish me?"

    Konan pointedly looked at him as if he was a total idiot. "You would just go intangible again."

    "Fair enough." Obito painfully chuckled. In fact, he was very happy he decided to keep some of his abilities secret and didn''t use his mokuton in the fight because he was half-suspicious the woman in front of him would pull out some unexinable shitˇ­ again. He half-expected to be turned into paper at this rate. Butˇ­ that was delusional even for him. right?

    In fact, Konan still tried to control the paper spike skewing his c.h.e.s.t but the chakra Obito was pushing into it was causing quite an interference. He definitely knew what he was doing, she mused.

    "Well, Tobi had enough! You are not a good girl! You cheating piece ofˇ­ ahem." Obito slipped into his cheerful persona, not minding the winces he did mid-speech before he went serious again, "Next time we meet, I will be prepared." And with that, he disappeared in a swirl, making Konan chuckle at the empty threat.

    "Such a drama queen..."

 Chapter 224 - Ch224. Uchiha massacre 4

    <h4>Chapter 224 - Ch224. Uchiha massacre 4</h4>

    Rei gave the unconscious Izumi and the corpse of her grandmother to the members of his Shadow Corps and they quickly set to work, pulling out a scroll with two corpses of bandits. The members of Shadow Corps then drew a bit of blood from both Izumi and her grandmother''s corpse and used a special sealing technique that would mimic the appearance of the person keyed to the blood seal.

    It didn''t take even two minutes for the Shadow Corps members to produce two wless replicas of both Izumi and her grandmother''s corpse. Naturally, both came with the added bonus of having their eyes damaged so nobody could find out these replicas were not Uchiha corpses. Rei really wondered how Danzo would react to that little surprise.

    It would take blood tests to find out these bodies do not belong to the members of the Uchiha n. s, thestponent the Shadow Corps added to these replicas of the Uchiha members'' corpses was a special creation of Tsunade thatpletely dissolved an injected body precisely six hours after the administration. It was a pity it only worked on dead bodies but for the current situation, it was golden.

    It wouldn''t take long for the ''massacre'' to be discovered. After that, it will most likely take at least two hours to clean up and transfer the bodies into a morgue or, in case of the bodies taken by Root, wherever Danzo would order his cronies to bring them. Reipletely banked on the chaos effect such an event will have on the vige. He believed nobody would immediately go and draw blood samples for tests since the corpses will be found in the Uchihapound and will look like the Uchiha n members. By the time somebody decided to take blood samples... the bodies would be long ago dissolved.

    Even if somebody did take the blood samples of one or two bodies in a timely manner, it wouldn''t matter much as there will be no actual proof of any kind of foul y. At least, nothing that could be factually proven. At best, there would be some unclean spections that could easily be written as non-Uchiha visiting thepound during the fateful night.

    As for the dissolution of bodies... Rei was fully intending to let Konoha make their own assumptions. His bet? He believed Konoha higher-ups would simply write it off as a secret way of the Uchiha n to prevent their bodies from falling into the hands of Konoha. After all, they did n a rebellion in a few days so having a way to prevent such a thing would be sensible. Considering the Uchiha n liked to burn their deceased... it wouldn''t be such a stretch.

    Naturally, it didn''t really matter to Rei if the Konoha higher-ups assumed as such or if they came with their own theory. He didn''t intend to leave any proof that someone not from Konoha intervened.

    Done with replicating the bodies, Rei watched as Izumi''s body was put into stasis before being sealed into a prisoner scroll while the corpse of her grandmother was put into a storage scroll.

    "And they thought me mad when I said we are going to relocate most of the Uchiha n overnight." Rei snorted as he remembered the expression of his Shadow Corpsmander, Shizuka Kaguya, and many more division leaders of his vige when he told them about the goal of this mission.

    Infiltrating Konoha with fifty ninjas was one thing... stealing the entirety of the Uchiha n without leaving any proof and putting the me on the back of Itachi Uchiha was quite another kind of crazy.

    "And yet... here we are." Rei heard Konan''s voice from behind and smirked.

    "Indeed, dear, indeed. Well, nobody said it would be a voluntary relocation." Rei shrugged, "I assume you were satisfied with your... outing?" He turned towards Konan before putting his hand around her shoulder, letting her snuggle into him as they watched their ninjas do their job while the duo simplyzed around. After all, there were certain advantages to being the leaders.

    "I must confess, I had no idea what you meant when you said I should go and ''y'' with the stronger one." Konan sighed, "To think you just wanted me to experience how you feel when you fight against me..." She shook her head in exasperation. "But yes, I now see how fighting against somebody almost impossible to hit could be frustrating."

    Rei heard her indifferent tone but deep inside of it, he noticed a slight undertone of annoyance. Reassuringly putting his hand onto Konan''s head, c.a.r.e.s.sing her hair, he coaxed, "I simply wanted you to gain inspiration. You are already almost impossible to hit without highly destructive area of effect attacks. The guy you fought though? He could easily survive those. Sure, he had other weaknesses but still!" Rei exined. ''No way am I admitting I simply wanted her to know how frustrating it is fighting against her.''

    "Rightˇ­" Konan good-naturedly rolled her eyes at him, not believing him but decided to change the topic. "How was our little scapegoat? You wanted to test him yourself. Was he any good?"

    "Oh, Itachi? Well, he was certainly a sensible kid. Retreated when he realized he doesn''t have a chance and is quite disadvantaged. To be honest, he was impressive for a thirteen-year-old kid. We had only one exchange and yet, it was very informative about his preferences and style." Rei hummed before pausing slightly in order to recollect his thoughts. "I think... he was a bit hyped up in rumors though. He is a technical fighter who depends on precision, subtlety, and speed. Considering he is a kid, it is smart he decided to develop speed and dexterity rather than strength. Again, considering his age, there is no wonder he decided to go the route of the genjutsu user since it takes the least amount of chakra but requires incredible control. Rather than being a prodigy, he is simply having something calledmon sense and a usable brain. Since he couldn''t be a ninjutsu-heavy fighter because of his kiddy reserves or depend on his body strength, he decided to develop in a way where his young age would not be detrimental. I will be putting together a file for him after we get back home and you can get a better picture. But yeah, he will be a good scapegoat. I doubt Konoha will catch him anytime soon." Rei shrugged.

    Konan giggled. "Poor guy. He kinda deserves it too though. Choosing to ughter his own blood when he could simply ask the Daimyo for help." She snorted.

    "Eh, you know these political moves are not widely known. He probably didn''t even realize there IS a Daimyo. Most ninjas don''t after being brainwashed by this fabled Will of Fire." Rei snarked. "Wellˇ­ their loss, our gain."

    It was then Shizuka Kaguya approached the duo, "We are finished, Rei-sama, Konan-sama."

    "Results?" Konan asked, quickly snapping into her serious mode.

    "We packed the n library, money, and valuables. We substituted every corpse or living Uchiha with replicas, and made sure to erase every clue about our presence here tonight. Uchiha Itachi was let through as instructed but he managed to kill his parents before escaping. As for the Uchiha n members... we are only missing the youngest son of the n Head, Uchiha Sasuke."

    Konan and Rei looked at each other at that. Neither expected any Uchiha missing. The only way he could not be ounted for is if he was not present in the Uchihapound. Rei could only wryly smile as a decision had to be made.

    "I guess that''s all we can do for tonight." He said, more for Konan rather than Shizuka.

    "Yeah... better forget the kid. Konoha will take care of him. We can''t afford to be discovered just because he decided to not be present for his execution." Konan said, amused. Sure, she and Rei probably could take Konoha on but their Shadow Corps would be obliterated if they tried to fight. Fifty-two versus the entire vige were not good odds. Not at all.

    "Okay, Shizuka. Good job. Give the order for retreat." Rei ordered before smiling mischievously at Konan, "Well, I for one am very curious how Ringo fared on her little assignment."

    Remembering what Rei made Ringo do... Konan suddenly found herself in a fit of unstoppable giggles.

 Chapter 225 - Ch225. Uchiha Negotiations 1

    <h4>Chapter 225 - Ch225. Uchiha Negotiations 1</h4>

    Rei alongside the Shadow Corps promptly returned to the Vige on the Other Side after they were sufficiently assured no clue of their brief visit was left behind.

    Three hourster, Rei was finally notified that Ringo also returned from her own mission he assigned her in Konoha. She tiredly walked into the living room of his mansion where he was patiently waiting for her. Seeing her haggard state, Rei stood up and hurriedly walked closer, hugging her while letting her lean on him to give her at least some relief.

    "I see you had fun." He quipped, making Ringo groan in irritation.

    "As if. Sneaking into the most guarded archives of both Konoha and ROOT in the timespan of three hours right after the massacre of the Uchiha n was discovered?" Ringo huffed into his shoulder, her embrace possessively tightening. "Sure, the personnel in both the Hokage Tower and the ROOT headquarters could be seen as almost nonexistentpared to what is there normally because of the massacre. BUT! Everywhere else ninjas swarmed the vige. Honestly, an hour after the discovery, every able chunin and above in the vige was called to duty and the civilians were ordered to stay inside! Getting through the vige without being spotted was a veritable nightmare! And I am not even talking about the protective seals I had to get through..." Ringo''s shoulders sagged.

    "Well, you ARE the best assassin in the world. Who else could I rely on than you to infiltrate and steal from one of the most guarded ces in existence?" Rei flippantly stated, c.a.r.e.s.sing Ringo''s back.

    His tone might have been joking but both he and Ringo knew he fully meant every word. The Kage Towers in their respective viges had tons of active and passive protections. Sneaking there was a clear suicide too, considering the numerous seals, both hidden and otherwise, and the fact they are in the middle of a vige full of trained killers. After all, at no time and under no circ.u.mstances are there less than five ANBU operatives inside. Kyuubi could rampage through the vige and these five ANBU would STILL not leave the Hokage Tower. That''s also not counting all the otherwise ranked ninjas normally present in the tower.

    Rei could really only shake his head in exasperation when he remembered the first episode of Naruto and how easily the protagonist sneaked in and out of the Hokage Tower with the Forbidden Scroll. Really... only once somebody gets a reality check about how tightly these ces are guarded can a person understand how impossible such a thing is. Either Naruto was severely underestimated by everybody or his sight in the Hokage office was a quitemon urrence and nobody paid it any attention.

    "Yes, yes, I am the best." Ringo admitted with an amused but tired eye roll, "Anyway, I did get what you wanted. The copy of the order to Itachi Uchiha to cause the Uchiha Massacre is in my back pocket while I already gave other copied paperwork to Konan." She said, only slightly widening her smile as she felt Rei''s hand slip into her back pocket and brush her backside while he withdrew the paperwork.

    "Okay," Rei pecked Ringo''s lips, "You should go and take a long nap while I and Konan sort the situation with the Uchiha n and their wee to our vige."

    "Mmm, that actually sounds quite nice." Ringo sleepily agreed, her eyelids involuntarily closing by themselves. "I really do not envy you though. Persuading them to move here and be loyal to our vige will surely be a right pain in the arse."

    With onest kiss, they separated.

    Rei and Konan decided it would be wisest to wake only a few important hand-picked members of what remained of the Uchiha n to negotiate terms and inform them of their situation so they then can gradually persuade the rest. Waking up all of them at once would cause total mayhem since there were hundreds of them if one counted civilians.

    As for choosing who to awaken from the stasis for the negotiation, that didn''t pose a problem thanks to the previous months of spying via Konan''s kekkei genkai. Since Rei knew the Uchiha Massacre would be happening sometime after or around Naruto''s seventh birthday, he made sure that Konan set up her surveince of the Uchiha Compound at least a year prior to that. In the end, one simply didn''t go and meddle in such an important historical milestone happening in the middle of a vige full of trained assassins without being sufficiently prepared and well informed.

    It took some time identifying who is and who is not alive since Itachi and Obito did manage to get to some people but ultimately Konan was able to choose the individuals that should be most effective in persuading their nsmen. That''s why on the couch in the living room of Rei''s mansion now sat Rei and Konan on one side and three unconscious people were slumped on the other.

    The first was an old balding man of eighty-nine with many wrinkles, Isamu Uchiha. He was kind of an obvious choice since Konan reported he was the mildest of the Uchiha Elders. The guy was one of the very few people alive who were old enough to remember things like Uchiha Madara, Hashirama Senju, the creation of Konoha, all three ninja wars, and so on, and on. Rei would like to believe with that age came wisdom since the guy was the only one from the Uchiha Elder Council who opposed the ns for rebellion. Well, he was the only Elder left alive too, thanks to that. Then again, the man managed to garner quite a lot of respect from his nsmen during his long life, and having him persuade the remaining ninja poption of his n would go a long way to seamlessly integrating the Uchiha n to the Vige on the Other Side. Frankly, Rei was putting quite a lot of faith in the man cooperating for the good of his n. After all, the Uchiha n didn''t have much of a choice anymore.

    The second person was Mariko Uchiha who was a thirty-something civilian. She was picked because apparently, she owned a clothing business, and literally every Uchiha knew her and bought their clothes from her shop. She was well known and well regarded among both the civilian and ninja parts of the n... which was quite rare considering how arrogant and prick-like the Uchiha n''s ninjas usually were. While Rei didn''t strictly need Uchiha civilians, he couldn''t just throw them away like used trash, now, could he? Mariko seemed like a good choice for a representative of civilians and Rei was sure she could persuade the civilian side while also getting some ninjas more open to the integration.

    Andstly, the third person was... Izumi Uchiha.

    Honestly, she was there simply because Rei wanted her to be present. The girl was thirteen and already had Mangekyo Sharingan. It was a sad truth that could prove very beneficial in the long run so Rei saw no reason not to use it to his benefit. Oh, she was no Itachi Uchiha, that was for sure, but she was the most valuable ''thing'' Rei collected on his little expedition to Konoha.

    "Okay, then, let''s wake them up." Konan said and the sealing tags that kept the three unconscious instantly detached themselves from their foreheads, causing them to stir.

    Isamu was up and about in a split of a second, a true testament to his instincts and a small show of a reason why exactly he managed to outlive all of his peers. Mariko was quite slow but even she got wary and woke up fast when she found herself in an unfamiliar room. Only Izumi showed a bit more childish side when she mumbled about requesting ''five more minutes'' but was promptly woken up by Isamu who ruthlessly poked her ribs, causing her eyes to go wide as she gasped in pain and slouched forward.

    Naturally, he just had to start cheerfully!

    "Hi, there! Didn''t expect to wake up again, did ya?"

 Chapter 226 - Ch226. Uchiha Negotiations 2

    <h4>Chapter 226 - Ch226. Uchiha Negotiations 2</h4>

    The three Uchihas nkly stared at Rei, confused about what was happening. Surprisingly enough, it was not the experienced Isamu nor the a.d.u.l.t Mariko who reacted first.

    "Err... Hello?" Izumi half-stated, half-asked, "What... is happening?" She tilted her head and curiously blinked, probably not yet remembering the previous night in her still sleep-befuddled state.

    "Well, as you might or might not remember, some rebellious elements yesterday decided to eliminate the Uchiha n. I was like, ''Hey, Rei, that would really be a shame if they all died out, wouldn''t it!?'' So... I decided to save you." Rei shrugged, his slightly narrowed eyes trailing over his three guests as if he was stalking his prey, "Naturally, I do expect to be repaid." He added to make things clear.

    Rei watched the reactions of his involuntary guests and approvingly noted that Izumi, despite being only thirteen, managed to appear outwardly calm and stay quiet despite the raging inferno of emotions Rei could see in her ck eyes. The second he reminded them of what transpired the night prior, Izumi''s eyes slightly widened as the memories of her previous night sprang to the forefront of her mind. From there, it was a c.o.c.ktail of shock, anger, sadness, grief, and confusion mixing visibly for anyone who would bother to look. Yet, it was so very obvious the girl had ninja training as her expression was nk and her body, while still giving some tells, at least didn''t telegraph it to the whole room.

    The most visibly distressed of the three was the civilian, Mariko, who looked sickly pale as she realized how close to death she came yesterday. She was fidgeting and looking around in panic, her brain trying toprehend what will happen to her now and what to do.

    And as expected, the eldest from the group, Isamu, looked almost anciently calm, his emotions perfectly veiled by both ages of experience and his training. If one looked deeper, though, it was obvious the man felt sad about what happened to his n.

    "So Itachi really betrayed us?" Isamu asked in a resigned tone of a man who already knew the answer, causing the two women to snap their eyes towards him, demanding answers.

    "What do you mean? Itachi? That sweet quiet kid who was kind to everyone?" Mariko questioned with a shocked gasp while Izumi only hung her head low. Rei, however, could clearly see her clenched and shaking fists on her knees in barely restrained anger and anguish.

    To Mariko''s question, Isamu only sadly shook his head, showing he himself didn''t want to believe that Itachi would be capable of such a decision as ughtering his own family, and yet, it happened.

    Izumi took a deep breath and slowly raised her head towards Rei as she quietly asked, "My grandmother... may I bury her corpse?"

    Rei smiled at her determined look and nodded, "Of course." He said and saw Izumi instantly rx in relief and her guard slightly lowered in a show that Rei was slowly gaining her trust. It was almost cute how easy it was to garner some goodwill... really. What use would he have for the body of an aged civilian? He resisted the urge to shake his head in amus.e.m.e.nt.

    That said, he wouldn''t go telling them his Shadow Corps harvested the Sharingan from the corpses of the ninjas who wanted to rebel or were far too arrogant for their own good and therefore forsaken by Rei. These corpses his ninjas didn''t bother collecting when they were retreating from Konoha so unless someone broke the secrecy seal on his Shadow Corps, Tsunade will have a neat supply of Sharingan eyes for a study with nobody from the Uchiha n the wiser. Not like they couldin since the results will be used to improve the bloodline of the loyal Uchihas anyway.

    Rei was quite content watching the reactions of his three guests. If he took lead in the discussion from the start, he wouldn''t be able to assess them as thoroughly as he did now, which led him to some interesting discoveries, especially when Isamu''s reactions were concerned.

    "You suspected Itachi?" Rei asked Isamu, his eyes glinting at that bit of information, "Does that mean everybody in the Elder Council suspected Itachi of being a spy? Better yet... does that mean Fugaku suspected Itachi?" His amus.e.m.e.nt was only increasing as he imagined how Fugaku must have felt when after he sent his son to be an ANBU for Konoha in order to better the Uchiha n, he found out the said son actually did his job and was an ANBU FOR Konoha, and not for the n.

    Isamu gave a tired half-smile that looked quite pitiful on the ancient man. "Let me first introduce myself. I am Isamu Uchiha, as you probably know since I was picked to talk with you." He lightly bowed his head, showing his age was not as restricting as his wrinkles would signify. "May I inquire what exactly do you expect from our n now that you have us in your grasp?"

    The second Isamu voiced that question, both Izumi and Mariko stiffened, only now understanding what Rei meant when announced he ''saved'' them. Only now they at least partially realized the implications of what happened yesterday and what it meant they woke up opposite to Rei. They were not here to discuss the weather and have fun. Only now did the severity of their situation really enter their mind with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

    Rei was happy, hearing Isamu''s question. Honestly, if the old man actually let himself be led astray by useless chatter and ignored the important bits, Rei would be disappointed. After all, the man was chosen because of his lifelong care for his n.

    "I want to integrate your n into my vige." Rei started, raising his hand to forestall any arguing from Izumi and Mariko who were already opening their mouths. "You should understand that your n has no home in Konoha anymore. Any Uchiha who would show up in the world will most likely be pronounced as a rogue ninja and hunted with extreme prejudice by Konoha. For Konoha, your n is extinct with only Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha remaining. It would be awfully suspicious if more Uchiha nsmen started popping up all over the Elemental Nations, now, wouldn''t it?" Rei grinned at the disgruntled look of Isamu. The old man clearly knew what it all meant and what was not explicitly told. He knew what was in the shadows, not clearly seen. Mariko and Izumi though had no idea and as such, Rei had to borate. "The people who orc.h.e.s.trated the Uchiha Massacre won''t, CAN''T let the Uchiha n live. Even if you managed to return to Konoha and reinstate your n, in due time, another attempt at wiping you out would be performed. Just think! What would it mean if it came out that Konoha tried to wipe out one of their founding ns? That it was not just an act of one maniac but of Konoha higher-ups? What would it signify for the other ns in the vige?" Rei shook his head. No... The Uchiha n had to be silently buried if Konoha was to prosper. Otherwise, it would eventually lead to a civil war that would destroy Konoha. ns would not be able to trust the Hokage if the information that he condoned a massacre spread.

    "To give things more into the perspective, here." Rei put a paper on the table between him and his three guests. Taking and reading it, Isamu''s eyes widened and his jaw slightly dropped in astonishment while his body shook in disbelief.

    There. It was the order for Itachi Uchiha to kill his n. Signed by Danzo Shimura and Hiruzen Sarutobi alongside his two advisors. If Isamu had anyint against the integration, it was a long-forgotten history now. He understood his n has no other choice in the current situation. Rei could basically throw them out and they would be systematically hunted by Konoha, other viges that would want to breed them or get their hands on Sharingan, Rogue ninjas for mary reasons, and... well, they were quite screwed and the man in front of Isamu seemed like their best and only bet.

    Isamu sighed and handed the doc.u.ment to Izumi and Mariko. "Hiruzen''s signature is forged. He doesn''t have such exaggerated strokes while signing things. That doesn''t matter though." He sighed again, this time more tiredly. "Yes, Lord Rei, I think our situation and your proposition are quite clear. On behalf of the Uchiha n, I ept and vow to help integrate my n with your vige." He stated, getting a goggle-eyed stare from Mariko and Izumi to which Isamu just bitterly smiled. He was a part of the Elder council. It was simply too easy to deduce why he was the only Elder present for an important negotiation such as this or why the n Head was not present. The fate of his n was now on his shoulders and he would be damned to doom it.

    "Good," Rei nodded in satisfaction before a Cheshire grin spread through his lips, "Now, I would like to hear the bit about Itachi and your suspicions. I want to hear about the supposed rebellion from your point of view. I want to know what the Uchihas were thinking, doing something as stupid as nning a rebellion against Konoha." Rei''s eyes sparkled in anticipation. "Well? Do tell."

 Chapter 227 - Ch227. The tale of the Uchiha rebellion

    <h4>Chapter 227 - Ch227. The tale of the Uchiha rebellion</h4>

    Isamu grimaced, not really in the mood to tell that kind of tale. He actually hoped his host would not ask again about Itachi and their suspicions but Rei looked far too eager to hear it.

    Sighing in resignation, he decided he might as well tell the story from the very start, "To put things into proper perspective, I have to start right at the founding of Konoha. I have no d.e.s.i.r.e to repeat well-known history nor spin some long-winded and boring tale of the Uchiha n''s evolution since the founding. All I want to point out is that people close to Madara''s level are extremely rare and valuable to ns." Isamu pointed out with a sad smile, "Since the founding of Konoha, the Uchiha n produced only five S-rank ninjas altogether! You must understand that strong ninjas are the lifeline of a n, any n. And yet, currently, there is no S-ranked ninja from any Konoha n except Tsunade Senju."

    "Aha, so that''s where Itachies in. He was supposed to be your secret ace and the symbol of Uchiha''s resurging power. The new Uchiha ''genius''." Rei chuckled in understanding and Isamu smiled sadly.

    "Yes. When Fugaku discovered the sheer talent of his firstborn, he was immensely proud. He might not be the best man but he genuinely cared about his son despite not really showing it. On the other hand, he was also the n head and that meant certain responsibilities. Having a strong heir was a must for Fugaku and so, Itachi was trained and raised to love his n. After all, one day, it would... should have been him to lead the n." Isamu exined bitterly, "Our n was always somewhat shunned. Sometimes justly, other times not, that was fine. The real problems, however, came with the Kyuubi Rampage." He quieted down for a second to calm himself, "We were relocated to the outskirts and that was uneptable for many. Demeaning, even. The proverbialst straw. And so... the young Itachi got an even heavier burden ced on his shoulders since some radical views started to appear among some of the more arrogant Uchiha nsmen.."

    Hearing that, Izumi seemed a bit saddened before her eyes hardened as anypassion drained from her when she imagined the corpse of her grandmother. It was obvious that whatever friendship there was, was nowpletely shattered.

    "Itachi was the most promising Uchiha in thest fifty years. It was only natural Fugaku would push him hard in his training. Though..." Isamu grimaced. "I warned Fugaku not to ce the boy into Konoha ANBU. I vehemently argued against that. The boy was supposed to be our most important pir. Sure, in ANBU, Itachi won a lot of prestige and political leverage for the n. Sadly, it also gave Hiruzen free ess to the kid." Isamu shook his head in discontent.

    ''And it again goes andes to the fabled Hiruzen Sarutobi. Honestly, how many talented young boys did the man corrupt?'' Rei idly mused. He was aware that being Hokage didn''te with a free pass to do anything one d.e.s.i.r.ed. Dictatorship or not, ns had rights. The Hokage couldn''t really go on his merry way influencing n heirs without any reason.

    "Around two years ago, the situation became more unbearable for the n. Discontent voices rose to more prominence and the more arrogant ninjas started to openlyin. Funnily enough, I have no idea where it even all started. Was it intentional or not? Who knows..." Isamu admitted, "That said, Fugaku had to do something and fast or face a civil war in the n, something he wanted to desperately avoid. It would simply be a lose-lose situation no matter which side would win."

    It was obvious Isamu was disgruntled at remembering that. Not like Rei could me the man. Family killing a family really didn''t have any positive oue, no? The Uchiha n would be weakened either way.

    "Civil war? ... Are you serious?" Mariko gulped as she for the first time heard something like that despite being one of the best-connected merchants in the Uchiha n.

    "Unfortunately. We didn''t advertise it to the civilians but the radicals were pretty stubborn then. Fugaku really had no other choice than to start the ''rebellion club'' and goining sh threaten the Hokage that our n had had enough. Much to my shame, I was the only one against the n from the Elder Council. It was obvious to whoever logically considered the thought of one n going against an entire vige that we would lose if it came to trading blows."

    ''Well, duh. There were barely a thousand Uchihas before the massacre and from that only about two hundred were ninjas. And that is counting genins. Two hundred versus a vige of thousands. Gee, one doesn''t have to be a genius to figure it out.'' Rei mentally rolled his eyes.

    "Then again, Fugaku never really wanted the situation to escte into an open rebellion." Isamu shrugged and the other upants of the room stilled in surprise.

    ''So the guy wasn''t total bonkers, then!'' Rei thought in relief.

    "It was simply a ploy to appease the radical Uchihas and buy time while Fugaku negotiates with the Hokage. He needed time to figure out how to calm them down. Unfortunately, it took more than two years of back and forth, one side asking for something with the other denying it. Suddenly, even Fugaku was unable to stop the radicals and if he went against them, he would be usurped. It was only logical to y along while trying harder to persuade Hokage to give the Uchiha n something that would calm them down."

    "Itachi got involved and became a double spy due to his identity as an ANBU operative and Uchiha n heir. It was surely on Hiruzen''s insistence despite the fact it is frowned upon to ask a n member to spy on his own n, much less his own n head. The boy must have thought himself subtle about it but really... as if a twelve years old could outsmart old geezers who were in this trade before his father was not even a distant thought." Isamu chuckled in amus.e.m.e.nt at the memory before his lips twisted into a grimace, "It was also gut-wrenching to see the father and the son progressively more and more mistrustful of each other behind their cold facades. But worst of all, it all escted so quickly..." Isamu shook his head in sadness.

    "And when Itachi attacked, none of you actually expected it, did you?" Rei smirked. Danzo basically blind-sighted them. They were well on their way to negotiate some tangible concessions when Danzo suddenly forged a signed order for a wholesale massacre.

    "Well, to be honest, who would expect to be attacked in their own vige? In their own npound? By their own ninja? No... we really didn''t expect it from Itachi. Spying? Sure. Sabotage? Possible. Misinformation? Obviously. But a killing spree and backstabbing? The boy is thirteen, for Sennin''s sake!" Isamu snorted. "There were rumors but that''s all that was to it. Simple rumors about Itachi''s hand in Shisui''s mysterious death. Nobody expected him to start cutting people down that night. He was our damned n heir!" Isamu angrily retorted, ring his nostrils as he vented the sudden slip in his self-control.

    "And here we are." Rei said.

    "And yet here we are..." Isamu admitted, somewhat resignedly. "Let''s just focus on the current problem of integration. I am far too old to deal with problems like what happened yesterday."

 Chapter 228 - Ch228. Morning with Tsunade

    <h4>Chapter 228 - Ch228. Morning with Tsunade</h4>

    Rei stood in the kitchen and busied himself with cooking for himself and Tsunade who sat behind a table,pletely nude, with her b.r.e.a.s.ts resting on it as she supported her chin with her hands, nothing concealing her silly but happy grin and tomato-like blush while her eyes contently rested on Rei''s back.

    It was one of those mornings where she could simply let go of every worry and focus only on herself and Rei, basking in her beloved''s sweet satisfying calming presence as he calmly cooked for her while she tried to put herself together after yet another mind-blowing night full of senjutsu enhanced s.e.x. She really needed a few calm hours to make sure her shivering and twitching ceased. A few hours of bliss that Rei promptly made even better by cooking her his nature energy-filled food that did nothing but put her that much closer to yet another o.r.g.a.s.m. Oh... Tsunade already knew what they will be doing after the anticipated mouth-watering breakfast.

    After all, ever since they returned from visiting the Fire Capital, this little morning ritual of having the ''breakfast'' together was quickly bing one of Tsunade''s sinful enjoyments she really, really didn''t want to stop. Rei just had to find yet another way to make herpletely addicted to him, didn''t he? A well-rested body and ck, still half-asleep mind, post-coital bliss that simply won''t cease for hours, and food that could melt her with sheer deliciousness and the incredible aroma... It was simply torture by p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e!

    Tsunade shivered yet again, her fingers slightly digging into her cheek and her legs mping together while her toes curled as her still s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e body reacted to her thoughts. Gritting her teeth as she tried to prevent herself from bing a fleshy puddle of goo on the table by having a thought-induced o.r.g.a.s.m, Tsunade recognized her immediate need for distraction. She couldn''t bask in the soothing presence Rei was purposefully excluding while her body was still so s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e and the rich aroma of his food was making her mind wander into ces where her back was pressed into the soft bed while his body pressed on hers and his strong arms...

    ''Agrhrrrr!'' Tsunade mentally shook herself when her mind again wandered while outwardly it came out as a soft self-conscious whimper. ''Gotta talk about something or... quickly!'' Tsunade contently closed her eyes to calm down a bit so she can at least think straight for a second before uttering the first thing on her mind and embarrassing herself more. Oh, how she both loved and hated these moments.

    "Any news from Konoha? They still have no clue what happened during the Uchiha massacre?" Tsunade finally found a topic they both had inmon. Honestly, it was a bit awkward the first time she started ranting about advanced medic-ninja stuff and she only after two hours realized Rei didn''t have a foggiest what she was spouting. Then again, it was cute how he still listened despite...

    "Yeah," Rei replied, making Tsunade''s wandering mind focus on him, "I am checking on them daily since the Massacre. No change these two months, to be honest. From what Konan''s informationwork and my observations tell me, nobody who is not in our vige but Obito and Itachi knows what really happened. Even then, these two have no real clue who interrupted their mission." Rei carelessly shrugged, "Konoha was briefly in an uproar when the bodies dissolved in their morgue but honestly, there was simply no evidence to follow so they reluctantly gave up. I gotta say, good job with that, Tsunade."

    Blushing slightly, Tsunade grinned, "Thanks."

    "How is the Sasuke kid?" Rei asked Tsunade.

    That was yet another shock for Rei. He honestly thought he would get all the Uchihas only to miss Sasuke for whatever reason. The kid was not in thepound during the attack. This little fact somehow eluded Rei which somewhat messed his ns up. Rei really wasn''t about to try kidnapping the kid. Not when he was so sure lil'' Sasuke would have a non-stop ANBU guard on his a.s.s. As such, Sasuke was still thest Uchiha in Konoha. Funny how fate worked.

    "Ah... broody as heck, gloomy as f.u.c.k, and quiet too. At least Anko is happy he is notining when she put him through his paces. ording to her, Naruto has enough decibels for both of them. Frankly, I have no idea how did this even happen." Tsunade amusedly shook her head.

    About a month after the Massacre, Tsunade got a message from Anko that Naruto Uzumaki made Sasuke his rival. Naturally, Naruto trashed Sasuke in every way imaginable since he was trained by Anko. To Rei''s surprise, however, Sasuke wasn''t the cold jerk he remembered from the show. It took Rei only a few seconds to realize that because of him, Itachi had no time or energy to subject Sasuke to Tsukuyomi of his n being massacred again and again. The brat was still a broody and dark-ish emo creature of grief and hurt but he was not THAT bad yet. Clearly, Naruto did some talk-no-jutsu when he met him in the academy and vo, Anko found herself having two brats running around in the Senjupound while the ANBU following Sasuke could only witlessly stand on the edge of the saidpound, not knowing what to do.

    Really, both Rei and Tsunade found that as funny as it was jaw-dropping. This was a total coincidence as Anko and Naruto didn''t have even an inkling of what really happened during the massacre and the fact their agents in Konoha still helped their schemes along without even knowing it made Rei and Tsunade their day.

    Rei finished the food and put two tes on the table, one in front of Tsunade who slightly m.o.a.n.e.d when she smelled it, and one in front of himself as he sat down and briefly enjoyed Tsunade''s nude c.h.e.s.tying on disy on the table, her n.i.p.p.l.es still hard, showing just how horny she still was. Not for a second did Rei doubt she did that on purpose... and damn was it working!

    "I heard you joined the Uchiha Re-training Program as an instructor." Rei spoke, trying to divert his attention from Tsunade''s b.r.e.a.s.ts and the tight feeling in his pants, "One Senju against the entire n? That must have been... humbling."

    Tsunade smirked in glee at how reluctantly Rei tried to lift his eyes from her c.h.e.s.t. This feeling was only enhanced as she relished in the knowledge he failed! She could still see how his pupils were slightly lower than they should be. A normal person wouldn''t even notice but she was both medic and ninja. It was easy to note that Rei''s eyes were positioned to look at her face but he was still staring at her b.r.e.a.s.ts!

    ''Heh, there is no better feeling than knowing my man d.e.s.i.r.es me.'' Tsunade basked in Rei''s attention, straightening her back which pushed her b.r.e.a.s.t slightly forward, made them that much more tempting.

    "That''s the entire point of the program, isn''t it?" She almost purred. "Beat the arrogance out of them."

    Rei took a long breath and finally tore his eyes from Tsunade''s c.h.e.s.t, centering himself and slightly smiling at his victory when he saw her lips curl into a small frown. "Yeah, I am just happy Isamu did his job and nobody tried to run away. Now that would be awkward."

    "Well, you do have Silencing seals on them. It''s not like they could go bbing around about the existence of our vige. Uchihas are arrogant ponces. They are not stupid. I am sure most of them actually realizes their situation in full and see this chance you provided for what it is. A chance at survival. It really helps you are offering them additional benefits. Once my research is done... I really don''t think the Uchiha n will ever leave the vige even if you tried to remove them kicking and screaming. Their bloodline is simply that important to them." Tsunade hummed and started eating.

    Rei nodded. Tsunade was researching how to awaken Sharingan in every single Uchiha kid. She was actually almost done with it and yesterday''s night of wild s.e.x was a celebration of the partialpletion of her research. Rei assigned her that task and so she felt she was entitled to certain... rewards. Not that Rei would argue that point with her. It was as much rewarding for him as it was for her, after all.

    In any case, Tsunade found a way to help awaken Sharingan and m.a.t.u.r.e it in a few years without all that near-death-situation crap. By the time the Uchiha n kids leave the academy in their vige, they will all have fully m.a.t.u.r.ed Sharingan and actually know how to use it. In hindsight... yeah, Rei could see how the Uchiha n would never leave. Especially since the method will be one of the vige secrets locked behind so many secrecy seals it would spook even Danzo.

    "Well, I still think subjecting kids to traumatizing genjutsu of their parents being ughtered and tortured in front of their eyes on the starting day is a bit too brutal." Rei pondered aloud. "But I can see the benefits. It will just require quite a bit of psychological help."

    Tsunade rolled her eyes, "Leave that to me. That''s the job for my department." She dismissed his concerns. "This way our little ninjas will be prepared for the day when they find themselves in the kill or be killed situation. If theyin about it or can''t put themselves together after the experience, they are not fit to be a ninja." She shrugged. "My Sharingan Awakening Serum can only do so much. It can only grant the kids who would otherwise never be able to awaken the bloodline a chance to do precisely that. I am afraid, the trauma still has to be administered in proper amounts for it to work. Leave the academy to me and Konan. We both know our methods are brutal but I would rather encourage our academy students to explore their mental and physical limits in a controlled environment rather than die somewhere in a ditch because they overestimated themselves."

    Rei snorted but let it go. He knew she was right. There was nothing to argue about. He decided to attack his food with a newfound vigor to vent his slight frustration.

    Tsunade watched as Rei chomped on his food and the feeling of contentment again spread through her body. The first stage of her surprise n was finished thanks to the Uchiha Massacre. Since she and Rei came back from the visit to the Fire Capital, she wondered how she could be useful to Rei. With the recent events and their... consequences, Tsunade finally found an answer and pulled together a n. From what happened recently, she was sure Rei would be pleased and she couldn''t wait to see his shock and delight once he found out!

    Briefly, Tsunade pondered if she should tell him about her n but then again, that would take away the whole point of surprise. In the end, she decided against it. After all... ''What could go wrong?''

 Chapter 229 - Ch229. Coming to the Wind Capital

    <h4>Chapter 229 - Ch229. Coming to the Wind Capital</h4>

    Days quickly passed and while Tsunade departed from the Vige on the Other Side to polish and enact her own ns, Rei had no idea about it since just a day prior he left with Pakura to deal with his own machinations.

    They were currently on the front of the deck of a boat sporting the Uzushio Trading Company logo on its sails, about a few minutes away from entering the Wind Capital''s docks. They naturally could just teleport there, and if they did that, they would already be in the Wind Capital long ago but sadly, in politics, posturing and appearances do matter.

    Rei was amused when Pakura vehemently refused to be subtle. ording to her, the nobles of the Wind country are too thick to understand a subtle approach. Hence, they decided to go with tantly obvious. After all, it was Pakura who was born in this country. As such, Rei decided to leave everything to her and simply enjoy looking at her behin, ahem, at her from behind as she deals with the pompous aristocratic gits.

    It wasn''t that Rei hated nobles. On the contrary, to be honest. He quite liked to deal with them but the nobles of the Wind Country were a tad bit too much for his exalted tastes. The country was situated in a desert and that meant harsh life for its inhabitants. Food, wood, and sometimes even water had to be imported because of that. Needless to say, the prices for these things were a bit higher than in other countries.

    This put the import of food into an entirely new perspective for both nobles and merchants in the country. Usually, one made a pact with another, and then the noble tried to appeal to the Daimyo for exclusive import rights for the merchant on various types of food during one of the bi-decadal conventions in the Wind Capital, trying to rake up as much profit as possible by legal means. Hence, the prices were even higher than they should have been.

    Rei wasn''t against stealing. He understood the... urge. That said, he firmly believed when a person is in politics, he or she should first do the job before stealing from the remaining funds. What irked Rei was that the nobles of the Wind Country swindled money by feeding their subjects, which is basically their primary responsibility anyway, and then had the gal to be arrogant about it! Well, that was the entire reason why Rei was even here. He simply wanted to see how Pakura presents herself and the interests of the Uzushio Trading Company at the next convention. After all, they were going for a literal steal!

    Seeing how nervous Pakura was, Rei chuckled before cing his hand on hers in aforting gesture, earning himself a small smile from the usually strict woman.

    "Don''t worry. All you have to do is to shame a few stuck-up pricks and propose the Uzushio Trading Company''s food import deal. With the prices we are offering..." Rei shrugged in a show of what he thought about the chances of the Daimyo agreeing to anybody else''s deal.

    He had to agree... Pakura was not very good at negotiating a business deal. In fact, she was possibly the worst of his wives for such a thing. Even Mei and Ringo could bully and threaten somebody into doing something but Pakura liked a more level-headed, polite, and rational approach. Honestly, her personality hindered her more in these situations.

    Pakura was first and foremost an administrator. That''s where she shined while Tsunade took care of business and Konan of politics. Compared to Tsunade and Konan, Pakura wasn''t exactly talented and Rei surmised that''s why she was currently nervous.

    "I am not worried about our cover. I am worried about our real objective." She wryly frowned and snuggled closer to Rei.

    "Ah..." Rei nodded knowingly, "Don''t worry about that. I have it all arranged." He smugly added, causing Pakura to give him an inquisitive look but it seemed, Rei was deadset on not revealing anything to her. "You should rx, ''Kura." Rei kissed her forehead, "I know it was years since you interacted with anybody from the Wind Country, and being back might feel weird..."

    Rei suddenly found himself unable to continue as Pakura''s lipsnded on his, interrupting his sentence. For some reason, he didn''t really mind as he gazed into her grateful and somewhat relieved eyes.

    They parted, still embracing each other, and Pakura finally smiled, "Thank you."

    Seeing her body finally rx, Rei nuzzled his chin on the top of her head, quite liking her shorter figure at the moment. "Just remember, we are not here to cause a conflict. We are here only to threaten one. As long as you remember that, you won''t go too far."

    "And if I do?"

    "Then... may Hagoromo have mercy on their soul." Rei snorted before affectionately whispering into her ear. "No matter my schemes and their sess, in the end, you and my other four vixens are the most important thing to me. The continent could burn as long as you are safe and happy." Rei paused and enjoyed how Pakura''s embrace tightened before grinning, "Then again, it''s not like the Wind Daimyo''s family would suffer from a bit of preventive culling. There is certainly enough of them. Honestly, the pest control of this country..."

    Pakura rolled her eyes at that but there was far too much amus.e.m.e.nt in them for the gesture to seem anything but jovial. "The Wind Daimyo was a bad man, Rei. He is a very approachable and reasonable person. The only fault I could find with him is that he simply enjoys his women and his women enjoy his money. That''s all."

    "Yeah, and while they do so, they also birth him a whole litter. Pakura... the man has over eighty children and is barely in his mid-thirties." Rei deadpanned, causing her to blush.

    Pakura knew this verbal battle was lost before she even started defending the Wind Daimyo. She didn''t really do it because of any lingering loyalty. She simply liked the reluctant jealousy in Rei''s eyes when she talked about the man. Then again, the Wind Daimyo did spend a considerable time sending her offer after offer to be anything from concubine to consort, all the way to proper wife when she was still a Suna kunoichi. For her, it was a very cute and satisfying feeling that Rei felt so possessively about her. It made her feel wanted and appreciated.

    Rei, on the other hand, decided it was not worth further discussion. The man was the goddamn ruler of his country and currently, he had thirty-eight heirs with various women ranked from maids to nobles and everything in between, not even counting the daughters who would be interested in inheriting the throne through either marriage to one of their brothers or, well, more violent methods. Rei was going to enjoy spectating that particr session battle, that''s for sure.

    Fortunately for both of them, the Wind Capital harbor peeked from the horizon, ending their discussion as they enjoyed the marvelous sight spreading in front of them.

 Chapter 230 - Ch230. Feast

    <h4>Chapter 230 - Ch230. Feast</h4>

    Rei and Pakura sat on their knees on the plush pillows, in front of them a well-decorated wooden table of low height, barely reaching their waist. They were located in the corner of a massive throne room of the Wind Daimyo, unnoticed because they ''forgot'' to mention to the waiters whichpany they represented, simply saying they were here for the Food Import Convention. Since anybody could turn up as long as they represented a food-producingpany, nobody really paid much attention to them in the chaos of seating and serving all the guests. Rei was amused that nobody even asked the name of theirpany while Pakura looked mutinous at the mere thought of such disregard for safety, taking notes of what the organizers did wrong so when she has to organize such an event, she will know what needs special attention.

    As for their seating... the more important one''spany is, the closer to the Daimyo he was to be seated. This was something everybody was supposed to know, hence when they didn''tin at being given a seat as far away from the ruler as possible, even the waiters simply dismissed them, not even bothering to ask about their identity.

    In the end, it wasn''t as if some no-namepany had a chance to get a deal. The real money-makers were firmly in the hands of nobles. It was less of apetition between the merchants and more between the nobles where the merchant supported by the winning noble got the deal. Granted, every once in a while some lucky upstart earned rights for this or that product but in the grand scheme of things, it didn''t really matter. The market was firmly divided between the main yers and everybody knew it.

    The throne room was marvelous,vish, gigantic, and almost exaggeratedly decorated, appropriately showing the importance of the current event. In the front, on an elevated tform, the Daimyo, a somewhat plump brown-haired man, sat surrounded by his rightful heir, a pompous-looking boy of fourteen years of age, and the mother of his heir, obviously a noblewoman from birth who oozed arrogance. ording to what Rei heard, the woman was first the Daimyo''s consort and only attained the position of wife after the previous one ''mysteriously'' died alongside her three children on their holidays.

    Honestly, the Royal family didn''t impress Rei. Not at all. He leaned closer to Pakura and softly whispered, gesturing with his eyes at Daimyo''s wife. "See that cow? She is milking every ounce of self-importance in her immediate surroundings so hard, it produces a permanent scowl on her face. To think you could have been in her ce..." Rei snickered, earning himself a yful swat from Pakura as she mock-scowled at him.

    It indeed was a bit amusing for her how unpredictable fate can be. If she didn''t refuse the Daimyo''s offer all these years back and insisted to be his legitimate wife, it would indeed be her scowling next to him, most likely with a child or ten around her. Shuddering thoughts.

    "I am actually surprised Mikumi has only one child with her." Pakura quietly replied, "That tells you how he really feels about her considering she became his consort fifteen years ago."

    "Right. With his... er, stamina..." Rei bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself fromughing.

    Pakura rolled her eyes, trying to appear fed up but the slight smile on her face was ruining it for her. She quickly pecked Rei on the lips in an attempt to shut his chuckling up, right as the Daimyo stood up, causing the hall full of nobles and merchants to quieten down.

    "Countrymen, Friends, and Visitors, wee! Today, we came together to decide who will gain the responsibility of feeding my subjects! I am pleased to see so many of you here, prepared to present your offers and willing to make a trading agreement with me for the next five years. That said, I formally open the Wind Country Food Convention. Before we start with the main point of this day, I would like you to partake in the hospitality of the Wind Country. Please, enjoy the feast." The Daimyo''s surprisingly pleasant voice spread through the room, causing a moderate cheering and pping before the servants started serving food to the guests.

    It was a tradition to have a monumental feast with loads of food from every corner of the known world before the main event began... that''s actually why so many guests turned up despite knowing they will likely be leaving without getting the deal.

    After all, it wasn''t as if they could not sell food in the Wind Country. It was just that the winners today will get many advantages, tax exemptions, and benefits that would actually make selling their food products even more profitable.

    Rei and Pakura quietly ate in peace, enjoying the delicacies served to them, acting as if it was a date and not an important political event. At times, they affectionately fed each other all the while whispering small sweet little nothings,pletely ignoring the bewildered stares of their neighbors from the tables around them. When they finally noticed how much attention they garnered from those around them, Rei simply put his arms around Pakura and started kissing her, despite her weak protests. She was simply far too eager in returning his affections for the protests to be real.

    Neither of them cared what the people around them thought since nobody wanted to make a scene. They also sat too far back and in the corner for anybody of much importance to pay attention to them. Even the Daimyo on his elevated tform overseeing the whole massive room would have a hard time spotting them. As the couple expected, their neighbors simply tried to ignore them in between all of the concerned and embarrassed nces they threw at them. It wasn''t as if the busy-bodies could loudly protest or something. Needless to say, both Pakura and Rei were proud of themselves for making so many people ufortable.

    Two hourster, the feast slowly started to near its end and Pakura suddenly noticed a man near the Daimyo. Instantly poking Rei, she discreetly pointed at him.

    "The exuberating man in the Levander frilly kimono is Harasawa Kuroto. The sly-looking ck-haired man sitting next to him is Karano Kyo from the Country of Rice."

    "Ninja, eh?" Rei pointed out as he felt the man''s chakra reserves. "Not a retired one either." Rei frowned. Ninjas did not sell crops for their country. That was a waste of talent and resources. Sure, it can happen but... Ninjas indeed do asionally retire but these usually do not have jonin-level reserves and their chakra doesn''t flow as if it was regrly used. Rei looked suspiciously at Pakura, "Rice Country, you say?"

    Pakura nodded, "In thest convention, they won rights for the import of rice and some other crops. Rice Country is known for its agriculture and for some reason, some years back their business policy waspletely overhauled. Nobody knows why or where the earnings actually end up." She eyed the sly-looking would-be ninja next to the Wind-country nobleman. "They would be our mainpetition and I don''t expect a fair fight."

    "And the girl?" Rei pointed at the sandy-haired girl sitting next to Kyo. "It''s been a long while since I saw such a petnt dissatisfied pout on a high-born woman."

    "Yeah... That''s Harasawa Haruko. Apparently, Kuroto decided Kyo is bringing him enough wealth so he decided to engage his only daughter with him. Clearly, his daughter sees the situation differently."

    "Aha." Rei nodded, gears turning in his head. "Say... is she the only child?"

    Pakura momentarily halted, pursing her lips. "... Yes." She carefully pondered Rei''s quiet suggestion, tilting her head, watching Kuroto as if he was prey. "Good point. Maybe we could promise some... aid."

    It didn''t take long before Kyo felt the subtle hostile intent aimed their way and started discreetly looking around, still chatting with the blissfully ignorant Kuroto.

    Pakura averted her gaze from them, causing Rei to smirk as he saw her brain plotting and scheming in overdrive. He had to nudge her in an attempt to make her stop for the time being, "I just found Rasa. The right side of the room, near the wall, shrouded by some concealment seal. Damn, he really must hate the Wind Daimyo if his re is any indication."

    "Yeah. As you can see, Mikumi is quite tense and slightly leans to the left every time Rasa looks his way. I noticed the Kazekage in the first fifteen minutes." Pakura distractedly confirmed, still shrewdly ncing between Haruko and the Wind Daimyo.

    ''To think she was such a ball of nerves before.'' Rei thought proudly. He wasn''t about to bring Pakura''s attention to her state but he was satisfied with how she held herself. ''All it took was to redirect her attention towards work. Typical Pakura.'' He reminded himself affectionately.

    Suddenly silence spread through the room as the Daimyo finally stood up, and eximed, "Esteemed guests! I hope you enjoyed the feast. Now... let the main event begin!"

 Chapter 231 - Ch231. Unbeatable deal 1

    <h4>Chapter 231 - Ch231. Unbeatable deal 1</h4>

    As the Wind Daimyo stood up and announced the beginning of the main part of the meeting, the whole hall becamepletely silent, waiting for him to proceed.

    "As is customary, we will begin with the contract for the import of rice." The Daimyo nced at Kuroto who almost preened, "Anyone who is interested may speak now, or be quiet for the next five years!"

    And for a moment, nobody did.

    Everybody knew who would most likely win the deal for the import of rice. Only the Hasagawa Family had considerable tax exemptions on several food products, including rice. Worse yet, Hasagawa sponsored Karano Kyo who was the representative of the Country of Rice, the most agricultural country on the continent. It was widely known the amount of rice they could supply would dwarf anyone else''s proposition. Because of that, Hasagawa could ask for quite a high price for the import of rice and even if somebody offered a cheaper alternative, they wouldn''t win the contract for the simple reason that Kyo could provide rice in much greater amounts and of superior quality than anybody else.

    Rice was far too important for the Wind Country. It was easily stored and moved, and yet could be easily imported in huge quantities whilesting an incredibly long time. It was the staple food of the whole country so as long as the price was not extremely exaggerated the deciding factor for the Daimyo was how much the provider can actually import. Everybody knew that and so... With all the benefits, tax exemptions, and whatnot, the deal was a literal goldmine that nobody could hope to challenge.

    Kuroto smugly stood in a leisure manner when everybody stayed silent and beamed at the Wind Daimyo. "Since it seems nobody is actually concerned with the well-being of the people, I, Hasagawa Kuroto, would like to offer my humble service. I am sure that my family''s contact with the Rice Country, Karano Kyo, will be delighted to broker a deal between our two nations! I just hope we can settle on a deal beneficial for all the concerned parties." He finished with a light smile.

    The Wind Daimyo nodded, lookingpletely unamused. The bastard basically subtly told him the previous deal and imports of rice would continue only if he gave some additional concessions to the Hasagawa Family. Considering nobody else actually offered an alternative, the Daimyo didn''t have even a flimsy excuse to refuse. He simply could NOT refuse. Between all the bribed ministers, ckmail, no other alternative, and the fact that in the previous five years ''somebody'' was sabotaging most caravans importing rice that is not from the Rice Country...

    ''F.u.c.k.i.n.g Rasa. That damn no-good piece of trash! Five years and he, a person in charge of an entire vige of ninjas, can''t figure out who is attacking the food merchants? Bullshit! I am sure the Rice prick has some kind of deal with that bastard.'' The Daimyo wistfully thought while inwardly sighing. He was sick of having to employ ninjas from other countries as guards for important things because, obviously, Rasa was not as loyal as his position would suggest.

    Yes, the Wind Daimyo knew that Suna was suffering extreme financial problems since he and Rasa started silently feuding. That however didn''t mean Rasa could just go behind his back and make deals that would in the long run hurt his country!

    ''If only the sted fool realized that. I might hate him beyond all reason but Suna is my freaking main war deterrent! Yet, I can''t even make use of them because of an arrogant twit who wants to y political games and then dump all the me at my feet, saying the Suna vigers suffer because I refuse to y nice with him.''

    The Daimyo started to get a bit irritated and decided to squash these thoughts as he turned towards the silent hall. With one twitch of his lips, he decided to follow the protocol and give onest customary question in the usual self-assured tone, "I ask for thest time, is there anyone else in attendance who would like topete for the benefits of the main provider of rice for the Wind Country?"

    His hopes plummeted as nobody said anything. The Daimyo knew it wasn''t that nobody wanted the position. It was simply that nobody thought they could win and even if they did win, they would be disadvantaged. It simply wasn''t a good deal. Most of the biggest rice suppliers already withdrew from the country anyway because of the rice shipment raids as ofte.

    ''Well, I tried but I spotted the problems with the other rice imports far toote to do anything substantial before this meeting. Guess I will simply have to gift another five-year-long license to Hasagawas and spend more time trying to drive this filth away from my country in the following five years. I wonder if I should start employing Konoha or Iwa ninjas for that...''

    Realizing the people are waiting for him, he spoke, hating how gleeful Kuroto Hasagawa looked. "In that case, the deal goes to Has-"

    The people grew confused as the Daimyo cut himself in the middle of the sentence. Not long after that, their attention was drawn to the nging sound of footsteps. Turning their heads, they saw the reason for the unexpected distraction.

    A woman was walking closer towards the front of the hall, her steps echoing with confidence and purpose.

    The Daimyo couldn''t believe his eyes as he stared at the woman in wonder and felt as if a lump blocked his throat, preventing him from speaking. The only thing he managed to choke out was a quiet disbelieving, "Pakuraˇ­?"

    The woman to whom he owed his life and the safety of his country, the hero of the third ninja war, was alive!

    ...

    As the Daimyo was looking at the people in the hall for somebody wanting to fight Hasagawas for the rice deal, Pakura kissed Rei onest time, "I guess, that''s my cue. Wish me luck."

    Rei simply nodded, supportively squeezing her hand before letting go with a whimsical smirk on his face, "Give ''em hell, dear."

    Pakura chuckled before silently standing up and starting to raze her path towards the front of the hall, weaving through the guests, attracting a lot of attention the closer she got.

    Finally, the Daimyo spotted her and Pakura had to stifle the urge to snicker at his baffled expression when she stopped a respectable distance before the elevated tform and slightly bowed her head in a show of respect, ignoring the gasp of surprise from the right side of the hall where Rasa sat.

    "I am Pakura, the representative of the Uzushio Trading Company." That elicited more surprised gasps from the audience and even a hopeful widening of the Daimyo''s eyes, "We recently decided to branch out," She nonchntly shrugged, "As such, we would like topete for the Rice Import Agreement against the Hasegawa Family. May the better supplier win." With an amused and somewhat mocking smirk, she looked at Kyo and Kuroto who looked as if they ate a lemon.

    The Uzushio Trading Company may have started operating only recently but... everyone in the hall suddenly grew restless as they realized the most important thing.

    How in the hell were they supposed topete against one of the ric.h.e.s.t international superpowers once it started encroaching on their business field!?

    Just like that... the hall descended into mayhem.

 Chapter 232 - Ch232. Unbeatable deal 2

    <h4>Chapter 232 - Ch232. Unbeatable deal 2</h4>

    "I object!" An angry snarl broke everyone from their reverie. "She is a rogue ninja! She should be detained!"

    Pakura turned to the right as one of her eyebrows rose upward in apletely unamused fashion while her eyesnded on Rasa who was standing up, preparing to attack.

    "If I remember correctly... in the doc.u.mentation of the Sunagakure, I am a dead ninja, not a rogue one." Pakura replied in a cold tone, "After all, you did send me on a suicide mission and then wrote me off as an unfortunate casualty. It''s not my problem that I survived your tant attempt at sacrificing me because I was your strongest political opponent." She sneered, stopping Rasa in his tracks, his eyes worriedly ncing at the Daimyo who now listened with quite intense interest, angrily narrowing his eyes at what he just heard. Unimpressed, Pakura simply continued, "Don''t worry, Rasa. This convention wouldst for a few days. I am sure we can make time with the Daimyo to discuss why exactly you so stupidly broke one of the very fewws that still apply to the Kazekage."

    In the back of the hall, Rei smirked. He couldn''t wait to see that conversation. After all, any Kage was exempt from manyws of thend. That however didn''t mean they could do whatever they wished. There were still a fewws they had to abide by. Not willfully sending ninjas to their death without a good reason or a good benefit showing for it was one of them. Unfortunately for Rasa, an attempt to kill one of the biggest threats to him keeping the position of Kazekage was NOT a good enough reason.

    Normally, Rasa would face no repercussions no matter what he did but right now, they were in front of the only man who was figuratively speaking higher than him in the political pecking order. Having Pakura reveal this little incident in front of the man... well.

    Staring at the angry but silent Rasa as he stupidly stood, confused about what he should do, Pakura deemed he didn''t have anything more to say and turned back towards the Wind Daimyo, "I think we should get back to discussing the reason why we gathered here today before the rude interruption." She then retrieved a doc.u.ment from her pocket and gestured for a nearby servant to take it and bring it to the Daimyo since she couldn''t approach closer due to the rules. "That is our offer. I am sure you will find it more than generous."

    Everyone stared in silence, eagerly awaiting Daimyo''s response while he took the doc.u.ment from his servant and started to read it. Only Kuroto Hasagawa and Karano Kyo stared in star-struck disbelief that somebody indeed dared to trypeting against them. The same disbelief started to slowly morph into a foreboding sense of dread the more the Daimyo''s lips started widening into a smile as he read Pakura''s offer. They obviously knew that the Wind Daimyo wasn''t pleased with them having the contract for rice imports. Seeing the same man smiling as if Christmas came sooner than he expected when a counter-offer was provided... yeah, they really didn''t like what they were currently witnessing.

    Finally done with the doc.u.ment, the Wind Daimyo softly chuckled and his eyesnded on the leisure form of Pakura as she indifferently stood in front of him. The Daimyo couldn''t help but appreciate the sight of her, both her physical beauty for which he so relentlessly sent offer after offer to her a few years prior and the fact she yet again pulled him out of a dastardly hard situation.

    ''Saving me from trouble again, huh?'' The Daimyo pursed his lips in amus.e.m.e.nt and averted his gaze towards the crowd, "Anyone else wishes to participate in thepetition for the Rice Import Contract for the Wind Country between the Uzushio Trading Company and the Hasagawa Family sponsoring the Rice Country representative?" He firmly asked and waited for a few seconds. When nobody reacted, the Daimyo smiled, "In that case, I dere the Uzushio Trading Company winner!"

    Pakura knowingly smirked.

    Karano Kyo gritted his teeth, thinking about how to mitigate this disaster. He knew returning to his master with the message that the money flow from the Wind Country would stop would earn him some very painful moments as a test subject for his master''s scientific endeavors.

    Unlike Karano who took the deration with calmness, Kuroto Hasagawa turned red and only barely managed to keep his voice in line, "WH-at!?" He took several calming breaths, remembering that yelling at the Daimyo would most likely not help his case, "May I ask why we lost?"

    The Daimyo looked at him and nodded, "Naturally. That is your right." He passed the doc.u.ment to a servant who took it towards Kuroto. "As you can read from the official offer from the Uzushio Trading Company, they offered ten times the amount of rice you provided in thest five years for half of the price you asked for." He informed Kuroto with unusual barely veiled giddy amus.e.m.e.nt. "Therefore, by the rules of this convention, the contract goes to them."

    It was aplete truth too. Pakura''s offer was EXACTLY half of the price and EXACTLY ten times the size of what Karano offered through the Hasagawa Family. Only an idiot wouldn''t notice that simple fact and what it meant. Pakura must have known weeks before the start of the convention what figures would Karano and Hasagawa try to push for in order to reach such a result.

    ''There must have been a rat!'' Kuroto realized as he clutched the doc.u.ment, frantically reading it. His most lucrative business was just stolen and he could not contest it! If it was just a bit more than their offer, he could do it. But there was no way they could cover ten times the currently promised amount of rice. He was screwed and he knew it.

    Pakura smirked at the face he was making, ''Clearly, they didn''t meet Konan yet. As if there was information she couldn''t acquire with a reasonable amount of effort.''

    "But... how can they produce so much!? It is obviously a sham! Uzu Ind doesn''t even have sufficient space for so much farming!" Kuroto screamed, causing others to start muttering. It has to be said, the amount of rice Karano imported from the Rice Country was massive. It might not have been enough for the whole of the Wind Country but it easily covered 20% of its consumption alone. Ten times that... It was a bit unbelievable.

    Pakura just snorted at the tant usation, "Our farms were created by partnering with the Biri-Biripany. Their space expansion seals are quite handy for farming on limited space. You are also forgetting that the Uzumaki n are masters at sealing arts. We can produce a lot more than what we offered to the Wind Country. It''s just that the Wind Country doesn''t need more than the currently offered amount." Pakura then sharply turned towards the seated guests, "By all means, if you are interested in buying more rice or other kind of crops, contact the Uzushio Trading Company." Pakura was very aware that many representatives of various countries were present at this event. It wouldn''t hurt to make a free advertis.e.m.e.nt like this, no?

    And with that, she turned back towards the Daimyo, slightly bowed before leaving back towards her seat at the far end of the hall.

    "Well, then, let''s move on." Daimyo''s eyes twinkled with amus.e.m.e.nt, "Since our staple food is already covered, the next item discussed is the import of..."

    Tuning out the Daimyo and ignoring the various stares, Pakura finally reached her seat and sat down next to Rei, snuggling into his side, "Well, that was fairly easy. At least one of our goals is finished. With this, our other goals will be a lot easier to achieve." She contently whispered.

    For them, the convention that would drag on for a few weeks yet, already ended. There was no real reason to take a bigger chunk of the import contracts after acquiring the one for rice. It''s not as if they did all that for money.

    "Don''t let anybody say there is a better way to control a country than to provide what they need most." Rei agreed, gently kissing her cheek. "Next target..."

    "Rasa." They both giddily chorused together.

    It was time to start rocking the boat called the Wind Country at its core.

 Chapter 233 - Ch233. Vacation with Mei 1

    <h4>Chapter 233 - Ch233. Vacation with Mei 1</h4>

    The very next day, Rei and Pakura found Daimyo''s servant waiting for them as they returned from exploiting the Wind Capital and received an invitation for a tea for the next week. Considering how busy the Daimyo had to be because of the Food Imports Convention, that really meant he was quite eager for the meeting.

    Then again, finding out the Kazekage who he hates send the kunoichi who he owed to a suicide mission because he was afraid of facing her head-on in politics... there was no doubt the Wind Daimyo would have a field day with that kind of information. Rei would bet if there was no important convention, the Daimyo would already delightfully diss Rasa with utterly gleeful abandon.

    Crimes of Kages usually stay unexposed since the only person who can persecute them is their respective Daimyo. Even for that, the Daimyo first has to know something untoward happened, which is often not the case. For example, the Daimyo was only told that Pakura died on a mission abroad. That was it. As suspicious as it was, there was no way for him to investigate, therefore there was nothing to even use Rasa of.

    That''s why Pakura so vehemently added her usation he pre-nned her murder. Now, the Wind Daimyo had some basis for suspicion towards Rasa and his rule-breaking. Now, he simply had to meet with Pakura and get her story and then he could call for a meeting of the Suna council.

    All in all, there was a ton of fun to be had in the following weeks if your name was Rasa.

    ...

    After another two days of exploring restaurants, food stalls, and sights in the WInd Capital while mapping the city, Rei and Pakura decided to teleport to Rei''s dimension for a few peaceful days after they pre-paid their hotel room for the next week so they won''t lose it.

    The sight that instantly greeted them after arriving was Mei with her fox, Auburn, sitting on her shoulders in her shrunken form, visibly channeling chakra through Mei who had a ball of swirling dense bluish-red liquid moving not unlikeva above her palm. The vegetation around Mei was already drying out because of the intense heat the girl so readily ignored and the air around her shimmered.

    "Mei..." He started in a pleasant tone that was slowly turning threatening, "Perchance, you wouldn''t havepletely ignored me when Ist told you not to experiment with world-ending Jutsu, would you? Right?"

    And just like that, Mei stiffened, robotically turning towards them.

    "R-, Rei? What are you doing here!?" Mei quickly realized what she just asked after seeing the meaningful look Rei was giving her, "Er... uh, this... this is not how it looks like. Ehehehe." She awkwardlyughed, trying to avert her gaze from Rei''s admonishing eyes and Pakura''s amused stare. Mei quickly canceled the technique and turned towards them in a fidgety manner.

    "Not how it looks, eh? So, you are not really inventing yet another super-charged Jutsu of doom, are you?" Pakura mirthfully interjected, putting her hands on her h.i.p.s.

    "As if you could talk, Mrs. Desert-maker." Mei petntly back-talked, "You can and I can''t do this. It''s sooo unfair!" She huffed and crossed her arms. "It''s not like I don''t take precautions or am reckless with my experimentation!"

    Pakura rolled her eyes at her, "It''s because I am responsible and you are childish, ya dolt" She yfully said without any real heat in the statement. "If you want to y then ask Rei to build you a yground lest you burn down our home."

    Rei simply stared and rubbed his forehead. He was a man and as such, he was well aware his opinion was not wanted nor needed in this yful banter between his two females. Especially where Mei was concerned. He could admit his faults and sadly, he was far too lenient towards Mei. Pakura, on the other hand, had no such problem and could chew the younger girl somewhat fierce. It was better to leave the parenting talks to her.

    Much to his dismay, hearing Pakura''s advice, Mei turned towards him. "Will you really build me a ce where I can experiment!?" She excitedly asked, almost bouncing on her feet.

    Rei couldn''t in good conscience say no to that face filled with pure happiness at the thought. Mei was his little demolition expert who relished making destructive Jutsu. Since she made her very first one... and Rei has to grudgingly admit that maybe he should not have heaped praise on her for being such a genius at annihtion... Mei simply found her calling and from there, she started to love experimenting with potentially-ending things.

    ''Oh, woe is me.'' Rei dryly thought. "Where exactly is Tsunade? This week it was her job to take care of you."

    "No clue." Mei uncaringly shrugged. "She left two days ago. Not even Konan could tell me where she went. Probably one of her medicine gathering trips or whatever."

    Rei was a bit startled that Tsunade was supposedly away on her own business. Surprisingly, she didn''t even inform Konan what she was doing but... in the end, he decided to let it go. After all, it wasn''t as if she could somehow unwittingly mess up his ns, no? As upset as he could get that she just left Mei to her own devices, Rei couldn''t fault Tsunade. Mei was an a.d.u.l.t and should know better than to set countries on fire.

    "Well, then, I think I will leave you two to it and go look for Maki." Pakura hummed and gave Rei a knowing look before leaving.

    Rei just chuckled and approached the clueless Mei who tilted her head at Pakura. As he got close to her, he suddenly hugged her, drowning her small lithe frame in his own embrace as he kissed her forehead. "I am sorry, Mei." He whispered, making Mei stiffen. "Recently, I might have neglected you because of the workload."

    Rei could feel Mei''s hands circle around his torso and tighten around him gently yet possessively in appreciation. She clearly liked what she was hearing.

    "I have a few days before we have to return to the Wind Capital for a meeting with the Wind Daimyo. I think spending them with you would be nice. What do you say?"

    "Mmmm." Mei pressed her face into Rei''s c.h.e.s.t, the tips of her ears burning red, causing Rei to chuckle.

    "Soooo... I wonder what kind of seals would I need to ce to create an isted space where you can do your..." His voice slightly faltered, "hobby. We wouldn''t want you to vaporize my entire dimension, now, would we?"

    Hearing that, the happy Mei slightly pulled away from him, her arms still firmly around his torso. "We can do thatter, Rei! Now, I would very much rather find a ce where we can do each other!" She beamed at him.

 Chapter 234 - Ch234. Vacation with Mei 2

    <h4>Chapter 234 - Ch234. Vacation with Mei 2</h4>

    Rei woke up to a warm and squishy sensation on his c.h.e.s.t, spreading afortable feeling through his body. Groggily opening his eyes, the very first thing that greeted him was a sight of auburn hair messily covering most of his and Mei''s upper body like a nket.

    In a sudden bout of nostalgia, he remembered the small, androgynous, filthy, and hungry kid he saved from being beaten in the streets of Kirigakure... Rei couldn''t help but admire the mind-boggling beauty Mei became.

    ''Was it already so long?'' He idly thought as his hand started absentmindedly c.a.r.e.s.sing Mei''s hair. ''Geez, I sound like an old geezer. Now that I mentioned itˇ­ how old am I again?'' Sigh escaped his lips before they spread into an indulgent smile as he felt the warm Mei''s body stir.

    Mei slowly lifted her cheek from his c.h.e.s.t, looking still half-asleep as her dull gazended on Rei''s face and her body again rxed, putting the full weight of her impressive bust back onto Rei''s c.h.e.s.t.

    "Somebody is an eager early riser, I see." Mei quietly teased, "Poking a sleeping Lady so hard." Before Rei could even properly register what his willful vixen said, her lips needily descended on his, gently administering tender greetings.

    Rei''s arms subconsciously circled Mei''s body,nding on her back as he pulled her closer. For a moment, the world ceased to exist for the two lovers who forgot themselves in each other''s embrace.

    Finally separating, Rei appreciatively swept Mei''s form with his eyes before l.i.c.k.i.n.g his lips, "To be honest, waking up to the tantalizing feeling of your b.a.r.e c.h.e.s.t... anybody would ''rise'' to the opportunity." His lips stretched into an honest smile. Mei didn''t have the energy to clean and clothe themselves after their nightly activities yesterday and unfortunately or fortunately for Rei, she decided his body is the best pillow she could ask for and refused to let go. Therefore, both sleptpletely n.a.k.e.d.

    "Sucks to be them, then. I already decided only you are invited to enjoy my benefits," She purred and started kissing Rei''s c.h.e.s.t.

    Enjoying the feeling for a moment, Rei reluctantly sighed and put his hand on Rei''s head, stopping her. "We should get up or we will stay in bed for the rest of the day like the previous two days. I swear you are far too good at keeping me here."

    "I had a marvelous teacher." Mei giggled and tried to continue with her kisses but Rei stopped her by relocating his hand on her forehead.

    "Uh-oh." He smirked, causing Mei to cutely pout in ast vain attempt at tempting Rei to stay in bed. "I for one didn''t forget having to construct you a separate ce where you can experiment with Jutsu. Come on, rise and shine, dear. If I don''t finish it now, I fear the next time I return home it will be just a pile of ash."

    Mei reluctantly obeyed, mentally grumbling, ''I am not that bad, am I?''

    ...

    After breakfast with all his girls present at home, Rei found out Konan was busy with the Biri-Biripany since Tsunade took a vacation, Ringo was in the middle of weapon development, and Pakura was neck-deep in paperwork for the new academy. In the end, it was again just him and Mei for the day, much to the redhead''s delight.

    Packing a pic basket, Rei and Mei were on their way to the edge of their dimension in order to set up a new training ground for more hazardous techniques. The edge of Rei''s dimension was still covered in thick forest where even the smallest vines were thicker than a tree trunk in the normal world. Only after an hour of traversing through the dense jungle at jonin speed did Rei stop, satisfied with the ce.

    "I think we are far enough from the middle of the dimension." He said to Mei, before gesturing to trees with a nod, "Would you mind clearing the ce up?"

    ''Overkill much?'' He mentally deadpanned. It would take at least elite chunin to even scratch the trees in his dimension. With the amount of nature energy coursing through them at any given moment, it would be a damn miracle if they caught fire after being subjected to at the very least B-rank fire Jutsu. It was a testament to Mei''s proficiency at Fire Elemental Chakra. It was clear to Rei that Mei only did it this way to show off for him.

    Goodnaturedly rolling his eyes, Rei patted Mei''s head, "I see you made significant progress since thest time we trained together." He sincerely praised, making Mei proudly beam at him and engulf him in a hug while the jungle around them burned in wild all-consuming unquenchable deep crimson mes.

    ''Sigh. As if it wasn''t enough she could melt the world. Now she just had to find a way how to burn it to the cinders too. She is starting to get a bit too creative with her Steam Release. An invisible mist that makes things ignite with special mes. That''s a bit too close to Amaterasu. I wonder how hard it would be to extinguish these mes.'' Rei inwardlymented while observing the raging inferno of red. ''Poor Ao, the next time she visits Kirigakure in order to help Ringo with something, the guy will be scarred for life.''

    Much to Rei''s amus.e.m.e.nt, Ao and Mei had exactly the same rtionship as they did in anime. Mei might not be the fifth Mizukage but every time she is in Kirigakure, Ao spouts some kind of misunderstood remark and Mei threatens to melt him. Unfortunately for Ao, Rei taught Mei that empty threats have no meaning. ''Poor Ao, indeed.''

    Setting the basket on the ground, Rei created an air barrier in-between himself and Mei and the burning ce around them in preparation for their pic.

    "No fair." Mei huffed when she saw that the barrier of air had no nature energy in it whatsoever, "You clearly figured out my mes burn the nature energy in the surrounding at first nce. That''s cheating! To think it could be negated so easily." She mumbled.

    Rei snorted, "I and Tsunade are two best Senjutsu users far and wide. What did you expect? But... honestly, anyone who is unable to eliminate the nature energy from the surroundings would be f.u.c.k.e.d beyond belief against these mes of yours. The whole is seeping with nature energy, non-stop producing it." He shook his head. Mei again created something outrageous. "I already created a nature-energy-less air bubble epassing a few kilometers around us to control what exactly burns. Wouldn''t want you to torch my entire dimension on a whim."

    "That''s unnecessary. I have total control of these mes." Mei proudly proimed before noticing Rei''s unconvinced look, "What? Don''t look at me like that! I can learn from my mistakes too, you know!? Thest time I destroyed our house was just an ident!"

    "You don''t say." Rei quietly said as his lips twitched upward before the volume of his voice rose, "I am so proud! For the first time since I met you, Mei, you showed some responsibility!" Rei quipped with mock tears.

    "I me your teachings for my destructive tendencies." Mei cheerfully replied in good humor.

    "You tter me. But enough of that," Rei approached Mei and put his arms around her waist, leading her to sit down on the nket, "I would like to hear what''s going on in my vige."

    Their pic amidst hellish forest fire started as all semnce of cheerfulness drained from Mei''s face, leaving only a serious and indifferent facade behind. Anyone who knew the excitable and childish Mei would be shocked, but same as all his girls, Mei too had her own role in Rei''s vige.

    After all, with how she usually acted, it was entirely too easy to forget she too was a kunoichi.

 Chapter 235 - Ch235. Meis report

    <h4>Chapter 235 - Ch235. Mei''s report</h4>

    "There are naturally many new things going on in the vige." Mei reported with a small shrug that bled through her serious demeanor, "Nothing really pressing or worrying though. I still say cing loyalty seals on our popce would be prudent." She stated with an intense piercing gaze.

    "And I still say that would be going too far." Rei half-heartedly replied. "I gotta keep my moral high, Mei. If only to feel self-satisfied with my actions so I don''t feel any unnecessary doubt in my decision-making in the future."

    Mei released a small concerned sigh before giving an epting nod. "And I still think you should let your moralpass widen a bit." She grumbled but her bodynguage indicated she inwardly epted Rei''s argument.

    She was more in tune with Konan''s opinion on the matter and always preached Rei should just use the best seals to enforce obedience. Rei, however, only used Secrecy seals to avoid anything he deemed a secret from leaking. Beyond that, there was no real safeguard from betrayal. That''s where Mei actually became relevant. While her sisters had their own role in Rei''s vige, she couldn''t really simply ck off, now, could she? Hence, Mei decided to use the skills Rei and Konan so painstakingly tried to beat into her during her apprenticeship and went more into the internal security of the Vige on the Other Side. It was ridiculous how everybody lowered their guard due to her cheerful and childish predisposition. Adding some of her steam-based surveince Jutsus and vo, there was not much that could evade her notice in the vige.

    Konan might have been their spymaster and her skills sure as hell could epass the entire continent but she was more focused on arge area with many holes in between, monitoring only important ces through her paper release. Konan could never really cover everything no matter how much she tried and that was also the reason why many merchants of the Biri-Biripany acted as spies for them.

    Mei, on the other hand, could use her steam release to fill the air with a transparent mist, monitoring EVERYTHING that went on inside of the said mist. The downside was that it could be used only around her in a certain radius. It was far from being able topete with Konan in spycraft and certainly not convenient enough topare to the way Konan used her paper release for that purpose. But as the internal security of a vige? Mei''s technique had Konan beaten in every possible way. It certainly alleviated some pressure from Konan now that she didn''t have to focus on their vige.

    Then again, if the loyalty seals were involved, there would be no need for internal security at all, would there?

    "What about the Uchiha n? Are they integrating well into the vige?" Rei asked.

    "There is slight discontent in the newly-added Uchiha ranks but it''s of no major importance as of yet. The same thing happens almost every time we incorporate a n from the outside since the system we use in our vige ispletely different than anywhere else." Mei started, "Isamu and Izumi Uchiha are trying their hardest to contain their nsmen. The daily beatings at the hands of our ninjas in the guise of retraining are also helping. The Uchiha n members are slowly realizing there is no way they could win against us in an open fight since our forces are superior to theirs not only in numbers but also in the quality of our ninjas. It certainly humbled them enough to be somewhat bearable." She snorted.

    Rei could only give the woman apologetic smile while secretly feeling bad for the Uchihas. He heard how some of them made asses out of themselves when Mei first time observed their new training under the Jonins from the Other-sided Vige. Considering Mei was very proficient in shielding her chakra from detection in a way that showed even to Sharingan users that she was just a low-chunin by chakra reserves... simply, a fight broke out because of some insults and twenty Uchiha ninjas ended up beaten ck, blue, and melting. Needless to say, the red-eyed folk gained a newfound respect for the resident excitable ginger.

    "You might have been too busy to check but the Uchiha n is handled just fine. I dare to say in years toe, they will be one of the most loyal ns to us." Mei showed a self-satisfied smile. "In the past week alone the number of Uchiha kids entering our academy tripledpared to what entered the Konoha one in the past. The Uchiha civilians noticed we are willing to go to great lengths to awaken their kids'' bloodline and teach them how to actually survive on the job." She finished with sarcasm marring her tone.

    Rei had to snort at that notion. It was a quite widely known fact that many ns in Konoha started to recede in the past few years, having fewer and fewer n children joining the academy. It was not yet rming but the numbers started to slowly show the predicted end game. Only ns like Hyuuga where everybody able had to be a ninja kept steady numbers of new recruits.

    Simply put, civilian n members knew how demanding the life of a ninja was and as such, they would sooner teach their children how to craft something, be a merchant, or other civilian stuff that could earn them money rather than sending their children into a Shinobi Academy where they would be taught subpar skills in a subpar curriculum that would be worth jack-shit in the end. Duty to the vige be damned! They wanted their children to be happy and alive. National pride or Will of Fire could go stuff itself.

    "Well, I can''t say that''s surprising. To ns, being a shinobi is an honor and privilege, it''s something to be proud of." Rei sadly shook his head, "That said, no parent would send his or her child to learn how to be a ninja with knowledge the academy would be next to useless to do just that. The second the Hokage gave power over the Shinobi Academy to the civilian council..." He finished with a half-hearted shrug that indicated how amusing he found the situation.

    "Yeah, the Uchihas are regaining their drive thanks to the benefits we are providing. I am sure that actually made it a lot easier for them to ept their new allegiance. After all, we were the guys who helped them after theirst vige decided to off them all, no questions asked."

    And that was that. Rei had no reason to hide anything from the Uchiha n. He came clean with exactly why they were almost ughtered. Needless to say, Konoha really lost a lot of respect in their eyes.

    "Is there anything else going on in the vige?" Rei asked, satisfied with the Uchiha situation. He held no doubt Konan and Mei could manage the n on their own without his intervention.

    Hearing his question, Mei''s lips stretched into a wide smile while her eyes gained a mischievous glint, "Oh, just a bit of gossip, really." She giggled, showing the serious stuff was over, "My very own pet-cat showed a great deal of interest in our resident self-pitying turtle. Last I heard they spend quite a lot of time together."

    Rei chuckled, "Well... now that is one thing nobody could have anticipated. Yugito and Yagura, huh? With their past and circ.u.mstances, they will probably be good for each other."

    "Doesn''t hurt the closer he is to Yugito the more loyal Yagura will be to our vige." Mei added with brutal honesty. It has been years since Yugito became a part of the vige but by now, nobody had any doubts the woman saw Rei and his wives as her family.

    "As if he dared to betray us." Rei found the idea ridiculous, "The man is simply beyond himself with happiness that Ringo ispletely overhauling Kirigakure''s system and making it more efficient."

    "Maybe." Mei hummed and her shrewd pondering gazended directly on Rei''s eyes, "Say... What exactly are you trying to aplish here, love? Two viges are under your control, two internationalpanies ranked in the top ten worldwide belong to you, and now you are trying that stunt with Sunagakure. One would think you are trying to conquer the world, dear." She finished with an intrigued purr.

    Rei stilled, and his eyes slightly narrowed in delight. He never once told his girls what he wants to aplish. He knew it didn''t matter to them. Even now, Mei was asking simply because she was mildly curious. Her eyes clearly showed she didn''t really expect a straight answer. After all, he always trained her information-gathering skills by giving her half-truths and simple clues while expecting her toe to a certain conclusion herself.

    "My end game, heh?" Rei slyly smirked at Mei, causing her to widen her eyes before she found her back pressed onto the nket with Rei''s body towering above her and his face only an inch away from hers, their lips almost touching. A shiver of excitement starting to shake her body, Mei intently listened as Rei continued speaking, "I am simply making use of opportunities left behind by idiots in charge, my lovely girl. It''s simply sad how easy it is to gain control nowadays, isn''t it? But enough of that. I think we should get back to enjoying our date" Rei suggestively whispered to Mei before lowering his lips on hers.

 Chapter 236 - Ch236. Scheming with the Wind Daimyo

    <h4>Chapter 236 - Ch236. Scheming with the Wind Daimyo</h4>

    "Wee! It has been quite a while since west saw each other, Pakura!" The Wind Daimyo enthusiastically greeted Pakura as she and Rei entered the gardens of his castle. "I am d you epted my invitation. Feel free to drop the formality. We are here for tea, after all." He amicably retorted as he beckoned his guests to sit opposite him behind the table filled with various delicacies.

    "How could we decline such an opportunity, Mikumi." Pakura answered with a calm smile,pletely ignoring etiquette and protocol, while Rei distractedlypared the flowery gardens of the Fire Daimyo''s castle to the lush green ones where they were now, wondering if the men had nothing more important to spend their money on. Pakura half-turned towards Rei, "This is my husband, Yotsuba Rei." She introduced, causing the Wind Daimyo to widen his eyes in bewilderment and wonder.

    After a few moments of staring, Rei lifted his eyebrow at the man, half-expecting a fight to break out because of something stupid like an usation of stealing Pakura from him but he was pleasantly surprised when Mikumi slowly turned to Pakura and his lips stretched to a satisfied smile. "I see that somebody finally managed to catch you. Good for you, Pakura. I must admit I am a bit jealous of you, Mr. Rei." He added with a wistful sigh.

    That... was something Rei didn''t expect from a man who had over fifty wives and consorts, ''Huh, maybe Pakura was right and he is a quite cool guy. Who would have thought?'' Rei silently mused, not detecting any jealousy. In fact, his instincts were telling him the Wind Daimyo was totally honest in that statement.

    "Nice to meet you." Rei slightly bowed, happy this meeting won''t go like the one with the Water Daimyo. Sure, pressuring these powerful political figures was fun but Rei really didn''t have any wish to pull power-y on civilians. In his opinion, it was totally pointless. Especially since it was so much easier to simply use rules imposed by civilians in charge to penalize and manipte the superpowered folk and vice versa.

    Frankly, Rei clearly saw the next stage in the development of the world would be shinobi taking over from the Daimyo. It might not happen in decades yet but it was the next natural path the world was leading towards.

    During the Warring States, ninja ns were simply far too scattered, far too warring to actually progress and develop. All ns had their Jutsu and guarded them with extreme prejudice. All ns tried to kill each other and earn some money in the process. In short, civilians, especially the wealthy ones, werepletely safe and prospered while the ns were preupied with their own survival and development, surrounded by enemy ninja ns on every side.

    That all, however, changed after the formation of the ninja viges. The knowledge of ns that joined together to form a vige was pooled together and suddenly, the ninja arts progressed by leaps and bounds. Suddenly, the ninjas no longer fought numerous other ns. Suddenly, the ninjas were no longer scattered and isted. Suddenly, they started to work together and their numbers swelled. The enemies became the other ninja viges and while they got stronger than singr ns, the number of enemies they had to fend off at the same time was a lot less. Simply put, the ninjas got a much-needed breather to actually develop rather than nonstop fight for survival.

    "But let''s skip to the chase. As you probably know, I am a very busy man, especially during this time of the year with the Imports convention and whatnot. Dear Sage, I really have no idea what my father was thinking when he set up this tradition." Mikumi wryly said with a sigh. "You want my help with dealing with Rasa, right? What exactly do you envision? You know I can''t just openly attack him."

    Rei looked at the Wind Daimyo''s eager and somewhat anticipatory expression and barely held back a grimace. The man was clearly positively giddy at the prospect of one-upping Rasa, ''This is exactly why I made sure to be both the hidden Daimyo of the Spring Country and the Kage of my own vige. This spectacle is simply sad beyond words.''

    And that''s where the problem of the current society reallyid.

    It was very surprising and refreshing when the Fire Daimyo reacted so friendly towards Tsunade. The Wind Daimyo, however, was a norm. Sure, he was a good man and clearly a friend to Pakura but it was so obvious he wanted to subtly stick it to the Kazekage. Something that was bing all too frequent between various Daimyos and their ninja vige leaders.

    Powerless civilians held powerful positions in the government. Ninjas were peeved because, by all means, they were superior. Civilians were peeved because they wanted to hold onto their positions of power and superpowered generals with entire armies of ALSO superpowered soldiers at their beck and call was not an easy thing to control.

    Previously, ninjas didn''t have time to set their eyes on the positions of Daimyo or wealthy merchants. Now that there are viges, this started to slowly change. More and more often ninjas be wealthy by doing business rather than mercenary work. More and more often ninjas, retired or not, participate in the civilian stuff. Just the civilian council in Konoha has a few retired ninjas in it. Needless to say, inwardly, civilians are not really happy about it and see it as ninjas trying to wheedle them out of their seats of power.

    Which... the ninjas arguably are indeed doing. It is only natural.

    And civilians, in return, decided to go slyly about it. After all, ALL of the three ninja wars were caused by missions gone wrong where two viges shed due to an assignment by powerful aristocrats of their respective nations. Civilians had to be subtle and convincing in their dealings and weakening of the ninjas.

    While Rei really didn''t care if it was the ninjas or the civilians on the top... he had his own nation and that was that... he also had to be realistic and admit that ninjas would eventually dominate the ruling positions for no other reason than they had the necessary power. The ninja viges existed for barely a bit more than six decades up to date and the power struggle between the ninjas and civilians already started in some parts of the world. Orochimaru and his take-over of the Rice Country was a prime example of such a thing.

    ''Then again...'' Rei smiled at the eager face of the Wind Daimyo, ''Why would I let an opportunity to get the seat of the Kazekage let go just because the idiots in charge are currently bickering like sniveling children?''

    "Our request is simple," Pakura gave Rei a nce, noticing he was letting her take the lead and started talking, "Rasa wanted to kill me. He overstepped his boundaries and created a way for us towfully attack his position. I know you won''t be able to extend political capital to fully deal with him, Mikumi. Don''t worry. I am not asking for that. All I want is your support for my challenge."

    "Challenge?" Mikumi''s eyebrows lifted into his hairline as his mind instantly understood Pakura''s angle.

    Mischievously smiling, Pakura nodded, "I would like to officially challenge him to a Grudge Duel for the position of the Ruling n, as is my right ording to thews of Sunagakure because of his actions."

    "Aww, shit." Mikumi grinned, "He really screwed up, didn''t he? Not even Rasa could worm his way out of this! Not since this tradition was started by his very own family!" He almost jumped in excitement and glee. Finally, the arrogant bastard of a Kazekage would be out of his way! Finally, he will be able to make proper use of the Suna ninjas if Rasa was booted out of his office! "Of course, I will support you and organize it, Pakura! But..." His grin faltered, "you know you will need at least one n from the Sunagakure to also recognize your grudge against the Sabaku family as proper."

    "Ah, don''t worry. We certainly have our ways." Pakura mischievously uttered. "I only wonder how pissed will Rasa be when he realizes I intend to take his family''s power the exact same way as they obtained it."

    And just like that... the Wind Daimyo was fully on board with their schemes, happy beyond belief to have an actual part in it, not really realizing he was, in fact, not getting more control over the Sunagakure with his actions.

 Chapter 237 - Ch237. Rasas dethroning 1

    <h4>Chapter 237 - Ch237. Rasa''s dethroning 1</h4>

    Two months have passed since Pakura and Rei met with the Wind Daimyo. The man was incredibly busy with his duties and as such, the issue regarding Rasa was put on hold. Partly, that was to make Rasa rx while everything was subtly prepared in the shadows, and partly to give the Wind Daimyo enough time to finish most of his impending duties so he would have time to go to Sunagakure for this special asion.

    That''s why Rasa was currently quietly seething and sweating bullets while sitting in his Kazekage seat in the council room of Sunagakure as the Wind Daimyo sat in his own designated ce, smugly smirking at the man.

    It was only four hours prior that the Daimyo unexpectedly arrived at Sunagakure and instantly called for a council meeting. After two months of nothing happening, Rasa really didn''t expect the Daimyo to pull out the issue with Pakura. At least, not like this. Not in front of the entire vige council. Rasa didn''t have any doubt about what would be discussed in the meeting. The green-haired woman sitting next to the Daimyo in the seat of the guest of honor was all he needed to understand his position and the crisis approaching. It clearly made him incredibly nervous as his mind started going through variousws and regtions that could pull him through the damning situation. After all, there must be some useful loophole somewhere, right?

    The unfortunate Rasa had no idea what really awaited him.

    The Sunagakure''s council was very reminiscent of the one in Konoha. As in Konoha, there were three parts. As in Konoha, there were n heads and elders. Unlike in Konoha, however, there was no civilian side, and the third part was solely made up of aplished ninjas of renown from Sunagakure.

    No wealthy civilians having a say in thews of the vige meant there were not as many willing investors as in Konoha, hoping to gain power in the vige''s council. On the other hand, it also meant less friction in the council. Ninjas understood ninjas and knew what they needed. There was far less politicking than in Konoha since there was no need to keep civilians happy. This created a quite efficient council and honestly, Rei was utterly convinced that was the only reason the vige didn''t crumble yet under Rasa''s horrendous administration.

    As thest member of the council took his seat, the Daimyo slowly stood up in a regal manner and spoke, "Since we are all gathered, let''s start this meeting. ANBU, please seal the room." He ordered his own loyal ninja guards around him instantly going on guard, staring at the ninja-filled room in case somebody got some bright idea.

    Wind Daimyo''s ninja guards were not previous ninjas from Sunagakure. Instead, they were taken from orphanages at a young age and trained with the full weight of all resources the Daimyo put into them, excepting nothing but total loyalty and service to him and his family. To be honest, even Pakura, the one who hated the idea of taking kids from orphanages and manipting them, had to admit the Wind Daimyo at the very least provided a good life for the orphans that would otherwise most likely die before reaching a.d.u.l.thood.

    Little did the ninjas, Daimyo, and his guards knew. The biggest threat to their continued existence was currently sitting next to the most important man in the room in the form of a lithe green-haired woman and an aristocratic-looking blond-haired man who aloofly looked at the proceedings with a small expectant smirk.

    ''Two SS-rank rogue ninjas in the room, sitting right next to the most important person in the country, and nobody is the wiser.'' Rei stifled a chuckle at the thought. ''Making these ck cloaks for obscuring our identity as the members of Yozora was the best thing I could havee up with! Damn, I am a genius!'' He mentally patted his back.

    The door was sealed and the council room quieted. The tension in the air was almost palpable as the older members of the council stared either iprehensibly or in disbelief at Pakura while the newer ones tried to think up a reason for their older counterparts unveiled interest in the girl next to the Daimyo. It was a curious sight for the Daimyo. Especially since he expected more old coots to be sitting behind the council table. To find so many ns changed leadership in recent years... it was indeed curious, to say the least.

    Nevertheless, the Daimyo was not there to gawk at the many unknown faces and wonder when the politicalndscape in his hidden vige changed so much. He had a duty, a very satisfying one at that! "I am sure many of you wonder why I left my seat in the Wind Capital and came all the way to Sunagakure without forewarning you about my arrival." He started, instantly catching the rapt attention of everybody in the room.

    Everybody present knew the Daimyo didn''t travel for no reason. He couldn''t afford to as even the shitty and selfish Daimyo like the Water one actually had to rule if he wanted to stay in power. While privileged, Daimyos had many responsibilities and prolonged travel simply couldn''t fit into their schedule. It was obvious the man was not here for a leisure visit or a vacation.

    Suddenly, the stares on Pakura intensified as the elders'' eyes widened in sudden realization. When their facts suddenly clicked together. It was a simple deduction... really.

    Everybody knew Daimyo hated Rasa and wanted to get rid of him.

    And the woman sitting next to the Daimyo was one of the Suna''s past heroes who was supposed to be dead because of a diplomatic mission to the Kirigakure she was made to take... on Rasa''s orders.

    The Daimyo gestured at Pakura, "I am sure most of you already know her. This is Pakura, the hero of the Third War. The same kunoichi who was supposed to be dead..." He pleasantly added before gleefully turning towards Rasa who looked like a dear in the headlights, "right, Rasa?"

    ''Oh, shit...'' The members of the council suddenly had to resist an incredible urge to groan as even the youngest and the least experienced of them was hit with the full weight of what the Wind Daimyo was insinuating.

    Their day suddenly got a whole lot more interesting.

    And troublesome.

 Chapter 238 - Ch238. Rasas dethroning 2

    <h4>Chapter 238 - Ch238. Rasa''s dethroning 2</h4>

    "Mikumi-sama, you... aren''t saying what I think you are saying, are you?" Asked Ebizo, one of the two Elders while Chiyo instantly stopped dozing off.

    This was serious. Kazekage breaking the fewws that still apply to him? Distasteful. Worse yet, the Kazekage being discovered breaking the fewws that still apply to him? Disaster! That was an unmitigated shitstorm for the Sunagakure. From this point, anything from aplete overhaul of the higher-ups of Suna to a small manageable civil unrest could happen, depending on what the Daimyo and council will agree upon. It was honestly in the wind.

    Though... from the way the Wind Daimyo looked and what was discussed, it was obvious the Kazekage hat would most likely find a new owner today.

    ''Stupid boy,'' Chiyo nced at Rasa with a disappointed tired gaze before focusing back on the Daimyo and the supposed Pakura, ''now, the only thing is to find out what route will the Daimyo chose to go about this.'' She inwardly sighed, from the top of her head capable of naming five strategies that would have a chance at removing Rasa from his seat in this situation. ''Let''s see if I can somehow mitigate this disaster.''

    "Daimyo-sama," Chiyo''s raspy old voice calmly rang through the council room, something that didn''t happen for so long, the heads of the council members snapped in her direction, "How are we to be certain the woman next to you is really Pakura?" She eyed the green-haired girl with a shrewd gleam. "We all know there are many ways one can be impersonated and that''s not counting all the special bloodlines or Jutsus we have no idea about. The woman next to you looks twenty-five at the height of her prime and we all know for a fact, Pakura would be around thirty-three if she was alive. For a civilian, the difference between these eight years is not so discernible but for a ninja, it is the difference between desert and sand yground." She slowly voiced her thoughts in a heavy manner, causing many doubts to flow through the room while Rasa gained a hopeful glint but stayed silent, knowing his input could simply worsen things and the Daimyo visibly faltered. Chiyo only looked as if she was putting a lot of effort into not falling asleep as she continued, "Are you sure you were not deceived, Daimyo-sama?"

    The various n heads seemed very intrigued and clearly wanted an answer or proof of Pakura''s identity. The Daimyo himself knew Pakura is who she says she is. In the past two months, they met a few times and he could honestly say she changed very little personality-wise. But he simply could not prove her identity, causing him to furrow his eyebrows and frown at Chiyo who stayed stoic.

    Chiyo didn''t really like Rasa all that much. She quite disliked him and that was also the reason why she often fell asleep during the council meetings. She always found him a worthless leader so there was no reason to add to the senility levels in the room by staying awake. If she didn''t care for Sunagakure so much, she would have retired a long time ago anyway. It''s just that her position granted her a way to prevent at least some disasters aimed at Sunagakure. Like now, for example. The best way to take the wind from the Daimyo''s sails was to discredit Pakura and establish doubts about her identity. Without a proper justification, there is nothing the Daimyo could do, no matter if he was de facto the ruler of their nation. At least, not where it concerned the shinobi affairs.

    While the Wind Daimyo was frowning at the old hag who dared to question him, Pakura simply impassively raised an eyebrow at Chiyo... and that''s when Chiyo knew she f.u.c.k.e.d up.

    It was years before Chiyost interacted with Pakura. Coupled with her advanced age, her memory wasn''t the best so nobody could fault her for forgetting something about supposedly dead kunoichi. That eyebrow-raising, however... now that made Chiyo''s mind experience shback after shback as dread filled her eyes when she realized...

    ''Shit! It''s really Pakura! She is going to...!'' Chiyo started to take a breath to stop the woman from...

    "Elder Chiyo," Pakura''s quiet, calm, and collected voice with a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt resounded through the room as a vicious gleam shed through her eyes, "you once told me about how poisonously stabby you got with your first husband during one particrly intimate moment. The poor guy never woke up after that. At least his wealth fell into the hands of his mortified widow, right?" Pakura eye-smiled at the woman whose eyes bulged out while the jaws of the council members, hidden ANBU, and the Daimyo alongside his entourage dropped at the tant usation of kin ying.

    Pakura slowly turned her head towards Ebizo, "Elder Ebizo," Her lips stretched into a small mischievous smile as if she was going to reveal some naughty secret, "you killed your older brother when you were fifteen in order to be the heir of your n. But hey! Unfortunate idents happen all the time to the clumsy n heirs, no?"

    Ebizo''s lips thinned but his facade held. The rest of the council, however, were now staring at him in utter disbelief. Especially the n heads were torn between feeling disgust and wanting to demand proof he did not do what the green-haired woman insinuated. Killing a n heir and stealing the heirship? There was no worse crime for these n heads.

    Despite the sudden and shocking revtion, Ebizo''s secret had as much worth as Chiyo''s. None whatsoever. These were things that happened long, long ago. Things nobody would go poking their nose into just because. Yes, they were important and well-guarded secrets but in the end, they were harmless in the grand scheme of things. At most, the Elders lost prestige. Nobody could persecute them for it. Not without proof that would be impossible to find after all these years. Then again... the Shinobi world worked a bit differently.

    Pakura was quite satisfied as she turned her head yet again to the young man sitting to the right of Ebizo, her lips still in that infuriating small smile. "Karuen Koichi..." She hummed, "I don''t really have anything on you since you are too young for me to know. Your father though." Trailing off, Pakura heightened the sense of dread in the young man who had no idea what kind of dirt the woman would pull on his family. "If my memory serves well, you are a bastard child of one of your father''s mistresses from the red-light district since his wife is infertile. Your real mother was killed after giving birth and you were raised as a son of..."

    "WE GET IT!" Chiyo loudly eximed before coughing a few times from the stress.

    Koichi seemed totally bewildered by what the woman said about his circ.u.mstances of birth. Stiffening, he found himself being stared at by other council members and even the Daimyo. Only after a moment, it clicked for him. ''I... am not my mother''s son?'' His breath hitched, remembering all the praise heaped upon him and how his talent in n Jutsu was just as high as his supposed mother. Needless to say, the world suddenly flipped upside down for the young n head.

    "That''s enough. You are Pakura." Chiyo reluctantly admitted, her n to discredit the woman utterly foiled. ''How could I forget she was one of the very few people with ess to even the darkest secrets of our vige?'' She mentally questioned herself, realizing what this all meant in growing horror, ''She is a walking treasure trove of vige secrets and we can''t even persecute her for it as she is dered dead! Oh, hell...'' Chiyo''s shoulders slumped.

    "d we cleared that up." The Daimyo chuckled at how Pakura resolved the situation. "Now... if nobody else has any questions, I think it''s time for today''s main agenda." He dramatically paused and everybody leaned forward in anticipation, "Pakura came to me with a request to sanction a Grudge Duel against Rasa Sabaku for the position of the Ruling n. The winner''s family will be the new royal n of Sunagakure."

    The room descended into deafening silence.

 Chapter 239 - Ch239. Rasas dethroning 3

    <h4>Chapter 239 - Ch239. Rasa''s dethroning 3</h4>

    Rei stifled a chortle as he saw the dumbfounded and slightly fearful faces of the Suna Council who wondered what kind of secrets Pakura knew about them. He was well aware all Pakura had to do was demonstrate her signature Scorch technique. While the council would still be able to question her identity because another Scorch user could have resurfaced or whatever bull they would probably try to pull, if the Daimyo supported Pakura after that, there was nothing the Suna council could do. It would pass as proof of her identity no matter how reluctant and unwilling would the council be.

    Revealing their secrets though... now that was a stroke of genius. She not only subtly threatened them, but she also showed them they NEED to integrate her back into the vige. There was no chance to tag her as a rogue ninja. Not while their Daimyo supported her. Not when she was a part of the Uzushio Trading Company. There was only one way to make her keep her mouth shut and that was to get her back into their ninja rank since every ninja is obligated to keep vige secrets... well, secret.

    ''Damn, she yed these old and young coots like a fiddle.'' Rei''s eyes sparkled in amus.e.m.e.nt, ''They have no other option than to give their support to her in the next stage of her n.''

    "You want to usurp the Sabaku n!?" Rasa angrily burst out and stood up, balling his hands into fists as he red at Pakura with extreme hatred. "You can''t do that!" He eximed.

    Rasa was fine with being booted from the Kazekage office. It just meant one of his cousins would get the position until one of his kids is a Jonin. The veryws of his vige would safeguard that. Rasa also believed his kids to be failures. He could easily manipte them from the shadows so, really, him not being the Kazekage was just a formality that would probably even suit him well. He never expected Pakura to try and usurp the rulership of the vige for herself!

    Daimyo knew the n and as such, before anyone else could react and make the process more difficult, he spoke, "On the contrary, Rasa. It was YOUR family that pushed, ckmailed, and bribed for thisw to be introduced in the vige. It was YOUR family that snatched the control of the Kazekage position through it. And it was YOUR family that made it possible for us to demand the same of you as long as all the rules are properly followed." He gave the people in the room a pointed look, daring them to contradict him despite knowing he was right. "As such, we will now vote if the reason of one, Rasa Sabaku, for sending Pakura Yotsuba, one of the strongest and most influential ninjas of Sunagakure in her time, on a suicide mission, conspiring with Kirigakure in order to get rid of his political enemy, is enough to evoke the Grudge Match. Rasa Sabaku broke thews of this vige as well as this nation by conspiring with an enemy vige for, not the benefit of either the vige or the nation, but his own. He willingly offered the life of one of our strongest shields for no other reason than he felt threatened. I beseech you to think about it. If he could do it to Pakura who was at the time beloved and revered as the hero of Sunagakure..." Who is to say he won''t do it to you went unsaid.

    Rasa knew he lost this round. If he threw a temper tantrum now, it would not help his cause. Not at all. It would simply portray him as imm.a.t.u.r.e. He had no other option than to sit down and quietly seethe, letting the vote go on.

    Chiyo impassively stared at the Daimyo who just delivered his speech while inwardly she was groaning, knowing at least some of the young n heads would be captured by it. As for the others... ''All the ways they could go about removing Rasa, they just had to choose the most troublesome one! And I unknowingly made it easier for them! Curse it all! To think I would be so easily yed.'' She huffed in irritation.

    Pakura had to be returned to the service of the vige if the secrets she knew were to stay secret. All of the council members knew that. The problem was how to ensure it since she was clearly under the protection of both the Wind Daimyo and the Uzusio Trading Company. And here, the Daimyo himself gave them an easy way out. After all, if the Grudge Match was on, it would either mean Pakura would die or she would be the Kazekage. Either way, she wouldn''t be able to reveal what she knows to the enemy.

    ''I guess, it could be worse. At least if the girl wins the vige would retain the Daimyo''s favor again.'' Chiyo grumbled as she made the decision of who to support.

    While Chiyo fought the internal battle of decisions, Rei watched the upants in the room, seeing they also considered their options. Only when his eyesnded on Suzumiya Mirano did they sparkle in a massive amount of amus.e.m.e.nt that could be tranted to internallyughing his a.s.s off. The woman in question noticed and returned a small understanding smile to Rei.

    Seeing the people in the room more or less made their decisions, the Daimyo decided to continue the meeting. "Let''s vote."

    Unsurprisingly to Rei, Mirano was the first who raised her hand and voted in favor of the Grudge Match. Seeing her do that, three other ns and four independent ninjas on the council followed her lead while Rei had to bite his lower lip in order to not burst into uncontrobleughter at the bewildered face Rasa sported when the entire neutral faction in the council, united for the first time during his whole tenure, voted against him.

    The Suzumiya n was a very new n in the vige. They only became a part of it at the end of the Third Ninja War. During Rasa''s rule, however, the n rose in status until it rivaled the most influential ns in both wealth and power. There were not many ninjas in the Suzumiya n but all of them were powerful.

    When the financial crisis hit the vige because of Rasa''s mismanagement and sour rtionship with the Daimyo, it was the Suzumiya n who helped those in need. The poorer ns and individuals. Naturally, the amount of goodwill and political capital they .u.mted over these harsh years was staggering.

    It was... only their connection to the Biri-Biripany that allowed them to grow so quickly.

    And Rei couldn''t help but admire Konan''s scheming. It was really incredibly good of a decision to send their employees undercover into Sunagakure all these years ago and have them form a n. Because of that and the help this n gave to the vige through hispany, Rei currently held 8 votes out of 21 in the Sunagakure''s council with none the wiser.

    The next to vote was the so-called anti-Rasa faction which provided another 7 votes in favor of the Grudge Match. During his time as the Kazekage, Rasa made quite a few enemies. While they couldn''t say anything against him while he was in power, now that there was a way to kick him while he was down, they would naturally go for it.

    Really, having the Suzumiya n provided quite a lot of inside information to Rei. There was no way in hell Pakura would lose the vote. He knew it from the start, he simply wanted to see all the bickering.

    Surprisingly enough, only three people voted against the Match. Two ns and one Baki. They were closest to Rasa in the political field. Not that their votes helped the man and they knew it. They simply stood by him in case he won the match. Either way, there was no loss for them.

    In the end, the vote ended with 17 for and 4 against the Match. Rasa couldn''t help but slump in his seat while Pakura beamed at him. It was decided. The fight was on.

 Chapter 240 - Ch240. Pakura vs Rasa 1

    <h4>Chapter 240 - Ch240. Pakura vs Rasa 1</h4>

    Pakura stood twenty feet apart from Rasa in the Sunagakure''s ''arena'', her right hand on her hip while the other arm leisurely hung alongside her body, prepared to snap into action at the slightest sign of need. Her slight knowing smile unnerved Rasa who eyed her for any kind of information he could discern before the fighting began while his mind quickly started sifting through what he remembered of Pakura from her time of service to Sunagakure. Rasa wasn''t about to be careless. He knew well that Pakura was one hell of a kunoichi and Grudge Match was... a fight to the death.

    Looking around, Pakura noted the arena didn''t change in the slightest since she left the vige. Even the boulders were in the same area where she remembered them. Unlike Konoha''s colosseum-like arena, Suna used vast open space akin to a desert littered with many boulders, asional trees, and even a smallke on the side. Maintaining thatke was quite a problem for Sunagakure so they only filled it with water during the Chuunin Exams. Considering neither Pakura nor Rasa had water affinity, theke was currentlypletely dry.

    In the stands around the sand-filled arena, the Daimyo and the important people of Sunagakure watched as Pakura and Rasa were about to fight. Excitement filled the ninja and civilians alike in expectation of witnessing two Kage level titans go at each other with the intent to kill.

    "How exciting," Pakura drylymented when she heard the boisterous cheers from the audience, "Who would have thought killing would be so popr."

    "Anyone who ever heard of hidden viges." Rasa snorted and took two scrolls out of his pockets. "Seriously, what do they teach traitors nowadays?"

    "Administration," Pakura shrugged, letting her light jacket fall from her shoulders onto the sandy ground, "You know... the stuff that actually helps to keep the vige rich and running." She added in a dismissive yet mocking tone that had Rasa''s eyebrow twitch.

    "Your utterck of denial concerning treason is not lost on me." Rasa coldly countered.

    "Rasa," Pakura drawled in a slightly fed-up voice, "Your pre-battle taunting sucks." She deadpanned. "Honestly, cut the crap, golden boy. You were always good at straightforward things so try to focus on those. Psychological warfare is not for you." She retorted dismissively before starting to stretch and roll her shoulders in preparation for the fight.

    Silence ensued between the twobatants, signaling both were done with their pre-battle talks. Seeing it, Chiyo sighed, knowing the vige would lose one of its S-rank ninjas today, no matter who won. Without further ado, she connected a chakra string to a basic puppet between Pakura and Rasa, causing it to stand up and raise its wooden arm, raising the tension to the utmost extreme. With another twitch of Chiyo''s finger, the arm swung down...

    Bothbatants burst into action.

    Rasa instantly threw the two scrolls upwards into the air and had to quickly move his head to the side as a kunai whizzed through the ce his eye was only a split second ago courtesy of Pakura who was now sprinting straight at him at jonin-level speed.

    Cl.i.c.k.i.n.g her tongue at the two scrolls in the air, Pakura brieflymented that her initial throw didn''t prevent Rasa from throwing them and bought her time to get close. As she was halfway through the distance between her and Rasa, the two scrolls burst open in a copious amount of white smoke before it was brutally dispersed by the literal mountain of gold dust falling right onto Pakura in a crushing attempt at ending the battle.

    Within a blink of an eye, the golden dustnded right on Pakura''s head, sending a small earthquake through the area as if a giant just stomped onto the ground. Rasa''s tensed body slightly rxed... and kunai found its way to the nape of his head, razing its way upward straight into his brain.

    Pakura who appeared behind Rasa had to let go of her kunai as Rasa''s body burst into golden dust that instantly snapped into action, trying to engulf her in its crushing embrace. As she jumped right and left, evading tendril after tendril of golden dust, Pakura suddenly tripped, only briefly noticing that some grains of sand under her feet glitter in a bit too sparkly way while her body was falling towards the ground. Rasa didn''t give her even a half-second of contemtion as the golden dust wrapped itself around her body and squashed...

    Throwing himself onto the ground into a roll, Rasa barely evaded a swipe at his jugr from his blind spot. Arming himself with a kunai in mid-roll, the second he found himself again on his feet, Rasa had to block Pakura''s kunai only for his eyes to widen as she noticed her dual-wielding them a second toote.

    Pakura''s second kunai buried itself into Rasa''s heart straight through the gap in his ribcage, his body again bursting into golden dust as Pakura jumped back and threw kunai to her right before using a quick Kawarimi with it as the golden dust was about topress around her.

    Coincidentally, the kunainded right in front of Rasa''s feet, giving him a shock of a lifetime as the second Pakura appeared in front of him, her fist smashed straight into his nose, sending him flying backward with a satisfying crunch...

    Spikes of golden dust rose from under Pakura, piercing her body while the flying form of Rasa dissolved into golden dust. Pakura spat blood with a wide-eyed expression, giving her only a second toprehend what was happening before the spikes in her body twitched... her body waspletely and brutally torn to pieces from inside out, dirtying the sand with her blood, torn muscles, pieces of bones and organs.

    Rasa was cautiously rising from the ground a few feet away from the horror scene when the temperature experienced a sudden rise in his vicinity, only giving him a moment to realize a genjutsu was at y.

    In a scorching sh originating right above Rasa, the audience was briefly blinded. Only the most experienced ninjas of Suna noticed the ce the Kazekage was rising from was nowpletely turned to superheated ss from the sheer searing heat before the temperature rose so much it evaporated water in the air, resulting in a cloudy vapor obscuring the spectators.

    Nobody got toin however as a secondter, the Kazekage used Futon: Great Breakthrough, sending a crushing pressurized air through the battlefield, dispersing the vapor in a matter of milliseconds before he was forced to duck yet another swipe at his neck courtesy of Pakura who used the brief distraction andck of vision to sneak near him.

    This time, however, Pakura anticipated the dodge and Rasa found her foot imnted in his stomach the second he ducked... the knife in Pakura''s hand quickly flipped into backhand grip as she violently plunged it into the back of Rasa''s head... almost growling as he yet again burst into golden dust.

    A split secondter, her upper body was torn from her lower parts by the sheer pressure a tendril of golden dust that smacked into her generated.

    As chunks of Pakura''s organs showered the sands of the arena in the southern sector, in the eastern one, Rasa barely managed to block a strike from the real Pakura with his own kunai, cursing at the disadvantage yet happy that this time he was wholly prepared for it.

    Golden dust under his feet snapped into action, aiming for Pakura at breakneck speeds while she simply flicked her wrist and let Rasa''s kunai slide on hers, getting into his guard in one masterful deflection of Rasa''s block... when the golden dust tore her legs to shreds.

    Rasa didn''t manage to dodge the kunai she threw a moment before she was dispelled as he was too distracted by the fact Pakura knew a Konoha Kinjutsu, his eye socket getting a new kunai-sized piercing with blood squirting out... only for a log to appear in his ce a momentter.

    The battlefield was once again empty, the audience looking for the two hiddenbatants with silent anticipation and barely hidden trepidation as chills passed through their spines at the fast pace of thebat and the various supposed deaths they witnessed in short order.

    Everybody knew even the slightest mistake would be the end of the battle and THAT was a sobering thought even for most of the jonins as they pondered if they would even be still alive with such a deadly pace and every strike more lethal and brutal than the previous one.

    Seeing the wide-eyed people around her, Chiyo bitterly smiled, ''To think neither of them used anything but the basics of their personalbat style yet... Such a monumental waste.'' She let out a muffled groan at the loss of such a ninja that would certainly follow at the end of the match.

 Chapter 241 - Ch241. Temaris thoughts

    <h4>Chapter 241 - Ch241. Temari''s thoughts</h4>

    Temari stood in the stands, watching her father and the strange foreign kunoichi trying to kill each other with such vicious brutality and ferocity it caused her to shiver in barely restrained fright. She was ten years old and honestly, she envied Kankuro who dully stood next to her, staring in awe and considerable frustration at the fight. Her brother was not yet trained to the degree he could follow what was happening in the arena with his eyes. He knew he was witnessing something monumentally grand. Something incredible. And he also tried to see more of it but he was unable to. And that, in Temari''s opinion, was quite fortunate. At least he wouldn''t have a scare of his life.

    One cannotprehend what one cannot see, after all.

    She, on the other hand, had sufficient training to be capable of following chunin-level speeds. Her bastard of a father made sure it was beaten into her as her early birthday gift until her reaction speed improved. While she didn''t catch everything going on in the arena, she at least could get the gist of the important details in-between all the rapid blurs and gory scary stuff.

    The bottom line was... Temari for the first time in her life saw what the elite ninjas were like. And with it, came a realization. She could at any time encounter such an opponent in the field once she graduated. No matter how slim the chances were, it was possible. Temari quickly re-evaluated her life values.

    ''I will have to step up my training.'' She decided deep down in her heart, unwilling to ept that the fight in front of her was making her a teensy bit excited because of how terrifying it was for her young mind.

    For a few seemingly unending minutes, Temari watched as Pakura stabbed and shed her father, getting crushed or squished in return in what seemed like some deadly dance of knives and golden dust.

    Pakura''s hands often blurred and before Temari couldprehend what happened, she found a kunai deeply lodged in some lethal part of her father only for Pakura''s body to be violently dismantled by the golden dust a secondter.

    As this continued, however, Temari slowly started to see a small difference. It was only slight and barely noticeable but it was there! Temari leaned forward in interest and anticipation, for a second feeling bad that she found excitement in the fact her father would be run through with kunai or that his opponent in the match to the death was slowly starting to get more effective in fighting him. That feeling quickly left when she remembered her childhood though...

    Suddenly Temari''s eyes widened and her breath hitched as something that never before happened... happened.

    The kunai of the green-haired woman slit Rasa''s throat only for him to burst into golden dust that instantly tried to smoothen Pakura. Everybody in the stands rapidly started looking around, expecting the twobatants to pop up in a different ce and the fight to continue but this time was different.

    This time... Pakura dodged.

    As the tendrils of golden dust tried to epass her lithe form, Pakura flipped herself to the side, blurring... dodging the quickly moving dust...

    Temari blinked at the unpredictability of the action. Pakura didn''t dodge even once, at least, not visibly. The sheer shock of the action made Temari nk out for a split of a second only to notice her father''s form a few tens of feet away with kunai handle-deep in his forehead, its tip peeking out from the back of his head.

    She half-expected him to die. Pakura ''killed'' him two times in under two seconds. Surely he was not fast enough to evade that...

    Before the slight feeling of guilt and happiness could fully bloom in her c.h.e.s.t, the form of her father dissolved into golden dust and Temari suddenly found herself trying to suppress the feeling of inadequacy and disappointment.

    Shaking herself from her feelings, she refocused back onto the fight. Her father and his opponent were yet again locked in close-quarterbat, exchanging blows with their kunais. Golden dust swirled, bashed, smashed, and ripped through the air only for the nimble and graceful form of Pakura to weave through the attacks while pressing her father with her masterful knifework.

    Temari couldn''t see all of the moves. To her, the kunais twirled, blurred, whizzed far too fast. She could, however, see that her father was really at a disadvantage when Pakura so easily deflected his kunai,pletely bypassing his guard and snapping the arm which not a slip second ago blocked into a vicious jab. Pakura''s hand blurred and Temari was again graced with the scene of her father having kunai run through his head from under his chin.

    Rxing, Temari bit her lips, ''Am I a bad person for not caring when I see my father''s form like that?'' She mused. At the start, it bothered her. Now? Now her father supposedly died over forty times in front of her since the start of this match. Sure, it was just clones made of golden dust but to her, it seemed pretty real. ''No... he deserves it. For what he did to Gaara.'' Temari stubbornly decided, her eyes watering.

    "Interesting fight, wouldn''t you agree, Temari?"

    A handnded on her shoulder as these words entered her ears and Temari flinched as if she was stabbed. Snapping her head to the left, her shoulders sagged, "Chiyo-baa. Don''t scare me like that!" She pouted, getting a small smile from the old, usually grumpy woman.

    Ignoring the small outrage in Temari''s tone, Chiyo continued speaking in what Temari recognized as the olddy''s teacher mode from the lessons Kankuro was getting, "Observe the fight closely, Temari. It will serve you well." It was then that Kankuro was about to open his mouth, most likelyin about not being able to decipher what was really going on in the battlefield, only to be smacked by Chiyo before he could speak, causing his mouth to snap shut while his cheeks pinked as he petntly crossed his arms on his c.h.e.s.t.

    Temari giggled at her brother''s misfortune, "They are incredibly fast."

    "That they are, child. That they are. Your father was not chosen to be the Kazekage because of his ugly mug." Chiyo mirthfully chortled. "And yet, this is more psychological battle rather than all-out slug-fest, girl."

    Hearing that, Temari''s eyes widened, "What!?" She blurted out, making some people turn towards her with admonishing gazes just as in the battlefield, Pakura''s arms were torn from her torso in exchange for getting a kunai up Rasa''s a.s.s and then kicking it deeper for a good measure with a snap-kick.

    Seeing that particr moment, Chiyo burst outughing while Temari ducked her head in utterly mortifying embarrassment as she saw her father''s eyes widen to humorous proportions when Pakura buggered him with pointy steel.

    Rasa dissolved into golden dust while Pakura changed to mud, surprising many she could do Earth Jutsu.

    "What do you mean ''psychological''?" Temari asked in a vain attempt to make the Honorable Elder next to her stopughing at the humiliation her father suffered.

    Finally managing to stop herself fromughing, Chiyo spoke, "They are barely using basics. Both of them are ninjutsu experts focused on their bloodline and yet, all Pakura is using is her exceptional kunaijutsu and some rudimentary low-cost Jutsus while your father didn''t use even one battlefield-reshaping technique. Chakra-wise, they could keep this up all day as long as neither does any mistake." She shook her head.

    "But... But father is using so much dust!" Temari eximed in disbelief, knowing her family''s bloodline is very chakra exhausting.

    "Simple techniques he mastered long ago and while there are tons of golden dust on the battlefield, the amount of dust he actively maniptes in a single instance is really small. He simply switches to the dust closest to his opponent. It just looks as if he used a whole lot of it but in reality, he is using minimum. No... they could go at it for an entire day like this with neither of them exhausted. Rasa most likely regenerates chakra faster than he is losing it at this rate. The golden dust clone is simply that cheap for him with his degree of mastery over his bloodline. As for Pakura... well." Chiyo trailed off in a small difort.

    Noticing, Temari curiously tilted her head, not separating her gaze from the two fighters in the arena, "What about her?"

    "She is the only kunoichi mad and skilled enough to face members of the seven swordsmen of mist only with two kunais." Chiyo shrugged, "In her time, she was the pride of our vige. What Yondaime Hokage was to Konoha, she was to us to a lesser degree... at least before your father apparently decided to off her." She added in distaste before muttering, "Serves the prick well."

    Hearing about the apparent skill of the agile kunoichi, Temari''s eyes excitedly lit up as she wondered if she could get so strong one day too. Seeing Temari''s reaction, Chiyo hummed in self-satisfaction as her eyes flickered from side to side all over the arena, watching the flurry of death delivered by Pakura. Chiyo was far too experienced to not notice the ever-so-slight measured increase in speed of Pakura. Slowly increasing her speed from jonin-level to S-rank in twenty minutes? Chiyo thought not. At least, not unintentionally. Pakura was ying with Rasa, measuring him.

    It wasn''t even funny, really. Not when in some instances, Pakura''s hands went from zero to hundred in matters of a split second, redirecting her stabs and strikes with such a sudden increase of speed that even Chiyo barely saw it as more than a blur. The worst part was that Pakura masked it so well, Chiyo doubted even many of the Suna Jonins noticed what the green-haired woman was actually doing. After all, she only managed to catch it because of her expertise in puppetry, and having quick fingers alongside sudden snap-ish movements of hands was a must in her chosen field.

    Then again, speed was only one factor and the fight was far from decided. Not when neither of the ninjutsu experts used ninjutsu yet.

    ''Let''s hope this talk will lessen Temari''s hard feelings if Pakura wins.'' Chiyo wistfully thought.

 Chapter 242 - Ch242. Pakura vs Rasa 2

    <h4>Chapter 242 - Ch242. Pakura vs Rasa 2</h4>

    Pakura softly clicked her heel on the sandy ground under her, channeling her chakra, and instantly with a scorching hot white sh, the ground around her was instantly turned into a ssy area, preventing Rasa from mixing his golden dust with the sand on the ground and sneaking it near her.

    "I am growing tired of cutting you up." She crossed her hands under her c.h.e.s.t in a condescending manner, "Are we finally going to fight seriously?"

    The second she said that, a massive twenty-foot tall wave of golden dust rose from the sands behind her in a blink of an eye, viciously lunging at her as if it was a hungry beast.

    Pakura turned her head, inwardly praising Rasa that he attacked from behind rather than head-on as was seemingly the norm nowadays, and lifted her hand with her fingers ready for a snapping motion, aiming at the avnche of golden dust... ''So he used our little forey to substitute sands under the ground with his golden dust, leaving only a thinyer of sand on top of it as camouge, huh?'' Pakura thought as she snapped her fingers sending a rapid wave of her special scorch chakra forward with incredible velocity.

    The tsunami of Golden dust met a supersonic wave of scorching heat, briefly blinding the observers as white sh spread through the battlefield as fast as it disappeared, leaving only a massive semi-liquid lump of smelted gold of the size of the Hokage monument in Konoha behind that was quickly cooling off and hardening, making Rasa''s chakra have a lot of trouble as he tried and failed to manipte it.

    Pakura, still standing in the same spot, looked at the mountain of gold she helped to create and a small smile appeared on her usually stoic face. The deed was a whole lot harder and impressive than it looked, to be honest. Too much heat and the gold would need more time to harden into a somewhat solid form, giving Rasa enough time to pull it effortlessly back into small grains of gold. That would not cause many problems for him. Too little heat and the tsunami of golden dust could have bypassed her scorch release, reaching her. That was not ideal either.

    Pakura was indeed quite proud of herself and the feat of chakra control she disyed by making sure the veritable mountain of gold would cool off quick enough that Rasa would be hard-pressed to get itbat-ready again.

    "You know..." She turned around, straight in the direction where Rasa was hiding underground, "I trained a lot with the help of my husband to perfect my Scorch Release. The second I showed him how I use it... he actually berated me for an entire week for wasting so much chakra on maintaining balls of it for offense when I could just as easily use it in quick session of rapid waves of scorching heat to instantly vaporize my enemies in a surprise attack." A nostalgic smile appeared on Pakura''s face, "I won''t try to y with you, Rasa." She gently shook her head.

    For a second, the world stopped for Rasa. And then... it happened. An almost invisible wave of heat flooded the area in front of Pakura with such a speed, people barely noticed before its effects became apparent. Sand changed to ss, golden dust transformed into searingly hot pieces of precious metal, the very air shimmered and blurred from the heat, catching fire that extinguished itself only to againbust in quick session all over the area where the scorch release hit. Instantly, one-fourth of the arena was changed to a superheated scorching hell that made even the audience far away sweat like pigs, feeling the scalding heat c.a.r.e.s.s their skin.

    Pakura didn''t get much reprieve after her attack. Three spinning tendrils of golden dust burst forth from the ground, two on her sides and one behind her, razing their path towards her in an attempt to shred her to pieces now that Rasa knew the person standing there was the real Pakura. In his opinion, no clone could release such a devastating Jutsu.

    Jumping slightly to the side and tilting her body to the left at a precise moment, Pakura barely evaded the first drilling tendril that promptly smashed its tip to the ground on her right side, gouging a good junk out of it. Turning her body to the right, the second tendril barely missed her, also smashing into the ground near her, blocking her from escaping to the left.

    Sensing the danger behind her, Pakura instantly threw her body to the ground, causing thest tendril of golden dust to barely miss, passing by above her now-duked head, smashing to the ground behind her, blocking herst path of retreat. Pakura''s hands impacted the ground as she channeled massive amounts of her chakra into it.

    Before anyone could marvel at the newly created golden masterpiece, Pakura jumped up on top of one of the now solidified tendrils of pure gold, creating small scorching balls of the size of a small pebble around herself as her hands locked in a tiger hand seal while the corners of her lips tugged up into a yful smirk.

    "Scorch Release: Scorching Rain!"

    Rasa only got a brief bad premonition before Pakura started nketing the battlefield with her balls of scorching doom in a sshing manner. She didn''t target him but her attack was even worse than if she did. He couldn''t safely evade in fear of jumping straight into another scorching ball. He could use Kawarimi as it was a bit disorienting afterward for a second. A second that could be quite fatal considering Pakura was madly cropping the entire battlefield with her Jutsu of mass destruction.

    As if possessed, Rasa started madly shielding himself with his golden dust, dragging it from the ground and having it intercept the small balls of scorch release, in turn turning into a liquid state that was dastardly hard to control for him. With every ball blocked, he lost control of some of his gold dust which, unlike sand, wasn''t easily replenishable on the battlefield. Rasa had no time to spend converting the liquid gold back into golden dust as Pakura relentlessly continued her Jutsu, making him jump right and left while putting his dust in between his body and the balls.

    Two minutester, the panting Rasa stood in the devastated arena, sweating not much from exertion as from the heat around him while the sandy ground now sported many blotches of ss or puddles of liquid gold, in some instances even both fused in a peculiar mix.

    It wasn''t just Pakura''s Jutsu that raised the temperature in the surroundings. The gold in some of the puddles was basically boiling and bubbling, releasing waves of heat into the air. Even the already solidifying parts released a lot of heat, making the air scalding hot. The ss and sand around were almost too hot to stand on...

    Rasa simply felt as if he was burning alive, his lungs screaming in protest as if the oxygen in them was smoldering him from inside, his skin tempered under the constantly hot sun of the Wind Country actually blistered and reddened, he felt teary-eyed but his eyes were far too dry for any tears to appear, the underside of his nails were irritating him to no end while his hands shook. His clothes unpleasantly clung to his body due to the heat and sweat, weighting him...

    Rasa nowpletely understood that Pakura''s biggest weapon was not the direct attack but the torturous difort she could cause with her heat. He fought a hard battle against his own wits, keeping his focus on his opponent who despite the massive chance to strike seemed content to just watch him suffer.

    Despite all the agony he was going through, Rasa was far from finished. Noting his chakra reserves are still eighty percent full, he channeled some of it into his body to calm it down, make the heat more bearable, and prevent further damage, no matter how small.

    "Huuu, still as honorable as ever, I see." Rasa drylymented with a raspy voice, his face scrunched in both concentration and barely restrained agony, trying to sound mocking. Not that it actually worked since he looked miserable.

    Sure, he was capable of channeling his chakra into his body to alleviate the effects of the heat but he was no scorch user. Pakura could stand in the center of her scorch ball and bepletely fine, regarding it as a sunbathing experience. She long ago perfected protecting her body with her chakra against the effects of her own Jutsu. By now, there wasn''t much heat, mes, or high temperature could do to her. Rasa, despite growing up in the deserts of the Wind Country, couldn''t state the same.

    At his taunt, Pakura only regarded him with a sweet smile, "I already told you that you suck at taunting, Rasa." She narrowed her eyes with delight. "In fact," She paused, creating suspense...

    Rasa didn''t even manage to blink as blood spurted from his neck, feeling the cold steel only after it long left his neck. His eyes widened in utter shock and bewilderment, uprehendingly staring at the stream of his blood dirtying the ground in front of him, he fell to his knees.

    "Did you really think I only willy-nilly shot my Jutsu at you, foolishly hoping you would somehow die?" Pakura asked in a voiceced with amus.e.m.e.nt, "You are standing exactly where I wanted you. Exactly where I stood at the start of this fight. Me being a ninjutsu specialist doesn''t mean I need to end the fight by using ninjutsu, idiot. Knife to the neck is much more efficient."

    Thest thing Rasa saw before dying was Pakura''s cold smirk that could freeze even the scorching dunes of the Suna''s desert as his ears registered a small, barely audible pop behind him followed by a small burst of white smoke.

 Chapter 243 - Ch243. New Kazekage 1

    <h4>Chapter 243 - Ch243. New Kazekage 1</h4>

    Temari, in numb satisfaction and quiet horror, watched as the jacket behind Rasa, the very same jacket Pakura discarded at the start of the fight burst into what she suspected was some sort of clone and in one fluid motion slit her father''s throat before he even realized it. Only when he already dropped to his knees, his lifeblood flowing out of his neck did the rity return to Temari as the realization hit her hard. Her father... lost.

    Owlishly blinking, a bewildered "Ughh?" left her lips, her brain refusing to ept that her horrible father was dying in front of her very eyes. "Is it... over?" Temari turned to Chiyo in confusion, noticing the old woman had the same expression of utter bewilderment she herself most likely sported. "Just like that?"??

    Temari couldn''t wait for the answer from the vige elder, however. She heard a choked sob next to her and realized Kankuro was also present. It was her duty as his older sister to give him at least some measure of support. She turned around and hugged her younger brother who stared at the corpse of their father with an empty look.

    It was then that Temari gained a small understanding of what it means to be a ninja. How easily one''s life could be lost no matter how strong one was. As sheforted Kankuro, her eyes suddenly gained determination as her mind processed the entire event.

    She absolutely refused to be just another nameless corpse on the field! Not like that!

    Chiyo waspletely bbergasted. She knew the fight barely started. Bothbatants barely exerted a small percentage of their chakra reserves. The battle was just starting! Until it wasn''t. Until it was over before it even really started. She expected a massive ninjutsu fight. She expected an awe-inspiring and arena-shattering sh of titans. She expected anything but...

    A knife to the neck.

    The worst and most humiliating way to go when facing a famous ninjutsu expert. A sign that it didn''t even take ninjutsu to kill you. And yet... Chiyo had to apud Pakura''s move.

    With this one fight, she not only gained the position of the Kazekage but also cemented it beyond anyone''s doubt. She reminded everybody of her power by cornering Rasa while only scratching a surface of what her bloodline could do. Every single ninja knew facing the unknown was dangerous. When the said unknown could vaporize you in an instant? Chiyo doubted there was anyone who would try to directly scheme against Pakura unless there is some convenient buffer to absorb damage should the ns go awry.

    Most importantly, Pakura has subtly shown ruthlessness and cunning that would stop many of the n heads from acting out even if they had a scapegoat. Slighting Rasa''s throat was a message.

    ''Piss me off at your own peril.''

    Rasa, for all his good points, was a calm man with a peculiar kind of brashness. He was straightforward and if she were to be honest, he was not cut out for politics.

    Pakura on the other hand?

    She just finished off borderline S-rank ninja with a n she weaved from the very start of the fight. She not only aplished that but also ensured nobody got even an inkling of what she was nning despite the presence of so many high-ranking ninjas of Suna.

    ''Healthy mix of fear and respect... That''s how you want to rule, eh, girl?'' Chiyo sighed, knowing the following years in the Suna Council won''t be easy. Her eyes nced at the Wind Daimyo who, contrary to the expectations, didn''t look as jubnt as at the start of the fight. ''Maybeˇ­''

    In the center of the stands, Mikumi, the Wind Daimyo, watched Pakura with a conflicted gaze. The way Pakura dispatched Rasa hit him like his fifth wife after she found him doing that cute little maid she promptly sacked only to have her return as one of his concubines because he really appreciated her nimble tongue.

    And damn did that p hurt!

    Troublesome power-hungry woman.

    The real reason why Mikumi felt uneasy at the way Rasa died was a bit hypocritical. Even he could understand that. Ninjutsu was cleaner, seemed less cruel, less ruthless. He knew that Pakura using her bloodline would be either infinitely more painful or instant, depending on how fast Pakura would decide to vaporize the man. It would have been a cruel way to go but there would be no gore and blood for civvies like him to get upset about. It looked way better than seeing Pakura''s clone coldly slit Rasa''s throat, his blood gushing out, covering the sandy ground in a red nket.

    Mikumi was not stupid. He knew Pakura wanted power over Sunagakure and he also knew the Uzushio Trading Company would have a degree of influence in the vige through the new Kazekage.

    And that was fine. As long as Rasa was out of the picture and no foreign ninjas tried to separate his head from his body, Mikumi was totally okay with losing some of his control over Sunagakure. He knew the Suna council probably won''t see it like that. They would expect him tosh out, demand, threaten, whatever, just to get Pakura under his thumb. They will expect him to try to reel Pakura in, giving them a chance to grab more influence for themselves and their n.

    s... he would have liked to think he was smarter than that. This little disy of cold-heartedness from his favorite scorching hot kunoichi just enhanced his resolve to not mess with Pakura and her new rule unless it somehow threatened his entire nation.

    Plus, pleasing the Uzushio Trading Company seemed like a good way to bolster both diplomatic rtions with the Uzumaki AND make his nation richer. Oh, he could almost see the money rolling it!

    Pakura wouldn''t be worse than Rasa. Not by a long shot. Their meetings in thest two months gave him ample time to both observe and test Pakura''s skills in diplomacy, economy, and politics. Three things Rasa sorelycked. Rasa was a prime example of why power shouldn''t be the only deciding factor for the Kazekage election.

    Mikumi never wanted power or even the rule, to be honest.

    When the battle for the position of the Daimyo started between his remaining nine siblings, he went to the countryside, making it abundantly clear he wanted nothing to do with it. He was a prince! That had to count for something! Or so he thought. He was wealthy enough to live in luxury for his entire life, indulging in debauchery with the prettiest women of the Land of Wind. Life was good!

    Responsibilities pilled up, his free time dwindled, assassination attempts started... Honestly, the only thing that was still keeping him in the position of the Daimyo was the fact his head would roll if he stopped and all the nobles willing to offer him their very eager daughters... well, his life of debauchery was the ONLY thing he was NOT willing topromise on. He was happy as long as he had a willing woman under his table while he did his paperwork. He was happy as long as an eager and n.a.k.e.d wife lying in their bed greeted him at the end of his busy day, offering herself for his rxation. He was happy when he woke up to a nice warm sensation from his lower member.

    He was happy as long as he had his women eager to please him, no matter if it was to get more power for their families, further their ambitions, or simply to live their lives in luxury. Mikumi long ago saw that he was just a human being and decided to enjoy his life without trying to chase some imaginary dominance over other nations.

    His entire life depended on a fine bnce between fulfilling his responsibilities, which kept him alive in considerable luxury and his state running, and enjoying his life to the fullest alongside all his mistresses, concubines, and wives. Rasa was threatening this bnce by just existing with his utter stupidity and the man didn''t even know it! That''s why Mikumi hated him to the core.

    As such, why would he care about who ruled Sunagakure as long as they did right by their duties to the Land of Wind?

    Still... Mikumi made a mental note to never piss Pakura off lest it would be his throat she slit the next time she gets the urge to soak the ground in something red. Hey, he was the Daimyo, not a God! He knew his limits!

 Chapter 244 - Ch244. New Kazekage 2

    <h4>Chapter 244 - Ch244. New Kazekage 2</h4>

    Pakura impassively gazed at the dead body of the previous Kazekage that was still leaking blood and staining the ground with it. This was her revenge against the man who sent her to certain death. And yet...

    Pakura decided she didn''t really feel satisfied. Not by a long shot. In fact, she didn''t feel almost anything now that Rasa''s corpse was rapidly cooling off in front of her.??

    It honestly put a sincere smile on her face.

    She never really felt shackled by a d.e.s.i.r.e for revenge but now she was certain. Now she knew for sure she didn''t care either way if Rasa lived or died. She didn''t kill Rasa because he wronged her. No... that didn''t matter to her anymore. She killed him for Rei. For his n to proceed.

    Lifting her gaze towards the stands, Pakura quickly found Rei staring at her in silent amus.e.m.e.nt, measuring her reaction. Despite all that aloof indifference he excluded, Pakura spent enough time around him to notice the slight sign of underlying worry in his expression. It lifted her mood... to see he really cared. To see she mattered to the man she loved.

    Their eyes briefly met and yet, for anyone observing them, it would be as if the world stilled into a deafening silence while they shared a silent intimate conversation. Not even a full secondter, Pakura pulled her eyes away, back to Rasa''s body while her lips formed a small frown.

    Sighing, Pakura was well aware of the silent crowd watching her without any cheer. For them, this was not a happy day. This was the day their Kazekage died. For most of them, this was a sad day. They understood why''s and how''s. They were also ninjas and this was a part of their lifestyle. They would learn to adapt under the rule of the new leader, namely her. Pakura only hoped her next actions won''t irreversibly alienate some of the more important members of Sunagakure. She would loathe killing her own men. Especially the valuable ones.

    Pakura raised her right hand, aiming it in the direction of Rasa''s body and before anyone could even muster a thought of protest, the sandy arena suddenly lit up like a furnace when a massive scorching ball of the size of a three-story house appeared right on top of Rasa''s corpse, vaporizing it alongside with everything in the immediate surrounding.

    Waves of heat rolling on pressurized whish of wind impacted the arena and while the audience only experienced the barest minimum of the attack, they still found themselves having to shield their eyes and bodies from both the heat, bending their knees, and anchoring their feet into the ground to not be swept away by the echoes of the raging wind.

    In this one attack, Pakura expended more chakra than in the whole fight against Rasa, causing the total decimation of the arena. Her purpose, however, was fulfilled.

    ...

    Pakura leisurely walked towards Rei, slightly shaking her h.i.p.s in a tempting but not overbearing manner as shepletely disregarded the fearful and resigned nces she received from the wary Suna ninjas. They didn''t expect her to be so vicious as to not leave even a body for a funeral.

    Pakura wasn''t afraid of betrayal though. This was the world of ninja where the strong ruled and Suna ninjas lived under Rasa until now. Another seemingly ruthless and no-nonsense murder-happy leader was something they could cope with. It was something they knew and epted long ago. This way, at least, nobody would try giving her grief by openly defying her as they would know there are consequences to certain actions.

    That''s why she could ignore the few hateful res in the crowd. They were almost pathetic, to be honest. As if she cared that her impromptu incineration ss pissed somebody off. Idiots...

    "You just couldn''t resist offing him with a kunai, could you?" Rei amusedly asked Pakura as she arrived at the center of the stands, ignoring the Daimyo who wisely stayed quiet.

    "I am not sure I know what you mean." Pakura chuckled.

    "Oh, get off it, woman," Rei yfully rolled his eyes. "You could have thrown the Jutsu that incinerated Rasa''s corpse at the start and there would be a high chance Rasa would fall for it, not expecting something of that scale right off the bat. You and your pride," He mock-sighed, "even refusing to use Emerald for this fight."

    Pakura could only blush at the admonishment from her husband, knowing he was right.

    "Rasa always bitched and m.o.a.n.e.d about my fighting style when we were jonins. He always mocked me for using kunais too much and said I should focus solely on my bloodline in this utterly c.o.c.ksure self-absorbed condescending tone that could piss off even a monk." Pakura awkwardly shrugged, "I think this was poetic justice. Plus I didn''t want to just steam-roll him. He was a leader using overwhelming power. I wanted to show I am different in my approach."

    "If you are su-" Rei was about to reply when a childish roar interrupted him.

    Chiyo was taking Temari and Kankuro to see the new Kazekage, hoping to introduce them now that they belonged to Pakura. Thew about the Grudge Match for the Hereditary Ruling Position was a brutal one. The Sabaku n made it so in order to prevent others from trying to use it against them, after all. Not only did a n or person need a majority in the council voting in favor of it on top of Daimyo''s approval... both parties put forward the highest stakes which made many people think twice before trying to go this route.

    Namely, their families.

    While the Sabaku n was not affected at all, Rasa''s children now officially belonged to Pakura with their social status suddenly bing a very flexible thing. Pakura could do anything from adopting them as her own to making them into servants or even ves. Nobody couldin because it was all in the scope of thew. What was previously added to discourage challengers from attempting to make use of the veryw now could quickly be the undoing of the Sabaku siblings. Not that Gaara had anything to fear from Pakura. In this one instance, his special status was actually a boon rather than a curse.

    Chiyo didn''t want to see Kankuro, one of her quite gifted students, reduced to a ve because of Pakura''s vindictiveness. She wanted the boy to continue in the art of puppetry and as such, she made it her mission to talk with Pakura while introducing her new charges. While Chiyo remembered Pakura from all these years ago and the woman didn''t seem the very type but one simply never knew in the ninja world.

    That''s why the world spun in front of Chiyo when the very first thing Kankuro did after seeing Pakura''s back was to tear himself from Temari''s grip and charge at the killer of his father, roaring in rage while brandishing a kunai like a maniac. It would have been funny too if the foolish kid didn''t trip in the middle of his charge and almost slit his throat on his own kunai.

    Temari''s heart leaped to her throat as the world slowed down, making her watch the pointy end of the kunai approach Kankuro''s neck without being able to do anything about it. Only Pakura''s quick reaction stopped the offending steel a half-inch from the boy''s skin as she forcefully flipped him on his back, tearing the weapon from his hand.

    "This," Pakurazily waved the kunai in front of the frightened, hyperventting Kankuro, "is a weapon. Not a toy." She admonished, adding a bit of her killing intent.

    Rei could only marvel that for some reason, in Sunagakure, scaring kids witless with killing intent was deemed a totally good way to make kids attentive. ''And they wonder why the kid likes to wear make-up...''

    Temari shook herself from the horror she felt and instantly ran in front of Kankuro, shielding him with her body, "Please! He didn''t mean it! Please forgive him!" She pleaded while the Suna ninjas watched with bated breath how this would unfold.

    Pakura snorted. ''Didn''t mean it? Yeah, right. The next time I run somebody through with a kunai I will also proim I did not mean it and everything will be just peachy, won''t it?'' Taking a good look at the young blonde though... Pakura saw something interesting there.

    "Tell you what, girl. You now belong to me. I might not like it but since I did challenge your father, I take you as my responsibility. I can pardon your idiot of a brother and even help strengthen the jinchuuriki''s seal so he can sleep during the night," The more Pakura said, the bigger and more hopeful Temari''s eyes became, "but I want something in return." Temari gulped, deep down knowing she would ept no matter what in order to help her brothers. Pakura started to really like the determined look in the girl. She reminded her of younger Maki. It was then she decided... "I want you to be my personal kunoichi."

    Temari''s jaw dropped while the winds c.a.r.e.s.sed the speechless spectators as yet another bomb was dropped in the already too eventful day.

    As for Pakura... She only grabbed the Kazekage hat and leisurely put it on her head, enjoying the silence as she smiled at grinning Rei. "Ah... I could get used to this."

 Chapter 245 - Ch245. Pakuras days as Kazekage

    <h4>Chapter 245 - Ch245. Pakura''s days as Kazekage</h4>

    The following days in Sunagakure were quite peaceful by Rei''s standards. Sure, some c.o.c.ksure ninjas who just returned from missions, hence they missed Rasa''s and Pakura''s match, deemed it wise to challenge Pakura''s new authority... and as expected, they got ass-whooping of a lifetime for their effort.

    Pakura wasn''t killing them. Suna was far too weak for that. She, however, made sure they learned their lesson in humility and subservience well. Few burns here, few cut tendons there, and even the bravest ninjas experienced the fear of being crippled for life with no way to provide for themselves and their family, which then fed their survival instinct, and vo, Pakura got the necessary obedience.??

    The sharp decrease of discontent background noise after these events was surely just Rei''s overabundant imagination.

    Honestly, it wasn''t even that cruel of a method and the Suna ninjas knew it. If it was Rasa in Pakura''s ce, he would probably execute them or someone from their family in front of them depending on their importance in the vige. That didn''t make the man evil. That simply made him an effective leader of a militaristic vige full of trigger-happy professional killers. One simply had to somehow keep his soldiers in line.

    Rei was actually d the tension in the vige eased after a few days. Pakura portrayed herself as a hardass but a reasonable leader and as such, she was epted quite readily. It did help that the Suzumiya n and their allies put their support behind Pakura which stacked up nicely with the financial help from the Uzushio Trading Company Rei prepared even before the actual Grudge Match. Sunagakure was on the fast track to full recovery and people noticed. It was quite hard to miss the increase of readily avable and cheap food, better ninja supplies, more metal deliveries for the forges, and overall increase in the living conditions. Frankly, it really didn''t take long for Pakura to be praised to kingdomse after that.

    Rei spent this time leisurely, watching Pakura''s frustrated expression while drinking Sake in her office. It wasn''t that he was enjoying her ''suffering''. Rei knew Pakura well enough to understand she enjoyed working. She, for some inexplicable reason, enjoyed the paperwork. She never felt it was a burden. She loved doing it and figuratively building something with her own hands. The horror! In his capacity as a responsible husband, Rei simply had to show her what she was missing by rxing right in front of her with a satisfied smirk while she worked, no?

    The suggestive and heated looks he was throwing at her most definitely had nothing to do with her frustrated expression and slightly l.u.s.tful gleam in her eyes. No, no, Rei was definitely not having fun by subtly trying to make her use her table for a more... productive activity.

    The real kicker, however, was seeing Pakura interact with her new charges, the Sabaku siblings.

    Much to Pakura''s dismay, after re-making Gaara''s seal, the young eight-year-old boy who no longer heard Shukaku and could now sleep peacefully got it into his half-insane head that she was his new mother because she had beaten Rasa. Anyone can imagine the kind of problems it caused for Pakura almost as well as the amount of amus.e.m.e.nt it provided for Rei. When one day Gaara came to the kitchen and in a deadpan voice asked Pakura what ''monkey s.e.x'' was and if it could really prove his existence... well, let''s just say Kankuro got a thrashing of his lifetime by both Temari and Pakura.

    As for the young puppeteer, nothing much changed. Pakura was cordial to him and let him pursue his dream of bing the best puppeteer of Suna. There wasn''t much interaction between them because the boy somewhat resented Pakura. Thankfully, Temari was putting quite the effort into making him understand Pakura''s side of things. If only to prevent him from doing something they would all regret.

    Temari was the most peculiar of the trio. She became Pakura''s personal kunoichi.

    That was one very old traditioning from the Warring States era. To be honest, it was barely even seen in use these days. Simply put, ninjas without a n had quite a hard time bettering themselves since nobody felt like sharing techniques and discoveries. It wasn''t like nowadays where Hidden Viges have whole libraries of stuff the ns are willing to share and then some from the civilian-born ninjas who made their own discoveries and shared with the entire vige out of sheer stupidity, cough, propaganda brainwashing, cough, for free.

    One way for those nless ninjas during that era to get learning material was to bind oneself in service to a feudal lord who usually had their own small libraries on ninja-stuff exactly for the purpose of attracting these ''special'' servants.

    Temari swore the oaths and was registered as Pakura''s sword kunoichi and that was that.

    While there was no loyalty seal involved, Temari was fully aware she was sealing her fate and binding it to Pakura''s. Rogue ninja had it hard but rogue sword ninjas had it a lot harder. Their problems were no longer just hidden viges and asional opportunistic bounty hunters. Nobles from all countries knew about personal ninjas andws around them and they took it very seriously even though it was rarely used nowadays. If only to prevent the idea from spreading.

    There was a reason why most ninjas avoided swearing their loyalty to individuals like a gue. Defecting a hidden vige meant a chance at life in another hidden vige. Nobles didn''t care so no really preventivews were put into use on an international scale.

    Seeing Pakura''s fl.u.s.tered look as she tried to handle the three children Rei really had to admit that taking over Sunagakure was indeed worth it!

    ...

    "Well, I must admit, I didn''t expect you to provoke a Grudge Match only to do... this. Isn''t it a bit much, disrupting the entire country alongside its hidden vige only to... er, I have no clue how to call it without sounding ridiculous." Konan deadpanned as she stared at her husband''s newest creation.

    Pakura was currently handling important affairs in Sunagakure and unlike Ringo, she loved it so there were usually no shadow clones and ckmailing other people to do her job involved.

    Rei thankfully didn''t stay in Suna all the time. Even though Tsunade was away for a few months, leaving only a few reassuring efforts that she is on a mission to better her healing arts, Rei still had three other women whose needs he had to satisfy. Konan was d she didn''t have to drag him out of the Sunagakure by force. It would make their bedroom activities that much more awkward.

    "Not really. You know we have a lot of mountains that contain gold in them. This was the fastest and easiest way to mine them all without putting much effort or resources into it. Just imagine it, Konan! With how massive these mountain ranges are, they contain more wealth than the ric.h.e.s.t Daimyos are worth!" Rei excitedly eximed, looking over histest experiment, something most would frown at.

    Konan raised an eyebrow and regarded Rasa''s re-animated corpse with another judgemental look before closing her eyes and scrunching her face as if she was in some kind of mental pain.

    "Let me get this straight, Rei. You f.u.c.k.e.d with Wind Country''s food import negotiations, one of the most important events in that country. You spent two months to ensure Grudge Match between Rasa and Pakura, effectively removing the Sabaku n from the rule and installing Pakura in their ce. You made Pakura seemingly get rid of Rasa''s body while covertly snatching it with your seals. You made your own fuinjutsu version of Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, the Jutsu you found in the Senju library, the same Jutsu that binds souls of the deceased into service of the user. And you did all that in order to..." Konan''s even voice cracked, "to make Rasa''s corpse into some kind of mining machine because you could not be bothered to research seals that could do it instead? Seals that could most likely mine more than just gold?"

    Konan intently stared at Rei, her eyebrow twitching, causing him to realize that maybe he should have discussed his ns and motivations with somebody other than Mei who was in post-coital bliss before he actually proceeded with them.

    "Well, when you put it that way..." Rei awkwardly rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish expression stered all over his face.

    In his defense... there really was a lot of gold in the mountains behind his hidden vige.

    ---

    Author note:

    Fuuh~... finally finished the Sunagakure arc.

 Chapter 246 - Ch246. Tsunade, back in the Fire Country

    <h4>Chapter 246 - Ch246. Tsunade, back in the Fire Country</h4>

    Author Note:

    For those who won''t get it, this is somewhat of a shback or Tsunade''s point of view of what was happening on her side while Rei and Konan were busy with the Sunagakure.??

    ---

    While Rei and Konan focused on Sunagakure, Tsunade holed herself up in the Fire Daimyo''s library, studying variousws and putting together doc.u.ment after doc.u.ment that would help her own n. She was no stranger to intense studying and memorization. After all, medic-nins were one of the most knowledgeable people in the shinobi ranks and she was the best of them. To treat an injury, one first had to know the cause and that, unfortunately, meant the medic-nin needed extensive knowledge of Jutsu and its effects, of gics, of illnesses, of practically everything that could cause harm.

    That said, it was only one month since she left the Vige on the Other Side but after thest month practically swimming inw books, Tsunade had had enough for a lifetime. Not even the castle guards or the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Fire Daimyo dared to approach her, recognizing her crankiness the second she stepped into the room with her massive scowl and wild, irritated gait. Thankfully, she had enough presence of mind to wear her special genjutsu. If the Konoha ninjas in the Twelve Guardians recognized her, Tsunade was almost sure she would have had to crack some skulls by now.

    Tsunade dropped into her designated ce, right next to the most favorite concubine of the Fire Daimyo who still asionally threw her suspicious and guarded nces. Tsunade long ago learned to ignore the polite fake who thought she would stoop so low as to try her hand at seducing the Daimyo. The same man to whom she refused to be married to in her youth. Not that Tsunade could in any way refute the suspicion or provide some kind of proof. She couldn''t just start proiming she was the wife of the hidden Daimyo of the Spring Country, now, could she?

    She was, after all, in disguise of Nadetsu Juusen, the president of the Biri-Biripany who was currently on vacation in the Fire Capital and took a shine to the Daimyo''s library. It was quite hrious too... eating right next to Sarutobi Asuma while the boy tried to flirt with her, not recognizing her even after a month of deflecting his advances.

    ''Poor Kurenai.'' Tsunade could just shake her head. She was the head medic during the third shinobi war and that meant something. Ninjas trusted medics. They talked to them and said things they would not tell others. Especially when both the patient and the medic were kunoichi. The little academy student Kurenai Yuhi was very forting with the information about her crush on the youngest of the Sarutobi boys. Tsunade already decided to approach the woman and offer her a chance at learning ''How-to-Medic-nin'' from her. The girl had incredible chakra control and if Tsunade wasn''t so sure she would have had to leave after the third war, she would have taken the girl into her care there and then. Then again, at that time, nothing was ever so simple. Tsunade wasn''t even sure if or where her new home would be during these uncertain days. She only knew she wanted to be with Rei and that Rei was about to defect from Kiri.

    ''Look at me... getting all nostalgic and stuff.'' She inwardly rebuked herself, trying to cover the small gentle smile that bloomed on her face by taking a sip from her hot chocte milk. ''Fifty years of age, huh? I guess I finally left my puberty by the Senju and Uzumaki standards.'' Tsunade giggled, attracting the attention of the people dining with her.

    "Oh~, someone is in a good mood today." Asuma quipped, causing the Fire Daimyo to lift his eyebrow at Tsunade who simply shrugged.

    "I finished with my research." She nonchntly announced, causing the Daimyo to smile warmly at his childhood friend.

    "That''s good to know, ''Nade. Will you be leaving soon, then? You should inform me about these things sooner. I need to throw you a goodbye party!" He giddily eximed. Honestly, the man was very grateful to Rei for the deals between his nation and the Spring Country. The economy was steadily improving, the previously tarnished diplomatic ties started to repair, the still leery allies started to lose their tension caused by the f.u.c.k-up called Jiraiya''s wedding... and it all was the influence of the trade agreements with the Spring Country.

    Really, Tsunade did him an incredible favor by bringing her husband for a visit. The Fire Daimyo knew Tsunade''s goal and had no problem with it. Then again, he would not give her active support either. Not that he deluded himself she needed him. She could simply go and take what she wanted, taking names and kicking balls. He would know. He could still feel the kick to the balls she delivered to him when they were kids after she got to know about their impending betrothal. The Fire Daimyo shuddered, thanking heaven Tsunade didn''t have her super strength technique back then...

    "You are already leaving, Lady Nadetsu?" Asuma butted into the conversation with wide eyes, earning himself a few incredulous looks. The man was one of the Fire Daimyo''s guardians and his ce behind the table was only a courtesy to his father. Him interrupting the conversation between the Daimyo and his guest was one massive breach of etiquette. Then again, he still was the son of the Hokage and as such, the Daimyo had begged Tsunade to bear with him after the first time he tried to flirt with her. Otherwise, she would have long ago sent the young monkey back to Konoha via an intimate meeting of his ching with her fist, getting a lift by the kic force taxi agency.

    Asuma really found Nadetsu Juusen enchanting. She had dark skin, was petite with a nice curvaceous body, had a pretty face, melodious voice, and exotic hair color. She was a beautiful woman and her beauty was only enhanced by the fact she was the president of the biggest and ric.h.e.s.t internationalpany in the entire Elemental Nations. Asuma wasn''t really proud of being the son of the Hokage. It wasn''t his achievement. Not really. Despite that, he was a ninja and knew how to make use of his special advantage. Yet... Hokage''s son or not, Nadetsu didn''t even try being polite with him. Now, Asuma had his manly pride and refused to back down.

    Even he had no idea when exactly did his passing interest change to something more, something genuine. Unfortunately for him, now it seemed his pride would not be sated.

    Asuma wasn''t some bratty child, however. He noticed the looks aimed at him from the favored mistress of the Daimyo and his children. Not that he cared. As long as the Daimyo is not reprimanding him, the others couldn''t do much. "May I inquire where you will be going, Lady Nadetsu?" He asked.

    Tsunade''s first knee-jerk reaction was to tell him where he could stick his question. Then, however, she got a better idea, "Ah. I wanted to visit Konoha because I honestly admire Tsunade Senju. You are from Konoha, Asuma-san, right? What do you think about Tsunade? What kind of person is she?" Tsunade calmly asked, making the Daimyo stifle his guffaw.

    Asuma frowned and scrunched his eyebrows, "Oh... her?" He remarked and his dislike almost poured from him, "You shouldn''t admire that woman, Lady Nadetsu," He started in a tone as if he was giving her some kind of profound advice, to which Tsunade could only amusedly lift her eyebrow at the man.

    "Oh, and why is that? I heard she is the best doctor in the world. That''s something admirable, don''t you think?"

    "I am not disputing that. She really is the best." Asuma nodded before leaning towards Nadetsu as if he was about to disclose some kind of secret, "But she is also a very traitorous person."

    "Oh, my! You don''t say!" Tsunade mock-gasped in surprise while Daimyo gaped at Asuma. ''Well, just wait until my n is finished, brat! I will show you traitorous! It was your father who let my n be hunted like animals without alerting anyone!'' She inwardly seethed.

    "Yes. The second the third war ended, she left the vige! Nobody can find her. My father tried for years to locate her." Asuma sighed in exasperation, "He puts so much attention to that bitch who is who knows where!" He grumbled. "She had a responsibility to the vige, Lady Nadetsu. I am sure you understand. You too can''t just ditch thepany and go do whatever you wish whenever you wish."

    ''That''s exactly what I did though.'' Tsunade inwardly deadpanned.

    "Tsunade was our medic. Everything she knows, she has Konoha to thank for. My father to thank for." Asuma dramatically shook his head, "And yet she simply doesn''t appreciate all the effort put into her."

    ''What do they teach kids in Konoha nowadays?'' Tsunade mused while her eyebrow twitched, ''All of my medical knowledge is from my own research or the Senju library. Sure, the old monkey was a good teacher when he finally got to teaching me something. That said, he was far too preupied with Orochimaru andter Jiraiya who, ording to him, didn''t have a n to support them. And now his spawn now wants me to kowtow to the old man for basically neglecting me?'' Tsunade''s lips started turning into a frown.

    "At least, she trained her apprentice, Shizune. That woman is a very good medic too. She is a gentle and very good person." Asuma said, stopping all of Tsunade''s disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e at the mention of her old apprentice. Something in how he said it didn''t mesh well with Tsunade.

    "Do you know Miss Shizune well, Mr. Asuma?"

    "Ah... well, we dated a bit back in the day." Asuma shrugged, "She is a fine woman but I don''t think she is the one for me. She was more of a fling, to be honest. I am far too free-spirited and need somebody more... exotic, maybe even feisty, who could rein me in." He winked at Tsunade who stared at him with an unamused look.

    Thest time Anko contacted her, Shizune was basically swooning about her Sarutobi boyfriend. It was a very peculiar situation and Tsunade was very excited to hear about it consideringst Tsunade knew, Kurenai wanted to sink her fangs into the youngest Sarutobi boy too. She really wanted to see how that would go. Butˇ­ As far as Tsunade knew, Shizune and Asuma did not break up... yet. She could withstand a light flirting from Asuma''s side. Men had their urges, plus it was none of her business. For all Tsuande knew, Shizune might even allow him to sleep around. This, however...

    "So, are you visiting Konoha, Miss Nadetsu?" The Fire Daimyo quickly interrupted as he saw Tsunade''s eyes darkening.

    Tsunade looked at him and pursed her lips in disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, almost forming a sneer before she distractedly answered, "Ah, I think I will have to go... home. I just found out it''s up for serious uprooting and springtime cleaning."

 Chapter 247 - Ch247. Uprooting 1

    <h4>Chapter 247 - Ch247. Uprooting 1</h4>

    "Today is a good night." Tsunade remarked with a cat-like glee, "The Konoha Council is having a mandatory meeting discussing this year''s taxes so it seems I have two hours for my little uprooting project." She smirked, standing up from her crouch and looking around.

    She was currently in the centermost part of Konoha''s underground tunnel system, perched high up on a metal beam near the roof of what appeared to be a wide training room that simply should not exist underneath Konoha. Tsunade somehow really doubted any ns of underground tunnels actually contained any sort of mention of the room below and wondered how could Hiruzen Sarutobi overlook it. How could he not know it was there, right under his beloved vige. The same vige filled to the brim with ANBU under hismand who patrolled it on a daily basis, looking for anything out of the ordinary.??

    She really didn''t like the conclusion her mind was delivering though... It was simply yet another thing to be disappointed about when it came to her sensei.

    Lazily putting her fingers into a cross-shaped seal, rather because of habit than any real necessity, Tsunade summoned a singr shadow clone and instantly dismissed it, giving a signal to her wood clones stationed near every single entrance to the Konoha tunnel system.

    It took her entire day of stealthily scouting via the abusive overuse of the wood clones'' ability to meld themselves into the terrain, not unlike the Iwa''s Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique. Fortunately for Tsunade, these clones came with an ability to suppress their chakra to an incredibly undetectable degree, superb senory prowess, and actually transmitted their experiences otherwise her five hundred clones would be detected by some ROOT ninjas who, after all, specialized in assassination and stealth, or it would have taken her months to map all of the underground tunnels if she couldn''t make effective use of the clones.

    The second Tsunade''s wood clones got the signal, they instantly approached the entrances and used a Mokuton Jutsu to change themselves back into the wood. Ten feet thick wooden lid covering the entire entrance made of chakra-enhanced Mokuton fixed in their ce, blocking their respective tunnel thanks torge spikes that prated deep into the walls, to be perfectly precise. Upon dispelling back into wood, each clone sent Tsunade feedback, confirming the blockage was in ce.

    Tsunade got the memories of thest clone and excitedly grinned in anticipation of what was toe, "Well, then..." She punched her palm, "today, nobody is leaving here alive! Let''s see how Danzo fares without his loyal minions!"

    Tsunade''s shout instantly alerted the ROOT ANBU members practicing under her but before they could react in any meaningful way, she was already quickly dropping down from the metal beam. Her fist impacted the ground and all hell broke.

    In that instant, the citizens of Konoha experienced a minuscule earthquake. It wasn''t anything to worry about and only caused them a bit of imbnce for a short period of time but the vige certainly felt it.

    And while the citizens shrugged it off almost instantly, the unfortunate ROOT members in the underground training room had to put in a lot of effort to keep standing on their feet through all the shaking as the walls cracked. This was only made more difficult as they also had to avoid the big spiderweb-like cracks forming in the ground that made for great pitfalls where feet could get stuck quite easily with just a single misstep. The asional shrapnel made of earth sent flying by the impact of the punch didn''t help their cases either since they had a hard time standing, much less dodging.

    From sixty-three members of ROOT present in the room, two got crushed because of a b of earth rising due to the punch and burying them underneath. Twelve were unlucky to be hit by the earth shrapnel in fatal ces while an additional five were currently helplessly bleeding out as their arteries were struck. One poorss showed his immense skill by tripping on his own foot during the quakes and breaking his own neck.

    Sixty-three versus one instantly became forty-three versus one who proved to be a badass. Tsunade quite liked those odds. Especially since another twenty-two opponents had various degrees of injuries on their bodies, ranging all the way from missing balls... earth shrapnel doesn''t discriminate... to a few insignificant bruises because of losing bnce and hitting the ground.

    The air stilled as the uninjured and injured ROOT ninjas emotionlessly readied themselves for the uing battle, showing just how effective Danzo''s training was. Tsunade had no doubt neither of them would ever hesitate from delivering a lethal strike. Not when theypletely disregarded their own injuries and even the injuries of their supposedrades in favor of taking down their assant... her.

    As she lowered her stance, she idly thought it was a somewhat sorry sight. Not that her pity would make her hesitate. She came here today to enact ughter, not y a caretaker. For now, her medic-nin self had to take unpaid vacation. It was time for a more brutal part of her personality to take over.

    The moment of suspense passed as quickly as it appeared, and the ROOT ninjas charged at Tsunade with abandon. Tsunade, on the other hand, simply stood in her ce and waited for them, opting to take a more defensive approach.

    The first wave of her would-be attackers finally reached her and all three of them sprang to the offensive like a well-oiled machine. One from the front while two others attacked her from the sides.

    As she was ducking under the high kick from her right side while also tilting her body to narrowly avoid the stab from her left, Tsunade had to admit the teamwork and organization of these ninjas was quite polished. There were over forty of them and yet, only three attacked at a time, knowing to not overcrowd her, and instead, they spread out in the room in fear of being taken out by somerge-scale ninjutsu while also limiting her avable ce for dodging.

    Or at least, that was the general idea...

    Tsunade quickly hooked her arm around the elbow of the ninja in front of her whose punch she evaded, and then she twisted. With a resounding crack, the ROOT ninja''s arm snapped at the elbow, and yet, he and hisrades didn''t even flinch. The only thing indicating the man even felt his bone-breaking was a single muted grunt as his other hand already whipped towards Tsunade''s temple while he used his now broken limb as an anchor to keep Tsunade in ce. Worse yet, the two other attackers recognized the opportunity for what it was and Tsunade found herself about to be knifed to the neck from her left side and kicked to s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e muscles on her t.h.i.g.h from her right. She could also see seven other ROOT members taking advantage of her positioning by throwing kunai in her direction in a way that would not pose a threat to her three attackers.

    Tsunade found herself almost impressed by the wless coordination...

    Then again, she was not a normal kunoichi. What would in another situation work as keeping the opponent in ce, didn''t really work on her. Exerting her muscles to an inhuman, even for the ninja standards, degree, Tsunade grabbed the shoulder of the man in front of her and effortlessly lifted him into the air, causing him untold pain as his broken bone ground against her steel-hard biceps, before throwing him to the right as if he was yesterday''s trash. The thrown body impacted the knife-wielding attacker on her left, sending both of them tumbling on the floor. Tsunade might or might not have used a bit too much force, judging by the cracks that resounded every time the bodies hit the ground. Ah, well, spilled milk and all that.

    The third attacker wasn''t much of a threat, to be honest. His kick aimed at her t.h.i.g.h missed because of the spin necessary to throw her first attacker. Unfortunately for him, Tsunade didn''t stop after the throw and used the momentum to swap into a punching motion, caving the third attacker''s face before he flew back, right into another ROOT member who experienced how it felt having his brains paint the ground from the sheer force of impact.

    It was then that the ROOT members momentarily stopped, realizing this would not be as easy as they previously envisioned while Tsunade huffed at her inability to get a rise out of them despite her apparent brutality.

    ''Heh... let''s see if I can pull a genuine emotion out of these human machines.'' Tsunade smirked, enjoying the situation as the kunoichi side in her stirred awake.

    The fight continued...

 Chapter 248 - Ch248. Uprooting 2

    <h4>Chapter 248 - Ch248. Uprooting 2</h4>

    Tsunade jumped up to avoid the thrown kunais while also throwing a handful back against her assants. From her five kunai, only two hit a purchase, telling her the ROOT ANBU could dodge. Huh... who knew.

    This surprised Tsunade for the briefest split of a second since the strength behind her throw was something no B-ranked ninja could ever evade without getting at least a cut to show for it. Two of the three who managed to dodge were instantly filled as A-ranked threats in Tsunade''s brain, causing them to jump right to the top of her ''to be eliminated'' list while thest lost a bit of muscle from his upper arm in the attempt.??

    ROOT didn''t have many A-rank shinobi in their midst. They were mostly B-rank. Capable, good at working together, ruthless, emotionless,pletely fine with dying to get the job done... but not A-rank powerhouses. That told Tsunade the three who dodged were one of the best Danzo had in the room.

    Danzo did not train powerhouses. He trained capable but controble assassins. That meant his ninjas had to be easily disposed of the second they did something he didn''t like. It wouldn''t be good to make someone in ROOT strong enough to oppose him. Yes... together, his ROOT ninjas could face and take down A-rankers and even some weaker S-rankers depending on the circ.u.mstances and the eptable losses ratio. Alone, however, they were mostly high B-rank ninjas who overspecialized in stealth and assassination.

    Tsunade dropped back to the ground, frowning as she noticed the support pirs in the room having cracks all over them. With a sigh, she let the downward momentum from her fall lead her arm down and mmed her palm into the ground while channeling Mokuton chakra into it.

    The ytime was over...

    "Wood Release: F.u.c.k you!"

    Thick tree trunks smashed through the floor, unstoppably growing upward and causing the ROOT ninjas to jump around in an attempt to avoid the surprisingly razor-sharp bark on the trees. Worst, however, were the branches that sprang up shortly after. Seeing one of them shredded to gory chunks of meat and organs, the ROOT ninjas instantly recognized the threat of the wooden hell they found themselves in. They didn''t have too much time to contemte this though. The created forest got thicker the higher the treetops reached until they hit the roof of the room, causing it to violently shudder as the trees creaked under the sudden pressure put on them. Finding it impossible to grow upwards now that they supported the roof, the trees did something that actually managed to get an emotion out of the scratched and gashed ROOT ninjas. They grew in volume, spreading to the sides, filling the room in more and more razor-sharp branches that had the same cutting power as wind-enhanced chakra-metal. Needless to say, the roots were reintroduced to despair.

    Tsunade impassively stood in the middle of the urring massacre with her eyes closed as she focused her senses to flow her chakra through the trees, guiding their growth and sharpening the bark with a smirk on her face. A girl gotta love her superb chakra control.

    It was utterly impossible to see anything in the room through the overgrown branches but that didn''t matter as Tsunade could finely sense every living being in the room. Frankly, at first, she only created the forest to make new support pirs for the room but then she reconsidered. She was not dealing with Danzo''s real elites. These were all just grunts. Some of them were skilled but they were essentially still unimportant run-of-the-mill grunts.

    As such, Tsunade decided to use this opportunity for a chakra control practice.

    The ROOT ninjas might have had a chance if the fight was fought above the surface. s, it was not. They were currently trapped deep underground with nowhere to run now that the environment itself was turned against them, aiming to kill them.

    Despair gripped their hearts as they realized the hopelessness of the situation. Some of them dyingpletely nk, incapable of feeling even the slightest emotion, while others cursed their fate and the cruelty of the world. Not one of them actually chose to be a ROOT ninja and now, they would die because of it. Sadly, such was the nature of the shinobi world...

    Twenty seconds.

    That''s how long it took for Tsunade''s half-assed, more of a chakra control exercise created on the fly than a real Jutsu, Wood Release Technique to shred the ROOT ninjas to bloody pieces without any way for them to resist as their blood painted the forest crimson.

    Tsunade, on the other hand, was ted. Not because of the death she caused. That didn''t even enter her mind. She long ago made peace with her existence as a killer. She became genin at six and killed her first person when she was six years and seven months old. People usually forget and focus on her reputation as a healer but it is the healers who make for the best killers. The number of lives ended by her hands far outstretched the numbers she saved, And she was considered the best medic in the world! Honestly, Tsunade couldn''t really bother caring anymore as she registered the twinge of guilt and showed it into the dark recesses of her mind, forgetting about it a secondter. These ROOT ninjas were not worth more thought than the training dummies in her courtyard.

    No... Tsunade was ted because she slowly started to figure out how to make her forests permanent like Grandpa Hashirama! She simply had to jump and shriek from the sheer joy she felt!

    Her primary mission and the reason why she even bothered to infiltrate Konoha and ROOT base pushed back, Tsunade proceeded to happily whistle and experiment with her newfound knowledge while the Konoha''s underground tunnels changed into an orc.h.e.s.tra of pain-filled shrieks, despairing screams, and blood-curling wails, all melding into one a soul-chilling symphony supporting her happy tune of whistles and hums.

    ''Danzo might have been onto something with his fixation on roots.'' Tsunade admitted inwardly as a mischievous smile spread through her face. ''In that case, let me create the real roots of Konoha!''

    That was thest time anyone could ess the underground tunnels of Konoha without fearing for his life because of the living razor-sharp vines that suddenly appeared in there and killed anyone brave enough to venture too far down.

    Nobody ever discovered whatid in the center of Konoha''s underground tunnels.

    And Tsunade?

    Well, she had a new safehouse.

    ...

    The council meeting finally finished, tired Danzo arrived home, utterly drained from all the bickering between the ninja council and the civilian council about who gets to pay what taxes. Not for the first time, he cursed Hiruzen for not ughtering the impudent powerless fools on the civilian council. Sure, he made good use of them, manipting them to get what he wanted, but even he could recognize how much their very existence weakened Konoha.

    ''Sarutobi sure as hell became more cut-throat after the Uchiha massacre.'' Danzo let his impassive facade slip into a natural scowl as he remembered that debacle, ''I didn''t even acquire ONE damned pair of these eyes. Damn Uchihas! Damn Itachi! To think he would destroy every single pair of eyes as he killed his n... I can''t even gut his little brother as the twerp doesn''t even have his Sharingan awakened yet!'' He seethed.

    The Uchiha massacre that happened a few months prior was the biggest mistake of his career as the Yami no Shinobi. The only real haul was Shisui''s eye and while that was marvelous, it still hurt to see all that coordination, all that work, literal years of spreading rumors and distrust against the Uchiha n, go to waste just because he didn''t foresee Uchihas utilize something simr to Hyuuga''s Caged Bird Seal that destroyed their eyes upon their deaths.

    The irritated Danzo finally reached his living room, stiffening right after he entered the room. His mind briefly wondered what was wrong before the answer sprang into its forefront as instincts kicked in...

    He smelt a faint scent of blood.

    Danzo quickly switched the light on and... for the first time in thest twenty years, he bent at the waist and puked his guts out.

    His whole living room was caked in liters of blood, pieces of organs, splinters of bones...

    The worst were the hundreds of eyeballs put on the table, arranged to stare right at him.

    The most disturbing were the p.e.n.i.ses mockingly hanging from the ceiling.

    The most informative was the two hundred and sixty-seven eyeless and tongueless heads of his ROOT operatives nailed to the wall of his living room straight through their forehead with wooden spikes.

    Danzo quickly realized the rest of their bodies was currently scattered through his living room in the likeness of a poorly shredded mush, giving off such a strong putrid scent even he couldn''t take it despite all of his experience.

    As he retched, Danzo inwardly thanked Kami that five of his best ninjas were with him during the meeting so their heads were still firmly attached to their bodies. Anyone who could cause... this... would most likely have no problem dealing with them and it would be a heavy hit to lose Torune or Fu.

    Danzo briefly wondered if Hiruzen got far bolder than he imagined but that notion was quickly forgotten. No... this was not Hiruzen. Danzo refused to believe such an assumption. Pigs would fly sooner than the old shitflinger monkey learned how to fling his shit again.

    Taking a deep breath, Danzo looked upwards in a search of a brief reprieve from the gruesome sight and potent smell of blood... only for his eye to widen as he discovered the intestines of histe subordinates nailed into the ceiling and forming a message,

    ''A tree with shallow ROOTs can be easily uprooted. By the way, thank you for the Sharingans. Sorry for not leaving even one for you. You know how it is. They are quite rare! Signed, your friendly neighbor Yozora.''

    Needless to say, Danzo was not amused.

 Chapter 249 - Ch249. Ankos iddle while

    <h4>Chapter 249 - Ch249. Anko''s iddle while</h4>

    It was a quiet summer day, as hot as they came in the Fire Country that was named after its never-ending warm climate, and Anko enjoyed her moment of peace by drinking cool beer and enjoying the asional pleasant breeze while sitting in the shade on the porch of her house in the Senju Compound, listening to the soft chirping of crickets.

    No overly cheerful Naruto demanding she teaches him techniques he is not even prepared for. The kid was smart and knew his shit but he was just so exuberant towards her ever since he found out she genuinely cared... ??

    No steaming Hinata suffering from overheating anytime she was close to the orange-wearing empty-head pretender, and fainting, leaving Anko to take care of her until she woke up. God, she was getting used to unexpected visits from concerned Hiashi about Hinata''s condition...

    Anko shuddered as she remembered the flirtatious note in the old Hyuuga''s tone thest time he demanded a discussion about his daughter''s progress. Sure, the man probably held Anko in high regard considering she stopped portraying all that ''s.l.u.t'' image and actually managed to break Hinata''s shy shell in matters of days, making aplete mockery of his years-long attempts, but flirting with her was a bit too much.

    It was sweet though, seeing that Hiashi actually cared about Hinata and he simply had no idea how to raise her into a strong woman. That''s where Anko came in and now the girl only acted ineptly around Naruto and has actually already beaten her younger sister in a spar. Yay, she won against her four-year-old sister! Anko somewhat couldn''t take that as a worthwhile achievement... But well, whatever makes the stuck-up white-eyes happy. Eh, Hyuugas were weird like that.

    Anyway, Anko made it her mission to stop any subtle advances Hiashi Hyuuga tried on her. She was barely leaving her teenage years and an old half-stuck-up stickler for rules was eyeing her just because she helped his daughter gain a measure of self-confidence? All it took for her to get attention was to stop wearing clothes that proimed she would sleep around for Dango and whatnot?

    ''Not... happening. Don''t go there, brain. Go back to sleep! Anko Hyuuga has a really bad ring to it.'' Anko disgruntedly mused, thinking up excuses to avoid Hiashi the next time he gets it into his head to invite her for a family dinner. ''Then again... It''s still better than that marriage proposal from the lone survivor of the Shimura n.'' Anko shuddered again, this time in disgust, momentarily choking on her beer.

    Yeah... now that she was officially epted as an honorary Senju, some really fishy and decrepit individuals tried to sink their ws into her.

    ''Idiots, as if Lady Tsunade let their dirty paws anywhere near the Senju wealth or library.'' Anko snorted at the notion that they could get anywhere near it through her while gazing at the sky in contentment. Despite all the ufortable situations, Anko was grateful for Lady Tsunade offering her this chance whichpletely changed her life for the better.

    There was only one of her supposed students Anko didn''t miss.

    The Uchiha.

    One nice calm afternoon, her bright orange-wearing idiot-wannabe-actor dragged in screaming and kicking Sasuke Uchiha, enthusiastically proiming he found a new friend, utterly ignoring the piercing and irritated looks the duck-butt-haired broody kid was throwing his way. In the end, the Uchiha relented and joined their training sessions.

    Anko might not have liked it but she came to care about Naruto too much to just say ''f.u.c.k off'' and ruin it for him. That said, the look in the Uchiha''s eyes was still unsettling. She knew what he felt. She was there... not at the same level of low, but she was pretty close after Orochimaru betrayed her. Anko had nothing against the kid himself. She simply didn''t believe somebody in so much repressed emotional pain should be anywhere near her. The Uchiha did not need her or her tutge. The kid needed a hard-core year-long session with Yamanaka.

    Then there was all the political bullshit when it came out she was training thest loyal Uchiha headcase. ''Heh, even the Elders called the kid unstable in between the lines.'' Anko giggled before bursting into genuineughter. ''Then again, they have called me worse! No wonder they have a problem with me teaching the kid... one depressed headcase teaching another. Hmm~ˇ­ throwing those kunai so close to his jugr might not have been the brightest idea. Eh, who cares? A hospital stay would do him some good.''

    It was all in good humor, after all. A few nonwashable blood-stains near the neck area would teach the kid he is not invincible.

    Fun thoughts...

    "I must give it to Naruto... dragging Uchiha here was a prank worthy of Prankster God." Anko whispered as she took another sip from her drink.

    Civilians simply didn''t know how to react when thest loyal Uchiha princeling appeared together with the Uzumaki demonish menace. Oh, Anko had no delusions that Naruto befriended Uchiha out of some misced sense of camaraderie. That was the first thing she has beaten out of him. She made sure to hammer all Konoha propaganda out of his head early on. If given a chance, Anko doubted Naruto would be a ninja for Konoha after her tutoring sessions. She, however, made it damn clear he has no such chance because of his tenant.

    No... Naruto befriended Uchiha to mess with the heads of civilians and council alike.

    Honestly! The kid was bing as bad as Hatake Kakashi. She should have never exined psychological warfare to him...

    Using Kakashi as an example of what NOT to do might have been a bad idea too...

    Well, who knew being a big sister was such hard work!

    The first time Naruto attempted toete to their training sessions, Anko dragged him from the Ichiraku ramen stand by his ankle so erratically, he puked all the ramen out on himself by the time they reached the Senju Compound, and then she made him practice taijutsu katas without letting him change his clothes all the while she was throwing senbons at him, aiming at the most painful but otherwise harmful ces. She might or might not have added a bit of pain-intensifying poison to the mix but hey... she is here to teach the kid, not to coddle him!

    Anko was resolved. On the briefest sign of rpse, she would beat the Kakashism out of him, no matter if it was thest thing in the kid''s life. Kyuubi Jinchuuriki or not, there were easier ways to destroy Konoha than creating another Kakashi Hatake wannabe.

    "Being a teacher is such a drag..." Anko muttered with a sigh.

    "You will get no argument about that from me." A voice resounded from nearby, jolting Anko to full awareness, causing her to jump on her feet and grab the kunai hidden in her sleeve near-instantly. She prepared for a fight.. only to owlishly blink as her eyesnded on a blond-haired woman watching her with smug satisfaction at her bewildered look.

    "Vacation?" Tsunade inquisitively lifted her eyebrow at the literal stack of beer and sake bottles strewn around the porch.

    "Uh..." Anko furrowed her brows before she realized what Tsunade was looking at, causing her to blush from embarrassment. Realizing she wasn''t setting a ster example, she ducked her head and tried to give Tsunade an innocent look, "Wee home, Lady Tsunade?"

    Only to be smacked upside down by Tsunade, sending her gently, ording to Tsunade''s standards, face-first into the ground. Tsunade just rolled her eyes at the now downed unruly girl, not even attempting to hide her small amused smile.

    "Yeah... I am home."

    The sarcasm in that sentence was felt even by the fabled fence-sitter back in Iwa, causing him a shudder.

 Chapter 250 - Ch250. Back Home

    <h4>Chapter 250 - Ch250. Back Home</h4>

    After greetings, Tsunade sat down around a small wooden table on the porch, enjoying the shade and refreshments Anko quickly brought out from her secret anti-Naruto stash. The two women leisurely drank sake as Anko was giving Tsunade a slow update on what was going on in the vige.

    Anko really couldn''t help but cherish the leisure atmosphere. She knew Tsunade wasn''t one for formality and neither was she so not having to bow or rigidly stand while giving her report was quite appreciated by the young snake mistress. Nevertheless, she was indeed very curious about this sudden visit of her wayward n Head.

    "Lady Tsunade? It''s been two hours already... Er, don''t you think Lord Hokage is taking his sweet time? I thought he would be knocking our gates down the second he was informed about your arrival. You know how much resources the man put forward to locate you." Anko grimaced, "Honestly, he is asking me about your location at least once per week."

    "Ah..." Tsunade smirked, "I have sneaked in through one of the old hidden entrances Uncle Tobirama created for our n. There is nobody to notify the old monkey about my presence as of yet."

    Anko owlishly blinked at Tsunade... and grinned. "Ah, is that so?" There were only so many reasons Tsunade could have to avoid detection whening home. If it was Jiraiya, Anko wouldn''t have wasted her time, knowing the man simply skipped the gate in order to get a few minutes more for peeping. Then again, that might have been the reason why the man was such a good spy. Nobody expected him to do anything but perving on women.

    Tsunade, however, was apletely different jar of cookies...

    Well, Anko still couldn''t forget how the woman yed her like a fiddle when they met for the first time. Sure it was for Anko''s own benefit but still! No matter how grateful she was to Tsunade for opening her eyes, that meeting made it abundantly clear that scheming Tsunade was dangerous Tsunade. ''I wonder how much mayhem she is gonna cause now that she is actually present in the vige...''

    "That so..." Tsunadezily nodded and took another sip of sake, "Meh, it wouldn''t do to alert him of my presence. I have a few goals to aplish here..." She hummed and looked Anko straight into the eyes, "There are two things you forgot to inform me about when ites to the recent happenings of the vige."

    Anko stiffened, mentally trying to figure out what she could have missed. The spywork she set up in Konoha was not the best but it was sufficient. She didn''t want to disappoint Tsunade. "What... exactly do you mean, Lady Tsunade? I told you all I know." She said, feeling a bit awkward as she tried to defend herself.

    Tsunade simply waved her free hand in a dismissive matter, "I am not ming you or anything. Stop being so serious. Geez. Rx." She rolled her eyes, "Yesterday, I killed every single ROOT ANBU I could find in the ROOT base under Konoha, and then I made the said base permanently unusable for any other function than a graveyard." She stated in a disinterested tone as if she was talking about the weather, causing Anko to gape. "I then left a bloody present for Danzo Shimura in his living room. Heh, he took the bait hook line sinker. Apparently, there will be an emergency meeting of the Council tomorrow thanks to the old mummy."

    "So that''s why the ANBU were so frantically running around the vige during the night. Wait... You massacred over two hundred people to make Danzo call an emergency meeting?" Anko asked weakly in an incredulous tone, not knowing how to take that bit of information.

    Sure, Anko was one ruthless kunoichi. She had her fair share of assassination missions behind herself, and these were her favorite, but it is quite different to kill one person because of a cause you believe in and simply get rid of hundreds just because they were in the way.

    ''Heh, maybe that''s why I wouldn''t be good as a leader.'' The thought briefly shed through Anko''s head.

    "Of course not." Tsunade rebuked as if she just heard something ridiculous, causing Anko to release a relieved breath. "I killed them because trying to subvert their loyalty to Danzo would be a pain in the a.s.s. How do you persuade a brainwashed individual that his brainwasher is a bad person?" She flippantly added with a gentle shake of her head.

    Anko threw Tsunade a deadpan gaze but inwardly, she had to admit that it might be a bit bigger problem than one would think at first. But... Tsunade was, from what Anko experienced, quite good at persuading people to see her point.

    Seeing the doubts in Anko''s expression, Tsunade borated, "This is a ninja vige, Anko. The only people who are allowed to have their own forces are Hokage and ns. Hokage is the de facto leader of the whole ninja force while there is no way to forbid the ns from having their own loyal ninjas short of ughtering them all. n ninjas are ALWAYS loyal to their n first and only then the vige. There are very few exceptions to that rule and it''s for this very reason that the Hokage is kept in check despite being somewhat of a dictator."

    "Danzo Shimura is neither." Anko added. She never really thought about it from this angle. Why would she? Mitarashi might have been quite a strong n focusing on various poisons during the vige founding but now she was the only one left. Heck, after Orochimaru defected, leaving her behind, the n assets somehow mysteriously disappeared before she could inherit anything. When she inquired about it, she was bluntly told Orochimaru stole everything from scrolls to money. When they told her that, she was just a kid buttely, Anko didn''t know how much she believed that to be the truth.

    "Therefore ROOT should have been integrated into the vige after making sure they will be loyal. Their very existence meant this vige went to shits. The second sensei overlooked Danzo taking in orphans and then making them into emotionless drones Konoha became something any Senju would loathe, proving the whole Council corrupt beyond repair." Tsunade continued, not minding the brief thoughtful expression on Anko''s face,

    "But killing two hundred ninjas?" Anko furrowed her brows. "The vige has around four thousand active ninjas, which isn''t much considering Kyuubi and Uchiha Massacre. We are still recovering our forces. Hah~, I simply think killing them was wasteful."

    "In the past, ROOT ANBU was filled by ANBU who wanted to give more to the vige. They took the most dangerous missions behind the enemy lines during the war. They helped the vige a lot. But sensei disbanded ROOT and from then on, Danzo decided to go about it in a different way. He started again, training kids and making them loyal only to himself... this extermination was a long timeing and, to be honest, I am very disappointed it had to be me who performed it and not the vige''s ANBU." Tsunade sighed before offhandedly adding, "Then again, it can be counted as my first act as the Fifth Hokage."

    "I see..." Anko nodded before her head caught up to what Tsunade told her, "Wait, WHAT!? You are taking over the vige!?"

    Tsunade threw Anko a funny look, "Isn''t that obvious? Pray tell, why else would Ie back? It''s high time someone kicked Hiruzen''s a.s.s out of hisfy chair. That said, I will need you to run some errands for me first, before the emergency meeting." She gave Anko a knowing smirk that brought the young woman an unwee sense of foreboding.

    Seeing it, Anko closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Hyuugas?" She resignedly asked.

    "Hyuugas." Tsunade gleefully confirmed. "Mah, mah, don''t be so disheartened. After you finish with it, I am going to fulfill another part of our deal. I made sure to create a nice and utterly painful training regime just for you! If you want to kill Orochimaru, you will have to suffer for it first, ne?"

    Needless to say, Anko was not a happy camper.

 Chapter 251 - Ch251. Old...

    <h4>Chapter 251 - Ch251. Old...</h4>

    The evening was approaching and Anko finally returned from her ''errands'' for Tsunade, providing the said woman a very humorous sight. She might have looked pristine but her expression told it all without her even having to open her mouth. From the utterly fed up and aggravated look, Tsunade instantly knew Anko had a very demanding few hours. And if the exasperated frown wasn''t any indication, then the way she clutched a bouquet of roses, crumpling them without even noticing, gave Tsunade a pretty neat idea of what happened.

    She totally did not peek from behind the curtains when she noticed Anko''s and Hiashi''s chakra signature stop in front of the Senju Compound...??

    "So..." Tsunade drawled,fortably sitting in an armchair in the living room, lowering her book a bit to look at Anko with her sparkling eyes. "When are you getting married?" She teasingly asked, and had to instantly duck as the bouquet of roses flew through the ce where her head was just a split second earlier.

    "Not. Another. Word!" Anko angrily huffed, squeezing a kunai in her hand, causing Tsunade''s mouth to shut with an audible click.

    Tsunade''s lips stretched into an amused smirk. Oh, she was going to milk this from all it was worth!

    ...

    Anko huffed and puffed,ying on the ground in the courtyard behind her house while Tsunade stood above her, smiling at her in a very irritating way while clicking her tongue in ''tsk, tsk, tsk'' gesture. The ruthless woman even added waving her pointing finger at her just for dramatic purposes!

    s, Anko was far too tired. The only thing she could muster to do was give Tsunade a stink eye but from the still-amused expression, Anko reckoned it was not as scary as she hoped.

    "I must say, you have quite a bit of stamina." Tsunade grinned.

    "Y-you... did thi...this... on pur-purpose! Haaa~." Anko huffed out, realizing she had been had.

    "Of course I did. I had to see what exactly you are capable of if I am to make a proper training schedule for you." Tsunade rolled her eyes at Anko, "You would never go all out against me unless you were angry beyond measure. Our little discussion earlier today told me you would have subconsciously held back." Tsunade shrugged, not saying ''because you look up to me.'', in order to not embarrass Anko more. It was quite endearing to see Anko so hung up on what she thought of her... if a bit misguided. A shame she would have to beat that out of the girl. It wouldn''t do if shepared herself to Tsunade too much and stunted her growth because of it.

    "Ther-..." Anko took a long breath, "THERE MUST BE A BETTER WAY TO DO THIS THAN RELENTLESSLY TEASE ME FOR TWO HOURS STRAIGHT!" She let out at once, needily gasping for more air right after she was finished saying it.

    "Small details." Tsunade crouched down and put her hand on Anko''s chest, slowly feeding her lungs with medical chakra, reinvigorating her stamina reserves. "Don''t worry, a few years of training and you will be ready."

    Anko''s expression eased up and a grin formed on her face almost instantly. She could almost imagine her sensei''s broken body, beaten ck, blue, crimson, right under her feet as his life was leaving him...

    Anko shuddered from a sudden rush of pleasure due to her imagination.

    Tsunade inwardly snorted, ''Well, no wonder she looks up to me that much. Considering how ecstatic her face looked when she imagined beating the crap out of Orochi... What the heck did he teach her anyway? There is definitely something very wrong with that girl.'' Tsunade awkwardly thought, ''Maybe that''s why Hiashi fell for her so quickly!'' A sudden realization dawned on her. ''He is a Hyuuga and they are ALL closet masochists! Growing up while practicing the chakra pokes of excruciating pain would ensure that. Figures Hiashi would look for a sadist to match him.''

    Then again, Tsunade couldn''t begrudge Anko her personality quirks. She was a ninja and they were supposed to be weird. It was just an unspoken rule of the profession.

    "Are you sure I can do it?" Anko asked in a quiet unsure tone, like a child seeking reassurance from her parent.

    Tsunade gave the young girl a genuine smile. "I am supposedly the best medic in the world. If I can''t break your body enough to make it stronger... strong enough to beat down Orochimaru, then no one can."

    "I will do my best." Anko promised, looking at the darkening sky and the rising moon witnessing her resolve.

    "Heh~," Tsunade''s eyes glinted with untold cruelty, suddenly making Anko feel a massive desire to back out. "Of that, I have no doubt. I will either break you or I will break you and make you stronger. Don''t worry. An untold amount of pain is guaranteed. I will use my medical expertise to veeery slowly rip all your muscles apart, heightening your pain tolerance, and then rebuilding them a bit stronger all the while you will study chakra and Jutsu, focusing through the pain, training your concentration."

    Anko creased her eyebrows as a droplet of sweat rolled down the side of her face from the intense glee Tsunade was showcasing at the prospect of tearing her apart from inside out. Maybe this wasn''t such a good idea? "Er... you know I am a sadist, right? I don''t enjoy pain. I enjoy causing it."

    "You will learn." Tsunade quipped, making Anko experience a chill rushing up her spine.

    Anko was about to open her mouth to protest when the back door to the courtyard suddenly flew open and Naruto rushed outside, "Anko, Anko, Anko! I won against Sasuke today! I..." The excitable ball of orange stopped in his tracks as his brain finally caught up to his eyes, registering the situation.

    Anko was on the ground, looking very fearful, while a strange blond woman crouched near her with amusement sparkling in her amber eyes. He honestly had no idea what to think... so his brain went with the first thing it came up with.

    The blond one was clearly attacking Anko!

    Naruto had to do something! He... pointed at her and screamed, "Oi, what are you doing, Aunty!?" ... Causing Tsunade to almost trip.

    "He really is annoying, isn''t he?" Tsunade mumbled, ncing at Anko who groaned, the back of her head hitting the ground in a huff.

    "Oi! I am not a-" Naruto started screaming bloody murder.

    "Naruto, stop pretending. She knows!" Anko screamed louder, knowing that only being louder than him would stop him once he started going with his facade of an idiot.

    Naruto quieted down, looking at Tsunade as if studying her with his eyes... before he turned back to Anko, "So... who is she? Your friend? Why did you tell her? Couldn''t you at least ask me first? You know I don''t like people knowing about my secrets! Is she trustworthy? Are you sure? Do you know her well? Won''t she tell som-"

    "NARUTO!" Anko interrupted his tirade of questions, knowing he only did that to get a rise out of her. Unfortunately for him, she was far too tired to go and y kunai-tag with him through the vige. She sighed, idly rubbing her forehead,menting her fate. She just knew Naruto will try to mess with Tsunade but... oh, well. "That''s Tsunade Senju. Our...ndy if you will."

    Deafening silence spread through the courtyard, strangely contrasting with the orange-d figure who was giving Tsunade aplicated stare.

    Tsunade instantly understood. The boy knew she was a part-Uzumaki and most likely was currently deciding how to behave around her. On one hand, she was a family. On the other, he never even met her and didn''t trust her much.

    Anko, intimately aware of Naruto''s thought process, scrambled to the side of the courtyard, as far away from Tsunade as possible, the second she saw his eyes brightening in a mischievous light.

    "No way... isn''t she supposed to be like... ancient?"

    "Oi, did you just call me old, brat?" Tsunade evenly asked, her eyebrows twitching.

    Naruto, reacting to the word ''brat'', put his arms on his hips and cheekily swayed from side to side, "I only said the truth! ... Grandma!"

    "Oi! Don''t call me that, brat! I am barely in myte forties!" Tsunade loudly rebuked, irked.

    Naruto just pointed at her and shouted, "Yeah, that''s exactly what I mean! By average ninja life expectancy standards, you long overstayed your wee!"

    Needless to say, after that, she had beaten the evesting crap out of him in an attempt to teach him some manners of talking to ady,pletely ignoring his screams about child abuse and brutal old women... or something.

 Chapter 252 - Ch252. Emergency Council Meeting 1

    <h4>Chapter 252 - Ch252. Emergency Council Meeting 1</h4>

    Danzo impassively stared at the worry-free n heads as they slowly filled the council room, walking inzily and without any motivation despite therge threat that appeared just a day ago. Their attitude was frankly unforgivable in his opinion. This was supposed to be how the people supervising ns full of trained killers acted?

    Nara looked as if he pulled an all-nighter, ready to fall asleep where he stood.??

    Akimichi gorged on his third bag of chips, the previous two crumpled empty bags discarded in front of him on the table.

    Yamanaka who watched his two friends looked like a helpless sissy.

    Hyuuga looked as if he desperately needed to go to the toilet but tried to hide it behind a straight face. Danzo also noticed him from time to time ncing at Mitarashi who sat in the Senju seat by proxy... now that was simply a disgusting thought.

    Mitarashi herself had her feet on the table, rocking in her chair while looking as carefree as possible. As if she could hide anything from him! The girl was clearly in pain from the bruises her surprisingly modest clothes hid. For a moment, Danzo pondered how she got these bruises but then he discarded such thoughts. Considering Mitarashi''s personality and rumored hobbies, he didn''t really want to know what she did in her free time. She was not nearly skilled enough to be much of a concern anyway.

    Aburame was the only one who showed at least a smidge of decorum but Danzo really had no idea if it was because of the man''s stoicism or something else. The only visible thing from the man''s face was his nose and that was not a good thing where bodynguage reading was concerned.

    Inuzuka... not important.

    It was at times like this that his resolve to get the hat increased. How could he leave the vige in the hands of these... slobs!? Oh, Hiruzen, the willfully naive fool. He desperately held Konoha together while the ns grewcent. Clearly, the vige needed a strong militaristic leader who would rule with a firm hand, not afraid of dishing out just punishments in his quest to set things straight.

    Just look at the orange menace pranking the vige! The kid was what? Seven? Eight? And he already managed to evade some chunins? What does that say about the quality of Konoha''s forces? Really... Danzo always thought of himself as a needed man. The recent happenings in the vige just confirmed it for him.

    The Uchiha nned a coup.

    What was he supposed to do? Wait and let them do it? Of course, he would counter-strike first! That was the whole point of having an inside informant! So they wouldn''t be caught off-guard. But no... Hiruzen simply had to try and negotiate with Fugaku, showing the man the vige''s higher-ups knew about their treachery, making Itachi distrusted.

    At that point, the whole thing was at the point of no return. The Uchiha n simply had to go.

    And if he managed to grab some of the Sharingan eyes lying around? Well, the better for him, no?

    Unfortunately for Danzo, the YOZORA smashed that n to pieces, smug bastards! They even dared to ughter his ROOT and brag about robbing the Uchiha eyes from him? He would not have it! It was time Konoha got serious and hunted these fools.

    ''Now... the only thing that remains to be answered is how should I manipte my fellow councilmen to make Yozora pay.'' Danzo pondered as he noticed everybody was ready for the meeting to start.

    ...

    Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed as he watched the eyebrow of his long-time friend, Danzo, minusculely twitch every three seconds or so. It was a clear tick that the man was irritated. That would be fine. Irritated Danzo was grumpy Danzo but it was nothing world-ending. At best, it was a sign of a headache-inducing meeting. But no, the whole thing became a serious problem when Hiruzen noticed the corner of Danzo''s mouth twitch alongside his eyebrow. That meant Danzo was enraged. And that was not good for anyone. Especially not him.

    ''Oh, I can already see the paperwork that will rain upon me like a vengeful banshee once Danzo does something reckless!'' Hiruzen frantically thought.

    He was aware of what got his friend so upset. Anybody would feel a bit off if a group of famous rogue ninjas decided to repaint your living room with blood and intestines. Well... at least it was not Danzo''s blood and intestines, right? Hiruzen couldn''t see what was the big deal.

    Covering his eyes with the hem of his hat while chewing on his pipe, Hiruzen pondered, ''Thest thing I need is Danzo lobbying for hunter ninjas to be sent after Yozora. Now... how to manipte this meeting to prevent that, I wonder?'' Letting out a frustrated breath, Hiruzen deeply sighed. ''If only everybody was as easy to fool as Naruto. The world would be a better ce.''

    ...

    Anko sat in her seat, trying to avoid Hiashi''s gaze while inwardly feeling giddy, anticipating the happenings of the uing meeting. She could discern that Shikaku felt the same as her. The man was subtle but Anko noticed he tried to hide his smile byying his head on the table in the guise of being sleepy. It was such a natural sight she would have dismissed it if she didn''t spend hours meeting various heads of ns allied to the Senju.

    Inoichi also threw her a short worried nce, showcasing he was aware that something concerning the Senju n would happen during the meeting. The question of involvement of the Yamanaka and Akimichi ns took hours to resolve because Shikaku wanted them to know while Anko was vehemently against it. In the end, they decided it was fine to inform them that ''something'' is gonna happen and that they should support Shikaku if it came to that but no important information was to be divulged to them.

    Choza seemed uncaring, happy with munching on chips while Inoichi was as always too curious for his own good. Honestly, the man was bigger gossip than most of the olddies in the marketce. He just hid it well.

    Aburame seemedfortable. And stoic. Too stoic for his own good. The man was a mask of hard-to-surprise coolness. There wasn''t much that could cause him to show a reaction. Anko sometimes wondered if they have bugs bugging the entirety of Konoha.

    For example, the man didn''t even twitch when it was revealed Itachi ughtered the Uchiha n. Everybody reacted but Shibi. Even the perpetually asleep Shikaku was for once awake and had this put-out look as if he just heard something extremely unpleasant and disappointing. Smart bastard... Anko was sure the man deduced what the massacre was about in under a few seconds after the announcement while she needed Lady Tsunade to exin to her what that entire thing was about.

    As for the Inuzuka matriarch... not important.

    Just then, the Hokage deeply sighed before wearily standing up from his seat, sweeping the room with his tired gaze, showing a vulnerable look despite knowing it fooled nobody. The man had to enjoy his maniptions far too much if he didn''t stop even in a room full of people knowing about his tendencies. After all, there was a reason why no n head let Hiruzen in the talking distance of their heirs unless it was for the pre-academy motivational speech.

    "Shall we start, then?" He more stated than asked and gestured for the ANBU to seal the door.

    Hiruzen then started calling the names of the ns, doing attendance checks. The civilian representatives who had no idea that something was going on... Nara... Yamanaka... Akimichi... Hyuuga... Senju... Senju... Senj-

    "Hey." Hiruzen pointedly narrowed his eyes at the unperturbed Anko, "I ask for the third andst time. Is the Senju n present?"

    "Weeeell," Anko drawled, putting some chakra into the seal on her wrist. A secondter, a loud crash resounded from the direction of the door as an ANBU flew through them while breaking them, and then rolled on the ground until he stopped a few feet in front of the Hokage seat. Alive but in a whole new world of pain. "You gotta ask her that." Anko simply shrugged, pointing at Tsunade who stood in the middle of the door, yet another beaten ANBU guard groaning on the floor behind her, while she was giving Hiruzen a predatory look.

    "Yes. The Senju n is present." Tsunade grinned in the same way Tobirama always did when he was going to enjoy hurting somebody.

    Somehow, both Danzo and Hiruzen couldn''t help but suddenly feel nervous as they remembered their sadistic teacher.

 Chapter 253 - Ch253. Emergency Council Meeting 2

    <h4>Chapter 253 - Ch253. Emergency Council Meeting 2</h4>

    "Tsunade?" Hiruzen eximed in surprise, "When did youe back?"

    He was the Hokage, dammit! One would think a presence of an S-rank ninja in HIS vige, no matter if she belonged to HIS own forces, would be noted and ryed to him...

    ''Damn Izumo and Kotetsu... new at the job and already cking? Exactly like their fathers!'' Hiruzen glumly thought.

    "Just yesterday," Tsunade waved her arm as she slowly walked towards the center of the room, closer to the Hokage, instead of heading to the Senju seat. This was instantly noted by the other n heads.

    Hiruzen, though, had his head spinning because of something else. ''Did she say yesterday? An S-rank ninja was inside of MY vige for more than twenty-four hours and NOBODY noticed? No report from the barrier team? The barrier is set up to re like crazy the second one of my students enters the vige. As their sensei, it is my duty to prove myself all-knowing, and being aware of theirings and goings was a big part of that! How could she just sneak in? Worse yet... No patrols spotted anything unusual? No casino showed a marginal improvement in their earnings? No barined about drunk violent blondes? No Danzoining about CRA for Tsunade? When the hell did the world be such a strange ce!?'' He pondered his life choices as the leader of a vige full of trained killers, now that they proved utterly ipetent.

    Naturally, Hiruzenpletely disregarded that Tsunade was Senju, and therefore knew many secret entrances to the vige not known even to him. For him, she was still the small t girl who wanted to be the best medic in the world after witnessing her beloved grandfather dying during her childhood. Same as Orochimaru was still that little pale kid with a penchant for snakes who just might have been a bit morally deranged. Yeah... sending him to work with Danzo might not have been the best decision for his already crumbling moralpass.

    ''Poor Danzo... who knows how Orochimaru corrupted him.'' Hiruzen wistfully mused, ''He did be a bit heavy-handed in recent years.''

    While Hiruzen was experiencing the effect his old age had on his sentimentality, Tsunade finally arrived in the center of the room, standing tall with her arms crossed below her chest with a very self-satisfied grin on her face.

    Her eyes nced at Danzo in a way the man would notice. Catching his attention, Tsunade very slightly lifted her forearm, making her breasts bounce. Today, she had a generous cleavage and even an old, supposedly emotionless, coot like Danzo was not immune to her charms. Especially not the small temptation genjutsu targeting only his chakra signature. Well, for all Tsunade knew, the man could have been a eunuch or batted for the other team with the amount of time he and her sensei spent bickering! She had to safeguard her n would go off without a hitch...

    Danzo indeed found himself affected and nced at her cleavage... stiffening the second he noticed the mark on her left breast. He knew that mark well from his research these past few days...

    ''What the... Yozora!? Wait... wooden spikes made of mokuton? ... She ughtered my ROOT!'' His eyes filled with horror-induced panic as he frantically looked at Hiruzen. He knew the old monkey was a pervert ranking on the upper levels of Jiraiya''s scale and indeed, the old man was blushing while also ncing at Tsunade''s chest. ''Nothing? He is saying nothing? ... Wait! He... doesn''t see the mark, does he?''

    Danzo remembered. Tsunade had perfect chakra control and knew a genjutsu that hid the effects of her old age even from Sharingan and Byakugan users.

    ''Of course, nobody is seeing it! The bitch!'' He silently seethed, ring in rage at the blond woman.

    He couldn''t simply use her of being in an organization full of rogue ninjas, telling the council he needed somebody to study her naked chest to provide the proof. That sounded like something Hiruzen woulde up with. Ridiculous...

    It was the same situation as his arm or eye. He was seen as a cripple. Telling him to show them his supposedly mutted arm or missing eye was incredibly rude and if somebody did that, it would have been the equivalent of making enemies on the council. He could have easily wiggled out of that usation with some simple word-y, abusing his status of cripple alongside his position on the council and his lifelong loyal service to the vige. After all, what would be his motivation to betray the vige when he gave his body parts to serve it? After spending his entire life safeguarding it? using him of anything without a certain factual and irrefutable proof was political and career suicide.

    Tsunade was thest Senju. She was thest member of the founding n of Konoha. Saying she betrayed the vige without providing iron-d proof was like saying she shat upon all of her dead n members'' graves. And everybody knew how she loved her n. She even left the vige in grief after the second war, supposedly unable to withstand the pressure. Her brother''s death was just thest straw. Tsunade was a hardened ninja, after all. One death would not cause her topletely crumble. But receiving every other week an invitation to a funeral of yet another dead family member since she was ten? Even Danzo, the believer in the necessary ruthlessness, had to, at the time, admit that if anyone deserved a long break, it was her.

    Moreover, she was the hero of the second ninja war and the most beloved person in Konoha right after the Yellow sh! Literally nobody died in the hospital in the third war because of her. People noticed. As long as an injured person reached Konoha''s hospital, he would survive even if half of his body was missing. Tsunade was just that good. People still loved her despite her long absence from the vige.

    using a person of such a reputation of an act of treason?

    Danzo might have been old but he was not senile. All he could do was silently stem in his rage and quietly watch the meeting. He did not have his ROOT anymore. He had five guys who would get ughtered if they tried anything against Tsunade. He knew when he was beaten. No, it was time for a tactical retreat and regroup. He could always remake his ROOT. Konoha had enough orphans for that.

    ''Oh, I will have my revenge, Tsunade. Just you wait. A few years and I will make your life a hell upon earth! Yozora will fall once I be Hokage.'' Danzo inwardly swore.

    Smirking, Tsunade gave Danzo a winning look, enjoying the emotional torture she heaped upon the old Warhawk with just a single gesture. Yeah... he now knew her allegiance. Big deal. What was he exactly gonna do about it? Call her up on it? How she wished he would be that stupid. Label of a pervert would suit the old cripple nicely, driving his already butt-hurt ego into the ground.

    Better yet, it would give her a reasonable excuse to clobber the old coot through the entire vige too, crippling him for real. After all, idents happen all the time, no?

    ''A girl can dream.'' Tsunade wistfully sighed and turned back to Hiruzen, taking out a miniature scroll from her pocket, erging it with a single re of her chakra before throwing it to the old man.

    "That is why I came here." She answered his questioning look as he caught the document, "You wouldn''t believe all the things I learned about my ce in this vige in my visit to the Fire Capital. Eh, sensei, when were you going to tell me about it, I wonder?"

    Hearing that, Hiruzen didn''t need to be a prophet to know what the scroll was about. Needless to say, his heart skipped a beat when he saw the seal of the Fire Daimyo.

 Chapter 254 - Ch254. Emergency Council Meeting 3

    <h4>Chapter 254 - Ch254. Emergency Council Meeting 3</h4>

    "I would have been happy ignoring Konoha my whole life... but no. You just had to do the stunt with the Uchiha n, had you not?" Tsunade pointedly gazed at Hiruzen whose eyebrow involuntarily twitched at the usation... which could as well be a full-body flinch considering the people in the chamber knew at least something about reading the bodynguage. "Well... no more. My grandfather didn''t create this vige to be a chessboard for some old bastards'' amusement." Her cold stare briefly stopped on every single Elder, causing them to frown, ending on Danzo, to whom she gave a look a few degrees frostier than the others. "For those who still didn''t get it..." Tsunade nced at Tsume, "Itachi didn''t go quite as mad as he was portrayed. He simply followed orders, didn''t he? Eh, Sensei?"

    Even Tsume Inuzuka understood Tsunade''s meaning after she pointed it out so bluntly. Inuzuka''s were fiercely loyal to the Third Hokage due to their pack mentality. He had a half-century to cement his position as an alpha in their minds and he certainly did not ck off in that regard. Hiruzen became shocked and inwardly winced at the piercing look Tsume threw him.

    He found himself between Tsunade and a hard ce. On one hand, he could y stupid but he knew the suspicion was cast and this could potentially tear the vige apart in the near future. He definitely didn''t miss how Hiashi Hyuuga narrowed his eyes at him. Him! He protected the vige with his life for over half-century and now these... these upstarts wanted to take his pound of flesh? As if!

    "It was all for the Will of Fire, Tsunade-chan." He said in a calm voice, adding the suffix to show her her ce. He knew there was no point in trying to keep these facts hidden. "The Uchiha n wanted to rebel. The final result was definitely unfortunate but not unexpected. Treason is treason, after all. No matter what I did, they simply wouldn''t let it go. And in the end, I never ordered their massacre." He sadly shook his head.

    "Bullshit. You, Hiruzen Sarutobi, LET. THAT. HAPPEN!" She emphasized her words by banging her fist on the table nearby while staring at her sensei, "You knew something was wrong for years. You were the reason why they were relocated to the outskirts and lost most of their political power in the first ce. All because Danzo told you so. You know how prideful and vain Uchiha''s were. You must have had an idea how this would end up. Especially with that twit Fugaku as the n head. Don''t try to screw with me by telling me you had no idea, Sensei. You are not called the Professor because you like Icha Icha: Schoolyard Crush." Tsunade deadpanned, making Hiruzen feel self-conscious as a small blush appeared on his wizened cheeks.

    "Tsunade-hime," Koharu decided to interrupt the dressing down Tsunade was delivering to Hiruzen, "Even your grandfather would see the greater good in the unfortunate demise of the Uchiha n. He always preached that others should see the vige before their own ns. Uchihas simply went too far."

    "I would think I knew my grandfather better than you, old hag." Tsunade snorted, stopping Koharu short, earning herself a re from the short old woman, "No matter how hard you try to portray my grandfather as some idiot who would sacrifice anything for the vige, I have known him. As big of a goof as he was when it came to politics, he was still a ninja and knew the importance of backup ns. Say what you want, but my grandfather was Senju first, Hokage second. Anyone who knew him more deeply was aware of that fact. That''s also why Danzo holds more respect to my uncle, rather than my grandfather. My uncle simply hid his preference for our n better." Tsunade stated, causing everyone to ponder what she just said. "How could it be any different? He created the vige for his n, for the children so they wouldn''t have to fight. How could you sit there and tell me he would dly sacrifice these same children for the vige? Are you daft?"

    "What do you mean?" Tsume asked, now fully invested in the discussion.

    "Ah~, what a drag." Shikaku murmured, "Itachi didn''t spare even children. Considering our esteemed Hokage and his Elder Koharu just indirectly admitted that it was an order of some sort..."

    And the chamber grew somber at that.

    The various n heads felt their very own turmoil of emotions because of the revtion.

    The Elders furiously thought about how to word their defense in order to prove what they did was fully for the vige.

    The civilian representatives simply stared, feeling out of the ce and suddenly scared to let out even an ''eep''. After all, if an entire n was eradicated just because they got out of hand... They all started considering their previous behavior during those meetings and sudden fear started to creep up their spines.

    The Hokage just mournfully puffed his pipe, passively watching the whole council room. It was interesting how just a few words could aplish what he in his entire career could not. Tsunade in just a few seconds shut up the entire council room. He found himself impressed despite it being at his expense. ''Maybe it really is time to retire, huh?''

    After a brief silence, Tsunade started speaking again, "My grandfather certainly didn''t create the vige for you, the conniving bastards who scheme how to use thebors of my family to get more power and influence, corrupting this ce in the process. How dare you take his name into your mouth, bitch?" She returned Koharu''s re, adding her killing intent on the top which instantly shook everybody in the room awake from their own contemtion as cracks appeared on the walls from the pressure emitted from Tsunade, making Koharu flinch as far back in her seat as she possibly could at the very physical representation of Tsunade''s intent to do her harm. Inwardly satisfied, at the horrified face of the woman due to the inhuman levels of killing intent saturating the air, Tsunade looked back to the Hokage, finding his pipe fell from his mouth. She coldly smirked, "Hiruzen lost his marbles long ago. He believes in the Will of Fire so much, he became deranged. He let civilians run our ninja vige as if they owned us." At that, many of the sweating civilians cringed, fearing for their lives. "He let his Elders walk all over him in order to appease them because of some misguided sense of camaraderie." Elders frowned, not daring to interrupt again due to their instincts screaming at them to be quiet, "And the saddest of it all, he totally forgot or willfully disregarded most of what my uncle tried to teach him. That Will of Fire was just a guideline that made all the ns closer. Nothing more than that. s, as long as something fit Hiruzen''s image of the Will of Fire, all was a fair game." Tsunade nced at Danzo in a way that would be painfully obvious to Hiruzen what she meant.

    And notice, he did. It wasn''t hard to put two and two together for Hiruzen. He knew ROOT did more bad than good but he still didn''t want to believe Danzo fell so much into the darkness. After all, if he couldn''t believe in his oldest friends andrades, then who could he believe?

    "The Senjus created this ce." Tsunade continued, "We were never the biggest fans of formality but the hierarchy set up by my uncle and grandfather should have told you what ce my ancestors envisioned for our n. The verynds Konoha stands on are fully owned by my n. We are the founding n. We gave each of your ns a sanctuary. We handpicked four noble ns of thesends, giving them stature simr to nobles in the Fire Country. We promised a better future for the ns. And we delivered." She swept the n heads with her unflinching and hardened gaze as if they were a bunch of misbehaving children, "Yet... when the Senju n needed help, where were you exactly? Eh, Sarutobi? You knew Senju were hunted down but what did you do? You let it happen. That''s what." Tsunade turned to the shocked n heads. "I had enough. I have already signed the paperwork with the Daimyo and enacted the preventive use of the Konoha Creation Act. From now on, Konoha is an autonomous territory within the Fire Country under the rule of thendowners, the Senju n." She dered with finality.

    The civilians and ns who had no idea what would happen were left speechless, not knowing what exactly to do. Who could me them? Their homnd just became a different country right in front of their eyes and the only thing they could do was to gape.

    Danzo''s breath hitched. This was the whole reason why he helped Senjus on their way to the afterlife during the first and second wars. ''Damn you, Hiruzen! You and your sentiment! Why couldn''t you just let me deal with your bitch of a student when I offered?'' Naturally, Hiruzen knew about some of it. After all, it was in the time when the ROOT program was just starting, hence the organization was still a legitimate part of the vige. They both discovered these uses of the Konoha Creation Act. The Senju n were simply too dangerous, being able to take the power from the Hokage at their whim.

    Hiruzen wasn''t even protesting. He was just so tired of it all. He knew Jiraiya would never be Hokage. That only left Tsunade. That was honestly half of the reason why he was searching for the whereabouts of his wayward student during all these recent years. He was well aware she was the only candidate fit to be the Hokage. What was the point of trying to prevent this? It would have happened sooner orter and he hoped sooner rather thanter. He actually felt enormous pride that at least one of his students had it in them to oppose him in such a tant manner. That at least one of his students would have the balls to keep Konoha safe. He also found it somewhat hrious that, in the end, it was not Orochimaru or Jiraiya but Tsunade with these proverbial balls.

    He has spent so much time trying to prevent her from learning about her birthright, and now, here they were. He,pletely d she actually learned about it and took the reins as there was no other option either way. Life was funny like that. To think it would throw him such a curveball in his old age.

    At least, one of his students was not an utter failure. For the first time since the Kyuubi attack, he felt oddly at peace.

    Tsunade raised her head high and looked straight into Hiruzen''s eyes, daring him to say a word. "And as my first order as the owner of thesends, I hereby dere you, Hiruzen Sarutobi, fired from the position of Hokage." Herposed but firm voice rang through the room, astonishing the upants even more.

    ''Well, she could have said it more politely, couldn''t she?'' Hiruzen sweatdropped.

 Chapter 255 - Ch255. Emergency Council Meeting 4

    <h4>Chapter 255 - Ch255. Emergency Council Meeting 4</h4>

    "Sensei, you and your advisors," Tsunade nced at Koharu and Homura, "have a day to vacate your offices."

    Hiruzen just resignedly nodded whereas both Homura and Koharu widened their eyes in astonishment at being dismissed like this. The lifetime of service was not worth even a polite dismissal? That rubbed both of them the wrong way.

    And while Homura was the calmer of the two and stayed silent, only observing the happenings while thinking what to do to salvage his situation, Koharu had a bit of a temper.

    "What!? Why!? You can''t just kick us out without a proper reason!" She screamed while involuntarily standing up without even realizing it until her bones protested with a dull ache.

    Tsunade looked funnily at Koharu, her look rying exactly what her thoughts about the old woman''s intelligence were. "I can and I just did. Every Hokage can appoint and dismiss the advisors at his leisure. Hiruzen''s dismissal from the Hokage seat automatically means your own dismissal. Your lifelong appointment to the position was only because of Hiruzen''s rtionship with you. I find it funny you actually fought so much against him on so many issues and yet he didn''t use his right to outright dismiss you. After all, you two were supposed to be his greatest allies. That''s what the Hokage advisors are there for. To support the Hokage. You must have forgotten that bit in your old age." She snarked. "You two grew far toocent in your seats. You think you can do whatever and nobody would give a shit. Well, think again!"

    It was obvious Tsunade was not amused by Koharu''s attitude. After she delivered her verbal bashing unto the old woman, she calmed down and decided topletely nail their careers to the ground without any chance to save them.

    "And if you want a proper reason..." Tsunade momentarily halted, causing Homura to stiffen as the old man knew nothing good would be said next if Tsunade''s tone was any indication. "I know well it is impossible to properly falsify a mission order... like the one for the Uchiha massacre without you two knowing about it. You not only betrayed your Hokage and went behind his back. You conspired to end an entire n, from elderly to toddlers, and as such, you were part of what most of us would call high treason. Shouldn''t you be happy to not be thrown into prison straight away? Where the heck do you get the balls to argue against your dismissal I will never know..." She amusedly shook her head at the two old people who looked as if they sucked a moldy lemon.

    The n heads now looked at them with a mix of disgust, wariness, and hostility. Sure, most of the time, they were at each other''s throats. There was also the fact that nobody really liked the arrogant Uchihas. But they were ns and could sympathize. They could easily imagine themselves in the position of the Uchiha n.

    It was far too easy to imagine the Yamanaka n as a threat with their mind Jutsus.

    It was far too easy to imagine the Nara n as a threat with their inborn smarts and shadow Jutsus.

    It was far too easy to imagine the Hyuuga n as a threat because of their Byakugan abilities.

    In short, every n had something that made them dangerous and different. They all had to have a measure of trust between themselves to cohabitate a single vige. Every n had their secrets, their own ways they could endanger the vige at any given moment. But that was how Konoha was always supposed to work. The entire premise of the vige upon its founding was based on building at least basic trust between ns and making them work together for amon goal. These political spats in the council room were just that. Momentary spats that faded from the mind the second the n heads left the council room.

    Frankly, the biggest dispute between ns could be said to be the past Hyuuga-Uchiha hatred... and even then the Uchihas and Hyuugas could seamlessly work together to aplish missions without a singleint. They simply preferred not to interact and usually stood on the different sides of many issues. But that was it.

    Konoha depended on trust between ns and the government. The second the Uchiha n was pushed to the outskirts the vige broke a very vital requirement for the coexistence between the n and the vige.

    Tsunade felt ashamed for her sensei when she heard he could not appease the Uchihas. She couldn''t reallyprehend how hard it would be to let them back to their previouspound in the center of the n district? That was all he needed to do. Let them go back home and leave them a free hand to do what they wished like any other n. As for the Uchiha bing too ambitious after getting the said free hand... the other ns would simply hammer their ego down whenever they tried to stick out. That''s how Konoha worked for almost fifty years. The ns kept each other in check.

    As for Danzo... he was still reveling at the fact Tsunade did not mention him. He was not an Elder of the Advisory Council. He was now in the Konoha Council in one of the elected civilian seats. Danzo refused to believe Tsunade didn''t know it was him who forged Itachi''s orders. Narrowing his eye, he wondered what she was ying at.

    "Now... I could be the new Hokage." Tsunade started, "But I already am an equivalent of Daimyo for Konoha. Hence, the new Hokage will be Shikaku Nara." She offhandedly said, causing a loud bang to resound from Shikaku''s direction, followed by a painful groan of the man whose head just impacted the table due to his almost heart-stopping shock.

    Shikaku couldn''t believe his ears. He lifted his head from the hard wooden table,pletely ignoring the bruise right in the middle of his forehead. Whipping his tired body up, he leaned forward with a frantic expression. "You can''t do that to me!" He shouted almost hysterically, getting weirded-out gazes from most of the n heads while Inoichi and Choza simply mirthfully chuckled. Only Shibi was as stoic as ever but even his amusement could be deciphered from the buzz of his bugs.

    "Ah, lucky you!" Choza boomed and patted Shikaku''s back,ughing his ass off at the misfortune of his friend. He knew how much the Nara men despised any notion of bing the Hokage.

    "Yoshino will be pleased." Inoichi joined the teasing, making Shikaku''s face scrunch in a grimace.

    "Eh, don''t worry, Shikaku." Tsunade grinned. "I only need you to do the paperwork and tend to the council. I am sure you will enjoy the fulfilling experience. I already sent a job offer to Yoshino for the spot of your secretary! Aren''t I thoughtful?"

    Shikaku could just flop back into his seat as despair started to im his soul.

    ''This is just a nightmare. Yes... I will wake up in the morning and the world will be a lot less insane. I am sure of it. Bing Hokage? Having my nagging wife as my secretary? God! All that paperwork! All that nagging! All that nagging during the paperwork! All that nagging to do the paperwork! Yes... simply a nightmare.'' He thought as he started to close his eyes in hope to wake up.

    "Just imagine Yoshino''s reaction when she finds out you are the new Hokage and she is your secretary." Tsunade slyly said, causing Choza and Inoichi to snort, knowing well Yoshino''s personality.

    ''Hmm, all that nagging to do Yoshino instead of the paperwork? Maybe Tsunade is right and this isn''t such a bad idea? ... Oh, who am I kidding! She is just trying to manipte me! Such a drag...'' Shikaku wearily sighed in defeat. It was far too troublesome to argue his case.

 Chapter 256 - Ch256. The Best Man For The Job.

    <h4>Chapter 256 - Ch256. The Best Man For The Job.</h4>

    "Troublesome blonde!"

    Yoshino heard a frustrated scream from the Hokage office and briefly stopped organizing the appointments before mirthfully chuckling and continuing her job.

    ''I will have to send Tsunade chocte or something. Now that Shikamaru is mostly in the academy, I was getting bored at home.'' She hummed.

    Inside the Hokage office, Shikaku was frantically reviewing papers, signing off on some of them while discarding others into the trashcan while mentally cursing the inefficiency of Konoha''s administration system.

    s, fate is a bitch. Once upon a time, he spent innumerable working hours in his capacity as the Jonin Commanderughing his ass off at Hiruzen''s suffering, knowing nobody in their right mind would ever choose him to be the Hokage, and yet... here he was.

    Life sucked.

    "What do you want?" Shikaku gruffly asked, not even deeming it important to look at Tsunade who came for a sudden unannounced visit. His Daimyo or not... he was not happy with her right about now. He didn''t see a proper bed for over twenty-four hours and that''s considering the Emergency meeting was just two days ago. He could already imagine his bleak future...

    "Nothing. Can''t I visit my third favorite Hokage in my free time?" Tsunade jested, emphasizing the word ''free'', causing Shikaku to spontaneously snap his pen in half.

    He slowly lifted his fed-up and unamused gaze towards her, "You did this on purpose, didn''t you?"

    Tsunade, from her position on the couch, shrugged in indifference, "Yeah... Do you even have to ask?" She lifted her eyebrow at him, "We both know you had enough time to put the facts together and analyze your situation from every possible angle imaginable during your paperwork time. Entertain me. What did youe up with? Why did I make you the Hokage instead of taking the hat myself?" She was really interested in the conclusion Shikaku''s mind would deliver.

    He threw the stacks of paper a vindictive look before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Well, I guess I could take a bit of a break." Looking back at Tsunade, Shikaku gained a thoughtful look. "The only thing I came up with is my experience in administration from my tenure as the Jonin Commander. That is really the only thing I can offer to the vige in this position." He reasoned.

    Jonin Commander was a bit misleading term. It was not the person sent on the most dangerous missions as one would believe. No... Jonin Commander was a full-time desk job. Shikaku was not away from Konoha even once since he became the Jonin Commander. His duties primarilyid in deciding which team would be sent on which high-rank mission, reviewing missions to make sure there is nothing immediately fishy-sounding in them that could get their ninjas killed, and then he had to deal with paperwork consisting of things like finished mission reports and the like. It was a job that required incredible analytical capabilities coupled with heaps of practical experiences in the field.

    The only time a Jonin Commander yed an activebat role in the vige would be during a war, where he was supposed to be one of the main tacticians. Hence, it is a position held only by Nara.

    And it was also a good job where you got paid for cking the day off during peacetime, hence the Nara n made the deal with the First Hokage to be ''prioritized'' for it.

    "Let''s be honest," Shikakuzily continued with a measure of amusement in his tone, "If we measure one''s worth by his rank and abilities, I am solid three. I am an Elite Jonin who, depending on their prowess and Jutsu repertoire, couldfortably fight three other average Jonins. On that same scale, Sarutobi is a solid twenty-five, which is quite impressive in itself when one considers an additional opponent means thebat prowess has to rise exponentially to cope with the increase. That''s most likely why the Second Hokage chose him instead of Danzo as his sessor. Danzo was better at plotting while Hiruzen had more immediatebat potential. They were at war and such a choice was a no-brainer."

    Tsunade snorted, "Sensei always told us he was chosen because his Will of Fire was the strongest. Allegedly, that is really how my uncle justified his choice." She started, beaming with mirth. "When I was a kid, I found it fascinating. Now? I think that my uncle pulled the most avable and cheesiest bullshit to quickly justify his choice before he went on a suicide mission that, in the end, won us the first war. It''s sad that sensei took his words as gospel and became almost fanatical about the Will of Fire." Tsunade sighed. "I am sure Sensei''s retirement will be a bittersweet thing for him. His own punishment of sorts where he can only watch how his beloved vige changes from what he thinks is best for the Will of Fire while he is unable to intervene." Shikaku was looking at her weirdly but wisely kept quiet as she monologued. Noticing herself rambling, Tsunade looked back at the man behind the Hokage desk, "But back to you."

    Shikaku slowly nodded, his mind processing what she just told him. "Back to me... there are high tens of Jonins who are more or less on the same level as me in the vige. And that is not even counting those who mastered elemental Jutsu that naturally counter to my Shadow Maniption. " He distractedly mused. "I may be smart but that is not necessarily a necessity to be a Hokage either. It is heavily assumed that somebody who got so far as to be considered for the Hokage position is actually smart. But what is most important is thebat capability, or rather, his war deterrent value to the vige. Hence the entire administration mess I have to deal with now. Maaan~, couldn''t Sarutobi at least try to make it less troublesome? He was in the office for thest forty years. What the heck was he doing!?" He petntlyined while wearily rubbing his forehead.

    ''So he figured it out, eh?'' Tsunade chuckled, her eyes sparkling with mirth as Shikaku gave her a deadpan gaze.

    "You simply chose me to be the poor sod who has to rehaul the administration system of the vige." He concluded, causing Tsunade to smirk.

    "I stand by what I said in the past. I did it to reward the Nara n for their continuous and loyal service to the Senju n. It is high time that your n''s standing increased." She said smugly.

    "Bullshit." Shikaku muttered.

    "Plus..." Tsunade wryly continued, ignoring Shikaku''s cursing, "You are far better paper-pusher than me." She had to duck under the flying paperweight.

    Shikaku''s eyebrow was twitching in annoyance while the corner of his lips twitched in amusement. He was indeed not the best candidate... no, scratch that, he was not even one of the considered people for the position. But he could also understand what Tsunade did.

    Now that she was back in the vige, there was no need to have a strongbatant as a Hokage. The vige still had Hiruzen Sarutobi, Jiraiya, and now Tsunade avable. The overall war deterrent of the vige soared despite the Hokage being a ''weakling'' as Kumo would undoubtedly dub him. Instead, Tsunade put Shikaku, someone good at administration, into the position of Hokage, something that has to do most of the time with administration.

    If this was Shogi, Shikaku would praise her resourcefulness and willingness to say ''fuck you'' to traditions. From the reports, Shikaku knew that Suna had massive economical problems because their Kazekage, while strong on the battlefield, was shit at administration and diplomacy. To a lesser degree, the same could be said about Iwagakure, a vige that was far too militaristic to work properly, Kumogakure, a ce that was mostly stagnant, hence their drive to obtain bloodlines, or Kirigakure, which was just a few months prior a right mess.

    The Kages were all strong people with strong beliefs and convictions but the important thing was what they were not. They were not the best people for the job. They were not administrators. They were fighters, killers, assassins. Their mindset was not primarily set to build and develop their viges but to destroy their enemies. It was a ninja thing, honestly.

    "Haaa~. Just tell me what you want with me so I can get back to my paperwork. God forbid Yoshino finds out I took a break..." He tiredly said, making Tsunade smile at him.

    The dynamics of Yoshino''s and Shikaku''s rtionship may seem unhealthy at first nce but the Nara men knew what they needed in life and the two get on shockingly well under all that Yoshino''s nagging and Shikaku''s ''troublesome''ints. Tsunade knew they were happy and Yoshino was always able to verbally kick Shikaku''szy ass back to work. Frankly, that was the reason why she made the woman his secretary.

    "Who said I am here for you?" Tsunade remarked, making Shikaku raise an eyebrow at her. "No, I am here for the guy who is heading this way." She borated.

    "And who is that supposed to be?" Shikaku asked but was interrupted as the door opened, revealing a sheepish Yoshino.

    "Er... Danzo Shimura is here to see you, Shikaku. Should I let him in?"

 Chapter 257 - Ch257. Danzos Ploy

    <h4>Chapter 257 - Ch257. Danzo''s Ploy</h4>

    Danzo had a few bad days behind himself.

    When he came back from the Emergency Council meeting he organized, he found out the three of his five remaining ROOT ANBU were killed while guarding his house. He couldn''t even think about how Tsunade managed that feat, considering she was present at the said meeting. He was far too angry and... he loathed to admit it, slightly fearful. His house was, after all, overstuffed with protective seals and traps.

    On another, more important, note, his power base in the vige was slowly evaporating and all it took for this to happen was four days! It was maddening. Years of work gone just like that...

    First, his ROOT was annihted, which was arguably a crippling blow that set him back by at least a decade but it was not that big of a deal. He could recover from it. All he needed was time and good usage of his five remaining subordinates.

    Second, Tsunade came back like a whirlwind.

    And then everything went to shits.

    First, she got Hiruzen out of his seat with one expert and utterly unavoidable move. She simply exerted her right as the descendant of Hashirama and nobody could refute that. But that single move shook the vige on a fundamental level. And she did that without even using a single punch! Danzo really did not expect a brute like Tsunade to use politics and good arguments of all things.

    If that was it, then all would have been great in the world... but Tsunade just had to dismiss Koharu and Homura, smoothly taking out the more important half of Danzo''s support base in the council as if to spite him. Worse yet, the second half that resided among the civilians was properly cowed by Tsunade''s ploy. At any other time, he would have apuded her, thinking that there was finally somebody acting as a Kage should, not covering before the civilians. Now though? She effectively crippled him politically in under twenty minutes t using only words.

    It was him who was supposed to be the master maniptor in the vige, dammit!

    And then, when he thought it simply couldn''t get any worse, he came home and found three of his remaining five operatives dead, their bodies mockingly ced on the couch so they would be the first thing he saw after entering the living room.

    Danzo''s sense of urgency increased many-fold after that. He was being attacked by Tsunade who was pretentious enough to even let him know his failings are the result of her sabotage. And he could not do anything about it.

    As desperation and a bit of despair set in, he decided to go to the Hokage and try his luck on influencing the man a bit. While trying to fool a Nara was indeed very foolish, Danzo knew the trick in tricking them was in being indirect. He could not manipte Shikaku directly, using misdirection on the facts the man knew about. Shikaku would have analyzed it in seconds and see right through Danzo. No, Danzo had to use facts Shikaku had no idea about, then he had to portray his agenda believingly and logically with the support of facts that Shikaku did know, so he could make his own image. It was all in the wording and the hard facts he was about to use.

    He would not directly state Tsunade was in the criminal organization Yozora. The Nara and Senju n were allies and in the end, it wouldn''t really even matter. No, his n was simply to get Yozora dered as the enemies of Konoha first and only then oust Tsunade as a member and then branch from there. The fact that Shikaku had no reaction during the Emergency Council Meeting when she showed the Yozora mark, Danzo reasoned that the man had no idea about it. It was time to exploit thatck of knowledge.

    Oh, Danzo had no doubt this would be a rigorous path filled with many obstacles and it was apparent he would have to avoid Tsunade detecting his machinations. For that purpose, he made sure she would be swarmed with paperwork by the civilian businessmen who were rentingnd from her.

    "Er... Danzo Shimura is here to see you, Shikaku. Should I let him in?"

    That sentence brought Danzo back to the present. He always could pull wool over Hiruzen''s eyes and while Shikaku Nara was definitely a whole magnitude smarter than the old monkey, he was also a lot less experienced.

    "Yes, send him in." Danzo heard Shikaku''s voice sound from within the Hokage office.

    It was showtime.

    Without even waiting for Yoshino to present him, he calmly but confidently strode past her, right into the office with his head held high.

    "Thank you for epting me on such short notice, Lord Hokage." Those words left his mouth with a great reluctance while he discreetly looked around the empty office. Now that Hiruzen''s things were no longer inside, it was really somewhat barren. For some reason, the sight brought sadness to Danzo''s heart, which he promptly squashed.

    "No problem, Shimura-san." Shikaku''s eye twitched, almost as if in amusement, "You will have to excuse me but I do not have much time nowadays. Please state your business so we can move on."

    Danzo frowned at such bluntness. He loved obedient bluntness from his subordinates but this was time for politicking. There was no ce for such straightforward dismissal.

    "Very well..." He said, put out, "I came to warn you about the threat of Yozora. As you probably know, they are responsible for a series of murders inside of our vige. That simply can''t go unanswered. We will look like fools in front of other viges if thates out!" He coldly stated, fully counting on the information getting out. He did put a lot of work into making preparations to spread rumors about it. "You might not know about it but Yozora is a less-known group of S-rank criminals who seven years ago made a fool out of every single hidden vige bar Konoha. These incidents, however, can be called just small prankspared to the outright act of ughter that wasmitted in our vige. Will you let the murder of our vigers go unanswered, Lord Hokage?" Danzo thanked his foresight to register fake identities for his ROOT ANBU and make them full-fledged vigers. At least now they could not simply be overlooked.

    "About that..." Shikaku sighed, causing Danzo to lean forward, "you will have to consult with her." He pointed behind Danzo who stiffened.

    Slowly turning around, Danzo was caught t-footed as the air shimmered around a certain spot on the couch, revealing a smug-looking Tsunade who eyed him like an animal who is desperately clutching at straws to run from her.

    "So you have a problem with Yozora, eh, Danzo?" Tsunade grinned, "How do we know the two hundred kills are not your job though?"

    "Excuse me!?" Danzo snapped, not expecting such ae-back.

    "You are quite famous in the vige for being a schemer and someone with a lot of secrets. It would have been so easy to pre-arrange the evidence. Picking a target such as Yozora, a group that seldom shows itself was definitely smart. They are not very well known to the average ninjas while they would hardly defend themselves from the usations since nobody heard from them for years. Yes... with your track record, this is definitely something you would have done, Danzo. So, give us proof it was not your doing." Tsunade relished pinning the me on him. He might have been the nexting of sunshine out of the ass in the civilians'' eyes but anyone above chunin-rank knew well who Danzo Shimura really was and what he did for a living. Or at least, they knew some rumors that were enough of a warning to get mixed up with him.

    "I was at the council mee-" He gritted his teeth.

    "Inconclusive. You could have prepared it beforehand. You know that. Your entire trade is about things like that." Tsunade indifferently shrugged.

    "You demand proof I did notmit a crime perpetrated on me?" Danzo crossly asked.

    "Bullshit." Tsunade chuckled. "There was no crime perpetrated on you. There was, however, a crime perpetrated IN your living room. Now, if I know anything about you, it is that you are a quite aplished Seal Master focusing on security seals. How could anyone just walk inside your own living room that is over-trapped with various seals, set up a crime scene without setting even one of the said seals off, and then leave with no one the wiser about his identity? And on top of that, you want us to believe it was actually done by a group of people who nobody saw or heard from for thest six years? Are you taking us for total idiots?" Tsunade looked mockingly at him as if he was stupid, causing him to gape at her audacity.

    The realization of what exactly he was overlooking as if pped Danzo right on the head the second Tsunade uttered these words.

    "Yeah... no. Pull another one." Shikaku nodded in agreement. He knew something was suspicious in that entire matter but now that Tsunade pointed out Danzo''s house was basically a death trap for anyone other than the owner... He gave Danzo a suspicious look. "Parts of over two hundred bodies were found in your house... are you sure you don''t have anything to say about that?"

    Hearing Shikaku, Danzo shut his mouth with a click. In a huff, he turned around and walked right through the door without even excusing himself.

    ''That bitch yed me from the start to the beginning!'' He gravely thought as the door closed behind him.

    Inside the office, Shikaku looked weirdly at Tsunade. "You know he will get away with it, right? There is no conclusive evidence to prove his involvement. I still have no idea why you are letting him live. From what you divulged about the Uchiha n''s demise, he deserves to be executed. Moreover, I am not stupid. This is personal for you. I can see that. Putting the facts together was not a hard thing, Tsunade. He is definitely responsible for the Senju n''s demise too and you either have proof or at least heavily suspect so. You would never be so ferocious towards him if it was not like that." He drawled. "So... why not just kill him and be done with it?

    Tsunade lifted her eyebrow and snorted in distaste, "Killing him? That would have been a mercy. He did a lot of nasty stuff but he also did a lot of good for the vige. So... no, Shikaku. I don''t want him dead. I want him to live. To live in despair and desperation. To be frustrated, scared, on his toes at all times. To feel his hope slowly fade. I want him to suffer the worst fate imaginable for a ninja. The feeling of uselessness and hopelessness as a trap closes in. I will systematically take away his options, destroying any and all influence he has in the vige, leaving him alone, isted, and without any support. And when I deem he gave up enough resistance, I will permanently seal his chakra and throw the keying matrix to the sea." She finished with a finality that inwardly horrified Shikaku, causing him to slightly shiver.

    Giving her a deadpan look in order to cover the chill that went up his spine, Shikaku groaned before quietly muttering, "Troublesome woman..."

 Chapter 258 - Ch258. Plans... ?

    <h4>Chapter 258 - Ch258. ns... ?</h4>

    A week after Rei and Pakura finished their business in Sunagakure, Rei alongside his girls were sitting in the dining room of his mansion in the Vige on the Other Side, enjoying their breakfast. It was during the said breakfast that Tsunade finally came back, surprising them.

    "Well, well, look at that. The lostmb finally found her way home." Rei invitingly smiled at Tsunade, gesturing to an empty chair while Konan wordlessly stood up in order to prepare another set of tableware for her.

    Tsunade slightly blushed, reminding herself that informing no one of her activities might not have been the best idea but these thoughts quickly perished under her excitement. She couldn''t wait for Rei''s reaction once she revealed her aplishment!

    "Er... sorry? I just needed to do something." Before anyone could interrupt, Tsunade quickened her talking pace, "On the other hand, I have finished and I acquired a gift for you, Rei!" She exuberantly eximed, widely grinning from ear to ear with a praise-me look in her vividly amber eyes.

    Rei stopped his fork mid-way to his half-opened mouth and looked at Tsunade. He was incredibly curious about what she was up to. Disappearing for more than a month? That was something he would have expected from Mei, and if it happened, it would have indeed been frustrating. As for Tsunade... He trusted Tsunade to know better. Mei would most likely have caused a scene in a few days but Tsunade had no such problem. Hence, Rei let Tsunade be and waited until she came back home from whatever self-imposed quest she went on.

    "A gift?" He lifted his eyebrow at her while putting his fork down.

    "Yes!" Tsunade beamed.

    "Did I forget some kind of anniversary?" Rei turned to Konan with an appalled look and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, causing many of them to giggle, including Konan as she shook her head.

    Turning back to Tsunade, Rei furrowed his brows at her. It was notmon in their household to give each other gifts. Sure, there were birthdays but even then, while notpletely dismissed, it somehow became unimportant as time went by and they lived together. Rei was aware most of his seals were perceived as gifts by the girls even though he never intended them to be such.

    With Ringo and him constantly forgetting themselves in their individual research to the point of forgetting their own birthdays and having to be dragged to the parties by Tsunade or Konanˇ­ With Konan and Tsunade taking care of the Biri-Biri and Uzushio Trading Companyˇ­ With Pakura taking care of the administrative vige affairs while Mei was her everyday daredevil... ordinary gifts were something they simply did not exchange anymore. There were many other ways to show they cared about each other, after all.

    Hence, Rei was really curious about what Tsunade was about to pull off.

    Even the other women around the table started to get curious. Tsunade was never one to be extremely excitable. Not like this. From Tsunade''s expression, they could all feel that whatever revtion she was about to drop on them, it will most likely be enormous.

    Tsunade approached Rei and leaned closer towards him with an expectant smile upon her lips, "I..." She started only to stop herself for a second and... a small burst of smoke suddenly appeared, notifying the people in the room about the use of a low-powered storage scroll, preventing them from getting jumpy.

    Rei suddenly found his vision obscured by a hem of a hat, narrowing his eyes while grabbing the hem and yanking the hat off his head... only to owlishly blink as he somehow saw the Hokage hat in his hand.

    "I have used the Konoha Creation Act and became the Daimyo of Konoha!" Tsunade proudly proimed, causing the people in the room to incredulously gawk at her.

    "Congrattions." Konan was the first who shook herself out of her bewilderment and graced Tsunade with a warm approving smile.

    "Way to go!" Mei cheered. "Won''t the Hokage miss it though?" She cutely tilted her head with mischief sparkling in her eyes.

    "I doubt it. My new Hokage didn''t notice his hat missing for three days straight." Tsunade shrugged, "As long as I return it in under a week, it can be written off as him being forgetful."

    "Geeh... have fun with the paperwork." Ringo good-naturedly interrupted with a snort before returning to her cereals.

    "What''s that supposed to mean, you redheaded hag! She became a Princess and you snort at her? Have you no manners?" Mei indignantly defended Tsunade, only to get an annoyed and deadpan stare from Ringo.

    "First, you have red hair too, you midget. Second, I am from Kiri. They did not exactly teach us manners in the Academy. Just look at yourself." Ringo scathingly clicked her tongue, getting a scowl from Mei in return.

    "You...!"

    Needless to say, the two bickering redheads were quickly toned out by the other upants of the room.

    "If you need help with anything, just say. I will probably have my hands full with managing Suangakure since I don''t have people who will happily do my job for me like someone," Pakura gave Ringo a pointed look, her lips thinning as she noticed Ringo was too preupied with Mei to notice her disapproval. Giving up her endeavor, Pakura shook her head and gazed back at Tsunade, "but I will always make time for you." She promised, knowing she was the best at the pure administrative work out of all of her sister-wives.

    "Thank you." Tsunade nodded, "But I really don''t have many responsibilities. I made sure of it when I took over the position of the Daimyo of Konoha. I gave away a bit of my influence to other Konoha ns but with it went most of my paperwork and negotiations with people. There is not much workload for me." She exined, causing Pakura to be introspective.

    ''Should I do the same?'' Pakura thought with a pondering look and just like that, the people in the room knew nobody sans Rei would be able to get her out of her funk anytime soon.

    The only one who was not cheering was Rei who stared at the Hokage hat in shock as if somebody murdered his puppy by disemboweling it.

    It didn''t take long for the rest of the cheering crowd to notice him acting weird. Especially since despite answering the congrattions, Tsunade''s eyes didn''t leave his form. She was really not liking his far too stunned look.

    ''Something is not right.'' Tsunade understood and slowly approached Rei, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright? Is it that... shocking?" She asked with a tone of uncertainty.

    Rei blinked again and slowly looked at her, wordlessly opening his mouth only to close it with an audible click a few secondster in a show of speechlessness. A difficult look passed through his visage before a long insufferable sigh tore from his throat.

    "Yeah~," He drawled, "I have to say... this is totally my fault. I just had to jinx it, didn''t I?" He chuckled helplessly. "I should have told you to let Konoha be for the time being." He gave the bewildered Tsunade a reassuring smile as he put his hand on the one she ced on his shoulder to make her understand he was not angry as he said his next words. "With this little stunt, you totally ruined my ns, Tsunade."

 Chapter 259 - Ch259. Ruined Plans

    <h4>Chapter 259 - Ch259. Ruined ns</h4>

    "I... I have ruined your ns?" Tsunade eximed, subconsciously taking a step back. She was totally confused and utterly shocked. She only wanted to give Rei a pleasant surprise but somehow she did the exact opposite? That was too much for her distraught mind to handle as she flopped back down onto her chair.

    Rei didn''t give the woman even a second more for self-pity or any other undue thoughts, He stood up and approached Tsunade, giving her a tight, reassuring embrace with aforting backrub. "Hey, I already said it is my fault. Don''t worry. This just means I will have to..." Rei''s eyebrows twitched, "readjust my long-term ns."

    Inwardly, he was not pleased. Not at all. He knew he couldn''t me Tsunade though. He had only himself to me. Lately, everything went far too good to be true and he might have grown a bitcent. Naturally, everything went fine because he put in an enormous effort to actually safeguard that everything WOULD go just fine. He was never going in head-first. He always nned. He always had Konan find out the most intel she could before any self-imposed mission and then he made sure to consider as many eventual repercussions as possible. He did not y this deadly game blindly. He would like to believe he was ying it smartly and from the shadows.

    Heck, people still had no clue how he looked! He made damn sure to prevent Bingo Book from posting his, Konan''s, or Mei''s image all these years ago by destroying any and all the viges had. There was a vague description of their looks but... well, to be honest, that was as helpful to the hunter ninjas as making Jiraiya into a godfather was for Naruto.

    It took a while but Tsunade eventually rxed her body in Rei''s embrace but she was still radiating with disappointment. It was obvious she expected high praise for her effort and yet...

    "Well, I think it is high time for you to divulge your so-called ns, husband." Konan calmly stated with a small but sharp smile, causing Rei to inwardly cringe while he outwardly tried to appear as indifferent as possible. "And also the reason why you kept it secret if you wouldn''t mind." Konan added. "After all, I can stomach not knowing what you want to do. I have lived with you since I was a little kid. I have grown immune to your own brand of stupidity and learned to support you through it. But I won''t stand for something as trivial as misinformation to cause trouble in our rtionship." She evenly dered with finality.

    Sighing to himself, Rei knew Konan is doing this mostly for himself, rather than because she was upset. She was one of those who neverined and always supported him no matter what he wanted to do but she was also never afraid of stating her opinion about it or even tantly force him to do something she deemed beneficial for him as long as it had to do with his rtionship with his wives. This was not even the first time she took such a firm stand on a matter pertaining to their family. Rei simply knew when he was supposed to, ahem, ''shut up and do as his wife says''.

    ''Well... at least I have a long night of apology sex to look forward to.'' Rei wryly thought.

    Yes, Konan could take a firm stand against him but after a few times of that happening, Rei understood she never enjoyed it and he always found her in his bed the following night, unusually clingy, eager to please, and her face scrunched with such an apologetic expression it almost broke his heart each time.

    "Ah..." Rei awkwardly started, thinking what to say and how to justify his actions in words that would logically exin his desire to follow ''the plot'' up to a certain point. "I wanted Hiruzen to be the Hokage for a few more years, you see. He was doing such a good job at keeping the vige stagnant in his policy to let civilians run the matters for him. Just look at Konoha''s Ninja Academy." Rei said, getting a chuckle out of most of his wives, "They slightly lower the standards almost every year since the Kyuubi attack. The ns have too many internal problems like Hyuugas or Kuramas or simply do not care about politics too much like the Nara-Shika-Cho alliance, the Aburames, and the Inuzukas. Frankly? Konoha is one crack-pot ofzy madness and it is a wonder it is still standing. There is not much value in getting it under us." He wryly stated, getting a pitiful look from Tsunade. s, Konan''s firm and hard gaze was far more important in this situation and unfortunately for Tsunade''s ego, Konan was far too good at spotting Rei''s lies when she wanted so he was forced to be ruthlessly truthful.

    Well, Rei was truthful... somewhat. He simply didn''t say it in words he meant it in his mind. He simply wanted Hiruzen to stay Hokage until the Chunin Exams in Konoha in five years. Orochimaru crippled and Hiruzen dead was too good of a result to not aim for it. Tsunade bing the Hokage just because the vige had nobody else capable of taking over the position would have been just the proverbial cherry on the top.

    To that end, Rei was vehemently avoiding Konoha. Sure, his actions all over the world affected Konoha in some way but overall? It was really not by much. The biggest interference to date was cing a seal on Naruto with the goal of making him smarter but that would have had a small effect on the plotline if Rei only wanted to preserve the events up till the Chuunin Exams. Even Naruto befriending Sasuke after the Uchiha massacre would have had no effect on that as far as Rei could predict.

    Hiruzen would have had his vige weakened by Danzo and the civilians on the council behind his back no matter what. Orochimaru would have attacked no matter what. The ns would have been toozy or busy to evenin no matter what.

    But now?

    Tsunade made Shikaku friggin'' Nara the Hokage! After all, who else would bezy enough to not care where the most important symbol of his station was located for two freaking weeks straight?

    It was a total bust now.

    Not only Konoha would get better after this but Tsunade was basically a Daimyo of thends around it which meant Rei''s initial intention of keeping Konoha weak was no longer an option. He simply couldn''t do that to Tsunade. As such, Konoha would have to get stronger from now on. As such, Rei could no longer be assured Orochimaru would be stupid enough to attack during the Chuunin Exam. Heck, Hiruzen was no longer the Hokage so one of his reasons for the attack was gone.

    Yeah... Rei had no idea how the plotline would go now. Will the attack happen? Will Orochimaru employ more allies? Iwa? Kumo? Will he try Suna again?

    ''Actually, with Pakura that ship sailed long ago...'' Rei only now realized. ''Ah, screw it! What will happen will happen.''

    "I reckon you wanted to try something with Kumo and Iwa, then?" Konan instantly grasped what he was not saying by deducing it from what was already said.

    Rei gave her a small eye-roll. "Obviously. These two are the only ones I have no leverage over and they both have a too solid foundation to just quietly take over or install our Kage in them. There is no event in sight that would make such an endeavor easy anyway."

    "I see..." Konan hummed, mentally going through thetest intel on both of these viges and trying to find something. "Konoha was of no concern so you had time to focus your efforts on tougher nuts to crack, so to speak." She distractedly continued.

    Rei kissed Tsunade on her hair when he felt her tensing again before speaking, "Yup. Not that it matters now. Tsunade rules the vige and that means I will not just stand and let her wrestle with it alone." He said, getting a grateful snuggle from the blonde.

    "So... what now?" Konan asked. "Do you need something from us? Should I start causing disturbances in Kumo and Iwa? We can still think something up..."

    "No." Rei harshly interjected before releasing yet another sigh. "Look. I kept my ns secret because I honestly couldn''t justify giving you more responsibilities. You already have quite a bit of work. Ringo... I did persuade into epting the position of the Mizukage but that simply doesn''t count!" He eximed, getting a deadpan stare from Ringo. Returning an eye-roll, Rei continued, "She really only has to spend less than half an hour per day on her paperwork and even then she mostly uses shadow clones for it. Compared to the other Kages, she is totally worry-free as other people do most of her job for her. Pakura loves administration so I had no qualms about having her be the Kazekage. She knows her limits too so there is no way she would have overworked herself either. But you Konan? Or Tsunade? You both are overzealous." Konan''s eyebrows twitched while Tsunade froze in Rei''s arms. "I have seen it in your work for the Biri-Biripany and since then I decided to not involve you more than necessary. On top of the duties for the Biri-Biripany, Tsunade has her medical research and you, Konan, have an entire spywork spanning a whole continent to care for. I have never even dreamed of pushing another full time job on you. As for Mei..." All of them looked at the happy-go-lucky girl who munched on her cereals, ignoring the conversation in its entirety...

    "Wha-?" Mei carefreely tilted her head when she noticed the stares.

    "Er... Anyway," Rei decided to continue, "I think... We should just focus on slowly improving the four viges under our control without alerting Kumo or Iwa. There is really not much to do about this, I guess." He slightly grimaced. His new ns would need a bit of thinking but then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Looking back at Tsunade, Rei schooled his expression and smiled, "So... still up for that breakfast?" He asked her with a small nudge.

    Tsunade raised her head, lifting her eyes to his. For a second, she held their eye connection as if looking for something in his eyes... before she smiled and nodded in agreement when she didn''t find it.

    "Yeah..."

 Chapter 260 - Ch260. Apprenticeship 1

    <h4>Chapter 260 - Ch260. Apprenticeship 1</h4>

    With his previous ns ruined, Rei decided to be a bit more passive in his future approach, and most importantly, he now always consulted his ns with Konan.

    Well... not that he had any other option anyway after thest debacle... right?

    Kumo and Iwa were totally forgotten and left to their own devices. These two were frankly the strongest viges in the Elemental Nations and as such, Rei deemed it far too troublesome to even try subverting them in some way, especially since they had no idea about the existence of the Vige on the Other Side yet.

    Iwa, despite losing a sizable bulk of their force in the third ninja war, was quickly on its way to full recovery. The thing was, Rei was only aware of that thanks to the monitoring of their purchases from the Biri-Biripany and Konan''s spywork. Onoki was damn good at keeping things under the wraps. They were eighty percent recovered and nobody had any idea. Iwagakure really deserved its moniker of the most militaristic hidden vige.

    Kumo, on the other hand, didn''t have many losses in the third war despite their borders being prated by Kiri. Their forces were bolstering and the vige enjoyed its momentary title of the strongest hidden vige. After all, after the Kyuubi attack, Konoha really had no way to contend for it.

    Instead of expanding, Rei decided that solidifying their secret hold on the three foreign viges and developing them was the way to go. After all, there were still numerous either financial, political, or militaristic problems present in these viges, just waiting to be resolved.

    And while that was going on... the Vige on the Other Side was in dire need of more high-level personnel too.

    ...

    Izumi Uchiha nervously fidgeted while sitting on the waiting sofa right outside Konan''s office. She had no idea why she was called in by the woman and her mind was fabricating various scenarios that made her quite jumpy.

    Konan was widely known as one of the most important kunoichis in the whole vige. As a member of the Uchiha n, which was totally new in the vige and wanted to prove itself, Izumi wanted to make a good impression on Konan. The problem was... Konan did not socialize a lot. Not outside of her job or family. Hence, the people in the vige had no idea what to think about her or the personality she hid behind that cold exterior of hers.

    Yes, she was extremely respected... but so was Itachi Uchiha, and look where that led the Uchiha n.

    At that moment, Izumi let out a whiny sigh as she realized that such aparison was a bit too much andpletely unfair to the people who saved her n from assured extermination.

    ''Calm down, girl. You are too tense. What''s the worst that can happen?'' Izumi wryly thought, trying to think up andpare the worst imaginable fate to calm her nerves. ''It''s not like she could drown me in even more paper than my n already does.''

    With that reminder, her mood plummeted and she didn''t even notice how her nerves calmed down as her mind was filled with annoyance. Elder Isamu seemed to be grooming her for the leadership position in the future, which entailed a lot of paperwork on top of a lot of other paperwork, spiced up by some more paperwork, and to top it off, she got paperwork... At times, Izumi wondered if Isamu was making fun of her. Wasn''t being a n head supposed to be a bit more exciting?

    Unknown to her, it was simply a test if she was smart enough to use Sharingan for it. Which... she didn''t pass. Hence, her current predicament.

    The door finally opened and Konan looked at the grouchy Izumi, lifting her eyebrow, "Good morning. Come in." She said and went back in.

    Not long after that, Izumi found herself sitting opposite Konan who watched her like a hawk with a judgemental gaze, making her feel ufortable. Izumi, though, refused to budge or show her difort. To appear confident no matter how squeamishly shitty you felt was the very first lesson Elder Isamu instilled in her.

    Konan opened a file on her table and looked at it, "Izumi Uchiha. Most promising of the current generation of the young Uchihas. Already awakened her Mangekyo Sharingan. Tsukuyomi confirmed. Preferences for genjutsu, meaning a keen intellect and good chakra control." That''s where Konan paused for a bit before reading out loud the next part. "Moderately stupid as far as using her bloodline goes. Never found the trick of using Sharingan for the paperwork. Watching her wrestle with it is funny as heck, though. Signed, Isamu Uchiha." Konan looked back at Izumi with amusement written on her face, enjoying the ck-jawed expression the girl portrayed.

    "That jackass had me doing the paperwork for a month without telling me about the shortcut!?" Izumi eximed in deep disbelief while subconsciously standing up before bonelessly slumping back into her seat.

    There was a lot of paperwork involved in the assimtion of the Uchiha n to the vige. Especially for the Uchiha n leader. It was nice to know Isamu Uchiha had an unparalleled work ethic and knew the trick of making others do his job for him.

    ''Looks like I have no reason to worry for the future of the Uchiha n.'' Konan inwardly mused.

    A wide range of emotions flickered through Izumi''s face before Konan deemed her entertainment satisfying enough to move on. "Do you know why you are here, girl?"

    The thirteen years old young woman blinked at Konan... before instantly straightening up in her seat when she realized she was still in front of her immediate superior. Gulping, she tried to give aposed reply, "N-No." And promptly scolded herself for the small stutter.

    "You are here on rmendation from Isamu Uchiha to be my apprentice." Konan informed her.

    Izumi furrowed her brows and pointed at herself, "Me?"

    "You." Konan nodded.

    "Why?" Izumi asked in bewilderment.

    "Why not?" Konan tilted her head. "You don''t want it?"

    "But..." Izumi frowned. She thought she would be the next n head. That would mean working under Isamu Uchiha and learning the ropes of leading the n. Not... doing grunt work for Konan. Sure, working for Konan meant her future was assured if she did well but... she simply didn''t understand.

    "Your Mangekyo... you have Tsukuyomi and Kamui, right?" Konan gave the girl a knowing smirk, causing Izumi to stiffen.

    "H-How?" Izumi''s head snapped back to Konan and her tone became guarded. She didn''t reveal the second ability of her Mangekyo even to the Elder Isamu. There was no way Konan could have known!

    "I am not the vige''s spymaster for nothing, girl. You tried your Mangekyo in one of our training grounds. Did you really think I wouldn''t know?" Konan rolled her eyes.

    All of the trees in the vige were made by the Wood Release. It was a child''s y for Konan to connect her chakra to these trees with her own Wood Release, having them act like her own sensory field. She might not be able to keep herself informed of all the happenings in the Vige on the Other Side to the degree Mei could with her Boil Release but that didn''t mean Konan did not monitor the vige at all.

    "Er..." Izumi looked at her hands, "If you chose me because of my eyes, then I am sorry but I can''t use my Mangekyo. I would go blind." She fearfully whispered. That single attempt at using her abilities scared the living heck out of her. The searing pain in her eyes told Izumi enough about the damage that was being caused to her eyes. She grew up as an Uchiha. It was instilled in her that her eyes were the most important part of her. Any thought of damaging them sent a chill crawl up her spine.

    After that particr training session, despite her hatred for Itachi, Izumi found a newfound respect for her peer. She couldn''t even imagine the determination he had to have to keep damaging his eyes for power.

    Konan looked at Izumi and sighed. The girl was serious. "You know... the guy who helped Itachi with the massacre was a master at using Kamui." She revealed. As ssified as that information was, Konan would rather have a motivated student than a fearful and depressed one. "I chose you as my apprentice because, firstly, the Uchiha n needs a connection to the higher-ups of the vige. The Uzumaki, Kaguya, and other ns do have ninjas in reasonably high positions so this could even the political ying field for the Uchiha n."

    In the vige on the Other Side, Rei ruled. What he said went and there were to be no questions asked. That was a fact.

    But Rei didn''t begrudge the ns ying politics and pursue self-betterment to a degree. That sparked a desire for development and strengthening themselves. Seeing other ns in the vige getting richer or stronger made their co-habitants determined to reach the same heights. Thispetition was good as long as the ns had no say in the most important matters.

    "The second reason for why you are here is," Konan continued, "Your fighting style with Kamui and genjutsu could be very simr to mine once trained enough. Like Itachi Uchiha, you are a hit-and-run type of ninja. So... are you willing to be my apprentice?"

    "Do I even have a choice?" Izumi meekly asked.

    "Of course you do." Konan rolled her eyes. Exceptˇ­ no she did not. ''But the girl doesn''t need to know that.'' Konan inwardly frowned. The second Isamu Uchiha rmended Izumi for this position, it was obvious her chances at bing the n leader were null and void. ''Ah, well, I created a miracle with Mei and Ringoˇ­ I am sure with Rei''s help, I can make another one. Who knows, maybe she will end up as the n head if she does well.''

    Izumi silently contemted her situation. This would take her away from the n for quite a significant amount of time and most likely hurt her chances of bing the n leader. On the upside, she would definitely grow strong. Extremely strong if Konan does right by her. But then again, Konan was not doing this out of the goodness of her heart either. It was obvious this apprenticeship would simply be grooming to fill some kind of position in the vige.

    After a while, Izumi just shook her head, "Even if this was not extremely beneficial to me, there is no way I could turn down the opportunity to get a connection between the Uchiha n and the vige''s leadership going on. If I did, I would have been made into an outcast in my own n." She emptily chuckled. "I ept."

    Konan simply snorted. She always found n politics ridiculous.

    "So... what''s first?" Izumi curiously asked, causing a particr glint to pass through Konan''s eyes.

    Konan warmly smiled, "Why... you gotta learn how to properly do the paperwork, of course!"

    And suddenly, Izumi started regretting her choice...

 Chapter 261 - Ch261. Apprenticeship 2

    <h4>Chapter 261 - Ch261. Apprenticeship 2</h4>

    The day after Konan got her new apprentice and spent the dinner introducing Izumi to Rei and his other girls, all hell broke loose.

    Suddenly, the other three women also wanted their apprentices. Who wouldn''t want a grunt who you can teach how to fill paperwork for you, after all. Sure, using the shadow clones was one alternative but honestly? Having somebody else to deal with it simply felt a lot sweeter!

    Only Ringo didn''t care to teach anybody as she was quite satisfied with her current daily routine, saying that teaching would reduce her forging time too much. In short, she was far toozy...

    Anyway, this resulted in a fervent look-out for their own apprentices that could eventually take over their departments. Naturally, for such a task, the requirements were quite steep, especially when loyalty was concerned.

    Pakura had it quite easy.

    She already had Maki who she was grooming to take over her position in the Vige on the Other Side. Maki was dedicated and after living years in the Other-Sided vige, she fully considered it her home. It was a no-brainer that she would seed Pakura in due time.

    After all, Rei made the Vige on the Other Side because having the backing of a whole hidden vige or nation was what he needed. To be honest, he really couldn''t be bothered ruling over it for more than was strictly necessary.

    It was really just aparison of benefits and effort needed. He put enormous effort into creating it and he indeed got the wanted benefits but in his opinion, it was better to dump the vige on somebody else''s shoulders. Somebody he trusted. Somebody who was gifted and experienced in the administration of day-to-day running of the vige. Somebody like Maki after she finishes her apprenticeship for Pakura and climbs the ranks a bit.

    Needless to say, Rei''s goal was to be a Daimyo-like existence in the Spring Country. He would have his minister, Mr. Kazehana, who really wanted nothing more but the country to prosper and the civilians to live good lives. With such a good minister, there wasn''t much Rei would have to do. And with givingmand of the vige to Maki... Rei will be free to do his hobbies and spend time with his girls. It was the ultimate dream of any sloth!

    Ah, well... all in due time.

    Back to Pakura... For the position of Kazekage, Pakura was grooming Temari. Even if Pakura never outright said so, Rei could tell and he actually approved. Gaara was a bit too unstable and young. Plus, people still despised him. Plus, there will be no overconfident, cheeky, exuberant, moronic, and brainwashed Naruto to beat some sense into the guy because of lucking out in their fight. Rei''s interference with Naruto basically destroyed that possibility.

    There was no real reason to not approve of Pakura choosing Temari for the position. It might have seemed counterproductive since Temari watched Pakura kill her father but surprisingly, the girl held no resentment towards her new mentor. Rei would even go so far as to proim that Temari actually felt a bit grateful and resolved to not disappoint.

    It was a bit adorable from the Pakura''s small desert flower.

    Tsunade had an awkward time looking for apprentices.

    Rei knew she would have loved taking Shizune in again and bestowing her newfound knowledge upon the woman. But after all these years, Shizune was more loyal to Konoha than Tsunade and that put a final wench in these ns.

    That was not even mentioning their slightly messy parting when Tsunade tried to talk Shizune out of marrying Asuma after she gently probed her former apprentice and got the impression Shizune never allowed the guy to flirt and seduce other women during his long stay in the Fire Capital. s, Shizune took it wrong the wrong way, and Tsunade didn''t have enough patience to show her the light.

    In the end, that rtionship sailed until Shizune got her head out of her ass... Tsunade''s words, not Rei''s.

    With Shizune out, Tsunade decided to walk the harder path andmit to training Anko to eventually be her recement.

    Poor Anko was incredibly excited when she heard that she would spend the time Naruto was in the academy by training with Tsunade. She was even more excited when Tsunade for the first time showed her the Vige on the Other Side. The woman even reaffirmed her loyalty to Rei, informing him that Konoha never really gave her anything so there was not much of a reason to be loyal to that vige.

    Well, Anko''s excitement quickly faded when Tsunade showed the snake charmer the training grounds. For the first time in her life, Anko actually missed Orochimaru''s training. Sure, the man was brutal but at least he was not a medical expert! Tsunade simply didn''t care how damaged Anko was during the training. She simply fixed her and threw her back into the fray whereas Anko had no choice but to adapt.

    If that was not enough, Tsunade then used the threat of an increase in this type of training to ''motivate'' Anko to learn medical books, something the snake mistress was starting to hate with a passion. Sure, she loved her poisons and knew about them more than anyone in Konoha but that was that and this was this!

    Unfortunately for Anko, Tsunade''s goal was to train a medic capable of heading the Medical Department in the Vige on the Other Side after she retires. And Tsunade was not taking no for an answerˇ­

    Only her determination to once kill Orochimaru gave Anko enough resolve to pull through the training.

    Shikaku also proimed he will under no circumstances take more time from his already busy schedule to train a sessor. But the man also demanded Tsunade trained one, citing her prowess as the reason.

    The smart bastard simply wanted to get out of his responsibilitiesˇ­

    But Tsunade decided to be a bit devious and after a brief chat with an excited Chuunin called Kurenai Yuhi, an idea that it would be hrious if the next Hokage focused on illusions appeared in Tsunade''s head.

    It would be a long time before Tsunade trusted Kurenai enough to show her the Vige on the Other Side and tell the girl the whole truth but she definitely took the girl under her wing and started training her. Not that she told Kurenai what future she envisioned for her. That woulde only after she trusted her enough.

    The most problematic of the lot was by far Mei.

    She decided to take Yugito and Yagura as her apprentices. Not that the two jinchuuriki got any say in the decision. Not even Rei could refuse her when she said, ''But they are already my pets, isn''t it only natural to train them to listen?''

    What the hell was Rei supposed to answer with such logic acting against him!?

    In the end, he simply gave Yugito and Yagura a half-pitying, half-apologetic look before approving of the decision right in front of the two poor sods.

    In reality, Mei chose ''her kitty'', meaning Yugito, because they got really friendly over the years. As for Yagura, ''the kiddy turtle'', as Mei dubbed him because he was still child-sized despite being an adult, Mei picked him because of his ability to transform into full bijuu mode. With her bijuu, Auburn, finally about to mature, Mei was capable of using the bijuu mode to an extent and as such, it would have been nice to have two ymates, no?

    .

    There really wasn''t much Rei could do against such impable logic...

    He only hoped Mei would not impart her obsession with world-ending Jutsu on her two new victi-, errˇ­ apprentices.

 Chapter 262 - Ch262. Timeskip - Kirigakures Academy

    <h4>Chapter 262 - Ch262. Timeskip - Kirigakure''s Academy</h4>

    When Rei decided to be more passive in his foreign policies for the following years, it meant the new age of development for the hidden viges under hismand.

    Kirigakure was the first one that was heavily affected by that decision. It was not because of Ringo, rather than Yagura who was like a chipmunk high on coffee. The guy really wanted to make Kirigakure better and he definitely showed it by annoying Rei enough that he deemed it important to finally start the reforms in Kirigakure rather than spend even one more day with the exuberant former Fourth Mizukage.

    Frankly, at times, Rei even regretted taking the guy in. Who cares about confusing Akatsuki and denying them ess to the Third Tail if he had to suffer his overly excitable nature every time reforming Kiri was mentioned? For such a serious kind of guy, Yagura sure acted like a kid once he realized he no longer needed to carry the burden of being a leader.

    Years slowly started to pass by and Kirigakure felt the reforms fully.

    The very first thing that changed was the graduation exam. No longer did the kids fight each other to the death for the right to be ninja. That said, neither Ringo nor Rei felt that the tradition was fundamentally bad. It took a lot of discussions with Yagura but in the end, even the turtle midget had to give in to their arguments.

    The tradition in itself was good. It just needed a big overhaul to be efficient.

    The final graduation exam was still a battle between the students but it was no longer to the death. After all, the vige had to know the approximate level of its graduates, plus such an event could serve as entertainment for the local popce, bringing in a bit of profit in the entrance fees.

    That said, the graduates were still told to do their best. The battles were still supervised by a Jonin ranked ninja so if any death urred, it would imply the proctor is not apt to be a Jonin if he can''t even stop an academy student from delivering a killing blow to another academy student. Hence, the proctors made damn sure to pay attention no matter how bored they were due to watching two novices fight.

    That was not the only reform for the Academy. Not by a long shot. The academy curriculum waspletely overhauled too, implementing chakra control exercises and some low-level water Jutsu in preparation to learn Kirigakure no Jutsu as one part of the graduation exam.

    Honestly, the only reason why academies did not teach any useful Jutsus or chakra control exercises was simple. Many students drop out or fail the graduation exam and the viges simply do not want civilians with knowledge of how to improve their control over the chakra. After all, the more widespread such things are, the more people can experiment and actually make their own Jutsus. People who are not affiliated with the vige. People who are civilians and can freely travel. It would have been a disaster to start them on their training only for them toter on leave. The worst part, the viges would be unable to even mark them a nuke-nin because... well, academy students are not yet a part of the ninja ranks.

    The solution to this problem was surprisingly simple.

    The vige just has to guarantee that everybody would pass the academy.

    Granted, it was a nice little theory but it was a lot harder to manage such a feat in practice. Basically, Ringo, which really means Ao, created a system where every graduate has five chances to graduate from the academy. The graduating age was still ten years old but the graduation rules were a bit different. Everybody could fail a graduation exam four times, which meant returning to the academy for an additional year.

    Flunking once would be fine but twice? Well, let''s just say the entire ss would be silently mocking such a person, not to mention those who flunked more than twice. Such a person would be tantly obvious in the ss as he or she would be older than everybody else, signifying his or her ineptitude.

    It was meant to motivate kids in that position to work harder. Naturally, the teachers would watch those like hawks to make sure there are no special circumstances involved.

    The curriculum was not really all that hard. It was set up with ten years old orphan kids in mind. The n children should have no problem at all and could probably graduate by seven years old as long as they learned the necessary Jutsu that were being tested. Heck, even the orphans should have no problem as long as they put in the necessary effort.

    That said, Ringo made sure nobody could graduate early. If somebody special was found, he or she would simply be offered a special tutge for the remainder of the academy years. There was no need to send kids under ten years of age to the battlefield. Such a practice was counterproductive considering the low percentage of them that would actually return.

    If somebody actually managed to flunk five consecutive years... it would be a helluva suspicious matter. If a fifteen years old kid can''t manage what an average ten-year-old can, then something is either very, very suspicious about him and his performance is faked, which should have been spotted by the teachers during all the academy years... or, the kid is simply so freakingly stupid, he is not fit to be a ninja. In such a case, there is no need to worry about him spreading chakra control techniques, much less worry about him actually creating a technique by himself.

    Hence, the major problem of Kirigakure was on its way to being solved.

    Nobodyined about bloody graduation exams that perpetually halved the graduating ss, killing off manyte bloomers in the process and slowly crippling the Kirigakure''s ninja force. And the actual number of graduating kids would effectively double with their quality improving.

    In just a few years, the Kirigakure''s council predicted Kiri''s forces to actually catch up to other major hidden viges number-wise.

    Naturally, such statistics caused the Kiri ninjas to revere Ringo as their savior. In her hands, the vige was starting to thrive both economically and militaristically.

    Ao could only cry in the corner, muttering about not being given his just credit.

    And Ringo?

    She couldn''t care less...

 Chapter 263 - Ch263. Timeskip - Kirigakure

    <h4>Chapter 263 - Ch263. Timeskip - Kirigakure</h4>

    The academy was not the only ce that received an overhaul in Kirigakure.

    Ringo was a knucklehead but once she got something as her goal, she did her damnedest to finish it. That''s the major reason why she became the wielder of Kiba in the past. She had no real chance to speak of when she was young. Sure, a strong Lightning affinity was rare in Kirigakure but bestowing Kiba des to an orphan was an outrageous thought. Yet, Ringo managed to get them despite all the natural obstacles and prejudices in her way.

    Hence, Rei knew that if he wanted Ringo to properly start developing Kirigakure, he had to make her interested in it.

    And there were only two things Ringo thought interesting nowadays. Him, and forging.

    Now, Rei could have developed a reward system and promise her more dates, snuggling, sex, whatever for doing tasks. That, however, felt hollow to Rei as Ringo was one of his wives, hence, these things were not supposed to be rewards but natural happenings in their rtionship.

    Instead, Rei decided to go about it through Ringo''s interest in forging.

    s, Kirigakure was an ind vige, located almost in the middle of the Water Country that focused on sea trade. If Ringo wanted to develop better forging in the vige, she first had to develop some outside vige bases in major ports of the country. Then she had to develop the infrastructure and trade through the sea to get better materials for forging, indirectly developing the economy of the whole vige.

    It certainly was no coincidence that most imports for this area came from the Uzushio Trading Company either.

    Sure, Kirigakure could have gotten their materials through the tradingpanies of the Water Country but in the long run, that would be really foolish and expensive. This way, Ringo may have invested a lot of money but the returns were directly paid in the development of the vige and its businesses that would,ter on, bring revenue, paying for themselves.

    Just to develop forging in the vige caused Ringo to develop a multitude of other things too. Things that were necessary for the smooth running of the vige.

    In just three years, Kirigakure becamepletely independent of the Water Daimyo as they had their own businesses that were fully capable of financially sustaining the vige. This resulted in the Daimyo having much lesser influence over the vige in general. No longer could the nobles of the Water Country demand some missions to be epted despite being fully aware that the survival chance is almost zero.

    After all, what other reason than political pressure could a vige full of superpowered killers have for sending its soldiers on a suicide mission? Why would a vige even do that? They did missions to get money. Having a ninja killed during a mission was, on the other hand, ALWAYS a loss. The vige spent years of effort to nurture its ninjas so throwing their lives away to please some rich fat fuck, as Ringo called them, waspletely foolish.

    Some council members, especially n heads, saw this deviation from the traditions as atrocious. Kirigakure was supposed to be a ninja vige and that meant their ie shoulde primarily from taking missions. Their protests might have been silent but Ringo and Ao took note of this.

    Ringo''s response?

    "So... you basically want to be the glorified servants for hire for rich nobles, huh? You lot really did forget what it was like during the Warring States era, didn''t you? Yes, the ns were hirable for a price but other than that, the ns were alsopletely self-sufficient. They were not under anyone''s rule and usually roamed freely, no matter what the territory owners thought. Yet, you would like us to depend on Daimyo''s generosity and work for him as if we were his loyal dogs? Are you stupid? He is just one fat and inept man, yet you cover in front of his supposed influence and beg for the scraps from his table despite each of you being able to single-handedly wipe out an entire battalion of his army. Pathetic. You are nothing but prideful ves. I guess we are lucky it''s not you who is the Mizukage but me. I at least don''t cover in front of a powerless civilian just because he has a fancy title. What''s he gonna do to me? Hire another vige to start a war with his own nation? Please..."

    That was the longest speech Ringo delivered in the two years she was the Mizukage and it was also one she said with such derision and contempt the council members listened, shitting their pants as they just wanted her to lose her temper and pounce, killing them in the process.

    The n heads really experienced a fright that day. To give Ringo credit where it is due, she did tolerate their grumbling for the better part of a year. Enough was simply enough, causing her to erupt. After that verbalshing, the n heads thought long and hard about the meaning of her words, and thatter on had a major impact on the entirety of Kirigakure.

    It took a few months for these words to have the desired effect. The n heads were prideful beings and the source of said pride was their ns.

    ''You are nothing but prideful ves.''

    In the end, it was these words that made the n heads look back at how their ns transformed in the past century. And many of them were horrified when theypared what had been with what currently was. They were not stupid. They just didn''t look at the situation from that angle. They lived in the present, not looking at the past overly much. Only after they did look, did they figure out what Ringo was trying to aplish. She was... trying to bring back and implement to the vige the independence the ns enjoyed a century ago.

    This led to yet another milestone in the history of Kirigakure. The n heads, of their own volition, bowed to Ringo. Both figuratively and literally.

    Before, they followed her because she was powerful. Too powerful for them to do anything about her. Too powerful to even try such a foolish thing. Now they found a reason to respect her as their leader. A reason other than her overwhelming power.

    And suddenly, Kirigakure was unified more than ever.

    Well... sure, it all started with a misunderstanding. Ringo couldn''t care less about Kirigakure''s independence but if she was to make her vige into the best producer of forged weaponry, she had to get some leeway from the nobles and the Daimyo. Nevertheless, misunderstanding or not, Rei was actually impressed and bbergasted at how Ringo gained the loyalty of the whole vige.

    When he put her up to this little forging-development project, he had no idea she would have been literally worshipped by the vige.

    Ah, well... all''s well that ends well, no? At least, Rei no longer had to think about how to safeguard Kirigakure''s loyalty and obedience considering the ninja and civilians alike followed Ringo''s word as if it was a holy scripture after they noted just how much better did she make the vige and how low became the mortality rate of their ninjas.

    The best part?

    The woman had no clue.

    She simply couldn''t care less.

 Chapter 264 - Ch264. Timeskip - Sunagakure: Puppetry Department

    <h4>Chapter 264 - Ch264. Timeskip - Sunagakure: Puppetry Department</h4>

    "And that concludes the report on the Puppetry Department Training, Lady Kazekage." The vice-leader of the said department reported to Pakura before being dismissed.

    The puppetry Department was one of the very first things Pakura came up with. Sunagakure''s main war tactic was simple. Puppeteers were one of the most important parts as they provided cannon fodder in the form of their puppets. The puppets were not alive, so having the enemy dispose of them was not a big deal. The puppeteer just had to pull a new puppet out of a storage scroll and the battle could go on. Moreover, the Suna puppeteers were also masters at using a wide range of poisons. One nick and the battle was usually over. And these puppeteers then were protected by Tessenjutsu Users who were killing beasts at mid-range with their Kamaitachi no Jutsu. One can''t really appreciate how strong that technique was unless seeing a man dismembered out of nowhere because invisible wind des no one noticed impacted him. And once the tessen user learned how to hide a wind de in another wind de?

    Let''s just say the Jonins of other viges rightfully feared engaging Suna on the battlefield more than they feared other viges because fighting against them could feel pointless at times with waves of disposable puppets swarming the front lines.

    Suna might not have been thergest of the hidden viges but with puppetry, that was not such a big deal. Every puppet could be counted as an additional shinobi as long as the controller could keep up. When talking purely about a sh between chunin ranked ninjas... as that was the most frequent thing to happen during a war... puppets were actually superior AND disposable. They could pull a hidden de out of anywhere on their body, disassemble into individual parts, and again reassemble, twist at angles humans could never achieve, and much more. The only limiting factor of puppets was the puppeteer and the range of weaponry in them. In the current period of cold weapons, puppets were the best war machines the world had to offer.

    It was obvious Pakura would focus on improving the puppetry of her vige, no?

    The puppeteers of Suna were never united. The skills were passed down either in scrolls or from master to apprentice. Which was incredibly ineffective in the long run. Sure, the puppetry stayed a secret this way. Broken puppets were easy to acquire on the battlefield and yet, no vige could replicate it, no matter how they tried. That was only possible thanks to the extensive secrecy around the art.

    The Puppetry Department changed this aspect of the vige, however.

    The puppeteers were now united under one department whereas the prominent families in the craft received high positions to appease them. Other than that, however, the division was based on merit.

    The vice-leader, for example, Shun Riku, was a civilian-born kunoichi. Somebody who would never be able to attain such a high proficiency in the craft to be a vice-leader if it wasn''t for themon library in the department where every puppetry n contributed some of their knowledge, making a decent base for anyone wanting to learn the craft.

    Shun Riku, in only three years, jumped from an ordinary chunin into Elite Jonin who was knocking on the doors of the S-rank. That, was a pure talent for puppetry. Now that the talent was fed enough knowledge, it could flourish in full.

    "The seconding of Sasori, eh?" Elder Chiyo released a weary sigh as she appeared from the shadows in the corner. "That woman is way too fanatical." She added with a sad chuckle.

    Pakura raised her eyebrow at the old woman, notmenting. Riku was... one of her most loyal subordinates alongside the Suzumiya n. The woman knew who was indirectly responsible for her sudden improvement.

    "It''s in the eyes." Chiyo started again after seeing the amused expression on Pakura''s face, "Riku is a stern and no-nonsense type of person... well, she is basically channeling you, Pakura." Both women grinned, "But," Chiyo frowned, "the woman is really like Sasori. Cold. Detached. Focused... with a frighteningly inhuman perspective of looking at things." Chiyo said in distaste. "To think your reforms would bring to the vige a person who can control hundreds of puppets at the same time while being able to fight in taijutsu with her own body..." Chiyo''s face showed a glint of bitterness.

    She was one of the people who believed that puppetry techniques should stay in the family. Yet, after the establishment of the Puppetry Department, the vige experienced a sudden boom in the craft. More and better puppets were developed on a daily basis as more and more civilian-borns focused on the craft. Everybody could improve a puppet and register a patent, getting paid for it. With each tweak, the puppets became more unpredictable and dangerous.

    That was also one of the reasons why shepared Riku to Sasori. She was dastardly creative when creating her own puppets. She was not the vice-leader because of her skills at killing with puppets but because of her skills at creating puppets. The assortment of weaponry in the woman''s puppets was... disgustingly lethal even for Chiyo''s standards. Riku was Sunagakure''s own one-woman-army, loyal to death to Pakura.

    Pakura inwardly smirked. To be honest, the entire sess of Riku could be chalked up to a mental Jutsu she gave the woman for her loyalty. Sure, her talent for puppetry was undeniable but it was that mental Jutsu that allowed her to spread her focus to so many things at once. The ess to trap-making techniques of the Suzumiya n helped Riku a lot too. Not that Chiyo had to know that.

    In a way, it was disheartening for Chiyo. There was nobody who would dare to oppose Pakura at this point. Riku was not the only one whose loyalty Pakura had. Temari...

    ''Better not think about that.'' Chiyo shuddered when she remembered herst meeting with the twelve years old girl. The Wind Mistress of Suna was downright terrifying for her age. She could do things some Jonins in tessenjutsu Corps had problems performing. No longer was Gaara the reason for concern as far as the Sabaku family was concerned.

    The scariest fact about the entire matter was that not that many knew about it. Temari was in ANBU since the day she graduated two years ago. But those who knew that behind the mask of the Wind Mistress of Suna is hiding Temari... couldn''t help but startparing the girl to Itachi Uchiha for the sheer potential for ughter the girl''s invisible wind des possessed.

    Temari''s record was ster too. 42 A-rank missions finished without any difficulty in the two years of her service. By now, the girl should have been promoted to Jonin but Pakura, for some reason, kept the girl in ANBU, hence giving her ess to high-level missions, while officially keeping her at the rank of genin.

    Chiyo was really curious but she was not sure she wanted to know what the Scorch Princess had nned for the girl.

    "Good that you mentioned Sasori." Pakura suddenly interrupted Chiyo''s train of thoughts, causing her to stiffen because of the sudden shift in the topic. "I need you to recall him back." She added with such an indifferent tone, Chiyo almost choked.

    "Wh-what!? What do you mean to recall him back?" Chiyo asked, schooling her expression.

    Pakura just rolled her eyes, "Don''t even try it. I am aware Sasori killed the Third Kazekage and became a rogue ninja on your orders. I am also aware there is a ''spy'', or a connection, you two have on Suna council. The Yura guy, right?"

    Chiyo was forced to take a step back from the shock she felt. No one was supposed to know about that mission but her and Sasori!

    Pakura dismissively waved her hand, "Ah, I get it. The Third was a prick. I lived in this vige too, you know?" She snorted, "As for Rasa... I think you simply gave up when one idiot was swapped for the other." She shrugged. "That said... I want Sasori to be the leader of the Puppetry Department. Call him back. I have a deal for him. Chop-chop."

    Chiyo could only stare at her leader, for the first time in a few decades gaping in astonishment.

 Chapter 265 - Ch265. Timeskip - Sunagakure: Sasori

    <h4>Chapter 265 - Ch265. Timeskip - Sunagakure: Sasori</h4>

    Pakura stood near the edge of the sand wall epassing Sunagakure, waiting for the guest of honor to appear. She enjoyed her current situation. Maybe a bit too much. After all...

    "Goddamned Kazekage. Freaking Scorch User. Is she made of heat? How the heck can she just stand there with such an unbothered cocky expression..." Chiyo, who was next to her, quietly cursed up a storm as she tried to pull her hood to cover more of her head and provide more shade for herself. She was sweating like a pig. As someone who lived in Suna her entire life, the heat was not something that bothered her overly much but Pakura, for some reason, made here to the meeting ce entire two hours before the agreed time despite her protests that Sasori never arrives early orte. "Why is it so damned hot today?" She mumbled.

    Chiyo had no idea that Pakura was using her bloodline to subtly warm up the air around them, increasing the difort of herpanion.

    In the past few years, Chiyo was a big help to Pakura but the old hag never made it easy to manipte her. Pakura knew Chiyo was not ''on her side''. She was more of a fence-sitter who just waited for a good chance to pounce. That was the biggest reason why Pakura only now asked Chiyo to call Sasori back. In recent years, Chiyo became a bit more loyal to Pakura herself, rather than Sunagakure.

    It wasn''t by much and Pakura doubted Chiyo even realized her small shift in demeanor but... thanks to that, Pakura could finally put a minuscule amount of trust into the old hag.

    "Finally." Pakura suddenly said, causing Chiyo to raise her head and notice the hunched-over form of Hiruko d in the Akatsuki cloak, standing on the very edge of the sand wall.

    ''Smart. He is in a good position for both attacking and running away, depending on what would be needed.'' Chiyo inwardly praised while Pakura just raised her eyebrow at the man.

    "Exactly on time." Pakura amusedly noted. "You even hid for thest half an hour in that little crevice in the sand wall in order to appear here on time. I must admit, I am as impressed as I am exasperated."

    To give Sasori credit, his puppet body only showed his surprise by halting for a second before he was back in his normal and indifferent manner.

    "I should have expected to be discovered." Sasori muttered for himself before looking at Pakura, "You do have some skill."

    Both Pakura and Chiyo noted he did not say she was a good Kazekage, rather, he just agreed Pakura was a good kunoichi. Then again, ''some skill'', in Sasori''s dictionary meant he acknowledged her as a threat. That, in itself, was tremendous praise from the perpetually grumpy wooden doll.

    "I see that you did not leave Akatsuki yet." Pakura offhandedly mentioned, looking at the ck cloak with red clouds on his body, causing Sasori to let out a grumbling growl.

    "As if I would leave my safety without even knowing your offer. Chiyo may be my grandmother but I am not an idiot. If this ''deal'' is not satisfactory, then staying in Akatsuki is the most logical option."

    "Yeah. You do not possess even one-tenth of Chiyo''s care about Sunagakure." Pakura smirked.

    That much she knew. The man cared only about one thing. His puppets.

    Pakura just rolled her eyes at Sasori. "Let''s cut to the chase. Neither you nor I have time to waste."

    Sasori appreciatively hn''d while Chiyo red at Pakura with unveiled distaste, ''No time, my ass! If so, why did I have to wait two hours here with you!?''

    "Fine. Tell me your offer, then." Sasori said.

    "There is not much to it." Pakura shrugged, "I want you to be the head of our Puppetry Department and work on enhancing the puppets of our vige while training some apprentices."

    So far, the offer sounded as if Pakura was inviting Sasori to serve Sunagakure again. Now that irritated the man to no end. Before Sasori could reject, Pakura threw a scroll at him.

    Sensing no chakra from it, Sasori caught it, cautious of any would-be trap. He looked at Pakura and saw that she beckoned him to open it.

    Sighing to himself, Sasori opened the scroll and...

    Chiyo could only furrow her eyebrows when she saw her grandson entered his ''interested'' mode after reading the scroll briefly. She couldn''t help but wonder what was in the scroll.

    Finally, Sasori finished with reading and turned to Pakura, "Is this true?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

    Before the meeting, he tried to scout the vige a bit... which failed. That impressed Sasori, so he got into contact with his informants and got the gist of what was happening in Sunagakure these past few years.

    He was bbergasted when they informed him the new Kazekage decided to invest in agriculture and that fields were created on the top of the enormous sand wall surrounding the vige.

    More shocking, however, was the fact it was the Puppetry Department that was responsible for the field. Who would have thought growing crops could be good training for novice puppeteers?

    Then again, Sasori had to begrudgingly admit, it was a good idea. Taking care of fields took a lot of effort and repetitive movements. Novice puppeteers would indeed learn how to manipte their puppets and polish their chakra control over the chakra strings if they used the puppets to grow crops.

    Not to mention, it was not a waste of time since this made Sunagakurepletely independent and self-sustaining as far as food was concerned.

    Pakura put her left hand on her hip, "You are not the only prodigy in the art Sunagakure produced." She taunted, "You are also not the most clever one... considering what you did to your body." Sasori stiffened while Chiyo''s eyes slightly widened and her head snapped towards Sasori''s form, "I bet you silently regret it every single day."

    Sasori stayed silent, waiting for Pakura to continue.

    "It''s a pity, you know? If you applied yourself, you might have surpassed Tsunade in the medical field, considering what you managed to do to yourself." Pakura said, ''Well, I mean Tsunade as she was before she met Rei.'' She mentally added. "But because of your fixation on human puppetry, your creativity in making puppets plummeted."

    Sasori looked at the scroll he had in his hands. It was true. He focused on human puppets and the kekkei genkai. He focused on perfecting himself. And yet...

    ''The scroll has so many incredible upgrades that would make puppets into literal art...'' Sasori thought, remembering his earlier years when puppetry was not about organs and muscles but about wood and screws.

    He did regret making himself into a puppet. While it made him more efficient, it also robbed him of most of his ''human'' creativity and perspective. He could control a hundred puppets at once, yet, it was nothing special because neither of these hundred was special. Since he became a puppet himself, he did not create anything but human puppets. He was aware that limited hisbat potential immensely. Human puppets were powerful... but there were not many strong useful bloodline ninjas that could be made into human puppets.

    "And who knows? Maybe... if you are a good boy, you might even deserve re-humanization." Pakura threw him a bone.

    Sure, her tone and wording pissed Sasori off but her words... now that would make his breath hitch if he still needed to breathe.

    "Lucky for you, I know the perfect person to undo the... damage you caused to your body."

    And with that, Pakura knew she had him. Sasori was not aplicated man. He loved puppetry. Offering him a chance to develop the art and create more powerful puppets was a good bait to poach him from Akatsuki despite the threat of death. The offer to make him a human again, to make him regain his own creativity again... that was just the finishing move.

    After all, even if he became a puppet himself, his living core was still made of a normal unenhanced organic matter, hence, it aged. It was not like he gained immortality when he became a puppet. Pakura did not need to be a genius to know the man regretted it.

    Naturally, Sasori only gave an affirmative answer after ten minutes of consideration.

    Turning to the bewildered Chiyo, Pakura gave her a wink. "Take him to the Kazekage office, would you?" She ordered, getting Chiyo out of her reverie.

    Chiyo was about to answer when Pakura burst into smoke, causing her to owlishly blink and realize that the person with whom she waited two whole hours under the scorching sun was just a... clone.

    The entire Sunagakure heard Chiyo''s reaction to that realization.

    "That... bitch!"

 Chapter 266 - Ch266. Timeskip - Konoha: Shikaku Nara

    <h4>Chapter 266 - Ch266. Timeskip - Konoha: Shikaku Nara</h4>

    It has been three years since Shikaku became the Hokage and he could proudly proim he no longer needed to work 16 hours per day. Nowadays, after the overhaul of the administration system, he managed to finish his daily dose of paperwork in just 10 hours!

    ''Now that I think about it... Why am I still working so much?'' Shikaku despondently thought while putting the pen down and releasing a sigh.

    "Shikaku Nara! Don''t you dare to ck! Your approval on these documents is needed in two hours!" Resounded through the closed door to his office.

    ''How does my wife even know when I am taking a break?'' Shikaku inwardly grumbled. ''No... the real question is... why is my wife still my secretary?''

    Then again, how does a proper husband fire his own wife without having to live through a hellish home life for the next few decades?

    Honestly, Shikaku was stumped.

    When he finished the improved administration system, he thought he would finally get his hard-earned freedom. s, he was so woefully wrong! Apparently, now that the administration of the vige was no longer a mess, Tsunade thought it was time for rapid development.

    Needless to say, Shikaku cursed the woman with all his mental prowess.

    His paperwork that finally calmed down suddenly quadrupled as the development picked up the pace.

    ''I can''t reallyin too much, can I?'' Shikaku wryly thought in distaste as he remembered the reports from Jiraiya''s spywork.

    Sunagakure started developing at an incredible pace and it was rumored their puppetry started to be a lot more dangerous. More and more Konoha ninjas, who encounter a Suna team, return from their mission with a report on the Suna team having at least one puppeteer in their midst.

    That was weird in itself and Shikaku thought long and hard about where Sunagakure got so many puppeteers. Sure, it was their specialty but training a good puppeteer was hard and it was usually a skill that was kept in a family. If Sunagakure suddenly started training puppeteers en masse...

    Shikaku didn''t want to think about it. Even with their limited number of puppeteers, Sunagakure deserved a spot among the major five hidden viges. But now, there were rumors of the establishment of a Puppetry Department in Sunagakure that was spewing strong puppeteers one after another.

    In these three years, Suna also gained fame through a few of their ninjas. Names like Wind Mistress, Shun Riku, or Scorch Princess... It was honestly weird. Three years ago, Sunagakure had so many problems and yet, now that the Kazekage changed, it was as if they were experiencing a miraculous recovery and sudden rise in power. They were picking up the pace and bing stronger by the day.

    Allies or not, that was a very worrying thing for Konoha.

    Another cause for worry was Kirigakure.

    ''If having a threat on the left side of the map was not enough, the hidden vige on our right side also had to decide to be a pain in the ass.'' Shikaku silently groaned.

    Unlike Suna, Kiri had no new famous ninja added in thest three years. That was not a relief though. After all, from the mostly useless reports of Jiraiya''s spywork, Shikaku could piece together the fact that Kirigakure ninjas no longer sought fame. All of them now wore masks and actually acted like assassins. The only exception was the famous, easily identified people, like the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and the Mizukage.

    That was frightening in itself, how the new Mizukage could enforce such obedience in her new troops that they would disregard their desire for recognition. If that was not enough, though, the overall improvement of Kiri troops was also noted. Yetˇ­ Konoha had no real way to ascertain to what degree did Kiri''s military improve.

    Kumo and Iwa picked up on this newfound development drive too and tried to emte Kiri and Suna. Yetˇ­ their leaders were not administrators. They were a muscle-brained fighter and a geezer set in his ways. Needless to say, the rate of development in Iwagakure and Kumogakure was really slow and could be outright disregarded.

    ''At leastˇ­ Now that every vige focuses on self-improvement, there is no time for war.'' Shikaku chuckled.

    He really wondered how the two weakest viges could improve so much in just short three years when the supposedly strongest viges failed to follow their pace. The most maddening was the fact these viges not only improved in military matters but also in their economy. Three years ago, only Konoha could boast of being semi-autonomous thanks to the high rate of civilians present in the vige.

    Now?

    Now both Kiri and Suna werepletely fine on their own. Kiri no longer needed funds from the Water Daimyo and was actually strong enough to keep the man quietly satisfied with what he had left of his influence. Suna... the new Kazekage, Pakura of the Scorch, was a friend of the Wind Daimyo. Unlike when Rasa was inmand, Pakura got whatever she asked from the Wind Daimyo. Not that Suna needed anything from the guy considering Pakura''s affiliation with the Uzushio Trading Company.

    ''Yet another concern...'' Shikaku wanted to cry.

    In thest three years, a relic of the past started to rear its head. Uzushio ninjas...

    Shikaku was ny-five percent sure they did not originate from Uzu Inds though.

    If it was just one asion, it would be nothing suspicious but a massive number of missions being assigned and aplished by an organized group of people without any identification? Clearly, there was a new major yer present in the world.

    This new party''s troops usually wore no visible identification mark on their bodies and operated in remote countries so information about them was scarce but after a few years of activity, it was definitely noticed.

    The leaders of the five major hidden viges were very curious about who was the new yer. The smarter ones surely noticed that the rapid rise of Uzushio happened just a few years before the appearance of these new individuals.

    Or, at least, that was the conclusion Shikaku came to after putting a lot of consideration into the matter. Not that he could actually use Uzushio of being a hidden ninja vige when the fact they ceased all ninja activity was already established and proved by various inspectors from other countries. As far as international politics was concerned, Uzushio was untouchable.

    If anybody tried to attack Uzushio... a supposedly civilian vige that focused on trading... it would be the start of a new ninja war. Uzushio had too many connections with the foreign Daimyos. Too many profitable deals with other countries. Attacking them was a sure-fire way to give other nations a righteous reason and Daimyos'' permission to gang up on the poor idiot who would try.

    ''Yeah, there is no way anything like Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri pulled off in the past happening again.'' Shikaku thought.

    The new mysterious group of ninjas was not yet a threat and they did operate in countries that were quite far from the hidden viges. Shikaku felt something wrong about the entire situation though.

    When even Tsunade forbade him to focus on them...

    Well, let''s just say he found something fishy going on in the world and his ''Daimyo'' was definitely involved. That only proved Shikaku''s personal theory of these ninjas being from Uzushio. After all, Tsunade was a ''quarter'' Uzumaki and if there was one fact he knew about Uzumakis, it was that the Uzumaki n did not believe in such a thing as a partial Uzumaki. If you had Uzumaki blood, you were an Uzumaki. Simple as that. And Uzumaki always stuck up for each other.

    They were stubborn like that.

    Then again, thinking about it would be too troublesome so he let it go. Hokage or not, Shikaku was aware the position lost most of its power when Tsunade took the reins. Even if he could prove that Tsunade did not work for the benefit of Konoha... What then? After all, she was the new Daimyo of thends on which Konoha was built. Tsunade''s interest WAS Konoha''s interest. How could he actually use her of being a traitor when she was literally the person who decided the definition of the word ''traitor'' around these parts of the world?

    It was easier and much more logical to ept Konoha now belonged to a Senju that just happened to be an Uzumaki too.

    ''The world changed...'' Shikaku sighed as he signed another paper. ''What a drag.'' He added with azy grin.

    He couldn''t reallyin all that much. Even if Tsunade was in some way betraying what Hiruzen Sarutobi would dub the ''Will of Fire'', Konoha was flourishing under her rule to a degree no other Hokage could boast of. Even a blind idiot would realize that. The vige was wealthier, stronger, and... surprisingly more united.

    The Nara n was under Tsunade''smand from the start anyway. The agreements signed upon Konoha''s creation would ensure that. There was no reason for Shikaku to worry about Tsunade''s political moves in the vige. No way to really rm anyone who did not realize what was happening yet. His n was in the clear and that was what really mattered to him most.

    Yet... Shikaku could only marvel at how quickly ns like Aburame, Inuzuka, or Kurama... ns that were not really Senju supporters, suddenly became more amiable towards Tsunade and acknowledged her as their ruler.

    While he was ving away under the heavy strain of the paperwork and his wife''s nagging, Tsunade was clearly subtly moving her agenda forward, getting Konoha under her thumb.

    Shikaku found itughable, yet admirable.

    For the first time since the creation of Konoha, the ruling concept of the vige was followed to a tee.

    A real dictatorship was slowly being established without anybody even noticing or saying anything.

 Chapter 267 - Ch267. Timeskip - Konoha: Tsunade

    <h4>Chapter 267 - Ch267. Timeskip - Konoha: Tsunade</h4>

    Tsunade looked out of the window of her house in the Senju Compound and sighed at the sight of Kurenai Yuhi practicing her chakra control at such an early hour.

    Taking the girl as her apprentice was one of the better choices Tsunade recently made. Kurenai was dedicated, she had a proper drive because she wanted to achieve her dream of showing she could be a good kunoichi. That coupled with a lot of talent and Kurenai was quite easy to teach. Fortunately, that meant Tsunade did not need to spend much time with the girl. She only needed to be steered in the right direction and showed the right exercises. Other than that, the girl would practice by herself till she dropped.

    Honestly, Tsunade hated holding her apprentices'' hands so Kurenai was ideal for her. After all, she was her mentor... not her mother. If she had to push her to train, then naturally, that meant the girl did not deserve her tutge.

    A yawn tore out of Tsunade''s mouth, causing her mood to plummet as she noticed the stack of paperwork she finishedst night with her shadow clones. Rei was right. It didn''t appear as much work individually but her duties as Konoha''s ruler and the Biri-Biri president added up to her necessary free time with her family, creating a killer schedule.

    Fortunately, she had Shadow Clones...

    Tsunade grinned at that thought, her mood restored.

    Shikaku always bothered her about her secret for paperwork. To be honest, she gave him enough hints. After all, he was supposed to be a Nara so telling him, ''The clue is shadows...'', should have been enough.

    s, even after three years, the man simply couldn''t get it.

    It was simply hrious. Especially since Shadow Clones was the only technique the Nara n couldn''t utilize well because of its immense chakra cost. Oh, they tried. The technique had ''Shadow'' in its name so the Nara n naturally wanted to master it. When her uncle Tobirama made the technique, the Nara n instantly tried to implement it in theirbat style. Nobody ever told them Tobirama named it Shadow clones on purpose.

    Needless to say, the Naras failed miserably.

    Well, figures. Tobirama made damn sure the technique spent so much chakra, a n with innate low reserves andzy attitude would be hard-pressed to utilize it.

    Nara Jonins could make Shadow Clones. That was not the problem. The problem was what came after that. They simply would not have enough chakra to efficiently fight with the shadow techniques.

    In the end, the Shadow Clones fell into obscurity where they stayed even till these days.

    In Konoha, there were at most around twenty ninjas who actually knew Shadow Clone Technique. And not even half of them used the technique in their fighting style.

    For example, Jiraiya.

    He knew the technique. Not because it was helpful to him in a fight. He knew it because it was safe to peek at bathing kunoichi with it.

    As for using it in his fighting style... that was simply asking for too much. Even with Jiraiya''s chakra reserves, he couldn''t waste his chakra for shadow clones. He was primarily a Summoner and ninjutsu user. Both needed a lot of chakra to work efficiently, hence, shadow clones became more of a hindrance in a fight.

    As such, Jiraiya seldom used the technique in an actual fight.

    Somehow, Tsunade could clearly picture Jiraiya getting a new apprentice who was good at the shadow clones while the old coot would totally forget they could be used for training too. With his porn on his mind, the usage of an obscure technique like shadow clones would be thest thing on his mind.

    The same with Sarutobi.

    The man knew so many techniques. He was primarily a ninjutsu powerhouse. Tsunade doubted Hiruzen actually used the Shadow Clones more than a couple of times in his life. Why would he use them when it was much more cost-efficient to use a devastating ninjutsu instead?

    It was no wonder the old monkey had no idea they could be used for paperwork. He simply did not think about it as subconsciously, he already wrote the technique off as useless luxury that is better not used in any way because of its cost.

    Thinking about Hiruzen Sarutobi brought Tsunade''s mind on the track towards a happier topic.

    Shimura Danzo.

    During thest three years, she was using the old schemer as a stress relief. Every time she was too stressed, poor Shimura would lose something. Whether it is a new ally in the political sphere, some of his hard-fought influence, or an arm.

    Taking away his mokuton arm was such a delight!

    It wasn''t even hard. As a mokuton user herself, Tsunade could simply overtake the arm and change it into a bonafide wood. After all, while it was simr to a human hand, at its base, it was still wood.

    Watching Danzo''s arm suddenly separate from his shoulder during one of the council meetings was golden.

    ''His exasperated expression made my day. A pity the old coot is done for.'' Tsunade sighed.

    Unfortunately, she already finished with Danzo. After the man lost every way to revert the momentum against him other than actually leaving Konoha and building his power-base outside the vige, Tsunade decided she had enough fun. She locked his chakra, crippled both of his legs and hisst arm before she ripped out Shisui''s eye from his eye socket.

    That eye was the only reason why Danzo had enough determination to fight back against Tsunade''s machinations despite how hopeless it all seemed. That was the entire reason why she let him keep it so long.

    ''He must have thought he could just get me under his control if he really lost all options.'' Tsunade amusedly mused.

    She didn''t kill the man, however. Right now, Danzo Shimura was a permanent guest at Konoha''s Asylum for the Elderly. The only way he could run was to have somebody wheel him out on his wheelchair and the only way he could eat was by having somebody feed him.

    That was much worse than death, considering the man was a ninja his entire life. Living in such a hopeless and helpless state would be worse than torture for him.

    Danzo no longer posed a threat to any development she decided to implement in Konoha. Honestly, there was nobody who posed a threat anymore. Sarutobi tried whenever he found something not ording to the ''Will of Fire'', but he didn''t get far with hisints. After all, he was retired. His opinion no longer mattered.

    Especially since Tsunade worked hard to get the neutral ns under her influence.

    Her very first target was the Kurama n. That was an easy one. She even got Kurenai''s eternal loyalty and gratitude by fixing Yakumo Kurama up and enabling the girl to be a kunoichi. That was really all it took for the n to ept Tsunade as their Daimyo.

    Even to this day, Tsunade is bewildered at how easy that was.

    From there, Tsunade went onward to the Aburame n, which was tedious at best since they desired recognition more than anything else...

    And after the Aburame n, there was the Inuzuka n, which really only required Tsunade to p the ever-living daylight out of the entire n, showcasing her dominance.

    Thankfully, the Akimichi and Yamanaka ns followed the Nara n so Tsunade didn''t have to do much when these two were concerned.

    As for the Uchiha n... they no longer mattered. No matter what the civilians believed, one underage boy did not qualify as a n. Sasuke would be important only when he grows up and even then, he would first have to be important for the vige in some way other than breeding stock. Only then would Tsunade start paying attention to the Uchiha ''n''.

    s, it was still a work in progress. Rei forbade Tsunade from implementing many reforms in Konoha simply because her hold on the vige was not yet absolute. That was the reason why Konohagged behind Kirigakure and Sunagakure when it came to development.

    As much as Tsunade hated it... she understood the need for it.

    Shikaku Nara certainly suspected Tsunade''s loyalties. Then again, that man was smart andzy enough to not give a fuck while continuing to do his job. Tsunade could only imagine the shitstorm it would cause if the one who realized it was Tsume Inuzuka. The Inuzuka n would rebel in a week, tops.

    Tsunade dramatically sighed, ''Why is it so hard to find smart people in leadership positions nowadays?''

    She sat down in her armchair and pulled out a book while creating two shadow clones.

    It was time for her clones to continue their paperwork duty...

 Chapter 268 - Ch268. Timeskip - Village On The Other Side: Missions

    <h4>Chapter 268 - Ch268. Timeskip - Vige On The Other Side: Missions</h4>

    While Tsunade, Ringo, and Pakura focused on the respective viges under theirmand, Rei and Konan focused solely on the Vige on the Other Side.

    The biggest aplishment in thest years was the finalization of the hideoutwork for the vige. Since the vige was so far away from any form of civilization, clients could not simply walk into the vige to request a mission.

    The Vige on the Other Side was backed up by the Biri-Biri Company and the Uzushio Trading Company but that didn''t mean they could go on without having any profitable venture. Rei didn''t make a vige because he wanted to lose money. As such, the ninjas of the vige had to earn their keep too.

    Which meant missions.

    Missions not only brought money but also provided an experience to the ninjas of the vige. No matter how good the training of the Other-sided vige was. No matter how superior its ninjas were. Without proper experience, they could still be beaten by unconventional means.

    The problem was... how to get clients since the vige''s location sucked in that regard.

    The solution was simple.

    Rei and Konan simply used the Uzushio Trading Company as a middle-man. The missions were posted to the Uzushio Trading Company who was then ''supposed'' to find people for hire to aplish the task.

    That was a nice and broad way of saying, ''For a price, we will hire ninjas for you.''

    At the first nce, this didn''t seem like a business venture that would seed but once one really thought about it...

    Since the hirer was the Uzushio Trading Company, it was hard to track who really issued the mission unless the investigator went through thepany that would in most cases keep quiet because it was a part of their service as the middle-man.

    After all, if somebody is assassinated and his rtives want to get revenge, they will look for the assassin, sure. But they will look for the man who paid the assassin even more. This way, the request-maker was the Uzushio Trading Company, making it harder to find the real requestor... Even an idiot would realize thepany was just a middle-man, hence it was obvious thepany in itself only handed the request to a ninja vige and had nothing to do with it.

    It was simply a waste of time trying to get revenge against the Uzushio Trading Company that acted at most as a delivery man.

    This service also proved efficient when the requestor is unable to leave his town, country, residence... whatever. He can simply ask the Uzushio Trading Company representative in the nearest branch of thepany to make a mission request for him.

    The nobles and richer people usually send their employees or servants to do these things in their stead anyway. Hiring the Uzushio Trading Company will cost them but they have assurance the request will safely get to a ninja vige. It was, after all, significantly easier to hunt down one servant on his way to request a mission than an entirepany... Not to mention, nobody yet discovered that the Uzushio Trading Company used transportation seals to get valuable paperwork to the headquarters asap.

    This service proved to be a very valuable part of what the Uzushio Trading Company offered to their clients. Essentially the clients didn''t care if the ninja was from Konoha or Iwa. They cared only about the results.

    As such, the requests that passed the initial screening by the Uzushio Trading Company ended in the Vige on the Other Side, waiting to be assigned to a team.

    Thanks to the extensivework of hidden outposts all over the Elemental Nations, the ninjas from the Other-sided vige could teleport to any part of the world almost instantly, creating an image of mystery around them.

    After the people started to realize the existence of new ninja forces, they noticed these new ninjas were simply everywhere and nobody had any idea where they came from. Needless to say, it was frustrating to no end. The other hidden viges could only specte these ninjas belonged to the Uzushiogakure because the thing they all had inmon was that they only did missions where the Uzushio Trading Company acted as the middle-man.

    There were a few ''clever'' people who tried to probe the situation by trying to request a mission of hunting down the merchants of the Uzushio Trading Company while using the saidpany as the middle-man...

    Yeah... that didn''t go so well.

    Anyway, many took this as proof of the new unmarked ninjas being from Uzushio.

    Neither Rei nor Konan actually tried to dissuade that notion. If people wanted to think their forces were from a vige that didn''t even exist anymore, who were they to correct them?

    The ninjas from the other side, as Rei liked to call his troops, didn''t wear headbands or k jackets or anything even remotely telling they were actual ninjas. They always wore civilian clothes, ones that were heavily riddled with various seals to make them useful inbat.

    The entire act of wearing a headband seemed stupid but in reality, it was not. It served as a deterrent against bandits and other ninjas. The priority for ninjas was not to fight ninjas from other nations but to finish their mission. Ninjas generally tried to do that without getting into a conflict.

    Many fights were avoided simply because the attacking side saw a headband and realized that the opponents are not easy pickings and even if they are defeated, their vige would surely investigate.

    Rei decided the ninjas from the other side did not need that. They looked like civilians. There was no reason for anybody to attack them. And if somebody did, they were trained enough to kill their way out of the trouble. After all, only ninjas who were at the very least chunin-rank in strength could leave the vige for missions. Then again, having the strength of a chunin, in the Vige on the Other Side, simply meant they were eligible to get the rank of genin.

    It was the entire point of attending the academy to get to that level of strength and ability. Nobody can say the academy instructors in the Vige on the Other Side went easy on the kids. Sometimes, even Rei cringed at the brutality of the training and rued the day he handed the responsibility for the academy curriculum over to Konan and worse, Mei.

    The kids were in no immediate threat of dying or even staying injured. The important word there was ''staying'' because the curriculum was made to harm the kids in a way that would force them to improve. It was a no-brainer, really. Kids were adaptable and soaked up new knowledge like a sponge. There was a reason why so many pre-pubescent kids became legends in the Ninja world during wartime.

    Konan simply got the marvelous idea to simte that kind of environment while making it safe without telling the kids it was safe. Those who could get through it became a force to be reckoned with and those that couldn''t... well, there was still the option of working for the Biri-Biri or the Uzushio Trading Company where they could still get training. It would just be a very down-graded version of what the ninjas from the other side received.

    There were not many civilians in the Vige on the Other Side either since most of its upants were from ninja ns Rei and his wives collected all over the Elemental Nations. That meant, the kids of those people were raised to be a ninja from the start, and failing at the academy was taken as a sign of shame.

    Sure, Rei would love to be an idealistic idiot and let kids be kids but he knew what kind of world he was sending them in once they left the academy. As such, he allowed the academy to take education from an entirely different side and focus on making the kids into capable killers. In Rei''s opinion, it was better to be an aplished killer rather than be dead, raped, or tortured.

    In this manner, the forces of the Vige on the Other Side started to slowly build up and the service of its ninjas was bing more and more sought after through the Uzushio Trading Company acting as the middle-man.

 Chapter 269 - Ch269. Rei The Sealmaster

    <h4>Chapter 269 - Ch269. Rei The Sealmaster</h4>

    Rei stood surrounded by his wives in his boratory'' located in his mansion in the Vige on the Other Side. All around them were papers with sealing arrays haphazardly strewn all over the ce, only the middle of the room contained a veryplicated seal drawn onto the floor.

    Today was the day his long years of research will finally bear the fruits of hisbor.

    "You have finally finished ''it'', huh?" Konan hummed, a bit miffed.

    She didn''t like the fact Rei was again in his research mode for the past few years. Thest time he entered it, he made the artificial bijuu. Sure, that brought a lot of joy to their lives and provided them withpletely loyalpanions that enhanced their strengths to an unimaginable degree but the process of creating them was extremely dangerous. Konan still didn''t forget Rei admitting he almost blew himself up while making the necessary seals for the creation of their bijuu.

    So when one pleasant morning after a lovely night of merrymaking Rei told her he had a new important project... her sluggish and pleased mood instantly evaporated. Konan only barely managed to bite her lower lip in order to prevent herself from screaming her throat sore at Rei.

    Yet, Konan knew she couldn''t stop him. As much as she wanted to, she knew his ''important research projects'', as he called them, were really important for their future. Whenever Rei called a project important, it meant it would either raise their strength significantly or be a preventive measure against something bad from happening.

    That still didn''t make these ''important projects'' any safer though. Konan could only hope Rei would be responsible enough to not actually emte Mei and destroy himself alongside the because of some minor mishap.

    ''Really, sometimes I feel as if I was surrounded by kindergarteners.'' Konan bitterly thought.

    Rei looked at Konan, reading her inner turmoil from her almost indifferent expression, and wisely kept quiet without answering her rhetorical question. He was well aware of her attitude to his practical approach when it came to testing his seals. Then again, he did have Shadow clones. Ah, women. Why couldn''t they understand that experiencing blowing yourself up was totally different than actually blowing yourself up?

    "Anyway," Rei turned towards Mei, "you look quite excited!" He eximed.

    Pakura, Tsunade, Konan, and Ringo were all busy so it was Mei who was helping Rei the most during this project. He still kept many things about it a secret but Mei, under all that guise of childishness, was incredibly smart. Rei had no doubt she came to her own conclusions about the goals of his project.

    "Yes! We spent years on this and now it is finally finished!" Mei bounced up and down and for some reason, Rei had a hard time tearing his gaze from her vibrant auburn hair moving up and down with her momentum and shing with her wide green eyes full of excitement.

    It was only when Tsunade put her hand on the top of Mei''s head while grinning widely did Rei finally snap out of his reverie.

    "Look at her." Tsunade teasingly drawled, causing Mei''s smile to stiffen, "So excited that you are finally done, Rei. Yet, I wonder why she is hiding that deep sadness she is fee..." A glint shed through Tsunade''s eyes but Mei quickly turned around and put her hand on Tsunade''s mouth, desperately silencing her with a pleading look.

    Tsunade''s grin only widened when she saw an understanding nce from Konan and a raise of an eyebrow from Pakura. Ringo... just red at the back of Mei''s head but that was amon thing between the two redheads.

    As for Rei... he had five overly caring women. He got good at hiding things he didn''t want them to worry about and discovering things they were hiding from him. After years of their rtionship, that was bound to happen eventually.

    Even without the Senjutsu-powered emotional sensing which was bing a kind of a passive sixth sense in Tsunade''s case due to her uninterrupted continuous use of the Senjutsu Mode... And yes, that made it basically impossible to lie to her... Rei knew why Mei was sad and why he was hiding it.

    Since she was his assistant, for the most part, they spent a lot of time together in hisboratory, doing things... things that not always could be connected to his research or seals.

    Rei was just d hisboratory was soundproof and actually had a bed. Mei could be really wild and willful when she wanted.

    It was obvious Mei knew that now the research was over, her convenient excuse to spend time with Rei was also gone. Rei, on the other hand, knew his girls more than even they thought. Heck, he practically raised Mei and saw every step of the development of her mindset.

    It was so obvious she didn''t care about the seals at all. She was passable in the craft... but she couldn''t care less. Sure, the final result probably did excite her but honestly? Rei knew she ''sacrificed'' her free time and became his assistant in order to spend more time with him, rather than due to wanting to actually help him.

    What Rei didn''t say was that the research could be done a year ago if Mei didn''t join. That girl knew how to y his buttons far too well, distracting him from work...

    And when Yugito and Yagura finally married two years ago and announced Yugito with a child... in the following weeks, Rei didn''t manage to do much seal work as he was deeply focused on exploring Mei.

    Fortunately, Rei''s ability to control natural energy and absorb it into his body made him able to make himself fertile and infertile onmand. He was not gonna bring a kid into a world when there was still the threat of the Otsutsuki n hanging above their heads. Nu-uh.

    Rei also knew it was just one of Mei''s whimsical moods. After a few weeks, she couldn''t even look Rei into the eyes for a few days from shame. Deep in her heart, she didn''t really want a child. She only liked the idea of that happening. Once her brain kicked in, however, Mei quickly realized she was not ready yet.

    "Just start it." Ringo sighed, tiredly rubbing her eyes. "I still have work in my forge."

    "Ha! I bet you are so cranky because you thought he was calling you to do something more enjoyable than showing off the results of his research!" Mei butted in with a sneer.

    Ringo clicked her tongue at Mei in irritation, "Whatever. At least this way your bragging about all the time you get to spend with him will finally end, you nympho."

    "What was that, you weapon pervert!?"

    A pressure suddenly enveloped the room, pressing on both Mei and Ringo, weighing them down whilepletely bypassing the other upants. Now that made both girls quiet down and turn towards Rei in embarrassment as if they were little kids that were just scolded.

    Since the artificial bijuu finally matured, Rei and his wives gained a lot of ''perks''. One of which was the heaviness of their chakra which in turn enhanced their ''intent''. Not unlike the release of killing intent, Rei released his irritation with a full weight of his chakra behind it at the two bickering women.

    It was harmless... against them. Their bodies were enhanced to an incredible degree when fully-matured bijuu settled in them. The weight of Rei''s chakra made them only slightly hunch over unlike the air around them that was cracking from the pressure.

    "I am starting." Rei decided to cut the chase, unwilling to give Mei and Ringo another chance to start arguing. "You all have the two seals I gave you earlier on you?"

    After a round of agreement, no matter if it was enthusiastic, grumbling, or muttering one, Rei sighed and kneeled on one knee, putting his hands on the edge of the seal in the middle of the room.

    Before his girls could even blink, the world shifted around them, bing...

    All five women turned their heads in bewilderment as they looked around and could only think, ''What the hell?''

    Rei just smirked, spreading out his arms, "Wee to the outpost hidden on the Other Side... of the Moon."

 Chapter 270 - Ch270. Complicated Home

    <h4>Chapter 270 - Ch270. Complicated Home</h4>

    Konan intently looked at the massive ball of mostly blue in the distance, "So... that is our home?" She tilted her head with a difficult expression.

    Instantly, all four remaining women turned to look at it, showing either astonishment, frowns, or disbelief.

    Rei already informed them about the universe, space, and things like that but epting it was another thing. For people of Elemental Nations, the world beyond their continents simply may not even exist since almost nobody tried to get there and those who did, didn''t return.

    Hell, residents of some more remote countries still believed the world was t! It was really mind-boggling how differently developed certain ces in the Elemental Nations were.

    s, now... here it was. Their home was right in front of their eyes.

    Right there, they could see the Elemental Nations. They had the same shape they sported on many maps. It was unmistakable. The surprise though came from the fact the Elemental Nations were but a small fraction ofnd visible on the.

    "The reason why nobody ever returned to the Elemental Nations after leaving to explore is clearly visible from here." Rei started, pointing to the distance, "Our home is too isted. The closestnd to the Elemental Nations is to the south and even then it is... hmm, by my crude estimation, at least, six thousand kilometers away."

    "And that is a problem, why? I could run that far on water." Mei pipped in, cutely tilting her head in genuine confusion.

    Rei smiled at her. She always overestimated others because she had a bad habit ofparing them to herself. It was something she picked up after being trained by Rei and Konan while having only them to measure her improvement.

    "It''s because you are not average, you dolt." Ringo snorted and rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms under her chest in a provoking manner.

    Before Mei could return the verbal fire, Rei interrupted the argument before it could even start, "Yes. Water Walking is not too exhausting but even then, an average Jonin can travel up to a hundred kilometers on the water before he runs out of chakra, entering a chakra exhaustion state, which, on the open sea would mean he would drown." He exined, "Even those Elite Jonins and S-rank ninjas with the biggest chakra reserves back at home do not have chakra reserves to get further than five hundred kilometers on water."

    "Unfortunately," Ringo decided to continue as she had some knowledge about these matters since she was the Kage of Kirigakure. "Even the ships the Land of Water has right now," And everybody knew these were the best ships in the entirety of Elemental Nations, "can''t cover six thousand kilometers on an open sea. That''s in suicide. You gotta count the storage capacity for supplies, the durability of the ship in case it is caught in storms and many more variables that... yeah." Ringo shrugged, "Not happening. The ship would most likely fall into pieces halfway through the journey because of storms."

    "And then there is that..." Rei added with a wry smile, "The dark blue patches strewn all around the Elemental Nations in the radius of two thousand kilometers."

    "What do you mean?" This time it was Pakura who asked. "Doesn''t that just mean the ocean is extremely deep in those ces? Why should that be a problem?"

    Rei looked around and noticed that none of his girls actually had an inkling why that would be a threat. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. ''I should probably have expected this. They all grew up in Elemental Nations, after all. How could I expect they would think outside of the box?'' He helplesslymented.

    For onest time, Rei nced at Tsunade, making her owlishly blink. Shaking his head, he decided in which way he would exin it.

    "Tsunade," Rei started, "what are the two energy sources essible to humans?"

    At first, Tsunade scrunched her eyebrows, not understanding what that had to do with it but nevertheless, she dutifully answered, "Chakra and the nature energy."

    "And what else can use nature energy, I dare say, even better than humans?" Rei asked again.

    This time, Tsunade''s eyes slightly widened. She quickly understood what Rei meant and the reason why he asked her was that she did research on this. "Animals. Most of them have a way to innately ept nature energy into their bodies, bing what we call chakra beasts."

    "You want to say in these dark blue spots where the ocean is the deepest is a habitat of strong chakra beasts?" Konan asked in a way that suggested she found it hrious.

    "Ah, don''t think about it like that." Rei rebuked, "Chakra beasts get stronger as they age. The more nature energy they absorb, the stronger, smarter, and better they be. Naturally..." Rei nced at Tsunade.

    "Naturally," She continued for Rei as she understood this had to do with the results of her research, "they also possess chakra. Nature energy would kill them if their chakra was not bncing it in their bodies. They do this instinctively and as such, they take in nature energy, improving their bodies, which, in turn, in time improves their chakra reserves, which then allows them to take in more nature energy, making them even stronger in one unending circle." She summed up.

    "You want to tell us the chakra beasts are instinctively using Senjutsu?" Ringo raised an eyebrow at Tsunade.

    "No. In fact, Senjutsu was based on that ability of theirs. You gotta understand, the chakra beasts are doing this extremely slowly. Senjutsu is likeˇ­ drawing nature energy to the limit of your body on purpose for a quick boost that is not permanent. In the short term, it provides far more power. Because you are trying to stuff the most nature energy your chakra reserves can contain, however, it is dangerous." Tsunade replied. "Senjutsu being derived from that also means that while I use Senjutsu, my body is slowly but permanently absorbing nature energy, and is getting stronger, which increases my chakra poolˇ­ yeah, that''s why I actually started researching the chakra beasts in the first ce."

    "Summons are chakra beasts, aren''t they?" Pakura suddenly realized.

    "Yeah," Rei grinned, "Summons are just chakra beasts who live in an environment that is extremely favorable for them, quickening the rate of their ''growth''. For example, Mt. Myoboku is said to be the best ce to learn Senjutsu because of the abundant nature energy there." He shrugged, "Hence the gigantic toads. And by the way, I think Mt. Myoboku is actually located in the middle of the Divine Mountains of the Land of Lightning."

    "So... what? Is that why we must sacrifice chakra to summon them?" Mei mused, causing the people around them to stare at her in astonishment at the huge logical leap.

    "... Yeah?" Rei unsurely nodded, "I mean... I have never studied the summoning scrolls but maybe the chakra the summoner sacrifices is indeed increasing the summon''s chakra reserves, hastening its evolution. I mean... they sure as hell do not let people use them for free, right? A bit of chakra to get a massive animal fighting for you is also a bit too far-fetched."

    "Anyway," Konan decided to return the conversation on its track. "Let''s get back to the topic. Deep in the ocean? Chakra beasts?"

    "Well, you see. The source of nature energy is the. Even this moon," Rei tapped his foot, "is a source of nature energy. It is small and weak but it is there, deep under the surface. Our is producing many times more nature energy. Plus the ocean is vast. There is enough space for multiple extremely strong and old chakra beasts that had centuries to grow without any natural predators and were a lot closer to the source than, for example, the summons. Do the math yourself."

    "I see," Tsunade frowned, "In the Elemental Nations, the chakra beasts were hunted down. Only in some special ces like the Forest of Demons in the Country of Demons you can find rtively strong chakra beasts. Even these are quite weak and a jonin can easily dispatch them. What Rei is describing is a situation where these chakra beasts had nobody hunting them and as such, they were allowed to grow..." Tsunade looked at Rei in astonishment, "You are not trying to tell us they are as strong as bijuu, are you?"

    Now that got all of their attention almost instantly.

    Rei, however, just shrugged. "I have no idea. All I got are the legends from the southernmost inds of the Elemental Nations. After all, the legends of the Sea Dragons, Water Serpents, Ind Eater... whatever, has to be based on something."

    "What''s stopping them froming to the Elemental Nations, then?" Pakura asked with a frown. The Land of Wind was located on the south of the maind. If these chakra beasts decided to visit...

    "The same thing that is preventing the bijuu from leaving the Elemental Nations." Rei said and paused, causing the women to lean closer to him, "No matter how intelligent, deep down, they are still animals. They have their territories. Why do you think the three-tailed turtle stayed close to the Land of Water for so many years? Why did Shukaku stay in the desert despite loving destruction? It''s their turf and they simply loathe leaving it."

    "Our world is a lot moreplicated than we first thought, huh?" Tsunade chuckled.

    She didn''t expect an answer though.

    "You have no idea."

    So when a voice resounded from behind the group, they instantly tensed.

 Chapter 271 - Ch271. On The Moon 1

    <h4>Chapter 271 - Ch271. On The Moon 1</h4>

    Nobody would expect to be surprised by a stranger talking to them... on the moon. Hearing the voice, the girls instantly turned around, ready for a fight, and then...

    Konan furrowed her eyebrows in astonishment, "Yuriko? What are you doing here?"

    "Hello, Konan. I work here," Yuriko answered with a small mischievous smile before she turned towards Rei, "Hi, boss. I see you finally decided to show them around?" She asked.

    Needless to say, even Mei waspletely surprised by this turn of events. She helped Rei the most with his projects, yet, she had no clue Yuriko was already on the moon, doing something for him.

    The women instantly turned towards Rei, in their eyes a profound question of why Yuriko was the first one to know. As far as they knew, Yuriko was just a subordinate and a ninja of the Vige Hidden on the Other Side. Somehow, she being the first to know about such an important project of Rei''s was a low blow to their feelings as women.

    Naturally, Rei had no clue about this at that moment and as such, he simply shrugged and indifferently replied, "I needed someone capable of using Senjutsu and there was only Tsunade and Yuriko avable. But Tsunade was far too busy to involve her, so Yuriko it was." He said, causing Yuriko to pout.

    He had no idea what kind of disaster his carefree reply just saved him from.

    "Why would you need a Senjutsu user?" Tsunade curiously asked.

    Rei grinned and pointed at the ne with two seals on her neck he gave her before they teleported, "These seals are supposed to provide oxygen and ensure you will not be crushed from inside out due to vacuum."

    All four of his women except Konan widened their eyes when they heard what could have happened to them. They knew what a vacuum was. It was important for high ranked ninjas to know because the two pinnacles of the Wind Maniption were invisible wind des, people who chose this way focused on density andpression, and then there was vacuum Jutsu, which focused on getting air out of certain spots, creating a vacuum and then weaponizing it.

    That said, they never thought about what is outside of Elemental Nations, much less what is outside their, so neither really put many thoughts into the possibility of a natural vacuum being in space.

    Natural vacuum... such a term was honestlyughable. Knowing how devastating vacuum Jutsu were, the girls could only wryly grimace at the thought of an air-less state like that existing naturally.

    "So, without this," Tsunade patted the pendant on her neck, "we would instantly go squelch?" She asked in trepidation.

    Rei grinned and wordlessly pointed at Yuriko, more precisely, her neck area that had no ne. She actually wore a quite loose shirt and shorts. Unless the seals were tattooed into the part of her skin covered by her clothes, which was a ridiculous idea because the seals were not useful enough to make them permanent and hook them on her chakra system as was necessary with tattooed seals, or drawn directly on her clothes, which was unreliable as heck when ites to seals that have to function 24/7,... then Yuriko now stood in a vacuum without any protection and was just fine.

    "While Tsunade researched Senjutsu itself, I was more interested in nature energy," Rei started exining. He was not about to tell them his idea came from what he saw in anime during hisst life where Naruto without any protection could survive on the moon. That would be ridiculous. Rei naturally had a good excuse for his knowledge. "I found out, nature energy can strengthen the human body, not unlike what it does to the chakra beasts. That led me to a small realization." Rei meaningfully looked at his girls, "we are still wary of the vacuum Jutsu because they are the strongest crushing force our world knows. There is no Jutsu as devastating as these, which is the reason why the Wind was dubbed the offensive element. The only good thing about the vacuum Jutsu is their small area of effect. Yet... how do we know it would work on us when we always evade these out of a healthy dose of respectful fear?"

    "You aren''t saying you did something as crazy as trying out what would happen to you if a vacuum Jutsu hit you, are you?" Konan unamusedly asked, inwardly feeling a bad premonition telling her she was most likely correct.

    Rei turned towards Konan and sheepishlyughed while rubbing the back of his head, "Well... yeah?"

    "Dammit, Rei!" Konan sighed and started to rub the bridge of her nose.

    Seeing that his other wives also started to narrow their eyes at him because he did something stupid... again, Rei decided to continue with his exnation and hoped they would just forget about the matter.

    "I absorb Nature energy into myself and use it to directly strengthen my body for decades now. Honestly, the vacuum does nothing to me." Rei said and gestured that he did not wear the ne with the protective seals either. "Yet... there are some attacks that can do me harm," Rei nced at Konan and Tsunade, "despite the force behind them being weaker than what vacuum can exert. After that realization, I found out that nature energy works as a kind of a counter-force against vacuum. And Senjutsu users use nature energy too, hence..." He gestured at Yuriko who still stood in her initial spot.

    "Oh," Mei nodded and took the ne off, stuffing it into her pocket. "Then we should be fine, no? We have our pets, after all!"

    "Ah," Konan blinked, "So that''s what you are trying to tell us." She understood, "We might not be Senjutsu users but thanks to our bijuu that were made thanks to the nature energy in your dimension, we should be fine."

    "Yeah," Rei sighed, "Then again, you are lucky it also makes you capable of surviving without oxygen, Mei. I really did not expect you to just yank the protective ne off your neck." He shook his head before mumbling, "And they call me reckless..."

    "So, should we proceed to the base?" Yuriko interjected. As amusing as watching the interaction between Rei and his wives was, she still had some work to do.

    "Base?" Pakura turned towards her, "Rei ordered you to make a base here?" She looked around the barren, rocky terrain without anything interesting in it, not understanding why exactly they should care about the moon. It was a good ce for a bolt hole that nobody could find, but other than that? She thought it was a waste of resources.

    "Of course!" Rei put his hands on his hips in a self-important manner, "We already have Uzushio and the Vige on the Other Side under our rule. Why not add a Vige on the Other Side of the Moon there too? It might seem like nothing special but the moon has a lot of metal deposits. Metals that may or may not be even stronger than chakra metal."

    "Now we are talking!" Ringo grinned, her eyes sparkling at the thought of metal stronger than chakra metal.

    The opinion about the new base on the other side of the moon quickly shifted to being a favorable one once Rei exined why exactly he chose the moon.

    s, Konan was not easy to fool.

    "Plus, there should be Kaguya Otsutsuki sealed inside of this ball of rock. Isn''t that right, Rei?" She smirked, giving him a knowing look. "Are you perhaps trying to get a new girl?"

    Rei just shrugged, not expecting to be able to hide Kaguya''s existence. After all, he did tell them about her. Then again... "That doesn''t really depend on me, now, does it?"

 Chapter 272 - Ch272. On The Moon 2

    <h4>Chapter 272 - Ch272. On The Moon 2</h4>

    Rei and his wives followed Yuriko to the base. The teleportation point was a bit away from the actual base while the needed seal was buried deep in the rocky ground, configured to teleport people above the ground. It was all calcted to the extreme by Rei as a safety measure.

    This way, even if the base was discovered and destroyed by the guy who was supposedly living on the moon, the one Rei had no idea about since he didn''t put much thought into the final movie of the Naruto series, there was still a chance the teleportation seal would not be discovered. After all, where would the guy learn sealing arts on the moon? As far as Rei knew, the area had quite theck of teaching material going on.

    The group finally arrived and the girls could only stare at the houses made of hardened snow, only then realizing the climate was cold enough to sustain it.

    "This is actually amazing. Howe it is so strong?" Ringo asked, knocking on the icy wall with quite a bit of her strength, surprised that it was as hard as the seal-enhanced stone walls the Vige on the Other Side had.

    "It''s specially molded with my Senjutsu-enhanced chakra. You guys are not the only ones who experiment with their abilities, you know?" Yuriko pipped in when she saw the women look at the structures she was building in the recent months, "As for the size... Rei wanted me to make a small city. You know, prepare the ce for new upants and stuff." She shrugged.

    "I guess Rei really wants to make another town here, huh?" Pakura muttered to herself in disbelief, still not understanding what good it would make. Anything that needed secrecy could be done in the Vige on the Other Side. There was no need for an additional vige away from their.

    Rei approached her and hugged her with one arm, "Don''t forget there is still the Otsutsuki n. If I want to make a sealing barrier around the so they won''t be able to find it, I can only do it from here. That''s why it is so important that buildings are made here. A lot of work is awaiting me here."

    "Ah," Pakura nodded, a bit satisfied with that exnation. She was actually nning to remake Sunagakure into a perfect fortress for her family in case something bad happened. That was the entire point of strengthening its forces! The vige was perfect for that. It was deep in the desert in a hard-to-invade country and full of people who lived in this inhospitablend and knew how to ambush any idiot who dared to enter their territory.

    Ninja viges were not made to sustain lengthy sieges. Such a thing was impossible with superpowered ninjas ying the role of soldiers. Ninjas were not trained to fight in siege battles either. The viges were, however, all located in ces that, for their native forces, were easy to defend. The general idea was to not allow enemies to get close to the vige. And since the establishment of the first hidden vige, a situation where arge force of ninjas managed to get to an enemy ninja vige simply did not happen. The ninjas'' way of the fight was designed to prevent such a thing. To discover approaching enemies and eliminate them before they got to the vige.

    Honestly, there really was no better cement than the moon for a hidden vige since their forces were already used to teleporting all over the continent anyway.

    "You are finally starting to worry about the Otsutsuki n?" Konan asked, "I thought we had time before they became a problem."

    "We do, but that doesn''t mean the solution is going to be easy. Fighting them head-on is not on the table. I have no idea about their forces but they are supposed to be powerful. I won''t risk any of you because of some misced pride. If I can solve the situation by hiding our with seals then that would be enough for the time being. Even if we wanted to fight them directly, first of all, we need time. Six people are not an army."

    "Hence the Elemental Nations have to be united"Konan mused, "Is that why you are letting Akatsuki do whatever they want?"

    "Partly, I do hope to use them as a bogeymanter on. I still do not know what to do about them but their goal is perfect as far as a reason for the hidden viges to stand together goes. If we did not intervene, I can imagine a future where the viges would just ignore them while they hunted the jinchuuriki, only to get a harsh reminder when just one or two of them remained. After all, nobody would want a group of S-ss criminals to get their hands on all nine bijuu."

    "The problem is, the One, Two, and Three-tailed jinchuuriki are affiliated with us." Konan summed up what made Rei indecisive.

    "Yeah. We do not really need Akatsuki anymore but... I just don''t know. If I try to make Kirigakure, Sunagakure, and Konoha into one strong block and have them sign an alliance, Iwagakura and Kumogakure will instantly join together. It wouldn''t even matter if they hate each other. They would do it simply because of self-preservation. And that is a reason that can make their treaty more irond than anything else.

    "We don''t really need them. They aregging behind Konoha, Kiri, and Suna anyway. Give it five years and they will be uselesspared to our three viges."

    "Still, conflict at home turf is going to be a problem no matter how developed they are. I just need more time to think about how to approach that problem. Frankly, the direction of my ns depends a lot on Kaguya and her reply to my offer."

    Konan nodded, deciding she heard enough. Seeing that the free-for-all information fest was over, the four discreetly listening women also pretended nothing was out of the ordinary. Yet, in the heads of Tsunade, Pakura, and Ringo, possible treaties between their viges started to form in a way that would benefit all of them.

    As for Mei... she just enjoyed the fabulous view.

    Walking through the street full of structures made out of clear blue icy-like snow felt otherworldly to the group. The constructs standing there were more like ice sculptures than buildings. It was clear that Yuriko put a lot of thought and effort into it.

    At longst, the group led by Yuriko finally arrived in front of a pce-like light-blue building that stood in the middle of the newly sculpted town.

    Even Rei was baffled at the enormous size of that building. It was even bigger than his mansion in the Other-sided Vige or the one in his dimension. The group looked at Yuriko who looked a bit sheepish due to their gazes.

    "Well, I might have gotten a bit carried away during the work." She shrugged.

    "Right..." Rei nodded.

    To be honest, he was just d Yuriko found something that made her happy. Sure, after Konan saved her from the Snow Vige, the woman looked and acted fine but it was obvious she needed a long rehabilitation. And she did get it. Yet, it wasn''t all that helpful. Another reason why Rei chose Yuriko instead of Tsunade was that he wanted to get her to a ce without people where she could simply be herself.

    ''Looks like it helped, if only slightly.'' Rei thought in self-satisfaction.

 Chapter 273 - Ch273. Nature Energy?

    <h4>Chapter 273 - Ch273. Nature Energy?</h4>

    Author Note: So, I have watched thest Naruto movie and I must say I am not impressed, so if some facts are off from canon, don''t me me :D.

    ---

    The group sat around a table in Rei''s new Moon Pce...

    "Could you repeat it? I think I must have misheard you. For a moment, I got the impression you said the moon is ready to go ka-boom at any moment." Rei looked intently at Yuriko who sheepishly smiled.

    "Yeah... about that." She shrugged, "I just investigated the strange chakra saturation you felt deep under the surface as you told me. It was more time-consuming than hard to find out what it is supposed to do. The idea is simple and many ninjas use it even nowadays on a smaller scale when they are hired for a demolition mission. The strange chakra is strategically located in weak spots of the and upon activation, it will most likely act like an overpowered exploding tag, creating a lot of cracks in the foundation of the, making it crumble on itself."

    "And the gravitation will do the rest." Konan nodded.

    "Damn, that''s so cool! Howe I did note up with that idea?" Mei quipped.

    "Maybe because that''s tooplex for you?" Ringo snorted with a small grin forming on her lips.

    "So, the moon is basically a floating meteor shower just waiting to happen." Rei summed up, inwardly groaning.

    ''If it''s not one thing, then it''s another. Don''t I have enough problems with viins on my home? Now I have to pay attention to some dickhead on the moon who can make it rain in pieces on my viges? This is such bullshit.'' Rei thought.

    He knew there was some idiot descended from Hamura living on the moon and that he would cause trouble in the far future after the Fourth Ninja War. That, however, was the extent of his memory when it came to Naruto''sst movie. Finding out the dude is able to use the moon as his weapon was a bit heavier revtion than he expected.

    "Maybe you could let me use one of my-destroying Jutsu now?" Mei excitedly asked, finally getting an opportunity to be destructive and helpful.

    Unfortunately for her, Konan''s pointed looks quickly told her that no, this was not her time to shine. In fact, they looked at her as if she just said something retarded.

    As for Rei, he found it funny enough to goodnaturedly chuckle at Mei''s proposition. Reaching out, he affectionately rubbed her head before saying, "If destroying the moon was an option, then I would have no qualms about it. Unfortunately, the moon is incredibly important, Mei."

    "Is it?" Mei pouted.

    "Didn''t we go through what the moon causes to ur on our during our lessons when you were still genin?" Konan asked with an edge in her tone, miffed that Mei didn''t remember.

    "Your Jutsu would not work anyway," Rei interjected, "The moon produces far too little nature energy for the effect of your-destroying Jutsu to spread. All of them work by abusing the chain reaction and the endless supply of nature energy to spread destructive force. That would not work here. The nature energy barely prates the surface so your Jutsu would not have enough fuel..." Rei suddenly stopped talking and his eyebrows furrowed. After a while, he finally eximed in realization, "Son of a bitch!"

    Tsunade blinked while tilting her head. She understood nature energy the most after Rei. Now that she thought about it, considering the moon produced it too, calling it nature energy might be a bit wrong too but... Anyway, thinking about what was just said, she couldn''t help but widen her eyes, "The moon-crumbling Jutsu under the surface on the moon works on the same basis as Mei''s Jutsus, doesn''t it?"

    Rei mutely nodded. There was no way to destroy a with a single Jutsu. If the dude on the moon could do that, there would be no need for blowing up the moon. Coming down on the Earth and directly destroying it would have been enough. If somebody other than Mei found out there is nature energy on the moon and then realized a way to use that energy in a chain reaction...

    ''Hamura... you son of a bitch.'' Rei inwardly cursed.

    He didn''t need to remember the Last Naruto Movie to realize who was responsible. There was only one guy who lived on the moon and almost reached the level of the Sage of the Six Paths.

    ''Wait... bitch?'' Rei tilted his head as an idea suddenly struck him. "He didn''t..." He whispered, looking at Tsunade.

    "What?" She asked.

    "The Moon is just a big ball of rock. Even if it could produce the energy we know as nature energy, would it be enough for such a big-scale Jutsu? I doubt our produces enough of the said energy topletely and instantly crumble itself from inside out. Continuously destroying it should be possible..." Rei looked at Mei, "It would take a few months even for Mei''s Jutsus but it could happen. But instantly? I don''t think our has enough energy for that. Plus, every philosophy on our regarding that energy is saying it is the energy of life andes from nature itself." Rei started.

    "Which may be wrong." Tsunade reminded, "The Moon does not have nature, not to mention much life, and yet, it is producing nature energy. That should be enough to disprove these philosophies, no?"

    "You are looking at the problem from the perspective of a researcher, Tsunade." Konan pipped in. "In that case, why do these philosophies work for people trying to master Senjutsu on our? If the energy had nothing to do with life or nature, then the Senjutsu ''Masters'' must be misunderstanding the whole thing and using a wed concept, yet, it clearly works for them. Either the concept is right, or it is close enough to the truth to work while being entirely different."

    "My Senjutsu has a snow attribute in it. Would that even be possible without nature energy being connected to... well, nature?" Yuriko asked.

    That was when Mei leaned closer to Ringo and whispered, "Do you have any clue what they are talking about?"

    Ringo looked at the younger redhead and knitted her eyebrows, "No. Just let them. They will get tired eventually." She shrugged.

    The debate about nature energy and the whole concept around it continued for a few more minutes. It was quite important. After all, if they understood what it was, then they could find a better way to use it and improve themselves, no?

    "It doesn''t really matter." Rei suddenly eximed, stopping the entire discussion, "The important thing is... why is a dead like the Moon producing enough energy to do what would be impossible on our?" He swept the women around the table with his gaze, a knowing grin on his face as he had an inkling what exactly was powering up the entire thing, "There must be a different source of the energy, no?"

 Chapter 274 - Ch274. The Source

    <h4>Chapter 274 - Ch274. The Source</h4>

    "And the answer for the million Ryo question is... who is supposedly sealed in the moon?" Rei leadingly asked and the whole group except Yuriko dropped their jaws on the floor when the realization hit them.

    "You mean Kaguya?" Konan finally managed to rein in her surprise.

    "Maybe." Rei hummed, "After all, a jinchuuriki can use the chakra of his bijuu, and even if they are sealed in an inanimate item, the chakra can still be drawn. The limiting factor is that people never thought to make a technology capable of utilizing this chakra. Why wouldn''t it be possible for Kaguya''s energy to seep into the moon in small quantities? It would be prudent to make use of it, no? Moreover, Hamura was supposed to be the closest thing to the Sage of the Six Paths and the guy lived on the moon. It wouldn''t be weird if he got the idea and made a little something capable of doing exactly that."

    "Wait, you want to tell me this residue of energy from this Kaguya is involuntarily releasing is capable of instantly destroying the moon?" Pakura made a face at Rei, "And you want to free her? Are you barking mad?"

    Mei, however, just rolled her eyes and replied before Rei could open his mouth, "Paku-chan, the residue from each of us could do that if it had a thousand years to build up."

    That made Pakura a bit more subdued. Mei''s boil bloodline''s steam Jutsu worked mostly through the chakra residue a person is releasing at any given moment. Mei''s bloodline was literally able to increase this released residue and shape it into the form of steam with various properties. Thanks to that, the group believed Mei''s words instantly. She was the expert on that in the group.

    "You would be surprised how much chakra seeps out of a person during the day. Especially us. Since we became jinchuuriki, our bodies are bonafide chakra factories. If we didn''t have enough chakra control to keep it in, we would be like a sun to any semipetent sensor. "

    "But... aren''t we talking about nature energy here? Why would Kaguya''s body release that?" Tsunade crossed her arms under her chest and asked.

    "She supposedly ate a chakra fruit. Considering there was no chakra people could freely manipte before she was beaten by her sons... my bet is that chakra originates from nature energy of the gathered to form chakra fruit. That''s my guess." Rei remarked.

    "And since the chakra fruit is made out of the stuff, her body naturally releases it too." Konan nodded before shrugging, "Well, could happen. Who knows."

    "I think you are forgetting the main problem here. It might be important how this is possible but I think we have more pressing matters to contemte." Ringo reminded. "There is a guy capable of dropping a moon on our home. I think that demands some very violent actions."

    "Agreed. We will know the answer to these theoretical questions once we get the device capable of using the residue for the moon-dropping Jutsu." Rei agreed, getting the attention of the others.

    "You want to do what?" Konan turned towards Rei. "Do you at least know how many enemies are there and where exactly they are located?"

    Rei turned towards Yuriko who smiled, "I am stationed here a few months already and there was no contact with anybody. Rei made sure the first thing we installed were seals blocking detection through any means he could imagine." She started, taking out a file with a few pictures. "That said, when we discovered chakra under the surface, I was tasked with investigating. I used my snow-natured Senjutsu and looked around a bit using snow in tandem with sensory Jutsu. Naturally, I can''t cover an entire and I also had to make it unnoticeable so there was that, but..."

    Yuriko triumphantly slid the file towards Konan who opened it and raised an eyebrow at a picture of a... "A cave?" She asked.

    "An entrance." Yuriko corrected. "I found this by aplete coincidence. One nice day, I got a signal from my fine powder-like snow sparsely covering the ground around one area that somebody stepped on it. Which was weird, considering there isn''t supposed to be anybody on the moon." She chuckled, "Imagine my surprise when I saw puppets walk around carrying supplies before disappearing into the cave. I didn''t enter but I know the puppets didn''t leave either until two weekster and they returned in three hours with a new batch of supplies.

    "Puppets..." Pakura pursed her lips, "And you didn''t see any puppeteer nearby?"

    When Yuriko shook her head, Pakura''s eyes slightly widened. Suna puppeteers tried for a long time to create a Jutsu capable of remotely controlling puppets. Even Sasori mostly failed in that endeavor, deciding to be satisfied with controlling a hundred puppets via a hundred chakra strings.

    Unfortunately, Pakura was not a puppeteer so she could not help much in that regard but Shun Riku was making some progress. Needless to say, a technology capable of remotely controlling puppets was very interesting for Pakura.

    "Clearly, whoever lives there is very advanced in some fields. Getting from the moon to our... since I doubt the puppets found these supplies on the moon... is also no small feat." Konan reasoned. "We should probably assume the residents are fairly strong when ites to chakra maniption with apletely different Jutsu than what we are used to."

    The group nodded. Being a ninja could be surprising but... stereotypes were a thing. One sees a Kiri ninja? He instantly prepares for Hiding in the Mist technique. Every single Kiri ninja knew and most used that technique to a great effect. One sees a Suna ninja without a war fan? He instantly assumes they are a puppeteer. It might not be always true but puppetry is deadly enough to rather be prepared than be caught off-guard.

    The residents of the moon, however, had millennia to develop their Jutsu differently, which was noticeable from their advanced knowledge of puppetry. On top of that, it was inly obvious they had a way to get supplies from the Elemental Nations, which meant they might have some knowledge of the Jutsus from hidden viges too.

    In short, the group quickly assumed the enemy knew most of the widely known Jutsu while having a totally unknown repertory of their unique techniques.

    The group became silent in contemtion. They had an advantage because the Jutsus most of them used were in no way widely known. That evened the ying field a bit but still...

    "There is no point in this." Tsunade sighed, "We can''t scout because we have to assume it will be discovered. Really... we have our bijuu that are already matured and ready to go. If anything, we can use them to run away."

    Konan chuckled, "Looks like we became quite cocky." She said in a self-reproachful manner, "I still remember times when I was young and weak... we had almost no intel before most of our missions." She looked at Rei who smiled in nostalgia. "Yet, here we are contemting and worrying about what-ifs because of no reliable intel. I think... we will simply have to wing it as ordinary ninjas do."

    The group smiled at that, remembering their early days. Whether they were from Suna, Kiri, or Konoha, being a ninja was almost the same. Everybody had a memory of at least one mission where they had no idea what they were getting into, yet, they had to go.

    "So... when do we start?" Tsunade asked.

    "I think you misunderstood. There is no ''we'', in this operation." Rei said, causing the women to show discontent expressions. It was obvious they wanted to argue about it but Rei had already decided. After all, he knew there would be only one man waiting for him and he really wanted to see how hepared to him.. "For this, I am going alone."

 Chapter 275 - Ch275. Entering

    <h4>Chapter 275 - Ch275. Entering</h4>

    Rei stood in front of the entrance to the cave Yuriko found, painfully aware of the paper with a multipurpose surveince seal inscribed on it through which his girls watched his every move.

    ''What the hell possessed me to say those words?'' He awkwardly thought.

    Needless to mention, when he said, ''For this, I am going alone.'' to his wives, all hell broke loose. In hindsight, that was a really stupid move as Rei found himself outnumbered five to one and those odds were a bit too much even for him.

    But he was stubborn too and didn''t just back down no matter how many puppy eyes, narrowed gazes, upturned lips, or outright ultimatums he got from his wives.

    In the end, Rei made apromise that he would wear one of Konan''s papers with surveince and teleportation seals while he went in. He could do that much. He could understand their worries, after all. They thought he was gonna face an army, yet, he knew there was just one guy and his puppets. Then again, he had no usible exnation for how he knew that.

    "Here we go..." Rei muttered before slowly walking towards the entrance, with his senses looking for any early rm system that could be present.

    Finding nothing, his cautiousness only increased as it could mean only two things. Either there was really no rm system, which could be possible, after all, who would expect intruders while having a base on the moon... or, it was hidden so well, even Rei was unable to find it. The second option was in no way sounding appealing to Rei, though.

    Rei had no idea what he expected to see inside but a in cave was definitely not among what he pictured.

    He raised an eyebrow, "So... they do have at least some security measures up, huh?" He mused while looking around thepletely normal small cave that ended with a dead end. It took him a few seconds but thanks to his sensory abilities, Rei quickly noticed a small concentration of chakra near the back of the cave.

    Nevertheless, Rei was impressed as he barely noticed it. "As expected from the predecessor of the Hyuuga n." He quipped with a smile while cing his palm on the rocky wall, pushing some chakra through it towards the ''seal'' he felt located behind the said wall.

    ''Something interesting?'' Konan''s voice suddenly sounded in Rei''s head, making him slightly jump.

    They did not use telepathy much, preferring to talk aloud so this wasn''t something Rei was used to. Yet, they could talk telepathically, and being in contact was one of the conditions his wives ced on him if he wanted to go alone.

    ''This is a chakra instor. It blocks and disrupts chakra flow.'' Rei answered. ''Byakugan, Sharingan, normal Chakra sensors... they wouldn''t be able to find anything out of ordinary about this cave simply because there is nothing out of ordinary to sense as far as chakra-based sensing can tell you. It''s quite a nifty trick. Be a dear, Konan, and do put this idea down on paper. We might use it for ourselves somewhere.'' Rei mentally sent Konan his thoughts on how the wall worked, making her go quiet while sending him an impression of agreement.

    Rei''s chakra finally reached the lock behind the wall, causing the floor nearby to slide away, revealing steps leading further into a dark hidden entrance.

    ''One gotta be grateful for Night Vision no Jutsu.'' Rei mentally chuckled before bravely but calmly walking down.

    As Rei finally approached the end of the stairs, he was again pleasantly surprised that nothing attacked him yet. He was also shocked that there were no traps awaiting him. He could only shake his head at the sheer arrogance disyed in front of him. Sure, he believed in the superiority of his vige and that nobody would ever discover it but that didn''t mean he didn''t trap the surroundings to all hell and back. If somebody not of his vige did discover the area around his vige, Rei made his damnedest to ensure they would not return alive to tell the tale. That was called taking precautions. Just in case... because such a case could possibly happen, no matter how small of a chance there was.

    ''Did you try nature energy sensing? There might have been different defensive systems.'' Tsunade advised.

    Rei''s wives mostly watched, deciding not to talk to him overly much because it could prove distracting. Only when something ''important'' came up did they contact him. Rei was d about that.

    In this particr case, however... ''I am using only nature energy sensing, Tsunade. Chakra sensing is useless down here. It seems the entire tunnel is made from chakra-blocking material.''

    ''Could we mine it and use it to create weapons?'' Ringo asked excitedly.

    ''Eh... it''s not as strong as you probably think, Ringo. You will see when I am done here.'' Rei replied, ''Now, shush.'' He was about to leave the tunnel.

    What greeted him in the light at the end of the tunnel was marvelous. Arge spacious underground ce filled with a massive castle. It was one of the most amazing underground structures Rei ever saw and he indeed made sure to look closely while taking mental notes.

    The building made him feel quite small, considering how massive it was. Rei could feel a headache creeping up onto him as he imagined the absolute pain in the ass navigating in the building will be. And that was before he even added all the enemy forces into the equation...

    There was no doubt a fight would ensure and this nice marvel would be somewhat demolished. Rei, however, wanted to make use of all resources found here so there was no reason to rush. He could take his time noting everything important.

    On the other hand, he could also finally feel movement in the castle through his sensory abilities. It was obvious the second he entered the castle, the shitstorm would start.

    ''Then again, it is quite curious they still have no clue about my presence. I wonder...'' Rei stopped cloaking his chakra with his passive stealth seal tattooed on his back...

    He could instantly feel the puppets inside of the castle snap their heads towards his direction, some of them having their heads turned at angles that would kill a normal human.

    ''I guess, that is my answer.'' His sightseeing cut short, Rei, with a wry smile, stepped closer towards the entrance to the castle and tried to kick it open only for ripping the door out and sending it flying back, crushing three puppets about to open it.

    Rei awkwardly waved at the remaining two puppets. "Er... hey? That was totally unintentional." He disarmingly smiled.

    ... and the puppets rushed at him.

    ''Oh, well. That didn''t seem to work.'' Rei thought as he sidestepped a woman-looking puppet lounging at him.

    The puppet was not done yet, though. It twisted at its waist by aplete hundred-eighty and tried tond a strike on Rei with a sharp de popping out of its hand.

    Rei''s eyebrows twitched. This was why puppets were dangerous. They could make sudden unexpected movements that no human could manage except maybe Orochimaru. You expect that you dodged its hit only for it to twist into a painfully-looking position and strike again.

    Unfortunately for the puppets, Rei was not an average ninja. He quickly spun and grabbed the wrist of the second puppet that tried to stealthily hit him in the back with a sword, letting the momentum of the spin carry both him and his newly captured puppet. Rei then used it as a club to smash away the first puppet whose de was just an inch away from Rei''s belly.

    The two puppets flew away, hitting a wall before crumbling down onto the floor... A secondter, a searingly hot fireball engulfed them, incinerating them to ashes.

    "Huh... looks like they are still made of wood." Rei hummed, pleased at the effectivity of his fireball. The puppets had no strings so Rei did not believe such a weak strike would be enough to make them stop. ''Who would expect puppets to show cunningness.'' He shook his head, turning around about to continue on his merry way only to freeze at the sight that greeted him.

    From all around, thousands of painted wooden eyes watched his movements.

 Chapter 276 - Ch276. Rei Vs Puppet Army 1

    <h4>Chapter 276 - Ch276. Rei Vs Puppet Army 1</h4>

    The puppets and Rei awkwardly stared at each other for a while.

    When Rei decided to attract the attention of the puppets, he did so because he knew he could handle it and this way, he wouldn''t have to look through the unknown structure in order to round up all enemybatants. Now, they woulde to him.

    Despite such thinking, Rei was still astonished at the sheer number of puppets present in the initial wave. ''There must be a lot more puppets than I predicted.'' Rei off-handedly thought without any worry. After all, be it thousand or even a million of average ninjas, in front of bijuu they were all just a slight nuisance.

    These puppets might be a bit stronger than normal chunins from what he saw so far, but there was no threat of fuinjutsu and since they were puppets, even unexpected ninjutsu was not likely to appear during the fight. At Rei''s current level, this was honestly nothing worrisome.

    The puppets had apparently enough of the staring contest as they as one jumped toward Rei, intending to swarm him with their numbers.

    Seeing the wall of wooden bodies approaching him at high speed, Rei inwardly sighed before slowly unsheathing his sword. In an instant, an electrical current sparked to life on the edge of the said de and with one fluid movement, Rei jumped backward, away from the entrance to the castle.

    The door he kicked away was quite massive and as such, many of the puppets would be able to pass through. But on the other hand, the entrance was also a nice choke point.

    Rei swung his de, sending a crescent-like cutting edge made of lightning element at the approaching puppets that were about to pass through the entrance, and therefore were very densely concentrated in one area. The elemental attack made short work of any puppet it passed through, decimating quite a sizable number of them at once.

    ''And just as intended, the castle has more or less no scratch whatsoever either.'' Rei mentally hummed in satisfaction as he watched the smoking entrance. From what he could see through the smoke, some puppets clearly survived the attack and were getting up but most of these were in some way damaged.

    It was then a sound of breaking ss attracted Rei''s attention upwards, causing him to widen his eyes and inwardly cringe at the damage caused to the windows of the castle as a multitude of puppets jumped through them, trying to surprise attack Rei.

    Stepping back, Rei swung his de upwards, casting a Lightning Dragon Jutsu on the de at the same time and directing it with the swing above himself. The dragon made of pure lightning chakra coiled in the air, cutting and burning any puppet thatnded onto its body, only dissipating when no more puppets jumped out of the windows.

    Thanks to the Lightning Dragon, no puppetnded in Rei''s immediate vicinity, creating a small radius of the puppet-free zone around him.

    Such a show of skill would surely freeze Rei''s attackers in fear, awe, or something else if they were humans but unfortunately, puppets had no feelings and as such, they didn''t hesitate at all. Not even a secondsted after theirnding and they were yet again leaping at Rei while surrounding him with a volley of yellow balls they sent at him.

    Rei didn''t remember what these balls were supposed to do from the anime. That said, he was not about to find out by letting them hit him. Tapping his feet on the ground, he imbued his chakra into it and made it rise into a rocky shield all around him, enhancing it mostly from inside with his chakra to prevent the rock from being sent at him as splinters. He had a nasty feeling the balls were some kind of bomb...

    Rei didn''t even manage to finish that thought when a loud booming sound reached him as his rocky shield shook, showing some minuscule cracks. Now that created a frown on Rei''s lips. It wasn''t really that threatening to him but he reckoned this army of puppets would be able to take down most forces of a hidden vige back home if they attacked it head-on. They certainly had enough firepower if their concentrated attacks could create cracks on rock enhanced with his chakra while he put some effort into it.

    Sighing, Rei made his chakra in the rock erupt towards the outside, sending his rocky shield back at the puppets as dangerous shrapnel, tearing through their wooden bodies, again creating a safe zone all around the motionless Rei.

    With the time for gauging the enemy''s power over, Rei decided to move first as he channeled lightning chakra through his body. Blurring towards the spot with three puppets standing close to each other, he appeared in front of them, already swinging his sword, bisecting all three of them at the waist before they could react.

    Rei knew being bisected would not hinder puppets as much as it would humans so he made sure to pump his lightning chakra through the puppet the second his de entered it, frying all internal mechanisms responsible for the movement of the chunks of wood.

    These three puppets would not be getting up anytime soon.

    Rei didn''t have a lot of time to celebrate though. With his enhanced nervous system, he easily noticed three yellow balls of energy flying at him, causing him to jump upwards, evading them as they exploded.

    The air was no safe zone either, however, and Rei found himself under the fire of yet more puppets. Spinning in the air, Rei created a ball of spinning lightning chakra around himself, letting the yellow energy balls explode on it. Not unlike kaiten of the Hyuuga n, the spinning lightning chakra redirected the explosive energy away from Rei, shielding him.

    As Reinded, he huffed, ''So... they would fire at me even if I was near their allies, huh? Guess the puppets are expendable enough for that.'' He realized.

    ''Don''t forget to leave some un-fried for research purposes!'' Pakura telepathically reminded him, her voice somewhat worried. Not for him. She was worried for the puppets. After being fried from inside out, they had no worth to her!

    Chuckling to himself, Rei sent her an understanding feeling before springing into action again, evading yet another volley of yellow exploding balls from the puppets.

    ''Clearly, they realized I am a dangerous foe up close and decided to focus on ranged attacks.'' Rei realized that the puppets had some basic intelligence if they could do such a thing. Looking at the thousands of puppets all around him, Rei wryly smiled, ''This will take a while, won''t it?''

    ''Well, it''s not as if you didn''t need the exercise, is it?'' Konan''s smirking voice resounded in his head.

    Rei rolled his eyes and increased the amount of lightning chakra coursing through his de, "Yes, yes. Laugh it up, woman.." He grumbled before jumping back into the fray.

 Chapter 277 - Ch277. Rei Vs Puppet Army 2

    <h4>Chapter 277 - Ch277. Rei Vs Puppet Army 2</h4>

    Cutting through a chunk of wood for the n-th time, Rei put so much lightning chakra into the strike the puppet his de impacted literally exploded in a shower of wooden splinters. It was already two hours since he started felling down puppets as if they were a forest and with each additional kill, Rei felt as if he was getting back into the rhythm. It was a long time since he faced a lot of opponents and even longer he exercised his de techniques.

    Fighting against his girls in spars was good and all but he already knew most of their moves. They didn''t give him a chance to practice some sword styles either since spars against them were in different power leagues and there were many better ways to deal with them than using a sword. Heck, using some otherwise powerful sword techniques against them would be outright foolish because they could just easily block or evade them.

    Now, however, Rei was surrounded by a multitude of mediocre targets with no tricky Jutsu or bijuu level chakra reserves so he could let loose and simply have his body go through sword katas for kenjutsu styles he knew. It was really refreshing!

    As yet another puppet lost its head to Rei''s sword, Rei thought, ''Yes... I will definitely make Pakura remake these and then mass-produce them for training purposes!'' He didn''t even put his mind into the fact that such a sheer number of advanced puppets would be able to take over a hidden vige. For them, these chunks of wood were just practice targets.

    Rei sidestepped a stab from another humanoid puppet looking like a small creepy child, causing it to fly by his body. Hearing a clicking sound, he instantly spun on his heel, turning back, and saw the expected twist of the waist joint of the puppet causing its waist to turn backward. A pipe appeared on the palm of its deless hand, releasing yellow shine...

    Rei''s fist impacted the puppet''s head, sending it crashing to the ground and making it involuntarily aim the pipe towards the sky before it released the yellow explosive ball.

    Rei, much to his shame, fell for this trick once already and he had no intention of giving Pakura more ammunition to tease him.

    At first, he was carefree and focused on the more artistic and ''cool'' sword katas he never used because there were more practical ones for a real fight, but when he got hit for the first time because he momentarily forgot that he was fighting against puppets and that meant they could twist their bodies at inhuman angles, Pakura just couldn''t let it go and teased him.

    Rei just knew he would not hear the end of it for months but he also acknowledged he deserved it. Honestly, from the current ninja puppetry point of view of Sunagakure, these puppets were kinda useless. Yes, they had all the advantages of puppets and their bodies could be twisted, dismantled, and put together mid-fight as a few cases where Rei dispatched them without flooding their system with lighting energy showed. But... they simplycked weaponry.

    At first, Pakura was excited when she saw their firepower. The yellow exploding balls were marvelous! Such strength! With the number of puppeteers Sunagakure possessed, if she could give every one of them ten of those puppets...

    But the longer the fight went on, the more ws with her n Pakrua saw. These puppets had massive firepower but that was honestly it. They had no internal weapon systems and their dismantling and putting themselves back together was also not up to snuff. Compared to the puppets of Sunagakure, they were simply disappointing.

    It appeared as if without a puppeteer controlling them, the creator of these puppets had to give up most of what made puppets deadly and focus on one destructive attack the puppets could be programmed to do even without being controlled.

    Pakura was still interested in the technology of puppets'' remote control but she now saw there would be much to adjust and research once she got it.

    Acknowledging that, Rei also decided to make it easier on her. Looking at the child-like motionless puppet with a cracked head on the floor, he noted his seal took effect. The puppets still twitched, showing it was trying to get back into the fight but the paralyzing seal stopped it.

    The whole battle was littered with only two types of ''corpses''. The first were puppets fried from inside out and the second ones were these twitching, still functioning ones that were a gift for Pakura.

    Rei''s lighting chakra coursed through enough of the puppets to know the remote control technology would be useless to her as it took way too much ce within the puppets'' internal mechanisms. But... why would he tell her that? She had to be punished for teasing him!

    ''Meh, I will just give her the idea of using the spiritual part of Shadow Clones and merging it with puppets to create pseudo puppet clones when shees to me crying her remotely controlled puppets are impossible to outfit with even basic Sunagakure''s puppet weapon systems.'' Rei shrewdly decided.

    While fighting, Rei''s mind naturally trailed towards how he would recreate the puppets. Such a thing was inevitable as the minds of many experienced ninjas worked in a simr way. It was a part of their training. During a fight, they always thought about how the enemy''s techniques work, how to recreate them, and how to make them ineffective.

    Only the most skilled and experienced could recreate the techniques of their enemies, and that was also why even the basic matured Sharingan was such a cheat as it allowed its user to bypass the needed knowledge and experience to do just that with a simple look.

    Rei, however, had enough knowledge and experience to figure out a few ways to make Pakura''s desiree true.

    ''Now that I think about it...'' Rei looked around with furrowed eyebrows, ''Howe I wasn''t attacked yet? I must have been thinking for well over twenty seconds now.'' It was then a slow and contemptuous pping sound resounded from above, making Rei look up in surprise.

    There, on the wall stood a white-skinned man, looking down at Rei while surrounded by the remaining puppets in a way as if he was a king surrounded by his obedient servants.

    Needless to say, Rei quickly got annoyed at the cocky look the dude was shooting him. Obviously, his enemy thought he could squash him like a bug.

    ''I mean... sure, I used nothing more than lightning-enhanced kenjutsu but I don''t think I deserve to be underestimated so much.'' Rei disgruntledly thought, inwardly sighing. Clearly, the pale guy didn''t think decimating a few thousand puppets was worth acknowledgement. ''Ah, youth.'' Rei amusedly shook his head, ''Always thinking they own the world.''

    The eyes of the pale guy narrowed at the gesture, yet, he tried to show he was not perturbed because of it.

    "You have some skill, intruder." He coldly proimed, "If you think someone like you can stand against the Otsutsuki n, however.... you are greatly mistaken, foolish mortal!"

 Chapter 278 - Ch278. Rei Vs Toneri 1

    <h4>Chapter 278 - Ch278. Rei Vs Toneri 1</h4>

    "And who are you supposed to be, boy?" Rei cockily taunted as he put his right hand on his hip and raised an eyebrow in a condescending way. In his defense, the guy''s stupid mug was just asking for it.

    "I am Toneri Otsutsuki, thest descendant of the brother of the Sage of the Six Paths, Hamura Otsutsuki!" Toneri proudly yet calmly eximed as if hepletely missed the mocking undertone in Rei''s question. "And I am going to kill you."

    "That so?" Rei hummed, inwardly a bit disappointed that his taunting bore no fruit. Then again, if the guy let himself be consumed by rage at the very first veiled insult then that would be disappointing in its own way too. "Well, good luck with that, then." Rei shrugged.

    There weren''t many prospective opponents around Rei who liked to enjoy some pre-battle banter. Konan returned such an attempt with a wind-enhanced cutting paper. Tsunade liked to dash head-on during their spars, making it unable to chat before the fight. Pakura was the serious type... That left Rei only with Ringo and Mei. Ringo, however, simply refused to spar with the excuse of being too busy and as for Mei, the less one said about her the better. That was one match-up where you simply didn''t want to give her time to fill the surroundings with her chakra so no banter either.

    Aside from them, Rei didn''t fight much these days if one didn''t count paperwork and scheming. Toneri was really a breath of fresh air in his otherwise dull non-battling life.

    That said, Rei''s nonchnt act was not because he was arrogant. He simply felt the levels of Toneri''s chakra and its density. Sure, the guy''s chakra was incredibly dense and it was no wonder no one could stand up to him in the future when he deemed to lift his bony ass from his moon throne for a visit. If Rei had to rate him, he would have to put the guy on the same level as Madara and Hashirama when it came to the strength of his chakra.

    But... Toneri, as he was right now, did not have Tenseigan. Heck, he didn''t even have Byakugan. And as far as Rei knew, there was no bijuu-subjugating bloodline either in the man. The strength of Toneri lied in his unpredictable and unknown Jutsu and his strong chakra.

    Which Rei felt wasn''t threatening at all. After all, even without ckie, Rei still had more and denser chakra than Toneri right now. The fact Toneri did not even check Rei''s strength was not lost on him either. In Rei''s opinion, Toneri was the perfect example of a strong guy who spent his entire life in the proverbial ''closed cultivation'' and never actually fought anyone even remotely close to his power level.

    ''It''s so obvious... the arrogance in his eyes, the demeanor of superiority... he has total confidence he could wipe the floor with me at his leisure.'' Rei inwardly sighed while outwardly smirking at Toneri.

    "You know..." He started speaking, making Toneri raise an eyebrow at him, "When you are about to fight somebody," Rei meaningfully paused, "you should never give him the time to prepare his offense and strike first."

    The second these words left Rei''s mouth, Toneri didn''t have even a chance to evade as the breeze that had no reason to be present on the moon suddenly picked up and pressurized wind mmed right into Toneri''s right cheek, bitchpping him off of the castle walls into the area in front of it.

    ''I bet he didn''t expect that.'' Rei snickered. Clearly, as far as unknown and unexpected techniques went, both could y that game.

    Toneri, shaken due to the sudden attack, stood confusedly up, showing that the attack didn''t hurt him much despite the small bruise on his cheek adding a little bit of color to his face. The extent of the damage he suffered was a sting on his cheek and a small chance at an unlikely heart attack from shock, but that was about it.

    ''So... it is not only his chakra that is strong, huh? His body is also quite durable.'' Rei reckoned, ''His chakra is more of the physical variety then...''

    There were many bloodlines where their users had strong chakra, yet, weak bodies. Strong chakra equals strong body only applied if chakra leaned more towards the yang.

    ''Figures. He can survive in the vacuum of the moon so, I should have expected a strong body.'' Rei settled down his thoughts and prepared for a more serious exchange since Toneri was getting out of his shock.

    Toneri''s eyes finally grew serious, much to Rei''s satisfaction. It was not about beating his arrogance out of him anymore. No, Rei simply wanted to see Toneri''s techniques and how they differentiated from the usual Jutsu.

    "You will regret that." Toneri menacingly uttered, rubbing his cheek while slightly bending his knees in preparation for an attack.

    Rei, who seemingly stayed indifferent to Toneri''s change of state, just motionlessly stood in his ce, looking at Toneri as if he found him incredibly amusing. He knew that deep inside, it ate at the guy plus it was fun pissing somebody who absolutely refused to let it show.

    In one swish, Toneri leaped at Rei, bing a blur due to the speed he reached...

    And Rei, much to Toneri''s surprise, sidestepped. Using the momentum from the sidestep, Rei''s right hand was already on its way towards Toneri''s right cheek, aiming to strike the bruise there to add to the already received humiliation but this time, it was Rei''s time to be pleasantly surprised when Toneri managed to duck under his strike and in a circr movement reminiscent of the Hyuuga taijutsu style, counterattacked aiming at the center of Rei''s chest.

    Rei noted the faint glow of chakra build-up around Toneri''s hands and instantly assumed his opponent was about to use a Jutsu to deal the maximum amount of damage in that single strike. Which meant... he needed to avoid that.

    Naturally, it was far toote to dodge physically so Rei chose a different approach. Instead of dodging himself, he decided to force Toneri to abandon his attack. Swinging his fist at Toneri''s chest, Rei made sure to coat it in a copious amount of lighting chakra, creating a Raikiri.

    ''Let''s see if he has guts!'' Rei thought as the world around him slowed down, Toneri''s fist approaching his chest while his fist was razing its way towards Toneri''s chest. He watched as Toneri''s eyes gained that understanding light and showed the first bit of fear during their brief fight.

    The guy noticed this would not be a cost-free attack. Sure, Rei would let Tonerind this blow but that would mean getting his by a simr attack in exchange.

    Now, Rei only wanted to see how Toneri would react. Will he cease the attack and jump back or will he continue? Rei really, really wanted to know.

    Toneri''s fist was getting closer and closer to the point of no return and the indecisiveness in his eyes was almost palpable. At thest moment, however, Toneri clearly deemed this exchange too pricey and wlessly flowed from attack to evasion through jumping back.

    While Rei was a bit disappointed Toneri chickened out, he could respect it as it showed the guy had at least some measure of brains. After all, which idiot takes a blow head-on in order tond his own hit? Right?

    ''If you do that again, you are sleeping on the couch for the foreseeable future. Are we understood?'' Konan''s cold voice resounded in Rei''s head while he got the impression his other wives absolutely agreed with her.

    Rei''s back instantly straightened out as he answered, ''Yes, dear.''

    His wives were seldom serious and almost never controlling. They let him do whatever he wanted, to a point, and his current situation was a testament to that. That said, Rei knew when he was beaten and had to actually listen to theirints in order to preserve that peace.

    ''Women...'' He inwardly grumbled, trying to be quiet. ''Telepathy, pfft. Never again.''

    ''We heard that!'' Five voices chorused together.

    Apparently, even his thoughts were nowpromised...

    Rei turned his gaze back towards Toneri, deciding to focus on the fight.. The poord had no idea he would serve as a way for Rei to vent his current frustration.

 Chapter 279 - Ch279. Rei Vs Toneri 2

    <h4>Chapter 279 - Ch279. Rei Vs Toneri 2</h4>

    Toneri watched Rei with a difficult expression that came off as a half-scowl and half-grimace because he was simultaneously trying to appear nonchnt. Right now, it was clear to him that he did not hold the proverbial edge in the fight which was a totally new experience for him.

    Toneri spent a lot of time watching the ninjas from the Elemental Nations andparing his skill to them, always getting the same result. He was simply unbeatable for them and as such, he never thought somebody could give him any difficulty. Yet, the man in front of him was doing exactly that.

    ''What kind of freak is that anyway! Did he really try to go for double suicide there? Who does that!?'' Toneri''s thoughts were much more distraught than his expression involuntarily showed. Realizing this won''t be as easy as he previously imagined, Toneri decided to get serious right off the bat.

    Rei instantly sensed a change in his opponent''s chakra, mesmerized as it started to leave Toneri''s chakra system and started to seep directly into his body, cloaking him in itself and changing the color from darkish blue to a much lighter shade of almost green. In fact, Rei could see the chakra with his very eyes because Toneri''s body was as if bathed in it.

    Quirking his lips, Rei frowned. He didn''t expect Toneri to be able to enter chakra mode without having Tenseigan but clearly, he could. ''Here I thought I could just chill, but no! The guy clearly wants to try-hard it. How bothersome...''

    The second Toneri''s body finished charging up with chakra, he disappeared in a blur and Rei had a hard time blocking the brutalbo of punches Toneri unleashed on him. Evading and deflecting Toneri''s fists, Rei tried to get a feel for his opponent''s newfound power and speed, slowly adjusting his own tempo to match him while also checking how the chakra mode affected his body on a deeper level.

    As he did this, he couldn''t help but grin when the thought of Tsunade telepathically watching this fight through his eyes urred to him. He had no doubt she was doing the exact same thing as him, already trying toe up with a way to ''recreate'' the chakra mode for herself.

    Toneri tried to use his superior speed to get his punches through Rei''s guard, aiming at the gaps in his defense, yet, Rei somehow always twisted his hands in a totally unexpected circr manner and blocked Toneri''s blows with his forearm or elbows. This led Toneri to be rather frustrated, which only made him more rash during the quick-paced exchange, but as the technique and precision of his blows lessened, the power behind them increased.

    Rei found himself deflecting more and more, rather than blocking, moving all around the vast empty ce in front of the castle while being happy he chose to pull Toneri outside for their fight. The surroundings were getting quite trashed up as cracks formed on the ground, and rocks were asionally sent flying all around.

    Somewhere during their fight, Rei understood that Toneri''s chakra-enhanced blows would be too much for his base body. Instead of taking hits head-on, he rather redirected them away from himself. As Toneri became more impatient, this was bing easier but also, the danger of injury increased as even a single hit could break a bone.

    That actually surprised Rei a lot. His body could withstand Tsunade''s chakra-enhanced punches with a minimal counter-enhancement. And here, a guy was almost matching, if not surpassing in some moments, Tsunade''s strength. The technique he was using was rather ingenious.

    Suddenly, Rei found a hole in Toneri''s guard and instantly took it, sending a counter-strike at Toneri as he deflected his right arm to the side, aiming for his chin to incapacitate him. Smirk was starting to form on Rei''s lips the closer his fist got to Toneri who seemed unable to react... Only for his fist to phase right through Toneri.

    Rei blinked in surprise, momentarily not understanding what happened before a sharp sting in his abdomen pulled him out of his reverie as he found himself flying through the air due to Toneri''s kick.

    Toneri watched in satisfied fascination as the body of his opponent crashed into the rocky wall, creating a crater there while sending a massive cloud of dust into the surroundings. He clearly heard the resounding crack when his kicknded. Calmly walking forward, Toneri thought that this fight... was over.

    The closer Toneri got, the more obstructed his vision became because of the dust cloud but he wasn''t phased by it. This was the very first time he fought against a ninja from the Elemental Nations and honestly, he was surprised how strong his opponent was. Now he just wanted to savor the taste of his victo...

    A hand suddenly pushed through the cloud of the dust, grabbing Toneri''s face and pulling him inside with a mighty yank. Before Toneri managed to gather his wits enough to react, he found his body spinning for a moment before the back of his head was roughly bashed on the rocky wall, causing a spiderweb of cracks to form. Instinctively, Toneri''s hands took hold of the forearm of his attacker who still held his face in a crushing grip and tried to push his hand away.

    The only thing Toneri could see was the frightening grin on his opponent''s face despite the resounding cracks that came out of the forearm Toneri''s hands were squeezing. Yet, no matter how clearly Toneri felt his hands crush the bones in Rei''s forearm, the hold of his hand on Toneri''s face didn''t cease, instead, it actually grew stronger, making Toneri feel very ufortable and almost painful pressure on his skull.

    "You''re gonna try a lot harder than this, boy. If you think a bit of bodily muttion is enough to end a fight, then you clearly underestimate the ninjas of Elemental Nations far too much." Rei jokingly quipped,pletely ignoring the pain in his hand while inwardlyparing his current situation to what usually happened during his spars with Tsunade.

    That woman could be ruthless and tear his body to pieces at times only to get an excuse to put him back together. A few pulverized bones? That was what the guy who decided to destroy the ninjas expected to stop him? Wasn''t that quiteughable?

    "F-, Fi--n-" Toneri rasped through Rei''s palm, causing Rei to lean closer, trying to hear what his opponent had to say.

    "Come again? I think I didn''t hear you quite well." He nonchntly said, pushing Toneri''s head a bit to the left, grinding the back of it on the hard rocks of the moon in a way he surmised was very painful. This allowed Rei to get a better look at Toneri''s right eye and when he saw the look in it, his cheerful demeanor froze for a second.

    That, however, was far toote as a yellow sh followed by a strong pushing force smashed into Rei, tearing his forearm away from his elbow due to Toneri''s grip on it while the rest of his body flew back as the yellow exploding ball hit his chest point-nk.

    It was only when he was flying through the air did Rei realized that the look in Toneri''s eye was far from someone who was caught in an inescapable hold. Somehow, that made him release a small involuntary smile of satisfaction.

    The fight was finally getting interesting....

 Chapter 280 - Ch280. Rei Vs Toneri 3

    <h4>Chapter 280 - Ch280. Rei Vs Toneri 3</h4>

    Toneri was not getting away unscathed from his counter-attack either. After all, his explosive yellow ball exploded quite close to his body as well. He, however, had the advantage of having his body enhanced by the chakra mode and as such, he only suffered some superficial scratches and slightly burnt skin.

    Pulling Rei''s torn forearm away from his face, Toneri gave it a disdainful sneer before he threw it to the side as if he was just discarding trash.

    Rei stood up and looked at the handless arm he now sported, getting amused at the small spark of superiority that entered Toneri''s gaze when he noticed where Rei was looking. Then again, Rei was not here to entertain him. He instantly used nature energy in tandem with ckie''s chakra to stimte his cell growth, regrowing his forearm and hand at a visible pace.

    It was kind of a weaker form of a knock-off from what Tsunade was capable of doing but after numerous spars with the said woman, it was of utmost necessity to develop a skill like this.

    Rei lifted his gaze back towards Toneri, flexing his new forearm, "I told you it will take a lot more than that." He said, making Toneri frown.

    "We will see about that." Toneri quietly said, getting ready for an attack.

    Rei instantly reacted, readying himself too but what he didn''t expect was puppets bursting from the ground around him, flooding him with their bodies in an attempt to obstruct his movements as they grabbed his various body parts.

    Not for the first time during the battle, Rei inwardly wondered how exactly could he have been sneaked upon despite his sensing capabilities. He almost understood it by now and was pretty sure it had to do with Toneri''s projection-like Jutsu.

    ''I still don''t know if he can project the presence of his puppets somewhere away, which would be awesome if applied correctly, or if he is simply projecting a feeling that nothing is trying to sneak up on me, which... wouldn''t be too shabby either.'' Rei thought.

    Clearly, Toneri was using his Jutsu, they simply were of the more subtle variety.

    Rei was about to use a Jutsu to get rid of the puppets restraining his movement but Toneri was a step ahead and shed near him, punching him in the gut which sent Rei flying back despite the puppets rooting him in the ce. The punch was quite powerful too, and the puppets anchoring him to the ground actually got ripped in half upon impact. Not that it prevented their remaining parts from clinging to Rei''s body with all they got.

    Rei''s body bounced a few times on the ground, every time that happened, Rei made sure to twist his body at a right angle so some of the puppets were flung away from him. When the momentum from Toneri''s punch was almost gone, Rei flipped his body mid-air,nding on his feet and sliding back a bit.

    Toneri was again right there, trying to maintain his current advantage and keep Rei out of his rhythm. His fist aimed at Rei''s gut again, Toneri clearly wanted to strike the exact same spot as before.

    Rei, however, wasn''t idle either and managed to use his right foot tond a kick to Toneri''s unguarded knee, unbncing him enough that his punch to the gut went off its intended path and only briefly nced Rei''s hip.

    Rei instantly followed up with an elbow to the face, breaking Toneri''s nose and dazing him while a small de made of lightning chakra formed on his other hand. He promptly jerked his right side of the body backward, propelling his left hand forward, aiming it alongside the lightning chakra de at Toneri''s chest.

    And for the second time during the battle, Rei was stumped when Toneri''s form simply disappeared the second he almost got him. Instead of feeling flesh, blood, and burnt organs, all Rei felt on his hand was nothing.

    Toneri yet again used his projection to somehow fool him.

    Despite himself, Rei couldn''t help but feel a grudging respect for that. Evading a killing blow two times in a row was something else.

    ''At least, I got to know he can''t use the projection during attacking. If he could, he would have used it at the start when I tried to exchange a lethal blow for a lethal blow with him.'' Rei inwardly nodded to himself, putting the information he collected about the technique together.

    He was also looking around, trying to spot Toneri but before he managed to do that, another batch of puppets burst from the ground, showing that Toneri was trying to employ the same tactics as before. This time, however, Rei was expecting it and before the puppets could yet again engulf him, a shockwave spread from his body, smashing them to such small pieces that puppets or not, they were no longer getting back up.

    ''Earth Release: Maic Push.'' Rei thought. He didn''t need to be able to sense the attacks. Expecting it was enough for him to deal with it. But... ''I finally sensed a spark of... something as the puppets appeared.'' He excitedly realized and indeed, it was very brief but his senses gave him an inkling where Toneri was hiding.

    Looking straight ahead, Rei assumed a rxed stance while lifting his eyebrow in an expecting manner as he asked, "Are you quite done yet?" He might not have been able to see him but he knew Toneri was right there, in front of him.

    The battlefield stilled.

    Toneri appeared in the spot Rei suspected him to be at and looked at Rei with a weird expression, not expecting to be seen since he was projecting himself inside of the castle. For some reason, his second assault was aplete failure. Rei was not caught off-guard for the second time and as such, Toneri couldn''t follow up the puppet attack with his taijutsu. He really had a hard time trying to understand what exactly happened there but...

    "So be it." Toneri sighed. "Never in my worst dream would I think a ninja from Elemental Nations could force me to this state. You should be ttered that you made me do," He raised his hand with a grave expression, his palm facing Rei as he pulsed his chakra. "this!"

    ... Nothing happened.

    Rei smiled at Toneri, sensing where his chakra went. "If you are looking to activate the nice devices of mass destruction inside of the castle, you are so shit out of luck." Heughed.

    While he was entertaining Toneri, Rei''s clones already snuck inside of the castle and sealed away both the Tenseigan ball thingy that was supposed to be some kind of mass destruction weapon and the activator for the umted chakra in the moon. Toneri would no longer be able to use either of them and watching his disgruntled expression was simply golden for Rei.

    After all, there was a reason why he didn''t go all out right from the start....

 Chapter 281 - Ch281. Rei Vs Toneri 4

    <h4>Chapter 281 - Ch281. Rei Vs Toneri 4</h4>

    Toneri looked at his hand, his mind nking out from not understanding why nothing was happening after he pulsed his chakra. It was only when he saw Rei''s smug face did he understand what had exactly gone wrong.

    "What did you do?" He asked in a low using tone full of restrained anger.

    "I privatized your possessions. No need to thank me for taking your burden away." Rei nonchntly quipped.

    "Privatized? ... You," Toneri realized what Rei meant and his expression twisted, "You thief! Return it!" He shouted, his anger oveing his reason. "Return the legacy of my ancestors, you filthy robber! For this, I am going to kill you in the most painful way possible! Return i-!"

    Toneripletely lost his vignce at that moment and Rei instantly capitalized on it. For the first time during their fight, he enhanced his body with chakra and Toneri couldn''t possibly react in time with his mind flooded with impotent rage as Rei slugged him right in the face, sending his body flying upward and crashing right through the roof of the excavated vast ce where the moon pce was built.

    For that single punch, Rei held nothing back and used even ckie''s chakra to give it an extra oomph, which ensured Toneri was sted right through the hard rock bed all the way to the surface of the moon.

    Fortunately for Toneri, his special chakra mode made such a blow just a slight annoyance. He was bruised quite a lot but nothing was broken or damaged enough to get him out ofmission. Rei could only marvel at the hardness of the guy''s body. This was the very first time he got a glimpse at the ability of the Otsutsuki bloodline and it had to be said, Rei was definitely impressed. The guy in front of him was far from ''pure'' Otsutsuki, yet, the innate strength of his chakra was incredible.

    This only made Rei deadset on following his previous decision of hiding from the Otsutsuki n. His was simply not ready to face them if even a mutt like Toneri was capable of so much.

    Rei followed Toneri to the surface, d the real battle would be fought far away from the underground castle. From the chakra levels Rei felt from Toneri, he knew the guy was so far just fooling around at best. His arrogance simply didn''t let him see that he had to go all out from the start.

    Rei didn''t fight to the fullest either as in his opinion, Toneri was not really a skilled opponent. He was just an overpowered child who never faced someone who could match him and was always told he is special. He was just your everyday spoiled brat. Rei really couldn''t muster the will to go all out from the start against him.

    When Rei finally got to the surface, he found Toneri already prepared for the continuation of their battle. His anger seemed to cease but Rei had enough training in reading people to know Toneri was still seething deep inside. The punch just made him see that blind anger would not solve anything.

    Toneri''s chakra pulsed to heights that even Rei''s eyebrow rose at the absurdity he was feeling. It was as if the guy''s chakra reserves expanded thrice over. An impossibility in itself ording to the currentmon sense Rei was using.

    Then again, these things usually needed frequent updates and adjustments in the ninja world.

    "I''ve had enough of this." Toneri proimed and as quick as his chakra surged, it again dropped and started seeping into the ground.

    Rei instantly prepared to deal with strongrge-scale Earth-based ninjutsu but when even twenty secondster nothing happened, he had no idea what was going on. Toneri didn''t move, he just watched Rei, waiting for him to do something inplete calmness.

    Rei knew his opponent did something but he had no clue what. ''This projection technique of his is starting to be a real pain in the ass.'' He thought.

    Being able to dodge attacks with it, fool chakra sensing, and to some extent, even nature sensing was a massive advantage but doing that for techniques?

    Rei was just d Toneri didn''t yet realize what a powerful tool he had, otherwise he really just might be forced to take the kid seriously in this fight.

    This time, Rei was at a disadvantage. He knew that waiting would be of no benefit to him, so after observing for twenty seconds and getting no conclusion, Rei decided to attack.

    He stepped forward in preparation to lunge at his opponent...

    But his would-be attack instantly ceased as the ground shifted underneath him as if it was liquid. It engulfed his right leg and squeezed... only his chakra enhancement prevented his limb from being torn away.

    Rei quickly realized what happened. It was not that Rei couldn''t find the area of effect of Toneri''s Jutsu. He felt nothing out of the ordinary because the entire vast area they were in was already under Toneri''s influence when he checked for the first time. With the passive cloaking Toneri''s chakra possessed, it simply seemed nothing special was going on despite him soaking the ground in his chakra.

    Cursing, Rei used a surge of his lightning elemental chakra in his right leg to break through the rock trapping it, and leaped backward, pushing some of his chakra into the ground below him to somewhat mitigate Toneri''s influence over that area.

    Rei could feel the bones in his right leg creaking and winced. The rock of the moon was obviously a lot harder and tougher than the one on Earth. Being bathed in the residue of Kaguya''s chakra would do that to a. This brought a nasty disadvantage for Rei though. He was a lightning element user, which was supposedly weak against earth element, and the ''earth'' on the moon was so damn hard he had to increase the potency of his chakra if he wanted to even scratch it.

    His previous surge into his right leg was supposed to utterly obliterate the ground around him, creating a crater, yet, it was only barely enough to free his leg from its bindings.

    Rei quickly realized that his strongest element was basically next to useless against his newly determined opponent.

    Toneri calmly watched, no longer smug, as Rei got out of his initial attack and secured some ground for himself. Toneri no longer yed around, understanding his opponent was someone tough. Puppets would be of no use for him in this fight, not even as a momentary distraction.

    It was time to start using the real Jutsu...

    Rei didn''t have a lot of time to be idle. The ground around him decided to mercilessly attack him, creating spikes, tendrils, and sometimes even hurling itself at him in a mud-like substance that looked to be semi-solid enough to carry quite a lot of blunt force.

    Rei weaved through it all, evading attack after attack while also feeding the ground under himself with his chakra, fighting for dominance over the ground with each step.

    For a whole ten minutes, Rei was on the run, evading Toneri''s attacks that tried to flood him in waves of rock while he tried to find a weakness to this technique. Eventually, Rei indeed found it and started to seep his water element chakra into the ground in a way that prevented Toneri from instantly reiming his control over it. This slowed the pace of his attacks a lot, making the deadly dance of offense and evasion almost a breeze for Rei.

    Toneri naturally realized this w of his strategy and decided to change his n.

    The attack from the ''liquid'' ground ceased, giving Rei room to breathe for a moment. That didn''tst long, however, as the ground behind Toneri shifted, starting to rise in three piles towards the ck sky of the moon, not stopping until three rock golems the size of bijuu stood in front of Rei, whose brain momentarily halted.

    "You gotta be kidding me." He muttered. ''This might really require ckie''s help, after all....''

 Chapter 282 - Ch282. Rei Vs Toneri - Fin

    <h4>Chapter 282 - Ch282. Rei Vs Toneri - Fin</h4>

    The ground trembled as the massive rock golems shook themselves awake and aimed their attention at Rei who still tried toprehend how the fight could escte so fast. Not a moment earlier, their battle consisted of a bonafide slug-fest, yet... now the kid wanted to pull out mountain-sized monsters into the fray? Needless to say, Rei was not about to face these golems with just his fists or Jutsu.

    ''Yeah, screw this shit...'' A ck-ish chakra cloak instantly engulfed Rei''s body, causing Toneri to feel a bad premonition that came true not a secondter when the chakra cloak outwardly expanded, forming a mountain-sized ten-tailed ck fox that promptly roared at the golems, fiercely shaking the ground for kilometers around.

    Toneri stood rooted in his spot, stunned into speechlessness because he didn''t expect Rei to be able to match his golems. Despite his momentarypse, the golems didn''t wait for orders and promptly attacked, rushing at the massive ckie. Each step called forth a new earthquake, rippling the ground under their feet in a way that let them get a massive momentum.

    Contrary to the normal expectations, the golems, while sluggish, were quite fast. It didn''t take them long to close the gap between themselves and ckie as they tried to tackle him to the ground. ckie, however, was much nimbler and managed to sidestep the first golem before he jumped upwards, twisting its body in a way that the second and the third golem missed him by a slight margin as they crashed to the ground, spreading untold devastation all around theirnding ce due to their weight.

    Rei could almost feel Kaguya''s chakra seeped deep in the moving lumps of animated moon rock and he couldn''t help but thank his past self for not choosing the easy way out and simply getting one of the nine already existing bijuu as in this current situation, he had no doubt they would have been suppressed by that exact chakra, making this an incredibly disadvantageous fight for him. But since his bijuu was self-made, Kaguya''s chakra residue acted as nothing more than an extremely strong enhancer for the rock golems.

    ckiended on the ground, and instantly charged a bijuu dama, shooting it at the three golems still sprawled on the ground, creating a city-wide new crater on the moon''s surface. A brief sh of heat spread through the surroundings as a massive amount of dust flew into the air,pletely obstructing visibility.

    ckie and Rei knew a single bijuu dama would not be the finishing move in this battle. But they wanted to see exactly how much damage it would cause.

    Unfortunately for them, when the dust cloud somewhat cleared, the three golems were already rising up, sending gusts of wind all around. They indeed sported ayer of molten and jagged rock on their surface but it was obvious no major damage was caused to them.

    Rei briefly nced at the ce Toneri was at before he sent his golems to the fray and frowned. The guy already used his projection to hide, letting the golems do the heavy lifting for him.

    The golems tried to surround ckie who was standing still, waiting for them toe closer as Rei already conveyed his n to him. When they finally approached, trying to get the fox into their grasp, ckie again dodged by the slightest margin but this time, he used his tails to trap the three golems. For each of them, three tails were used, binding their limbs and torso, trying to keep the three hulking and struggling masses of rock still with varied sess.

    ckie now had all three golems bound but that also meant the golems had ckie pinned down. In an instant, the fight became aparison of brute strength, which was somewhat unfavorable for ckie in one versus three scenarios.

    Seeing that, Rei decided to give ckie a bit more help. He started to use a chakra from ckie to charge a Jutsu.

    Rei knew he wasn''t good enough in the earth element to do much about the golems but slightly weaken them, which was simply not worth it. Wind element was also out since the air was giving these jutsus quite a boost. Unfortunately, there was a vacuum on the moon. Using fire on rocks wasn''t much better and lightning had already proved to be ineffective earlier so Rei had no other choice but to use water.

    An arduous task, considering there wasn''t oxygen and hydrogen in the atmosphere of the moon, therefore, Rei had to form water just from his chakra alone. Thankfully, ckie had enough chakra to do this.

    pping his hands together, Rei inwardly eximed, ''Water release: Crushing Exploding Shockwaves!''

    A massive torrent of highly pressurized water as if exploded outwardly from ckie right after the fox unbound them from its tails, smashing into the three golems with such a force it flung them back despite their huge size. Large gashes were made on the rocky surface of the golems on the impact, the second one even lost an arm while the third lost a leg.

    Not that it mattered as the golems regrew them almost instantly but Rei still counted it as his win.

    The real aim of the Jutsu was different anyway. Getting the golems away from him and ckie was nice but he really just wanted to remake the battlefield.

    The Jutsu was finished but that didn''t mean the newly made water magically disappeared. Instead, the battlefield was submerged in a small ocean of water, reaching ckie and the golems up to their knees, which was far harder terrain to move in for bulky and sluggish rock golems.

    Realizing its advantage, ckie instantly jumped back into the fray, smashing and smacking the golems around like little children by using its innate agility.

    ...

    While the fight went on, Toneri,pletely drenched and annoyed beyond all measures, watched the titanic battle from what he thought was a safe distance. Clearly, he was a bit wrong about that since the water still reached him.

    Who in their right mind would create an ocean of water on the moon, anyway?

    If not for his chakra cloak, Toneri thought he would have drowned right then and there. Well, there wasn''t much of an opportunity to learn how to swim on the moon...

    Embarrassed enough, Toneri didn''t like how his golems started to lose. It was already ten minutes since the battlefield became too watery for them and they still couldn''t get out of the onught of the fox.

    "Should I create more golems?" Toneri said to himself. "No... it is just a battle of attrition. My golems might be disadvantaged for now but I will win. They cost far too little chakra to maintain and whatever Jutsu that is, I doubt the thief can sustain that fox avatar for long." He reasoned, not really knowing what bijuu was. "For now, let''s just observe."

    Toneri was totally certain that in time, he would win. That''s why he waspletely shocked when he got a reply.

    "Are you sure about that?" An amused voice sounded from behind Toneri, scaring him out of his wits and causing him to turn around...

    Only for his head to separate from his body.

    Rei watched with bated breath as Toneri''s now headless body slowly slumped to the ground, not disappearing this time, making him release a breath of relief.

    "Nailed it." Rei whispered, flicking his sword to the side to clean the blood from it.

    To be honest, Rei found Toneri''s Projection Jutsu really annoying as it prevented him from getting in the decisive blow whenever he had the opportunity. That''s why he was not sure he could sneak up on Toneri and finish the fight in one strike. Rei even called out for Toneri before striking, all in order to momentarily distract the kid from using the said Jutsu.

    ''Fortunately, it worked..'' Rei hummed to himself, watching as the three golems started crumbling into the watery fields, leaving only the majestic sight of a titanic ck fox standing all alone in the devastatedndscape of the moon covered in water.

 Chapter 283 - Ch283. A Meeting 1

    <h4>Chapter 283 - Ch283. A Meeting 1</h4>

    Rei stood in the throne room of the moon castle he privatized from the recently deceased Toneri, admiring the architecture while his clones were trying to research the two devices they stole from the castle during the fight.

    The device to start the moon-crumbling was not reallyplicated, to be honest. All it did was make use of the pent-up Kaguya''s chakra residue and pushed it into the weak crevices under the''s surface. Sure, it was an ingenious use of a dumb concept to cause mass destruction, and really, that''s what Rei thought being a ninja should have been about.

    Nobody knew about it, yet it could have been used to wipe out an entire. Any idiot could use it too. From a scientific point of view, when Rei looked at it from the perspective of what the scientists of the Elemental Nations knew right now, it was a very simple device. In any other situation, Rei wouldn''t be interested in it at all but when he found a peculiar set of seals drawn in a hiddenpartment...

    Rei found out many surprising things..

    Apparently, Hamura Otsutsuki did regret sealing his mother on the moon. After all, why else would he build a device that would let him talk to her in her seal?

    What he previously thought was some kind of weapon, was just a primitive walkie-talkie that used Kaguya''s residue chakra to connect to her in the seal. The use of her chakra for the moon-destructing Jutsu was added onlyter.

    What really made Rei a bit sad, however, was the fact Hamura never actually used the device for its real purpose after building it.

    ''He must have realized what potential it had.'' Rei mused.

    "Quite the sight, this building." Konan suddenly appeared behind him, causing him to turn towards her.

    "Only you?" Rei asked, a bit surprised.

    "Yes. Tsunade is ying with the Tenseigan device... did you know it is made of a massive number of Byakugan eyes? Kinda gross but apparently, it would have been quite a good Christmas present for a medic ninja." Konan amusedly hummed.

    "Well, Tsunade did want to y with Byakugan eyes for a long time now yet she had no opportunity so far." Rei shrugged.

    "Pakura is entertaining herself with the puppets, preparing them for transport and stuff." Konan continued.

    "Already? She is quite impatient about that." Rei tinkered with the seal on the device while reacting.

    "Well, she really likes her new assistant Shun Riku and these puppets are the best gift she could ever imagine giving to that woman." Konan said, "Plus, you know her. She is always so serious about developing her vige." She wistfully said.

    Konan might not show it, but she was quite jealous of Pakura. Pakura might not see herself as Suna kunoichi anymore but she did see Sunagakure as her home. Konan missed that feeling. She knew her home should probably be the Land of Rain but she simply could not see it in the light Pakura saw Sunagakure. Konan found Pakura''s sense of belonging quite enviable.

    "As for Ringo... she found the armory so I don''t think we will be seeing her anytime soon." Konan chuckled, causing Rei to grin too. "And Mei decided to explore the castle."

    "Which leaves the two of us." Rei nodded, painting new seals on the walkie-talkie device with his chakra alone. "You are not gonna explore? I thought that was why you made sure it wasn''t you who stayed behind in our base."

    There were only six of them on the moon and Yuriko was the poorss who drew the short stick and had to guard their base. Needless to say, all five of Rei''s women cheated in their own way in that particr draw. Not that Yuriko would ever know...

    "I already do." Konan spoke, "I just don''t see the point of doing it myself. My paper clones are enough when ites to looking through useless trinkets. I''d much rather spend my time with you." She sat down behind him and put her hands around his neck, quietly observing him work while enjoying their closeness. "Somebody gotta make sure you don''t do something crazily life-threatening."

    Rei would never admit it but hearing her say that, his smile widened a bit. This was how it always was and he was fine with it.

    "Whatever would I do without you." He snorted.

    "You would probably blow yourself up in your first week dabbling with seals." She offhandedly replied without any real heat behind her words.

    "I did blow myself up in my first week dabbling with seals." Rei quipped.

    "See what I mean? You are incorrigible." Konan said and Rei could feel her gently kiss the back of his neck.

    They were together long enough to know what the other thought most of the time and Konan was sure Rei needed a bit of her support right about now.

    "Am I that transparent?" Rei sighed, enjoying how Konan tightened her hug.

    "You saw yourself in the kid?" She asked.

    "Well... to be honest, I could have ended that way too if I didn''t meet you." Rei acknowledged. "Toneri was strong, not as much as we are and he was indeed touched a bit in his head but he was also in a league of his own. This fight... it really made me think about why exactly I am trying so hard to create a better ce out of Elemental Nations. Why did I even make my own vige... In the end, I just want a safe haven for us." He shook his head.

    "That''s what we always did. Watch out for ourselves." Konan put her chin on Rei''s shoulder. "Are you sure contacting this Kaguya is a good idea?" She worriedly asked. "Maybe we just could let her stay sealed inside of the moon and forget about her?"

    Konan didn''t like Rei''s decision of meeting up with this apparent ''goddess''. First, she didn''t believe in gods, and second, from what Rei told her about the woman, she was, like Toneri, a bit touched in her head. Unlike the kid, though, Kaguya was a lot stronger, which Konan thought would mean a lot tougher to negotiate with.

    Konan also had no idea what kind of seal was used to seal Kaguya and if it would be dangerous for Rei to pay her a visit with his consciousness. For her, it was simply far too dangerous to even attempt it but Rei was already decided and she knew there was no moving him once he got going. She could only slightly redirect him and make sure he made no foolish mistakes.

    Rei sighed, "We could make sure she never gets out but I do want to talk to her. I am prepared for arrogance and haughtiness but I would like to believe a thousand years in a seal would mellow her down a bit. She could be really useful." He said as he finished a final stroke of a seal.

    "And just like that, yourmunication device is done." Konan muttered, more to herself.

    "Well, then... guard my body, will you?" Rei eximed, taking in a deep breath to give himself a bit of a push of courage. He made sure to add many safeguarding seals on the device so his being would not be endangered but... one simply never knew about these kinds of things. Then again, with how much effort he put into it, he would at worst get injured.

    Just like that, Rei''s body slumped in Konan''s embrace, his consciousness venturing deep into the sealing space in the moon where the mad Rabbit Goddess supposedly resided.

 Chapter 284 - Ch284. A Meeting 2

    <h4>Chapter 284 - Ch284. A Meeting 2</h4>

    Rei connected to the ne of the seal and the very first thing he saw was... nothing. This obviously surprised him. ''So, Hagoromo was not even courteous enough to actually craft a seal space in here?'' Rei grimaced, imagining how it would feel to be sealed in a ck space of nothingness for well over a thousand years.

    Needless to say, he didn''t like such a picture. At all.

    ''This doesn''t give me much hope for an intelligent conversation with Kaguya, to be honest.'' Rei sighed.

    Every seal master who ever studied how to seal entities somewhere knew that crafting a seal space where they would reside was a necessity. It was the very first thing these people learned and for a good reason too! Nobody wanted to seal a bijuu or something of equivalent might only for the entity to go mad in the seal, bing even more dangerous than before.. Even those that hated bijuu wouldn''t dare to do this.

    Rei really worried about Kaguya''s mental state, right about now. Then again, he had hope. She was supposed to be the closest thing to a deity his ever saw so... just maybe?

    The pocket dimension of the seal was immense and for that, Rei was grateful. Using the moon as the medium for sealing was clearly beneficial in this regard. Thanks to that, Rei wasn''t faced with Kaguya upon entering his consciousness into the seal and had time to prepare.

    The first thing he did, what any self-respecting and non-suicidal seal master would do, was naturally, check the state of the seal. Surprisingly, the seal was holding up quite well despite its advanced age. Seals, in general, were created tost but keeping something as powerful as Kaguya under a lock for a thousand years... that was a feat on its own considering the average period of time a seal designed to keep a bijuu inside a jinchuuriki was around a century before it started to deteriorate.

    Rei quickly discovered why the seal was still working perfectly though. Simply put, Hagoromo disregarded literally everything but durability when it came to the seal. It was obvious he created it on the fly and from what Rei could spot as he let his senses drift through the nothingness of the pocket dimension, it had a lot of rough edges. The entire structure was held together not by the ingenuity of the creator but by the sheer power of his chakra.

    The only ingenious part was where the seal separated Kaguya''s chakra from her so she couldn''t pit her own chakra against the Hagoromo''s in the seal, instantly breaking it. Rei couldn''t in good conscience give Hagoromo much credit for that though. Anyone with at least one brain cell would do that, knowing Kaguya could just brute force her way out otherwise.

    That made Rei''s mood rise a bit. A good seal master would be able to escape such a seal. It would take time and effort to find an appropriate way but it was definitely possible. ''Well, that gives me an upper hand in the talks with Kaguya, I guess. Since she is still imprisoned, she probably doesn''t have any knowledge about sealing. That''s good.'' Rei nodded to himself in a pondering manner.

    It was then Rei looked at the section where Kaguya''s chakra was siphoned and reused to keep the seal going. What he found... made him grimace.

    ''So she is affected by the Chakra Fruit...'' Rei bitterly realized as he watched globs of a ck substance being separated from Kaguya''s gathered chakra before it was used to power up the seal. ''That might be a problem.''

    These globs didn''t really exist in Kaguya''s chakra. They were just a representation, an image the seal created to portray that Kaguya''s chakra was corrupted. Rei reckoned it would be impossible to identify if they were not inside of the seal. The only reason why it was now possible, was that the seal needed pure uncorrupted chakra to power itself up so it automatically separated what it didn''t need.

    Rei observed the mechanism behind the process and after a few minutes, he decided that he definitely had to use this part to his advantage. Pulling the chakra from within himself, he started feeding it into the seal, knowing it would alert its resident. Rei was not deterred, however. He simply continued tinkering with the seal even after he felt a new pair of eyes intently stare at the back of his head.

    Kaguya''s presence was unmistakable. The second it engulfed Rei, he could feel her power despite it being sealed. The logical part of Rei knew he had nothing to fear from the woman as she was powerless inside the seal. The primal part, the part governing his nature sensing, however, screamed at him to get away fast.

    Standing near her was like being washed over by a tsunami during a hurricane. It was then, Rei understood what Kaguya really meant when she said that all chakra belongs to her. She was aary level of monstrosity. The bijuu, artificial or the real ones, simply felt like underdeveloped childrenpared to her. The only saving grace was that judging by the way Kaguya let her presence freely flow outside of her body without any restraint, she really had no idea how to control it.

    Rei couldn''t help but quietly chuckle. To him, it seemed the woman staring at him didn''t even have a clue about her own power. It was so ridiculous it became hrious.

    ''Then again... if she actually learned to control all that energy within herself...'' Rei subconsciously gulped, still ceaselessly focusing on altering the chakra purification mechanism in the seal. That brought a new dilemma for him. ''Should I tell her and teach her about her potential or should I simply let her waste it?'' Rei really felt conflicted about that. ''Guess it depends on how this will go.'' Finishing with his job, the pocket dimension of the seal somewhat brightened as if some kind of previously unseen taint was reduced.

    Rei turned towards Kaguya who was furrowing her eyebrows at him, showing him a weird expression as she tried toprehend why she felt different than a second ago and what exactly changed.

    ''Quite cute.'' Rei revealed a small smirk as the regal-looking woman in front of him looked around like a little confused girl while slightly scrunching her nose. He cleared his throat, getting Kaguya out of her momentary reverie and causing a slight blush to paint her bone-white cheeks before her face again attained that aloof and cold regal look engineered to put a sense of inferiority in those who gazed upon it.

    Nevertheless, Rei still found the situation quite funny so the smirk on his face stayed.

    They stood opposite to each other, measuring the other with their gaze in total silence while the atmosphere around them was growing progressively more awkward. Rei always knew he would meet this woman somewhere along the line but now that he stood in front of her, he really had nothing to say to her. Jumping at her with his offer seemed a bit too abrupt too so...

    As for Kaguya, her situation was even more difficult.

    After a while, Kaguya slowly opened her mouth in preparation for speaking but before she could let out a sound, she silently closed it with a disgruntled expression, throwing a ponderingly inquisitive look at Rei who watched her internal turmoil with interest. He really didn''t expect their first meeting would go like this.

    Screaming, arguing, trying to kill each other while he tried to persuade her of the cleverness of his proposal... yeah, kinda? But, he would never expect having her adorably stare at him in speechlessness.

    Finally, Kaguya decided to cut the chase and spoke in a somewhat unsure manner while tilting her head, "Uh, would you believe you are my first guest since I was thrown here?"

    Rei really had no idea how to answer that...

 Chapter 285 - Ch285. Kaguya Otsutsuki 1

    <h4>Chapter 285 - Ch285. Kaguya Otsutsuki 1</h4>

    "I must say, I never expected this meeting to go this way." Rei smilingly mused as he drank tea and watched Kaguya munching on various types of food with gusto and the enthusiasm of a little child who just received her favorite dessert.

    Much to Rei''s surprise, after their initial awkwardness passed, the very first thing Kaguya asked him for was a bit of his chakra. This made Rei wary but also extremely curious. She was not asking for an amount that would allow her to do anything substantial.

    In the end, Rei gave her what she asked for and then watched in amazement as Kaguya materialized a feast through her Creation of All Things. Around the ankle-high table full of various foods that could be ssified as female''s wet dream were various fluffy pillows for seating and Kaguya promptly flopped down onto one of them before starting to enjoy the food, impatiently inviting Rei to join her with her indifferent eyes containing a deeply-hidden eagerness. He wasn''t even properly seated when Kaguya foregone all manners and started enjoying herself.

    Rei had to admit, this was a totally new style of cooking....

    "I didn''t have anything to eat for a thousand yearsh." Kaguya managed to say before taking another spoonful of pudding into her mouth and repressing a blissful moan.

    The corners of Rei''s lips curled upward whereas his right eyebrow rose at the childish woman. He expected a regal, cold, and dismissive princess that would demand the world out of him if he wanted anything in return but what he got was... this.

    As if sensing his doubts, Kaguya gulped down the pudding and spoke again, "The thing you did with the seal... I have no idea what it was but it worked. It was sudden but I felt as if something was lifted from my consciousness and no longer felt like attacking you on sight so... good for you?" She hummed while her eyes distractedly trailed towards another te full of sweets.

    ''So the influence on her psyche was more subconscious.'' Rei took into ount her wording. She didn''t experience any sudden flip that would shake her entire being when he purified the ''taint''. Instead, she simply felt as if her emotions and outlook somehow slightly shifted. ''Then again...'' Rei scanned the modified seal with his mind, ''the chakra fruit became a part of her the second she ate it. It''s not like the taint was removed from her. I just added a feature that negates its effects as long as Kaguya is inside of her seal on the moon.''

    That naturally meant the second she is released, her outlook would shift back to her previous state. Clearly, Rei needed more time to ponder about these problems.

    Rei gently smiled at the woman, "You are quite the pervert, aren''t you?" He said, observing with satisfaction as Kaguya momentarily froze before huffing and continuing to eat as a slightly pink hue formed on her cheeks.

    Since they sat down, Kaguya didn''t look in Rei''s direction once, focusing her eyes on the food but... she had Byakugan eyes and Rei was a trained ninja. Naturally, he didn''t miss her gaze.

    "Well, you will have to excuse my curiosity but you are the first person I see after a long time." Kaguya grumpily muttered and, for the most part, retracted her Byakugan gaze from Rei as silence ensued between them.

    What Rei found cute, however, was that now her eyes actually flickered towards him every so often.

    It was only a few peaceful momentster when Kaguya spoke again, this time with a measured and serious tone. "What exactly do you want from me? I doubt anybody would enter this seal without any agenda so... what''s yours?"

    It was obvious she mistrusted Rei''s intentions. Sure, they were cordial right now but Rei reckoned that was mostly because there was no way to harm each other inside of the seal. Kaguya might have portrayed a childish and excitable front with how she acted. She might even seem easily maniptable but Rei knew better. The woman in front of him wasn''t a naive fool. That''s why he was d this seal was a perfect neutral ground for both of them.

    Rei nodded, not seeing any reason to tiptoe around it, "I came to propose a deal." He started, "I can free you from the seal," He said that part slowly on purpose, observing Kaguya. Her eyes indeed showed a slight sign of brightening at his words but the woman didn''t let her hope shine into her expression. Instead, she had her perfectly indifferent mask donned as she waited for Rei to continue. "but as you probably already realized I won''t do that just out of the goodness of my heart."

    Kaguya slowly nodded, "What are your terms?" She bluntly asked.

    And this was the part where Rei''s demeanorpletely shifted, much to Kaguya''s bewilderment. He released a deep sigh and sheepishly chuckled, "I... don''t have any?" He said,pletely aware of how ridiculous that sounded. Rei saw how Kaguya''s face became nk after hearing him and instantly decided to continue to clear any misunderstanding that might or might not form between them. After all, he wouldn''t want her to think he is trying to deceive her. "Right now. I don''t have any right now. I honestly don''t even have a method to free you." He shrugged, ignoring how Kaguya''s lips twitched in exasperation before the woman decided to stuff a piece of a dessert into her mouth lest she said something unttering to Rei.

    They stared at each other for a moment, Rei awkwardly and Kaguya coldly. When Kaguya didn''t have anything to say, Rei decided to borate, "I am the best Seamaster in Elemental Nations." Rei noted how Kaguya''s attention shifted away from the food and back towards him when she heard these words. "If anybody can devise a way to get you safely out of the seal, it is me. As for the terms, I really don''t know what to ask for but I can tell you right now, I will not free you for free. There will definitely be a price. I just don''t... really have anything you could provide that I would need or want."

    ''Exceptpletely fucking up the plot and making the biggest viin of Narutoverse my ally.'' Rei inwardly thought. There were many advantages to freeing her, even if he did itpletely for free. Most of them were indirect but that didn''t mean there would be no benefit for Rei. But, Rei also knew that doing that would be extremely suspicious and while Kaguya would have been grateful beyond words, she would also be wary of his intentions to no end. She was a former ruler and her political mindset shone clearly through during their talks. She understood mutual benefit whereas having a stranger show her such a massive kindness was instantly a reason for concern and a start of some nefarious plot.

    Then again, Rei would not release her from her seal unless he was absolutely sure the woman posed no danger to him or his family.

    Kaguya felt stumped. She was happy that somebody decided to help her because these thousand years of utter powerlessness took their toll on her mind. But she also understood the underlying message in Rei''s words. He would only help her if it benefited him and she had no idea what she could offer him for such a service.

    With a slight embarrassment, she realized her thoughts must have been visible on her face when Rei smiled at her and spoke, "For now, let''s not talk about it. Making a counter-seal to this," Rei gestured around himself, "will be a long job anyway. Let''s just get to know each other and talk some more about the past, shall we? I am really interested in why you ended up here."

 Chapter 286 - Ch286. Kaguyas Past

    <h4>Chapter 286 - Ch286. Kaguya''s Past</h4>

    Kaguya''s mood soured when she heard what Rei asked her.

    "You don''t know?" She threw an incredulous look at him. "How did you know about me being sealed in the moon, then?"

    "Well, there are legends but I would like to hear your version of the story." Rei shrugged. He didn''t put much belief into all that crap told in the legends. Now that he felt the incredible potential of the being called Kaguya in front of him, he couldn''t help but think these legends were all bullshit. Hagoromo and Hamura had no chance to win against her no matter if she didn''t even start scratching the surface of her potential.

    For a second, a wistful expression appeared on Kaguya''s face as she reminisced about her past but it was gone as fast as it formed. With a cold expression, Kaguya distractedly reached for a cup of tea, not realizing how her hand shook. She took a long gulp from the cup and looked Rei straight into the eyes. Staring into his encouraging eyes, Kaguya gained a newfound determination..

    It was a surreal feeling for Kaguya. She wanted to have someone to talk about these things for more than a thousand years now. Nobody, not even her sons, could provide any form of support for her but now... now that she looked at the strange man who appeared in her seal, Kaguya wanted... no, deeply desired to let it out.

    Before she knew it, she started to pour her heart out to him.

    Rei patiently listened to her story and had to admit, the legends were mostly correct. The difference was... these legends had a different way of looking at things. Kaguya had reasons for doing what she did. She wasn''t some madwoman who was turning humans into wooden soldiers for kicks and giggles. As she exined what she did and why, her cheeks never dried of tears.

    She started with how she was selected for the expedition to grow a chakra fruit. How she came to Rei''s. How she didn''t agree with the ways of her travelingpanion and how she ''betrayed'' him, knowing it would have been her undoing.

    It was a story about a naive, young, and stupid girl.

    She told Rei how she met her husband. How her heart fluttered when he talked about his ideals. How she, for the first time, fell in love, not realizing or paying attention to many important things. With hurt and tear-stricken expression, Kaguya portrayed how her happiness slowly changed into the realization that while she was the wife of her husband, he was a ruler and had apletely different way of looking at marriage than her.

    She spoke of long lonely days and short nights of a passion that was slowly but surely burning out. Of how her maid was slowly bing more of a husband to her than her actual husband. Kaguya simply put all of her grievances and poured all of her feelings from her apparently unsatisfying marriage a thousand years ago on poor Rei''s shoulders, causing him to wryly ponder when he became an emotional support line as he silently listened to her.

    Kaguya... eventually realized that she fell more for the fairytale ideals of her husband than him as an actual person. Her infatuation made her blind and that led her to a monumental decision. She confessed to Rei that she decided to take the chakra fruit and return back to the Otsutsuki n. She was aware there would be a punishment waiting for her back home for what happened with her travelingpanion but Kaguya also knew that if she brought the chakra fruit with her, it would be a negligible one. Instead, she would actually get rewarded right after she suffered a bit.

    These ns were quickly destroyed, however, when one nice morning was ruined by a realization that she was pregnant. It was both a joyful and horrifying experience for Kaguya. While her maid was rejoicing like a small girl. Kaguya felt a myriad of emotions, most of them dark. She cursed her husband, she cursed her luck, she cursed herself for not being careful enough...

    Rei found it funny. From how Kaguya described it, by the end of their marriage, she felt no satisfaction from having sex with her husband. She just bore with it because she thought it was her duty as his wife. Now she realized she was still stupid at that time and that she should have rejected himpletely but... it was already toote toment about it.

    It was hrious how she, a female Otsutsuki who should have had a hard time getting pregnant, actually got impregnated by a ''mortal'' not when she passionately slept with her husband every night during the height of their ''love'' but when the guy only graced her bed once or twice per two weeks for a quick release. Rei couldn''t help but feel a bit of respect for her husband when he heard that. Thankfully, he could hide his amusement well. It wouldn''t be nice tough into the face of a crying woman.

    Kaguya knew she couldn''t return to the Otsutsuki n anymore. For that, she needed to kill her children first and that was simply not happening. She was happy to be a mother but it also chased her into the corner.

    "It''s ridiculous. There is always something that ''seals'' my fate." She dejectedly said with such emotional depth, Rei sighed to himself and decided to reseat himself next to her, supportively embracing her small frame.

    Kaguya then continued with her story, her words and tone a bit lighter as she leaned her body into Rei who felt a bit awkward.

    Then, the entire debacle with her husband trying to kill her happened. Kaguya understood why he chose to sacrifice her to avoid the war. He was a ruler and had his priorities straight. He had to think about the well-being of his people. But... Kaguya had to think about the well-being of her children. She already forfeited her future and her life for them when she decided to keep them rather than return to her n.

    And so... she ate the chakra fruit.

    Her life after that incident improved. She got stronger, became the ruler, and led humans to prosperity and peace. Deep down, however, Kaguya always felt anxious and insecure. Always awaiting the Otsutsuki n toe and punish her... and her children. Eating the chakra fruit was the worst crime she could have done and she had no illusions the Otsutsuki n would not realize what happened.

    Her children were a big motivation for her. All she wanted was to raise them well, give them love, care for them, and make sure they would be happy. As such, Kaguya decided to make countermeasures against her n.

    Much to Rei''s amusement, he bluntly told her he thought her n sounded dumb and Kaguya blushed crimson red from embarrassment, unable to refute it.

    Army of White Zetsu? What good would that do against the Otsutsuki n? They couldn''t be even considered cannon fodder!

    "Instead of trying to create an army, you should have tried to master your own power and train your body." Rei gently chastised the downtrodden woman in his arms.

    She sacrificed a massive amount of people in her quest to make an army... and for what? To create something as useless as White Zetsu? There was no wonder her legend portrayed her as pure evil.

    ''More like pure stupid...'' Rei thought with a carefully hidden eye-roll.

    Leaning his head down and looking at the fidgety woman in his arms, Rei realized one important thing.

    In the end... she was simply a scared little girl who found herself shouldering the weight of an entire, knowing her n would one daye for her.

 Chapter 287 - Ch287. Kaguya Otsutsuki 2

    <h4>Chapter 287 - Ch287. Kaguya Otsutsuki 2</h4>

    Rei waited until Kaguya calmed down her emotions which got him into a very awkward position. When she was distressed, their closeness didn''t bother her and instead, it provided a measure offort but the more calm Kaguya became, the more self-conscious she got and Rei could clearly feel her squirm in his arms.

    Deciding that she no longer needed him, Rei unhanded Kaguya and leaned a bit away from her before she also slid to the opposite side with a small blush, creating a gap between them.

    Inwardly, Rei enjoyed the current atmosphere between them immensely. He pictured his meeting with Kaguya in many different ways but this was so unexpected that he couldn''t help but marvel at his luck while getting the maximum amount of entertainment from the overpowered bashful woman.

    Rei decided to stay silent, making sure to make Kaguya squirm to the extreme, only deciding to intervene when he felt she was reaching the limit of her patience. It wouldn''t do for her to ''explode''.

    "I don''t understand..." Rei suddenly said, picking a topic to distract the distraught and fidgeting woman next to him, getting her utmost attention, "Why did you simply not beat your sons during yourst fight?" He threw her a meaningful, yet piercing look..

    Kaguya nced at Rei, tightening her fists, "I wasn''t strong enou-"

    "Stop bullshitting me." Rei rolled his eyes at her in an annoyed manner.

    "Bullshitting?" Kaguya tilted her head, not understanding the reference, causing Rei''s eyebrows to twitch.

    "It means ''stop lying to me''." Rei exined. "I can feel your chakra sealed in this seal. There is no way you were simply overpowered by your sons." He stated with a casual finality.

    Kaguya lowered her head as a self-deprecating smile appeared on her lips, "I simply couldn''t hurt them. They are my children, after all. That fact won''t change, no matter if they betrayed me or not."

    Hearing her reason, Rei hummed and inwardly rejoiced at the fact both Hamura and Hagoromo were already out of the picture. That would haveplicated the situation immensely if that''s how Kaguya felt about them despite everything.

    Somebody could argue that Hagoromo was still present in the world but Rei would only snort at that. A person like Hagoromo, a self-righteous bastard who thinks his ideas and vision are the best, would long ago intervene in the ninja world if he could. That meant while the old coot most likely could see, he could not affect the happenings, which was just fine as far as Rei was concerned. Let the dead stay dead...

    "You know that both of your children are long dead, don''t you?" Rei carefully asked, wanting to confirm Kaguya''s thoughts on the matter without making her realize his intentions. It wouldn''t do to free her from the seal only to have her bring someone like Hagoromo back to thend of the living. That would suck so much! Rei was definitely not gonna do that... ever.

    Kaguya''s expression soured as pain shed through her pupilless eyes while her forehead creased, making her closed third eye visible for the first time during their meeting, startling Rei. He was wondering why she had only two eyes but now he understood that her third eye socket was simply hidden.

    "I figured... it''s been more than a millennium, after all." She bitterly answered, evading Rei''s gaze. Rei simply stayed quiet and waited for her to continue, not offering anyforting words or the like. It took a while but Kaguya did, indeed, eventually continue, "But I am also interested in what kind of world my children created." A small smile appeared on her face. "I can''t say I don''t want to smash it to pieces though." She sighed, "Their vision was the primary reason why we fought and I am still somewhat livid because of that. Strangely, when I am near you, my anger as if left me." She calmly smiled at Rei.

    ''I see... so as long as the taint from the chakra fruit in her chakra is kept in check, there will be no murder-happy rabbit goddess causing problems for me. Good to know.'' Rei hummed, putting it into his mental notebook of seals he would have to develop.

    "Would you bring them back to life if you could though?" Seeing that he would not get an answer to his secret question, Rei decided to ask her bluntly.

    Kaguya was momentarily startled by Rei''s question but then slowly blinked in a pondering manner before starting to slowly speak, mulling each word on her tongue with great care. "I... uh... I, I don''t think so." Kaguya''s face scrunched in hurt and self-me.

    Rei was inwardly happy when he saw her expression though. The sheer emotions conveyed told him that Kaguya was not just acting. She genuinely felt deep in her heart that she wouldn''t resurrect her children if she could and it brought her a lot of confusion from which, pain and guilt were born. There was no greater confirmation that Rei had nothing to worry about in this regard.

    "I..." Kaguya, not noticing the pleased glint in Rei''s eyes, continued, "I''d like to say I would. In a heartbeat. But... I can''t. I feel the desire but I also know I wouldn''t be able to persuade myself to actually do it. They... They betrayed me." Kaguya spoke in a downtrodden tone before lifting her gaze towards Rei, "Does that make me a bad person? A bad mother?"

    Rei gently shook his head in reassurance, "I don''t know. That is a question you have to answer for yourself. Your children, however, chose their paths and the most you can do is respect their decision." He truthfully answered. As far as Rei saw it, both Hagoromo and Hamura were adults... more like corpses at this point... and as such, they had the right to decide for themselves.

    Kaguya mulled over that answer, bringing yet another heavy silence between them. Rei almost thought he got her into a trance when even after an entire half-hour she didn''t move but then, suddenly, a question was asked.

    "How are you nning to free me from the seal?" Kaguya distractedly asked.

    Rei blinked, looking at her, and noticed her face was still nk as if she was deep in thought. He realized she asked mostly to get her head thinking about something else than Hagoromo and Hamura. Rei happily obliged.

    "I have to devise a counterseal that can unravel the one sealing you. There are many ways to do that but... well, finding the best one will be difficult." He said.

    Kaguya slowly nodded, "Wouldn''t it be better to just give me enough chakra so that I can st the seal from inside out?" She curiously asked, distracted enough that her mood improved.

    Rei, however, just snorted in reply. "You are not sting anything, woman. The pocket dimension of this seal is literally located in the middle of the moon. sting the seal from inside out with pure force would result in sting the moon itself apart. Which would result in the destruction of my." He exined. "So not gonna happen."

    "Ah..." Kaguya sheepishly averted her head, feeling embarrassed at her suggestion.

    "But..." Rei naturally knew why she was so impatient, "I reckon being in the seal alone must be lonely so I can tweak it a bit so you can telepathically contact me. You know... to have somebody to talk to." He said while inwardly sighing. His next few years seemed to be deprived of much privacy if the happy gleam in Kaguya''s eyes was any indicator.

    ''Why must she be too cute to not take pity on her?'' Reimented.

 Chapter 288 - Ch288. Teams 1

    <h4>Chapter 288 - Ch288. Teams 1</h4>

    "Are you sure about this?" Shikaku looked from behind his Hokage desk at the calm Tsunade who sat on one of his sofas for guests, sipping tea.

    "Yes. Why? Do you have anyints?" Tsunade asked him in a tone that clearly said it wouldn''t matter even if he had any but... she was willing to listen if he wanted to reason with her.

    Shikaku could only inwardly sigh at the antics of this insufferable woman. Honestly, this was bing a recurrent theme. It didn''t happen all that often but when Tsunade wanted something, Tsunade got it. What really irked him though was that she always came up with some demand when he least expected it.

    Like now, for example. Tsunade pushing her way into the formation of the new genin teams was something Shikaku never expected to happen.. It was his responsibility as the Hokage to set them up based on information from the academy teachers and Tsunade should have no interest in it... yet, here they were.

    "How to say this..." Shikaku looked at the sheet with the teams, a small frown forming on his lips as he skipped all of the unimportant cannon fodder ones that posed no problems, "Let''s start with Team Seven. Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Hinata Hyuuga, led by Kakashi Hatake with Anko Mitarashi being co-teacher." He stated, moving his gaze onto Tsunade before deadpanning, "Now that''s tant favoritism."

    Yoshino, his wife and secretary, who dutifully sat opposite Tsunade on the guest sofas and was refilling her teacup could only wryly smile while inwardly agreeing with her husband''s assessment. That team, it was as if Tsunade said screw it and threw the best prospects from the year into one team. That was just not done. Ever.

    Giving them Hatake Kakashi as their teacher on top of that? Yoshino could already see the headache her husband will have to go through in the next few days due to theints of other n heads, advisors, influential figures, etc.

    But the real problem...

    "Why don''t you just make that team and give them to be trained under Mitarashi-san?" Yoshino voiced her opinion.

    Normally, she would be instantly silenced. After all, she was just a secretary. Then again, being also Hokage''s wife had its perks. From time to time, Yoshino intervened with a question or a suggestion and Tsunade was d for that. She knew that Shikaku, despite his immense intellect, had a bad tendency to seek the least troublesome way in order to aplish his goals. Unfortunately, the least troublesome didn''t always equal the best.

    "She can''t do that." Shikaku answered Yoshino''s question. "Anko is not on the active roster of Konoha forces and even if she was there, she never achieved Jonin status before she became the Senju representative, which kinda both pushed her proverbial influence to the highest ces while also putting aplete stopper into the advancement of her career as a kunoichi."

    "And since she never returned to the active roster, she is still just a chunin." Tsunade added.

    "Couldn''t you just... I don''t know? Disregard the rules for this instance?" Yoshino tried to be helpful and gave a suggestion based on the facts she possessed.

    Tsunade smiled, "I could... but I won''t."

    She was Daimyo. What she said, went. It would only take one signature to put Team Seven under Anko''s tutge. Doing so would create some unnecessary minor problems Tsunade simply didn''t feel like facing.

    "We all know about Kakashi''s approach." Tsunade said, making Yoshino dryly chuckle while Shikaku sighed in exasperation when he remembered that Kakashi dropped five teams so far without even considering them. The dude could preach about theck of teamwork all he wanted but Shikaku simply didn''t buy that bullshit. Expecting three kids put together on a team to have passable teamwork without any practice was just ridiculous.

    Shikaku knew that Kakashi was simply pissed he was dismissed from ANBU so he was currently sulking... for years. It was just one more instance of Sarutobi''s foolishnessing to bite the next Hokage in the ass.

    "He won''t teach the kids a shit if they don''t pass his secret personal evaluation. And only God knows what that pervert''s criteria for passing actually are. Considering this team will be forced onto him because of thest loyal Uchiha... I don''t think Kakashi will like it." Tsunade continued.

    She knew that for Kakashi to train his genin team properly, he would have to take a liking to them. In case that didn''t happen, though... his genin team would be left to fend for themselves no matter how much the white-haired moron preached about friendship and camaraderie.

    It wasn''t even that the guy was ipetent. On the contrary, Kakashi was... incredible trainer. When he was still in ANBU, he was one of the best ANBU trainers in Konoha. He was the guy who trained newbies up to the ANBU standards and during his ''reign'' the Konoha ANBU was in its golden age.

    The problem was... Kakashi was too used to trainingpetent and experienced ninjas. He expected them to desire to better themselves and put in appropriate effort without him butting in. He was used to just giving directions, not personally guiding them. And it worked. For ANBU.

    But genin teams were different. A jonin sensei has to motivate his pupils to actually desire advancement. And even then, he has to make sure the focus and direction of his pupils are on the right track because a simple desire to improve coupled with ''moronic'' training was not effective. If Might Guy did just push-ups the whole day, he would not be the best taijutsu practitioner in Konoha. The guy might seem stupid but he had a lot of knowledge in body improvement through training, diets, and various other ways. Just exercising simply won''t cut it in the ninja world.

    In this aspect, Kakashicked. He just couldn''t care less if his pupils were motivated. Worse yet, even if they had enough motivation, he would never hold their hand and guide them in the correct direction to make the most of said motivation.

    He wasn''t really doing it intentionally though. The man had his issues and... he simply judged others based on himself. Which honestly did not work considering he was a rare type of genius. Holding freshly graduated genins to his standards was just stupidity.

    "As such, you want to insert Anko into the team so they get at least some training." Shikaku nodded in understanding. "But the problem is still here. People will see that as tant favoritism ande toin to me." He whined.

    Tsunade and Yoshino just rolled their eyes at him, "Then tell them she is there to take care of Naruto. The kid is Uzumaki, a rtive to Senju. Having a Senju look after him should be normal. Even if Anko is only an honorary one." Tsunade shrugged.

    Hearing her reasoning, Shikaku started to ponder... "Yes, that could work. It will still be troublesome to exin but... yeah." He mumbled to himself, unhappy that the troublesome blonde in front of him wasn''t persuaded to drop her idea. Well, at least she was willing topromise.

 Chapter 289 - Ch289. Teams 2 - Politics... Yuck

    <h4>Chapter 289 - Ch289. Teams 2 - Politics... Yuck</h4>

    "But..." Shikaku reluctantly started again. There were many faults with Team Seven. So many he wouldn''t mind reshuffling all of the teams if it got rid of these iing problems. "Putting the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, the heir to the Uchiha n, and the heiress to the Hyuuga n on one team is..." Shikaku grimaced.

    Team Seven was a political team. It wouldn''t be bad if there were just two of them, paired with a civilian-born but all three....

    People in high positions usually liked to look a bit into the future and if Team Seven was formed like this, there was a high chance they would eventually be friends. Which, in turn, would create a strong political blockter on when these kids grow up.

    And that''s where the problemid.

    Putting together Ino-Shika-Cho was fine. These ns didn''t have much ambition other than keeping their current influence. They seldom tried to ''use the system'' in order to get a leg up. It was also a known fact these three ns were already allied so putting them together in a team wouldn''t create any future problem in the political sphere that wasn''t already present.

    The same could be said about the Aburame n. They were simply far too passive for politicians and other n heads to worry about them. It was a stupid way of thinking because Shikaku still thought the Aburame n was one of the most dangerous ns in Konoha, bothbat-wise and politically, but people simply didn''t see it that way. They were too used that the Aburame just stoically sat in their ce and wordlessly observed the happenings without much input.

    In the team setup Shikaku previously made, he nned to pair Hinata, Kiba, and Shino because of that reason. Shino was the Aburame her. Kiba was an Inuzuka, and they were far too brash and not exactly clever so nobody took them all that seriously. Plus he was not the heir which meant even if he got along with his team, there would be no extremely strong political allianceter on.

    The only issue with that setup was Hinata Hyuuga who would almost certainly be a big political figure in the future. Then again, two heirs, where one was from a n that didn''t have that much influence... that was the limit for Shikaku.

    But Team Seven as Tsunade envisioned it?

    That was a political disaster just waiting to happen.

    Sasuke Uchiha, thest loyal Uchiha, the heir to the Uchiha ''n'', might have lost a lot of influence considering his own n was non-existent anymore but the kid was now a part of the top five wealthiest people in Konoha since every ount previously belonging to an Uchiha now belonged to the kid. He also had a n library full of Jutsu for himself...

    Simply put, if Sasuke yed his cards right and became at least Elite Jonin... he could one day be a very influential person in Konoha despitecking the influence of a fully functioning n.

    Shikaku didn''t think the Uchiha n could quickly rise again. It would take at least fifty years for them to be sufficiently recreated and that would only be the case if Sasuke decided to be ''proactive'' in that regard. God knew there were many morons in Konoha Council that would like nothing more than Sasuke bing a sex beast focused on impregnating their daughters. Many would like to have a shot at a portion of the wealth of the kid, after all.

    But the Uchiha kid was the least of Shikaku''s worries. He was like Kiba... unimportant.

    The real problems were Hinata Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki. Hinata... in Team Seven, she would have ess to two heirs who will,ter on, be influential. Coupled with the Hyuuga n''s influence, Shikaku could already see some of the smarter councilmen having a problem with this setup.

    As for Naruto... people knew only that he is a jinchuuriki and that he is recognized as a part of the Senju n.

    Being a jinchuuriki, that alone would make him a focus of higher-ups. Shikaku was supremely d nobody knew the kid was the heir to the Uzumaki n and the son of the Fourth. How nobody put two and two together, he would never know. But... this stupidity of Konoha''s citizens was certainly convenient.

    If people found out the real political weight Naruto will one day carry... Shikaku had no doubt they would stop at nothing in order to prevent his cement on the team with Hyuuga princess and Uchiha heir. Together, these three could create a political block that would totally suppress anybody who didn''t agree with them.

    Shikaku nced at Tsunade, ''And all three of them are under the tutge of Anko Mitarashi who is the apprentice to Tsunade.'' He inwardly cringed. ''God am I d that the Nara n is allied to the Senju n. If people had any idea what kind of frightening political moves this blond menace is casually throwing around, I wouldn''t be surprised if the Konoha''s ns tried to pull the Uchiha move on us and all rebelled.'' He dryly thought.

    Sure, since Tsunade became the Daimyo, the influential people in Konoha lost quite a bit of their pull but Tsunade made sure to leave a lot of influence in their hands to keep them satisfied.

    ns and councilors loved their influence. The formation of a political block that could suppress them to a degree where they wouldn''t be able to take a shit without permission was something they would surely take offense at. Yet, Tsunade was seemingly doing exactly that, with no one the wiser.

    ''Senju, Uzumaki, Uchiha, Hyuuga, Nara, and through my n, she also gets the Yamanaka and Akimichi... I have no doubt she could get the Aburame n on board too if she tried.'' Shikaku thought with a suppressed shudder at the political web the woman was slowly creating.

    "What? Would you like it better if I put Haruno in there instead of Hyuuga?" Tsunade asked with no small measure of sarcasm in her tone, pulling Shikaku out of his thoughts.

    His eyebrows instantly furrowed when he heard her question but his real reason was a short choking session as his spit got caught in his throat.

    "Hell no!" Shikaku eximed as he finally managed to stop choking, "Right now, we are dealing with a political disaster. Swapping Hinata for Haruno is a totally new kind of catastrophe." He snorted, "Now I worry about the reactions of the n heads and the politicians you so magnanimously allowed to keep their influence. If Haruno was a part of Team Seven, however, I would have to worry about their life expectancy. I will take political worries rather than that any day of the week, you troublesome blonde." He replied indignantly despite knowing he couldn''t put Haruno in that team anyway.

    Tsunade created many programs for the academy and Haruno Sakura ended in one of them. The girl had superb chakra control but other than that, she was useless. That was mostly because of her naivety and kiddy fantasies but still... She was not cut out to be a kunoichi. Not unless she grew up a bit. Putting her in Team Seven, a team that will undoubtedly be an assault-focused team would have been a seppuku-worthy mistake.

    As such, the girl ended up in the medical program, and once she graduated, she would be an apprentice under one of the medic ninjas in Konoha''s hospital. She would be in a safe environment, contributing to the vige by doing things she had a talent for.

    "Thought so." Tsunade smugly said, "In that case, what the heck are you stillining about? Team Seven will be as I said it will be. Stop trying to change my mind, Shikaku. We," She nced at the sheepish Yoshino, "all know that you just want to talk me out of it because you are toozy." She rolled her eyes and gestured at him to continue with the teams before taking a sip from her tea.

 Chapter 290 - Ch290. Teams 3: Ino-Shika-Cho

    <h4>Chapter 290 - Ch290. Teams 3: Ino-Shika-Cho</h4>

    "Next we have the Ino-Shika-Cho trio." Shikaku stated with open fondness as he mentioned the team his kid would be joining, making even Yoshino break her professional demeanor and smile a bit. "If it was previously, I would have protested but now..." Shikaku trailed off.

    He still remembered howzy his own son was when he was a kid. Since Shikamaru was six, Shikaku could see that putting him, Ino, and Choji together would not improve them as a unit as it happened for him, Inoichi, and Choza. The personalities of their kids were simply far too... alike.

    Shikamaru waszy, resulting in theck of motivation to even attempt to get better at the necessary things. Choji didn''t want to hurt a fly, resulting in the very same thing as Shikamaru, and Ino...

    Ino might have seemed to be an exuberant and active girl that loved to tackle problems head-on and could motivate both Choji and Shikamaru into doing their best but Shikaku met the girl almost every other week during the Ino-Shika-Cho n gatherings.

    The girl had no interest in being a kunoichi whatsoever. She simply wasn''t raised to want to be a kunoichi. Inoichi spoiled her far too much. The girl also didn''t have a reality check that is usually delivered to n children. Shikamaru was putting down old and sick deers since he was six and Shikaku knew that Choza also had Choji kill pigs since that age to start teaching him about the importance of life and prepare him for the harsh realities of ninja life.

    Ino didn''t have that. But... Shikaku couldn''t really fault him much. He also spoiled Ino quite a lot, not wanting to see these innocent blue eyes to peer at the cruel side of the world. Shikaku, however, knew that he couldn''t shield the girl from it forever. Then again, she was not his daughter, therefore, not his problem.

    It was exactly this upbringing that destroyed any synergy between Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. Ino, who was supposed to be the glue and motivator of the team, simplycked motivation herself, therefore was unable to properly motivate Shikamaru and Choji. When she tried to get them to do something, she mostly irritated them with her high-pitched voice and bossy attitude rather than using her Yamanaka subtle emotional bullying to manipte them like the previous Yamanaka''s in the Ino-Shika-Cho trio did.

    This resulted in the three children kinda drifting apart during their younger years. Ino became Sasuke''s fangirl, befriending other girls in the academy while Shikamaru hanged out mostly with Choji, separating themselves from their ssmates.

    When their kids were nine, Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza were already prepared to break the tradition and not make the Ino-Shika-Cho team out of them.

    Fortunately, Tsunade''s reforms in the academy straightened the kids out, much to the pleasure of their parents. Shikaku couldn''t help but be immensely grateful for that. Raising a ninja was hard. Moreso for the parent rather than for the child. Children had a miraculous ability to adapt but no parent liked to see their child suffer the adaptation process. Or so, Shikaku would like to believe, despite knowing he was wrong.

    Neither Choza, Inoichi, or him, had the necessary predisposition to push their children hard enough to make them excel. Shikaku didn''t want to see Shikamaru crying tears of blood due to their special n training for kids. Not when he knew how it felt since his own father put him through it.

    At that time, Shikaku resented his father for quite a bit of time but when he grew up, he realized it was precisely that training that helped him to survive the Third Ninja War. But that was a different time. A time of unease and war. Now that peace was here, Shikaku was hesitant to make Shikamaru go through the same experience.

    Choza was much the same. Shikaku could still remember how Choza was walking with his body constantly riddled with ck and blue bruises, getting new ones every day. Shikaku doubted Choza wanted to make Choji go through that training. The Akimichi n''s early training was pure physical hell.

    As for Inoichi... he was blessed and cursed at the same time. He had a girl. Shikaku couldn''t even imagine how hard it was on Inoichi. How could he make his princess go through the necessary suffering?

    All three of them were in a bind and in the end, they decided to not make their kids go through their own experiences.

    But then, Tsunade reformed the academy, doing their job for them when it came to training the kids. Shikaku doubted that most of the kids even noticed that their exercises were getting more and more demanding as the learning curve was not all that steep. The fast pace of exercises made up for that and so, the graduating ss was actually already at least genin-level ording to the previous standards while the kids got the necessary habits for ninjas. Habits like the need for self-improvement.

    Hence, Team Ino-Shika-Cho was a go.

    Shikaku''s lips suddenly turned into a frown, "I actually received a request from Asuma Sarutobi for the Ino-Shika-Cho team but I refused. That guy iszy as heck and I am afraid the kids could rpse back into their old habits under his watch."

    It was a shame too, in Shikaku''s opinion. Asuma was one of the Elite Jonins of the vige and was a very talented man. The problem was he simply didn''t want to put in more effort than strictly necessary. Shikaku could already deduce what would have happened with his and his friends'' kids under Asuma''s tutge. They would simply getzy again, noticing Asuma''s habit of taking things easy.

    The problem with that was... Asuma already achieved the necessary strength threshold and only had to maintain his body fit. The kids, however, needed a lot of work to get to that point, and beingzy now could prevent them from reaching their potentialter on.

    Hearing about Asuma, Tsunade inwardly groaned. Asuma and Shizune married a year ago... not a happy asion for Tsunade as she still didn''t like the young Sarutobi. But... she relented and blessed their union as Shizune''s mentor.

    What else could she have done?

    It was either grit her teeth and let her young apprentice do whatever foolish thing she wanted or distancing herself from Shizune even more than they already were. Tsunade simply chose to let Shizune make her own choices.

    Surprisingly, Asuma was shaping up to be quite a good husband, much to Tsunade''s ire.

    She still didn''t like him though...

    At least her newest apprentice, Kurenai, was averted from the dark side and persuaded that Asuma was not as ''cool'' as she always thought. But damn if that didn''t take a lot of subtle maniptions.

    "Who is getting this team?" Tsunade asked in an attempt to change the topic and distract herself from thinking about Asuma.

    "Yugao Uzuki. I pulled her out of ANBU just for this." Shikaku answered with a tired sigh. It took him quite a lot of persuasion to make Yugao ept. That meant Ino-Shika-Cho will still get their genin test from their Jonin teacher but unknown to them, they would pass no matter what, and then... wee to hell. "They might not focus on kenjutsu but I think a watered-down ANBU style training would do them good considering the Ino-Shika-Cho specialty."

    "I see... Yugao must have been happy. Training the Hokage''s son is quite an honor." Tsunade offhandedly remarked, doing it more to annoy Shikaku because she knew that the woman would vehemently protest being separated from her lover, Hayate.

    Shikaku didn''t deem that remark with a reply, knowing it was smarter to be quiet as he remembered the passive anger seeping out of Yugao as he gave her her new orders.

    "You want me to train some spoiledzy gits?" ... Was her cold reaction.

    To be fair, Shikamaru was not... that spoiled. At least Shikaku would like to believe that but then he remembered how other n kids were trained during their youth...

    "Anyway, let''s move on..."

 Chapter 291 - Ch291. Teams 4

    <h4>Chapter 291 - Ch291. Teams 4</h4>

    "Team 8, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Kurama Yakumo under the tutge of Kurenai Yuhi." Shikaku read aloud from the file before looking at Tsunade, "Are you sure about letting Kurenai lead a team? She is your apprentice so wouldn''t this take a big chunk of her training time?"

    In reply, Tsunade could only helplessly smile, "Kurenai has a special past with the Yakumo Heiress and she spent the past two months begging me for this team. It was annoying me beyond reason."

    "I guess not even you are exempt from problems with pupils." Shikaku amusedly quipped, understanding the problem. It was almost like some unspoken rule that high-ranking people usually trained people with high potential. These people, however, were most of the time quite problematic.

    The three Sannin were the best example where even the Third Hokage couldn''t do much about their behavior. The Fourth Hokage had Kakashi Hatake. And now, Tsunade had Kurenai and Anko.

    Anko was.... well, Anko. She was obsessed with her revenge against Orochimaru and that was a problem in itself. Then there was her usual behavior and honestly, Shikaku didn''t envy Tsunade. Anko''s behavior might have improved drastically since she became a part of the Senju n but she still wasn''t a good ''representative''. She was one of those people parents told their children to never imitate. Despite that, Shikaku had to admit that since Tsunade started seriously training Anko a few years ago, the Snake Mistress became one of the most valued secret assets of the vige. Her potential was astonishing. Shikaku didn''t delude himself into thinking he knew the full picture either. He was only aware of what Tsunade allowed him to know and even that was enough to raise Anko''s value quite high and make sure nobody found out about it.

    As for Kurenai... ''I still remember how annoyed Tsunade was when she had to beat feminism out of Kurenai.'' Shikaku mirthfully thought.

    Kurenai had major hidden inferiority issues, believing she had to show the worth of kunoichi to the world. This helped her to gain motivation to reach a high chunin level but after that, this kind of mental state was mostly just a hindrance. From Jonin and up the power scale shot towards the sky and male or female, ninja or kunoichi, gender didn''t matter anymore.

    Knowing that, Tsunade had to set Kurenai''s mentality straight and decided to do so in a Tsunade-like manner. By beating Kurenai up until her head understood the lesson.

    Well, Kurenai still hated perverts but at least she now didn''t think every male except Sarutobi Asuma was a pig. Shikaku could actually put Kurenai on a team that was not solelyposed of females these days and took it as a major improvement in the girl''s temperament.

    Sometimes, Shikaku wondered why the most talented people were also the most entric ones. Why couldn''t everyone just realize the greatness of sleep andzing around? Wouldn''t it be best if instead of wars, the nations solved their problems with shogi matches?

    Shikaku sighed, ''Maybe I should conquer the world and show the people the correct path?'' His face then thoughtfully scrunched for a second before cking into his usualzy and tired expression, ''Naaaah~. Too troublesome.''

    "I think it will be a good experience for Kurenai. Yakumo is also a budding genius in genjutsu so they might be a good inspiration for each other." Tsunade dryly said, having enough of this topic. Kurenai at first saw Yakumo as a daughter and her motherly instincts were messing up with her head so much that Tsunade had to step in otherwise the Yakumo Heiress would not be trained properly but pampered. If she didn''t have to deal with any problem pertaining to Team 8 in the immediate future, Tsunade would be delighted. ''One can dream...'' She wistfully thought. ''Was this how Rei and Konan felt when they trained Ringo and Mei?''

    "I don''t see any major problem with Team 8. Kiba Inuzuka will probably try to be the Alpha of the team as ismonly seen in Inuzuka ninjas. The file stated he is quite... unrestrained with his behavior but Kurenai with her special brand of dislike for... his kind... will probably rein him in quite fast." Shikaku shuddered and pitied the young boy who liked to let his instinct decide his actions. "Shino Aburame is calm and level-headed with a great analytical mind. His insects will also fit right in with two genjutsu users and one taijutsu-oriented fighter." It was a goodposition. A bitcking in ninjutsu but if used correctly, they would be superior in subtle warfare. "Neither Yakumo nor Shino should sh with Kiba personality-wise either." Shikaku nodded and stamped his approval on the file.

    Tsunade watched in distaste as that happened. In the whole roster of the new teams, Team 8 was the only one that irked her. In an ideal world, Tsunade would forbid Kurenai from taking a team and focus on improving her strength. The woman had the potential to reach the level of the Second Mizukage with her genjutsu and Tsunade wanted her to be the next Hokage. She had no delusions that Shikaku would stay in the office for a long time. The Nara n head clearly disliked his current ce in life and most likely only went along with Tsunade''s ns because of the respect he had for her and the Senju n.

    That meant, Tsunade had to prepare for the day when he had had enough. Unfortunately for Tsunade, she had only two choices as of now. Anko and Kurenai. There had to be no discussion about Anko. As long as that woman never came anywhere close to the Hokage seat, the citizens of Konoha could live happily. That left only Kurenai and while there were many issues with her, Tsunade had to admit that every ninja had their own special quirks. Letting Kurenai take in a team was actually also a way to train her and that''s why Tsunade relented in the end.

    Shikaku and Tsunade then spent the next few hours coursing through more teams. Unlike the time when the Third Hokage was in the office, the concept of ''dropping'' out of the academy was almost nonexistent. There were three graduating sses and everyone graduated.

    While only half of these kids were assigned to a team with a jonin sensei, that was still enough to create around fifteen teams. It took time to sort through all of them and discuss thepatibility of the kids while suggesting reshuffling and improvements.

    That was not even mentioning the other half of the graduates that were directly assigned to a department. These were the kids that ended up like Sakura Haruno and their career was mostly decided as they were sent to be apprenticed under specific departments due to their talents. These were not supposed to be field ninjas. If these kids wanted to be a part of Konoha''s ninja force, they had to train in their spare time and request a trainer or reassignment when they gotpetent enough.

    Still, six years ago, from these three graduating sses, barely three to five teams would be passed. Now there were fifteen and all the graduates were actually trained enough to bepetent. Shikaku had to admit that Konoha improved quite a lot during the time Tsunade was in charge.

    His eyes trailed to a file in the trash bin, the same file that Hiruzen Sarutobi ''politely'' handed him. It was a team setup the old man thought would be best for the vige. Hiruzen didn''t have much, if any, political influence in the vige nowadays but nobody could say the old man didn''t try to influence certain things. That''s actually where his joke of putting Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto together came from. Shikaku knew most would pay the document a lot of attention because, despite everything, the former Third Hokage still held a lot of respect in the vige. But he also knew Tsunade would bash his head through his office table if he tried to implement Hiruzen''s team setup so Shikaku did the smart thing and threw it away the second the door closed behind Hiruzen.

    ''Better not think about it. Getting mixed up in the silent war between these old foggies will just reduce my nap time.''

 Chapter 292 - Ch292. Hard Lesson For Kiddies 1

    <h4>Chapter 292 - Ch292. Hard Lesson For Kiddies 1</h4>

    Anko arrived in the ssroom where the new genin teams anxiously waited for their jonin senseis. She obviously didn''t show herself and hid in one of the corners on the ceiling as was a norm for ninjas, half expecting to be discovered. After all, it WAS the norm for the ninjas! Kids or not, they should have at least a basic degree of awareness and wariness, no?

    Well, she was sorely disappointed... and her team was in for a rude awakening once they passed their genin test. That, she swore.

    ''Oh, well, at least my snakes will be entertained.'' Anko thought in a sadistic manner as she eyes her three new cute little genins who shuddered from the sudden chill.

    Then, the jonin senseis started to arrive and Anko''s disappointment only deepened. From the fourteen that picked up their teams, only six gave her a subtle sign that they spotted her while three others had this sudden case of momentary stiffening, betraying that they also were aware of her presence. As for the other five.... Ankomented how they became jonins when she was still de-facto chunin.

    The ssroom slowly emptied, leaving only the exuberant and always excited ball of sadly still orange sunshine called Naruto, frowning emo duck-butt who just wouldn''t change his hairstyle no matter how many snakes Anko sent at him called Sasuke, and thankfully no longer timid and always blushing Hinata who became a total badass under the smug Anko''s tutge.

    Yes, this team was gonna rock! ... When they learned to detect sloppily hidden enemies. The Hyuuga was in for some serious spanking sessions for this overSIGHT. Of that, Anko was sure.

    Ten minutes passed and Anko nkly stared at the back of her brats'' heads, wishing for them to finally notice because she was getting bored. And bored Anko was antsy Anko.

    Ten more minutes passed and the antsy Anko was nkly looking around the room, her fingers twitching closer to her kunai pouch while her eyes involuntarily narrowed. She desperately hoped her wait wouldn''t be long because antsy Anko was quickly bing pissed off Anko.

    Ten more minutes passed... Anko was utterly pissed.

    Jumping down from the ceiling and silently appearing behind the three carefreely sitting brats, Anko quickly whipped a kunai from her thigh pouch and shed at Hinata''s jugr.

    Fortunately for the Hyuuga girl, Naruto''s senses were quite sharp thanks to all the training he underwent. It allowed him to hear the swishing sound as the kunai razed its path through the air. Reacting on instinct, he pushed himself from his seat, his body colliding with the unsuspecting Hinata, sending her tumbling down from her chain just in time to make Anko''s kunai miss her neck by an inch.

    Naruto wasn''t the only one who heard the kunai though. While Sasuke was toote to do anything for Hinata, he also reacted and as her kunai missed the girl''s neck, Anko found herself leaning backward to avoid two shurikens thrown at her neck and forehead with great precision. She was not given a breather though as both Naruto and Sasuke followed with their attacks, Sasuke going for a high kick to the face while Naruto lunged at her legs, his nails already sharpened with Kyuubi''s chakra.

    A very unsettling grin appearing on her face, Anko twisted her body and jumped.

    Sasuke found his kick missed its mark as a hand suddenly gripped his forehead in a vice grip before throwing him headfirst into the wall while Naruto had his face promptly nted into the floor when Anko''s footnded on the back of his head while he was in the air. The two groaning boys didn''t even see how their opponent manhandled them.

    "Ha, you suck!" Anko boasted, "Be more awa-"

    Anko''s hand snapped into action and caught Hinata''s strike just an inch away from impacting the side of her chest from behind. If thatnded, it would most likely shred her lung into a paste.

    Hinata tried to yank her hand away but Anko held her wrist too strongly for her to do anything. In thest attempt, she tried to go on the offensive and struck with her free hand towards Anko''s hand that held her wrist.

    Anko wasn''t having that. During her training with Tsunade, her strength improved leaps and bounds so it was rtively easier for her to simply yank the entire body of Hinata Hyuuga upward, lifting her from the ground. Anko then spun on the spot, carrying Hinata with her momentum before gently, by Anko''s standards, smashing her back onto the fortunately sturdy desk, causing Hinata to gasp from the sudden pain. She was beaten and she knew it.

    "As I was saying... be more aware of your surroundings, brats." Anko merrily quipped, noticing that Sasuke and Naruto were almost recovered. It wouldn''t do to let them attack her again. Nope...

    Anko, with a smug smirk blooming on her face, pulled out a kunai and slowly put it on the neck of the still dazed Hinata, giving a meaningful look at the two boys whose eyes were burning with desire to beat the crap out of her for endangering their friend.

    Oh, they were pissed and Anko enjoyed every second of it!

    Cocking her eyebrow in a ''what are ya gonna do?'' manner, Anko waited for their next move.

    Silence spread in the ssroom, only Hinata''s pained breathing interrupting the serenity of the moment as the senior kunoichi beckoning the two freshly-minted genins to do something with her gaze.

    Naruto and Sasuke were stumped. They had no idea if they should continue attacking and risk Hinata''s throat being slit... and yes, Anko was a Konoha ninja but she was Anko! After the training she made them undergo these past years, they could totally see her casually slitting the throat of the Hyuuga Heiress just to make a point.

    Unfortunately for them, Anko trained them in a lot of things but none of that was teamwork and response to certain situations in the field so this was apletely new experience for them.

    Naturally, the only other option was to surrender. The two boys didn''t dare to hope to outsmart Anko. It was a less known fact but the woman was frighteningly smart when she wanted to be. So much so that even Naruto feared pissing her off because it usually meant Anko got creative with her punishments. And creative Anko was determined Anko. Sadly for him, determined Anko was thinking Anko and that''s when the shit hit the fan.

    And in most cases, the fan was Naruto.

    Naruto and Sasuke exchanged brief nces and nodded, understanding each other in a way only long-time friends could.

    Honestly, Anko wanted to coo at them about how cute their behavior was but she still had a point to prove.

    "We... surrender." Sasuke said in distaste, grimacing as if he just ate a bug while Naruto looked disgruntled but his eyes shone in determination, still trying to find a way to win this encounter.

    "Is that so?" Anko hummed, "Fine then," She slightly lifted the kunai, her smile widening when she noticed the apparent relief on the boys'' faces. And then, in one fluid motion, she plunged the kunai handle deep into Hinata''s throat, its tip reaching the hard work of the desk.

    The two boys blinked in iprehension as their female friend gurgled and spasmed on the desk, her hands instinctively but weakly grasping Anko''s hand that held the kunai while she choked on her own blood that was gushing out of her mouth as she stared in clear horror and fear of death at Anko who was still tightly holding the handle of the kunai, pinning the girl onto the desk through her throat.

    Naruto and Sasuke nkly stared at the sight in shock and denial until... Hinata stopped struggling and hervender eyes dimmed as the desk and the floor underneath it became painted crimson red with blood.

 Chapter 293 - Ch293. Hard Lesson For Kiddies 2

    <h4>Chapter 293 - Ch293. Hard Lesson For Kiddies 2</h4>

    Anko watched with a bloodthirsty grin as the gears in her new boys'' heads turned and the horribleprehension of what just happened dawned on them. She enjoyed the abject horror etched on their faces and the feeling of hopelessness and loss that filled their unmoving eyes focused on Hinata''s corpse.

    But... she didn''t need a rampaging Kyuubi on her hands so, unfortunately, her fun was over. Letting go of the kunai''s handle, Hinata''s corpse suddenly burst into smoke, leaving only a log behind, driving the two despairing boys into an almost heart-attack-inducing shock.

    The amount of relief their faces showed... Anko couldn''t help herself and chuckle at how naively cute they were.

    The teacher''s desk suddenly burst into smoke, revealing the blushing and bound Hinata with fear-filled eyes while Anko''s clone had her in herp, leaning the girl''s back on her chest while her hand was under Hinata''s jacket, fondling the girl''s left breast..

    Hinata didn''t know what to do. She felt... odd. On one hand, the things Anko did to her chest were very... amazing and felt good. She didn''t want her to stop. On the other hand, she just witnessed herself dying in a very cruel manner by the hand of the woman who was currently fondling her chest. That naturally drove the fear of God into the girl''s mind. She couldn''t even muster the courage to give a meager protest against the way Anko''s clone treated her.

    "Do you know what you did wrong?" Anko asked Naruto and Sasuke, causing them to feel as if a bucket of ice-cold water was poured on them when they finally realized it was all just an illusion and Hinata was still alive.

    Obviously, neither of the boys had any idea why their asses were so thoroughly kicked and their ugly expressions showed it.

    Sighing, Anko decided to enlighten them, "Your eyes are fucking faulty, that''s what!" She gave an intense meaningful look at the Uchiha who stopped short when his brain realized what she just said.

    Sasuke... blushed beet red when he finally realized that he didn''t even activate his Sharingan for this fight. He was so caught up in the moment that he totally forgot. Too worried for Hinata that it never even urred to him.

    "And you!" Anko redirected her gaze to Naruto who gave her an unsure sheepish grin and waited for his ''judgment'', "No ramen for you for a month if you don''t tell me what you did wrong in five seconds!"

    Naruto''s grin disappeared as if in a sh as the consequences of failure dawned on him and his face revealed even bigger horror than when Hinata supposedly died.

    ''Shit, shit, shit!'' His mind worked overtime. ''Shit, shit, shit!''

    "One... Two... Three..." Anko started the countdown while Naruto was outwardly panicking, sweat streaming down his forehead and his eyes wide in disbelief at his predicament, "Four... Fi-"

    "SENSING!" Naruto screamed in desperation, "I FAILED TO SENSE YOU, ANKO-SENSEI!"

    Anko silently stared at the gasping blonde who stared at her with intense worry, hoping he was correct. When she didn''t say anything, Naruto was bing more and more agitated, gulping hard and fidgeting.

    Only after ten more seconds did Anko finally nod her head, "Correct. You idiot are one of the natural sensors in the vige, yet, you didn''t notice that ''Hinata'' was just an illusion. How dense must you be for that to happen? No ramen for you this week and that''s final!" Anko''s words fell on Naruto like lightning from the sky.

    Naruto was aware he messed up. He was so worried for Hinata he never even considered the possibility that what his eyes perceived was not real. In hindsight, he should have known better after training under Anko for years. But... no ramen for an entire week!? Wasn''t that just Anko being unreasonably cruel for the sake of being cruel!? His religion was at stake here! He gotta do something!

    "And noining or I will change it to a month." Anko added and Naruto suddenly decided that a week-long break sounded good. The Food of Gods could wait that long for its most ardent worshipper. It wasn''t smart to tempt the devil Dango sphemer and get his ess to ramen cut for longer...

    Nobody could say Naruto didn''t learn when to be quiet under Anko''s tutge.

    "And then we have the perverted peeker girl." The real Anko turned towards Hinata who was still being given the groping of her young life by the clone Anko. "I am sure you know what you did wrong. Tell us." She beckoned.

    Hinata was half-mortified because she indeed knew what Anko wanted from her. Saying it, however... It was embarrassing! Knowing what is good for her, Hinata ducked her head and decided to obey. "I... I didn''t peeeeeek!" She started and then squeaked in a high voice when the clone Anko licked her neck mid-speech, causing the girl to blush from head to toes.

    "Yes... with how much you use your Byakugan to look at what''s in the boys'' pants, I thought you would be the first to notice me." Anko remarked in disappointment, mischievously smiling when she saw the two boys give Hinata astonished but bashful looks.

    "I-... I-... I do-... I don''t do THAT!" Hinata screamed in an embarrassed stutter as her delicate Hyuuga sensibilities were offended enough for her to momentarily even ignore the clone Anko''s antics.

    "And you can prove that... how?" Anko gleefully goaded, causing the mortified Hinata to gopletely quiet as she had no proof. "Thought so, Princess!" Anko said in a sing-song voice.

    Anko was satisfied with her handiwork here. Sasuke was berating himself for being stupid. With this embarrassing experience, Anko doubted the boy will ever forget to use his Sharingan. Naruto was properly cowed and shown his ce, which meant he hopefully won''t cause trouble and try to prank anyone in the following month. And Hinata was embarrassed just shy of fainting, which, from what Anko knew of the girl after she trained her for years, would motivate the girl to get better. This could be counted as a very productive hour for Anko-sensei!

    ''And they said I would be a horrible sensei!'' Anko inwardlyined, not even realizing how close her methods were to Orochimaru''s.

    "You three... Ninja lesson number ONE! Just because you are in a friendly territory doesn''t mean you canpletely disregard vignce. You drop your guard as a ninja only in case... NEVER!" Anko firmly stated, ring at the three cowed genins.

    Noticing that her cute little genins understood the hard lesson, Anko''s mind trailed off to thest part of her team and her expression twitched.

    Narrowing her eyes, Anko spoke, "Let''s go. We have a lost jonin sensei to find." Shemanded in a tone that clearly statedining would not be tolerated, causing the three genins to fearfully nod.

    They realized that...

    The pissed-off Anko was back.

 Chapter 294 - Ch294. Hard Lesson For Dummies

    <h4>Chapter 294 - Ch294. Hard Lesson For Dummies</h4>

    Anko walked through the vige like a woman on a mission, followed by her three cute little genins as if they were little ducklings. She knew exactly where to find her target at this hour of the day and boy was he in for a rude awakening!

    Eventually, she and her entourage arrived at the ce where the Memorial Stone was located, and vo, in front of it stood what Anko called a gloomy figure of average-sized white-haired perverted dipshit who liked to cover his face because he thought it was cool.

    Just her luck to have him in her team... .

    The problem was... this bastard made her wait. Nobody was allowed to make her wait! ... Well, nobody except Tsunade-sama.

    Anyway, Anko narrowed her eyes at the unsuspecting jonin who was paying his respect to the dead and the three genins behind her instantly knew there would be a bloodbath in the near future. They could only take a cautious step back, knowing this was inevitable.

    Anko''s expression suddenly shifted into a pleasant smile. It was so sudden the three genins felt creeped out, rather than calm though. With a spring in her step, Anko moved forward, walking towards the Memorial Stone.

    She knew exactly how to solve this little issue of hers...

    Kakashi Hatake stood in front of the Memorial Stone, lost in his thoughts as he reminisced of better, happier times. He, for the n-th time, asked himself why he even continued being a ninja. It was a dreadful job that took everything away from him, yet, he knew nothing else. He had nothing else. At least in ANBU, he found a semnce of home mixed with professionalism, something he desperately needed. Yet, even that small reprieve was taken from him.

    Today was a big day for him. He was getting a genin team but unlike the teams he got previous years, Kakashi knew there was no refusing this one. Thest Uchiha, the Hyuuga heiress, and... the son of his sensei. Thest one hurt the most. He never approached Naruto, believing he had no right after he epted the order from the Third Hokage to keep his distance. The most he could do was to watch over the boy in his capacity as a member of the ANBU. It was indeed him who took most of those missions, much to the bewilderment of his former colleagues.

    He tried. He really did. He kept leaving groceries for the boy when he noticed him eating only ramen. He sneaked academy books into his apartment when he noticed the boycked them. He tried.

    But even that was taken from him when the boy was taken in by the Senju n. Kakashi could no longer provide even this meager support to the son of his sensei. On one hand, it relieved him that Naruto finally had someone who cared about him. On other hand, it made him depressed that he was totally cut off from the boy''s life.

    s, such was the life of Kakashi Hatake. Losing everyone who ever mattered to him.

    As he was yet again drowning in his depressing thoughts, his line of sight was suddenly obstructed when, much to his surprise and horror, SAT ON THE MEMORIAL STONE as if it was a bar stool!

    Kakashi silently lifted his disbelieving wide eye, his gazending on the disrespectful ingrate only to find the resident Snake Mistress grinning at him like a Cheshire cat. Honestly, as mad as he was, he was also too unnerved to voice hisints.

    "Hatake, tell me, what the heck do you think you are doing?" Anko''s calm voice resounded through the clearing as she tapped the Memorial Stone with her finger.

    Kakashi blinked. "Paying respect to the dead?" He smoothly replied, trying to calm the clearly incensed woman. ''Did I... possibly miss the appointed time?'' He idly wondered.

    Hearing him, Anko''s smile did the impossible and widened even more, "Oooh~, and..." She slightly leaned forward, continuing in a sweet hushed tone, "do you think these dead fuckers care about you wasting your time in front of this stupid rock?" She asked, pushing several vases with flowers with her foot, causing them to fall over.

    Kakashi visibly recoiled when he heard her question and saw her tant disrespect to the deceased heroes of Konoha, feeling as if he was just pped. Before he could explode in anger, however, Anko continued in a coaxing tone as if she was scolding a stupid child.

    "Let me tell you a secret, then." She briefly paused, "They don''t. They don''t care at all. Do you know why?" Her cold narrowed eyes met the disturbed uncovered eye of Kakashi who was simply far too stunned at the audacity of this woman he couldn''t even utter a word, "Because they are fucking DEAD, you dipshit!" She gleefully told him, "But do you know who cares? The living!" She started shouting, "I will not have my time wasted by you. Do you understand, Hatake!?" She firmly stated, fully releasing her killing intent.

    Kakashi took a step back and gulped. He would never have thought somebody other than Kushina could be so... so... so damn frightening!

    Seeing the white-haired bastard was properly cowed, yet still silent, Anko decided to stop releasing her killing intent and push his buttons some more. "Oh, I heard the stories." She tapped the Memorial Stone with her heel, "Your friends, right? Ah, former friends... sorry." She said in a mocking tone before switching into a pleasant one again, "They are dead because you didn''t make it on time, no?"

    Now, no matter how stunned he was, Kakashi had his limits and he was starting to get pissed.

    Anko continued... "Yet, what do you do now? Did you learn your lesson? Nope, you still waste time. You are stillte to every damn thing." She said with obvious exasperation.

    "Are you finished?" Kakashizily asked, giving Anko an eye-smile despite wanting nothing more than to rip her apart. No... this reaction would make her infinitely angrier.

    Contrary to his expectations, Anko didn''t get mad. Tilting her head, she peered at him as if he was some kind of curious specimen, the same kind of look he received from Orochimaru when he met him during one of his missions. It made Kakashi inwardly shudder.

    "No. Not by a long shot." Anko chuckled, "I can''t even put into words how disappointed the Fourth Hokage would be. I mean... the guy was an idiot," Naruto barely grit his teeth, wanting toin and Kakashi did his best not to pull out a kunai and jump at her while she just continued without a care in the world, "but one would wonder what did he actually teach you if you can''t even be on time. Well, I guess his death was a happy asion for Konoha if you are supposed to be the result of his efforts. Damn the guy must have been ipetent!"

    As soon as she said that, Anko twisted her body with a smirk upon her face, evading the shurikens Kakashi threw at her, all aimed at lethal spots.

    "Oh, you are on." Kakashi growled, knowing she was goading him but she went way past his limits and verbally hit where it counted most for him. There was no other way in his mind than to show her she could not say whatever she wanted.

    Anko just lifted her eyebrow at him, clear amusement written in her expression, "Unable to contain his anger too... what a disappointment." She exaggeratedly sighed before turning to the three genins standing a bit away, "You guys go and stand on the edge of this clearing. This will be your first opportunity to witness a fight between high-ranked ninjas." She ordered before turning back towards Kakashi with an excited smile on her face, "Or at least... a fight between an amazing and superb kunoichi and a supposedly high-ranking cker."

 Chapter 295 - Ch295. Anko Vs Kakashi 1

    <h4>Chapter 295 - Ch295. Anko Vs Kakashi 1</h4>

    Anko and Kakashi stood opposite each other in the clearing, Kakashizily hunched over in apathy but not daring to pull out his orange book while facing someone like Anko, while Anko was grinning like an excited kid who was about to kick nuts... er, kick butts.

    Despite his bored outlook, Anko could clearly see in his sole uncovered eye that Kakashi was angry. That was good. She wanted him angry. It wasn''t any sort of grand strategy from her side. Anko was not stupid enough to believe she could make someone of Kakashi''s caliber mad enough it would affect his fighting ability. The guy was in ANBU and he certainly learned how to keep his emotions at bay during a fight. No... Anko wanted him angry because he made her wait! He deserved to be angry!.

    "You know... I liked you better when you looked at me with these dead eyes. Angry-like-a-squirrel re doesn''t suit you, Doggy-kun. Not with that pirate outlook." Anko chirped.

    "Ha-Ha-Ha. Very funny, Anko-chan." Kakashi eye-smiled, "What a coincidence! I liked you more when you were a slut too. All this pretending that you are an upstanding person doesn''t suit you."

    Despite the two just exchanging some casual banter, the atmosphere around them became tense and stifling, causing the three genins that observed them to feel ufortable.

    The two ninjas red at each other from behind their pleasant facades, as if waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, a gentle breeze rustled the leaves in the crowns of the trees around the clearing and the two ninjas abruptly disappeared.

    All the indication the three genins got that the fight started was a barely noticeable blur before Kakashi and Anko shed in the middle of the clearing, their kunais crossed, trying to overpower each other while their arms trembled from exertion.

    Looking each other straight in the eye, Anko and Kakashi snarled before their kunais separated with a loud ng reverberating through the clearing. Both jumped back, creating a distance between each other while not letting the other out of their line of sight.

    "Maa~, nothing impressive so far." Kakashi cheerfully taunted, causing Anko to pleasantly smile.

    "That''s what she said? Poor you." She licked her lips and abruptly threw a shuriken at the unsuspecting Kakashi who was about to retort, causing him to shut his mouth and lean back, letting the shuriken harmlessly pass by his body... only to burst into smoke when it was close to his body, revealing a coiled venomous snake springing head-first towards him.

    Much to Kakashi''s horror, the snake was aimed at his crotch.

    It was rtively easy for Kakashi to sidestep the snake but that... meant a war.

    Kakashi ran at Anko with his full speed, engaging her in a taijutsu bout mixed with some kunaijutsu here and there.

    Anko used her flexibility to negate, deflect, and evade most blows, asionally using moves from her Snake Style to mitigate the force behind her opponent''s attacks by taking the hit earlier than intended while returning one of hers at full power in return. It was obvious her taijutsu was not her main means of offense.

    Kakashi''s style was more dependent on speed and fast but effective hits into weak spots. Unfortunately for him, Anko was his worst enemy in that regard as she was far too flexible for him to hit his intended targets.

    The two danced around the clearing, exchanging hits, swipes, and shes, more often than not, missing the other by a small margin. Kakashi suddenly spotted a twitch of Anko''s lips as his back hit a tree, getting a bad premonition. He was a guy who trusted his instincts and in this case, it saved him when Anko abruptly changed her style, and instead of her usual flexible and fast jab, she tightened her fist and sent a strong solid punch at Kakashi''s chest.

    Normally, Kakashi would face it head-on. He sparred with Might Guy so solid and strong punches were something he learned to counter quite easily. But his instincts forced him to dodge roll to the left, pushing himself up from the ground and back onto his feet.

    He was really d he didn''t take the hit head-on when Anko''s fist impacted the tree, bisecting its trunk with sheer brute force as if it was a child''s y, causing the eyes of Kakashi alongside the three watching genins to widen in bewilderment and fear.

    The three genins quickly came to their first decision as a team. To not piss Anko off. They were trained by her for years but this was the first time they saw her use this super strength technique. Honestly, it made them wonder what else she could do they were not aware of.

    As for Kakashi...

    ''She knows Tsunade''s technique!'' Kakashi mentally eximed, not liking where this fight was going. ''Oookay... maybe letting her wait might have been a bit of an oversight on my part.'' He thought and gulped as Anko turned to him with an eye-smile of her own.

    "I will teach you... letting a Lady wait."

    Kakashi wanted... he really wanted to retort that there was nody present here but his suicidal days were already long over. Since he found the joy of Icha Icha, he no longer desired to join his friends on the other side. Not yet, at least. And nobody can im Kakashi didn''t know when to keep his thoughts to himself.

    Anko dashed at Kakashi, using apletely different set of movements than previously. Her Snake Style was nimble and flexible, its movements adjusted for quickness and readiness to evade. Anko''s current moves, however, felt heavier, less focused on speed.

    That said, while her current style indeed wasn''t focused on quickness, Anko herself was very fast. Kakashi had only a split second before she was in front of him, already swinging her fist in the direction of his face.

    Kakashi leaned back, doing a bridge under Anko''s swing before he propelled himself into a handstand and pushed his body away from the murder-happy woman capable of crushing a mountain with her fist. He didn''t sign up for this shit!

    Anko didn''t let Kakashi get away easily though. As hended on his feet, she was already closing the distance between them. Kakashi barely managed to redirect her punch by leaning his body to the left while hitting her elbow, evading his demise by an inch. Seeing his chance, he grabbed Anko''s outstretched arm and shoulder-threw her away from himself. The second he let go of her, Kakashi''s hands started quickly forming hand seals.

    Anko was in mid-air when she heard Kakashi''s voice, "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!", and a momentter, she could feel the heat around her rising. Twisting her body in a way that would get her closer to the ground, Anko sent a sharp kick to the ground under herself, causing it to rise and cover her body, shielding her from the flying ball of fire. That also allowed her to regain her bnce andnd on her feet.

    Both ninjas momentarily stopped, sizing up the other while taking a small breather.

    Kakashi was good, Anko had to admit. Rusty... but good. His instincts were top-notch and he clearly had enough experience to carry him through the tight spots.

    Anko was... unpredictable, Kakashi inwardly sighed. Unpredictable was bad. Hard to deal with. He hated unpredictable. As he looked at the woman, he had to admit, she made him respect her during this fight. It would be foolish not to respect her, considering she could make him into a pancake with a punch. That said, the woman was utterly irritating! He still had to teach her a lesson too...

    Yes, there was no other way... Kakashi decided and pulled his headband up, revealing his Sharingan.

    "Up for ninja lesson number two?" He eye-smiled at Anko who snorted but readied herself.

 Chapter 296 - Ch296. Anko Vs Kakashi 2

    <h4>Chapter 296 - Ch296. Anko Vs Kakashi 2</h4>

    Author Note:

    Okay, so... as many of you probably noticed, this arc will not focus on Rei and his girls. I want to portray the situation in Konoha and Team Seven because of the uing Chunin Exam which I n to make into a kinda important milestone.

    I am sorry if some of you don''t like that but... I must say, I had fun writing it and it was refreshing just switching away from Rei and his girls for a bit since I was finding it harder and harder to find something to write about.

    One of you asked me (I read through thements on thest ten or so chapters today) if I am taking a break from the plot around MC''s group. And my answer is yes. I need this break :D. I hope you will enjoy the arc as there will be much more action andbat involved.

    I honestly found out how ''unusual'' and ''dissatisfying'' it could feel for some readers because I am not involving the actual MC when I was halfway done with this arc and by that time, I decided to just roll with it and properly finish it rather than rushing it.

    And for those interested:

    Pa treon - 35 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    https://.pa treon/kasicair

    ------------------------

    Kakashi and Anko initiated their second round by dashing towards each other and Sasuke who already had his matured three-tomoe Sharingan opened since Kakashi threw Great Fireball instantly noticed Kakashi''s own Sharingan. It made him feel a bit angry as he had no idea Konoha had a ninja who possessed the eye of his n but these thoughts were shelved in favor of getting new techniques.

    At first, Sasuke would never try to copy techniques of other Konoha''s ninjas but Anko set him straight quite fast.

    "Why do you even have those eyes if you don''t make full use of them? Stop wasting my time and get such a bullshit concept as ''stealing is bad'' out of your head or I will pluck your eyes out and give them to someone worthy of them." She said.

    It was one of the very rare times Sasuke saw Anko serious and... He decided listening to her was a good way to keep his eyes in his head. He didn''t dare thinking she wouldn''t do it. That was a gamble Sasuke would not participate in. Especially since this was Anko and he had no idea what went through the head of that woman.

    Sasuke instantly noticed their dash wasn''t intended to end in a taijutsu exchange. Their muscles were far too rxed for that. Rxed muscles meant preparation for evasion while tensed meant preparation for engaging in taijutsu. At least, that''s what Anko taught him. He would have never thought to use Sharingan in this way, to predict what a person would do from the slight shift in his or her muscles. The two ninjas in front of him were about to fight with ninjutsu and Sasuke couldn''t help but be excited and happy from all the Jutsu he would witness and copy.

    Kakashi started with Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, nketing the area in front of the dashing Anko with a volley of small fireballs, making her weave through them while disregarding the heat. Momentarily surprised that his technique didn''t even slow his opponent down, Kakashi decided he would have to put more effort into it.

    Anko was far too proficient in Katon Release to be bothered by a slight increase in heat. She weaved through the small fireballs, using them to obstruct Kakashi''s line of sight while she weaved hand signs for her own technique. This way, he wouldn''t be able to copy it since he would miss quite a bit of hand signs and chakra molding steps. The same went for the duck-haired kid who tried to peek at her and was failing miserably because of the chakra contained in the small fireballs. There would be no copying of her personal techniques!

    Suddenly, Kakashi noticed Anko''s chakra spike, causing his eyes to go wide as she abruptly stopped before taking a deep breath and spitting a purple smoke from her mouth. The smoke twisted at breakneck speed, creating a snake almost as thick as a tree trunk before it sprang in the direction of Kakashi fast enough to give him a pause.

    ''Shit! That''s an A-rank technique! Why would she use something like that in a spar!?'' He thought in panic before jumping back, trying to increase the distance between him and the quickly approaching snake. Kakashi was very experienced and instantly realized the smoke forming the snake is most likely highly poisonous. He had to avoid it at all costs.

    Anko focused on directing the snake, watching as it engulfed Kakashi''s body. Something was off, however. It was far too easy...

    Her eyes suddenly gleamed before she quickly crouched down, putting her palm on the ground, "Earth Release: Pulse Hardening!" The ground under her slightly caved as a pulse of chakra was sent through it,pressing the earth enough to crush anyone trying to hide there.

    Anko watched with a smirk as ruffled Kakashi rose from the ground a few feet away from her, giving her a stink eye for what she just did.

    Kakashi couldn''t believe it. The crazy bitch almost squashed him like a bug with that earth Jutsu! And he was supposed to work with her? To be on the same team?

    ''Is it toote to retire and start a career as an Icha Icha actor?'' Kakashi inwardly mused while keeping his eyes firmly on the dangerous woman in front of him. When he heard there would be a chunin as a sort of secondary teacher, he didn''t mind. In fact, he was d for being given a flunky who would do the troublesome parts of being a jonin sensei for him. Now though... ''This is gonna be a long fight, isn''t it?'' He sighed, steeling his resolve while mourning the loss of his time for Icha Icha.

    Putting his hands into a cross-shaped hand sign, Kakashi called forth five shadow clones and had them spread out around the clearing. "Fine then... I guess I can take you a bit more seriously." He cheerfully quipped.

    Anko chuckled at the cheap attempt to unnerve her. Unfortunately for Kakashi, she got a bit more snake-like under Tsunade''s tutge. His chirpy facade was fooling no one. She could smell the irritation, worry, and unwillingness from Kakashi.

    Anko crossed her arms on her chest and rxed her posture, "Heh, in that case, I think you won''t need this." The air shimmered around the fingers of her right hand and Kakashi froze for a second before his hand involuntarily reached into his kunai pouch only for his eyes to widen in desperation.

    "My Icha Icha limited edition." He whispered in horror as the enemy got hold of the most important hostage present on the field.

    If only the poor little genins knew Kakashi''s train of thoughts...

    "I... give up." Kakashi ground out. He didn''t like it. Him giving up meant indirectly admitting she was correct about Minato-sensei but the stakes were far too high for him to continue. This was a limited edition personally signed by Jiraiya! The only in the world!

    Anko''s eyes mirthfully shed with mischief as she saw the distress in Kakashi''s eyes. She lightly waved the book, looking at it with a lifted eyebrow before giving Kakashi a smug look, "I think not." She said and sparks suddenly went off around her fingers, igniting the book.

    The world stopped for Kakashi and all of his shadow clones at that moment as they watched his most valuable possession burn while the Icha Icha murderer took pleasure in doing the heinous deed.

    Robotically turning towards Anko, all cheer was gone from Kakashi''s face. "I am going to kill you." He menacingly said in a low tone,pletely serious.

    Anko... smirked. "Toote."

    Five earth clones suddenly sprang up from the ground behind each of the five shadow clones of Kakashi, using their momentary distraction to subdue them without popping them.

    The real Kakashi snorted, palming a kunai as he also expected to be attacked, yet no attack came. "So? You got my clones. Big deal." He narrowed his eyes at Anko, lowering his posture. His hands blurred as a lightning edge formed on one of them while his Sharingan menacingly followed Anko''s every movement. He wasn''t going to kill her but damn him if he didn''t make her stay in hospital for the foreseeable future!

    Kakashi was about to dash at Anko with his Raikiri in hand when she spoke, "Shadow clones are a very peculiar thing. Did you know the main reason why they are forbidden and why Tobirama Senju added a safeguard that pops them after suffering a hit is because they transfer pain?" Anko couldn''t contain her wide smile, "Let me demonstrate!"

    Kakashi couldn''t be bothered to listen to her drivel. He only listened to the first part before disregarding it and rushing at Anko who just rxedly stood in her ce, not even bothering to assume a defensive stance. When he was halfway through the clearing, Anko''s earth clones simultaneously plunged kunai into the crotches of Kakashi''s shadow clones.

    Kakashi''s mind received five experiences of castration at the same time, smashing into his mind like a truck. Losing his concentration, his Raikiri faded while he missed a step during his dash, causing his body to lose bnce before it was sent rolling on the ground for a few meters because of his momentum.

    Anko watched in satisfaction as one of the most feared ninjas of Konoha curled into a ball, holding his crotch while whimpering like a kid. ''I still got it!'' She snickered before turning towards the three pale genins.

    "Since your jonin-sensei is... ah, disabled, your true genin exam will be conducted tomorrow. Be at the third training ground at ten a.m., prepared to fight for your life. And since I still have a pending conversation with your future team leader... Dismissed!" Anko announced to the three freshly graduated genins.

    They were so shaken they didn''t even question what she meant by ''true genin exam'' as they decided a tactical retreat was in order.

    Watching her three cute little genins run for their lives, Anko turned towards Kakashi who was still whimpering on the ground and cheerfully crouched near him.

    "Now then, I think it''s high time to discuss the rules you will obey as my superior and the leader of Team Seven, don''t you think?"

 Chapter 297 - Ch297. Genin Test 1

    <h4>Chapter 297 - Ch297. Genin Test 1</h4>

    Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata arrived at the training ground three at ten minutes before ten a.m., anxious about this supposed real genin test.

    They were not nervous because of the test. Far from it. They were ninjas and information gathering was a basic skill taught in the academy. They asked around and found out almost nobody fails the test nowadays. That, however, only put more pressure on them.

    No, they were nervous because of who was going to be testing them.

    Kakashi Hatake was one of the very few jonins who failed fresh genins since the reforms in the academy took effect. Sure, these genins were simply given a second chance and passed with flying colors because... apparently, Kakashi was a huge dick, but that was not really important.

    They witnessed the white-haired jonin fight Anko and the idea of being part of such a fast-paced fight was as scary as it was exciting for the trio. After all, Anko handed their asses to them hands down without even really trying and Kakashi could go blow for blow against her. Judging by that, their prospects were not the best...

    "Calm down. I don''t understand why you are so uptight about it, bastard." Narutozily said from his spot under a tree where he carefreelyid with his hands behind his head, not betraying how nervous he really felt.

    "Why? Maybe because we are going to fight against one of the strongest jonins in Konoha? Unlike you, I did my homework and gathered information about this Hatake Kakashi. He is famed as the Sharingan no Kakashi and is known for copying more than a thousand ninjutsu! Fighting against him won''t be easy, loser." Sasuke grunted, counting his newly-purchased exploding tags to pass the long while.

    "But Anko has beaten him so readily..." Naruto whined.

    "Sometimes you act so smartly I forget you are actually an idiot." Sasuke wearily sighed, "Anko yed dirty and dispatched him before he could use his area of expertise, ninjutsu. The man has Sharingan and was a ninjutsu prodigy even before he got that."

    "So we just have to y dirty too!" Naruto rolled his eyes.

    "No shit sherlock..." Hinata muttered under her nose. She was asionally activating and deactivating her eyes to scan the surroundings. Being surprised by Anko once was enough trauma for one lifetime.

    As such, she was very aware that Naruto''s clones were currently trapping the forest to high heavens and made sure to remember the position of every trap. They were given the advantage of knowing where they would fight and not using it would be such a waste Anko would no doubt flunk them just because.

    "As if it was that easy..." Sasuke snorted.

    Honestly, he was very interested in Kakashi after finding out the man possessed Sharingan. That desire plummeted when he heard what others had to say about him. Pervert,zy as fuck, alwayste... Apparently, he pissed off quite a few people with his bad habits.

    When Sasuke thought a person like this possessed his n''s fabled dojutsu and was known for using it to great effect... he couldn''t help but feel a bit ashamed to share this trait with him. God knows Anko-sensei would beat the crap out of him if she caught him reading Icha Icha before he became a full-fledged genin.

    He definitely didn''t know that because she once caught him... Nope.

    The trio quieted down in silent contemtion, all going through the repertoire of techniques they knew while trying to devise a strategy based on what they saw Kakashi being capable of in his fight against Anko. Their information was severely limited but it was still better than going inpletely blind.

    When the clock hit ten a.m., Kakashi finally arrived, boredly hunching down while trying to keep as far away as possible from the excitable and sadistic kunoichi who followed him to make sure he wouldn''t bete.

    Kakashi didn''t like being on this team. At all. Especially so after the three hours he spent in hospital yesterday while his mind tried to reboot from all the pain Anko put him through. Unfortunately for him, he was under the threat of having his eggs scrambled... and Kakashi quickly learned to take Anko''s threats quite seriously... so he had to listen to the ridiculous rules Anko gave him.

    1. No pissing people off by beingzy and arriving in every meeting three hourste!

    2. No pissing on people!

    3. No pissing Anko off as that makes her cranky and cranky Anko is stabby Anko! Consider yourself warned.

    4. No imagining humping Anko''s leg because she forbade you to read Icha Icha during work, ya pervert!

    5. No beating your genin up to relieve your frustration! In this team, only Anko-chan can bully others!

    6. No ying fetch with pointy sharp metal with your genins! Use blunted ones! They hurt longer.

    7. No teamwork crap until the team members are individuallypetent enough to actually make working together worth it.

    Anko called these things the Seven Commandments of Utterly Amazing Anko-chan and Kakashi wasn''t sure if some of them didn''te from a book about training pets.

    "Yo..." Kakashizily waved at his three new genins but his voice didn''t contain the usual cheer. Instead, it sounded quite dejected. He then pulled out a clock from his pocket and set it up on a nearby stump, "So... well, I wanted to give you a teamwork test but it was pointed to me," He shivered as he remembered Anko''s kunai approaching his ass while he was paralyzed from all the paining from his crotch, "that three genins put together on a team are not supposed to have a passable teamwork and it is my duty as your jonin-sensei to teach you how to work together rather than expect it from you right off the bat."

    Kakashi had no idea why he was exining himself but damn if it didn''t feel good toin in this roundabout way about the brutal team-leader abuse going on in his team.

    "Instead, you three will try to subdue me within the next two hours," Cue the three groans that lifted Kakashi''s mood, "so I can get a decent image of your current skillset. Don''t worry and-" He eye-smiled before setting the rm to go off in two hours, e at me with the intent to kill."

    The second he finished saying that, the ground under him suddenly exploded as three exploding tags went off right underneath him, sending rocks, dirt, and dust into the air.

    Sasuke and Naruto nced at Hinata who gently shook her head, gesturing with her head at a tree to their left where Kakashi was currently halfheartedly ''hiding'' by leaning on the tree trunk with his back while reading Icha Icha. Fortunately, Anko allowed him to read it during this asion as it would be a good motivation for the genins.

    Kakashi yet again wondered why did he agree to Anko''s ridiculous rules and why did he need permission from the younger woman to read his porn...

    "Nice n, you three." He half-heartedly praised, "You definitely deserve a point for eagerness and being murder-happy."

    Contrary to Kakashi''s expectations, the three genins didn''t react to his remark and just spread out, watching him with cute determined looks as if they had a chance.

    ''Let''s get this over with. Might as well use this opportunity to show the Uchiha some Jutsu while teaching him humility, teach the Hyuuga her n''s fighting style is not God''s gift, and make sure Naruto would never dream of pranking me out of fear of retaliation.'' He thought with a sigh. This was going to be a nice leisure two hours of fun.

    Unknown to Kakashi, Anko watched in anticipation from her hiding spot. Yes, the three genins were anxious and careful but she didn''t train the three of them to be Kakashi''s personal punching bag. If he thought this was going to be easy he had another thinging.

    ''I wonder if Hinata will make good use of my advice about how to subdue men..'' Anko giggled, imagining the vast possibilities of Gentle Fist.

 Chapter 298 - Ch298. Genin Test 2

    <h4>Chapter 298 - Ch298. Genin Test 2</h4>

    Kakashi carefully observed the three genins from behind his Icha Icha, mildly displeased, yet slightly impressed that he had to split his attention between his favorite book and his opponents. That exploding trap was ingenious and if he didn''t have jonin-level reflexes, he would have been killed there and then. It was obvious his cute little genins were a bit special.

    As he was waiting for the genins to attack, Kakashi suddenly stiffened. Only his instincts honed through numerous battles made him able to react in time as two clones of Naruto appeared from the ground, catching his legs while a small stone behind him transformed into yet another clone and took hold of his only free hand, limiting its movement range.

    Before he even managed to realize he was trapped, Hinata did something he saw only one other person do. She shunshined right in front of him with pinpoint precision, already striking with her Gentle Fist as she appeared.

    Kakashi''s hair on his entire body stood when he saw where she was aiming...

    ''Not my crotch!'' He inwardly freaked out, using his only free hand to try blocking her. As he positioned his hand in front of his crotch and Hinata''s strike found a purchase... a flurry of torn papers exploded in all directions, ripping the item Kakashi held in his free hand, making his eyes go wide in horror. ''My Icha Icha Paradise Special Edition... Noooooooooooo!'' Anguish filled his mind when he saw the ripped remains of his second most precious book.

    Sasuke didn''t care about Kakashi''s mental state. He continued with his attack and as the ''Sasuke'' in front of Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, the real Sasuke jumped out of the foliage right behind Kakashi, aiming a high kick at his head.

    Sasuke''s foot was about to hit when Kakashi suddenly spun at a ferocious speed that almost made him a blur to the three genins, shaking off Naruto''s clones and making some of them dispel. He caught Sasuke''s ankle before using his body as a club to smash Hinata away while letting go of Sasuke''s ankle, sending both Icha-Icha-killing monsters brutally tumbling on the ground.

    "That was my second favorite book, you bastards." Kakashi menacingly said in a low tone, his lone visible eye twitching in anger. "I am done with being nice. Screw Anko and her rules. Let''s see how you manage in a fight against a real jonin."

    Normally, Kakashi would not get mad. Normally, he would have a firm grip on his emotions. Normally, he would think getting mad at three genins who had no experience in emotional warfare or maniption was beneath him since it was him who would be emotionally bullying them to toughen them up a bit. Normally, Kakashi would be calm and collected, always cheerful if only to piss the people around him off.

    Unfortunately for the three genins, his encounter with Anko and the following trauma made him crack and Hinata destroying his second favorite book was just the right spark he needed to ignite.

    Kakashi appeared in front of Naruto, kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying into the forest. Suddenly ducking under a kunai thrown by Sasuke, Kakashi stopped his pursuit of Naruto and focused on Sasuke, dashing towards him with the intention of beating the crap out of the kid to release his frustration. He was about to punch Sasuke''s cheek when Hinata appeared in Sasuke''s ce via a quick Kawarimi, making Kakashi''s eyes widen when she spun into Kaiten, causing his fist to be deflected with enough force to rattle his bones and sending his body spinning away.

    Kakashi regained his bnce and used the momentum of his spinning body to throw a kunai with the explosive note right at the edge of Hinata''s Kaiten. The second the girl stopped spinning, the weak exploding tag went off, sending her body hurling back. Kakashi was not done yet, and turned towards the direction of Sasuke... only to see an empty clearing. He slowly blinked, his temper calming down due to the unexpectedness of the situation, and turned towards where Hinata''s body was supposed to be located, only to find a smoking log.

    ''Damn... tough kids.'' Kakashi thought, knowing they did not avoid his hits. His eyes strayed towards the forest with unwilling apathy, ''They will make me work for this, won''t they?'' He sighed. The fact he had nothing better to do anyway only reminded him his precious Icha Icha was destroyed, causing a new determination to hunt them down to rise in Kakashi''s chest as he entered the forest.

    Kakashi trekked through the forest, automatically using shadows to hide without even putting much thought into it. He was amazed that he couldn''t find the three genins.

    ''I want to make their lives hell but they continue to impress me.'' Kakashi thought in amusement, ''To think they would take precautions against my sense of smell. No... the really praiseworthy thing is that they gathered enough information about me to know about my exceptional sense of smell.''

    Suddenly he stopped, tilting his head before chuckling as he crouched down and took a look at the elementary attempt at setting up a trap.

    "Next time set a tripwire in a ce without shade. You need enough light to make it invisible." Kakashi calmly but loudly spoke before standing up and stepping around the tripwire, going further into the forest, asionally finding the tant traps strewn around the forest amusing.

    ''Naruto... I know you love pranks but this is just pathetic. At least try to hide the traps...'' Kakashi shook his head.

    Unknown to Kakashi, he saw only what Naruto wanted him to see as he stepped further and further into the centre of Naruto''s trap.

    ...

    Naruto suddenly grinned as the clone he transformed into a tripwire popped, alerting him that Kakashi passed by. This was it. This was what he waited for. He was an extremely good sensor and even before he trained that particr skill of his, his instincts and observatory abilities were very good. He naturally recognized Kakashi as Inu, one of his ANBU guards when he was younger.

    Naruto also remembered bags of groceries asionally waiting for him in front of his house whenever Inu''s shift ended. Or the academy books appearing out of nowhere in his apartment. Or...

    Well, Naruto knew Inu was helping him quite a lot.

    Unfortunately for the poor unsuspecting Kakashi, Naruto was raised by Anko who imparted a simple piece of knowledge into him.

    ''If you want to impress someone, show them how much you improved.''

    And Naruto took it quite literally.

    "Heh, Inu-san... I am going to show you I am no longer that little boy who needs protection!" Naruto whispered to himself with a fox-like grin before nodding at his clone, "The operation Doggy Style is a go." He quipped, making it dispel which gave the signal for his other clones.

 Chapter 299 - Ch299.Operation Doggy Style

    <h4>Chapter 299 - Ch299.Operation Doggy Style</h4>

    Kakashi finally reached the center of the forest and found himself almost awed that he still couldn''t find the three genins. He might not be using all tools in his repertoire but this was supposed to be a genin test. He was not supposed to be going hard on the three kids.

    ''Looks like they understood the underlying meaning of the test well...'' Kakashi inwardly mused, unable to suppress the small smile that formed on his face.

    It might not seem so but the bell test and the one he was currently administering were very different. The bell test''s objective was to get a bell. That meant Kakashi could justze around as long as he protected the bell well. It was the genins who were hunters. It was them who had to get the objective.

    In this test, however, Kakashi had two hours to test the skill of his genin team. Unlike in the bell test, the hunter in this test was Kakashi himself. It was his job to test them, hence, he had to force them to fight. Not the other way around. It irritated and pleased Kakashi at the same time that his team realized they could pass the test even if they hid for the whole duration of it. It would simply showcase their superior capability at stealth if they managed to hide from an ex-ANBU captain for two whole hours.

    If this test was tranted to a practical, real-life situation, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata could bepared to three ninjas behind enemy lines attacked by a superior enemy and their goal is to survive until the rm rings which could bepared to reinforcements arriving.

    Kakashi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, ''I might be forced to take this a bit more seriously and properly track the kids.'' He thought wryly. ''Aaah~, I don''t wanna be mocked by my colleagues for losing to three new genins.'' Hemented.

    "Ah, well... whatever." Shrugging, Kakashi crouched down and startedzily weave hand signs. "Kuchiyose no-"

    Kakashi was in the middle of casting the Jutsu when his senses registered a kunai heading towards him. In an instant, multiple things happened. Firstly, Kakashi mentally rolled his eyes when he realized the trajectory of the kunai was off. Honestly... he was a stationary target and the kid throwing the kunai still missed? It certainly must have been Naruto.

    Naturally, Kakashi was experienced enough to check if the kunai had an explosive tag attached but there was none and there was no chakra fluctuationing from it either.

    The kunainded an entire three feet away from the crouching Kakashi, making him furrow his eyebrows and feel embarrassed for his future pupil.

    "-Jutsu!" Kakashi finished the summoning Jutsu, summoning his eight ninja dogs with an explosion of smoke for each dog.

    There were, however, nine smoke explosions instead of just the expected eight, freezing Kakashi in his tracks as he realized the kunai was indeed a trap. He didn''t manage to dodge in time as the smoke that exploded from the kunai engulfed his body.

    Kakashi instantly held his breath, not knowing what to expect from the smoke. He wasn''t inside of the smoke cloud for long as his body instantly jumped out on instinct while his mind wondered how Naruto managed to create a trap kunai like this without causing any chakra fluctuations.

    Unfortunately for Kakashi, this was indeed Naruto Uzumaki the Prankster King of Konoha''s custom-made anti-Kakashi trademark.

    Kakashi didn''t feel any different than normal and he doubted the kid had ess to anything potent enough to get through his trained poison immunity anyway but... ''Was it a dud?'' He wondered.

    Suddenly, his eight ninja dogs pounced... right at Kakashi.

    Kakashi''s eyes widened in shock, not expecting his own dogs to attack him out of nowhere. Yet, his mind couldn''t, in the split second he had, react as it registered the dogs as his allies. Kakashi often yed with his ninja dogs and that meant them yfully pouncing on him. Because of that, his body didn''t react, and the eight ninja dogs collided with Kakashi''s body, sending it onto the ground before they started... wildly humping all over him. His legs, arms, belly, shoulders... not even his face was spared as the biggest of the pack decided it was a good target. The stunned Kakashi was only d he wore his many facemasks as the dog''s balls started impacting his face.

    High in the treetops, Anko watched in disbelief at the helpless Kakashi who uselessly iled his arms and feet while being literally ''dogpiled'', suddenly bursting into uncontrobleughter, deciding to reward her brat for such an ingenious and cruel way to prove his improvement in trap-making.

    Rei, who was surrounded by his wives, watched this historical event through the Hokage''s Crystal Ball Tsunade confiscated as it was made by her family. He couldn''t help but feel pity for the white-haired jonin. Nevertheless, his lips were twitching upward no matter how much he tried not to smile as Kakashi was having a bonding experience with his eight dogs. As for Rei''s wives... they had no problemughing their collective asses off.

    ''That hidden seal on the kunai was quite good...'' Rei hummed in appreciation, wondering if Naruto chose to be a seal user focusing on trap-making.

    Back in the forest in training ground three, Naruto who was hiding in foliage while using multiple seals to prevent Kakashi from finding him had to bite into his hand quite hard to not start outrightughing while he watched his carefullyid n work like a charm.

    ''Mixing all these hormones of female dogs in the heat was SO worth it! Ha! Inu-san, Feel the hump of the Uzumaki hiddenbo number sixty-nine!'' Naruto mentally thought while his eyes started to water as he barely held back tears ofughter.

    Hiding in a different spot, Sasuke watched in deadpan at the trap his numbskull of a teammate prepared. He had to close his eyes as he could feel a headache forming behind them. ''Shit... Sharingan gives me eidetic memory. I will never be able to forget the image of Kakashi being... ugh.'' Sasuke''splexion turned green as he mentally cursed Naruto.

    Not far away, Hinata was blushing while watching her future jonin sensei''s little pet problem, ''Naruto-kun... that was evil.'' She thought, feeling a bit bad for Kakashi before her eyes lit up with glee, ''Anko-sensei will definitely be proud!''

    The cute little Hyuuga was slowly falling to the dark side from all the cinnamon rolls Anko fed her through the years of her training.

    For two minutes, Kakashi''s mind tried toprehend what the heck was happening while he thrashed around, trying to shake off his eight crazed dogs. Unfortunately for him, even though he was physically jonin-level, ninja dogs are a lot stronger than regr ones. He was also too dumbfounded by his situation to use his full power and as such, it took his two whole minutes of being humped before he finally realized he could just cancel the summoning.

    The eight dogs disappeared with a puff of smoke, leaving behind only Kakashi whoid on his back, wordlessly staring at the sky with a nk mind and a deep burning desire to forget thest three minutes of his life.

    Only then his chaotic mind clicked, making him realize an important fact. His dogs... his beloved pets and the friends that helped keep him above the water surface, away from suicidal thoughts during his most depressing and hardest times were used to... to... to...

    A potent killing intent surged from Kakashi, engulfing the surroundings as his upper body sprang up into a sitting position while screaming in impotent rage, "NARUTO! I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU!"

 Chapter 300 - Ch300. Genin Test 3

    <h4>Chapter 300 - Ch300. Genin Test 3</h4>

    Kakashi slowly stood up, gritting his teeth in anger. He was no longer willing to be amodating towards his new genins. No matter how impressive their performance was so far... Naruto went too far with thisst stunt.

    Contrary to what Kakashi shouted, he wasn''t going for the kill. Enraged he might be, but tight emotional control was a necessary skill for a ninja. Nevertheless, he was going to make damn sure he beat some respect into Naruto!

    Summoning four shadow clones, Kakashi decided to take a small breather as they dashed into the foliage, intent to find the three wayward genins. These clones would no longer treat them as genins. No... since Naruto was so adamant to make him serious, the fight was on.

    A bit further in the forest, Naruto heard Kakashi''s enraged shout, causing chills to jump up to his spine while he briefly wondered if he went too far before his pride as a prankster quickly squashed these feelings down. After all, it was just a harmless prank, no? Kakashi wouldn''t get too mad... right? He didn''t even use anything lethal or permanent, dattebayo!

    Turning on his sensory abilities to the extreme, Naruto ''watched'' Kakashi like a hawk. Even after five whole minutes, Kakashi seemed to stay in the same spot, greatly puzzling Naruto.

    ''What is he doing?'' Naruto pondered in confusion, ''He couldn''t be traumatized enough to give up. He is supposed to be a jonin!''

    Naruto was aware that Kakashi was working on a time limit. There were barely thirty minutes remaining until the rm bell announced the end of this exercise, yet, the ''hunter'' was still taking it easy.

    If it was his old self, Naruto would rush out to engage Kakashi but... training with Anko has beaten these bad habits out of him. This Naruto preferred to stay hidden if he had the option. After all, why bother fighting when you could justze around?

    The bush near Naruto suddenly shifted, causing Naruto''s guard to rise, only for Hinata to rush out, making him feel relieved.

    "Naruto! Watch out!" Hinata eximed in-between her gasps for air, the veins around her eyes bulging out.

    In the next instant, a few things happened at once. Naruto''s mind halted for a second when he saw Hinata''s urgent expression. He didn''t know why she was so distressed because his sensory abilities didn''t alert him about anything nearby. It was only then he saw her Byakugan activated and registered what she said.

    Naruto''s eyes widened as he pushed himself off the ground into a roll, only barely dodging a downward kick from Kakashi that spread many cracks through the ce where Naruto''s chest was just a second ago.

    ''That would have cracked my ribs for sure!'' Naruto thought with a bit of fear creeping into his mind.

    Hinata, without really thinking, sprang forward, intending to make Kakashi busy in order to give Naruto a second of a much-needed breather so he could find his bnce and rejoin the fight. Unfortunately for her, Kakashi wasn''t having it, and as the girl stuck with her fingers towards Kakashi''s chest in the initial move for the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, she found herself gasping for air as her eyes bulged while the air was forced out of her. Only when she was flying back did her mind distantly realize Kakashi used his superior reach to deliver a strong kick to her stomach, stopping her technique before she even started.

    Naruto watched as Hinata''s body uncontrobly rolled on the ground after Kakashi delivered his brutal kick to her abdomen. He quickly stood up, creating two Shadow Clones, one going to engage Kakashi while the other went to check up on Hinata. As for the original, he knew Kakashi would target him so he decided to keep his distance for now.

    Kakashi, however, surprised Naruto by just standing in front of him, not engaging again despite his apparent momentary advantage. Before the original Naruto could think up a reason for that, he felt something grab his ankle, and his world spun before he felt a tremendous impact from his back brutally colliding with a tree, cracking its bark.

    Spitting some blood, Naruto felt his assant prepare to swing his body again so he kicked down with his free leg, trying to hit whoever held him.

    Hinata regained her bearings and saw second Kakashi seeding in a sneak attack on Naruto. Before she could jump at him, a kunai flew from the treetops to the right, aiming at the head of this second Kakashi who just leaned back a bit, letting it harmlessly sail past him. The kunai was just a distraction though. Sasuke was already mid-kick, heading towards Kakashi''s head. With his previous leaning back, the guy shouldn''t have enough bnce to dodge...

    Except, a third Kakashi suddenly appeared behind Sasuke who was mid-air and couldn''t dodge as the third Kakashi drove his fist into his stomach. That was not the end of it. After the first punch, Kakashi delivered the second. Then third. Then fourth. Thebo continued, keeping Sasuke stationary in the air before Kakashi put a bit more strength into his tenth punch, sending the Uchiha''s body flying back into the foliage.

    Knowing she had to intervene, Hinata dashed at the second Kakashi who held Naruto by his ankle with one hand while blocking his kick with the other, preparing to swing his body again... She threw some shurikens at him, trying to prevent him from doing it.

    That was the extent of the help she could provide to Naruto as she suddenly found her body being driven into the ground when the fourth Kakashi suddenly showed up out of nowhere, kicking her between the shoulder des. Hinata had only an instant to curse herself for being too focused on Naruto and Sasuke that she didn''t pay enough attention to her surroundings before she realized the fourth Kakashi intended tond on her back with his knees.

    Widening her eyes, Hinata realized that would break bones and quickly pushed her body to the side, evading the fourth Kakashi by an inch, causing him to pop in an explosion of smoke when his knees impacted the ground so heavily it spread cracks through it.

    Both Sasuke and Hinata were prevented from helping Naruto but he didn''t count on them much, considering their opponent. The Shadow Clone that engaged the very first Kakashi that appeared was already done for, as was the one Naruto created to check on Hinata. Ten more Naruto''s shadow clones rushed into the fight as Naruto recalled them from their job of cing traps around the forest. Five went towards the original Naruto who still tried to get out of Kakashi''s vice-grip by thrashing his body. Three went towards the Kakashi who used Sasuke as his impromptu punching bag. And thest two went towards the first Kakashi to dy him since Hinata''s opponent already popped out of existence.

    The five shadow clones managed to force the second Kakashi to release Naruto''s ankle but not before he delivered a bone-shattering kick into his chest, cracking multiple ribs in the process. Only Naruto''s superior constitution prevented his ribcage from resembling a broken window. The second Kakashi then engaged the five shadow clones, instantly dispatching three with taijutsu before the remaining two managed to embrace him in a suicide attack with explosive notes attached to them. With a loud boom, both the second Kakashi and the two Naruto''s disappeared, leaving behind only a scorched ground.

    The three clones that engaged the third Kakashi weren''t so lucky. The first of them experienced how it felt to have kunai enter his head through the eye before popping out of existence. The second managed to deliver a punch to Kakashi''s side... unfortunately it was just a ncing blow as most of the force behind the punch was mitigated by Kakashi backhanding the clone, turning it into an explosion of smoke. The third clone of Naruto deviously went for a low blow, hugging one of Kakashi''s legs. It would have been a great tactic too if Kakashi didn''t already deal with the other two clones.

    As the third Kakashi was about to swing his kunai down at the head of Naruto''s clone who was hugging his leg like a ko, his eye pupils dting in realization it was over... a huge fireball appeared, engulfing both of them.

    A few feet away, panting Sasuke fell onto his knees, holding his chest that was full of broken ribs.

    The first Kakashi already dealt with his two opponents, looking at the three kids in an appraising manner. Naruto and Sasuke had broken bones while Hinata had a few bruises at most. Nodding to himself he spoke, "And that, kids, was the ninja lesson number one. Taijutsu. Now it''s time for lesson number two..." He eye-smiled while pulling his headband up. Sasuke''s red eyes widened in alert and he opened his mouth to warn his two teammates but he was toote as his world spun. "Genjutsu."

    Three screams resounded through the forest, making the real Kakashi, who still rested in the ce where his dogs attacked him, genuinely smile as the nice symphony entered his ears.

    s.... it was time to move.

 Chapter 301 - Ch301. Genin Test: Genjutsu

    <h4>Chapter 301 - Ch301. Genin Test: Genjutsu</h4>

    Feeling a bit disoriented, Hinata found herself staring at Naruto on the verge of death, riddled with kunais and shurikens. It shocked her but she quickly recognized she was in Genjutsu and promptly fluctuated her chakra, breaking out of it.

    Her senses returned to normal, making her head snap in the direction of the Kakashi who cast the genjutsu only to witness a few wisps of white smoke, signifying it was a clone that dispelled.

    The immediate threat gone, Hinata''s eyes quickly flickered to Sasuke who stood rooted in his spot with wide eyes before she looked at Naruto who lied on the ground, shivering. Hinata disregarded the Uchiha and jumped directly towards Naruto, knowing the knucklehead will have a lot harder timebating illusions than someone with activated Sharingan.

    Kneeling next to Naruto, Hinata put her hand on his chest and pulsed her chakra into his system, only briefly noting that Sasuke finally snapped out of the genjutsu. Unlike Hinata''s expectations, Naruto didn''t immediately wake up. Instead, tears started to stream down his cheeks, making Hinata worry.

    "Naru-" She leaned forward in worry when...

    "RAMEN!!!" Naruto''s upper body abruptly sprang up with a scream, causing Hinata to widen her eyes before their foreheads collided with a loud and painful thud, making their heads jerk backward.

    "Oww!" Naruto''s upper body impacted the ground headfirst before his hands snapped towards the back of his head that hurt more than his forehead.

    "Uuuu..." Hinata who fell on her bum also started to rub her forehead with her hands, holding back tears while slightly blushing from the proximity of their faces at the time of the collision.

    Both of thempletely ignored the deadpan look a certain Uchiha was shooting them from the side, ''I am in the team with idiots...'' He resignedly thought with a tired sigh.

    ...

    Not far away, Kakashi who was about to start running in the direction of the three genins suddenly shook his head as a sudden pain invaded it alongside the memories of hisst clone who was forcibly dispelled by exhausting almost all of its avable chakra. This kind of dispel was even worse than a clone being killed as far as the user was concerned.

    In a fight, this would have been fatal since for a second, it gave the user a sense of vertigo not dissimr from what real chakra exhaustion feels like, causing him a headache and an impression of physical weakness that almost drove Kakashi to his knees. The unpleasant feeling was gone almost as far as it appeared but that second would have been fatal in a fight. This was yet another reason why shadow clones were not used by high-ranked ninjas in fights.

    "Naruto..." Kakashi frowned, "who would have thought the kid has anti-genjutsu counter-measures set up."

    Kakashi''s clone knew that genjutsu was a bad idea against a team with Hyuuga and Uchiha. He didn''t think it would be effective much. He just wanted to see how long it would take them to break out of it for the sake of evaluation.

    Sasuke had his Sharingan, which meant sticking a genjutsu on the kid was hard as heck. Fortunately for Kakashi, he knew a lot about Sharingan and knew how to bypass some of its natural abilities. Getting past Sasuke''s three-tomoe Sharingan was a slightly troublesome piece of cake for Kakashi even though he doubted the genjutsu wouldst for more than five seconds. After all, a fully matured Sharingan was called a cheat for a reason.

    Hinata was a Hyuuga. This was even more bothersome than Sharingan as far as genjutsu was concerned. Many genjutsu specialists think that the key to defeating a Hyuuga with genjutsu is using non-visual one. Well... many of those found out the hard way why that was not a good idea. Hyuugas simply could see their own chakrawork and that meant they instantly discovered if something was amiss with it.

    Kakashi was in ANBU and thanks to his bountiful experience he knew a way to trick these white eyes too. Granted, only one out of ten Hyuugas would be unobservant enough to miss it but Kakashi decided to test Hinata anyway.

    As for Naruto...

    A sudden desperate scream of, "RAMEN!!!" spread through the forest, scaring many birds in the vicinity and causing Kakashi to grin.

    Since Uchiha and Hyuuga were walking cheats against genjutsu, Kakashi decided Naruto would have to be evaluated more... harshly. As such, the genjutsu he put Naruto under was a bit special.

    A less known fact about Sharingan was that it could alter the perception of time to an extent in its genjutsu. In the few seconds, Naruto was caught in the genjutsu, he was made to relive an entire day of being bound to a chair and unable to move while all around him were thousands of fragrant, delicious-looking ramen bowls daringly tempting the young Uzumaki with their delicious aroma, making him drool. And amidst these bowls, right opposite Naruto, a different Naruto stood, gulping down a bowl after bowl with gusto before the ramen replenished itself while he viciously mocked and taunted the real Naruto.

    ''Ah... nothing triumphs a good mental tortu... ahem, training.'' Kakashi nodded in self-satisfaction.

    The Sharingan''s ability to change the perception of time was very limited. It only allowed Kakashi''s clone to at most stretch a few seconds to one day and even that consumed half of its avable chakra. Even the original Kakashi would not be able to do better than that, no matter if he was willing to expend more chakra on it. This ability of Sharingan wasn''t known simply because no Uchiha in his right mind would use it in the middle of a fight. The chakra consumption was far too much and extending the target''s perception of time just gave him more time to actually realize he is in genjutsu and counter it. That said, this was Naruto surrounded by ramen so Kakashi wouldn''t be surprised if the kid totally disregarded the possibility of genjutsu and actually thought he died and went to heaven...

    Kakashi went through the memories he inherited from his clone and unexpectedly, the second the clone caught Naruto in the genjutsu, something triggered, making the clone unable to ''disconnect'' his chakra from Naruto''s and he was instantly sucked dry of its chakra, causing him to dispel before he could gather the necessary anti-genjutsu evaluation of the team.

    ''So that was the reason I was hit by the feeling of chakra exhaustion!'' Kakashi briefly shuddered, d he didn''t try to use genjutsu on Naruto himself while wondering what the heck was the Jutsu safeguarding him. It clearly allowed Naruto to be put under genjutsu while attacking the caster.

    ''Maybe it''s a seal?'' Kakashi pondered. It wouldn''t be far-fetched. Naruto was an Uzumaki and both of his parents were Seal Masters. Yet... Kakashi doubted it is a seal made by Naruto. It was a too brutal counter for the knuckleheaded sunshine toe up with it himself. Kakashi''s mood soured as a frown shoed on his hidden lips, ''Why do I have the bad feeling it is some kind of extremely dangerous forbidden Jutsu? And why only Ankoes to mind as the person who would teach an academy student such a thing?''

    Kakashi wasn''t sure he wanted to know the answer to these questions....

 Chapter 302 - Ch302. Genin Test: Fin

    <h4>Chapter 302 - Ch302. Genin Test: Fin</h4>

    The three genins tried to hide again but once Kakashi employed some unconventional methods he learned during his stay in ANBU, even the ingenious cloaking seals Naruto made couldn''t prevent him from finding them. s, Naruto simply didn''t have enough experience to configure the seal against every possible way of tracking somebody.

    That''s how the unfortunate Naruto, and yes, Kakashi targeted him first on purpose despite Uchiha or Hyuuga being better targets, suddenly found himself being pulled down into the ground, causing Hinata''s eyes to widen as she inwardly scolded herself for not looking underground with her Byakugan while jumping towards him in an attempt to help.

    Naruto wasn''t in the best mental state when the attack happened. He was nervous and anxious. He just experienced the mental torture of being surrounded by thousands of bowls of ramen and not being able to eat any of it! He also knew he probably... maybe... most likely... went a bit too far with his dog-prank on Kakashi. As his mind was preupied with these thoughts, he wasn''t able to react in time when Kakashi suddenly attacked.

    Hinata was about to reach him when Naruto''s body was fully submerged underground, only his head sticking out. Unfortunately for her, she was mid-jump when Kakashi sprang up from the ground and swiftly grabbed her by forearms and swung their bodies to the right, spinning on his heel as he threw her like a sack of potatoes right at Sasuke who was leaping into the fray from the opposite side.

    Hinata''s body crashed into Sasuke''s for the second time that day, sending them tumbling through the air. This time, she was more prepared and Sasuke found himself quite literally being kicked out of his stupor when Hinata''s feet brutally impacted his gut, making his body bend as she kicked him away from herself.

    Not a secondter, a fireball sent at her from Kakashi''s direction engulfed her body... before its spinning rapidly increased more and more until it spun so fast the mes were extinguished, revealing Hinata''s Kaiten.

    As Sasuke''s body flew through the air, he made use of the momentum Hinata''s kick granted him to shift into a good position before he threw a shuriken at Kakashi who just finished casting fireball and was about to focus back on Naruto. This shuriken made him lean back and momentarily stop paying attention to Naruto which interrupted his attack on the defenseless prankster.

    Nevertheless, Kakashi''s left foot sprang forward while his body was leaning back, delivering a nasty kick to Naruto''s chin with the intention of knocking him out... and breaking his jaw.

    Much to Kakashi''s surprise, as his kick connected, Naruto burst into smoke, revealing it was just a clone.

    Naruto was quite proficient at getting out of body restrictions. He kinda had to be since he lived with Anko. All he needed was Kakashi being distracted for a second so he could rece himself without alerting the jonin. Fortunately for him, Sasuke''s shuriken gave him such a distraction.

    Kakashi wasn''t surprised for more than a split of a second before his hand sneaked into his pouch and three shurikens found themselves flying in three different directions.

    Hinata just finished her Kaiten, a bit disoriented because Kaiten was not made to be used mid-air. Her feet barelynded on the ground and she was intending to jump back into the fray when her eyes widened... She quickly threw her body back, evading the shuriken that aimed at her jugr by a half-inch. Unfortunately for her, behind her was a tree and her back impacted it with all of her weight, making her groan as she fell on her knees which distracted her from her intention of attacking Kakashi. She wondered how experienced her jonin-sensei must be to make such perfect use of the biggest weakness of Kaiten.

    Not many knew but it took a split second for Hyuuga to reorient himself after finishing Kaiten. During that split second, they might as well be blind to the world despite their Byakugan since everything is just spinning in front of their eyes. That''s why Hinata noticed the shuriken sote.

    The second shuriken headed straight at Sasuke who was in the middle of weaving seals for the Great Fireball Technique. Sasuke''s eyes also widened when he realized he can either finish the technique and get hit by the shuriken or interrupt his technique and evade. The Uchiha briefly wondered if his attack was worth getting hit by the shuriken but then decided there was no guarantee his fireball would actually hit Kakashi so he promptly threw himself into the roll to the left, fully intending to start quickly attacking again in order to minimize the amount of time Kakashi had without being pressurized.

    As for the third shuriken... Naruto who suddenly leaped out of the treetops a bit right above Kakashi only barely managed to tilt his head downward, almost pressing his cheek to his shoulder. This allowed him to use said cheek as a shield. Instead of ripping through his neck, the shuriken whizzed through his cheek, leaving a bloody gash behind.

    Naruto didn''t pay much attention to his injury. Because he didn''t dodge, he was still mid-leap at Kakashi and he fully intended to continue his attack.

    Kakashi, as if momentarily stunned that Naruto didn''t evade, also failed to dodge when Naruto''s fist impacted his cheek.

    Naruto wasn''t happy though. The Kakashi he hit was too hard... before he could finish that thought, the Kakashi turned to stone, revealing it was just an Earth Clone. Naruto''s breath briefly hitched as he remembered a small problem. Since he didn''t burst into smoke upon hitting the earth clone, it practically revealed that he was the original. He was about to do a quick Kawarimi when...

    "Secret Ninja Technique: Thousand Years of Pain!"

    Naruto felt something enter his ass from below, sending a weak current of raiton chakra through his body, causing his eyes to bulge out before he was propelled forward, back into the treetops where he smacked his head on a thick branch with a loud crack just at the right angle which made his body twirl around the branch and start crashing to the ground. Naruto was out cold before he impacted the ground, breaking several bones, and started twitching.

    Sasuke and Hinata finally reoriented themselves just in time to witness this historical moment, making them both stupefied while a chill went up to their spines as they subconsciously tightened their butt cheeks before giving Kakashi wary looks.

    In return, he only eye-smiled at them before bursting into smoke.

    Both Sasuke and Hinata cursed, raising their guard...

    Sasuke suddenly raised his forearm, blocking Kakashi only thanks to being able to see him with his matured Sharingan. Unfortunately for him, a loud crack resounded through the surroundings, making him grit his teeth and soldier through the pain as Kakashi was already mid-kick towards his left side. Sasuke had no other choice than to lift his left leg, blocking Kakashi''s kick with his shin... another cracking sound reverberated through the clearing when Hinata finally reached her teammate.

    Kakashi refocused on the Hyuuga heiress, finished with the Uchiha who helplessly flopped onto the ground whimpering and trying to stifle his groans of pain. This lesson was, in Kakashi''s opinion, very necessary for the kid. This would hammer down the fact that just because he can see the attack, doesn''t mean he can react or safely block it.

    Hinata pushed down her fear as Kakashi turned towards her and was about to attack when the rm bell announced the end of this exercise. Hinata stopped in her tracks and blinked... her mind freaking out as she suddenly realized Kakashi''s fist was just an inch from her face. Gulping, she bonelessly fell onto her bum, looking at the jonin with wide eyes. She didn''t see him move at all!

    Kakashi sighed and turned to Hinata, "Maa~, basically... unlike Sharingan, Byakugan doesn''t give you a better perception. You can see a lot further than Uchiha can and with a bigger detail but that doesn''t mean you can react or even notice someone moving too fast for your eyes. Or at least... that''s what I was about to beat into you." He nonchntly shrugged after verbally narrating her lesson, "Lucky you."

    Hearing him, Hinata fainted, the mild chakra exhaustion finally catching up to her. It might not have seemed like it but during these few hours, it was her who used most chakra as she had to constantly keep Byakugan up while also using Kaiten multiple times.

    Seeing that the fight was done, Anko jumped down from the treetops from where she witnessed the entire thing.

    "I see you took your teaching duties seriously." She sweetly smiled, making Kakashi take a step back.

    "You can say that." He casually replied, thankful that his forehead hid the bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.

    "But Kakashi..." Anko cracked her knuckles with a wide ominous smile spreading across her lips, "What did we say about getting too serious against our cute little genins?"

    Kakashi''s eyes flickered towards the three kids who were either on the verge of chakra exhaustion or had multiple broken bones... ''Oh... Shit!''

    Needless to say, he attempted to run for his life.

 Chapter 303 - Ch303. Tsunade And Her Students

    <h4>Chapter 303 - Ch303. Tsunade And Her Students</h4>

    "This must be some kind of a new record." Tsunade''s cold starended on the fidgeting Anko who was currently standing in front of her table and giving a report about the genin test of Team Seven. "Let me get this straight. Not even a day has passed and your entire team is out ofmission? You have not finished even one D-rank mission yet but four out of five members of your team are already in the hospital?"

    "It''s not my fault!" Anko defended herself, crossing her arms under her chest with a pout while averting her eyes from Tsunade''s steel-like gaze.

    "Not your fault?" Tsunade repeated with a hint of disbelief in the undertone of her voice. "Hmm... Let''s see," Tsunade took a file from her table, flipping it open, and started narrating, "Uchiha Sasuke, broken right hand and left leg, multiple cracked ribs, several torn muscles, concussion... It goes on." Tsunade nced at Anko who grimaced. "Even with our medics tending to him, he will be out ofmission for a week."

    "Uh... It''s not the worst he has had so far?" Anko weakly tried, getting a snort from Tsunade.

    "Hinata Hyuuga," Tsunade continued, "Also cracked several ribs, mild burns on her arms, chakra exhaustion... Well, she got off lightly. Praiseworthy result considering Kakashi was going at them quite seriously. Still, she will be in hospital for three days at the very least."

    Anko''s eyes slightly widened when she heard that. Tsunade just basically admitted she was watching the whole thing! Needless to say, Anko got even quieter, knowing no amount of Bullshit no Jutsu could save her now.

    "Naruto Uzumaki... Well, not important." Tsunade hummed, "He is already healed and is only detained in the hospital for observation because he had burns on his internal organs from Kakashi''s lightning ass poke."

    Anko''s eyebrow twitched at that. She remembered that scene and couldn''t help but try hard at stifling a chuckle. Her good mood quickly ceased when Tsunade warningly narrowed her eyes at her.

    "And the best one... Kakashi Hatake." Tsunade gave Anko an usatory look, "Broken both knees, broken right arm in five different ces, broken left arm at the forearm, shattered ribs, concussion, torn muscles at multiple ces... you know what? Let''s just say the man was basically dismantled alive. You wouldn''t know something about that, would you, Anko-chan?" Tsunade asked in a sweet coaxing tone and Anko shivered.

    "I... I might have gone a bit too far in our spar." Anko slumped her shoulders, admitting her wrongdoings.

    "Spar?" Tsunade lifted an eyebrow at the wording, "Anko... Sparring matches do not end with your opponent having to spend two weeks in the hospital eating through a straw."

    "I wouldn''t know. I sparred only with you for thest few years..." Anko petntly mumbled, causing the corner of Tsunade''s lips to twitch in amusement.

    "Haa~, what am I going to do with you..." Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose while secretly smirking. This was exactly why Anko was never considered for the position of the next Hokage by Tsunade despite being the second strongest ninja currently in the vige. "Just go and report for duty in a week when your genins are healed. Your team will be without jonin until Kakashi gets better."

    "Understood." Anko nodded, knowing this meant she would have to supervise D-ranks. For the first time since it happened, Anko regretted roughing Kakashi up. This was basically punishment in itself!

    "Dismissed." Tsunade said, returning to her paperwork while Anko left with a dejected sigh.

    Tsunade was signing papers when she suddenly offhandedly spoke, "You can stop, Kurenai. Your genjutsu is fooling no one. Even Anko noticed you."

    The air above the couch suddenly shimmered, revealing Kurenai sitting there, frowning at being discovered so easily. "One day... I swear that one day I will catch you off-guard, sensei." She muttered, causing Tsunade to shake her head in exasperation.

    ''Not likely. My Senjutsu senses are impossible to fool with a genjutsu.'' Tsunade thought, keeping that bit to herself. "So, how was your team?" She asked.

    Kurenai proudly beamed, "They are incredible! Yakumo is such a great talent in genjutsu! She will no doubt be the next Konoha''s Genjutsu Mistress! During the test, she managed to catch me for a second in such an incredibly intricate..."

    Tsunade half-listened, half-ignored the enthusiastic bragging veiled as a report while trying to find out what did she do to deserve this kind of torture. She was a taijutsu expert. She had no idea what half of the things Kurenai was talking about meant. Half an hour passed like this and Tsunade finished half of her daily quota of paperwork while Kurenai didn''t stop talking even for a second.

    "... and then there is Shino!" Hearing the name, Tsunade decided to pay a bit more attention in-between her paperwork since the excruciating genjutsu-describing part was mostly over. "His bug techniques are good but he will need more training in taijutsu. Er... Sensei?" Kurenai shyly started.

    "Yeah?" Tsunade boredly asked, already aware of what her student will ask next.

    "Could you... perhaps... give me some advice on how to help Shino with taijutsu? I have can give him basic exercises but... well... you are the expert here so I thought I would ask... uh... if it''s no problem..." Kurenai averted her gaze, hoping her mentor would help her student.

    Tsunade found Kurenai''s eagerness when it came to genjutsu bothersome but this was the reason why she decided to groom Kurenai into the next Hokage. Despite all of her faults, the woman simply cared in a special kind of way.

    "Haa~," Tsunade sighed, giving Kurenai a fed-up nce before she threw a scroll at her. "There are exercises for both Aburame and Inuzuka. So? How is thest member of your team? Chop-chop, I don''t have the whole day for your report, Kurenai."

    "Ah... Kiba." Kurenai''s voice lost all enthusiasm. "He is a pervert." She deadpanned, causing Tsunade to snicker. "I honestly have no idea why you gave him to me when you know how I don''t like these kinds of people." Sheined.

    "Exactly because of that." Tsunade admitted, "This will be a learning experience for both you and Kiba. There is no better teacher than you as far as curbing his more Inuzuka-ish nature goes and there is no better student than Kiba as far as training your patience is concerned. You will be good for each other."

    Needless to say, Tsunade inwardlyughed at the conflicted and unwilling expression on Kurenai''s face. s, being a Hokage meant being a politician, and being a politician meant dealing with all kinds of unsavory people. This was just the start of preparing Kurenai for her future. Then again, Tsunade couldn''t really exin that to the woman since she didn''t even tell her she will be the next Hokage yet.

    "I already want to strangle the mutt..." Kurenai quietly mumbled. She was very eager to teach all three of her students. She heard about Kiba''s nature before she even met him, and she was willing to give him a chance. She didn''t mind his not-so-discreet looks. If that was the extent of how annoying he was, she would have been fine with that.

    The problem was his loud mouth and desire to be the alpha of the team. Kiba was too rash to be a leader. Unfortunately, Shino was too smart to argue with Kiba, knowing it is pointless and Yakumo couldn''t care less. As such, Kiba tried tomand the team, breaking the superb teamwork between Yakumo and Shino apart rather than trying to insert himself into it in a meaningful way.

    "Well, it''s just the first day. I am sure you will get used to his antics." Tsunade smiled, remembering her own time as a genin. It took quite a lot of beatings until Jiraiya stopped being so obvious about his pervertedness near her. "Dismissed."

    Kurenai grumbled something inaudible under her nose before leaving Tsunade''s office.

    ''Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered taking in apprentices..'' Tsunade inwardly mused, deciding to quickly finish her paperwork.

 Chapter 304 - Ch304. Grandmothers Sadness

    <h4>Chapter 304 - Ch304. Grandmother''s Sadness</h4>

    ''So these are the so-called children of my eldest son...'' Kaguya''s voice gently resounded through Rei''s head as he watched Yagura and Yugito spar, using full bijuu mode.

    They were currently quite far from the Vige on the Other Side, using one of the more remote, and therefore massive, training grounds. Two humongous beasts tore into each other with sheer physical might that rendered the surrounding country in shambles. Pieces of trees flew through the air, craters littered the ground, boulders were smashed into pulp...

    The fight between bijuu was brutal and savage from the perspective of an outsider, yet, both Rei and Kaguya, who watched through his eyes, knew they were just ying around. After all, no bijuudama was involved.

    Yet...

    ''Yeah, that''s Isobu and Matatabi. The three-tails and two-tails respectively.'' Rei nodded. This was the first time Kaguya saw what Hagoromo did with Juubi. The nine bijuu were created after she was already sealed and since Hagoromo basically adopted them, Kaguya was somewhat of a grandmother to them.

    Needless to say, Rei had a st feeling all the conflicting feelings within her through their mental connection. He already informed her she had two long-dead grandsons and also that their reincarnations are still guing the world.

    Okay... using the word ''guing'' might have been a bit too much but she didn''t have to give him a migraine for an entire day because of it, no? Women...

    That was the reason why Rei watched the Genin Test of Team Seven. After all, both the reincarnations of Indra and Ashura were there. That event was both fun and... not.

    Seeing Kakashi''s suffering was very entertaining. Seeing Kakashi brutally beat the shit out of Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata was also very enjoyable and nostalgic. It made Rei remember his own days as Jonin Sensei.

    Unknown to him, Mei and Ringo involuntarily shuddered when he was remembering those times...

    What wasn''t fun was feeling Kaguya''s feelings as she watched the spectacle. For the first time, Rei actually regretted making the mental connection between her and him. The sadness rolled out of her, seeping through the connection and ruining his merry mood. Kaguya wasn''t sad because of seeing her grandsons'' reincarnations. Nor was she sad that they were injured by Kakashi. She felt sad, regretful, and copious amounts of self-pity because she didn''t feel anything watching Sasuke and Naruto. No familial love. No sudden spark and grandmotherly care. Nothing. Kaguya was sad because she simply couldn''t bring herself to care about them.

    Logically, she knew they were somewhat of a family to her. Yet, her heart refused to acknowledge it.

    That sent Kaguya into a long pondering mood that ended with her requesting Rei to show her the bijuu created by Hagoromo. Hence... here he was.

    ''They are quite feisty.'' Kaguya dryly remarked as yet another shockwave reached Rei''s position, making his clothes flutter in the fierce wind despite the massive distance between him and the fighting bijuu.

    ''Yeah... they have been married just a bit over two years and they already pull their bijuu into their marriage quarrels. I wonder if it is the after-pregnancy crisis or if this will be the new norm in their rtionship.'' Rei wryly responded, thinking about the explosive rtionship between Yugito and Yagura had after their daughter was born.

    ''So it''s not the bijuu who is in control?'' Kaguya rhetorically asked, already deciphering the answer from Rei''s thoughts.

    Rei knew the thing she asked and the thing she actually wanted to know were two different things. He didn''t bother waiting for her to borate and ask a proper question and decided to answer what she wanted to know.

    ''No. Isobu is one of theziest beings alive. In the past, he couldn''t be bothered to fight even ninjas trying to seal him. Since I remade his seal, he is mostly sleeping his life away. Yagura can use bijuu mode only because Isobu allowed him to, stating it would be too troublesome having to be awake for every fight of his host.'' Rei exined the circumstances between Yagura and Isobu''s cordial rtionship, feeling Kaguya''s amusement through the mental connection.

    ''As for Matatabi...'' Rei trailed off, feeling a bit awkward having to exin the cat, ''She is a massive pervert who just loves to nag Yugito to have sex with everything that walks. It is actually a wonder how she became like that, considering she is a chakra being.'' Rei knew that while Matatabi might be a female in spirit but bodily she is asexual. That''s why her antics were quite a curious thing. ''I personally me faulty Kumo Seals.'' Rei added.

    ''What do you mean?'' Kaguya asked in confusion.

    ''You know how we have this mental connection between us, right?'' Rei hinted at the answer and felt Kaguya''s mild embarrassment.

    The connection suddenly went silent, causing Rei to chuckle as he remembered Kaguya connecting to him when he had sex with Konan. Now that was both an amusing and awkward situation. Unfortunately for Kaguya, after Rei exined to Konan why he suddenly stopped, she showed not an ounce of care or embarrassment that Kaguya watched.

    Poor Kaguya was trapped watching the two going wild at it while being mortified and feeling like a perverted voyeur. Yet, she was also far too curious for her own good to stop watching. Worse yet, some of Rei''s sensations seeped through the mental bond...

    Shortly put, Rei could hear two sets of womanly moans that night.

    ''You... stop remembering it! It''s embarrassing!'' Kaguya''s aggravated yell made Rei rub his temples. ''You promised not to bring it up.'' She mentally mumbled and despite the headache she previously inflicted upon him, Rei couldn''t help but smile as he could clearly picture her blushing from head to toes.

    ''Yes, yes... I will stop embarrassing you now. Happy?'' Rei teased with an eye roll. ''Don''t yell again or I will cut out the mental connection.'' Weirdly enough, he got a distinct feeling Kaguya pouted...

    ''Anyway... yeah. Matatabi probably had a few experiences with feeling and sensation leakage through seals which resulted in her perverted nature. She is quite an honest and kind individual though. If she wasn''t, Yugito wouldn''t live to see a double-digit age.'' Rei wryly smiled, remembering the atrocious seal Yugito had on her body. Then again, it was no wonder Matatabi was both perverted and kind to her hosts with how they were treated in Kumo.

    ''A sloth and a pervert... what a great family legacy.'' Kaguya deadpanned.

    ''Well, look at it from a positive angle. At least they are one of the most powerful beings on this.'' Rei nonchntly shrugged.

    ''That makes it even worse...'' Kaguya mumbled. She had her hopes up for the bijuu as they were powerful enough to be able to help against the Otsutsuki n. Getting to know that two of the nine were a pervert and a sloth was definitely not reassuring for her.

    Rei wondered if he should tell her that Ichibi is murder-hobo, and Kyuubi hate-filled tsundere but decided that one revtion like this was enough for the day. He didn''t want to bring her hopes down even more. Fortunately, he had the foresight to give himself a bit of leeway with their mental connection so he could hide his thoughts from Kaguya when he wanted.

    ''So? Do you feel anything for them?'' Rei decided to change the topic and instantly got his answer when a wisp of resigned sadness seeped through the connection.

    ''No... I can''t consider them as my grandchildren. No matter the circumstances behind their creation. The sheer thought of that is... ridiculous.'' Kaguya sighed.

    ''Well, at least you are not giving me a headache with your self-pity this time.'' Rei teased.

    ''Ass...'' Kaguya harrumphed and cut the connection between them.

    Well, Rei''sment clearly made the womane to different thoughts. That was as good a win as any in his books.

 Chapter 305 - Ch305. Izumi Uchiha

    <h4>Chapter 305 - Ch305. Izumi Uchiha</h4>

    As Rei watched the proceeding battle between Yugito and Yagura in their bijuu modes, he suddenly sensed an approaching chakra signatureing towards him from the direction of the Vige on the Other Side.

    Rei sighed and instantly created four shadow clones, sending them to create a barrier separating the fighting bijuu and him, not wanting the approaching person to be affected by the shockwaves. He knew it was time for a report from the spywork but since Konan didn''t mentally send him anything, he thought this was one of those rare peaceful days when nothing of importance happened.

    Apparently, he was wrong. Sitting down on a boulder, Rei waited...

    It took twenty more minutes before he could see a form of heavily breathing Izumi Uchiha jumping through the treetops towards him while clutching a file to her chest. It was honestly cute how she gave it her all to rush with the report to him.

    ''Such eagerness...'' Rei chuckled, ''As if it mattered if I was made to wait for five or fifteen more minutes for the report. Anything extremely important would be reported by Konan through our mental connection anyway. Poor girl, she was definitely sent on this errand because she annoyed Konan with her questions again.''

    Rei knew Konan liked Izumi. The girl was eager to please and desired to prove herself, putting her all in every task. Konan saw herself in the girl... although, Rei really didn''t see any semnce between the two. Naturally, he wisely kept quiet about it and just nodded in agreement when his wife asked about the topic.

    Unfortunately for Konan, Izumi was one of those people who needed things exined to them at least three times before they understood them. Mentoring her proved extremely aggravating for the blute. Then again, Izumi was also one of those geniuses that once understood something, they would start using it in unexpected ways nobody sane could think of.

    ''Hmm... maybe they ARE a bit simr, after all.'' Rei idly pondered, remembering all the irritating paper Jutsu Konan created over the years.

    Izumi finally arrived,nding close to the ce where Rei sat. Her face was bright red with a small hint of exhaustion as she animatedly tried to present the file. She clearly wanted to start speaking but it was difficult through all that gasping for air.

    Amusement clearly written in his face, Rei took the file Izumi tried to hand to him while offhandedlymenting, "It is always fun to see one of the vige''s S-rank ninjas gasp for breath like a freshly graduated genin."

    Izumi was still red from head to toes but now the reason for her redness was different.

    ''How easy...'' Rei inwardly snickered, watching the young woman with the corner of his eye.

    In the past few years, Izumi became one of the cornerstones of his vige. The strongest Uchiha, her n revered her. They even offered her the n head position again but Izumi, for some reason, rejected and continued working under Konan.

    ''Ah... it''s her again.'' Kaguya suddenly stated.

    ''You are still here? I thought you got all pouty on me and decided to sulk in your new bed.'' Rei offhandedly teased, the corner of his lips twitching when he felt Kaguya stiffen. He realized he nailed it right on the head. Well, that didn''t mean he was going to rub it in, though.

    ''Hmpf! I felt a familiar chakra around you so I decided to take a look. I definitely didn''t want to talk to your witty ass again. You are good only in small doses, you jerk.'' Kaguya mentally scoffed.

    ''And let me guess, today you are overdosing, right?'' Rei rolled his eyes. Honestly, whatever insult she could muster, it wouldn''t phase him in the slightest. After all, he could feel her enjoyment from their banter. Before Kaguya could return some witty remark of her own, Rei continued, ''Anyway, by familiar chakra signature you mean Izumi, no?''

    ''Yes... I definitely mean that lovestruck Uchiha girl in front of you who is cutely blundering around like a bumbling fool whenever she is in your presence. It''s funny to watch.'' Kaguya giggled and Rei could feel her genuinely smile. ''Honestly, from all the descendants of mine, she is the most heartwarming one.''

    ''That''s mighty praiseing from the Rabbit Goddess herself.'' Rei remarked while pretending to read the utterly boring report. Why was he even getting them? Ah right... he was the person in charge. Sucks to be him!

    ''Well... the girl deserves it. She did awaken Rinnegan, after all.'' Kaguya proudly nodded.

    And that was another thing. Tsunade went ballistic in her experiments two years ago and Izumi was a prime candidate to be the Uchihab rat number one. The reason for that was simple. As a part of the vige hidden on the other side, the Uchiha n had the right to refuse and they promptly executed it. Izumi, as Konan''s apprentice, had no such luck and was promptly volunteered by her mentor.

    Although... Konan knew Tsunade would be returning her apprentice in pristine condition. Izumi, the poor girl, however, had no idea.

    Tsunade blended Senjutsu DNA into Izumi, and at the end of the experiments, Izumi awakened Rinnegan. Frankly, it was a shock even for Rei who knew about the ancestry of the two ns, not to mention Tsunade, the Uchiha n, and others.

    Apparently, it had something to do with Izumi''s strong Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan... or whatever. Rei didn''t really care about all that scientific crap. The girl awakened the purple freaky eyes and that was that. Needless to say, Tsunade promptly rejected any request to perform the procedure on other Uchihas. She only wanted to give Senju n''s physical prowess and potent yang chakra to the vige''s ninjas. Evolving Izumi''s eyes was not in the n so when it happened, the entire project was quickly scrapped by Tsunade.

    ''The next thing you''re gonna say is that you want to adopt her, no?'' Rei dryly stated, giving the clueless Uchiha girl a gentle smile, flustering her a bit.

    He couldn''t me Kaguya for her fondness for Izumi. Kaguya''s close family was dead so she only had distant descendants. From what Kaguya said, it was hard to care for those. With such diluted blood ties, Kaguya mostly judged familial rtions through the chakra of a person. It was indeed true that chakra was special for each person, much like DNA. Kaguya could feel chakra on a whole new level of depth and the second she saw Izumi, she instantly recognized the girl awakened Rinnegan as ording to Kaguya''s words, it purified the girl''s bloodline, making her closer to Otsutsuki.

    "What a perfect vessel..." Were Kaguya''s exact words.

    s, Rei shut down THAT idea pretty quickly and Kaguya learned to not mention it again. Fortunately for Izumi, the woman then grew fond of her clumsy act around Rei, otherwise Rei had no doubt Kaguya would be plotting possession right about now.

    "Oh." Rei suddenly halted, finally finding something interesting in the report, "Kumo and Iwa are naughty! I wonder how that will go." His lips widened into a smirk.

    Looking back at Izumi who was curiously ncing at the file while trying to be subtle, he closed it before handing it back to her, "Go and give it to Tsunade, will you? She can handle the rest for now."

    "Ri-right now?" Izumi grimaced. She just ran here from the vige and now she was supposed to run back to the vige? She couldn''t help but curse the prick who decided these training grounds will be so far away from the vige.

    Unknown to her, the prick stood right in front of her.

    Rei chuckled, stretching his arm before patting the young woman''s head, causing her to lower it and subconsciously lean into his palm. "Well, it''s two-thirty. As I know Konan, she will want a report by three p.m. since afterward she is leaving her office. You got half an hour to get back to the vige..." Rei trailed off, seeing how Izumi''s eyes widened in panic.

    "It''s already sote!?" She eximed, her eyes turning red before she disappeared into thin air.

    "..." Rei blinked with a frozen smile on his face, looking at his outstretched hand patting air...

    ''You look like an idiot..'' Kaguya''s amused remark didn''t help his internal turmoil.

 Chapter 306 - Ch306. Konans Matchmaking

    <h4>Chapter 306 - Ch306. Konan''s Matchmaking</h4>

    Rei sat in the living room reviewing the copied disassembled versions of seals that kept Kaguya a prisoner in the moon. This was his main project for quite some months now and he was making albeit slow, but eptable progress, immensely pleasing the Rabbit Goddess who always watched with rapt attention when he was doing this.

    Honestly, it surprised Rei how driven the woman was to learn more about her proverbial prison shackles. For a princess who never bothered to master her inner power, her desire to better herself startled Rei. Then again, who was he to prevent her?

    It didn''t matter to him anyway. Hagoromo had quite a lot of knowledge of old sealing arts that didn''t really use chakra but nature energy. Studying these seals gave Rei a massive overview of how sealing worked before the humans in the Elemental Nations ''received'' chakra and were taught how to utilize it.

    Sealing arts were very old practices that changed drastically over the past millennia. That was actually the main reason why Rei''s progress was slow. He was basically rediscovering a long-lost way of sealing with no guidebook, relying only on deconstructing veryplex seals. while trying to glean the secrets behind their making.

    That was the main point why Rei didn''t mind Kaguya learning how to prevent them from affecting her again. The modern way of sealing was far too different so even if she knew how to disrupt this archaic one, Rei still had a working trump card against her.

    Or... at least, that was his initial intention but the more insight he got to her head, feelings, and thought process through their mental connection, the more he realized he would most likely not need it.

    Then again... better safe than sorry.

    As he was browsing through some papers with drawn parts of a particrly hard-to-decipher seal, he was suddenly embraced from behind by a pair of gentle hands sporting nails decorated with blue nail polish, instantly revealing the identity of its owner.

    Rei''s lips curled into a smile, "Hello, Konan," He gently put his hand over hers. "How was your day?"

    "Izumi was being difficult. You just couldn''t help yourself and tease her when she was giving you her report, could you?" Konan said in a mock using tone without any heat behind it as she ced her chin on the top of Rei''s head, leaning against him.

    "Well, she is just so easy to tease I sometimes find it hard to resist," Rei chuckled, getting an amused eye roll from Konan while her lips slightly curled. "Not to mention, I am well aware of your intentions." He nonchntly added, causing Konan''s eyebrows to twitch.

    "Haa~, I guess you would be, wouldn''t you?" Konan resignedly remarked, lifting her chin from his head while her hands moved from the embrace onto Rei''s shoulders as she started to rub them, "I admit that starting to invite her to our family dinners was not the subtlest move. Aren''t you going to ask why though?" Curiosity seeped into her tone.

    "I don''t need to. You clearly care about the girl. Considering our familial arrangements worked all these years, you probably don''t see any problem with having a new addition to our family." Rei wryly shook his head.

    He wasn''t exactly pleased with this discussion. Especially not with the silent observer who was extremely interested in the topic and most likely forgot Rei could feel when the mental connection between them was open.

    Before Konan could start speaking again, Rei continued, "I guess you already roped Tsunade in since she helped with elevating Izumi''s strength. The Uchiha n might have been deceived but seriously? She didn''t really need an Uchiha to try experimenting with the Senju bloodline. If my assumption is correct, you wanted to grant Izumi the ability to easily ess Senjutsu. Am I wrong?" Rei narrated in an impassive tone, lifting his eyebrow in curiosity about the correctness of his own hypothesis.

    "Uh... That didn''t go exactly ording to the n." Konan sheepishly chuckled. "Still, the results were extraordinary and the girl did get stronger."

    "That so..." Rei hummed in agreement, "Since you have Tsunade already persuaded, the only problematic person would be Pakura, considering both Mei and Ringo see you and Tsunade as their quasi-parental mentor figures and would listen to you. Not to mention Ringo would most likely not care as long as I don''t stop caring for her while Mei is quite close with Izumi."

    "Pakura already agreed." Konan''s eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she said that.

    In Rei''s harem, Konan was basically the leader. She was with him the longest and was arguably strongest out of all his girls. Frankly, it was questionable who would win between her and Tsunade but Tsunade was never interested in being dominant. Pakura was the only one who asionally challenged Konan, and to be honest, it was a breath of fresh air for the blute.

    If Tsunade disagreed with her, she would simply ignore her opinion. If Mei disagreed with her, she would simply pretend to not understand until she made Konan annoyed enough to give it up. If Ringo disagreed with her, she would simply turn around and go back to her forge, giving Konan a silent treatment. That said, all three of those held Konan in high regard, and them disagreeing seldom happened. Even then it was quickly resolved.

    Pakura was different. She didn''t grow up or live with them for years before she became a part of Rei''s harem. As such, she was the only one who still didn''t have her own way of preventing arguments and opted to actually argue with Konan about certain decisions. Honestly, it really helped as Konan knew she was not infallible, and having a different perspective on things usually helped to reveal errors she might have overlooked.

    "Ah, yeah, considering she is also raising her little windy murder machine to one day join our little family, I can see why she would agree." Rei''s lips twitched into a shadow of a smile before he shook his head in amusement, "She really started to care about that girl."

    "Are you okay with that?" Konan asked in worry, "We are basically trying to force you to take more women without asking you about your feelings."

    "Well, if you tried to force me to ept them, I would be pissed." Rei dryly pointed out. "This awkward matchmaking maneuvering of yours though? I am honestly amused and willing to give Izumi a chance." He shrugged, "Doesn''t mean I will ept her. I guess we''ll just have to wait and see where it will lead us."

    Konan showed a sincere smile due to his answer and leaned around his head, giving his cheek an appreciative kiss. "Thank you."

    Rei closed his eyes with a sigh. ''Great. Now I won''t be able to focus.'' Putting down the papers, Rei slowly turned around to face the quietly smug Konan as she licked her lips, knowing her kiss made his focus go bye-bye.

    "You minx, you are basically asking for it with those seductive amber orbs of yours." Rei exasperatedly whispered and before Konan could reply, his lips smashed against her as he pulled her body closer to his, hauling her around the backrest of the couch as they made out.

    After a few moments, Konan pulled away enough to break the string of saliva that was connecting them and straddled Rei whose back was pressed into the couch. She put her hands onto his chest, feeling up his muscles without breaking their eye contact. It greatly pleased her when she saw the raw desire in her lover''s eyes. Even after all those years together, she still evoked the same lust in him as when their rtionship started. Then again, her eyes no doubt showed the exact same want if the way she felt was any indication.

    "I have no idea what you are implying. This is all purely educational. I am just showing Kaguya how to keep her man happy." Konan quipped, causing Rei to chuckle as he could feel Kaguya''s embarrassment.

    Needless to say, the mortified but guiltily curious Rabbit Goddess didn''t cancel the mental connection, witnessing the couple having their intimate fun the whole night.

 Chapter 307 - Ch307. What Lies Beyond The Sea

    <h4>Chapter 307 - Ch307. What Lies Beyond The Sea</h4>

    Rei watched in untold amusement as Konan who was currentlyfortably snuggling into his chest while drooling finally stirred, waking up from her undoubtedly pleasant dreams. Her drowsy eyes slowly opened with confusion as her sleep-muddled mind tried to catch up. Konan suddenly red bright red, no doubt realizing her current position. Despite her embarrassment, she just slightly lifted her head and looked Rei straight into his eyes, a happy smile stretching on her lips.

    "Good morning." She tried to y off her embarrassment by acting as if nothing happened.

    Rei lifted an eyebrow at her, the corner of his lips tugging upward while his eyes amusedly flickered at the wet spot on his chest, causing Konan to flush even deeper red as he returned her greeting, "Good morning. I see you slept well."

    Konan narrowed her eyes and bit her lower lip, "And whose fault is that?" She yfully huffed, mentally feeling her pleasantly sore body pressing into Rei''s figure and sharing their warmth.

    "Noment. Any answer I could give you will be used against me." Rei quipped.

    Konan giggled at that before she returned her cheek to herfortable ce on Rei''s chest. "So true..." She hummed as Rei started to absently stroke her hair.

    The duo enjoyed the slow andfy morning in the bed, unburdened by their duties. These could and would wait.

    It was only after some time that Rei noticed Konan had a strange expression and decided to ask her what was bothering her.

    "I... must have received a memory package from my clones while I slept. They finally managed to scout the other continents to some degree." She stated in reply, "I am just surprised there is no mention of Chakra there."

    "Hmm~... maybe they have a different name for it?" Rei tried to be helpful but then a thought urred to him, "You know... in the legends, it is said it was the Sage of the Six Paths that taught humans how to use chakra. Since the guy was obviously active in the Elemental Nations, he probably didn''t travel to other continents. Maybe they just never figured out how to make use of chakra or that it even exists." Rei theorized.

    The history of chakra and how it came to be was confusing at best.

    "That''s possible. My clones didn''t focus on the history there, yet. I ordered them to focus on looking for anyone who could be a threat." Konan said with a sigh. "It is going slowly since I''d rather not attract unwanted attention."

    These new continents were uncharted territory for them and that meant Konan decided to go with the most careful approach. She didn''t dare to create any waves and only sent clones that would stick to the shadows while gathering rumors. It wasn''t the most effective or quickest method but it was the one with the least risks of somebody powerful spotting her spying.

    Rei didn''t have anyints about that. Firstly, he knew there would be no invasion of note before the Fourth Great Ninja War so, unlike Konan, he wasn''t overly worried about the other continents. It didn''t really matter for him if the progress on that front went slow. It wasn''t as if he had actual time to pay attention to what happened overseas.

    "ording to Yuriko''s observations from the moon, on the west, there is a continent ten times the size of Elemental Nations. I wasn''t able to get there yet with my Paper Clones but I managed to infiltrate a... well, I am unsure if I should call it a continent or an ind but between this massive continent and our home, there is and as big as Land of Fire, Earth, and Wind put together. It is quite close to the massive continent and inparison to it, it''s but an ind, to be honest." Konan exined, knowing Rei didn''t pay the other continents much attention so she was trying to give him all the necessary information in a smallpressed bundle.

    "It felt as if I entered one of the remote underdeveloped parts of Elemental Nations with a different culture and sense of fashion, to be honest." She chuckled, "My clone instantly stood out."

    ''So... medieval setting, huh?'' Rei outwardly hummed in acknowledgment. ''Kinda expected. If they were technologically developed enough to build nes, they would discover Elemental Nations long ago.''

    "The only mention of something out of the ordinary I managed to get was just rumors about silver-eyed witches and man-eating monsters. Honestly... you wouldn''t believe how superstitious the people there are." Konan huffed. "Still, my clone didn''t find any of the two but the vigers seemed to have a way to contact these witches so they are most likely real."

    Rei was shocked when he heard her. ''Silver-eyed witches? ymore? But... if that''s true then the bigger continent to the west might be the home of the two races that are warring among themselves. The humannd was supposed to be just some experimental ground or something if I remember correctly.'' Rei''s thoughts then skipped towards the... human-eating monsters. It was certainly possible that their Yoki was just tainted chakra. One just had to look at Orochimaru''s handicrafts to see that it was definitely possible to create monsters via science.

    Not noticing Rei''s pondering mood, Konan continued with her report, inwardly enjoying his absentminded gentle caressing of her hair. "To the south, the continent closest to us is quite technologically developed but the people don''t seem to have any independent supernatural abilities. They instead focus on tools. My clones recorded a technology simr to the Chakra Armor powered by an unknown energy source."

    "That could be dangerous... If they are able to outfit an army with it and cross the ocean." Rei remarked. "Any information about how good this armor is?"

    "Normal soldiers wearing it are around low chunin level threats if the guys that tried to apprehend my clone were any indication." Konan''s cheeks briefly reddened as she averted her gaze, "That infiltration didn''t go well. My clone might or might not have decimated a military camp. In my defense, they were rude when I wanted to just ask a few questions."

    Rei snorted. It was praise-worthy that they discovered Konan sneaking around. Most likely some of their technology isn''t so shabby. Still, the most important question was... "Do they have the means to cross the ocean?"

    "No and yes." Konan calmed down and continued, "Yes, they have sufficient technology that with some..." She briefly paused before chuckling, "oh, who am I kidding, with a shitload of luck they MIGHT be able to get through all the monsters lurking in the waters between the continents. Will they waste the resources to do so? Nope. That''s not gonna happen anytime soon."

    "Oh? Are you sure?" Rei asked, remembering there was a Naruto movie about some invaders. Then again, genin Team 7 managed to subdue them all so...

    "The countries on that continent have problems of their own and the existence of Elemental Nations is basically just a legend. Not many believe there is a different continent beyond the sea."

    "Ah. Countries won''t dispatch an army without proof. That''s good." Rei said.

    "Yeah, the strongest nation on that continent is currently in a sort of civil war anyway and the surrounding countries are just waiting like hungry dogs to pounce once it''s weakened enough. My clones heard they use something called Teigu in that country but there is no confirmation since they haven''t infiltrated it yet."

    Rei furrowed his eyebrows, ''Teigu? Really? ... I guess the Danger Beasts might be likened to Chakra Beasts and the Teigu could possibly be something like Samehada but... Okay. Whatever. I don''t care.'' He released a suffering sigh. ''It could have been worse. It could have been a cultivation world or something. I think I should be grateful for these small mercies.''

    "Just keep up with your information gathering and try to get into the maind of the western continent and reach the eastern continent with your clones. No hurry. Unless they are nning to invade us, there is no need to intervene in their affairs. The best would be if they had no idea about the existence of Elemental Nation altogether.. We don''t really have the time for other continents since Kumo and Iwa are getting restless because of the Alliance talks between Konoha, Kiri, and Suna."

 Chapter 308 - Ch308. The Woes Of Genin-hood

    <h4>Chapter 308 - Ch308. The Woes Of Genin-hood</h4>

    Naruto was annoyed.

    He never really wanted to be a shinobi but he knew he had no choice in the matter since his daddy dearest decided to add some fox stuffing into him.

    But inwardly seething at being forced to be a shinobi and outwardly showing his displeasure were two very different things. He might have been young but he was not stupid. If he was not being given an option anyway, he might as well go with the flow and milk it for all it was worth. Hence, his foolhardy and prankster image was created to cover his real skill and personality.

    Only when Anko started to take care of him did his silent discontent at his situation improve. For the first time in his life, Naruto gained a proper reason to be a ninja. He wanted to prove himself to Anko. To be stronger. To prove that her training him, giving him the time of her day was worth it. And... to be able to protect her.

    Academy was a tedious matter for Naruto. Even the improved curriculum wasn''t challenging enough considering he was being chased by Anko''s massive serpents hellbent on eating him alive through the Training Ground 44 every afternoon. And ording to Anko, that was a warm-up before the real training began...

    There really was nothing of interest in the Academy for Naruto so he used the time to perfect his cheerful and foolish facade of a prankster. After all, there was no sense in wasting his time even more than he was already forced to.

    When he finally graduated from the Academy, Naruto cheered and celebrated... he even wanted to paint the Hokage monument from the sheer joy of leaving his dull repetitive lifestyle and only the fear of livid Tsunade stopped him short of buying paint cans.

    Now... imagine Naruto''s surprise when after two weeks of vacation due to medical reasons... damn that Kakashi... his team finally received their first mission.

    Naruto wasn''t an impressionable dumb kid with grand unreachable dreams and determination to reach them that could only be acquired through long-term brainwashing and mental conditioning. He knew there would be no saving princesses or protecting the Daimyo for him and his team anytime soon.

    But... weeding the garden of some old bitch who red at him the entire time?

    Could you me him that with every two weeds he pulled out he also ''mistakenly'' pulled out a herb? Payment reduction or not, it was totally worth it.

    Fortunately, Anko taught him which herbs were the really precious ones so, by the time their mission was done, the old woman was pale with silent pent-up rage at his ''clumsiness'' while Anko tried to hide her smile behind her left hand as her right one was firmly grasping Kakashi''s shoulder, preventing him from intervening.

    Not that thezy ass had any intention of doing anything after Anko stopped him in his tracks the first time he tried to step forward and reprimand Naruto. Anko most likely just liked how the porn-lover shuddered with her hand that could at any time crush his bones to mush on his shoulder.

    But even with his incredible patience, somewhere between the sixteenth time his team was forced to walk Inuzuka''s dogs and the thirteenth time they had to repair a damn fence, Naruto had had enough. Could anyone me him for using a bear trap on poor little Tora?

    Naruto''s disappointment was immense when the stupid cat survived...

    As ast-ditch effort, he started acting like a whiny brat, exactly as his facade dictated, and demanded a C-rank mission. Naruto had no idea how well he sold his act... probably not so well considering it was Shikaku Nara who lifted his eyebrow at him in amusement before he silently turned towards Kakashi with a question written in his eyes.

    When Kakashi nervously shuffled while pretending to be extremely interested in the current chapter of his porn, Shikaku took it as agreement, much to the betrayed nce the white-haired jonin threw him after the Hokage announced they were getting their first C-rank mission.

    Needless to say, Naruto was ted! He knew the very first C-rank is customary bandit extermination to make the genins used to killing as quickly and safely as possible. After all, if one doesn''t have the mental fortitude to kill, there is no reason to continue with the ninja career.

    Naruto doubted there would be a person with such a problem in his team. The months of D-rank missions made sure to heighten their frustration enough that they needed a special kind of destressing activity. Somebody was gonna die and the only question was who.

    And then Team Seven was given the mission with the least possibility of getting into a fight. A protection detail over a dumb unimportant drunk who liked to piss Naruto off by cracking jokes about his height.

    Just... great.

    The question of who Naruto will ughter at the end of the mission was slowly bing apparent...

    ...

    Anko walked behind their client with hands behind her head and a deceptively cheerful gait in her steps while her eyes subtly hovered over Naruto. She was aware how... twitchy, he was in the past month.

    It was just natural. During his training, she did not only hone his skills but also his instincts. He probably didn''t even realize it but his frustration from doing chores somewhat lessened the hold on the stabbiness Anko instilled in him.

    That was fine. The kid just had to learn how to control himself and that required nothing but experience. Usually, a good beating got rid of all of the brat''s frustration but if he wanted to get better emotional control, he needed practical experience so, during the past month, Anko didn''t spar with him, letting his frustration slowly build up.

    She was aware Naruto most likely expected bandit extermination as their first C-rank. After all, it was her who told him about that tradition. The new improved curriculum in the Academy contained one lesson in thest week before graduation. The kids were taken into Konoha''s prison and then they had to kill a prisoner. The bandit extermination was more of a test if they can replicate the feat in action and during the threat on their own life.

    But Anko didn''t think her team needed such a test. Now when she nearly killed them on a weekly basis during her training sessions. As such, she took this protection detail. It was cute, seeing Naruto act like a total brat and demand a C-rank. He had no idea Anko had already picked a C-rank for them and they would get it today no matter what.

    Anko''s eyes moved towards their client and her lips slightly twitched. ''I wonder what he is hiding.'' She narrowed her eyes. The man was too nervous for her liking.

    The fact that Tsunade told her to send a message if anything went wrong with the mission as if she already expected problems didn''t instill much confidence in Anko either. Then again, Anko was also happy that Tsunade trusted her enough to still send her on the mission despite having a hunch it would go horribly wrong.

    She might be just a chunin on the official records but Anko was S-ss skill-wise. If even she was unable to finish the mission, then sending even a team of jonin would be pointless.

    Anko suddenly stiffened a bit as her snakes warned her of possible hostiles. She quickly rxed and continued with her carefree pace, not giving any hint that she was wary. Her eyes briefly nced in Kakashi''s direction, showing him a wide cocky grin when she realized he noticed her brief stiffening.

    The white-haired jonin just shrugged in apathy before he returned to his smut but now there was a concealed edge behind his movements.

    Anko looked at her three students who poutingly walked in front of their client, still clueless about the approaching threat. She inwardly chuckled.

    All the pieces were in their ce.

 Chapter 309 - Ch309. Ambush 1

    <h4>Chapter 309 - Ch309. Ambush 1</h4>

    As the group walked through the path surrounded by trees, Anko suddenly looked upward, inwardly cursing while her hands whirled into weaving seals.

    "Kuchiyose!" She eximed as smoke started filling the surroundings. Not a secondter, a serpentine shadow rapidly slithered towards the bridge builder Tazuna, coiling around the man who was about to piss himself, notprehending the situation.

    Anko''s summon barely managed to cover the man as an explosive lightning bolt fell from the clear sky, diving right into the smoke directly onto where the client was supposed to be.

    Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata jumped around in fright when the booming sounds started resounding through the area while more bolts started raining down, all aiming to end their client. Their brains were trying to desperately process what just happened, never before experiencing a sneak attack aimed not at them, but at their client. Frankly, neither of the genins thought such a thing would happen so this proved to be a very good life lesson for them.

    Kakashi released a relieved sigh, his tensed muscles rxing while the crackling electricity around his right hand started to diminish. The only reason why he didn''t jump forward in an attempt to redirect the lightning bolt the second he felt the surge of chakra above them was that Anko reacted first. He was a bit thankful for that when he saw more and more lightning bolts being conjured. He could take on one or two no problem but more than that would be difficult even for his Chidori.

    "Thank you, Kamine." Anko said in relief after the lightning stopped raining. She had to admit, this sudden attack almost seeded. Whoever was responsible clearly had enough brains to realize that killing the civilian was the best option.

    Fortunately, Kamine was a snake summon resistant to lightning. No matter how many bolts fell from the sky onto her body, she wouldn''t even feel it. The second Anko felt the surge of lightning chakra, she knew exactly what summon to use.

    Kamine, who was towering over the group of ninjas while coiling around the civilian, moved her head to give Anko an acknowledging nod, "Isss'' fineee, Anko-chan." A quiet masculine hiss replied to Anko''s thanks.

    "Please cover for the client while we deal with the annoyances." Anko requested while standing up from her crouch. She half-expected the attacker to retreat and try againter... at least, that''s what she would have done, but she was clearly mistaken if the five figures that jumped in front of them from the treetops were any indication.

    Kamine nodded in agreement, warily observing the five ninjas that blocked the path.

    "Raiga Kurosuki, Aoi Rokusho, and three Rain genin." Kakashi boredly spoke, "How un-youthful," Kakashi tried to be funny but his eye-smile became a bit forced as he said those words, "of you to try and ambush us."

    Aoi ignored Kakashi''s remark and turned towards Raiga, "Are you sure you can deal with the Copycat?"

    He survived so far only because of his caution and fighting one of the most infamous ninjas of Konoha head-on wasn''t very clever in his books. That said, Raiga was also equally infamous and as a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Aoi decided to trust him to take Kakashi on. Not that he wouldn''t bolt away the second he finds Raiga struggling.

    "Who do you think you are talking to, twerp? I will prepare a good funeral for him!" Raiga stonily nced at Aoi, causing him to shiver and reluctantly avert his eyes.

    "In that case, I will take the Snake Bitch and the genins can fight it out among themselves." He said in apletely dismissive way that had his students nervously shuffle behind him.

    At that moment, Anko''s lips stretched into a grin when she heard how much he was underestimating her, ''I guess it is only natural. Thest time any information about me got out was years ago when I was still a chunin.'' She inwardly snickered, preparing to give Aoi a proper beatdown.

    Kakashi threw his genins a worried nce but when they saw them either excited or determined he only silently sighed and jumped to the side, trying to distance his fight with Raiga from the genins. Anko did the same, just in a different manner. She leisurely walked a bit further from the road into the forest, making sure that Aoi unhurriedly followed her while the kiddies were left alone to y with each other.

    ...

    "So... you are the bastard who stole the Raijin no Ken that belonged to the Senju n, huh?" Anko offhandedly asked with a skip in her step, looking around the area and subtly checking for traps while she also observed Aoi like a hawk with the corner of her eyes.

    "Yes, I acquired the Raijin no Ken before defecting Konoha." He said it with obvious smugness as if it was an incredible aplishment.

    "And Konoha basically stole it from the Senju n after Tsunade decided to leave the vige." Anko nodded before shing Aoi an innocent grin, "Stealing is bad, you know?"

    Aoi blinked in disbelief, furrowing his brows as if trying to reassure himself he heard right. "We are ninjas, you know?" He dryly replied.

    "I guess that would make it all better." Anko chuckled. "Don''t worry, I will steal the sword from you after I beat you to death."

    Aoi just rolled his eyes and let his chakra course through the handle of Raijin no Ken, creating a lightning edge. "Chunins shouldn''t be so overconfident. I am actually surprised you are still loyal to Konoha with how they treated you. Why not defect to Rain?" He tried.

    Anko sighed and shook her head before pulling out a kunai and coursing her chakra through it, shocking Aoi as the kunai gained a lightning coating. This was a jonin level skill and suddenly, Aoi wasn''t as confident as before.

    "Tell you what..." Anko started, "Since you are gonna be dead in a moment anyway, there is no harm in being honest." She shrugged, "I am not loyal to Konoha." These words would definitely earn Anko a punishment if she said it out loud in the hearing range of a Konoha ninja. Even Aoi was bbergasted that Anko actually had the balls to admit it so openly. "I am loyal to the Senju n and you, my dear soon-to-be-miserable idiot, did something that pissed Lady Tsunade off."

    Anko now understood why Tsunade told her to be cautious and send a message if anything out of ordinary happened. Seeing a guy who stole the Raijin no Ken in front of her... Anko got the message loud and clear.

    "Enough talking. I will show you the might of the Second Hokage wielded by me!" Aoi shouted and dashed at Anko while she watched him approach with a deadpan expression, wondering if the guy was really so arrogant as to think he was on par with Tobirama just because he stole his shiny sword. The same sword Tobirama seldom used...

    Wordlessly swinging her kunai upward while bracing herself for the impact, Anko parried Aoi''s blow and locked her kunai with his sword, lightning crackling against lightning as her bored eyes met Aoi''s shocked gaze. The Raijin no Ken was supposed to be able to cut through anything!

    "I have unlimited ess to the Senju Library. Did you really think I wouldn''t know how to block the Second''s sword? Especially since the sword itself is not really a weapon but a training tool for lightning shape maniption?" Anko asked in an amused drawl.

    Honestly, morons these days.... using training tools as if they were weapons.

 Chapter 310 - Ch310. Ambush 2

    <h4>Chapter 310 - Ch310. Ambush 2</h4>

    Raijin no Ken became famous during the First Ninja War when Tobirama used his incredible Water ninjutsu to soak an entire battalion of ninjas before he discharged electricity from the Raijin no Ken, frying them alive. Tobirama took a shine to the device and used it a lot before his death, making it famous.

    Frankly, Tobirama, while good at kenjutsu, didn''t use swords much. He was mostly a ninjutsu expert. Raijin no Ken had indeed the reputation of being able to cut through anything but that was mostly because Tobirama was good at lightning shape maniption and the seals that made up the internal structure of the device so the lighting edge he created through the ''training tool'' thatter became known as Raijin no Ken was simply strong enough to rival the strength of Raikage''s Lightning Armor.

    In the hands of Second Hokage, this training tool became an unstoppable ughter machine. In Aoi''s hand though...

    Anko inwardly sighed as she parried with her kunai yet another strike from Aoi who was wildly swinging the Raijin no Ken at her. It was all about vibration frequency when it came to the Lightning Chakra and she simply made the lightning coating on her kunai vibrate in frequencies that repelled the pre-set frequency of the Raijin no Ken.

    She didn''t get the upper hand because she was a better lightning nature user. On the contrary, Anko''s main affinity was the fire. She didn''t train lightning much, only learning some useful tidbits about the element like the lightning coating. But she didn''t need to be a good lightning user when she simply knew how to perfectly counter the sword through its biggest weakness.

    Aoi was growing more reckless by the second. The more his strikes were parried, blocked, or redirected, the more his stomach sunk into despair that was slowly gnawing at him. He was one of those people who chose their battles well and didn''t engage if they thought they would lose. That was the whole reason why he made Jonin despite there being many chunin stronger than him.

    Even his defection was a well-calcted n. The benefits and prestige he received as a Jonin in Rain Vige, a smaller vige with fewer jonins, were much better than what he received in Konoha where jonins, while rare, were not all that hard to find. Aoi did his research well before defecting and was proud of his ability to snatch the Raijin no Ken.

    With the sword in hand, he cut through most of his enemies or those pricks who opposed him in the Rain vige. Before the might of this mythical sword, nobody stood a chance. Then...

    ''Why?'' Aoi tried a downward sh, only for Anko to catch it with the edge of her kunai and gently lead it to the side, redirecting the strike away from her body.

    ''Why!'' Aoi desperately swung the sword in an arc from right to the left, aiming at Anko''s hip but the woman just swiftly and fiercely swung her kunai at his sword. The weapons met for a second before they were pushed away and Aoi barely managed to refrain from screaming as his arm was almost yanked from his shoulder due to the sheer force of that parry.

    Unknown to Aoi, even Anko felt her shoulder aching from that one. The Raijin no Ken was still a danger to her if she let itnd a hit on her body and a kunai was not exactly the best weapon for blocking a sword. She mostly used the repulsive vibrating of their respective lightning element and that, unfortunately, meant that if she hit the two weapons on each other at just the right angle, it would fling them back with a forceparable to Gai''s fully serious punch with three gates opened.

    It was definitely NOT a pleasant feeling.

    Why!?'' Aoi mentally cried again as his shoulder screamed in pain. He didn''t let himself stop attacking Anko though. He swung and swung and swung... He knew he finally met his match and there was no running away from this one.

    He tried to strike at her left hip, only to redirect the trajectory of his sword into a stab mid-flight, trying to use the fact his opponent was using a smaller weapon. Anko had to admit that this tactic would have worked against most chunins too. Sadly for Aoi, Anko was definitely far above chunin-level. She used her considerable reflexes to spot the feint in time and then her arm blurred. The next thing Aoi knew was that his sword stopped. Only then his brain registered that the tip of the Raijin no Ken was trying to futilely push through the side of the kunai Anko leisurely held in her hand. Seeing that, Aoi''s expression turned ugly.

    "Why isn''t Raijin no Ken cutting through your kunai!?" Unable to hold it in, Aoi shouted at Anko with bloodshot eyes, trying to put more power behind his thrust but he felt as if there was an impassable wall between the kunai and the tip of his sword no matter how much strength he exerted.

    Anko''s brown eyes brightened with amusement. The lightning chakra on the side of her kunai vibrated at a frequency that created a strong repulsive field. Instead of one massively strong push, it was more of a constant effect not strong enough to fling the Raijin no Ken back but there was no way the lightning edge was going through it. The two des didn''t even really touch. The reclusive forces behind them were simply far too much for either Aoi or Anko to surpass them with their physical strength.

    ''Who would have known I would use science during my fights.'' Anko mentally chuckled. She remembered how vehemently she resisted learning about these things when she was under Orochimaru, always saying she didn''t need to learn this useless crap. Orochimaru let her be as long as she got better with her poisons, Jutsu, and kept up her physical training to a degree she could still be called a prodigy. Tsunade though...

    Anko shuddered. There was no negotiating with that woman and Anko had to relent and learn all this scientific mumbo-jumbo.

    ''And what a difference did it make...'' Her perpetual grin turned a bit sheepish as Aoi jumped back, finally giving up on prating the kunai.

    "Is that all? My genins put up more of a fight than you." Anko taunted, inwardly feeling pity for the man because she didn''t even need to lie in order to get a good taunt. She was basically toying with Aoi, using even less effort than what Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata made her exert. It was just... sad.

    "Shut up!" Aoi he bellowed, his free hand reaching for the umbre on his back before he threw it into the air. "Senbon Rain!"

    Anko stared at the literal rain of Senbon that was approaching her and tiredly sighed. There was no chakra in the senbons, no augmentation, no extraordinary power behind them... "Just normal senbons? Are you kidding me?" Anko wryly muttered, lifting her right foot a bit and letting chakra course through it.

    Aoi watched in growing hope as his attack was about to reach the Konoha kunoichi while she stood rooted in her ce. He finally got her!

    His hopes were dashed a secondter when Anko stomped her right foot onto the ground, sending a booming sound through the clearing alongside a shockwave that repelled all the senbons and flung Aoi back, straight into a tree with a resounding crack, snapping his spine and making him scream bloody murder from the pain coursing through his body.

    Anko observed her handiwork with a dull gaze, her cheek twitching in dissatisfaction. "Is this why Tsunade focused on healing? This was... anticlimactic." She mumbled, a bit frustrated that the fight ended so easily. One chakra-enhanced stomp? That was it? The guy was supposed to be a freaking Jonin! She expected him to dodge!

    Releasing a long sigh, Anko walked close to the screaming Aoi, noticing that not only was his spine broken, he also had a few new holes in his body. The strength of her shockwave was enough to make the senbons that hit him go right through him. The man was just lucky none hit anything vital.

    Crouching down, Anko leisurely gathered the Raijin no Ken that lied next to him before pushing her lightning chakra into it. The sword pulsed before a strong current of lightning was generated, making an edge far better than what Aoi was capable of. If Rei saw it, he would be reminded of a miniature chainsaw made of lightning condensed into a lean de.

    Anko''s eyes met Aoi''s frightened gaze, making him silent in fright as he realized what would follow. After a tense moment, Anko decided she gave the guy enough time to make a peace with his demise and swung the Raijin no Ken, causing Aoi''s head to separate from his body.

    Looking in apathy at the blood gushing from the neck, dirtying the ground, Anko couldn''t help butment her choice of opponent. "I hope the kiddies and Kakashi had more fun than me...."

 Chapter 311 - Ch311. Genin Vs Genin: Hinata

    <h4>Chapter 311 - Ch311. Genin Vs Genin: Hinata</h4>

    Author Note:

    For those that didn''t yet notice, I posted a new story...

    Well, don''t expect anything extraordinary :D, and do read the synopsis as it exins some things so you won''t be disappointedter on.

    Its name is Overlord: Rei Shiba.

    Have a nice day.

    ---

    Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata stood in the clearing, and in front of them were cautiously standing three Rain genins, eyeing them warily. Both groups knew they would fight, possibly to the death, but either was reluctant to begin the battle.

    The first Rain genin was a fifteen years old boy with semi-long brown hair and a mousy look. There was nothing intimidating on this one. In fact, he looked meek and withdrawn, wearing a raincoat with long sleeves that covered his hands.

    Sasuke''s eyes shed with interest... only he knew why... as he slightly walked to the left, gesturing with his head to the genin to follow him.

    The genin narrowed his eyes, briefly breaking his meek and insecure expression, before ncing at his two teammates and deciding to follow the duck-butt-haired boy. Getting a bit of distance from his teammates would have been for the best anyway. His fighting style was dangerous for friendlies, after all.

    The second person from the Rain genin team was a short ck-haired boy who threw a re at thest member, a purple-haired kunoichi who had her hair in an onion-style bun.

    "Ajisai, I am going to take on the shorty. Don''t mess up and lose against the Hyuuga kid. I am sure even you can beat her. She looks like even a small burst of wind could topple her." He scoffed before sneering at Naruto and walking to the right side of the clearing.

    "Whatever... you jealous prick." Ajisai muttered, inwardly happy this team was only temporary.

    "What was that!?" The short genin turned around and leveled a heated re at her.

    "She called you a prick, you short prick." Naruto barked out with augh, irritated for the idiot poking fun at his height''s expense.

    Needless to say, the two boys were ready to tear each other a new one.

    The two girls that were left in the middle of the clearing looked at each other and resignedly smiled at the antics of their teammates.

    "I doubt we could resolve this peacefully, right?" Hinata asked in a weak voice, fidgeting.

    "Unfortunately, no. Aoi-sensei ordered us to be ruthless." Ajisai said bitterly. "I am sorry but unless you surrender your client, I will have to kill you."

    Hinata blinked and tilted her head at that, "Kill me?" Her eyebrow rose. "Is that so?" A Byakugan shed into existence and Hinata let out her bloodlust.

    Ajisai knew something was wrong when the nervous wreck of a Hyuuga in front of her stilled. Then the girl did a suddenplete shift in personality and the shaking rabbit turned into a fierce cat as the veins around her eyes bulged and the air abruptly became suffocating. The Hyuuga girl dashed at Ajisai, making her eyes widen at the speed of her opponent.

    Ajisai instantly realized she won''t be able to fight against the girl in taijutsu. She pulled out a tag and aimed it at the quickly approaching Hinata...

    Hinata narrowed her eyes, recognizing the tag contained a seal. Ajisai unsealed the contents of the storage seal and Hinata found herself staring at a wall of fast approaching deadly weapons, hurled at her at breakneck speeds.

    Not panicking, Hinata instantly started Kaiten, deflecting the rain of projectiles all over the surroundings.

    Ajisai cursed as her weapons just bounced from the spinning chakra shield with loud nging noises. Whipping out a new seal she put it onto a kunai''s handle before throwing it above Hinata, timing its unsealing just right.

    Hinata noticed the new seal that was above her almost instantly as she stopped spinning. It was still a tad bit toote as arge boulder was unsealed and pushed downward, straight at her.

    They were in a clearing so there was nothing Hinata could use for a Kawarimi and she didn''t want to risk using Kaiten. There was a chance she wouldn''t be able to stop the boulder with it and that would mean instant KO if not death.

    Gritting her teeth, Hinata created two Shadow Clones next to her. The clones grabbed Hinata by her hands and with a jerk, they threw the original Hinata away.

    Hinata rolled on the ground before she pushed herself back onto her feet just in time to see her clone being squashed by the boulder, smoke being pushed away from underneath it by the pressure of the descending weight. She got back the memory feedback of being crushed to the death and winced, both praising and cursing Naruto in her head for teaching her the technique. At least, most of her chakra returned back.

    "You are quite good." Ajisai uttered with a slight unease on her face.

    Hinata nodded, "You have an interesting fighting style too."

    The two stared at each other for a second before Hinata whipped a kunai from her pouch and threw it at Ajisai. The kunai was intercepted mid-flight by a shuriken but Hinata used this small distraction to start running in the direction of a clockwise circle around Ajisai, throwing shurikens at her.

    Ajisai didn''t want to use her stored weapons or any of her storage seals until Hinata was a bit closer so she only threw her own weapons in retaliation, intercepting the shurikens as the two kunoichis entered a stalemate.

    ''I can''t let her get close.'' Ajisai thought disgruntledly. ''But my weapons are not infinite. Once my supplies are depleted, I am screwed. I gotta either end this fight before that happens or stall until Aoi-sensei returns.'' That only made Ajisai even more dejected.

    She didn''t like the Aoi guy. He was appointed as their jonin for this mission but... she was barely fifteen and he subtly hit on her almost every hour. Basically, he was a prick and Ajisai was not sure about his capabilities. Waiting for him to rescue her from the stalemate was a gamble she was unwilling to do.

    ''All out, it is...'' Ajisai inwardly sighed and her eyes gained a determined glint as she crouched and pushed herself forward, straight at Hinata.

    Seeing it, Hinata jumped back instead of rushing to confront Ajisai in her niche, the closebat. Ajisai didn''t like that the taijutsu-oriented kunoichi was trying to avoid getting closer. She instantly became wary but sped up a bit. She needed to get to the mid-range so her stored projectiles would have the best chance at hitting the Hyuuga.

    As Ajisai was rushing forward, she was passing by the line of deflected kunai and shurikens, when her world suddenly shifted and she found herself falling down onto the ground.

    ''Wha-?'' Her mind confusedly asked before she registered the piercing pain from her foot. Stifling a pain-filled scream, Ajisai looked down and noticed her Achilles tendon was shed. Her eyes widened and her body involuntarily curled into a ball as her hands grabbed her leg when the second Hinata slowly emerged from the ground nearby, holding a bloodied kunai.

    "Hyuugas eyes can see through things. Hiding Like a Mole Technique is incredibly good with them." The second Hinata gave her a small regretful smile.

    The original Hinata approached, "I created two clones. You should have checked if both were dispelled by the boulder." She added as if lecturing the girl.

    Ajisai gritted her teeth, her arms snapping into her pouch as she tried to pull out her seals in an attempt to fight until the bitter end when something grabbed her wrists, both her hands just an inch away from her pouch. Ajisai found her world spinning and quickly found herself flipped upside down before her cheek painfully crashed into the ground, making her involuntarily whimper.

    The original Hinata and the second Hinata watched as a third Hinata sprang from under Ajisai, flipped her from her back to her front, and ended up pressing her knee to the girl''s back while pulling her hands back, ready to snap them at any given moment.

    "Shadow Clones can create other Shadow Clones." The original Hinata pointed out.

    "H-Heh... I... never stood a chance, huh?" Ajisai mumbled into the ground, rxing her body. "Are you going to kill me?" She bitterly asked, knowing there was no way out of the firm hold with her skillset. Especially since the second Hinata approached and took away her pouch with seals and weapons, throwing it away from them before searching her body for more hidden weapons.

    "No. I will not kill you." Hinata crouched down, making sure she was not at a striking distance from Ajisai, "I think Anko-sensei would be interested in your budding fuinjutsu abilities so I am capturing you. What about bing a Konoha kunoichi?" She innocently asked.

    Ajisai couldn''t believe her ears. This was just ridiculous. "Fuck you. Just kill me now. I won''t betray my vige." She spat out.

    "We shall see..." Hinata eye-smiled, causing a chill to go down Ajisai''s spine before the world became back as the second Hinata knocked her out.

    "Poor girl. Brainwashed to valiantly die for the cause. In this situation, you should agree and secretly plot your eventual escape, you dolt. What do they teach their recruits in Rain...." Hinata exasperatedly shook her head, "Now then, I wonder how Naruto and Sasuke are faring?"

 Chapter 312 - Ch312. Genin Vs Genin: Sasuke

    <h4>Chapter 312 - Ch312. Genin Vs Genin: Sasuke</h4>

    "M-My n-name is P-Pete P-Peti." The mousy-looking rain genin stuttered, covering the lower part of his face with his sleeve in a show of embarrassment.

    Sasuke stared at him for a long while, causing him to nervously fidget. Inwardly satisfied with how cowed his opponent seemed, Sasuke decided to break off the staring contest.

    "Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke." The duckbutt-haired genin introduced himself and the breeze suddenly gently ruffled his hair for an added cool effect as his eyes turned red and three tomeoes started spinning around his pupils.

    The mousy-looking genin sweatdropped, clearly detecting the small surge of chakra that provided the breeze. s, since Anko showed him how effective seeming above your game was, Sasuke gained a ir for dramatics.

    The two stilled as if waiting for a non-existent signal...

    Abruptly, Sasuke''s hand blurred and a kunai flew towards Pete who intercepted it with a shuriken, making the kunai spin upward. Pete was about to reach for another shuriken when he was surprised by a loud booming from above.

    ''E-explosive tag!?'' He freaked out, inwardly extremely d he intercepted it with a projectile rather than trying to block it only to be blown up.

    Sasuke smirked to himself and used this brief distraction to start a rapid dash at his opponent. Knowing he couldn''t possibly cover the whole distance between them fast enough to not give his opponent any time to prepare, he whipped a few shurikens and started throwing them.

    Pete forcefully shook off his shock when he spotted the quickly-spinning dangerous pointy stars flying straight at him and started to deflect with his kunai. His situation wasn''t great. His opponent was keeping him busy while shortening the distance between them. He couldn''t really turn around and start running and trying to jump back was also not a great idea. Pete had no doubt the second his feet left the ground, multiple pointy projectiles would be thrown at him. He couldn''t possibly block all of that. Not in mid-jump. The only thing he could do was try to stand his ground.

    Sasuke saw the distress in his opponent''s eyes, making him excited. The mousy-looking guy''s bodynguage oozed anxiety and from hownky he was, it was obvious the boy was no great hand-to-handbatant. Sasuke was going to break him like a twig!

    ''One should never panic inbat.'' Sasuke mentally admonished his opponent. Contrary to his thoughts, he felt great. Finally, a real chance to prove himself in a fight!

    Sasuke was almost upon Pete, pulling his arm back in preparation for a devastating jab... when Sasuke''s Sharingan noticed a great change in his opponent. Pete''s body stilled, all previous indications of his panic, nervosity, and uncertainty disappeared as the boy outstretched his arms with a triumphant smirk and an almost predatory look. Gone was the fidgety prey.

    The world slowed down for Sasuke, his Sharingan showing him in great detail as the sleeves of Pete split, revealing two wooden canisters fastened to his wrists. The wooden canisters burst open and a spray of senbon was sent forward. At the next moment, Sasuke registered a few things.

    Firstly, Pete baited him the entire time. Secondly, he was too close to dodge. Thirdly, the area of effect was too wide for him to get out of the way. Fourthly, he cursed himself for not learning any Doton technique that could create a wall.

    Sasuke kicked the ground and pushed his body back, trying to widen the distance between himself and the wall of senbons flying at him. It didn''t help much since the senbons were faster than him but at least he got enough time to throw his kunai at Pete, preventing him from doing anything else. Then, in one fluid motion, Sasuke whipped out a new kunai from his pouch and started to weave through the rain of senbon while stepping back while his hand blurred, blocking every senbon that would hit in a vital area with his kunai.

    It took barely a few seconds until the attack was finished and when Sasuke deflected thest possible senbon, he quickly threw the kunai in his hand at Pete who was in the middle of doing hand-seals for a Jutsu, forcing him to abandon the thought and evade.

    Most senbon sailed harmlessly around Sasuke and his Sharingan was a great help in helping him to evade the ones that flew in his direction. It was not enough, however. Sasuke wasn''t fast enough and thirteen needles were stuck in his body. He was annoyed rather than bothered by it though. He evaded the fatal ones and deflected more than eighty percent of the remaining senbon he couldn''t dodge.

    Sasuke didn''t have the time to pull the senbons out. His enemy would not give him such leisure. With a grunt, his hands sprang into weaving seals, and before Pete could press on with his attacks, a fireball rapidly flew in his direction.

    Pete was surprised that a genin could do elemental Jutsu so proficiently and his brows creased. Genins were not supposed to know elemental techniques!

    ''Haa~, so this is what being from a major vige means.'' Pete wryly thought as he threw a kunai with an explosive tag right at the fireball.

    This particr explosive tag had a very sensitive trigger so it went off the second it entered the fireball. This canceled the technique out in a bright re of light before creating a smokescreen that obscured the unsuspecting Sasuke''s vision. Worse yet, he had a Sharingan so he was even more susceptible to such an attack.

    "Grah!" Sasuke tightly closed his eyes because of the suddenly intense light and tried to cover them with his hand. It was an instinctual reaction. Knowing that the fight was not yet finished and that his opponent had some dangerous tricks up his sleeve, he forced his eyes to open, the disorienting blurry world greeting him.

    Pete rushed through the ce where the fireball and explosive tag met, not minding the scalding temperature that licked his skin as he dashed at Sasuke through the smoke, throwing two kunai at Sasuke the second he spotted him.

    Sasuke was still trying to refocus his vision to properly see but his senses were sharp enough to enable him to feel the shifts in the air and dodge the two kunais. That gave Pete the necessary time to close the distance between them, however, and Sasuke found himself barely blocking a punch aimed at his chin.

    Pete spun into a kick, trying tond it on Sasuke''s abdomen but Sasuke twisted his body to the side and instantly retaliated with an elbow nearing Pete''s cheek. Pete pulled his head back, letting the elbow strike barely clip his nose while his right hand flipped a kunai out of his pouch and swung at Sasuke.

    Sasuke''s eyes widened, seeing the approaching steel. He quickly reacted by kicking Pete into the left knee, making him falter which gave Sasuke enough time to step back and avoid being knifed.

    Sweat rolled down Sasuke''s brows and only the fact that both he and his opponent breathed hard relieved him. This was challenging and hisck of experience showed a great deal in this fight. His opponent was basically beating him with tricks and attacks that targeted his weaknesses! Sasuke realized this would require him to be a bit more... cunning.

    Sasuke''s eyes briefly locked with Pete''s whose expression was grimacing from the kick to the knee. Not willing to give his opponent a chance to regain his bnce, Sasuke sprang forward, punching Pete''s chest. Unfortunately for Sasuke, Pete was expecting this and let the punch through. He could see that it was not strong enough to break bones and would only create some bruising. In exchange, Pete''s hand snapped forward and counterattacked. The difference was, he was holding a kunai.

    As Sasuke''s punchnded, Pete''s kunai buried deep into Sasuke''s chest, causing Pete to show a tired smile.

    Then... Pete spat blood.

    Confusion obvious in his eyes, Pete looked down and his expression twisted in horror. The kunai he thought he held shimmered out of existence as he realized he had half of the kunai''s de sticking from his chest where Sasuke seeminglynded a punch.

    Pete looked back at Sasuke...

    "Sh-Shar-gan..." He gurgled with a horrified realization as his body gave out, making him fall forward onto his knees before it fell back with a thud.

    Pete... was dead.

    Sasuke chuckled before the pain from the blow to the chest and the senbons made him wince, "Sorry..." He sincerely apologized to the corpse. "I wanted to enjoy our dance more but you just had to use poisoned needles." He shook his head in genuine disappointment.

    Anko might have made all of the Team Seven resistant to most poisons but that didn''t mean they were fully immune. Sasuke was starting to feel aches and fatigue from all the poison in his veins. That was why he decided to end the battle so quickly.

    Turning around, he was just in time to see a clone of Hinata knock out her opponent, causing relief to flood his body.

    Sasuke walked towards his teammate while pulling out the pesky needles and discarding them on the ground. When he got near her, his cheeks gained a slightly pink dusting from shame as he realized that unlike him, she didn''t have a scratch on herself.

    "Hinata.... er, could I get a detoxifying pill?" Sasuke asked with a sheepish expression. Sage, this was embarrassing!

 Chapter 313 - Ch313. Genin Vs Genin: Naruto

    <h4>Chapter 313 - Ch313. Genin Vs Genin: Naruto</h4>

    "I am going to show you a prick, you orange retard!" The short ck-haired rain genin growled.

    "Oh? Sorry, I am not interested in your prick." Naruto lightheartedly refused while vehemently waving his hand left and right. That only made the short rain genin angrier and his cheeks flushed. "Considering your height, it can''t be very big anyway." Naruto pointed his finger at the rain genin and mocked as Anko taught him.

    "You are shorter than me, bastard!" The rain genin screamed in indignation.

    "Am not!" Naruto realized his insult could be used against him and flushed red too.

    "Are too!"

    "Am not!"

    "Are too!"

    "Am not! You ugly!" Naruto used his creativity.

    "Are t-, Ugly!? You are ugly! Your mother is ugly! Your sister is ugly!" The rain genin huffed, gasping for air from the heated exchange of words.

    Hearing that, Naruto quieted down and the rain genin took it as his victory. Unknown to him, mentioning Naruto''s mother might not have been the best idea.

    "MY MOTHER WAS NOT UGLY, YOU SHORT SWINE! YOU ARE UGLY! YOUR MOTHER IS UGLY! YOUR SISTER IS UGLY!" Naruto suddenly erupted in an imitation of Iruka''s Big-Head Jutsu, childishly screaming so loudly that the rain genin swayed on his feet, utterly deafened and dazed.

    The rain genin blinked and shook his head, trying to stop the ringing in his ears while Naruto was angrily huffing, ring at him.

    The two boys red at each other with the intensity of angry squirrels when the sounds of fighting reached them.

    "Ha! I bet my teammates are already kicking the asses of yours!" The rain genin smugly boasted, crossing his arms under his chest.

    Naruto naturally couldn''t let that go withoutment, "Hmph! Hinata-chan and Sasuke-teme are stronger! Hinata can spin so no attack can harm her and Sasuke-teme is a bastard!" He childishly defended his teammates, making even the rain genin deadpan on him.

    "Hah! As much as I don''t like them, mine are better. Ajisai is good with seals and... er," He tried to fish in his head for the name but drew nks, "the other guy... is almost chunin." The rain genin snorted in distaste.

    "Are not!"

    "Are too!"

    "Ar-"

    "Shut up!" The rain genin rubbed his forehead that started painfully throbbing. Dealing with the hyperactive orange kid was starting to be too much for him. "We are supposed to fight." He reminded.

    "Oh..." Naruto eximed as if he just remembered, "Do you want to fight?" He asked the rain genin and tilted his head.

    The rain genins headache intensified when he heard Naruto''s stupid question. In fact, he was fine with not fighting. His makeshift genin team for this mission was one of the strongest in the Rain vige. When they won their fights, they woulde here and the blondie would be screwed.

    Pete was chunin in all but rank and Ajisai was also one of the most skilled genins of Rain. As for him... Well, nobody said he could not show the loudmouthed kid who was the boss.

    "Bring it!" He smirked at Naruto, knowing the blonde would take that challenge head-on. "I, Genzo of Rain, will show you your ce!"

    Naruto''s blue eyes gleamed with determination as he put his hands together in a cross-shaped hand seal, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He shouted, creating five copies of himself with a puff of smoke.

    All six Naruto''s instantly dashed at Genzo, who sneered and started weaving seals. "Ha! You think your clones can defeat me? Think again, kid! Water Release: Water Dragon Technique!"

    Only now did Naruto realize they were quite close to a water source. No wonder Genzo was so self-assured. No genin was supposed to know and be able to perform a technique such as the Water Dragon.

    ''He must be quite the prodigy of his vige...'' Naruto idly thought, not slowing his dash even for a second despite a massive Water Dragon rising from theke behind Genzo.

    "I argued with you so much in order to get time for infusing my chakra into the water! You can only me yourself for your stupidity!" Genzo yelled while mentallymanding the dragon to attack.

    The Water dragon flew at Naruto and his clones, suddenly twisting to the left and with a big ssh crashing into the first clone, ttening it into the ground from the sheer weight of the water.

    The head of the water dragon was destroyed by it but a new head formed from the side of its body and flew straight at the next Naruto clone, easily sweeping it from existence as it ferociously slithered on the ground. The clone didn''t manage to even yelp before it was destroyed and the Water Dragon continued on its clone-annihtion spree.

    Two more clones were swept by the massive current of water shaped like a dragon, unable to keep their form due to the massive force behind the water. As the Water Dragon approached thest clone and original Naruto, its watery jaws opening wide about to devour them, the clone quickly grabbed the original and threw him at Genzo.

    Naruto was mid-flight, whipping a kunai from his pouch and throwing it at his opponent, forcing him to side-step while distracting him from casting another Jutsu. He was almost close enough...

    A water spear suddenly tore through Naruto''s abdomen, creating arge hole through it and suspending him in the air a few feet in front of Genzo who was smugly smirking at Naruto.

    "A true ninja always has a trick up his sleeve!" Genzo boasted, waiting for his gutted opponent to die.

    Naruto shakily lifted his head, looking straight at Genzo with a forced smile as he winced, "J-Jok-es on y-you." He said, causing Genzo to furrow his eyebrows before his eyes widened as the skewered Naruto poofed in a burst of smoke.

    Genzo heard another poof from his right side, the spot where Naruto''s kunai previouslynded, and before he could react, Naruto''s form tightly hugged Genzo.

    Genzo instantly reacted, about to tear Naruto''s form away from him when his ears suddenly heard his death sentence.

    "Exploding Shadow Clone."

    The Naruto who was hugging him whispered and Genzo only managed to widen his eyes in fright before his body was ripped apart followed by a booming sound and sh of the explosion.

    Naruto walked from behind a tree on the edge of the clearing, looking in a bit of dismay at Genzo''s charred upper body while his other charred body parts were strewn on the ground not far away. He might have been a prodigy in the Rain Vige but in the end, Genzo was a genin while Naruto was trained by Anko.

    So what if he could use A-rank offensive Water Jutsu? He was a sitting duck while using it!

    "A true ninja always has a trick up his sleeve, indeed." Naruto mumbled with a conflicted and unsatisfied look. "I was too cautious. I expected the guy in the clearing to be a Water Clone." He clicked his tongue and started to walk towards the corpse when he froze and a smile bloomed on his lips.

    "So Hinata-chan and Sasuke-teme already won!" Naruto chuckled, "And the bastard is also injured! Oh, oh, oh! Time to lord it over him!"

    Just like that, Naruto rushed towards his teammates like a man on a mission.

 Chapter 314 - Ch314. Kakashi Vs Raiga 1

    <h4>Chapter 314 - Ch314. Kakashi Vs Raiga 1</h4>

    Kakashi and Raiga stood opposite each other surrounded by trees. Raiga held the Kiba des in a loose grip, ready for a battle at moment''s notice while Kakashi was also slouching forward, seemingly not bothered that he would face one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist in mortalbat in a few seconds.

    "So... how did it feel to run away from your vige after the third war?" Kakashizily asked, his sole visible eye sluggishly observing every twitch of his future opponent. It was always a good thing to make your enemies angry before the battle even began and Kakashi was a master at pissing people off.

    The only indication that Raiga was affected by the offhandedment was a slight twitch of his finger, but Kakashi''s sharp eye spotted it. His lips almost involuntarily twitched at that.

    "I mean... to go so far as to steal a national treasure such as the Kiba des... I must say I am grateful. Once I beat you, I will hang them on a wall at home as a trophy." Kakashi eye-smiled.

    Raiga''s body tensed... before it rxed, disappointing Kakashi a great deal.

    "Say what you want, Copycat." Raiga chuckled, "You were not there. You have no idea how frightening the new Mizukage is. She could destroy Konoha in seconds and you, tree-hugging twerps, would be utterly powerless." He divulged, making Kakashi''s eyes dim a little.

    "You are basicallyparing her to the likes of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama. How ridiculous." Kakashi rebuked, not as nonchnt as before. There was not much information about the new Mizukage and her prowess. Everybody saw her fight against Yagura and the three-tailed bijuu but after that... nothing. Kakashi wouldn''t say no to free information from one of the most important ex-Kiri ninjas even if he would take it with a grain of salt.

    Raiga scoffed at Kakashi''s disbelief, "Hah, you Konoha ninjas and your worship of past Hokages... You saw her prowess, yet, you still don''t believe she could defeat your founders. As arrogant as ever, I see."

    "Well, from where I stand, she seemed to struggle quite a bit against three-tails while both Hashirama and Madara could stop the beast with just a single Jutsu." Kakashi casually shrugged, drawling his words out as if he was exining things to a particrly stupid child while giving Raiga a condescending look.

    Not that he cared who was stronger. Both Madara and Hashirama were dead and if the current Mizukage really was their match... well, it was quite a shuddering thought.

    Better not think about it.

    "She was not even trying." Raiga shook his head, "All of us, the Seven Swordsmen, fought her at the end of the Third War-"

    This, Kakashi knew. Gai was always shouting how grateful he was for the youthful actions that saved his father that day. Duy retired after that and now owns a bit unpopr dojo of youth in the vige. Kakashimented if it wouldn''t be better for him to meet his end that day. It would certainly make Konoha a bit more peaceful during the mornings.

    "-and we had no chance. All seven of us together and we didn''t manage to make her even winded. That was years ago. I can only imagine what kind of monster Ringo Ameyuri is now. These des," Raiga''s expression was wistful as he tightly gripped the Kiba de in his right hand and put its de in front of him as if he was showing it to Kakashi, "are the proof of her disregard for us. The disregard for the best the previous Kirigakura had to offer. Ringo Ameyuri''s childhood dream was to be the wielder of Kiba des. She was one of the very few orphans who actually managed to do it too. Yet, the fact she let me have them after she defeated me proves they no longer matter to her."

    "Or it proves that you are a coward. Shouldn''t being defeated mean you should stop using these swords?" Kakashi lightheartedly asked with an innocent look.

    Raiga gave Kakashi a silent piercing look before sighing, "Whatever. I think it wouldn''t matter to you since this will be your funeral."

    And just like that, the atmosphere around them became heavy, filled with chakra and killing intent. Both men were still quite leisure in their posture but the look in their eyes was anything but. Kakashi slowly lifted his hand towards his forehead protector, about to lift it...

    Raiga used that exact moment to dash forward, pouring his lightning chakra into his muscles and nervous system, bing even faster for it. The Kiba des were crossed in front of him, surging with electricity and ready to be used.

    Kakashi silently cursed, pulling his headband up. It took just a second of distraction but in that single second, Raiga closed a significant distance between them and was almost upon Kakashi.

    ''No time for Chidori.'' Kakashi''s eyes flickered downward, ''Ground too wet, hardening it into a strong-enough wall would take too long.'' His lips pursed as he decided on the course of action.

    Snake ˇú Ram ˇú Monkey ˇú Boar ˇú Horse ˇú Tiger, "Fire Release: Great Fireball!"

    A searing fireball flew right at Raiga who was dashing straight into it. He could already feel its burning hotness on his skin and had no intention to let it touch him. Unfortunately for Kakashi...

    Raiga used the electricity coursing through his nervous system to make his body respond, jerkily jumping to the left while using his heightened perception to duck at just the right angle so the edge of the fireball would miss him by an inch. His dash didn''t even slow down as he mostly harmlessly passed the heated ball of mes, rushing at its caster.

    Kakashi didn''t think Raiga would just dash right past his technique nor did he actually think a C-rank Fire Jutsu would be enough to deal with someone of Raiga''s caliber. He still hoped it would buy him a bit more time but the lighting user didn''t even slow down!

    Mentally cursing, Kakashi jumped back, trying to make some distance between Raiga and him. It was simple math. A guy with two swords and skilled at their use versus a guy who while good, only had kunais at hand, equaled that the kunai guy would get cut. Close-quarterbat was therefore a big no-no in Kakashi''s books.

    Raiga saw Kakashi jumping back and suddenly grinned, pushing his right foot into the ground with enough force to make it create a small trench, causing his body to abruptly stop. The momentum of his dash was not yet lost though. Instead, it was redirected into his upper body that was already mid-throw.

    Kakashi didn''t have enough time to react. His eyes widened and the three tomoes of his Sharingan desperately spun, seeing one Kiba de fly directly at him, surging with a lightning coating... Even with the slowed perception of his Sharingan, the de seemed far too fast.

    Raiga expectantly watched as his de went straight through Kakashi''s chest and two tree trunks behind him only to stop being buried handle-deep in the third one. His grin faltered, however, when the big backpack on his back ''whispered'' something to him.

    Clicking his tongue, Raiga looked to the left into the treetops and Kakashi could just sheepishlye out of hiding since Raiga already knew where he was.

    That was when the ''corpse'' puffed into smoke, revealing a skewered log.

    "Right... Konoha ninja. You love Kawarimi." Raiga snorted.

    "Don''t diss the Log. It did help me get rid of one of your swords." Kakashi jovially spoke. Both him and Raiga knew he would not give the Kiri missing ninja the chance to retrieve his de. Kakashi liked his odds at facing Raiga with one Kiba more than facing him with both.

    Raiga just gave Kakashi an unamused look, not liking how much he was underestimated. A seal on his wrist red to life and the Kiba de he threw away was suddenly back in his hand, making Kakashi''s non-Sharingan eye twitch.

    "Did you really think I would throw such a precious weapon if I had no way of retrieving it? What do you take me for? A chunin?" Raiga rolled his eyes. "I said I am going to make this your funeral. I fully intend to uphold my promise, Copycat."

    Kakashi''s shoulders slumped and his mood darkened at that, ''Ah, shit.... wasn''t this supposed to be a C-rank mission? Honestly, if it is not Anko trying to kick my ass, it is some kind of rogue ninja. Where is my well-deserved vacation!?''

 Chapter 315 - Ch315. Kakashi Vs Raiga 2

    <h4>Chapter 315 - Ch315. Kakashi Vs Raiga 2</h4>

    Raiga lunged towards Kakashi who stood on a tree branch, swinging his sword in an arc, causing Kakashi to jump back in order to evade the blow that instantly cut through the thick branch, separating it from the rest of the tree.

    Kakashinded on the ground in a crouch, using the momentum to bounce into another jump, leaping backward and barely evading the falling Raiga''s des while whipping shurikens from his pouch and throwing them at Raiga.

    There wasn''t much distance between Raiga and Kakashi. The shurikens were a certain hit and Kakashi thought there wasn''t much Raiga could do against them but to his surprise, Raiga''s chakra surged around him, crackling with lightning and the shurikens were deflected, not even making Raiga slow down.

    As Raiganded, he slightly bent his knees, also using the momentum of his fall and redirecting it to propel himself forward towards Kakashi.

    Seeing the scowling swordsman leaping at him, Kakashi redirected his jump mid-flight by kicking a nearby tree, making his body fly to the right, and putting a tree behind Raiga and himself.

    Raiga understood that the Copy ninja would not willingly enter closebat so he didn''t give chase. Instead, he started feeding his chakra into the Kiba de in his right hand, making electricity crack around it before he swung it, sending forward a horizontal arc of concentrated lightning where his ''backpack'' whispered to him Kakashi''s waist was currently located. The lightning went through the tree trunks like a knife through butter, cutting down several trees in the forest and making them fall down.

    Kakashi only barely managed to evade the lightning arc. Raiga simply conjured it far too fast and he had to admit, going behind a tree was a bad move. It obscured his Sharingan, hence, his only warning was the chirping noise and that didn''t give him enough time. The shallow cut on his abdomen clearly proved that fact, and Kakashi was just d he had the presence of mind to use Kawarimi before he was bisected like the tree trunks.

    Kakashi wasn''t given a moment of reprieve though. Raiga was again upon him, making him wonder how the ex-Kiri nin knew his position so fast. He didn''t have a long time to ponder about that though and was forced to block the initial strike with his kunai.

    Chakra metal met steel and Kakashi could feel his disadvantage as Raiga''s lightning chakra entered his hand through the kunai, venturing further into his forearm, upper arm... until it permeated his whole body. Only his own lightning chakra he instantly started molding saved him from full-body paralysis. Kakashi''s movements were still slowed down. Kiba des amplified the lightning chakra of their user so despite lightning being Kakashi''s primary and most practiced element, he found himself disadvantaged.

    "Got you!" Raiga didn''t tarry. The second he saw Kakashi''s body stiffen due to his chakra, he grinned and swung his second Kiba de at his neck. Kakashi''s head separated from his body but Raiga''s grin turned into a frown the second he saw droplets of water as his de went through Kakashi''s neck. He was from Kiri and knew what that meant. "Ranmaru!" Raiga shouted, demanding his partner to tell him where the real Kakashi was as the one in front of him burst into a ssh of water, forcing him to jump back.

    Kakashi wasn''t about to waste this chance. Raiga was about tond when his body emerged from the ground right under him, Chidori already crackling around his right hand.

    "Under you!" Came from Raiga''s backpack, making him jerk his attention to the ce where he was about tond.

    Raiga''s eyes widened, his mind telling him it would be impossible to fully evade that blow because he was in the air and falling straight at Kakashi. He jerkily twisted his body mid-air and met Kakashi''s Chidori with his left Kiba de. Electricity shed against electricity, creating a bright blue sh of light while lightning bolts were thrown around because of the intense sh, devastating the surroundings.

    Raiga didn''te out unscathed from this. His hand was numb and sported new burns. It didn''t bother him much. He was used to lightning-induced burns but he still felt annoyed because this injury would somewhat hinder him. His entire sleeve was in a worse state than his forearm. It was littered with new holes where the lightning burned through the cloth.

    "Heh, I guess we can call this a draw." Raiga smirked as he looked at the state of Copy-nin''s right forearm and his shaking hand littered in burns.

    "Pretty much." Kakashi eye-smiled through the pain. This gamble didn''t pay off. Kakashi was made aware of why Kiba des were so legendary. He burned more chakra than he wasfortable with for that Chidori and yet, the Kiba des returned even more damage than he dished out while consuming a lot less chakra from Raiga.

    ''Lightning is out. As long as he has these swords, he can pretty much nullify any lightning attack that is under A-rank, and the ones that can deal damage to him would be mostly resisted and are too chakra-consuming.'' Kakashi inwardly grimaced. Lightning was his best element and finding himself at such a disadvantage hurt his pride. ''Water is out too... As a Kiri ninja, he sparred against Water Users most. I don''t think I can surprise-attack him with a Water Jutsu. He spotted my Water Clone before he was even done dispatching it.'' Kakashi continued his analysis.

    That left Kakashi only with Earth and Fire Jutsu since he was useless with Wind Release.

    "Is that all you''ve got?" Raiga suddenly asked, steadily walking to the left, circling Kakashi and looking at him as if he measured his worth. "This is the extent of Sharingan no Kakashi''s power? How... pathetic." He chuckled.

    Kakashi didn''t mind the small talk. Right now, he needed time to recover and formte his next n so he let Raiga talk his heart out.

    "You know..." Raiga gave Kakashi a sympathetic look, "I was once in your position. Standing in front of Ringo Ameyuri, thinking I was a hot shit only to be brutally made aware of the cruel reality. Maybe this was how she felt after defeating me? This... disappointment?" He shook his head, "She let me survive and I trained. I trained and trained, hoping to one day defeat her. Then... the reality gave me a hard blow again when I saw her facing the three-tails and I understood. She let me live because there was no chance in hell I could ever match her." Raiga ruefully grinned for a moment before his expression went nk as he looked straight at Kakashi. "Unfortunately for you, I am quite aware you could one day match me if I let you live."

    Kakashi''s eyes suddenly widened as he felt the surge of lightning chakraing from Raiga. Lightning cracked around him in a simr fashion to the Raikage''s Lightning Armor, causing Kakashi to feel dread.

    "Lightning Release: Full Body Activation!" Raiga eximed, his body coated in crackling arcs of electricity. The name made Kakashi somewhat relieved but his wariness didn''t subside. The amount of Lightning Chakra wrapped around Raiga was monstrous.

    The air between Raiga and Kakashi became still as they stared at each other before...

    Raiga soundlessly disappeared.

    The tomoes of Kakashi''s Sharingan furiously spun, trying to get every bit of information they possibly could. It was only thanks to this Sharingan that Kakashi perceived Raiga approaching him, his Kiba des about to skewer him through the chest. There was no way to dodge it. Raiga was too fast for Kakashi''s body to react in time. He could see it but he couldn''t dodge it.

    The tomoes in Kakashi''s Sharingan suddenly came to an abrupt stop as Kakashi''s eye met Raiga''s gaze, ''Genjutsu: Sharingan!''

    Raiga''s stab suddenly redirected to the left, going through Kakashi''s hip rather than the middle of his chest. The wound was instantly burned shut due to the lightning coursing through the des and Kakashi barely stifled his scream.

    Raiga blinked and furrowed his eyebrows, noticing the situation. He twisted the Kiba de, widening Kakashi''s wound while cauterizing it before he brutally ripped the sword out of Kakashi''s hip and jumped back. Both him and Kakashi were aware Raiga could have ended it then and there. He could have used his second Kiba de to kill Kakashi quite easily since there was no way the Copy ninja could get away from that position.

    Kakashi fell to his knees, his left hand holding his right hip as he gasped for air through the immense pain both from the burned hole in his hip and from the unhealthy amount of lightning chakra coursing through his system, trying to paralyze him as it delivered insane amounts of pain.

    "Genjutsu... I have to admit, I never expected it would be able to affect me in this state." Raiga did break out of the genjutsu in one second and anything bigger than the slight perception alteration Kakashi used would be instantly noticed and broken even sooner, but between the casting of the genjutsu and the stab, there was no time to dispel it. Kakashi simply used Raiga''s speed against him. "I have tomend you for that. Now... will you survive the second bl-"

    Raiga suddenly stopped as Ranmaru in his lightning-proof backpack whispered something to him, causing his eyes to widen and his gaze to snap to the right, in the direction where Kakashi''s team was supposed to be located.

    "I see... my associates were defeated." Raiga muttered, "Are you sure, Ranmaru?"

    Kakashi tried to focus his hearing but could only hear a muted, "Yes."

    "Someone with chakra more potent than me, huh?" Raiga clicked his tongue. His reserves were still half-full but he thought Kakashi would be the strongest of the lot. "Fine..." He sighed and turned towards Kakashi. "Looks like it is your lucky day, Copy-nin.." He said almost sullenly before again soundlessly disappearing and Kakashi thanked the Sage when his Sharingan perceived Raiga speeding away right before he fainted.

 Chapter 316 - Ch316. Kakashi Awakens

    <h4>Chapter 316 - Ch316. Kakashi Awakens</h4>

    Kakashi woke up, not opening his eyes or giving any visible sign he was awake as his first instinct cultivated by his ninja experiences dictated. He explored his surroundings with his senses, only rxing when he found out there was no threat around.

    Naruto, who was on Kakashi-watching duty, was almost dozing off when he noticed his jonin instructor slightly stirring, instantly pulling him from his half-asleep state as he energetically jumped towards Kakashi''s bed and saw the man''s eyes opening.

    "KAKASHI-SENSEI! YOU ARE AWAKE!" He happily eximed in his outdoor voice, making Kakashi involuntarily wince as his head throbbed in pain, and cursed his luck. If he wasn''t fully awake before, he definitely was now. Alongside the entire house.

    Na... r... to." Kakashi rasped, unable to pronounce Naruto''s name because of how parched his throat was. Only now his head caught up and realized how shitty his body felt. Kakashi''s lone visible eye slightly widened as the events before he fainted came back to him.

    "AH! Don''t worry! I will bring you water." Naruto''s face brightened before he scrambled out of the room.

    Kakashi could only helplessly watch his excitable student bounce out of the room with a deadpan gaze. Water would be nice but knowing what exactly happened to the rest of the team was the priority. He was responsible for them, dammit!

    Fortunately for Kakashi, he wasn''t alone in the room. Naruto''s scream awoke Sasuke who was shooting the door with very irritated looks, judging by his eyes most likely imagining a hundred ways he could skin a certain loud annoyance. Sasuke just KNEW Naruto did that on purpose.

    ''The dobe most likely doesn''t want to exin the situation...'' He grumbled, feeling Kakashi''s piercing gaze on him.

    Sasuke let out a long-suffering sigh at his teammate''s antics. "We won. Raiga ran away. The Rain team was wiped out except the girl. She is being held prisoner in Anko-sensei''s room. We are at Tazuna''s home." Sasuke described their situation in a droll voice, trying to keep it short and factual. When he got to the part of the rain girl, he noticed Kakashi slightly winced at the fact she was rooming with Anko. Somehow, Sasuke could sympathize.

    Sasuke looked at Kakashi and saw the unasked question in his eye.

    "Anko. She patched you up. I was also hurt." He said that in an almost sullen voice, "Watching her heal you was actually amazing. The burnt flesh rejuvenated at a visible rate and the gaping hole in your hip closed... I had no idea Anko-sensei was a medic ninja." Awe seeped through Sasuke''s facade.

    Kakashi grimaced. Of course, Sasuke had no clue. Despite being Tsunade''s apprentice, nobody in his right mind would let Anko into the hospital with the aim to cure people. He had no idea how Anko attained her mastery in medical arts but it definitely was NOT in Konoha hospital. Which was strange, considering nobody could be a skilled medical ninja just by reading books. They needed experience and hands-on practice.

    Kakashi couldn''t know that Anko had this much-needed practice in the Vige on the Other Side where she was a quite popr medic.

    Something in the way Kakashi''s eye cringed must have given him away as Sasuke mirthlessly chuckled, "Don''t worry. I have watched the whole time she was healing you. She didn''t slip any poison or otherwise experimented with your body."

    The sad part was he couldn''t assure himself of that. He indeed watched Kakashi''s healing, mostly because he was afraid of what was awaiting him since his turn was next. But once Kakashi was done, Anko zoomed on him, and unfortunately, Kakashi was unconscious so it was just him and Anko in the room... a very dangerous situation in Sasuke''s opinion. He was on the verge of shitting himself the entire time until she finished with his wounds, expecting an excruciating pain to start at any given moment, considering her personality.

    It was this worry that made Sasuke faint halfway through his treatment, not that he would ever admit it wasn''t due to fatigue, so anything Anko did to him after that... he wouldn''t know.

    "Oh~, you believe you would notice, genin?" Anko''s cheerful voice suddenly resounded through the room, making Sasuke flinch and splutter. "You are still too overconfident in your Sharingan, Sasuke-chan!"

    Hearing that, Sasuke decided to do the right thing. He threw her a stink eye, huffed, and lied back down into his bed, petntly turning his back at Anko.

    "Cute..." She rolled her eyes before striding towards Kakashi and putting her hand covered in a light green aura on his forehead. She smirked at the older Jonin, "Raiga got you good, Hatake." She patronizingly patted his forehead, not raising her palm high enough for the medical Jutsu to stop affecting him.

    Kakashi groaned and wanted to do nothing more than to shake her hand from his forehead but his body finally started to feel better. In the end, he could only silently bear with the smugness oozing from Anko as she enjoyed treating him like a misbehaving child.

    "H-He was S-rank." Kakashi croaked out after he finally regained his ability to talk, "Got a J-Jutsu simr t-to Rai...kage''s Li-Lightning Armor." That sentence made his throat hurt again but he knew this might be a very important piece of information.

    Anko''s patronizing smirk fell, easing into a wry and understanding smile. She knew best how hard it was to face S-rank ninja in one versus one. Tsunade''s training regime consisted of lot of battles between her and Anko, basically beating Anko into the half-dead pulp before healing her and repeating the process until Anko got better.

    "Don''t worry, I have already sent a report and request for reinforcements to Lady Tsunade." She informed Kakashi, trying to make him feel at ease.

    Kakashi closed his eye, rxing into bed. Getting reinforcements was good, there was no telling what Raiga would do, now that he knew Team Seven was capable of handling the Rain Team. Worse yet, what would Gato do...

    Gato was incredibly wealthy. Hiring ninjas was no problem for him. He didn''t do it because most of his criminal activities simply didn''t require ninjas. Common thugs were enough. If he suddenly decided to splurge in order to get Tazuna''s head, though, Team Seven would be in trouble. Raiga was a problem but if he was supported by some jonin level fighters...

    "I should have discarded the mission the second I understood the client lied, shouldn''t I?" Kakashi sighed, finally feeling good enough to speak without gasping for air afterward. He inwardly marveled at her medical prowess. Not that he would tell that to her anytime soon. It would just inte the woman''s ego and give him more ammunition to tease him.

    "Meh, I opted for continuing too." Anko carelessly shrugged, "Nobody could have known there would be S-rank ninja in the opposition."

    And that was the truth too. S-rank ninjas were extremely rare. Most ninjas have a goal to be Jonins, not even thinking of bing an S-rank level threat simply because of how small a number of them existed in the world. Most ninjas never met someone ssed as S-rank in their whole lives. Anko reckoned there were not more than sixty of them in the whole Elemental Nations.

    "Ah," Anko abruptly stopped channeling her soothing chakra into Kakashi''s body through his forehead, causing him a mild headache. He opened his eye, inquisitively looking at Anko and finding her giving him a sheepish and apologetic look, "Naruto ising. I am in no mood to take on his exuberance this early in the morning. Sorry, Kakashi, it''s time for you to act like a good team leader and sacrifice yourself for the team."

    With that, Anko poofed into smoke, revealing she was just a shadow clone, the original no doubt sleeping.

    ''And here I thought she cared.'' Kakashi''s stomach sank as the door flew open, Naruto triumphantly bounced through them with an excited expression. Kakashi somehow knew this was his revenge for all the D-ranks.

    "Kakashi-sensei! Here, water!" Naruto hurried towards Kakashi.

    He was almost near the bed when he suddenly... tripped, sshing the water all over Kakashi''s face. Naruto lowered his head, hiding his grin before he looked towards Kakashi, his face a perfect picture of sheepish regret.

    Kakashi knew who to me for his not-so-cute little orange genin''s sadistic streak and taste in revenge. His mind again strayed to the woman who left him to his fate in his bleariest hour of need and his mood soured.

    ''That... bitch.''

    Some very hard hours with Naruto were upon the poor Kakashi who couldn''t even move.

    ---

    Author Note (And wow! It might be longer than the actual chapter...):

    Okay, guys, long one here so if you don''t feel like wasting some of your time for the little ol'' me, feel free to skip it.

    This one is more of me stating my opinion on Bleach anime girls and then a ''questionnaire'' because I am just that bored and interested in your opinion :D. Hahaha...

    A few days ago, I wrote my opinion on DxD girls in ament. I stated I don''t really like them as female leads for my MCs because... well, I do think they are hot, after all, they were created with that in mind by the author, but I simply find them not all that appealing andcking in likable personalities or interesting background. The exception to this is maybe:

    Sona... because damn if her way to evade engagement is not intelligent enough to be actually hot. Devils from the older generation would not challenge her because they would be aughing stock for their peers for centuries. Such a marriage would be forever given the stigma of mockery and in an aristocratic society, good reputation actually matters even among devils. There are just some things one should never do to bring dishonor to his house. And the younger generation has no way to win against her. She basically screwed with the entire Underworld in her own way.

    Moving on... her always serious attitude just screams repressed desires and I can''t help but ponder how wonderful it would have been if her sin was actually Lust and she was a closet pervert who is bottling up her desires and then an MC woulde and... Hehe, boi.

    And,

    Serafall... - because I find her the most reasonable of the Devil Kings, and the background and meaning of her being the main diplomat of her utterly deviant race with many misfits who do whatever they want, consequences be damned, and how hard and exhausting her duties must be for her opens a lot of potential for plot development and opportunities for interaction with an MC. Her sis-con act opens the two-in-one-package route too which is... hmm, interesting, wouldn''t you say?

    But other than that, nope. I don''t find other DxD girls all that interesting.

    I like Naruto girls more. to be honest, I like quite a few of the females in Naruto as should be obvious from this story, so much so that I don''t even know which one is actually my favorite as it changed on weekly basis. I just realized how ridiculous it was after responding to thatment. Kishimoto stated he was bad at making female characters but weirdly enough, his female characters are more appealing to me, have incredible potential for development, and have generally more depth to them than those females in DxD despite females being a big part of DxD, unlike Naruto.

    Then one dude asked me for my opinion on Bleach female characters and I was stumped. I kinda don''t like many Bleach female characters. Unohana, Yoruichi and, I do understand this will set some of you off but, suck it up, here it goes... gender-bent Ulquiorra.

    Yeah, degenerate much, huh?

    That''s it.

    Both Unohana and Yoruichi have that duality vibe with massive potential and interesting personalities.

    Unohana... she is that killer healer who seems to not really understand romance or enjoyment of life unless it has to do with the killing. She is weary and only seems a good fight as her only source of fun. That simply makes me want to write an MC who could coddle and spoil her rotten, showing her that there is more to life and her desire for death is misced because she did not truly even attempt to live yet.

    Yoruichi, on the other hand... I perceive her differently. She has that coy and teasing vibe but her background portrays a wholly different picture which makes her just as interesting. As an ex-Captain of the Second Division, Yoruichi is a ruthless killer with no shred of conscience. Logically, she could not be anything else. Not in that position. She was basically the leader of those who dealt with Soul Society''s undesirables without asking any questions. That''s very telling on what kind of person she was/is and her values. Her personality in the story makes her seem approachable, mischievous, and friendly but I find myself asking how much of that is real and how much is a mere facade. This gives her a unique vor as a character in my opinion. She has tremendous potential for development as a character. She has depth.

    Also, her style ofbat and the fact her Zanpakuto was never showcased in the story makes her character and her development potential even more open to spections which increases her ''interest value'' in my eyes.

    As for gender-bent Ulquiorra... do you even need to ask? Ulquiorra is cool and loyal to the death. Plus I like his Segunda Etapa form. That''s all.

    Other Bleach girlsck these aspects. Bleach was not focused on expanding females into interesting characters. Not really. It was too hung up on fighting one strong opponent after the other. The women there are a bit... underdeveloped as far as their background and personalities go.

    To name a few...

    Rukia... yeah, she is interesting but for me, she is also too pushy and violent. I kinda like her looks and her Bankai is just massive WOW. She is basically the opposite of Yamamoto and the potential of her powers is tremendous. But as a character, I just can''t see myself picking her as a love interest for my characters. Her depiction in Bleach kinda screwed her up in that regard.

    Rangiku... I don''t like her personality. I don''t like the size of her melons. There should be a limit to the size of a female''s rack and she is far past it. She is... meh. Her Zanpakuto, though, is basically a better version of Byakuya''s so her potential is massive and I think her past ''interaction'' with Aizen screwed her over a lot. By now, she should have Bankai if not for that. Her backstory with Aizen taking something from her to create Hogyoku could be expanded into a very interesting story on its own too. But... I simply don''t like her. I don''t even properly know why. I just don''t.

    Orihime... meh. The character with the most OP powers in the entire series, yet, she is a clumsy waste of air who is unable to hurt a fly. ''nuff said. Excluded by default.

    And then there are Neliel and Harribel.

    Neliel... I find her cute but oddly enough not as a love interest. She is hot but not in that way. I dunno if I am making any sense. It''s confusing even to me but it is what it is.

    I also don''t like her released form. I mean... a centaur? Really? Not into Beastiality, sorry. If a character has less or more than two legs, two arms, and one head, it is not for me. Brrr...

    Harribel... yeah. This girl is the hard one. I do like her. I could picture her as a love interest. But at the same time, she is also the one I am most unsure about. I do find myself drawn to her as in I would not mind having her as a love interest for my MC in a story but I would also not mind her not being one. I like Tiburon and how it could be developed. I like her personality, her undying loyalty until she is betrayed, and her willpower. I, however, still have some hesitation and reservations when ites to her. That, in itself, is an answer enough so she is not included in my ''preference list''. Oh... and I don''t like the baggage of her faction that naturallyes with her as a package.

    Now, why would I waste my time doing this author note?

    First of all, I want to start a new story and currently, I am in the stage of ''gathering facts, creating at least average plot that won''t be just some wish fulfillment wank, deciding things like harem members and reasons for their addiction to the harem, their personalities, powers, future power development, future personality development etc, and creating a solid background for my main character, his powers, appearance and so on.

    Obviously, I will start with this new story only after I finish this Naruto fanfiction so there is still a lot of time to really put effort into this preparation stage. (Not that you should expect something grand because of it. It will still be fanfiction so the quality is not guaranteed)

    That said, since I want to do it properly, I decided to give it a bit more thought. (And you can only hope I won''t get bored and decide it is not worth the trouble before I really start with it. Sucks to be you :D)

    So... since you are here, meaning, you stuck to my story for thest 315 chapters and probably like something in it, I decided to involve you a bit. Naturally, your opinion will be most likely totally disregarded :D, yes, you read that correctly, no need to return to that sentence.

    But I am nevertheless still interested in it.

    So if you find so inclined... tell me your opinion on various female characters, your thoughts about their personality, your thoughts about their powers, and their probable development, anything you would like to say about them, really.

    I might not even use it as I like doing things my way far too much but who knows? Maybe your opinion would influence my view on some things in some iprehensible way. Maybe your input would make me more inclined to include certain characters in MC''s harem, or maybe it will do the exact opposite. If you don''t like certain characters, then you canment on why too.

    Now... I don''t want anybody to use me of trying to steal ideas or something equally inane. If you don''t want to share, then don''t.

    Well then, I will be reading all of it so go nuts.

    Anyway, here is the list:

    1. - No, the main and most important female lead I have already selected and won''t be listing her here. That one is mine! Your opinion on her is irrelevant. You will just have to wait and see... I doubt you will guess who it is anyway. To be totally honest with you, you really have no chance of guessing it. No need to feel bad because of it though. Even I wouldn''t be able to guess it if I didn''t already know. And no, I won''t be revealing her identity. (Damn, sometimes being an author is actually fun since I can screw with you like this!)

    2. - Unohana Retsu

    3. - Yoruichi Shihoin

    4. - Gender-bent Ulquiorra (Pfft, just for the kicks and giggles. I am REALLY interested in your opinion on this one. Will I find more degene-, ahem, men of the culture here, I wonder...)

    5. - Rukia Kuchiki

    6. - Tier Harribel

    7. - Daphne Greengrass (She will be included in the story, period. Dunno if she will be a love interest though and I am kinda indecisive about it)

    8. - Betrix ck/Lestrange

    9. - Narcissa ck/Malfoy

    10. - Luna Lovegood

    11. - Hermione Granger

    12. - Natasha Romanoff

    13. - Rias Gremory (Yeah, nope. Not adding this spoiled princess as a love interest. You would have to put some really good and solid points to change my opinion on this matter. I added her to this list because I am interested in your opinion on her and to mix things up a bit)

    14. - Sona Sitri

    15. - Serafall Sitri/Leviathan

    16. - Artoria Pendragon (I am very unsure about this one. On one hand, I do want to add her but... I just don''t know. I have a n that actually makes sense and could make her extremely overpowered, so much so, that even Sirzechs would shit his pants in front of her. That, however, also makes me hesitant. It would be pity nerfing her and my pride would not allow me to do so since I thought up such a bullshit n with all the necessary background for it to work that actually totally makes sense but on the other hand, she would be far too powerful at the start of the story and I have some reservations about it)

    17. - Scathath (Not adding her either. I love her character as it has simrities with Unohana Retsu but as of now, I don''t n on including her in my next story. Just want your input and see if it can influence me. Probably not, though.)

    18. - Semiramis (Too queenly and prideful)

    19. - gender-bent female Fate Grand Order Merlin the dick witch (okay, that honestly sounded... eww - Eww with a potential for trolling people though.)

    20. Merlin (from Nanatsu no Taizai)

    21. - Soifon(??? Meh.)

    22. - Yasaka (Unlikely)

    23. - Ancient One (Pfft. As if. Could have added Nichs Fury too if that was the case)

    24. - Wanda Maximoff (I actually forgot about her until I started writing this list)

    25. Demon Maid Hildegarde (From Beelzebub anime - could make her like a Mephisto or Dormammu since she is a demon. She would need a contract to be able to ess her full power and contracting MC would have made her power skyrocket beyond Demon King level for some bullshit reasons that would totally make sense... Well, it was just a stray idea of mine. I probably won''t use it in my next story)

    26. - I shoot nks.

    27. - Others. Here you can share your thoughts and write about any female that is not included in the list. Don''t constrict yourself with just the franchises from which the girls on the list originate. You can write about Esdeath or Lady Death for all I care. It is however unlikely for me to really put any mind into adding them into my story. Still, you can freely write your opinion and I will read it.

    As you probably already found out, for now, I n for my next story to be a massive crossover between several universes mashed into one in at least a somewhat reasonable manner. (And yes, I am aware it will be hard to make it work and I will try to justify it in the story).

    I won''t say which worlds I will be using and which I won''t. I gave some hints already and that''s all you will get from me. I won''t even confirm if these hints are actually truthful. It will be more interesting that way.

    Anyway, I posted over 20 ''choices'' for female leads but do keep in mind I n to make a harem (it''s fanfiction so of course, it would be a harem, duh!) at most of seven girls (more like three to five but I am giving myself room for breathing here just in case). I can go over this self-imposed limit if the story will have more than a few hundred chapters but I want to keep it small for the most part and the MC''s interaction with his harem meaningful at least to a degree.

    I naturally don''t intend to include every girl I posted in the list into MC''s harem. That would have been ridiculous.

    Well, that''s all from me. Have a nice day and thank you for putting up with my long author note :).

    (Yeah, it is definitely longer than the actual chapter)

 Chapter 317 - Ch317. Kakashis Training Methods

    <h4>Chapter 317 - Ch317. Kakashi''s Training Methods</h4>

    In the morning, Team Seven gathered around the table in the kitchen while Tsunami, Tazuna''s daughter, busied herself with preparing food. Anko was mildly surprised. She sent a few Shadow Clones to survey the surroundings and saw how poor the people in the area were. She didn''t expect to be served normal food in Tazuna''s home. She briefly wondered where Tsunami got the ingredients.

    Kakashi still looked a bit drained but that was expected. Healing a hole through his gut so fast must have taken a toll on his body but Anko would rather him suffer for the next day and be ready to fight afterward than give him prolonged andfortable medical care.

    "So... what are we gonna do?" Naruto asked, waiting for food.

    The man was giving Naruto a subtle stink eye while the whiskered boy was grinning like a loon. ''Must have enacted his revenge for all the physical drills.'' Anko thought with pride swelling in her chest.

    Kakashi suddenly eye-smiled, unnerving his three young charges at the sudden flip of his mood. "Why... we are going to train, of course!"

    Hearing that, Anko couldn''t help but give Kakashi a deadpan look. She wasn''t very satisfied with how Kakashi was leading the team. Teamwork drills and physical exercises were important but not THAT important.

    Individualbat capability was what really mattered no matter whether Konoha focused on teamwork. Three weaklings working together would not be able to beat one strong ninja no matter how good their teamwork was. If Anko didn''t train Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata during their free time, they would have been hopeless and useless right about now. Three months being a team and Kakashi didn''t even try teaching them Tree Walking yet. Anko knew that Asuma, for example, went straight for Water Walking in the second week of his tutge.

    Sure, Kakashi was their jonin instructor, not their mother. It was expected of the genins that they will train by themselves but Kakashi should still have asked and tried to help in this regard. The man, however, was too used to teaching ANBU.

    "Oh? You are finally going to stop being a dick and start doing your job?" Anko sweetly asked, making Kakashi slightly flinch. "Now? When their lives are already on the line?"

    They had a deal when the Team training started. Kakashi didn''t want Anko to interfere with his tutge and she reluctantly obeyed. After all, she was just an assistant while he was the team leader. She could possibly beat him every time he decided he wouldn''t let her have her way so she took the wait and see approach. And boy wasn''t she impressed!

    "That''s harsh, Anko-chan." Kakashi replied in a shaken tone, "I was focusing on teamwork and..."

    "And you are an inept idiot who is too prideful to admit your shorings as a teacher." Anko rolled her eyes, giving him a harsh tongueshing. "Our team is not ANBU who are alreadypetent ninja needing just the final polishing and can visit various secret libraries of Konoha anytime they want and learn whatever they want. They are amateurs who just started out-"

    Anko had to suppress her smirk at Naruto''s pout, Sasuke''s scowl, and Hinata''s lowering of her head. Her students were not exactly weak. They could fight against chunins but they had no real-life experience, hence, amateurs. Not that the trio would dispute her im. She long ago beat defiance out of them.

    "- and physical exercises are good and all but they are still children. Unless they work out twenty-four-seven every day, their bodies simply won''t match the capabilities of an adult ninja. That''s why you are supposed to teach them chakra control first, so they can somewhat level the ying field by enhancing their bodies with chakra." Anko tly finished.

    "Well, then I guess it''s a good thing I intend to teach them Water Walking, no?" Kakashi flippantly replied. He was secretly quite ashamed now that Anko told him to his face his faults. In ANBU, he was one of the best instructors but... ''She is right.'' He sighed, ''These kids are not ANBU recruits who already have years of active duty behind themselves. Maybe I was blinded by theirpetence?''

    "We already know that." Sasuke grumbled, unimpressed at Kakashi''s attitude. Honestly! If he didn''t get tutge from Anko, who didn''t even HAVE TO teach them anything since it wasn''t technically her job, he would probably contemte defection right about now.

    "Eh, er... what?" Kakashi slowly blinked. He knew the kids already mastered Tree Walking. They regrly used it during spars and their 3D maneuvering was something even Kakashi had to praise.

    "We already know that. Anko taught us when we were still in the academy." Naruto poutingly whined and averted his gaze, slouching a bit more in his seat in a show of petty protest.

    "Why didn''t you tell me?" Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows at Anko.

    "I wanted to see how long would it take you to finally take interest in your genin''s capabilities and act as a responsible instructor." She casually shrugged. "You practically demanded I didn''t interfere in your teaching methods so I wanted to see them for myself." Kakashi let out an awkwardugh at the pointed look of his assistant teacher.

    It wasn''t that Kakashi didn''t teach the kids anything useful. He did. He gave them plenty of useful information and advice during the D-ranks and team training. One just had to look a bit deeper into the meaning of his boredzy drawl in-between the giggling induced by reading his smut while answering the questions of his genin.

    Again, the problem was the man expected the genin to act like veteran ninjas wanting to join ANBU. The team drills were incredibly useful. Anko couldn''t dispute that. They had to be done and showed the three munchkins their individual weaknesses and faults when fighting as one unit. Some of the things Kakashi taught them during these team drills was straight-out ANBU material. The problem was, Kakashi was too focused on it as if he was training skilled ANBU recruits to make a proper team out of them.

    Slumping his shoulders, Kakashi let out a long-suffering sigh,menting why he couldn''t just stay in thefort of the ANBU division. "Fine..." He said almost whinily, "Is there anything I can help them with?" He asked, inwardlyining that Anko was taking all the fun from being a teacher from him.

    Anko chuckled, and leaned forward, patting Kakashi''s head as if he was a kid, "Good boy." She cheerily praised, making Kakashi even more annoyed, "I am not too versatile with ninjutsu and you are the guy who is said to have copied thousands of techniques.'''' Anko stated and Kakashi instantly understood even before she continued. " Both Hinata and Sasuke''s main nature is lightning and I don''t have even one lightning Jutsu. Naruto is wind-natured so that is a huge problem as well. I started them on the leaf exercise for their natures but that was as far as I went in their elemental training. As you most likely already saw during spars, they know some useful Earth and Fire techniques but I am sure you will know a whole lot more of these than me and can probably give them sound advice on how to improve in this regard." Anko listed, straightening one finger on her hand every time she made each point. "There is a lot you CAN help them with. If you are finally done moping around, just pick one thing and start teaching."

    "Okay, I will think about it during breakfast." Kakashi relented, returning to his book while he could.

    Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata threw Anko a grateful look. They were weary of not improving at the fast pace as before since they became genins. Anko also told them she could not teach them as much as before since that was Kakashi''s ''privilege'' now. For three months, their rate of progress slowed to almost a halt and every single one of them hated it.

    Anko smirked in return. She knew their feelings but this was necessary. The kiddies were far too advanced for their age and had everything handed to them on a silver tter by her. They needed to experience what it was like for other genins. For those who didn''t have a teacher hellbent on making them strong. She would rather slow their progress for a few months and then make their lives hell on Earth to catch up than make them grow arrogant and think they will always get what they want.

    Kakashi showed to be a bit disinterested in their personal prowess so the kids naturally went back to Anko, asking for more spanking. She had to deal with a lot of whining,ints, and dissatisfaction when she refused to advance their training.

    Anko was pleasantly surprised though. The kids got the message. Hinata focused more on her Gentle Fist and started studying from her n libraries. Naruto used his shadow clones to improve his somewhat passable-but-still-nothing-extra chakra control. And Sasuke finally started to improve his skills with genjutsu now that there was no juicy ninjutsu or taijutsu lesson just waiting to be delivered for the greatst Uchiha.

    ''Sometimes I feel as if I was babysitting kids, rather than training killers.'' Anko sighed, her cheek twitching as Kakashi again started to perversely giggle, his nose buried in his book.

    "The breakfast is ready!" Tsunami suddenly interrupted the impromptu team meeting as she carried a pot onto the table.

 Chapter 318 - Ch318. Reinforcements

    <h4>Chapter 318 - Ch318. Reinforcements</h4>

    Four days passed and Team Seven gathered again around the kitchen table in Tazuna''s house, eating dinner alongside Tazuna''s family.

    Anko enjoyed these past few days a lot. Now that Kakashi took his teaching duty seriously, she had nothing to do for most of the day so it was her who apanied Tazuna to the bridge. She also confiscated a certain book from the Copycat to make sure he won''t be distracted during training.

    ''I have to admit, Icha Icha is not half-bad.'' Anko inwardly snickered.

    Frankly, all members of Team Seven except Anko looked like crap. Even Naruto was swaying in his seat, his eyelids drooping from time to time. Kakashi certainly didn''t pull his punches during the training but Anko suspected that it was more from the build-up frustration rather than wanting to make the brats stronger. She knew best how hard it was to deal with them.

    Teaching Naruto, even when he was serious, was nerve-wracking. The boy was the type that learned by doing and trying to exin something to him with words was simply pointless. Unfortunately for Kakashi, Naruto was still pissed that he didn''t learn anything for three months straight so he decided to step up his ''excitement'' and made the training literal hell of exuberance for Kakashi. No wonder the jonin was dead tired on his feet and that didn''t even take into ount the other two of his students!

    Sasuke was moody and liked to hold his grudges. He would not interrupt Kakashi mid-exnation with inane questions like Naruto, bouncing up and down with an innocent look and a wide stupid grin. No... he rather liked to take a different approach.

    Anko''s eyes flickered towards Kakashi, letting out a small snicker at his singed clothes with various burn marks. He was a mess and his lone visible eye conveyed profound exhaustion. While Naruto and Hinata got shadow clones, the real Kakashi focused on Sasuke. It wasn''t because of favoritism or anything like that. It was simply because Sasuke liked to bathe the shadow clones in fireballs so sending them was counterproductive.

    ''I taught him so well! He can already perform techniques fast enough to clip Kakashi with his Fire Release.'' She thought proudly before her eyesnded on the brooding Uchiha, causing her to snort. ''I will have to give him another brutal behavior correcting training session when we get back to Konoha. No student of mine would be brooding emo.''

    Anko did watch all of these training sessions with Shadow Clones. Sasuke''s drive was clearly to barbecue Kakashi alive and the brat was putting extreme determination into it. Anko might or might not have provided some more advanced tips for Fire Release so the y of ''Burn Kakashi'' would get a bit more interesting. Needless to say, seeing Kakashi desperately dodging small balls of searing mes with a disturbed look was always fun. Especially since he couldn''t really retaliate and had to take it.

    The funniest of the lot was by far Hinata though. She was quite vindictive and decided to give Kakashi the stuttering treatment.

    ''And Sage was it irritating to teach her anything when it took her five minutes to just ask a simple question!'' Anko remembered her own early experiences with the Hyuuga heiress.

    Kakashi''s patience was put under an extremely straining test. He had to repeat any exnations at least three times, every time Hinata asked a question, she made sure she stuttered in the exact right ces to ensure Kakashi wouldn''t clearly hear her so he had to ask her to repeat the question. Teaching Hinata in this mode was a long, frustrating, headache-inducing process. Especially since the girl took to her lessons under Anko like a fish to water.

    While it was a shadow clone that was annoyed by Hinata''s behavior, when it popped and gave Kakashi the memory feedback, it made him instantly weary and frustrated out of nowhere. It was the sort of emotional bullying one would expect from Anko''s apprentice.

    The only reason why he didn''t find it suspicious was that he never really paid much attention to Hinata. He left her in Anko''s care while he focused more on Sasuke and Naruto. That galled both Anko and Hinata but... it was better that way anyway.

    Nobody spoke during the dinner. The civilians kept to themselves, seeing how tired the ninjas were, and the majority of the ninjas were too annoyed or tired to say anything. As such, the awkward silence was maintained until suddenly, three knocks resounded from the door and everybody instantly tensed.

    "I assume you don''t expect guests thiste in the evening, Tazuna-san." Kakashi quietly asked in aid back tone.

    The bridge builder just frantically shook his head. Kakashi was about to give orders but Anko decided to give her team a break, "Rx. It is the reinforcements Lady Tsunade arranged."

    "And how would you know?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that. He had the house surrounded by his shadow clones keeping watch, yet, the people near the door slipped right past them without being noticed. He didn''t really think anybody in Konoha would be able to get past him like this.

    "The same way as you are keeping the perimeter watch." Anko casually remarked, "While I guarded Tazuna, I also made a few shadow clones to scout ahead. One of my clones met them earlier today. They were quite suspicious so the clone decided to confront them to find out if they were hired by Gato and would attack me or not." Such suicidal tasks were best for Shadow Clones, after all.

    "And you didn''t deem it important to tell me?" Exasperation seeped into Kakashi''s voice.

    "You were busy... and I am telling you now." Anko nonchntly shrugged. Honestly, she might have been taking out her own frustration on the man at this point. Scouting ahead the entire four days and getting no real result was quite maddening. Anko tried to find the hideout of Gato and Raiga. Unfortunately, she had no sess. She couldn''t create an army of clones like Naruto so her means were limited and despite everything, the Land of Waves was a country. It was impossible for one person to scout even one-tenth of it in four days.

    Before Kakashi could give some snarky reply to Anko''s easygoing excuse, one of Anko''s shadow clones led inside two people wearing Kiri hitai-ate.

    "This is Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice, Haku Yuki." The clone introduced them before gesturing towards Team Seven, "The civilians are Tazuna the bridge builder, his daughter Tsunami, and her son... I have no clue what his name is nor do I care. The gloomy broody is Sasuke Uchiha, the blushing mess is Hinata Hyuuga, the brat who is half-asleep and leaning on Hinata is Naruto Uzumaki. The annoyed creep is too famous for you to not know him and I am your awesome guide, Anko Mitarashi!" The clone eximed with a thumbs up. "The rest is up to you, original." With that, the clone popped out of existence, making the real Anko chuckle while the people in the room felt very awkward.

    "Kiri?" Kakashi eventually asked, suspiciously eyeing the two neers. As much as he wanted to trust Anko''s words, he wouldn''t just ept them at face value.

    "Yeah," Anko dismissively waved her hand, "Raiga is Kirigakure''s missing ninja so Lady Tsunade reached towards her friend Lady Mizukage and the result is this creep being present," She pointed at Zabuza who was getting seated behind the table and threw her unamused look. Anko just ignored it. "Don''t worry, Kakashi. I am sure you will get along smashingly! You aren''t all that different. Both of you are ashamed of your faces and are tsunderes." She tried to reassure them but for some reason, it only earned her two heated res. Anko wondered why....

 Chapter 319 - Ch319. Ankos Mission Experiences

    <h4>Chapter 319 - Ch319. Anko''s Mission Experiences</h4>

    Author''s Note:

    Pa treon - 35 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    https://.pa treon/kasicair

    For those that read this author noteter on and are interested in joining my pa treon, don''t subscribe at the end of the month. It is better to wait for a new month and then join. A few days worth of wait won''t kill you :D.

    ------------------------

    It was two weeks since Team Seven arrived in the Land of Waves and Anko was getting more and more frustrated as her attempts at locating Gato failed one after another. The rat was hidden well. Much too well, for her tastes. If only she was able to reach him and introduce him to her snakes. The rest of this entire mission would be a piece of cake after that.

    But no! At first, Anko tried the old-fashioned way and sent shadow clones as scouts all around, listening to rumors and trying to find Gato''s hideout with their tracking and sensing prowess. That didn''t do much. She didn''t have a proper lead for tracking to work and Anko quickly understood that her meager sensing capabilities were rendered useless by the fact Land of Waves was a country. It didn''t matter she could sense almost anything in several hundred meters when she really focused. In the end, that was not even a drop in the bucketpared to the size of an entire country.

    Since her first attempts failed, Anko decided to go a bit smarter about it. She decided that tracking Gato was pointless for now, and as such, she focused on his subordinates. Anko tracked several thugs working for Gato. Some she interrogated and killed, others she let be and just followed them to their hideout.

    Unfortunately, this was yet another miss. Anko did discover several hideouts across the country but there was no sign of Gato in any of them. No matter how much Anko searched them, she simply found out that these were hideouts for his mercenaries and the businessman clearly didn''t stay in such lowly amodations.

    Anko''s third attempt was fueled by her frustration. She honestly decided to stop giving a damn and straight-out infiltrated a town where Gato''s shipping activities were focused. That was Gato''s domain. Everybody important in the town worked for Gato. It was the only port in the Land of Waves that was allowed to trade with the ''outer'' world and Gato''s ships wereing and going on a constant basis.

    Anko quickly found out the main reason why Gato wanted to keep the Land of Waves under his rule was the humid temperature good for growing a particr drug that was all the rage nowadays in the capital cities. Most of these ''trading'' ships simply smuggled drugs and asionally ves.

    Not that she cared. It was a horrid sight but during her career as a kunoichi, Anko saw and did worse. Unfortunately for the ves, nobody paid her to free them. She was not a hero and helping these people would not help her in finding Gato. She did briefly ponder about causing amotion and hoping the businessman would show up but that would take too much time. It would be a waste of effort considering Anko suspected Gato''s men would definitely attempt attacking Tazuna again in a week or so.

    Gato most likely already sent mission requests so his reinforcements should be arriving anytime soon. His wealth was also nowhere near the Land of Waves or its slowly bankrupting banks. Even if Anko fully destroyed the town, it wouldn''t matter in the grand scheme of things. The only thing capable of making their mission easier was Gato stopping his breathing activities.

    The next thing Anko did was to check on the supply lines of the town. She broke into various offices and checked what was imported and exported. Sadly, she didn''t find what she was looking for and had to grudgingly admit she started to feel a bit of respect towards Gato and his methods of hiding. Wherever he stayed, he probably received supplies from somewhere else than this town. In hindsight, that was quite smart as it prevented anybody from finding out the location of his hideout by simply following the paper trail.

    That was Anko''sst attempt at locating Gato. She simplycked the necessary time to find the midget.

    Fortunately, the two Kiri ninjas arrived and that meant the responsibility of guarding Tazuna could be split among them and Team Seven.

    Zabuza and Kakashi usually were on the babysitting duty, taking the genins of Team Seven to the bridge and attempted not being bored to death watching the process of bridge-building while Anko enjoyed some of her secret stash of Dango at Tazuna''s house,zing arou-... ahem, she meant guarding Tsunami and Inari.

    Zabuza''s apprentice, Haku, was quickly snatched by Anko when she found out the... trap could actually make Dango. As such, Haku was stuck with house-guarding duty with Anko where she served as the main Dango-maker for what she thought was a slightly deranged snake-loving kunoichi, too dangerous to offend. Hence, Haku made damn sure her Dango was tasty.

    Needless to say, this was one of the more bizarre missions for the young trap.

    It was only natural to split their forces in this way. Raiga was apparently S-rank so while Anko was also S-rank ability-wise and could theoretically face Raiga in one versus one, Kakashi and Zabuza would be outmatched if they found themselves alone facing Raiga. Putting them together on one team was to simply give them a chance to survive and withstand Raiga''s attack until Anko arrived.

    Inari actually tried to tell them how hopeless facing Gato was and how utterly outmatched they were by the civilian dwarf. Poor kid miscalcted his candies with that decision because Zabuza was not one for coddling kids. Nor was the extremely frustrated Anko.

    The killing intent that washed over Inari the moment after he tried to be a childish prick made the boy cream his pants brown and fall on his butt, bawling his eyes out from the sheer fright.

    Anko could swear it was mostly Zabuza''s fault! She released only enough killing intent to scare a chunin! Who in their right mind would use their whole killing intent on a small brat?

    She utterly ignored the fact Zabuza, even when using all of his killing intent, would not be able to scare an experienced chunin...

    Poor Inari forgot how to speak for the next day. Good for him that Anko knew some rudimentary mind-healing otherwise he would have had nightmares until he was middle-aged.

    After that, Tsunami was quite cross with both Anko and Zabuza, and they suddenly found themselves without breakfast privileges. What a bummer...

    On a less depressing note, Kakashi was also d for the addition of Zabuza and Haku once the two tsunderes becamefortable around each other and stopped secretly palming their weapons every second of the day. Nowadays Zabuza only red at the giggling Kakashi whenever the perv read his books in front of Haku who became red as tomato every time.

    This led to little Sasuke developing a small crush on Haku. Oh, the mighty Uchiha tried to hide it and act indifferently but Anko saw right through his facade and noticed the ''subtle'' nces in Haku''s direction with his Sharingan activated, etching the sight into his memory.

    Anko wasn''t about to tell the poor boy that he fell for a trap. She could almost taste the sweet, sweet opportunity for some high-end teasing that would present themselves when the Uchiha finally realizes he etched Haku''s image forever into his mind, linking it with the feelings of attraction and that Haku is actually not as female as Sasuke first thought.

    Anko wondered if this would cause some problems with the boy''s sexual orientationter on. Sharingan was a powerful tool but it could be utterly devastating to the user if used during emotional moments since anything seen with it can''t be unseen.

    She ALMOST pitied Sasuke.

    So far, this first mission was proving to be an incredible sess as far as getting new experiences went and provided a lot of entertainment for Anko.

    ''s, all good fun has toe to an end,'' Anko sighed, sipping on her tea as her senses picked up two hostile people approaching Tazuna''s house. She stood up and rolled her shoulders, ''Time to earn my keep, I guess....''

 Chapter 320 - Ch320. Attack On Tazunas House

    <h4>Chapter 320 - Ch320. Attack On Tazuna''s House</h4>

    "We will have uninvited guests soon." Anko informed Haku who briefly stiffened before resuming her Dango-making activities, only acknowledging the information with a small hum. Tsunami, who was making lunchboxes for the bridge-builders, threw Anko a nervous nce but the kunoichi didn''t deem it important to assuage the woman''s worries. She simply created a shadow clone, sending it to guard Inari in his room while the original Anko leisurely walked to the porch and sat on the stairs there, waiting for the two attackers while chewing on Dango.

    Despite her being a picture of perfect calmness outwardly, Anko was very worried about her team on the bridge. She felt only two hostile signatures with chakra around genin-level approaching Tazuna''s home. That either meant the bulk of Gato''s forces would focus on the bridge or that these two were just an obvious distraction and there was somebody else hidden in the shadows.

    Anko wanted nothing more than to send Haku to the bridge or even go there herself while only leaving Shadow Clones for Tsunami and Inari''s protection. For the two approaching thugs, that would have been more than enough. Unfortunately, there was still that second option and the possibility these two were just a cheap diversion. It was at times like these Anko cursed that she was not a natural sensor. The sensing technique Lady Tsunade taught her was good and Anko''s sensing abilities were great but that was still far from ''incredible''.

    ''Guess I will just have to believe in Kakashi and the brats..'' She mentally frowned.

    Her Shadow Clones scattered around the country didn''t report anything unusual and the clone she sent to tail Tazuna and her team still existed. The clone would pop the second it deemed the brats were in danger, so its continuous existence was reassuring for Anko.

    It took ten more minutes until Anko saw two thugs exit the forested area near the house, confidently grinning as if they already finished their tasks. Anko instantly recognized them from her time of infiltrating Gato''s town. These two were not the ''good sort'' even among the vers working there.

    Karizu and Mamoto were quite infamous for their raping tendencies and while they would not disobey orders, they were also known to be overly brutal fulfilling them. Unless it was stated their target was to be brought back unharmed, these two would take great pleasure indulging their sadistic urges. Sage forbid if their target was actually some hapless woman.

    ''Gato must have definitely hand-picked them for this.'' The only indication of Anko''s displeasure was a slight twitch in her cheek.

    It was obvious what the midget wanted to happen to Inari and Tsunami. Not for a second did Anko doubt that if she wasn''t here to protect them, Inari would have been given a slow and painful death in front of Tsunami as the two would have raped her while forcing her to watch her dying son, probably taunting her with some cheap lines like, ''Don''t worry, we will give you another son soon!'', or something simrly disgusting.

    The life of kunoichi made Anko desensitized to many things but that didn''t mean she didn''t find some of them extremely displeasing. The two thugs in front of her? There was no way Anko would give them an easy death.

    "Heh, you must be one of the ninjas boss mentioned." Mamoto''s grin widened as he spotted Anko, his eyes caressing her curves.

    Anko did wear somewhat revealing clothes. It was nothing like what she was used to wearing before meeting Lady Tsunade but her clothes still clearly showed her curves and a bit of cleavage. It was a perfect distraction, considering the majority of ninjas were males.

    "Looks like we hit the jackpot!" Karizu eximed, also ogling Anko who justzily watched them from her spot on the porch. "Not only can we y with Tazuna''s daughter but there is also another bitch for free!" He snickered.

    Anko... felt a bit disappointed at their reaction. Clearly, these two belonged to the majority of civilians that never saw a ninja nor had any idea what it meant to be a ninja. It was a curious thing, considering their profession.

    ''They are probably just locals who were thugs and became mercenaries for Gato when the midget showed up. Experienced mercenaries would run the heck away the second they got to know ninjas were involved.'' Anko thought.

    Despite the existence of ninjas, there were still some nutjobs who would risk being a bandit or a mercenary. Then again, that might have been due to the fact the prowess of ninjas was not widely known among the masses.

    Anko''s lips widened into a sadistic smirk, "Oh, boys. Yes... you are right. You hit the jackpot and can now y with Anko-nee." She whispered to herself, licking her lips in anticipation as she slowly stood up.

    Karizu and Mamoto heard her words and while the content slightly aroused them, the looks the woman was giving them unsettled them and killed any boner they could have had.

    Mamoto opened his mouth to say something but Anko didn''t care for idle banter. These two were weak and had no information she was interested in. Before either of the two thugs evenprehended what was happening, they found themselves enwrapped in a bone-crushing embrace of two massive serpents that threateningly hissed into their ears. Only then did they realize their feet were no longer on the ground as they powerlessly dangled through the air, making the two thugs struggle for air. With every jerk, however, their prison only tightened.

    "Gotta love constrictors, neh?" Anko chuckled, slowly approaching the two in a purposeful gait, her bodynguage screaming ''danger'' while she twirled a kunai in her hand.

    Karizu wanted to retort. He really did. But he was barely able to gasp for air. Letting out a sound was impossible in his current situation. Instead of an angry retort, only an empty wheeze left his lips. Mamoto, on the other hand, watched Anko with wide frightened eyes. He was afraid of snakes, even the small ones, so the massive one currently crushing his bones had a profound effect on his bowels. He already realized what wasing and that this was the end for him.

    Just for their respective reactions, Anko chose to plunge her kunai in the gap in-between the coils of her snake summon who was giving Kurizu a hug, nailing it handle-deep in the unfortunate man''s thigh, causing him to scream. Anko didn''t like his defiant look. She decided to correct his attitude before asking her questions.

    "I dislike rapists." Anko cheerfully said as she jerked the kunai out of Karizu''s body in a fluid, quick, and very painful motion. "That kind of threat always hangs above the head of every kunoichi. Quite a lot of us actually do find ourselves on the receiving side at least once during our careers." The snake coiling around Karizu shifted, revealing his groin area, only giving him a second to realize what is toe. Anko also decided to slowly approach the man''s bits with her kunai, savoring the growing horror in his eyes.

    "Some of us," Anko abruptly shed... and enjoyed the man''s pain-filled shrieks instead. "learn to ept it as a part of the job." Continuing to inflict pain on Karizu would be pointless for now. He was almost drowning in it. Anko decided to turn towards Mamoto who was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. Anko gave him a cheerful smile and continued talking, "Others... mostly those who already experienced it once... try to get used to it. You wouldn''t believe how many kunoichi like rough y in the bed as a result." Anko''s bloody kunai gently dug into Mamoto''s cheek, creating a small gash almost from the side of his mouth to his ear. "I heard it is much easier to cope with it when you can find at least a minuscule enjoyment in that shitty situation." Anko hissed in Mamoto''s ear while her words dripped with venom as her kunai carved into his flesh, hitting all the most painful and tender spots, causing him to scream.

    Two minutester, Anko suddenly stepped back, her kunai just shy of Mamoto''s eye as she realized that she might have gone a bit too far.

    ''I got carried away.'' She wryly smiled in self-mockery and rubbed her forehead. Her face contorted into a grimace, ''Damn... that was so much fun! I wonder if I would have ended in Torture and Interrogation department if Lady Tsunade didn''t take an interest in me. I gotta say...'' She appraisingly looked towards two gasping and whimpering men. ''I do have a talent for this!''

    Her story about kunoichi and ****? That was just to rile herself up and unnerve the two poor sods. A passionate torturer with a personal vendetta is much more frightening than a stone-faced one who is doing it just because it is his job. In a way, it was a form of mental torture.

    Not that it didn''t happen. It''s just that only an enemy ninja had a chance to **** a kunoichi and most would sooner kill than ****. Anko''s opinion on that particr part of kunoichi life was simple. If you are weak enough to get raped, then you clearly deserved it.

    Anko''s view was cold and unsympathizing. As expected from a woman who didn''t have all that many friends and was hard to get along with.

    ''Now then... let''s continue!'' Anko excitedly thought, giving the two bloodied men a starry-eyed look. She already decided to ask thezy-ass Hokage to assign her some interrogation missions after this. Tort... ahem, training her brats couldn''tpare to tending to someone she knew deserved her worst. It filled her with quite a bit of satisfaction, seeing these rapists'' faces contort in pain.

    Unfortunately for Anko, it was then she froze as memory feedback from her clone entered her mind, causing her head to rmingly whip into the direction of the bridge with worry in her eyes.

 Chapter 321 - Ch321. Assassination Attempts

    <h4>Chapter 321 - Ch321. Assassination Attempts</h4>

    Kakashi leisurely stood on the side of the bridge, enjoying his book while also making sure his senses of hearing and smell were sharply monitoring the surroundings. This was thankfully shaping up to be one of these boring and slow days where nothing happened and Kakashi was d for that. He understood and epted that as a ninja, strife was inevitable but every day without a fight was a win in Kakashi''s books.

    Zabuza looked a bit annoyed as he sat on the opposite side of the bridge, focusing on maintaining the mist around it. There was no mist on the bridge but the area surrounding it was utterly shrouded in white cloudy substance. It took quite a bit of concentration on Zabuza''s side to keep it from spilling onto the bridge but this was the best defense against any ranged assassins. It would block sight for obvious reasons and chakra sensing because the mist was full of chakra, hence, a chakra sensor would see only a big gathering of chakra unless he crossed the mist, which would instantly alert Zabuza.

    Naruto was helping with the construction of the bridge alongside his clones henged as workers while Hinata was silently cheering him on. At first, she asionally turned her Byakugan on and off to scout the surroundings but that brought her quite the headache because of the chakra-infused mist. Now she didn''t even bother. Zabuza and Kakashi were very focused and Hinata doubted anyone could sneak close to the bridge without them noticing no matter if she asionally used her Byakugan or not. Zabuza''s mist wasn''t the only precaution either. Naruto also had a few clones stationed around, henged as inanimate objects. Somehow, they could still see just fine despite being a rock or a twig.

    Sasuke was near Kakashi, practicing Uchiha taijutsu katas while also training with his Sharingan. He was definitely not wasting his time justzing around like Hinata and Kakashi, and he was not paid for helping with the construction so there was no way he would do that like the dork Naruto.

    Kakashi supposed he should have reprimanded Sasuke for not paying attention during the bodyguard mission but he simply couldn''t be bothered.

    It was around lunch when Kakashi suddenly saw Sasuke''s eyes widen and just like that, the Uchiha disappeared only for Tazuna to appear in his spot.

    ''Wh-, Kawarimi!'' Kakashi''s head whipped towards the ce where Tazuna stood just a split second ago. He was just in time to see Sasuke bending back, barely avoiding a massive long golden arrow, having it only tear a bit of flesh from his shoulder rather than skewer the right side of his chest.

    Sasuke was for the first time in his life d he was still a kid. Only his small staturepared to Tazuna allowed him to dodge the sneak attack. Gasping for breath, Sasuke''s head tilted to the right and his sight instantly fell upon the huge golden arrow struck in the bridge, just an inch from his cheek. Sasuke gulped as he realized his quest for revenge against Itachi and restoration of the Uchiha n almost came to an end if the arrow was aimed a bit to the side.

    "Naruto! Evacuate the workers!" Kakashi shouted and Naruto instantly got to his assigned task. Fortunately, the bridge workers kept their calm and let themselves be led away, surrounded by Naruto''s clones for protection.

    The two jonins quickly understood their peaceful day was over and somebody was attacking. Zabuza''s mist seemed ineffective and that could only mean the enemy had some way to bypass it. As such, Zabuza instantly dissipated the mist, cursing a secondter when he realized the attacker stayed a foot away from the mist on the opposite side, not entering it and therefore not alerting Zabuza of his presence.

    ''But how could he locate Zabuza through the mist! It can''t be hearing or smell. The distance is too great for that and my mist would interfere.'' Zabuza disgruntledly mused. Something felt amiss to him.

    It was then that a big gray ethereal worm-like creature phased through the floor of the bridge, rushing towards the frightened Zabuza who was retreating with the other workers. Only quick interference of Naruto''s clones that grabbed the men, lunged them onto their shoulders and jumped out of the way saved them from the creature reaching them. The creatures didn''t stop though and a game of cat and mouse started, creating mayhem and panic among the civilian workers. It just became that much harder to do their job for the ninjas.

    Hinata''s mind instantlyprehended that there must be an enemy who somehow managed to sneak under the bridge. She activated her Byakugan and rushed towards the side of the bridge. Flooding the kunai with her lightning chakra, she made it sharp enough that when she threw it into the ground, it sank handle deep into the stone. Hinata somersaulted over the railing while holding a thin wire fastened on the handle of the kunai. Only channeling chakra into her hands protected them from being cut as she flew through the air, using the length of the wire to propel herself under the bridge.

    There was a red-haired woman, using Tree Walking exercise to stick upside down on the ceiling of the underside of the bridge while three humanoid monsters encircled her, one of which was the source of the grey worm.

    Thanks to her Byakugan, Hinata still saw the mayhem the worm was causing on the bridge and understood dispatching the creature was extremely important. Needless to say, Hinata sprang forward, running on the ceiling, intending to engage the redhead woman and her apparitions.

    Kakashi and Zabuza wanted to go and confront the archer. Leaving him be was not an option with how urate he was despite the mist. Now that the mist was gone, letting him shoot more would be suicidal. It was a lifesaver that Naruto''s clones henged as inanimate objects were somehow managing to distract him so far, preventing him from interfering.

    But their intention to go and deal with the archer was stopped when Raiga appeared on the edge of the bridge, his arms crossed under his chest and dissatisfied scowl marring his face. Kakashi was d the man didn''t sneak attack during the chaos. That would definitely result in losing a member of the team.

    Unfortunately, the two jonins now had to deal with Raiga. The choice between a dangerous archer and S-rank lightning-using swordsman was a no-brainer. If they went for the archer, Raiga would ughter everybody on the bridge. Worse yet, they had no chance of facing Raiga unless they ganged upon him.

    Grimacing under his mask, Kakashi shouted towards Sasuke, "Sasuke! Go and deal with the archer! He can''t be allowed to shoot!" He didn''t like giving Sasuke this task. He wasn''t really convinced Sasuke could pull it off but letting the archer do whatever he wanted would definitely decide the battle.

    The original Naruto was hiding among the retreating workers, leading them away from the bridge. They were almost at the entrance leading towards the Land of Waves when Naruto''s chakra senses started tingling.

    Naruto realized he didn''t have enough time topletely negate the attack. His hands instantly blurred into a cross-shaped hand seal. "Multi-Shadow Clone Technique!" He shouted, creating hundreds of cannon fodder between the ground and the workers who were being lifted into the air by the growing pile of orange-d bodies under them.

    Every clone of Naruto used their chakra sensing to shift the workers to a position that would hopefully save them from death but they had only a split of a second before massive crystal-like light-purple spikes grew from the ground, skewering everything in their path and popping a huge amount of shadow clones out of existence.

    No bridge worker died from the attack and Naruto knew it was due to sheer dumb luck and the fact the target was Tazuna. Another batch of clones grabbed the workers one by one, none too gently, not paying attention if they had broken bones, cut off limbs, or whatever injuries. Then, the clones rushed with their respective workers towards the vige, each of them in a different direction to make it harder for the attacker to give chase.

    Naruto knew the actual target was Tazuna and didn''t think the attacker would go and chase after ordinary workers but it was better to take a precaution thanter regret not doing anything.

    As for Tazuna... Naruto couldn''t lead him to the town. That would endanger the civilians living there. He just saw his hidden opponent attempt to kill tens of men in order to get to Tazuna. As such, Naruto decided to make his stand near the entrance of the bridge just as he finally located his hidden enemy with his chakra sensing.

    One of the clones who was about to pass through the entrance of the bridge, carrying a middle-aged man suddenly glowed orange, causing the man to widen his eyes before a sudden explosion deafened the world. From the dust that rose due to the explosion, a shadow jumped out, revealing a blue-haired woman in green kimono as she slid on the ground, a thin crystal-like armor covering her body with multiple cracks scattered all around it due to the explosion. The woman was however unharmed, making Naruto inwardly curse. The explosion was supposed to hurt even jonin and he just realized these crystals would be extremely hard to deal with.

    "To think none of our three ns worked." The woman grumbled, watching Naruto''s clones in front of her like a hawk. "You are quite good."

    Naruto could only wryly smile at the praise.. After all, it was just pure luck that saved the day in this particr situation.

 Chapter 322 - Ch322. Hinata Vs Tayuya

    <h4>Chapter 322 - Ch322. Hinata Vs Tayuya</h4>

    Hinata dashed straight at the monstrous humanoid who was the source of the grey worm, intending to knock it out with one hit. Unfortunately for her, she was spotted far too soon by Tayuya, its summoner.

    Tayuya didn''t let it show though. Her back was turned to Hinata and it stayed that way. The only thing she did was bring her flute to her mouth, not something an inexperienced ninja would suspect being in any way a threat.

    Hinata was almost upon the hulking figure, her palm razing its way through the air towards it while chakra gathered around it. Her goal was almost in her grasp... but suddenly Hinata''s eyes widened when the second hulking figure, one holding a massive club, moved to intercept her. It was fast. Too fast for its apparent frame.

    Hinata found herself facing a decision. She could strike the figure in front of her and get struck by the club or evade backward.

    ''Maybe I could deliver the palm strike and go instantly into Kaiten?'' Hinata mused as her brain worked overtime to create a valid strategy.

    It was then that her ears registered a vibrant sound of music as her opponent started ying her flute. Hinata''s very first thought was that it was an instrument that would help the woman with controlling the massive figures but when she saw her chakra''s erratic flow...

    ''Genjutsu!?'' Hinata inwardly freaked out and instantly red her chakra out of several tenketsu, just to be sure.

    While it didn''t take even a split of a second for Hinata to realize she was caught in a genjutsu and then breaking out of it... in fact, she broke out of it so fast, she didn''t even get to see what effect the genjutsu had... her body still stopped advancing and that made Hinata''s decision for her.

    Realizing she no longer had time to strike and then use Kaiten to avoid the club, Hinata''s only option was to forgo the attack and step back, evading the club by a small margin thanks to the precise vision granted to her by the Byakugan and her natural nimbleness.

    As the club crashed into the ceiling on which they all stood, Hinata used the situation to her advantage and swapped her Hyuuga fighting style into the Snake Taijutsu Style taught to her by Anko. Her hand instantly grabbed the club and the girl hurled her body above it, snapping her feet towards the humanoid monster holding the club. Her foot smashed into the monster''s head with her whole momentum behind the kick, snapping said head back and sending the figure flying. A momentter, the monstrous humanoid poofed into a copious amount of smoke.

    ''Summon, huh?'' Hinata fell to the ground into a crouch briefly pondering if she should use her momentum against the ground as a springboard and try to take out the grey-worm producer nearby when a soft melody entered her ears again.

    Tayuya was incredibly shocked when the little girl managed to break out of her genjutsu in under a second. It made her turn around and pay more attention to her own fight. Shepletely stopped trying her distraction tactics above the bridge and recalled the grey worm back. Her opponent clearly needed her full attention.

    Nobody, not even other members of the Sound Four, could manage such a feat! There was a reason why she was one of the four most elite ninjas of the Sound vige. Her techniques were special, unexpectable, and the synergy between her genjutsu and summons enabled her to take down most jonins. To think a genin would not only break one of her genjutsu quicker than it would take a jonin to even notice something was wrong... What the fuck was Konoha feeding its kids nowadays!

    Tayuya didn''t even manage to get out of her first shock when the small girl suddenlypletely changed her body movements and the next thing Tayuya knew was that one of her summons was forcefully sent back into its home realm. That shook Tayuya out of her reverie pretty quickly.

    She noticed Hinata''s eyes calctingly flicker towards her Doki who was the source of her best weapon, the ethereal grey worms.

    ''Oh, no, you bitch. No way am I letting you go for it!'' Tayuya thought and started ying her flute again, this time choosing a more vicious and immediate genjutsu.

    It clearly worked as Hinata flinched and obviously abandoned her n to press her attack as she retreated back, creating some distance between them.

    Hinata inwardly groaned. Thest genjutsu took her even less time to dispel than the first one since she expected it but even for that split of a second, she felt a massive surge of pain. It was all mental and her body waspletely fine but this only proved her opponent had a way to affect her. That wasn''t a very reassuring thought.

    ''At least it is not four versus one now.'' Hinata mused, her mood souring despite the fake cheer she tried to summon, ''Right... it''s three versus one. Not a big improvement.'' She forcefully calmed herself and focused on her Byakugan.

    Sidestepping to the right, Hinata evaded just in time to make the gray worm that emerged from the ceiling under her feet. Her opponent clearly liked to use the phasing ability of these worms to attack but Hinata had an advantage of see-through vision. She was also incredibly disinterested in what would happen should the worm actuallynd a hit on her. She saw it wasposed mostly of spiritual energy and whatever its purpose was, it would not be good for her continuous health.

    Tayuya narrowed her eyes when the girl evaded her sneak attack. ''So that is the ability of the fabled Byakugan? It will be almost impossible to hit the girl with those freaky eyes stalking my every move. Dammit. Just my luck...'' She disgruntledly cursed in her mind, already forming a n to resolve thisvender-eyed problem of hers.

    "Doki! Go and smash her brain out of her skull!" She shouted.

    Hinata noticed one of the humanoid monsters rushing forward with the intention of engaging her. This surprised her while making her quite happy as she ran at it, hoping to even the numbers. She was vastly outnumbered and dealing with the summons was her best bet. She was a Hyuuga and her chakra strikes were powerful enough to send the summons on their way with just one well-aimed hit.

    The problem was getting the opportunity tond such a hit with all the dangerous distractions along the way. Whether it was the grey worms or the sound-based genjutsu, if they affected her during an unfortunate moment, it could spell disaster for her.

    Hinata wanted to summon Shadow Clones so much but it would be for naught. The sound-based genjutsu would disrupt their chakra flow, dispelling them. It would have been just a waste of chakra.

    She and the Doki were almost upon each other when Hinata registered the sound of a flute, ring her chakra even before a genjutsu could affect her. It still brought her a brief surge of pain and gave the Doki a chance to attack.

    This Doki had its upper body naked and on his forearms were strapped w-shaped devices. It almost managed to hit Hinata with one of them. Only thanks to her inhumanly-trained flexibility was she able to bend backward, go into a bridge position before flipping herself back through the air.

    Apparently, Tayuya counted on it and used that particr moment to throw a kunai at Hinata.

    Hinata noticed toote. She was mid-air and couldn''t dodge the kunai. It was also too close and too fast for her to whip out her own kunai and parry it. There was only one thing she could do.

    "Kaiten!"

    She spun mid-air, releasing a surge of chakra to the surroundings as a blue spinning ball appeared around her, deflecting the kunai. To be honest, Hinata wasn''t happy with being forced to use such a chakra-heavy technique to deflect a normal kunai.

    As she was spinning, she suddenly noticed the half-naked Doki figure that almostnded an attack on her opening its mouth, and another grey worm emerged out of it, snapping into her direction. It was honestly disgusting.

    Hinata didn''t panic. It might be too close for her to evade and she couldn''t simply stop Kaiten mid-way. That said, she was mid-Kaiten so the energy-based worm should be easily repelle-

    "Got you, bitch!" Tayuya suddenly screamed excitedly.

    Before Hinata couldprehend the reason for her opponent''s excitement, the grey worm, much to her horror, went right through her Kaiten, passing through her body as if it was intangible.

    Hinata got out of her shock and ended her Kaiten, seeing as it was useless against the worm, and jumped back, getting the worm out of her body.

    She was... fine? There was no wound or even any injury...

    And then vertigo hit her, making her sway on her feet as incredible tiredness spread through her body. Hinata quickly understood that a massive chunk of her stamina was just consumed.

    ''Well... at least now I know what the worms do.'' She thought while wincing at how much weaker her body felt while she started breathing hard. She was a taijutsu-based fighter. Someone who could bypass her best defensive jutsu and sap her stamina was a nightmare to deal with.

    Tayuya clicked her tongue. The small girl still managed to stand up after her attacknded? Really? How was that supposed to be genin-level!? Most genins would be unconscious from the grey worm going straight through their heart, the major chakra point in the body. Tayuya depended on genjutsu, which apparently barely worked against the girl. She also mostly used the grey worms'' ability to phase through obstacles tond a hit with them. Someone who could see through things was a nightmare to deal with for her fighting style.

    ''Isn''t this bitch my natural enemy?'' Both women wryly thought, warily staring at each other as they realized this fight would be a lot more troublesome than they first suspected.

 Chapter 323 - Ch323. Sasuke Vs Kidomaru 1

    <h4>Chapter 323 - Ch323. Sasuke Vs Kidomaru 1</h4>

    Sasuke heard Kakashi''s order and grimaced as the wound on his shoulder tingled with nervosity. He wanted him to fight the archer who almost killed him!?

    ''Well... okay, then.'' Sasuke thought, trying to muster eagerness for a battle but somewhat failing when images of his head popping like a balloon due to a well-aimed golden arrow emerged in his mind.

    Sasuke ran towards the railing, grabbed it, and somersaulted over it, letting his body into a free fall as he pumped it full of chakra. When he finally hit the water surface, arge ssh was sent all around while Sasuke''s body was at most slightly rattled as opposed to being turned into a broken mess as would happen if he didn''t enhance his body. Crouching down, Sasuke sprang forward like a rocket, running straight in the direction of the archer while his Sharingan was in full ze, hoping to notice any arrow flying at him soon enough that he will be able to dodge.

    Yet, even after five seconds of running on the water, no arrow was shot at him and he was almost upon his opponent. Seeing that Naruto''s clones that were previously morphed into inanimate objects and strewn around the surroundings were distracting the archer long enough for Sasuke to close in was relieving for the Uchiha. It wasn''t as if Naruto was allowed to spread around his traps so, with Naruto''s current strength, these clones should be easily dispatched by anypetent Jonin in under three seconds. The fact the archer did not have them dealt with already which allowed Sasuke to approach unhindered lessened Sasuke''s nerves a lot when he started thinking that maybe his opponent is not all that skilled fighter.

    Kidomaru finally popped thest orange nuisance and with the corner of his eye noticed the Uchiha brat closing in. ''Great...'' He inwardly groaned, ''Just my luck to get Uchiha as an opponent.''

    "Oi, Uchiha! Sto-" Kidomaru was about to try to stop this sh but Sasuke wasn''t listening and dashed at him, throwing a punch Kidomaru promptly caught with his lowermost left hand.

    "Oi! Time ou-"

    Before Kidomaru could take a proper hold on Sasuke''s fist, Sasuke jumped into the air and twisted his body, snapping a high kick aimed at Kidomaru''s throat. Needless to say, Kidomaru blocked it with the forearm of his middle right arm, scowling in annoyance.

    "Uchiha! Listen to me dammi-"

    Sasuke used the momentum of his foot shing with Kidomaru''s forearm to spin mid-air on said forearm, making Kidomaru wince which almost prevented him from blocking the follow-up kick aimed at his head. He only barely managed to intercept it with the palm of his uppermost left hand, pushing forward, intending to unbnce Sasuke.

    Sasuke however used that to his advantage and pushed against, more like kicked, really, Kidomaru''s palm with his foot,unching himself away from the six-armed man. As he was flying through the air, he again twisted his body, intending tond on his feet rather than his head... but he also used this twist to sneak-throw a kunai at Kidomaru''s chest.

    Kidomaru''s eyes widened for a moment. This was actually a pretty goodbo and most chunin would fall for it! Not everybody was awesome and had six arms, after all!

    The kunai hit Kidomaru''s chest... only to shock Sasuke who justnded on the ground a few feet away when the sharp pointy steel uselessly bounced away from Kidomaru with a metallic ng.

    "Armor, huh?" Sasuke frowned. Ninjas seldom wore armor as it got in the way too much so he didn''t suspect his opponent to wear one either. "Next time I shall aim at the throat."

    "Oi, oi, oi, Uchiha brat! It''s rude to throw kicks and punches at people when they are talking to you! Nobody taught you manners, huuuuh?" Kidomaru shouted with a tick mark pulsing on his forehead, his lowermost arms crossing on his chest. "Honestly... what do they teach Konoha''s brats these days." He disgruntledly muttered.

    He couldn''t hurt the Uchiha, dammit!

    He was already in deep shit because the damn red-eyed bastard had suicidal tendencies! His arrow almost took the brat''s head clean off when he swapped ces with Tazuna. Try to exin to Orochimaru that the target of histest obsession was almost killed by you because he jumped into the way of your attack. That shit ain''t fun!

    Kidomaru already inwardly wept when he imagined the punishment he would certainly be awarded when they came back from the mission. Not only that but now the Uchiha decided to engage him? Was the brat trying to kill him with a borrowed knife!?

    ''Shit. I can''t even rough the brat up! Lord Orochimaru would be most displeased if the Uchiha didn''t attend the Chunin Exams. For fucks sake! Why me? Tayuya that bitch! She always got the most luck. I can already imagine herughing at my misfortune!'' Kidomaru inwardly cursed. ''May she choke on Sakon''s dick!''

    "Look," Kidomaru tiredly sighed, irritably scratching the back of his head with his uppermost right hand, "I don''t really want to fight you. Can we call this a day?"

    Sasuke blinked at the six-armed man, giving him an Uchiha trademark look reserved for idiots before scoffing, "I won''t let you interfere with the other fights."

    "Aaaand that''s what I was afraid of." Kidomaru mumbled, his eyebrow twitching.

    If it was up to Kidomaru, they would just kidnap the Uchiha right here and now. The opportunity was ripe and there was no horde of Konoha ninja just waiting to save their precious boy-wonder. Every Konoha ninja in range was preupied. It would have been so easy too. But no! He had no idea why Lord Orochimaru was so hellbent on getting the Uchiha during the Chunin Exams. The singr event when the defenses of Konoha will be dialed up to their maximum setting and the Konoha''s ninja force will be fully alert.

    "Look, kid. My Lord would be very displeased if I hurt thest Uchiha. Could we... I don''t know? Maybe just stand here and pretend to have an argument?" Kidomarumely proposed, instantly regretting it when his ears heard how it sounded.

    Sasuke lifted his eyebrow at that, "So you are holding back because of this so-called Lord of yours?" He asked, condescendingly smirking.

    Kidomaru''s eye twitched as he decided he really didn''t like this brat. "Yes." He simply said, not trusting to stop himself from adding some special Tayuya-approved words to that statement just to spite the Konoha brat.

    "And I assume if you hurt me there would be consequences for you. That''s why you stay on the defense." Sasuke''s smirk widened the more Kidomaru''s expression turned ugly.

    "Yes." Kidomaru barely croaked out, hoping, for all that is holy in Orochnd, that the bastard is not intending to do what he suspected would happen next. This brat might one day be his superior if Orochimaru got his way. Kidomaru really didn''t want to...

    s... Sasuke sprang forward, dashing at Kidomaru whose expression twisted in an ugly scowl as he mentally cursed eight Uchiha generations back for raising arrogant pieces of...

    Sasuke suddenly dropped low to the ground and aimed a sweeping kick at Kidomaru''s ankle since his upper body was protected six times over. Kidomaru jumped, avoiding the sweeping kick, his instincts urging him to return it with a skull-crushing kick to Sasuke''s head. He only barely resisted actually throwing one.

    Sasuke pushed against the ground with his hands, propelling himself slightly up and to the side in order to evade any possible retaliation while his free leg snapped towards Kidomaru''s knee while he was mid-air. Sasuke''s kick hit its mark but the Uchiha didn''t rejoice. Instead, he was forced to wince as if his foot impacted something extremely hard.

    Knowing hisbo was forced to a sudden stop by this, Sasuke jerkily spun mid-air yet again, just enough that his hands would reach the ground before he flipped himself back, creating a small distance between himself and Kidomaru.

    ''This will require a lot more cunning and explosives, won''t it?'' Sasuke bitterlymented.

 Chapter 324 - Ch324. Struggle Against Raiga

    <h4>Chapter 324 - Ch324. Struggle Against Raiga</h4>

    Kakashi and Zabuza stared at Raiga who stood in front of him while his bodynguage screamed irritation and annoyance to the whole world.

    "Thank you for not participating in the assassination." Kakashi suddenly spoke.

    He fought against Raiga and knew well that Tazuna would be long dead if Raiga decided to sneak attack him in his lightning mode. Kakashi obviously had a few counter-measures prepared but he was not hundred percent certain they would work.

    Raiga grunted in acknowledgment, "It''s the fault of Gato and those conceited Sound bitches." He disgruntledly said with a dark dissatisfied look, "If it was up to me, I would have tried assassinating Tazuna the first day he started working on the bridge again. You would have been much more vignt but also much less prepared."

    Kakashi had to admit, Raiga had a point. Deep inside, he wouldn''t really mind such an oue either. He didn''t delude himself into thinking they could protect Tazuna if Raiga was dead set on sneakily assassinating him. Anko could probably fight him on equal footing, maybe even slightly overwhelm him, but she definitely was not fast enough to save Tazuna if Raiga got a lucky shot in.

    If Tazuna died, Kakashi''s team would have failed a mission but they would be alive and well. Kakashi felt a bit ashamed for desiring such an oue but... it was only natural.

    "But no!" Raiga continued with loud exasperation, "The midget suddenly decided that killing Tazuna is not enough. Now he wants all the ninja protecting Tazuna also dead. Worst of all, he wants to do it in an overbearing disy of strength to, ahem... ''Show the bastards they should have never messed with the mighty Gato!'', or something like that." He mockingly tried to imitate Gato. "I had to wait days for the Sound ninjas to arrive and then they started acting as if they were some hot shit on sale."

    "The midget is probably acting out to ovepensate for his height." Zabuza snorted in sympathy. He was a missing ninja for a time. He knew exactly what Raiga was going through. S-rank or not, he had to y nice if he wanted to earn money in a way that didn''t include the death of his client and robbing him blind. s, having honor was not a very good quality for a missing ninja.

    Raiga waved his hand in a ''so-so'' gesture before speaking, "I only stayed because I have unfinished business with the Copycat." He jerked his head in Kakashi''s direction. "But since you are here, Zabuza, I''ll dly witness how much stronger you got, brat." His lips stretched into a condescending grin as he slowly unsheathed his des.

    "Huh? No threats of brutally murdering me and taking my sword?" Zabuza asked in confusion as he briefly wondered if the man in front of him was really a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

    Raiga just shook his head as if he just heard something absurd. Even if he killed Zabuza, he would not be taking Kubikiribocho for himself. He was too afraid of Mizukage deciding to personally hunt him down for that. He would not risk such a thing.

    "Enough talking." Raiga''s body was abruptly enveloped with a thin but concentrated coating of lightning chakra. "Your partner received enough time to finish his preparations." His eyes flickered towards Kakashi who slightly tensed.

    Raiga stepped back and spun the Kiba de in his right hand, making its tip aim at the ground before he swiftly intensified the lightning aura around the de, plunging it to the ground as if it was just butter.

    Kakashi grit his teeth as he felt the connection with his shadow clone, who was under Raiga, waiting for the best opportunity to strike, disappear.

    ''I was right.'' Kakashi bitterly thought with a small frown under his mask, ''He can somehow sense his surroundings to an incredible degree! No matter...''

    Raiga suddenly widened his eyes, not having enough time to move even with his lightning aura when a massive explosion engulfed him, sending sharp jagged pieces of bricks from underneath him straight at his lower body.

    Kakashi smirked. His clone was destroyed but not before it nted the special and extremely potent explosive tag he prepared for this fight. He and Zabuza instantly sprang forward, intending to press this advantage of theirs, hoping Raiga would be injured enough to tip the sh in their favor.

    When they were halfway the distance to their target, Raiga suddenly pulsed his chakra, creating a small shockwave that dispersed the dust in the air from the explosion, showing he waspletely unscathed.

    Unlike Raikage''s Lightning Armor, Raiga''s Lightning Release: Full Body Activation didn''t possess extreme defensive capabilities but it was still made of a dense lightning aura coating his body, hence, an explosion and shrapnel were not enough to prate through it.

    Unfortunately, neither Kakashi nor Zabuza could userge-scale destructive Jutsu because it would wreck the bridge. As much as they didn''t like it, they had to try and engage Raiga in close-quarterbat.

    The first to reach Raiga was Zabuza, swinging the Kubikiribocho in a downward arc while putting as much of his strength and weight behind it as he could manage.

    Raiga furrowed his eyebrows, remembering that the wielders of Kubikiribocho were always exceptionally gifted strength-wise. He didn''t go for a full block, and instead tilted the Kiba de he raised into a blocking position slightly downward.

    Kubikiribocho and Kiba de shed, sending a mix of blue and orange sparks into the air as chakra metal ground against chakra metal. Raiga''s arm buckled under the weight of Zabuza''s strike. His initial assumption was totally correct and Zabuza''s strength was massive.

    ''He must have trained a lot in thest few years.'' Raiga idly thought as he tilted the tip of the blocking Kiba de a bit more towards the ground, slowly letting the Kubikiribocho slide alongside it to the side, mitigating most of the force from Zabuza''s strike.

    "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

    Raiga suddenly heard from behind Zabuza, making him show a surprised expression. He expected Kakashi to team up with Zabuza for the initial strike. That''s why he blocked Zabuza''s sh with only one of his des. He needed the second prepared to deal with whatever attack the Copycat pulled out of his ass! He however didn''t expect that...

    Smoke engulfed both Zabuza and a split secondter Raiga as Kakashi used his summoning just a few feet behind Zabuza, using his hulking frame as cover.

    "There are eight new chakra signatures." Ranmaru quietly whispered to Raiga from his backpack. "They feel like dogs and are trying to encircle us!"

    Raiga''s expression shifted back to indifference but his tone contained a hint of irritation. "Tell me when they are about to attack." He mumbled under his nose in a low enough voice that Zabuza had no chance of hearing it.

    Kakashi didn''t want to waste the smoke from the Summoning Technique. The second his ninja dogs were in positions, all surrounding Raiga from every side, he pulsed his chakra in a special pattern that was established as an order to attack.

    Zabuza, knowing what to expect since he and Kakashi discussed possible strategies a lot, put more chakra into his arms, trying to pin Raiga down, maybe even force him to use the second Kiba de as support against his strength.

    As Kakashi''s dogs neared their target, Kakashi couldn''t help but feel a bad premonition while he was in the middle of doing hand seals necessary to call forth Chidori. He was about finished with them too, when he senses a flicker of lightning chakra originating from Raiga''s position, causing him to widen his eyes in rm. He stopped kneading his chakra for Chidori and instead quickly pulsed his chakra for retreat order but he was far toote.

    Out of nowhere, a lightning strike descended straight at Kiba de blocking Zabuza''s Kubikiribocho, causing Zabuza to feel as if a horse kicked him in the chest, all air forcefully left his lungs. Zabuza recognized this technique and knew it was not over yet. He instantly forfeited the sh of des and jumped slightly back, in the hope to avoid most of the follow-up while putting the de of Kubikiribocho in front of himself as a makeshift shield.

    At this time, Kakashi''s dogs were just a few feet from Raiga... but then a surge of concentrated lightning chakra in the shape of a dome spread outwardly from Raiga''s position, frying everything in its path. One after another, the dogs burst in smoke, unsummoning themselves because of the extensive burns they suffered.

    Zabuza was a bit luckier as he managed to mitigate most of the damage thanks to Kubikiribocho. When the initial surge of Raiga''s technique smashed against his sword, it gave Zabuza enough momentum to propel him out of its range. He evaded the worst of it and only suffered small burns.

    Kakashi watched the smoke disperse with the burst of the lightning dome, feeling his connection to his summons to disappear one after another in quick session while Zabuzanded next to him, sliding a bit on the ground to stop his momentum, wincing as his hand was slightly burned.

    "We underestimated him." Kakashi darkly muttered as the realization struck him. Raiga was not only a swordsman. Being the Kiba wielder meant also being the foremost expert on lightning techniques in Kirigakure.

    "Yeah. We should never have assumed he would rely only on swordsmanship." Zabuza gruffly admitted, miffed at himself for forgetting this fact. In his defense, it was over a decade since Kirigakure actually possessed the Kiba des. ''Maybe I will be really forced to use that..'' He grimaced.

 Chapter 325 - Ch325. Naruto Vs Guren

    <h4>Chapter 325 - Ch325. Naruto Vs Guren</h4>

    "I won''t let you hurt the old man!" Naruto foolishly eximed, pointing at Guren with gusto.

    "Heh?" Guren smirked and put her hand on her hip, "You won''t let me, you say?"

    Before Naruto could again proim his answer to the whole world, Guren disappeared from her spot, using the talk as a small momentary distraction.

    Naruto noticed toote that Guren was rushing towards him at jonin-level speeds. He could only take a subconscious step back from apprehension as his eyes widened...

    Just as Guren reached him, Naruto was almost out of his funk, his hands shooting into the ssical cross-shaped seal...

    Two things happened at once.

    Naruto cast the Shadow Clones which means he was distracted for a split of a second. This allowed Guren to... run past Naruto, straight at Tazuna. Only then did the original Naruto realize he had been had! His opponent was clearly not an honorable ninja!

    Guren inwardly snorted, knowing she had already won. There was no way for the blonde moron to reach Tazuna in time to save him and the two clones guarding the old man were no threat at all. Just mere annoyances.

    Her mission was clear. Help Gato retain his power over the Land of Waves and make him indebted to the Sound Vige. While there was no immediate benefit, Lord Orochimaru surmised being owed a favor by someone like Gato would help with the invasion of Konoha in one way or another. Rich backers were always in demand, after all, and if Sound helped you with underhanded schemes once... well, let''s just say expecting to not pay the price and then some was foolish.

    Guren reached Tazuna guarded by two Naruto clones and with three hand signs, created two crystal spikes in her hands in an instant, surprising both clones that already steeled themselves to try and buy time for the original. Unfortunately for them, Guren elerated even further, and before they could even blink, not to mention actually adjust to her new speed, one of them found itself speared through the chest while the other was swiftly decapitated, both poofing out of existence with smoke.

    Tazuna fell onto his bum, shaking like a leaf while Guren, half-covered with smoke, menacingly loomed over him, giving him a cold look while holding the two crystal spikes.

    At that moment, Tazuna knew he was a goner.

    Guren raised her right hand and with a quick swipe, she slit Tazuna''s throat with the tip of her crystal spike, her lips stretching into a victorious smile. Even if her group was somehow defeated, forcing them to retreat, with the death of the bridge builder, their mission was as good aspleted.

    Her smile however froze when Tazuna burst into smoke, revealing it was just another shadow clone. Guren instantly spun around, fiercely looking at the original Naruto who widely grinned. "Got you! Mehehahaha!" He mockinglyughed, pointing at her in the same way he liked to point at Iruka after a sessful prank.

    "You...!" Guren grit her teeth while her mind worked overtime, trying toe up with Tazuna''s whereabouts. Her eyes widened as she realized Tazuna couldn''t use Henge. That would mean... "You used the distraction of my previous attack and the retreat of other bridge workers to get Tazuna away unnoticed." Guren''s body rxed but her eyes continued to re at the grinning prankster.

    This was bad. Tazuna was just a civilian and by now, he could be anywhere in the city. There was no way to pinpoint his location through chakra sensing and if he is hidden well, it would be a pain in the ass to locate him. The most viable option would be to reduce the entire city to rubble but... there was no guarantee the bridge builder is actually IN the city. He could just as well be hidden outside of it.

    ''Not to mention, the Konoha ninjas won''t simply let us look for him without intervention. We will first have to defeat them which will give more time to Tazuna to hide and make us a bit tired.'' Guren clicked her tongue. The situation didn''t look all that favorable for them.

    "But... aren''t you forgetting something?" Guren sweetly asked, rolling her shoulders.

    Naruto was confused. He was quite sure his n worked. Did he overlook something? No, no, no. That couldn''t be. "Stop bluffing." He tly deadpanned at the blue-haired woman, making her eyebrow twitch.

    "My target is gone. That means I will have to satisfy myself by killing you." Guren smirked and her body tensed.

    Naruto knew what would follow. He fought against Anko often enough. Guren disappeared in a burst of speed but Naruto was prepared!

    Kunai made of crystal abruptly lodged in Naruto''s eye socket, its tip exiting from the back of his head, as Guren appeared in front of him with a small disdainful sneer that hid well her own distaste at killing a child.

    Guren inwardly sighed, her eyes flickering towards the entrance to the vige as she started to contemte how to locate Tazuna.

    She let her guard down so much, she only noticed the chakra surge from the ''corpse'' in front of her at thest moment.

    Suddenly, a booming explosion shook the ground, sending Guren''s body barreling through the air before it hit the ground and started bouncing from it due to the massive kic energy that affected it.

    Guren only managed to create a crystalline spike and plunge it to the ground in an attempt to stop herself when she was already a few tens of meters away from her initial spot.

    ''What the fuck was that?'' She dizzily thought, her ears ringing and head throbbing. She just ate an explosion point-nk and only thanks to her incredible reflexes did she manage to create a thin covering of crystal armor on her skin. She was uninjured but her body hurt as if she was smashed by a bijuu.

    Guren didn''t have much time to gather her bearings. Three more Naruto''s emerged from the ground near her and proceeded to rush at her. She was still mostly out of it but as jonin, she wasn''t as vulnerable as it would seem.

    Only two of the three clones managed to evade the thin crystal needles Guren created in the air and hurled at them. Unfortunately for Guren, there was no more room for an additional attack. She hurriedly stood up, slightly swaying on her feet as the crystal spike in her hand transformed into a kunai. She was forced into defence but she wasn''t worried her crystal armor should protect her.

    The Naruto clones were almost upon her and Guren lowered her body a bit, bracing herself for the uing sh. This, however, prevented her from reacting when the clones abruptly changed their directions. Instead of dashing straight at her, they went a bit to the side, one to the left while the other to the right, sliding on the ground to halt when they were right next to her on both sides.

    Guren''s eyes widened, getting a bad premonition from the wide grins on the clones...

    And then she felt deja vu as a familiar surge of chakra emitted from them.

    ''Fu-'' Guren thought as two massive explosions reverberated through the surroundings of the bridge.

    A few moments passed and another Naruto slowly and cautiously emerged from the ground a few hundred feet away. "Did I get her?" He quietly asked himself, staring at the smoke-covered ce where his clones exploded themselves. The shockwaves from two explosions crashing against each other while her body was in the middle of them should be enough to tear the woman apart inside out. This was Naruto''s tactics against jonins. No way would he fight them head-on!

    Naruto was about to rx when his senses screamed at him to dodge...

    A foot impacted his face with enough force to bust his nose and crack his left cheekbone as he was sent barreling backward through the air.

    Gurennded on her feet, instantly having to support herself by grabbing her knees as she heaved and gasped for air. Her body was screaming at her to stop and her head felt as if it was repeatedly smashed into a wall.

    She managed to Kawarimi with a crystal clone she had nearby exactly for these kinds of emergencies and only got hit by the initial wave of both the explosions and the subsequent shockwaves. At most, she had nasty bruises all over her body as the crystal armor protected her from both burns and being ripped apart. She could continue to fight. She was used to pain. It was still surprising the genin could do this much to her. She almost fainted from the pain when she didn''t expect it and it first hit her!

    ''I have underestimated the brat too much.'' Guren grit her teeth, trying to alleviate some of the pain she felt as she inwardly swore to return it tenfold to the annoying blonde nuisance. ''No more holding back!''

 Chapter 326 - Ch326. Naruto In Pinch 1

    <h4>Chapter 326 - Ch326. Naruto In Pinch 1</h4>

    Author Note:

    I see that many areining inments that this arc is too long. Well, sorry for that guys but it is already finished so nothing I can do about it on that front. Anyway, Let''s see... if you don''t like this arc, you should probably stop reading till the end of this month? Maybe three weeks?

    That''s about it.

    To be honest, I did have fun writing this arc.

    But I fully acknowledge that it might not be as interesting for some and the non-presence of MC can be a huge source of irritation. Yeaaah, I basically screwed up in that way.

    ---

    Guren didn''t like killing. Especially killing children. But it was what Lord Orochimaru wanted of her so she gritted her teeth and did her best to fulfill his expectations. The most she could do was to make sure to give painless and quick death to the children she had to dispose of. That''s why she held back against Naruto at first. In her eyes, he was a child. An overconfident foolish genin who learned a dangerous technique. Not really a threat.

    But this kid showed cunning and enough capability to n that he could catch even her in a trap. Because she held back, she was almost injured and that simply wouldn''t do. Guren knew Lord Orochimaru would be disappointed if he knew about her current situation.

    As such, she once again gritted her teeth... and decided to hold nothing back as she attempted to ughter the blonde annoyance. In her eyes, Naruto ceased to be just an unwitty naive kid.

    It took Naruto a few moments to recover from the heavy kick to the head. He shakily stood up, his head still spinning and his cheek intensively stinging. He could feel his cheekbone was cracked and the pain made him involuntarily tear up. But Naruto could also feel the damage already slowly mending itself and knew he had to focus on his enemy.

    Guren didn''t give him a chance to fully recollect himself though. He didn''t get even three seconds of a reprieve since he stood up and Guren was already near him, her hands blurring in hand seals.

    Feeling his danger instincts screaming at him, Naruto tried to focus, which was hard with a throbbing head, but, in the end, he managed to notice Guren''s intended attack in time and put his all into his chakra senses since it was obvious she would be using ninjutsu.

    "Crystalline Bloom!" Guren eximed and Naruto could instantly sense chakra gathering under him.

    His eyes widened before he hurriedly shifted his body to the side, not having enough time to properly evade beforerge crystal spikes ''bloomed'' from the ground. Naruto barely managed to evade most of it, getting only a nastyrge gash on his side rather than being skewered from his groin up to his head.

    Sweat rolled down Naruto''s forehead as he gasped in pain before forcefully closing his mouth and trying to breathe through the pain while a bit of fear crept up into his eyes. It was times like this that he couldn''t help but profusely thank for the brutality Anko called training that helped him refine his chakra sensing enough to predict enemy ninjutsu.

    Naruto forced his body to jump back, distancing himself from the crystal construct that struck him. He had no idea if Guren could use it for an additional attack so it was better to get the hell away from it.

    Narutonded on the ground, instantly swaying as his injury red up with more pain because of the impact of his jump. He wasn''t given the time to ovee it though. His chakra sensing instantly alerted him to numerous crystal senbon flying straight at him and Naruto did his best to somehow scramble out of the way.

    That didn''t help him much as he was still hit by many of them but instead of hitting a vital ce, because he moved the senbon now embedded themselves in rtively unimportant spots.

    Naruto almost let out a relieved breath... until the chakra in the senbons red, causing dread to fill his eyes while he started pumping his chakra towards the ces where these senbons struck him.

    Not unlike the crystal spikes, these senbons also ''bloomed'', creating small bur razor-sharp crystal shards inside Naruto''s body, tearing junks of flesh from him and scrapping numerous bones. Naruto screamed and fell to his knees as he became a literal pincushion of small crystal spikes. The only reason why he survived was that he protected his vital organs with his chakra.

    ''Now I understand why Anko-nee was always so brutal with us.'' Naruto winced and dryly chuckled. His body screamed in unholy pain but... it wasn''t the worst he had in his life. Anko could do much worse with much less.

    Naruto pushed himself back onto his feet through sheer willpower while ignoring as his pain-receptors red... he only barely managed to put his arms in front of his head before Guren''s kick impacted his forearms with enough force to crack them and send him uncontrobly rolling on the ground.

    ''I have no choice.'' Naruto realized as his body was bouncing against the hard bricks of the bridge. He didn''t want to use it but the woman was too strong. He could fight chunins without a problem but he had no chance to even start fighting back now. ''Thinking I could manage just because I initially surprised her was a bad idea.'' Naruto inwardly scolded himself.

    Guren wanted to do another follow-up attack on the rolling boy. She could still feel he was alive and the sooner she ended this, the better. She was almost about to jump at him again when something changed. The body of her opponent suddenly red with a red chakra cloak, going straight for three tails.

    ''Jinchuuriki!?'' Guren''s eyes widened while she inwardly cursed and started to strengthen the crystal armor on her body.

    The now feral boy in front of her slowly stood up, her crystal needles and the shards created by them shattered into dust from the sheer intensity of the chakra cloak around the boy. Guren winced at that. She would have to pack much more chakra into her crystal constructs if she wanted to make them capable of getting through the dense chakra of the bijuu cloak. The worst part... she could see the gash on his side and numerous holes in his body healing at a visible pace, fast enough that Guren would be hard-pressed to intervene even if she discarded her caution.

    Naruto wasn''t rampaging. He retained the rity of his mind thanks to the training he underwent with Anko. As such, the moment he was healed enough to move, he disappeared in a burst of speed and appeared in front of Guren, punching her in the midsection.

    His hand went right through her stomach, and for a second Naruto thought he got her good... before the Guren in front of him shattered into pieces of crystal that quickly dispersed into the air.

    Realizing he fell for a trap, Naruto felt a chakra spike behind him and was about to turn when he suddenly felt a piercing pain from his thigh. Looking down, he noticed a sturdier-than-normal crystal spike going right through the middle of his thigh, only barely missing the bone.

    Naruto''s pupils dted. This attack was not aimed to injure him but to pin him down! He quickly red his chakra, pushing the air around him away which created a small shockwave.

    This saved him as it redirected the follow-up attack. Another crystal spike, instead of skewering him through the middle of his back, veered off its course and went through his right hip before splinting into multiple razor-sharp shards, not unlike the previous senbons, just at a muchrger scale.

    Fortunately for Naruto, most of the spike was outside of his body when that happened so only his right side was totally shredded, causing him to look like some half-human, half-crystal-shard creature. If the attack went through his upper stomach as intended, Naruto would most likely miss his upper bodypletely.

    Howling in pain, Naruto brutally tore himself away from the massive crystal shard, leaving chunks of his flesh on its spikes and blood started oozing out of his massive open right side. His organs stayed in their ce only because his chakra kept them there. Otherwise, they would be already spilled on the ground.

    Naruto was openly crying from the pain, but his head was still clear. The wound was closing quite quickly so that was no concern. But he knew his opponent would not just wait for him to heal.

    Guren inwardly clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. Her attack failed but it did manage to injure the brat. She sneaked behind him, intending to use his distraction from the pain to deliver a fatal blow. Kyuubi chakra or not, a de through the brain should still kill him... no?

    Unfortunately for her, Naruto was trained to withstand massive amounts of pain due to his sadistic ''sister''. He wasn''t as distracted as Guren hoped and the second she got behind him, Naruto spun on his heel, surprising Guren enough to make her reaction speedg a bit. She only got out of her reverie when Naruto''s fist smashed against her chest, creating multiple web-like cracks in her crystal armor and sending her flying through the air with the velocity of a cannonball.

    Naruto grinned victoriously, knowing his punch in this form was almost on par with Anko when she was half-serious. That was still enough to liquefy everything in the chest of his opponent.

    His grin froze and his expectations were betrayed when Guren slowly stood up, taking a deep breath and shook herself out of the daze before looking at Naruto with a conflicted gaze.

    "If I didn''t have my crystal armor, that would have killed me." She respectfully nodded at Naruto. "You are indeed an impressive young man. I am just sorry I have to end your journey here."

    Naruto realized she was utterly unscathed. Her armor absorbed all the force behind his attack.

    ''Isn''t she basically unbeatable for me!?'' He mentally screamed, wondering if he would have to go further than three tails and shuddering with knowledge of what it would do to his body. Not to mention, he couldn''t control it yet. ''No... not yet.. I am the prankster king of Konoha! I will find a way!'' He desperately thought.

 Chapter 327 - Ch327. Naruto In Pinch 2

    <h4>Chapter 327 - Ch327. Naruto In Pinch 2</h4>

    The fight between Naruto and Guren continued, bing only more and more crazed as time went on.

    Naruto lost count on how many times he evaded certain death by the slightest margin. Once Guren realized he had an immense healing factor, she started aiming at spots that would be a one-hit kill even for him. Naruto managed to dodge but it usually ended with one of his limbs being separated from his body, his guts spilling out, or simr debilitating injuries. By now, Naruto was not even feeling the pain, his brain too used to it.

    Guren, on the other hand, was bing more and more fed up. She also lost count of how many times she missed the killing blow. During the exchange, Naruto managed tond a hit quite a few times, whether with a physical blow or a Jutsu, but unfortunately for him, her armor prevented any damage from reaching her body. It was obvious the kid had no Jutsu in his arsenal that could harm her.

    That said, Guren was also getting nervous and frustrated. She couldn''t just stand in her spot and take hits. She had to dodge and keep out of Naruto''s attacking range. She was doing hit and run tactics for the entirety of the fight and it took a toll on her mind.

    While Naruto could not pierce her armor with a single blow, he was still a jinchuuriki using three tails of his bijuu''s power. One strike could crack her armor enough to make the second strike count. She still had to be very careful in this fight.

    Guren has lost count of how many times she has repaired her crystal armor by now. Only her depleting chakra reserves were an indicator she was not as unscathed as she outwardly appeared. It was obvious that while she could go on for two more hours with this pace, at this rate, the young jinchuuriki would oust her unless shended a killing blow.

    The fight was one bloody stalemate full of gore, onebatant desperately trying to stay alive while the other desperately trying to kill him in one strike as nothing else would work.

    "Haaa~." Guren took a deep breath and straightened up, looking at the gasping Naruto in apathy. "You are the most irritating brat I had the displeasure to fight against."

    She had to admit, there was a bit of admiration for the boy growing inside of her. For thest thirty minutes, he was on the very edge between life and death, yet, he didn''t make even a single mistake. Just one would have been enough for her and his head would sport a new addition of a crystal spike going through it. As much as this feat impressed her, Guren was also annoyed to the extreme. She had to rx her body and mind for a second because the frustration was slowly gnawing at her efficiency and she almost made a few mistakes in thest five minutes of their fight. That''s why she spoke.

    "T-Than-ks." Naruto half-gasped, half-hissed in between hisbored breathing. He didn''t dare to answer with more than one word lest his focus slips. He couldn''t afford that.

    His carefulness paid off when he felt a surge of chakra from behind, causing him to throw his body forward, only barely noticing a crystal clone with two crystal spikes growing out of its forearms, skewering the air in the ce where his body was just a second earlier.

    Naruto wasn''t able to pay more attention to the clone. He felt another chakra surge... again from behind him, realizing he dodged towards where the real Guren stood. Diverting his momentum by forcefully pushing himself to the side, he evaded a crystal spike hurled at him by the real Guren that instantly bloomed into a razor-sharp crystal shard made of multiple crystal spikes.

    Rolling on the ground, Naruto flipped his body into the air with just enough force to get himself back onto his feet...

    And he had to quickly duck again as a katana made of crystal passed just an inch above his head. His downward momentum was cleverly used to spin his body towards his attacker as Naruto delivered a punch to her guts, shattering her into multiple small crystal shards. From experience, Naruto knew what would follow. That''s why he jumped back, barely a second before these crystal shards exploded with a multitude of crystal shrapnel.

    Despite his efforts, his body was still nketed with this shrapnel and he only managed to cover his face with his arms at the veryst moment.

    One surge of his chakrater, the splinters embedded in his body were crushed to dust and his wounds started healing.

    Naruto inwardly cursed as Guren certainly didn''t let this opportunity go unanswered. He had to lean back in order to evade a downward ax kick but the follow-up punch got him good in his gut, causing his feet to lift from the ground as he was forced to hunch over Guren''s fist while the air was driven out of his lungs as he thanked his luck that it wasn''t one of her crystal clones because that would mean his stomach would have sported a new hole by now.

    Since it was Guren herself, he had a split of a second before she created a crystal gauntlet with spikes around her hand.

    This split of a second was fruitfully used by Naruto as heshed out with his fist, smashing it into Guren''s shoulder without really aiming. His desperate attempt seeded and Guren wasunched backward... brutally ripping the half-formed crystal spikes covered in blood and Naruto''s intestines out of his gut.

    Naruto fell to the ground onto all four as he coughed up blood. He could afford a very brief moment of reprieve. Guren was sent flying and rolling on the ground which meant he had around four seconds before her crystal clone reached him.

    Calctions, ns, strategies were formed and discarded in Naruto''s brain at a pace that would have surprised even Nara. All in order to survive.

    Exactly three and half-secondter, Naruto raised his head, looking straight at the crystal clone next to him that was swinging crystal kunai at his neck. He let the chakra he was building up for the past two seconds spike to the max, creating a shockwave that was sufficient to crack said crystal clone. With this crack, the clone was weakened enough to shatter and disperse into the air before it could fully deliver its strike. Naruto still got a small and very shallow wound on his neck but it barely reached past his skin.

    Naruto felt like shit but more importantly, he felt the chakra of around twenty senbon-like crystal projectiles flying at him. The real Guren clearly already shrugged off his attack. Deciding that jumping into the air would be too risky, Naruto gritted his teeth and smashed his fist into the ground in front of him. The floor of the bridge rose, creating a wall in front of Naruto that intercepted the crystal projectiles before they exploded into more crystal shrapnel which was also stopped by the wall.

    Naruto really didn''t want to use the bridge this way. He tried to evade damaging it as much as possible but... he no longer had the leeway to mind Tazuna''s efforts and feelings. His life was more important.

    He hardly finished getting himself back on his feet when Guren appeared in front of him with a burst of speed, her hand cocked back in preparation for a punch. Naruto''s eyes widened as he recognized he had a huge problem.

    There were three new chakra signatures. One to his right, one to his left, and one behind him. He quickly realized Guren took out the big guns and created three more crystal clones. Something which must have affected her chakra reserves quite a lot.

    Naruto was presented with a choice. Getting rid of the clones and making himself vulnerable to Guren''s punch to the face or blocking Guren''s punch while letting the clones skewer or sh him into pieces. It wasn''t really a hard choice.

    A second passed and another shockwave spread out of Naruto''s body as he wildly red the bijuu chakra. It wasn''t as strong as the previous shockwave but it managed to destroy the clones before they delivered their attacks. The real Guren, however, wasn''t even slowed down by this kind of shockwave as her fist barreled through the air towards Naruto''s face.

    The world slowed down for Naruto while his breath hitched and his eyes widened as he realized his gamble didn''t pay off as he hoped. Around Guren''s fist, a crystal covering started to form. He knew what that meant. Worse yet, he had no chance to evade it! Her fist would collide with his face and promptly form a spike of crystal through his head!

    Naruto tried to lean his head to the side, aiming to get his brain out of the way and letting Guren''s spike go through his mouth and cheek rather than anything important. His life shed in front of his eyes as Guren''s fist approached, a victorious gleam passing through her eyes.

    Naruto was not the only one who tried to make the most of the situation. Guren also tried to adjust the position of her punch to ensure her spike would go through Naruto''s brain. It was a battle of wills and wits and Naruto''s life and death depended on the next moment.

    Guren''s fist came close to Naruto''s face... Ten inches, five inches, one inch...

    Naruto prepared for an impact and nned to jerk his head to the side the second it came...

    Guren prepared to twist her fist the second it impacted Naruto''s head, intending to ram the crystal spike that was starting to form straight through Naruto''s brain...

    Both had expressions of utmost concentration and refused to give in.

    And then...

    The world froze alongside both Naruto''s and Guren''s minds.

    Naruto realized first what happened and his eyes rxed while his body slumped down before he fell onto his bum and released a long and strained sigh of utmost relief and happiness.

    Guren nkly stared at her wrist that was now tightly held by an unknown hand, the scene of her fist just an inch from the brat''s face reying in her mind. She forced her head to robotically turn towards the bastard that stopped her attack... only to realize it is actually a bitch!

    "The most amazing and sexiest but unfortunately unavable Anko Mitarashi has just arrived!"

    Anko loudly eximed with a big shit-eating grin, enjoying the looks of pure frustration on both Naruto and his blue-haired would-be killer.

 Chapter 328 - Ch328. Anko Has Arrived! 1

    <h4>Chapter 328 - Ch328. Anko Has Arrived! 1</h4>

    Before Guren could recollect her wits, Anko used the fact she was gripping her wrist and jerked her forward, unbncing her. Normally, that wouldn''t have been a problem for an experienced kunoichi but Guren was quite distraught and the move worked, making her stumble forward.

    Before anyone could react, Anko''s free hand snapped forward, smashing into Guren''s midsection. The force behind the blow was massive but so controlled, Guren wasn''t sent flying because it washed through her in a manner that only affected the organs in her stomach before leaving her body through her lower back. This caused the woman to bend over Anko''s fist and release a silent scream of pain.

    Her intestines instantly liquefied and a resounding snap announced to the world that her spine broke too. Both Anko and Guren knew better though. The part of Guren''s spine located on her lower back broke in seven different ces,pletely paralyzing her.

    To be honest, Anko thought Guren should be d she controlled the force behind her punch enough to go around her spine, otherwise, it would have liquified too. s, after seeing Guren''s abilities, Anko deemed her too precious to just kill. Capturing her and sending her to the Vige on the Other Side through Lady Tsunade would earn her more benefits.

    If Guren decided to cooperate and join the Other-sided vige... that was not Anko''s problem. She knew well that everybody had their price. It was only the question if the Other-sided vige had the means to find out and afford Guren''s. And if not, well, Some research material that would help Lady Tsunade in her hobby of bloodline-recreation was always weed.

    That was also why Anko quite admired the administration of the Vige on the Other Side. Their ninjas would be hard-pressed to betray them... not because they knew of all the precautions against betrayal the vige had but... because the benefits the vige provided could simply not be found anywhere else.

    Guren slowly slid off Anko''s fist, falling down onto the ground like a marite whose strings were cut while Naruto watched with wide disbelieving eyes at the spectacle.

    "That easy?" He grimaced, looking as if he was constipated.

    Anko grinned, "After surviving Lady Tsunade''s boot camp, dealing with scrubs like this should pose no problem to your awesome sister!" She proudly proimed to the world without any shame, putting her hands on her hips and straightening her back while raising her nose high into the sky.

    Naruto could only groan, not in the mood for Anko''s boasting. "Why were you sote?" He petntly asked while starting to slowly cancel the chakra cloak around him, trying to make the transition as gentle as possible for his body.

    "I had to deal with a lot of thugs all around the town. Killing them was easy but finding them took time." Anko''s eyes softened, "I had faith in your ability to survive, you know?" ... ''Plus getting his stuffing beaten out of him in a serious life-threatening battle was good training for him. When sparring against me, he knows there is no danger of him dying no matter how much I hurt him. This will be good for his growth. No pain, no gain, as they say. It was definitely a delight to watch too'' She inwardly snickered. ''Not that he has to know about that particr part.''

    Naruto smiled, taking his well-earned praise. Unfortunately for him, this was also the moment when his chakra cloak fully dissipated, causing him to feel as if a bijuu smashed him. The strain on his body was enough to make him slump onto the ground and disable him from any kind of movement. At most, Naruto could move his lips and eyes and even that was kinda hard for the exhausted boy.

    Recognizing that the after-effects from the bijuu cloak started to kick in, Anko created a shadow clone that proceeded to unceremoniously put Naruto on her shoulder, not minding his painful wincing or silent protests. The boy was hurt badly during his fight and while the chakra cloak healed him, now that its effects were gone, Naruto''s body felt all the trauma it was forced to go through. It was overly sensitive and even the slightest of motions brought extreme pains to the boy.

    "Oh, man up! I can''t leave your helpless self here, in the middle of the battlefield." The real Anko rolled her eyes. She didn''t know Raiga Kurosuki but the man was fast. As such, Anko decided it would be better not to leave any sort of temptation lying around. Who knows if the man would have used Naruto as hostage once he found himself in deep shit.

    Anko''s clone then approached the paralyzed Guren and gently took her body into a princess carry, ignoring the intense and pain-filled re the woman was giving her. She couldn''t just uncaringly slump her over her shoulder. All that held Guren''s lower and upper body together were her abdominal muscles, which were a mangled mess.

    "Get well, kiddos!" Anko eximed, yfully swatting Naruto''s butt with a massive grin, causing the blonde to spasm and thrash from the intense pain that surged through his body. He felt that swat all the way on the skin of his scalp! It hurt like a bitch!

    Aware that Naruto was silently cursing her in his head, Anko was satisfied and sent the clone off on its way.

    "Now then, she looked around, where to next." Anko mused to herself but her question was answered a momentter when she winced from memories of her clone that just popped out of existence. Hinata''s location was found.

    Anko approached the edge of the bridge and slowly walked on its side, heading towards the ce where Hinata faced her opponent.

    Anko didn''t instantly reveal her presence though. She first observed for a minute, briefly wincing in pain every time she heard the melody of the flute. The genjutsu wasn''t very effective against her. After all, it was Anko who taught Hinata how to properly counter them and after Lady Tsunade''s training, this pain was nothing special, but it was still akin to an annoying sting. Especially so, because Anko could and did turn her pain receptors off after the redhead''s Jutsu first hit her. But it was to no effect. The pain caused by this genjutsu was more mental than physical...

    Hinata was faring well. The girl had no wounds on her body. She nimbly and gracefully evaded every attack of her opponent but Anko could see the small tremors in Hinata''s body. The girl was obviously gritting her teeth hard to resist the umted pain and it was putting a lot of strain on her mind.

    It only made the fact she was not yet hit despite facing three opponents that much more admirable.

    Hinata''s opponent... Anko almost nched when she noticed the marks of activated Cursed Seal spread on the redhead''s body. That at least exined whose flunkies were these ninjas. If it was her past self, she would no doubt already jump at the redhead, screaming like a monkey while trying to kill her in a blind rage full of hate. s, that part of Anko was beaten out of her by Lady Tsunade. Instead, Anko carefully analyzed the situation.

    The redhead wasn''t hurt either as Hinata didn''t manage to get past the two hulking humanoid summons. The girl was trying to mask it with all the vulgar things she screamed at Hinata but she was subtly using her speech to cover her gasping for air. Clearly, she was utterly exhausted.

    ''So that is why she already used the seal, huh? Somebody is running on fumes!'' Anko proudly thought.

    Based on Guren''s prowess, if the blute was the leader, the redhead as her subordinate should be at the low-to-mid Jonin level. The fact Hinata could fight her to stalemate and even force her to activate the seal... Anko was immensely proud! The girl desired a cookie and Anko would make sure she would get one.

    But, ''The fighting style of the redhead... I gotta capture her too.'' Anko unwillingly thought, a bit of dissatisfaction welling up in her heart.

    On one hand, the girl probably had a lot of information on Orochimaru and would no doubt be a great asset with her ability to weaponize sound-waves without any sort of device, on the other hand, Anko felt this need to beat her up the second she saw the activated Cursed Seal. Obligation or personal satisfaction... that was the question.

    And Anko had a hard time deciding which to choose.

 Chapter 329 - Ch329. Anko Has Arrived! 2

    <h4>Chapter 329 - Ch329. Anko Has Arrived! 2</h4>

    The battle between Hinata and her opponent intensified, and Tayuya decided to activate the second stage of her Cursed Seal, causing her skin to darken and horns to grow from her head.

    Anko''s eyes widened at the sight. ''Orochimaru improved the Cursed Seal to this degree!?'' Her jaw slightly dropped. It was ridiculous. The redhead became twice as strong as before while Nature Energy was being sucked into her body.

    It wasn''t Sage Mode, that much Anko could tell. It was some kind of inferior bastardization of the real thing but it still provided a substantial boost to the user.

    ''Then again... I doubt Orochimaru is generous enough to not incorporate some nasty hidden features.'' Anko wryly thought while rubbing her ''Rei-remastered'' former Cursed Seal, remembering the piece of his soul that Rei pulled out of its original version.

    But Anko didn''t have time to reminisce about the time when her time changed for the better. It was time to intervene in the fight since Hinata, as good as she was hiding it, was bing too tired to continue without getting hurt. And in this kind of fight, where both fighters are in a stalemate, one wound would most likely decide the winner.

    Anko hid behind the corner and quietly used the Summoning Jutsu while trying to make as little smoke as possible, calling forth a yellow-ish snake.

    "Pochi!" Anko grinned, causing the snake to disgruntledly hiss at her.

    "Why did you call me, bitch?" Pochi grumbled. He disliked Anko since he was old enough to understand he was stuck with the name ''Pochi'' because his parent had the bright idea to let Anko name him.

    "I need you to dig yourself a hole in the ground-"

    "Fuck you." Pochi hissed out but Anko simply ignored him.

    "-and sneak attack the dark-skinned redhead when she is about to y her flute. Make sure to snatch it from her since it is her primary weapon. Can you do that for me?" She asked with a small gentle smile. As rude as he was, Pochi was always her favorite tsundere.

    "... Fine." Pochi petntly averted his gaze. Anko was still his summoner so he supposed he was duty-bound to help her with her insignificant problems.

    Pochi submerged into the bridge, using his Earth Release. This was the reason why Anko chose him among all of her many summons. Pochi was born with an incredible innate talent for Earth Maniption which made him into an incredibly good and undetectable ambusher.

    "Time to do my part, I guess..." Anko sighed.

    Not far from the ce where Anko was hidden, the battle between Hinata and Tayuya was starting to enter its deciding moments. Tayuya entered the second stage of her Cursed Seal, getting a boost in both potency and volume of her chakra which made her genjutsu that much more impactful.

    Hinata barely dodged the ws of one of Tayuya''s summons, flinging a kunai at Tayuya who leisurely sidestepped it.

    Tayuya''s second summon, the one looking like a mummy, suddenly rushed at Hinata who was still mid-air, and threw a punch at her. Hinata managed to start Kaiten, countering the force in the punch, sending it back at the summon, and toppling him to the ground. She was however forced to stop her Kaiten and twist her body mid-air because a Grey Worm was almost upon her and she had no intention to let herself be hit by it again.

    Hinatanded on the ground in a crouch, and her eyes widened as her Byakugan noticed the smirking Tayuya taking a deep breath, about to start ying her flute.

    ''I am trapped!'' That''s when Hinata realized her position. Grey Worm above her, turning its head towards her, the wed summon with the bare torso in front of her, already starting his next attack, and the mummy summon to her right, releasing the second Grey Worm that was on this way to attack her... if Tayuya managed to pin her down for two seconds with pain, there was a high chance Hinata would not be able to avoid the following attacks.

    Tayuya inwardly cheered and Hinata braced herself...

    Both girls were utterly bbergasted when in the next moment both summons were blown away into the air by a shockwave so strong it took them a second to realize how much damage was caused to them before they poofed away.

    Tayuya suddenly found herself trapped as a yellow snake tightly coiled around her body, locking her in ce. Worst of all, it snatched her flute from her hands as she was about to y. It was the moment when her hold on her flute was the weakest as she had to use her fingers to cover holes on her flute to produce certain sounds, meaning she couldn''t muster any sort of resistance when the snake''s jaws suddenly pulled the flute out of her fingers. Not even her enhanced physical prowess from the second stage of her Cursed Seal was any help and Tayuya realized she was fucked.

    Hinata suddenly realized Anko was crouching in front of her with a proud smile. It was obvious the woman saved her from the defeat and Hinata was very grateful for that.

    "Well, look at that! You did well, girl!" Anko praised, ruffling Hinata''s hair. "Leave the rest to me."

    Hinata tiredly nodded and weakly smiled before she let go of her intense focus, passing out. Withstanding the momentary intense pains caused by Tayuya''s genjutsu while fighting the summons was way above her paygrade. She only stayed conscious because of her mental fortitude. Any ordinary genin would have fainted from the pain long ago.

    "Ah, well..." Anko stood up, seallessly creating a shadow clone that started tending to Hinata, using a spiritual healing technique that would alleviate the mental pain of the girl. The original Anko didn''t want to think about it. Such advanced stuff always brought her headaches. Better leave it to clones.

    "What to do with you." Anko gave Tayuya an appraising look, threateningly narrowing her eyes and subconsciously licking her lips in a way that made the redhead shudder before she even realized it.

    Tayuya was slowlying out of her shock, realizing the situation she found herself in. Her summons were all taken out and she didn''t have her flute. ''Welp, I am fucked, ain''t I?'' She fearfully thought. The fact it was Orochimaru''s disciple, the snake summon was a dead give-away, who was supposed to hate everything even remotely connected to the guy in front of her, made Tayuya quite clear about the fate that is awaiting her at Anko''s hands.

    "Just kill me already." Tayuya resignedly grumbled, scowling at Anko. It took a supreme effort to not add ''bitch'' to her sentence. Anything that would most likely earn her torture was to be avoided in her current situation though. She tried to wiggle out of the snake coiled around her but it was just a futile effort.

    "Oh? So eager to die?" Anko teased, slowly walking closer to the restrained redhead. Pochi suddenly jerked his head, throwing the flute at her and when Anko expertly caught it, any hope of escape... escaped Tayuya.

    "Not really." Tayuya sighed, "It doesn''t matter. The mission is a bust. Even if I return, at worst I will be punished in a way that would make me beg for death-" Tayuya knew well about the many ways ninjas, and especially kunoichi, could be punished in Sound. She was not eager to be on the receiving side. That was the whole point of bing one of the strongest ninjas of the vige. "- or at best, I would be killed outright in a painless and quick way."

    "Why work for Orochimaru, then?" Anko furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what kind of masochists her former mentor was gathering.

    "I can''t! Anyone who has the Cursed Seal can be killed any time Lord Orochimaru desires." Tayuya irritably answered in a low,ining tone. She didn''t like the weirded-out and careful look Anko was throwing at her. ''I am not a masochist, dammit!'' She inwardly screamed.

    ''So Orochimaru implemented a kill switch into his Cursed Seal? Huh, who would have thought he retained enough mental rity to do something smart like that.'' Anko amusedly hummed before widely grinning at Tayuya who suddenly got a bad premonition.

    "If I manage to disable the kill-switch in the Cursed Seal... would you be willing to change sides?" Anko asked, her grin only widening. "The Senju Household could use a maid."

    And Tayuya had to resist the loud instinctual ''Fuck you!'' that wanted to exit her throat.

 Chapter 330 - Ch330. Sasuke Vs Kidomaru 2

    <h4>Chapter 330 - Ch330. Sasuke Vs Kidomaru 2</h4>

    Sasuke kicked towards Kidomaru''s face. His foot was naturally blocked as he expected. He fought the six-armed creep for a few minutes now and gained quite the knack for predicting his movements with his Sharingan. Using the forearm with which Kidomaru blocked his kick, Sasuke propelled his body towards the ground, twisting his body mid-air tond on his feet into a crouch before he used the momentum to spring himself back at Kidomaru.

    Sasuke would never use this tactic against somebody who fought back. It would have been too dangerous to get to such close proximity even against a jonin who has only two arms, not to mention one who has six and can expertly control them. Unfortunately for Kidomaru, he wasn''t intent on fighting back and Sasuke deemed going up and personal safe enough.

    Sasuke''s fist razed its path through the air, heading towards Kimmaro''s chin while Sasuke''s Sharinganzily spun, analyzing every twitch in Kidomaru''s muscles in order toe up with the best strategy.

    As expected, Kidomaru againzily blocked Sasuke''s punch... and was promptly surprised when Sasuke used the sudden stop in his momentum to flip his lower body higher than his upper body and sent a strong kick at Kidomaru''s chest.

    As surprised as Kidomaru was, he was still a jonin and had five more arms at the ready. Sasuke didn''t get more than a slight widening of his eyes as a reaction before his kick was blocked... again.

    Kidomaru gave Sasuke an amused look, knowing the kid''sbo ended there because he simplycked the necessary momentum to continue. What he didn''t expect, however, was Sasuke whipping out kunai and throwing it at Kidomaru point-nk while his body was slowly starting to fall towards the ground.

    As he casually leaned his head to the left, letting the kunai harmlessly pass by his cheek by an inch, Kidomaru had to admit the kid deserved a bit of praise. He even used his body''s descent to cover his action of taking out the kunai, making his opponent notice at thest possible moment! Unfortunately for him, Kidomaru had the best eyes out of the Sound Four, and noticing things was his specialty.

    That''s why, when he noticed Sasuke''s slight smirk, he got confused. At least, until Sasuke in front of him disappeared in a burst of smoke, from which immediately a kunai quickly emerged with a great velocity. Kidomaru was utterly unable to react due to its incredible suddenness and the kunai hit his throat... before uselessly bouncing from his golden armor. Sweat rolled down Kidomaru''s forehead as he realized he would have been a goner if he didn''t have a thinyer of his armor on his skin.

    He didn''t get time to ponder about it as not even a split of a secondter, he felt the air currents behind him shift, causing him to hurriedly turn around with his arms defensively in front of his face.

    The first thing Kidomaru noticed after turning around were two excited red eyes with three tomoes madly spinning in them. The second was Sasuke''s foot getting through his hastily raised defense, pushing through all of his arms. And then Sasuke''s foot smashed into Kidomaru''s face with his entire weight behind it.

    Kidomaru''s body lifted from the ground as he was head-first sent flying back from the impact before he hit the ground, which shook him out of his shock. He bounced from it, using it to flip himself back onto his feet, holding his bleeding nose with one of his hands, staring at Sasuke in bewilderment.

    "Wha wa dat!" Kidomaru eximed through his nosebleed. He was naturally not much injured. His face couldn''t have a thick enoughyer of his armor covering his skin to prevent all the damage but it did mitigate most of it. He was more surprised that Sasuke devised a way to get through his defenses than hurt.

    Before Sasuke could even start contemting if he should answer, Kidomaru got another shock of a lifetime when a kunai smashed into the right side of his neck with such power, he choked and bent his head to the right. Needless to say, this scared him shitless.

    A split secondter, Kidomaru was already turning around, brandishing his arms in an attempt to hit whoever sneak attacked him. The attacker, however, just jumped back, evading Kidomaru''s reckless iling of his hands.

    ''Anko?'' Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows at the scene, marveling at the masterful use of distraction he provided to sneak in a killing blow. Just a pity Kidomaru''s armor stopped the kunai from doing anything more than going skin-deep and drawing a bit of blood while also giving him neck cramps because of how much brutal strength Anko used in that swing. ''She would sooner break his neck than slice it...'' Sasuke sweat-dropped, ''As expected from Lady Tsunade''s apprentice.'' And his lips twitched.

    Kidomaru found himself subconsciously shivering. He knew best how close he came to death. ''That could have either broken my neck or slit my throat!'' He fearfully gulped, not daring to let Anko leave his sight while reinforcing the armor all over his body. That was not the main problem, however. Kidomaru might not be a chakra sensor but he was the most observant member of the Sound Four and the woman managed to sneak up on him, only letting him notice because the kunai already impacted his throat.

    Sasuke was at this point half-forgotten by the six-armed man. The boy posed almost no threatpared to the woman who almost killed him without him even realizing how.

    "Heh, so you are thest member of the Sound Team? Well, the crystal user is already defeated and the redhead decided to side with us after some... gentle... persuasion." Anko smiled like sunshine, "In short, you are already fucked, spider-boy."

    Kidomaru would obviously not believe an enemy. He mentally contacted his spider summon on the bridge that allowed him to target Tazuna through the heavy mist with pinpoint uracy... and found out the woman told him the truth!

    "Ah... I knew Tayuya was a bitch but to think she is also stupid enough to betray us... Screw this shit, I''m out." Kidomaru wryly whispered before he quickly threw a smoke bomb under himself and started running away. Fighting a woman that managed to incapacitate Guren in one punch? That was way above his pay grade even if the supposed attack was a sneak attack.

    Sasuke wanted to pursue the six-armed man but Anko''s handnded on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks and making him give her a pondering look. He had no idea why Anko didn''t pursue the man. She was definitely faster and stronger than him. She could permanently take him out of the picture with ease. When his Sharingan eyesnded on form now that she was so close, they widened, "You are just a clone!" He eximed in surprise. Partially at the fact that he didn''t notice from the start despite possessing fully matured Sharingan, and partially at how ridiculous it was, for Kidomaru to run from a clone.

    "But the six-armed creep didn''t know that." Anko snickered. "Deception is ninja''s biggest weapon. Remember that, Sasuke-chan." She condescendingly patted his head, making him click his tongue in annoyance.

    "You used the sneak attack to paint an illusion of your superiority. Neat." Sasuke nodded in understanding, a bit awed at how easily she screwed with Kidomaru''s head.

    A shadow clone would pop upon being hit. Even if Anko was an S-rank ninja, her Shadow Clone would be utterly outmatched against a jonin of Kidomaru''s caliber. Not because it didn''t have the necessary firepower or experience to deal with him but because each hit was fatal for it.

    "Well, it''s not like retreating was a bad move on his part. He failed the mission but won the battle. It''s not a total loss for him." Anko leisurely shrugged, taking Sasuke''s hand into hers while starting to heal his busted knuckles.

    "What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, not understanding how Kidomaru supposedly won the battle.

    "His master must be immensely interested in you since he was afraid to hurt you. If that sorry excuse for a failed experiment was serious, you would be defeated in under a few minutes. With this fight, he measured yourbat capabilities so it is not like he is returning with empty hands." Anko exined.

    "Heh, then it''s probably good I held back." Sasuke proudly said, a bit of arrogance seeping into his tone which was instantly smacked out of him with a prompt swat to the back of his head.

    "I know, you did quite well while using only taijutsu." Anko''s clone hummed with mirth dancing in her eyes as the young Uchiha red at her and rubbed the back of his head.

    "You want to say you watched the entire fight without helping me!?" Sasuke eximed in bewilderment, quite miffed. The whole battle he was waiting for reinforcements, aware he couldn''t possibly win against Kidomaru as he was now... and yet, said reinforcements were just watching and enjoying his struggle? How was that fair!?

    "Meh, was a good experience for you even if your opponent didn''t fight back. And you can''t say I didn''t interfere. I attacked the second I saw you were out of taijutsu options." Anko''s clone rolled her eyes at her butthurt disciple.

    "Good lot that did... you barely injured him." Sasuke petntly muttered, childishly averting his gaze. He knew this was unfair to the clone but he didn''t really care for the small details right now.

    "Such a bloodthirsty kid. Must run in the family." Anko sighed, mockingly shaking her head, knowing it made Sasuke even more irritated.

    s, the Uchiha brat long ago had his temper and outward hatred of all things Itachi beaten out of him by Anko. He didn''t dare to do anything but grit his teeth when he understood Anko''s reference. That said, Sasuke was well aware Anko did not mention it only to tease him but also to make sure he got his emotions under wraps so others wouldn''t be able to use them against him.

    "Cheh, no fun. I honestly thought you would flip with so much adrenaline still coursing through your blood." Anko pouted when Sasuke stayed rtively calm, making him nervously sweat-drop. "Anyway, Sasuke... you say I let that creep go but... aren''t you forgetting something?"

    Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the clone in confusion, noticing how she yfully smiled while ying with the kunai she used to attack Kidomaru.

    Seeing that he is still confused, Anko scoffed and knuckled Sasuke''s head in irritation. "Not even knowing your teacher''s specialty! Why the heck did I take you under my wing again?" She grumbled, "I am one of the very few poison specialists in Konoha, ya brat. Just because you don''t care for the finer things in life doesn''t mean you shouldpletely disregard them."

    Sasuke''s eyes suddenly snapped back at the kunai in Anko''s other hand and widened. She might not have managed to get through Kidomaru''s armor enough to seriously injure him but the tip of the kunai was slightly bloody.

    "Heh," Anko noticed the widening of Sasuke''s eyes and smirked, "Yeah, the failed experiment will be d if he gets to his master in time for his funeral. He has at best twenty-four hours. Tick-tock, hehehe." Anko gleefully cackled.

    She wasn''t about to tell Sasuke that Kidomaru would have to keep his second stage of the Cursed Seal activated if he wanted to get even those twenty-four hours. Which was basically an impossible feat.

    ''The spider-boy is fucked, he just doesn''t feel it yet.'' Anko inwardly snickered. ''I wonder how long will hest until he sumbs to the excruciating pain. He should be starting feeling the start of a dull ache in a few minutes that will only get worse as the time goes on. Ah~... a pity I will never know.'' She thought with a bit of disappointment.

    ''In hindsight, this poison might be a good way to train the brats'' pain tolerance. Just gotta administer the antidote before they actually kick the bucket.'' Now that cheered her up....

 Chapter 331 - Ch331. Zabuzas Mission

    <h4>Chapter 331 - Ch331. Zabuza''s Mission</h4>

    Kakashi and Zabuza breathed hard, their bodies and clothes sporting multiple cuts that were thankfully not life-threatening or incapacitating. Facing off against Raiga was like fighting a bit downgraded version of Raikage, one that used swords to boot. It was definitely not a pleasant experience and the only thing that saved Kakashi and Zabuza was their experience and teamwork. Despite that, the two looked as if they went through a blender.

    "Oi, Hatake, you still fine?" Zabuza worriedly asked between his slowly calming breaths. He was clearly in a better physical form than Kakashi, which was understandable since the Copycat was mainly a ninjutsu-based fighter while Zabuza was a swordsman with a big-ass heavy sword.

    "I can still go on. Just make sure you don''t slow me down." Kakashi quipped while trying to refrain from wheezing. Unfortunately for Kakashi, he had to rely heavily on his Sharingan in this fight and his chakra reserves were bing quite low.

    Zabuza snorted at that. ''As if! You are the one who is almost keeling over!'' He rebuked in his mind but yed along and outwardly provocatively smirked. Zabuza knew Kakashi was just trying to hype himself up to keep going. ''But... Should I just use...'' Zabuza bitterly shook his head, ''No. I can still go on. My pride won''t allow me to just give up! This is why I trained so much! A chance to face down another swordsman who reached strength far beyond mine and push my own limits! I won''t give up! Not yet!'' A new, determined fire was lit in Zabuza''s eyes as he tightly gripped the Kubikiribocho.

    Zabuza felt powerless standing in front of Raiga. He could barely keep up with his speed by using all of his experience to predict where will the man strike next and even then he was relegated into the ass-saving duty on the side-lines while Kakashi took the brunt of the fight due to his spiny red-eye of wonder that allowed him to somewhat keep up with Raiga.

    But Zabuza was used to this feeling of helplessness. He felt it every time the current Mizukage decided to have a go at her versus all Kiri Swordsmen. Considering this usually happened whenever Ringo deemed a sword she created good enough to go against the famed Kiri swords, and that because of this, the former Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were now unofficially Fifteen Swordsmen of the Mist... Zabuza basically fought with his fellow swordsmen against someone who eclipsed their capabilities despite them working together and their opponent not even properly trying. Needless to say, this pushed the man''s teamwork ability and experience of fighting against a superior foe to new heights.

    That was also the only reason why Kakashi was still breathing. In the past ten minutes, Zabuza saved his ass thirty-seven times. He counted.

    "I think you had enough time to rest." Raiga''s voice suddenly pulled both Kakashi and Zabuza back into reality.

    Only his instincts allowed Kakashi to bend back, evading the horizontal sh that passed an inch above his chest. Raiga''s offense was far from over though. He abruptly raised his second sword in a burst of speed, before shing at Kakashi in a downward swing, intending to bisect him.

    With his Sharingan, Kakashi saw the movements but his mind and body had a hard time reacting. Especially since he was forced to assume a quite awkward position to evade the previous sh. Luckily for him, at that moment the tip of Zabuza''s Kubikiribocho passed near Kakashi''s neck in an upward sh, missing it by less than an inch before intercepting Raiga''s downward strike a bit above Kakashi''s head.

    Zabuza yet again managed to save him.

    Or, at least, such thought passed through Kakashi''s mind before he noticed the gathering of lightning chakra in the clouds above them and his eyes widened as he realized Raiga was about to use a Lightning Jutsu.

    Kakashi quickly crouched to get his head away from the ce where the two dangerous swords were locked and his hands blurred in the hand seals needed for his sole original Jutsu before his hand coated in lightning snapped upward.

    Lightning Strike suddenly descended from the heavens, hitting the ce where Zabuza and Raiga''s swords crossed and the struggle for dominance intensified as Raiga boosted his downward sh with the immense power of lightning smashing into his Kiba de while Kakashi''s Chidori put the much-needed counter-lightning behind Zabuza''s Kubikiribocho.

    The surroundings lit up with cracking and blinding blue lightning flying all around the bridge while intense screeching and chirping deafened the world.

    Despite their efforts, Zabuza and Kakashi were blown back by the sheer force of Raiga''s attack,nding on their backs a few feet away and rolling on the ground. Not only was Raiga shing downward, giving him an advantage but his lightning Jutsu was more concentrated than Kakashi''s Chidori. They didn''t stand much chance of withstanding the attack.

    It was the Chidori, however, that saved the two battered jonins from worse injuries. Both of them were quite bruised and slightly burned but considering the intensity of Raiga''s Lightning Jutsu that hit them point-nk, they were barely harmed.

    Kakashi and Zabuza quickly stood back up onto their feet, prepared to block, evade, or assist the other at a moment''s notice... only to be surprised that Raiga didn''t press his advantage and attack them when they were disoriented because of the previous blow.

    "Heh, you are ying with them. That''s not nice." The answer to Kakashi''s and Zabuza''s confusion appeared a secondter when Anko''s voice resounded from behind them, making them stiffen. They were so focused on the opponent in front of them, they kinda ignored everything else. When their minds finally caught up and realized it was just Anko, they rxed in relief, hoping her appearance would give them the necessary advantage to defeat Raiga.

    As for Anko... she looked at the battered forms of Kakashi and Zabuza and inwardly clicked her tongue, ''They will be useless.'' Her mind tried to assess the situation. ''They are not injured too much but their bodies are exhausted, hence, more prone to a fatal mistake. Making them get the fuck out of the way would be more beneficial than teaming up with them.'' She realized, a bit miffed.

    The problem was, Anko knew she could not match Raiga''s speed. Oh, that didn''t mean she had no chance to defeat him. She was simply power-oriented while he was speed-oriented. s, her going against him would result in the total destruction of the bridge as she would not be able to hold back. Worse yet, she really wouldn''t be able to prevent him from running away or bypassing her to target Zabuza or Kakashi.

    While Anko was assessing the situation, Raiga was observing Anko as Ranmaru in his backpack was frantically whispering into his ear, warning him about her strong chakra. She was the reason why he went ''easy'' on Kakashi and Zabuza. Raiga knew the Konoha team had someone strong enough to match him so killing these two jonins would have been a waste. Making them tired and therefore a burden for this neer was a much better strategy.

    Seeing the wary look Raiga was throwing at her, Anko sighed, a wry smile appearing on her face. She could eitherpletely disregard the purpose of their mission and engage Raiga or she could risk showing that she knows more than she should be capable of. ''Ah, to hell with it!'' Her decision was made.

    "Zabuza... I think now it is the time to stop screwing with your mission because of your stupid pride and do your goddamn job." Anko ordered, making the swordsman stiffen and give her a cautious look. "Please," She rolled her eyes at his sudden wariness, "You have no way of defeating Raiga. It is obvious the Mizukage did not send you here asbat reinforcements. I don''t have to be a genius to understand that." She reasoned, trying to divert Zabuza''s attention by easily lying through her teeth.

    She knew exactly why he was sent here the second he appeared but Zabuza nor Kakashi didn''t need to know that. Now she only had to make him use his ''secret weapon'' or rather, force the prideful buffoon to fulfill his initial mission.

    Seeing Zabuza about to open his mouth, most likely in protest if his stormy look was any indication, "I know you have your pride as a swordsman but we are in a pinch here. Don''t make me punch you." Anko rebuked before he could start talking.

    Zabuza gruffly grunted and petntly stuck his hand into his ninja pouch. "Fine." He ground out as he took out a scroll. He then opened it, crouched down, and unrolled it on the ground in front of him, not taking his eyes away from Raiga who wanted to intervene but Anko was too close to Zabuza for Raiga to risk doing anything. "I wanted to measure the difference in our skill a lot more but it appears the fun ends here." Zabuza dryly chuckled and gave Anko a stink eye.

    Then again, Hatake was barely standing so maybe it was high time to do his duty. Zabuza knew he would be getting punished the second he returned to the vige for purposely dying the aplishment of his mission. He was totally fine with that. In exchange, he managed to fight Raiga. If Hatake actually kicked the bucket, though, his punishment would be much, much worse and that made Zabuza involuntarily shiver.

    ''Ah, well.... this is no longer my responsibility.'' Zabuza weaved a few hand seals and mmed his hand onto the scroll as he shouted, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

 Chapter 332 - Ch332. Summoning Scroll

    <h4>Chapter 332 - Ch332. Summoning Scroll</h4>

    A massive amount of smoke burst into existence above the scroll and everyone tensely waited with bated breath what exactly was Zabuza trying to summon that he was utterly confident it could help him deal with Raiga. Even Raiga waited, wondering when did Zabuza gain a summon, and found the situation extremely amusing. Only Anko was carefreely grinning like a loon, already knowing what would happen and that she could just chill.

    The smoke slowly started to dissipate and the tense atmosphere intensified... only to utterly copse when nothing appeared after the smoke waspletely gone.

    Raiga tilted his head, making a silent question to Ranmaru on his back since he didn''t notice anything out of the ordinary. Ranmaru, however, also just shook his head, signaling that he also didn''t sense anything but the brief fluctuation of chakra from the summoning technique. Raiga''s eyebrow twitched as he gave the sheepish Zabuza a deadpan look.

    "You know..." Raiga started in a drawl, "I expected something more... how do I put it? I knew there was a reason why you went for the most muscle-brained of the Seven Swords Zabuza but even I didn''t expect a jonin could mess up such an easy Jutsu." He slowly spoke with a hint of disbelief and mockery in his voice, "I must say, you surpassed my wildest expectations."

    Zabuza, who was nkly staring at the scroll and wondering where he went wrong, heard Raiga mocking him and flushed red from embarrassment. But Zabuza wouldn''t be Zabuza if he didn''t instantly re at Raiga and attempt to y his embarrassment off as anger.

    "Shut up! I did everything as instructed! I don''t know why this piece of junk doesn''t work!" He growled, willing to burn both the scroll and Ragia with his heated gaze.

    Next to Zabuza, Kakashi tiredly rubbed his face, ''I am too tired for this shit. Does this mean we have to fight more or not? Can''t somebody finally decide and tell me?'' His eyes were involuntarily closing and it was only his will that kept him awake.

    Kakashi then noticed that Anko''s grin was still present on her face despite the apparent failure of the summoning and his shoulders slumped as his body rxed. ''Whatever. Anko is already here. She can deal with the rest.''

    "Whatever." Raiga scoffed at Zabuza, now sure the Jutsu really failed and this was not some borate ambush. He had the utmost trust in Ranmaru''s abilities and when even after three minutes of scanning the surroundings the kid could not find anything amiss, then that meant there was nothing amiss to be found. Raising his swords to a ready position, Raiga grinned at Anko, "Let''s see what you are made of, girly!"

    With that, the lightning crackled around Raiga''s body before he disappeared in a burst of speed, dashing straight at Anko who he perceived as the sole remaining threat. He was excited too because the woman''s chakra was potent and Raiga was itching for a challenge that would push his limits further.

    As for Anko... she continued condescendingly grinning at the quickly approaching Raiga without a care in the world, her hands in her pockets. She looked like a casual observer who had immense fun watching the show rather than someone about to fight. Her body waspletely rxed and unprepared for a fight while her chakra was calm and unbothered.

    Raiga was confused and with a mild disappointment thought he had her...

    Kakashi''s Sharingan eye widened in horror as he powerlessly watched Raiga''s sword nearing Anko''s face, heading straight towards her eyes while she didn''t even start preparing to evade. He wanted to jump and tackle her out of the way but his body was too exhausted and he knew he would not make it. He could only watch with growing despair as hisrade, even though one he didn''t particrly like, was about to get killed.

    Raiga''s de was getting closer and closer to Anko whose eyes sparkled in amusement. ''Crazy bitch!'' Raiga thought, worried that this was some kind of trap but he couldn''t really stop his attack at thest moment and both Ranmaru and his own senses were telling him there was no trap awaiting him. He simply couldn''tprehend the situation...

    As he was about to strike her, his instincts suddenly red, screaming at him ''DANGER''. Raiga knew that his instincts were one thing that would never betray him and listened, instantly halted his attack, and froze in his position, unable to move, causing the slightly trembling tip of his de to stop an inch from the grinning Anko''s eye.

    Anko looked straight into Raiga''s frightened quivering eyes and her grin widened even more as she slowly raised her hand and with her pointing finger smugly pushed the tip of Raiga''s de to the side with silent amusement still written in her eyes.

    The rigid Raiga looked down and confirmed that yes, the thing he felt cutting into his neck was indeed a de and the wetness he feels is his blood.

    ''If I didn''t stop thanks to my instincts, I would have split my neck on the sword due to my speed!'' He shuddered and leaned a bit back to separate his neck from the de before gulping. The cut was shallow but in his current position, there was nothing he could do about this sudden attacker!

    His right arm was outstretched forward in a strike towards Anko while his left was prepared for both the follow-up attack and defense position, holding his left Kiba de in front of his chest.

    The problem was, this sudden attacker appeared out of nowhere behind him and managed to sneak a de around Raiga''s waistline, under his left armpit, and position it across the left part of his chest, going all the way very closely towards his neck.

    Raiga couldn''t jump back because that''s where his attacker stood. He couldn''t use his des for defense because he simply wouldn''t make it. He had a sword on his neck while his des were nowhere near his body. He would be dead sooner than he could even start the pulling motion to return his des closer to his body. The de was going under his left armpit which was the biggest obstacle. It would take some serious maneuvers to get his left arm out of this entanglement without having it cut off.

    This would not have been enough to mentally shake Raiga. The thing that hit him the hardest was the instant dispersion of his Lightning Cloak the second the de touched him. As his body instinctually trembled from being so close to death, Raiga idly wondered if the de was some special anti-lightning tool created to counter the Raikage or something.

    He was beaten and he knew it. He would not give up though. If sacrificing his left arm was to be the cost for preserving his life, then so be it.

    Before he attempted hisst-ditch effort, Raiga leaned his head to the side, trying to get a good look at the motherfucker who almost killed him...

    He couldn''t see much with the corner of his eye but he did notice blood-like crimson locks belonging to a woman of small stature, causing a chill to go down his spine. This was his worst nightmare.

    ''The Mizukage!?'' Raiga mentally freaked out and his breath hitched. Any n to resist was instantly abolished in his mind. He knew there was no point. He would not make it. Even if he tried to sacrifice his left arm, he doubted Ringo would be unable to take his arm and then kill him before he blinked.

    Quite a lot of Raiga''s discouragement came from his instinctual fear of Ringo caused by his fight against her when she attacked the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist during the Third Ninja War. He had no idea about her true power but for Raiga, this was the one enemy he was too afraid to oppose.

    He couldugh in the face of S-rank ninjas, he fended off the infamous bounty hunter Kakuzu who thought he was hot shit, only to get a lightning sh going through the middle of his chest before running off like a bitch. To this day, Raiga had no idea what made Kakuzu so scared nor how the dude survived having his heart and chest cleaved in half but that didn''t matter. Kakuzu never showed up again in front of him.

    Raiga showed middle finger to Itachi Uchiha when the boy came to recruit him for Akatsuki and managed to send him running with his tail tucked between his legs when Raiga''s ability to fight with his eyes closed and his lightning cloakpletely nullified the brat''s illusions and Sharingan.

    He was not even afraid to face off against the Raikage, confident that his swordsmanship technique and admittedly slightly inferior speed when using his Lightning Release: Full Body Activation could get him through the battle and give him a decent shot at winning against the brainless brute.

    But facing Ringo Ameyuri was different. Raiga subconsciously forfeited before he could even try to resist. That was the extent of his fear... of the trauma Ringo inflicted upon him during theirst sh.

    "How?" He croaked out in dread as his heart wildly hammered in his chest.

    "You should be more careful where you are standing, Raiga." Ringo''s soft tone entered Raiga''s ears, causing his fearful eyes to widen.

    Looking down, an abrupt realization hit Raiga, making him dizzy. ''The summoning scroll! I am standing right above the ending part of the unrolled scroll! That''s why the Konoha bitch was so calm! She knew!''

 Chapter 333 - Ch333. I Shall Make This Extremely Easy For You

    <h4>Chapter 333 - Ch333. I Shall Make This Extremely Easy For You</h4>

    "Did you really think I would have given someone a way to forcefully summon me? Do you think I am really so stupid?" Ringo amusedly asked. Even she was surprised at how stupid that question sounded when she said it out loud. "As if I would have given away something that would enable others to ambush me at their leisure at any given moment. Especially to someone as muscle-brained as Zabuza." She scoffed and rolled her eyes while Zabuza could just avert his eyes in embarrassment but couldn''t really say anything in his defense as he indeed tended to lose things he didn''t care about. That was why he was never used as a messenger. Ever.

    Ringo discreetly looked around and saw the white-haired jonin stare at the scroll as if he saw a ghost, probably thinking that Kirigakure re-developed Hiraishin or something. With a heavy sigh, she decided to give a small exnation despite her instincts screaming at her not to. After all, what kind of ninja screams his attack out loud and gives an exnation on how his secret skills work?

    In this instance, however, Ringo decided to prevent the trouble for Tsunade, fully aware that if the Konoha council heard something like, ''The Kiri has a variant of Hiraishin!'', they would freak out which would then spoil Tsunade''s week, possibly even the entire month. Normally, Ringo would not care even though Tsunade was a sort of motherly figure for her, but she was well aware that if her inaction here caused trouble for Tsunade, Tsunade would repay it with interest.

    Her forging time and special Rei time were on the line so screw her instincts!

    "The scroll is only a beacon that sends me Zabuza''s coordinates and opens a passage for me. I can then use said passage in the following three minutes whenever I want." Ringo indifferently revealed.

    Needless to say, she lied with a straight face. Once the passage was open, she could use it anytime in the following hour unless the scroll waspletely destroyed. On top of that, quite a number of the seals on the scroll were actually a remote viewing function that lets her monitor what is happening around the scroll after it is activated.

    But there was no reason for her to reveal that particr tidbit.

    Ringo had to stop her urge to smile when the white-haired jonin rxed after hearing how the scroll worked. She also didn''t miss how intently he listened to her exnation. No doubt he would be reporting it to his higher-ups the second he returned to his vige.

    ''I will have to prepare my own council for some peskyints from these insignificant moaning bitches.'' Ringo inwardly groaned. Unfortunately, Tsunade and Pakura were concocting a little n for their viges and dragged Kiri into it so she now had to pay attention to diplomatic issues. Diplomacy... such an unpleasant word. ''Well, let''s see... I will have to instruct my council to say fuck you more politely than usual. Un, that''s one problem solved.''

    Obviously, Ringo wouldn''t pay much attention to the futureints of the Konoha Council. Not even Tsunade, their very ruler, cared about their unceasing babbling. Why should Ringo be any different?

    Returning her attention to Raiga who was still frozen stiff in front of her, Ringo had to admit she felt great knowing her mere presence was the reason why this S-rank ninja was so tense and trembling in his boots.

    "I shall make this extremely easy for you, Raiga. Either you surrender and be Kirigakure''s wielder of Kiba des under mymand for the rest of your life or this will be where you meet your end." Ringo dispassionately spoke in a monotone voice.

    She wasn''t all that interested in Raiga. Having another S-rank ninja in her vige would be nice but she could always train others to reach this milestone. She didn''t like Raiga much and one more S-rank didn''t matter in the grand scheme of things. The boy hiding in Raiga''s backpack, however, was a different story altogether. His sensing prowess was incredible and once his body is repaired, he would be very useful. Sadly, Raiga and Ranmaru came as a package deal.

    After hearing Ringo''s offer, Raiga was silent for a moment. He was in disbelief that he even got an offer like that. He was a Kiri rogue ninja and as someone who was previously a part of Seven Swordsmen, he was well aware of what Kirigakure did with its rogue ninjas. Forgiveness? That was never an option. Once you betrayed the vige, you would be a traitor for the rest of your life.

    "Why?" Raiga cautiously asked. He didn''t think this was some kind of cunning scheme. Ringo had him at her mercy so there was no need to plot anything. Plus, the Ringo he knew didn''t have enough attention span and patience to scheme anything. "I thought you don''t like me."

    Ringo snorted, "I don''t. When we first met, you were a massive prick and took away the Kiba des from me." She deadpanned.

    Since she put it that way, even Raiga had to admit she indeed had a reason for disliking him. Honestly... he totally forgot about that.

    "But at the same time, when I first became the Mizukage, I disliked three-quarters of my council." Ringo confessed. "s, as time went on and we got to know each other better, things changed."

    "I see... you found respect for each other." Raiga nodded, careful of the de in front of his neck. That happened quite often in these situations. Councilmen usually didn''t like each other but they had to work together for the greater good of the vige.

    Poor Raiga didn''t know Ringo as well as he thought...

    "No. Now I hate only half of it. They, however, are well aware that Kirigakure is under my dictatorship. What I say, goes, or else... If you have any problem being a good little peon, you are free to disagree, Raiga." Ringo said and despite his back being turned to her, Raiga could almost swear she sported a menacing smile on her face. It made him shudder. He suddenly found Ringo''s sword pressing a bit closer to his neck before hearing Ringo''s words, "Your answer?"

    Raiga bitterly smiled. Die or serve. How... Kirigakure-ish. ''The vige has changed... my ass!''

    Frankly, being a rogue ninja wasn''t all it was cracked up to be. Sure, he was free to do what he wanted but hecked a ce he could call home. He was always living in fear, andter on in annoyance, that a hunter ninja would discover him. He has been raised a Kirigakure ninja and realized it only after he defected.

    One can say whatever about Kirigakure but their indoctrination of kids was top-notch if a bit brutal. That much Raiga had to admit. Even though he knew there was nothing but death awaiting him at ''home'', he was still homesick.

    That feeling only intensified when he met and adopted Ranmaru. The kid grew on him and he wanted to give him a proper home but it was simply not to be.

    Raiga didn''t have to think for a long time, "Fine... I will go with you." He mumbled, his voiceced with dissatisfaction. He wasn''t unhappy with the situation though. This way, he will be able to give Ranmaru a proper home.

    Ringo knew he was not dissatisfied with his choice. He was more resentful that he was strong-armed into it in this manner. Well, she honestly didn''t give a shit about his feelings.

    Pulling her sword away from Raiga''s neck and taking a step back, Ringo released him from the deadly position. She wasn''t afraid he would try to run or go back on his word. She was faster than him and the guy clearly knew it.

    "Good. Your answer was just in time too." Ringo turned towards the end of the unfinished bridge, showing Raiga her unguarded back. "We have uninvited guests. I am sure you can prove your loyalty by dealing with them."

    Raiga saw what she did there and inwardly cursed, ''This insane bitch testing me, isn''t she?'' He then noticed thugs trying to sneakily gather on the end of the bridge and sighed, realizing what Ringo meant. ''And she wants me to kill my client. Great... now even if I double-cross her and defect Kirigakure again, my rogue ninja reputation will be in tatters.'' Raiga sourly chuckled before inaudibly whispering, "Well yed, bi-" Ringo gave him a look that told him he was apparently not quiet enough, "-tc, ahem, I mean, Lady Mizukage... well yed.." He averted his gaze, getting a pitying look full of understanding from Zabuza.

 Chapter 334 - Ch334. Gatos Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 334 - Ch334. Gato''s Arrival</h4>

    Gato smugly climbed thedder towards the top of the bridge from his ship anchored underneath it. He could already see the surprised and enraged expression of Raiga.

    His n was impable.

    Making a deal with the Sound Vige would certainly allow Gato to spread his influence far and wide. Sure, he could not doublecross them to save money but these were not some rogue ninjas nobody would miss. No. This deal was a game-changer for Gato. He could push his influence into the major nations with the Sound Vige as his backer!

    ''To think all it would take is a bit of financial support.'' Gato shook his head. He knew there would be a much bigger price in the future but he didn''t really care. He had enough money and while he was indeed greedy and stingy, even he could admit that much, he didn''t be one of the richest men by not knowing when to let go of temporary benefits for long-term fortune.

    Gato was aware that once this n is sessful, the Sound Vige would most likely want to use his new position as the hidden ruler of the Land of Waves to spread their own influence. Gato... was a businessman, however. He wanted to be the top dog, that''s why he started with his profession, but he didn''t care to rule over people. He liked to order his grunts around but being responsible for their actions and well-being? No, thank you. That was not for him.

    Being a tyrant suited him quite well. He had it all. Power, even if only indirect one. Wealth, and yes, it was satisfying knowing most of it was taken from someone else. Women, Gato did love the resignation on the faces of his bed warmers and the fact they were unwilling and illegal ves did not bother him at all.

    Letting the Sound Vige use the Land of Waves as their outpost would not bother Gato at all as long as his businesses would not be affected. Who cared about these poor bastards anyway?

    Finally reaching the top of the bridge, Gato quickly but silently ordered his thugs to gather around him. It was time to give Raiga Kurosuki the surprise of a lifetime!

    While the man would most definitely ughter Gato if he didn''t have allies, he would no doubt not expect the Sound ninjas to stab him in the back!

    What Gato didn''t expect was to see Raiga at the mercy of an unknown petite woman who held a sword under his neck but that only made Gato halt for a second before a grin again sprang up on his face.

    ''I knew I should have never trusted Raiga! Honestly! The man can''t evenplete the mission despite having reinforcements.'' Gato exasperatedly thought.

    It didn''t matter to him that Raiga lost. The two famous jonins, Zabuza and Kakashi, seemed dead on their feet. That meant Raiga did his money''s worth. Not that Gato intended to pay him. As for the two women... Gato spared them a cursory leer before disregarding them. Oh, he would certainly order his men to capture them but he didn''t deem them a threat.

    That''s why when the redheaded woman let Raiga go and turned towards Gato, her ice-cold eyes looking straight at him and making him involuntary shudder, Gato didn''t care that it seemed the rogue ninja betrayed him. He was confident in his preparations and allies.

    "Heh, scum as always, eh, Gato." Raiga sneered looking at the gathering of bloodthirsty thugs, making Gato widely grin at the naive fool.

    "If you did your job well, I wouldn''t have needed to take things into my own hands. You have only yourself to me." Gato confidently eximed, pushing his nose up to stare at Raiga who was at least three times as tall as the midget.

    "I see..." Raiga lowered his head and tightly clutched the Kiba des. Betrayal was amon sight in the life of a rogue ninja but that didn''t mean Raiga liked the feeling of being betrayed.

    "Sakon, Jiroubou, take care of the fool!" Gato shouted, pointing at Raiga.

    Sakon and Jiroubou appeared among the gathered thugs, looking quite irritated at their role of nanny for the short stuff. s, Orochimaru ordered them to keep the wealthy midget happy and safe so he can pay them for their efforts.

    Keeping him safe was easy. There was no one with enough balls to oppose Gato in the Land of Waves. Keeping him happy, however... Sakon could only sigh in exasperation.

    ''Sakon, persuade that woman... Sakon, show him the error of their ways... Sakon, can''t you use your ability to make me taller? Sakon, Sakon, Sakon... for fuck''s sake, one of these days, I am going to gut the short piece of shit!'' Sakon ground his teeth.

    ''Calm down, brother. His usefulness will run out eventually. Your time wille.'' Ukon, who was hidden in Sakon''s body, mentally responded, getting an annoyed grunt of reluctant agreement from Sakon.

    As for Jiroubou... as long as he was fed and watered, he didn''t care much. He knew he was on the bodyguard duty because of his strong defensive Earth Jutsus. He also knew his intelligence would prevent Gato from giving himplicated tasks. That was perfectly fine for him. Sakon could have them. Hehe...

    He may not be the smartest but he surely knew how to make use of it to get less work and more food. All it took was to offhandedly lie that the more he ate the stronger his Earth Jutsu became and he received an all-you-can-eat buffet from Gato.

    Frankly, Jiroubou didn''t dislike his current job. Not at all.

    When Raiga saw the two Sound ninjas, he raised his eyebrow at them, ''Wasn''t there supposed to be only three sound ninjas? Where did these twoe from?'' Outwardly, however, he amusedly spoke, intending to provoke his opponents, "Hooh~? That''s it? A fatso and freak?"

    Jiroubou''s eyebrow twitched and his lips curled into a sneer. He understood the insult. Nevertheless, he turned towards Sakon and smirked, "He called you fat."

    The high-pitched whiny sound of repressed irritation was so worth it!

    "Whatever..." Sakon eventually muttered, his expression scrunched in a grimace. "Let''s just deal with them so you can go back to gorging yourself to an early death."

    "As if you and your brother didn''t have your pick of women under Gato..." Jiroubou scoffed with an eye roll in hisst retort before he turned around and focused on Raiga when they arrived in the space in-between the gatherings of Gato''s thugs and the spot where the two women and two exhausted jonins stood, intent on watching the spectacle.

    Zabuza was quite amused at the carefree attitude of these two while Kakashi looked at them as if they were idiots. Ringo didn''t care enough so she just indifferently wondered how much time would she waste here and Anko... well, she had an inkling the two had no idea how strong Raiga was and probably thought their allies were still in the game.

    ''Poor bastards.'' She snickered.

    Raiga looked at the two cocky brats... because fifteen-year-old shits didn''t deserve to be called adults... and inwardly sighed. ''Such confidence and arrogance. To think I was once like them.'' He wryly grimaced, remembering his own past self before his ass came in contact with Ringo''s boot.

    Unknown to the threebatants, just as their sh was about tomence, they thought the exact same thing.

    ''Well, let''s just get this over with.. I will finish this in a jiffy.''

 Chapter 335 - Ch335. Various Ends

    <h4>Chapter 335 - Ch335. Various Ends</h4>

    Sakon and Jiroubou rushed at Raiga with their low-jonin speed, surmising that after dealing with two Konoha A-rank jonins, he must be tired enough for them to take him on. Despite not being the strongest in the Sound Vige, both Sakon and Jiroubou were a part of the Sound Four, Orochimaru''s elite squad.

    While individually their strength wasn''t all that great, barely scraping low-to-mid jonin levels, they were trained to be the strongest when fighting together. It wasn''t a problem for the Sound Four to take down even high A-rank rogue ninjas with their superb teamwork and individual fighting styles that covered each others'' weaknesses.

    Yes, they really thought the two of them were more than enough for one tired S-rank ninja. Plus... there was always Ukon hiding inside of Sakon, ready to react at a moment''s notice if necessary and spring up a trap. The second Sakon or Ukon manages to meld with their opponent''s body it is game over.

    Seeing the eager expressions on his two quickly approaching opponents, Raiga grimaced and prepared his des. He didn''t particrly like that he was all but ordered to end these skilled but cocky teens. Since he took Ranmaru in, he grew somewhat soft. The fact Kakashi was still breathing after their two encounters was irrefutable proof of that.

    The two teens were almost upon Raiga when he suddenly released an intense surge of lightning chakra and the world halted for them.

    On the sidelines, Kakashi humorlessly chuckled when his Sharingan failed to spot when Raiga struck due to the sudden burst of his speed. ''The bastard was holding back?'' He thought sourly as his pride stung, yet, he was also grateful towards Raiga for taking it easy on them.

    A split second passed since Raiga disappeared and reappeared right in-between and slightly behind the two stunned Sound ninjas who stood frozen in their spots. Blood was quickly evaporating from Raiga''s Kiba des due to the intense electric energy coursing through them and a charred line slowly appeared on both Sakon and Jiroubou.

    Sakon''s upper and lower body was diagonally separated at the waist. His eyes were wide in disbelief as his upper body slid down his lower, both cuts already burned shut so no guts nor blood started gushing out. He realized he did not feel his legs a momentter before he started screaming bloody murder.

    Jiroubou had more luck. His bulky stature and Earth nature prevented Raiga''s des from cleaving him in two like happened to Sakon. Instead, He only had a burnt gash going through his gut that didn''t reach the spine. If it wasn''t burnt shut, it would be a debilitating injury but since Raiga''s lightning sealed the wound shut, Jiroubou could still fight. He survived worse injuries under Orochimaru.

    Nevertheless, he slowly fell onto his knees from the pain and stifled a moan of pure agony as his body needed a brief break.

    Raiga turned around in order to face his opponents and raised one of his des towards the skyˇ­ "Lightning Release: Final Descent." And impassively intoned the name of his Jutsu.

    Ukon who was hiding inside of the screaming Sakon suddenly widened his eyes, realizing he was somehow found out. It pained him to see his brother in such a pitiful state but there was still a chance for an unexpected ambush since Ukon didn''t show himself for the entire battle, however brief it was.

    Now that he was discovered, he understood that his chances to surprise Raiga were nill so when he saw the S-rank ninja charging a lightning Jutsu aimed right at the screaming Sakon... brother or not, Ukon quickly jumped out of Sakon''s body, separating from him and creating a distance between them just as a resounding boom deafened the surrounding, drowning Sakon''s screams as lightning strike descended right on top of him.

    Jiroubou also managed to only widen his eyes as his breath hitched while he desperately pushed himself on his feet... s, he was toote and far too close to Sakon. When the lightning struck, Jiroubou was brutally flung to the side like yesterday''s trash, his body tearing apart in various ces.

    The lightning Justu was apanied by a brief blue sh that managed to blind most of the spectators and when they finally managed to refocus on the battle, all they could see was the gaping Ukon with Raiga behind him as the young man''s body split into two parts, a vertical burnt cut going from the top of his head all the way towards his groin and slowly fell down in the opposite directions.

    Unfortunately for the three Sound ninjas, they horrendously overestimated their own strength and terribly underestimated their enemy. It was true that Raiga was physically and mentally tired. It was also true that he had just a bit more than half of his chakra left in his reserves after fighting Kakashi and Zabuza. But he was still an S-rank ninja and that meant something. He was qualitatively on a different level than some low-jonin upstarts even if he was exhausted.

    The second he activated his Lightning Release: Full Body Activation, it was over. Raiga didn''t give them even a chance to activate their Cursed Seals.

    Turning towards Gato''s group, Raiga could see the businessman gaping at the gruesome death of the sound ninjas and failing to believe his own eyes. He expected them to effortlessly win! Flinching as he realized the ex-Kiri Swordsman was staring right at him, Gato''s pupils dted. He understood the precarious situation he found himself in.

    "Wa-" Gato started speaking, trying to make an offer now that he lost his most capable bodyguards to the man he ordered to be killed. He didn''t manage to even utter the first word from his sentence, however, as Raiga again disappeared in a burst of lightning chakra and before Gato''s brain could evenprehend what happened, he, with horrified realization, found a tip of the Kiba de sticking out of his chest.

    Unlike his handling of the sound ninjas, Raiga held no pity for Gato. He ruthlessly raised his Kiba de upward, forcefully lifting the midget''s body as blood leaked from his wound. There was no lightning coating on the de, hence the wound was not seared shut either.

    Gato helplessly dangled his feet above the ground, trying to plead for help but no words could leave his mouth as he started choking on blood. His eyes begged the thugs around to do something but they were too shocked at the brutality and ease at which Raiga appeared in their midst without them even noticing.

    "It is nice of you to willinglye to your own funeral, Gato." Raiga grinned and let his lightning chakra slowly seep into the Kiba de sticking through Gato''s body. Since the output was low and the process slow.

    The de was not hot enough to instantly burn a wound shut. It was still scorching hot and steam started to rise from the chest wound. Horror appeared on Gato''s face before he started screaming. The blood rushing up his neck prevented him from doing that and most of his wails sounded more like wet gurgles while his body shook as electricity coursed through it, painfully contracting his muscles, tearing some of them in the process.

    It was painfully obvious Raiga was torturing Gato in hisst moments and the sadistic but satisfied grin on his face clearly indicated the man enjoyed every second of it.

    A minute of pain-filled wailingter, Gato''s body helplessly slumped forward, unable to bear the strain of so much lightning chakra coursing through it.

    The supposedly richest businessman in the world was dead.

    "Now then," Raiga flickered his de to the side, uncaringly throwing Gato''s body away, and turned towards the scared hired thugs who were shaking in their boots, "I think it is high time to end this farce."

    A massacre ensued.

 Chapter 336 - Ch336. Prisoners

    <h4>Chapter 336 - Ch336. Prisoners</h4>

    Kakashi and Anko sat opposite Ringo, Zabuza, and Raiga at the table in Tazuna''s house, awkwardly staring at each other. Kakashi and Zabuza were from time to time worriedly ncing at Raiga whopletely and effortlessly ignored them while Anko and Ringo were telepathicallymunicating, throwing jokes about the fidgeting males around the table at each other andpeting who would say a better, or rather more vulgar, one.

    Since Tsunade first introduced Anko as her apprentice to Rei and his other wives, Ringo and Anko hit it off thanks to their simr personalities.

    Separated from both groups sat awkward Tayuya who had no idea how to act in her current situation and next to her was tied up Guren with gag in her mouth making her able to only silently re at both Konoha and Kiri groups.

    On the other side of the table, the three genins from Team Seven quietly observed the situation while next to them, Haku elegantly enjoyed a rice ball, not even a little bothered by the suffocating atmosphere.

    Tazuna''s dining room was quite full.

    "Are you sure this is fine?" Kakashi had finally had enough and nervously asked Anko. While he was de-facto the leader of Team Seven on the paper, anyone who saw how the team worked knew that even though Kakashi led the genins, Anko was the one who called the most important decision like this one.

    Kakashi didn''t really like the oue of this mission. He knew well there was nothing he or even Anko could do with how the situation ensued. With the Mizukage present, neither of them could do anything rash. No matter that he didn''t like how the Mizukage basically took ownership of Raiga which meant that Kirigakure just gained an extremely strong S-rank ninja.

    But going as far as giving them both of their prisoners who were defeated by Anko... now that Kakashi thought to be a bit unfair.

    Anko heard his question and just rolled her eyes, "Yeah. It is safer this way."

    "What do you mean?" Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows at her vague answer. "You defeated them so it is only fair that Konoha should get them."

    Personally, Kakashi couldn''t care less about the fate of the two sound kunoichis but he knew what would happen if he didn''t even try. The Konoha council won''t call chunin Anko to answer their questions. They will call him, the team leader, and jonin instructor. And they will scream their throats raw at him once they find out his team relinquished their jonin-level prisoners to Kirigakure.

    ''For the love of Sage, what did I do in my past life to suffer being on this team?'' Kakashi inwardly cried and bemoaned his fate.

    "Kakashi..." Anko sighed, "While we are strong, I don''t want to risk being ambushed by the Sound ninjas. It wouldn''t be a bother for you and me but what about our students?" She reasoned. "It''s not well known but the Sound Vige is led by Orochimaru and these two," She casually pointed at the two quiet women, the redhead resigned and the gagged blute ring at Anko, trying tobust her with her gaze, "are one of his best. He might torture them, he might mark them like cattle, he might even experiment on them, but Orochimaru is not an idiot. He knows there is a difference between losing an unimportant pawn and losing a bishop he cultivated for years. The crystal user alone is worth a lot."

    Kakashi had to admit she had a point. The bloodline of the crystal user will most likely be the biggest reason why the council will scream at him. He could easily picture Orochimaru wanting to save her once he hears she was captured.

    As for Anko''s real reason why she tried to pawn them to Ringo...

    Frankly, if she dragged these two to Konoha and gave them to Tsunade or if Ringo took them... their final destination would not change at all. Anko didn''t see a reason to bother with them and would rather dump them on Ringo''s shoulders. Then again, she couldn''t just tell that to Kakashi, could she?

    "Like it or not, if we took them with us to Konoha, there would be a high chance theirrades would ambush us and try to free them. The Mizukage not only has two S-rank and two jonin-level ninjas in her party, but she is also heading in apletely opposite direction from us. Leaving them with her is safer." Anko said, knowing she wasying it on a bit thick when she saw how Kakashi''s gaze started to soften, she knew she had him.

    Before Kakashi could verbally react, however, Ringo snorted, "Right... The woman whose dream is to kill Orochimaru is giving away the perfect bait for the man. Yeah, nope... pick another one. Anko, you suck at lying with a straight face." She deadpanned with a teasing tonecing her voice.

    "Oh,e on!" Anko indignantly eximed and pointed at Kakashi next to her while staring straight into Ringo''s eyes, "I am not that bad! The cyclops would totally believe it if you didn''t say that!"

    Ringo lifted her eyebrows in surprise and turned towards Kakashi, "You would?" She asked in a bewildered tone.

    Kakashi suddenly found himself between a rock and hard ce. What was he supposed to say to that!? If he confirmed it, he woulde out as a naive idiot and if he denied it he would paint himself as an easily fooled moron!

    All eyes in the room abruptly shifted towards him and Kakashi could feel a cold sweat forming under his multiyered face-covers. There was only one way to get out of this predicament!

    "Well, it''s Anko. One never knows when ites to her." Kakashi cooly shrugged in the most casual way he could muster at the moment and gave Ringo his best eye smile. "By the way, Lady Mizukage, I wonder why Zabuza was our reinforcements instead of somebody from Konoha. Could you enlighten me? I intended to ask Lady Tsunade but since you are already here..." He trailed off.

    Ringo''s lips twitched upward, "Indeed," She turned towards the shocked Anko who couldn''t believe the way Kakashi flipped the situation around. "It''s Anko." Ringo amusedly shook her head, "As for your question-" She looked towards the annoyed Anko.

    "I sent a message to Lady Tsunade who is a friend of Lady Ringo. Lady Tsunade knew Ringo was interested in Raiga and the Kiba des so she sent her a message." Anko said.

    "And Zabuza was the closest guy so I sent him his orders alongside the summoning scroll the second I heard Raiga was involved. The Kiba des were out of Kirigakure for way too long. There is really nothing much else to it." Ringo said before giving Raiga a meaningful look, making him petntly avert his eyes. "Don''t worry about being reprimanded for the prisoners either. Tsunade is reasonable when she wants to be."

    ''That''s unsurprisingly not reassuring at all.'' Kakashi inwardly deadpanned.

    "What the hag said." Anko quipped before yelping as Ringo kicked her in the shin under the table.

    "Hey!" Anko took that as a personal challenge and soon enough, the two women started a childish kick-a-shin war while the whole room full of trained killers stared at them in bewilderment.

    ''These are S-rank kunoichi?'' Zabuza thought in disbelief as his jaw hung a bit low from watching the spectacle.

    ''And I swore lifelong loyalty to this woman.'' Raiga hung his head low as he watched the Mizukage acting like a total brat.

    ''Let''s pretend we don''t know her.'' The genins of team seven thought at the same time with nk stares aimed at the grinning Anko, unknowingly showing off their superb teamwork.

    Kakashi was somewhat used to Anko''s antics but even he was bbergasted. This was the Mizukage they were dealing with! The strongest and most respected ninja of her vige! And Anko was kicking her... with her chakra enhanced strength no less...

    ''I am too young for this shit.'' Kakashi tiredly sighed.

    As for stopping them? Well, he quite liked his ability to breathe so getting in-between the two women was a big no-no.

 Chapter 337 - Ch337. Inevitable

    <h4>Chapter 337 - Ch337. Inevitable</h4>

    As Kakashi watched the hrious scene of Anko and Ringo childishly brawling with their feet under the table while they provocatively stared at each other, he couldn''t help but feel surreal.

    ''To think Lady Tsunade was a friend of the Fifth Mizukage...'' Kakashi shook his head in silent bemusement, ''Just how many secrets does the Senju Princess have?''

    The second Tsunade became the Daimyo, the vige started going through a massive overhaul. Every jonin noticed a stark improvement. It was nothing short of miraculous and cemented her position as their leader in the hearts of Konoha''s ninjas.

    But that didn''t mean the most experienced jonins were stupid. They noticed Tsunade pulling otherworldly concepts, never-heard-of-before teaching methods, and outrageous but efficient reforms out of her proverbial posterior. Tsunade was an enigma for them to this day, nobody knowing what kind of trick she will pull out of her sleeve next.

    ''Well, not like such a thing is impossible.'' Kakashi hummed to himself, enjoying the antics of the two S-rank kunoichis. ''With how much Lady Tsunade traveled, she was bound to meet some interesting people. The world is really unpredictable.'' He chuckled, his mind trailing off to the person he admired the most.

    The man who put forth a massive sacrifice. Who took his duty as the most important thing. The man who was the role model of the current ninjas! The one and only gant Jiraiya-sama who took it upon himself to traverse the world in search of interesting ''situations'', meeting all sorts of interesting ''people'', so he could then ry his important findings to his devoted fans. Truly, a man cut above others!

    As Kakashi thought about this topic and started outwardly quietly giggling to himself, inwardly his mind simply refused to settle down. There was something nagging at him. Something he couldn''t really grasp...

    That was also when the ''battle'' between the two kunoichis intensified.

    "Ei! I had enough of you." Ringo calmly spoke, standing up from her seat quick enough that nobody could react, and reached towards Anko... and flicked her forehead, causing her head to snap back, leaving behind a nice red spot in the middle of the Snake Mistress'' forehead.

    "Auu~, Ringoooo~!" Anko whinily drawled while petntly pouting, her lips quivering in an attempt to garner pity, "That was mean!"

    Seeing how the two women interacted with each other, how buddy-buddy they were, how calm and rxed their bodynguage was in the presence of the other... Something finally clicked in Kakashi''s head, causing his eyes to go wide in horror.

    Kakashi desperately hoped he was wrong but as he went through the happenings of their recent mission, every piece fit perfectly into the puzzle.

    He slowly turned towards Anko who lifted her eyebrow at him... it wasn''t as if she didn''t pay attention to what was going on around her just because she was having a mock-fight with Ringo... and gave her the biggest desperate pleading look with his lone eye he could possibly manage.

    "Anko... please tell me Konoha is not going to form a treaty with Kirigakure." Kakashi begged.

    This disy! This friendliness! He finally understood what seemed off to him. Lady Tsunade might be a friend of Mizukage but what about Anko? When did the woman who, as far as Kakashi knew, stayed inside of Konoha for the past few years, manage to be so friendly with the Mizukage? When did the two even meet?

    It was very fishy.

    The attitude of the two women and this trail of thoughts gave birth to crazy spection. One that sent chills crawling up Kakashi''s spine.

    "No, of course not, Kakashi." Anko rolled her eyes, making the white-haired jonin release a relieved sigh. If Konoha signed a treaty with Kiri... it would be tantamount to setting fire to a gunpowder keg.

    The hidden viges didn''t sign alliances and treaties often. Even the treaty between Sunagakure and Konohagakure was shaky at best. In fact, if Suna betrayed Konoha, no other hidden vige would bat an eysh. Not because they were basically enemies but because it was expected.

    On the other hand, the hidden viges avoided allying with other major hidden viges because such an action symbolized a threat to their enemies who would also start to ally themselves with other viges...

    Simply put, it was a surefire way to lead to a ninja war with how paranoid hidden viges were. The only reason why Suna and Konoha could have a treaty between them without Iwa freaking out was that Suna was extremely weak. They could defend well thanks to the environment around their vige but... they didn''t have the necessary numbers, required funding, and skilled powerhouses to invade.

    ''Phew. That gave me a fright.'' Kakashi mentally chuckled, ''What did I think? Of course, there would be no treaty between our viges. Even if Kirigakure was weakened by its recent civil war,'' Which it wasn''t and Kakashi knew that very well. ''Iwa and Kumo would not take kindly to Konoha pacting with Kirigakure. Lady Tsunade would not be so reckle-''

    "Konoha and Kirigakure are going to enter a three-way alliance alongside Sunagakure." Ringo casually revealed, making Kakashi freeze in his spot and the jaws of the other upants of the room to drop to the ground.

    ''Just as I thou-, wait what!?'' Kakashi''s eyes bulged out as he abruptly stood up and shouted without even realizing it, "You can''t! It will be the start of a new ninja war!"

    Everybody looked at him in surprise except for Anko and Ringo. Zabuza didn''t care for politics so this conclusion was a new thing for him. The genins of team seven stared at Kakashi, not expecting thezy and casual jonin to burst out like this. It only showed them how serious the situation was. Raiga suddenly understood what would happen in the future and why Ringo decided to give him this chance instead of outright killing him. As for the prisoners... even they were speechless.

    Ringo just raised an eyebrow at Kakashi who finally realized he just screamed at Mizukage before awkwardly sitting down with a muted, "Sorry."

    "And you think we are not aware of how the ho''s nest will be disturbed after that?" Ringo clicked her tongue. "Do you think Sunagakure is the same as it was five years ago? Or that Kirigakure stagnated under my watch? No, Hatake. I am genuinely surprised that Iwa and Kumo did not yet demand the dissolution of the treaty between Konoha and Suna with how much stronger Suna became in recent years." She calmly spoke, exining the situation.

    "The only reason for that is that they have no clue about it." Anko quipped in. As Tsunade''s apprentice, Anko was privy to a lot of information. The kind that would cause a lesser man nightmares and worries.

    "Yes." Ringo nodded, "It doesn''t matter if we form an alliance or not. Once Iwa and Kumo get wind of exactly how much improvement our reforms have caused for our viges, they will inevitably join together to fight us if only to drag us back to their level. These past few years were very strenuous. getting rid of every spy in the vige was a lot of work but I am not delusional. The truth will eventuallye out and it will cause a war."

    Frankly, it wasn''t strenuous for Ringo. With Rei''s seals, taking care of spies and infiltrators was as easy as setting up a detection barrier around the vige. Kinda the same thing, but improved, Konoha had around theirs but never used under Hiruzen''s watch.

    "Lady Tsunade didn''t introduce too many reforms since her rule started." Anko looked around the room, especially at her three students, and decided now was as good time as any to reveal a few unimportant vige secrets, "But that frankly doesn''t matter. Lady Tsunade wants to start improving Konoha on arge scale but she can''t because she knows Iwa and Kumo would notice it. Konoha has too many merchants, too many civilians calling it home."

    While Kirigakrue and Sunagakure also had civilians, Suna was in a very inhospitable ce, hence not that many merchants visited. The informationing and going could be easily regted. As for Kiri, they were always a vige focusing more on the assassination. They had their ways of stopping information leakage. Ways that would be impossible to implement in Konoha''s case.

    "And once the war breaks out because of Iwa and Kumo''s insecurities about Suna and Kiri... Konoha will be unavoidably swept in. While we did not have that many reforms, the Academy reform was enough to propel our strength back into the heyday. Basically, we are in the same situation as Kiri and Suna by default." Anko uncaringly shrugged. "So yeah, we are going to form an alliance. Better to join forces now even if it caused the war to erupt than being caught with our pants downter down the line."

    After all, Iwa and Kumo were still ninja viges. They will not fight fair and square. Not after they realize that Kiri, Suna, and Konoha are stronger than them. Then again... Rei had his own ns. ns Anko was not privy to but she was sure this uing shitstorm was a part of it.

    Needless to say, Kakashi was shocked about the circumstances described to him by Mizukage and Lady Tsunade''s apprentice. ''Is the international situation really so bad?'' He gave his students a nce full of pity and inwardly swore to make their training harder. He didn''t want them to die. Now on his watch!

    Worse yet... Kakashi understood what they tried to tell him. The powderkeg was already burning and it was impossible to stop the explosion. The question was not ''if'' but ''when''.

    The status quo was disrupted and the war was inevitable.

 Chapter 338 - Ch338. Just Do It!

    <h4>Chapter 338 - Ch338. Just Do It!</h4>

    The depressing debate about the surprising uing war continued for a few minutes and the younger ninjas learned a lot of things such as how the inter-vige politics in the Elemental Nations worked, what exactly kept the status quo and the bnce of the world in check, and most importantly, just how easy it was to upset said bnce and cause a war. It was an eye-opening discussion for the young genins.

    When the debate reached its end and the people started to slowly leave the table, Anko suddenly noticed Sasuke subtly ncing at the back of the leaving Haku, his lips set in an indecisive frown before his eyes gained a strange resolve. He stood up and put his hands into his pockets, slouched a bit in his usual fashion, and donned his broody expression on his face before he slowly followed the unsuspecting Haku.

    Anko''s lips involuntarily stretched into a wide grin as she stood up from her seat and stealthily followed Sasuke. She instantly knew there would be entertainment!

    ...

    Anko sat on the roof of Tazuna''s home, watching as Haku practiced senbon-throwing in the backyard, patiently waiting for the fun to start when Kakashi suddenly appeared next to her and sat down in his usual depressing manner with a heavy sigh.

    Anko inwardly clicked her tongue and thanked her foresight for spreading pre-made silencing seals around herself; otherwise Haku or the stalker-kun would definitely notice her with how much noise the distraught jonin was generating.

    The two watched Haku''s practice in silence for a few minutes before...

    "Aren''t you even a little worried about our genins?" Kakashi suddenly asked, his tone somewhat reproaching. He didn''t like how casually Anko talked about the uing war as if it didn''t matter. Kakashi lived through one already and didn''t want his genins to go through the same experience. Yet, Anko seemed carefree as always. It really irked him somewhat fiercely.

    Anko slightly turned her head towards her displeased co-teacher and scoffed, "I trained them for years. I know exactly where they stand ability-wise. They will be fine."

    "You don''t know that. War is unpredictable. Anything could happen." Kakashi argued in a calm tone but the struggle in his sole uncovered eye was inly visible for Anko.

    "And what exactly do you expect me to do about it?" Anko asked, thoroughly amused by Kakashi''s attitude, realizing why he came to talk to her.

    He was not here to do something about it. He simply wanted toin, rave and rake about the unfairness of the world, and most importantly, he wanted someone who would listen to his worries. Anko found it distasteful that he chose her but considering his next best bet was Zabuza, it was somehow understandable if a bit annoying.

    Hearing Anko''s question, all righteous anger suddenly left Kakashi, making him humorlessly chuckle. What did he expect her to do, indeed...

    Anko was the apprentice of Lady Tsunade and to say a small part of him didn''t want her to talk to the ruler of Konoha and persuade her to stop the war would be a massive lie. But Kakashi had to acknowledge that even if Anko by some miracle decided to indulge his wish, and then if by some higher power Lady Tsunade decided to listen to Anko, it wouldn''t matter anyway.

    "Nothing." He released a pent-up sigh and helplessly shook his head. "I expect nothing from you."

    "Mhm." Anko nodded in satisfaction, "Good. At least you won''t be disappointed." She offhandedly added as she turned back, continuing her stalking of the stalker.

    A vein popped up on Kakashi''s forehead and his lips twitched when he heard the casual dismissal Anko gave him. Nevertheless, he noticed how his mncholy was instantly converted into irritation and had to admit Anko had a talent for alleviating the mood by being annoying.

    "Haah~. What did I expect..." Kakashi mumbled under his nose with a reluctant smile.

    Unfortunately for him, that''s when his cute little Uchiha genin finally got enough courage to act and Anko no longer paid attention to what the cyclops had to say.

    "Shush!" She brutally silenced him by bonking him on the head, earning herself a light-hearted re.

    As he red at Anko, Kakashi noticed she was too focused on something in the backyard and curiously turned his gaze towards it, only for his jaw to drop when he noticed the fidgeting Sasuke freaking Uchiha, the broody emo-edgelord himself, approaching Haku with an utterly insecure expression.

    "Ah, young love... isn''t it precious?" Kakashi was pulled out of his shock as Anko dreamily sighed with the biggest shit-eating grin stered on her face while she took out a camera from a storage tag.

    He realized what would shortly happen and could only offer Sasuke a pitiful nce. ''This woman is too evil. I am sorry Sasuke, your teacher is incapable of saving you!''

    Contrary to his thoughts, he also gotfortable in his spot and under his facemask sported a wide teasing grin that only got bigger the closer Sasuke got to Haku.

    ...

    Sasuke approached Haku, grateful for the chilly air that prevented his hands from sweating too much as he nervously admired the beauty in front of him. Gulping down, he gathered enough courage and decided that as Uchiha, it was ungraceful to hesitate. This might be hisst chance to speak to Haku and he will not miss it!

    Haku noticed Sasuke... in fact, Haku knew Sasuke was standing there, observing... and truth to be told, it was creepy as heck.

    When Sasuke finally decided to leave his hiding ce, Haku sighed in relief, thinking that the Uchiha finally decided to speak out what was his problem.

    "Hi." Sasuke nervously greeted.

    "Good evening, Uchiha-san." Haku slowly nodded and with a curious head-tilt. "What can I do for you?"

    "Er... I wanted to... you know," Sasuke fidgeted, "I mean... this is might be thest time we see each other since we are from different viges and..." He paused, embarrassedly looking for proper words.

    "Yes?" Haku asked, not really getting what the boy wanted. This was getting too weird.

    ''Ei! Just do it!'' Sasuke mentally encouraged himself. ''What is the worst that could happen!''

    "What I want to say is..." Sasuke took a deep breath. "Haku-san, I fell in love with you!" He loudly eximed, his cheeks turning deep crimson from embarrassment. His eyes, however, held a firm resolve.

    A deafening silence suddenly engulfed the backyard of Tazuna''s house, making Sasuke that much more nervous when he didn''t receive a reply straight away.

    "I... I am sorry Uchiha-san. I don''t swing that way." Haku awkwardly stated in a bbergasted voice that still held a polite undertone.

    "You... you are lesbian?" Sasuke frowned.

    "Uchiha-san, I am a boy." Haku evenly said, trying to hide how mortified he felt at the moment.

    Sasuke''s brain froze and his mouth slightly opened in half-formed retort...before he registered what Haku told him and that the not-female had a dead-serious expression.

    "I am sorry but I think we should forget about this conversation ever happening." Before Sasuke could even fullyprehend what happened, Haku decided it was the best time to take his leave, far away from the gender-confused Uchiha who creeped him out.

    Sasuke found himself standing alone in the Tazuna''s backyard in shocked silence, the events reying in his head again and again as shame filled his body and disgust seeped into his mind. Suddenly, Sasuke deeply regretted looking at Haku''s posterior with Sharingan, etching it forever into his mind.

    That was one thing that will forever haunt him.

    The young Uchiha was thanking Sage nobody saw him in what he dubbed the most shameful moment of his life... when he registered stifledughtering from above, making him snap his gaze towards it with a deer in the headlight''s expression on his face.

    Right there, on the roof, were both Anko and Kakashi, having st at Sasuke''s expense, Kakashi trying to repress his chuckles while Anko was failing hard at stifling hers and holding... ''Is that a camera?'' Sasuke paled and almost cked out as he realized what that meant for his future.

    Noticing that Sasuke was looking at them as if he saw a ghost, Anko gave the boy a sweet smile, "I must say when I followed you, I didn''t expect to get such quality ckmail. Way to go, lover boy!" She choked on her chortles.

    "Fuck you!" Sasuke angrily growled, narrowing his eyes at her but knowing it was in vain. The most he could do was swallow his shame.

    "Oh~, naughty! We should be careful. We wouldn''t want to make Haku-chan jealous, would we, now?" Anko teasingly quipped, her eyes full of mirth. Sasuke wanted to curse at her again but she started speaking again, "Huh, who would have thought you swung both ways. I guess there is still hope for the Uchiha n."

    At that, even Kakashi no longer managed to keep his face nk and burst into wheezingughter.

    Needless to say, Sasuke Uchiha was not a happy camper.

 Chapter 339 - Ch339. Tayuya And Guren 1

    <h4>Chapter 339 - Ch339. Tayuya And Guren 1</h4>

    "Will you stop ring at me already, bitch? It''s been two weeks! Give it a break." Tayuya irritably muttered, giving a stink eye to Guren who just scoffed but continued her re-session with passion.

    The only reason why Tayuya had the courage to say these things was that Guren was stuffed full of restricting seals and could barely show the prowess of a high genin in her current state. Not that Tayuya was in a different situation. She also had a lot of restriction seals on her but the fact they both were at high genin level gave her a measure of courage.

    That, and the piled-up irritation.

    The bridge in the Land of Waves was finished and that meant both the Konoha and Kiri teams decided it was high time to go back home. It was decided that Tayuya and Guren would go with the Mizukage... which made Guren even more irritating than ever... and that was the end of any sort of plotting of escape for them.

    If they went with the Konoha team, there would still be a small chance to get away or that Lord Orochimaru would try to rescue them...

    But even if he did, with Ringo Ameyuri present, it wouldn''t really matter. In fact, Tayuya deeply believed Orochimaru would avoid that particr woman like a gue.

    This was fine by Tayuya. In fact, she was happy about it. After all, she did decide to betray the Sound Vige and surrendered in the spur of a moment. Her life would not be nice if she was captured by the Sound ninjas.

    Guren, though, still held onto her loyalty to Orochimaru.

    After they left the Land of Waves, it took three days for them to reach the Vige Hidden in the Mist. Unlike Tayuya expected, their amodations were not a damp cell with asional entertainment through torture. Instead, they were left alone with nobody bothering them... as if they were not all that important.

    Which... Tayuya had to begrudgingly admit... they probably were not.

    s, any sort of non-torture treatment was weed by her. She was a captured enemy kunoichi and those usually didn''t have a nice ending. Considering that Iwa and Kiri had a reputation for being extremely cruel to their prisoners... Being ignored was nice.

    The only annoying thing was that she had to share her cell with Guren and that she was utterly unsure what the future had in store for her.

    That made for a few sleepless nights...

    A week and a half slowly passed in this anxiety, and their captors finally found time for them. Tayuya expected many things but to be knocked out was not one of them.

    When he woke up, she didn''t expect to find herself on a veryfortable sofa in avish room, a room that wouldn''t be amiss in Daimyo''s pce. Tayuya was momentarily awed... at least until she heard the grumpy Guren''s growl and spotted the woman ring at her. Again.

    "Haa~," Tayuya sighed. "I know you are angry I surrendered but I had no other choice! The enemy was simply far too strong. Can you me me?" She helplessly asked, knowing it wouldn''t really help.

    "Yes, I can!" Guren heatedly answered.

    "Figures, bitch." Tayuya mumbled, deciding that trying to persuade Guren was pointless.

    "How can you betray Lord Orochimaru! He basically raised you! Gave you home!" Guren hissed, with every word making Tayuya angrier. "He trained you an-"

    "Will you shut the fuck up finally!?" Tayuya loudly eximed, "Raised me? Gave me home? Are you nuts, you spoiled bint? I don''t have some extremely rare Bloodline Ability like you!" She snarled, "I was never raised to be one of Orochimaru''s top fighters from the start. I was experimented on and forced to kill people in fighting pits since I was just a little girl! What do you think my life was like in there!? I had to be smart and use everything in my arsenal to survive, to get stronger! The only reason why I survived long enough to be one of the Sound Four was that I used my brain and had talent for genjutsu! You can take that emotional extortion and shove it!"

    Guren stared in shock at the heavily breathing Tayuya who, for the first time in the past two weeks, returned her the re full of hate. Only now did Guren remember what the other three from the Sound Four liked to call Tayuya a slut in jest and how fiercely and angrily she responded every time. Guren always thought it was just a joke among them, especially since Tayuya had such foulnguage. But now that she was looking at the rage-filled look of the girl who was notoriously known in the Sound Vige for being so sadistic and stuck-up she castrated anyone who tried to flirt with her...

    An awkward silence spread between the two women who refused to look at each other. Frankly, Tayuya wanted nothing more than to leap at Guren and rip her hair off. The only reason why she didn''t do it was that she knew it was pointless. There was no benefit in such a thing other than making her feel a bit better. Especially since they were still ''prisoners'' and for all she knew, they might be observed right about now.

    Well, that was also a small part of the reason why Tayuya revealed that information about her. She hated her weak past self. The one who suffered in the dark damp cells of Orochimaru''s fighting pits. But if it helped her to earn even a bit of sympathy from her captors, then she would damn well use it!

    And under Orochimaru, Tayuya quickly learned when to suppress her own wants and desires for the ''bigger picture'' anyway. To set her own personal feelings to the side in order to reach her desired goal. She was doing it for as long as she could remember.

    Tayuya didn''t really want to escape. Not if a better life awaited her here. Even if it was just slightly better than her life under Orochimaru, she would take it. That said, she didn''t survive so long by being naive. She made sure to look for escape routes from the room the second she woke up, and she was also certain Guren did the same.

    In the end, if it came to fighting for her life, Tayuya would do her best to survive or take with her many of the would-be attackers. Having Guren''s support would be indispensable at that time. Getting into a fight with the irritating woman was simply not in Tayuya''s best interest.

    "I am sorry." Guren quietly apologized, making Tayuya give her a weird look. She certainly did not expect that.

    "Meh, doesn''t matter." Tayuya grumpily nodded and rolled her eyes. In her mind, the only words she had for Guren were, ''Fuck you!'', but if she could make Guren feel bad with a different response, she didn''t mind bitting into her tongue. "I know your life was not smooth sailing either." She offered an olive branch despite inwardly sneering at these words. Compared to her, Guren was living like a fucking princess if one took into ount Orochimaru''s child-raising standards.

    "Yeah..." Guren weakly nodded and the room fell again into an awkward silence.

    Hands abruptly grasped the left shoulders of the two girls and slightly squeezed in what would be a reassuring manner if it didn''te out of nowhere and scare the living daylights out of them from how suddenly it happened.

    Somebody appeared behind the sofa they were sitting on and they didn''t notice! Their carefully honed instincts didn''t alert them! Even if their chakra was suppressed, their trained instincts were not! They were still on par with S and A-rank ninja respectively!

    A chill instantly went up to their spines as the realization they could be easily killed without them even noticing settled in their heads. They prepared for a fight, even if it would be a futile effort before...

    "Heeh~, I see you got quitefortable under our roof." An amused man''s voice resounded from behind them, "Good to know at least one of you has a good head on her shoulders." The man removed his hand from Guren''s shoulder but kept it on Tayuya''s in a reassuring manner, causing her to slightly rx her guard.

    ''So they really left us alone in an empty room to observe our reactions and see what we would do.'' She happily thought, ''Letting out my past and showing my discontent with Orochimaru in front of Guren was definitely worth it!''

    Something must have shown on Tayuya''s schooled face because...

    "Not that it matters anyway." The man suddenly added before chuckling, making Tayuya mentally face fault because she just knew she was the reason for his apparent amusement.

    ''Fucking strong people.... All of them are sadistic assholes!''

 Chapter 340 - Ch340. Tayuya And Guren 2

    <h4>Chapter 340 - Ch340. Tayuya And Guren 2</h4>

    Rei let go of Tayuya''s shoulder and walked around the sofa before unceremoniously flopping onto the armchair opposite to it. He reached forward and tapped the edge of the table in-between him and the girls, causing small puffs of smoke to erupt and quickly dissipate as various foods appeared on the table.

    "Go on," Rei smiled when he noticed the hungry and salivating looks the girls were throwing at the food, "Dig in. It was prepared for you."

    Tayuya and Guren wanted to do nothing more than to obey this order but their upbringing stopped them from jumping at the deliciously smelling food. They looked at each other, wary of any drug or poison that might be present in the food...

    Rei noticed their gazes and sighed. He leaned forward and started filling his te, lifting his eyebrow at the two women who widened their eyes in bewilderment. "What? Do you think we poisoned the food? Bah! As if we needed to do that." He rolled his eyes.

    The two girls slightly flushed as they realized it was the truth and started slowly filling up their own tes while being still very cautious.

    Rei inwardly smiled at the sight and waited until both girls took a bite before starting to speak again, "Well, I definitely did not poison the food. No clue about the chef though. She likes putting aphrodisiacs in the food." He carelessly shrugged, causing both Tayuya and Guren to do a spit-take. "Meh. My poison immunity is bound to save me."

    Two unamused resnded on him but Rei just returned a happily clueless eye-smile to them, now realizing why Kakashi liked to do this. It was fun.

    Rei partook in the food without a care in the world while the two disgruntled kunoichis watched, unsure if they should risk it and also dig in. They were quite hungry though. Kirigakure''s cells did not have good room service. The sight of various delicacies in front of them was really, really tempting.

    ''Agh, fuck it!'' In the end, it was Tayuya who broke first and started eating. Aphrodisiacs or not, she decided it doesn''t matter.

    Guren watched in bewilderment as the younger kunoichi ate with gusto what their ''host'' clearly proimed a probably drugged food.

    Tayuya noticed and furrowed her eyebrows, "What?" She asked with a full mouth. "If they want to forcefully fuck us, they don''t need to drug our food. We are at his mercy." She offhandedly pointed at Rei who was content watching the drama with a small amused smile stretching on his lips.

    Guren''s stomach rumbled and she had to gulp down her saliva. She was also quite hungry. Deciding that Tayuya had a point, she also started slowly eating.

    That''s when Tayuya smirked, "Plus, I don''t have a Bloodline. If they are going to breed someone it will be you, Miss Crystal." She mirthfully added, causing Guren, who had her cheeks stuffed, to grimace. Needless to say, her appetite was dealt a critical hit.

    "You are quite the crass individual, aren''t you, pinky?" Rei jovially intervened, not wanting the two women to start bickering again.

    "Haa!? Who is pinky, you bas-t-ard?" Tayuya burst out on instinct, only to realize what she did at the end of her sentence, causing her voice to hitch. She looked at Rei with a deer in headlights expression. ''Shit! I got too rxed and forgot to take care what I say!'' Tayuya inwardly panicked.

    Rei clearly saw her plight and decided to alleviate her worries, "Such a pity. You are quite the beauty, you know? To think your mouth would be so dirty... I don''t dig it.'''' He mournfully stated with a sad head shake, causing Tayuya''s irritation to rise while she also flushed a deep red.

    Even Guren forgot herself and cracked a smile at that, earning herself a punch to her shoulder from the embarrassed Tayuya when she noticed.

    "But you are correct. It is Miss Crystal we would breed." Rei seriously said in a matter-of-fact tone, causing Guren''s head to snap in his direction.

    Guren suddenly started to feel weaker than usual and her head slightly spun. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized she was drugged. She desperately tried to fight whatever was in her body by increasing the cirction of her chakra while staring in fright at Rei who returned her stare in an even and emotionless manner, pressuring her with a simple look.

    "If we were actually interested in such a practice." He switched back into his yful tone and shit-eating teasing grin when he deemed Guren sufficiently cowed. "s, your DNA and blood were already taken when you were unconscious and with time, we will be able to replicate your bloodline without any need for viting you. Who do you take us for? Oto?" Rei couldn''t help but make a small scathingment at Guren''s vige, causing the woman to avert her gaze with the knowledge she would not win a verbal fight about this topic.

    ''Hmm... psychological warfare?'' Tayuya slightly narrowed her eyes in worry, hiding the gesture by leaning her head forward and letting her hair cover her face. ''He is making Guren realize the bad parts of Sound Vige based on her reaction to my upbringing, huh? I will have to be extra careful around this one.'' She felt quite uneasy. He totally got her with his banter earlier. She got too rxed around him. That was so out of character for her, it shook Tayuya at her core.

    Rei didn''t miss this subtle gesture of Tayuya. He was certainly surprised at the girl. ''I might have said I don''t dig this but... damn,'' He was extremely d for his trained poker face. It wasn''t about Tayuya''s personality or looks. No, Rei was attracted by something else. ''She can level-headedly analyze the situation and is keeping up with my mind games. No wonder she could fight Shikamaru. Heh, should I?'' A mischievous thought suddenly entered his mind.

    "Then again," He smirked and looked straight at Tayuya. She didn''t like the slight widening of his smirk as his eyesnded on her, "we found out you have Uzumaki blood in your veins. Good for you, eh? Kumo would be interested."

    "Geh... thanks." Tayuya snarkily replied but inwardly she was repeating ''Fuck!'' as she realized why she seemed so important to Lord Orochimaru. It might not have seemed like it but Jiroubou, Kidomaru, Ukon, and Sakon all had some special biology or bloodline. Only she had no idea how she fell into the same category as them. ''And just like that, he erased any idea of escape from my mind.'' Tayuya inwardly winced.

    Yeah, the man might have pointed out Kumo who was known for seeking female Uzumakis for breeding purposes and their practices were quite brutal but Tayuya knew his words really meant Lord Orochimaru. Previously she thought she had no value other than her strength. Now that she was informed of her apparent Bloodline, she understood Orochimaru would hunt her down to the end of the world. The Uzumaki were rare, after all! ''So that''s why I had more experiments done on me than the others in the Sound Four! They were trying to awaken a Bloodline ability in me!''

    "Who is this ''we''?" Tayuya resignedly asked, deciding now was not the time for thinking about her fucked up future prospects. She had to get information about her captors and find out if she could be offered protection for servitude.

    Before she would be fine if they treated her even slightly better than Orochimaru. Now? Now she wouldn''t mind being treated worse than that if it meant not getting on Orochimaru''s dissection table. Traitors died in Oto. But traitors with Bloodlines? Now that was apletely different can of worms.

    Tayuya shuddered thinking about what suffering would Orochimaru unleash on her if she was ever captured by his people.

    "Oh, right! I forgot!" Rei fakely bullshitted before eximing, "Wee to the Vige Hidden on the Other Side!" He waited for an outburst of surprise but when he received only silence, his brows furrowed. "Eh? No apuse? You are not a funny audience, you know that? One would think Orochimaru taught you how to be proper grunts." He said in mock disapproval.

    The women getting used to Rei''s antics ignored his words and looked at each other in confusion.

    "But... no such vige exists?" Guren confusedly stated. She knew every single ninja vige in the Elemental Nations and this one was not among them.

    Tayuya, at whom the question was aimed, just nodded in agreement.

    "Well, I did say we are a hidden vige, didn''t I?" Rei gave Guren a meaningful look that made her blush. "Wouldn''t be much of a secret if every Dick, Prick, and Guren knew about our location and existence, now, would it?"

    And just like that, her blush was gone, changed for a heated re.

    Tayuya involuntarily smiled at that. "What will happen to us now?" The mood was certainly lightened thanks to Rei''s antics and she was grateful for that. It was still annoying how easily it made her drop her guard though.

    "Hmm..." Rei ponderingly hummed, "It''s simple, really. You can either join our vige and serve, or-" He leaned forward, creating suspense.

    ''A threat, huh?'' Tayuya thought, wondering what their fate would be if they refused.

    "- you can leave." Rei finished with a shrug, making use of his leaning forward to snatch a ss of orange juice from the table.

    After a moment of stupefied silence, it was the blute who got out of her shock first.

    "You would let us go? Just like that?" Guren incredulously asked, a bit of hope seeping into her mind. She had to inform Lord Orochimaru about this vige that was obviously connected to Kirigakure. If they were stupid enough to let her walk free, that is...

    "Yeah, sure. Doors are there." Rei pointed behind them, causing both women to turn around.

    "And if we decide to walk away... nobody will try to detain us?" Tayuya asked, not believing in such an obvious crap even for a second.

    "Yup. Pinky promise, Pinky." Rei nodded, quipping a joke and getting the look from Tayuya. "Nobody will neither hinder nor aid your escape."

    Guren instantly stood up and walked towards the door, not even interested in what Rei had to offer them. Even if he lied, then she had nothing to lose. If he was telling the truth, however, she wasn''t about to waste any more of her time. She flung the door open only to freeze in her tracks as her jaw dropped to the floor, unable to believe her eyes.

    Guren did hear the unhurried footsteps resounding behind her and only idly registered as Tayuya walked next to her with the same utterly bewildered expression of disbelief but she was in too much shock to really care.

    "Oya? I failed to mention this is the vige on the other side of the moon? Oh, well. Now you know." Rei''s yful voice resounded from behind the two Sound kunoichis as he snickered.

    Both Guren and Tayuya realized that there was no running away for them as the sight of a massive blue surrounded by a dark void of the universe greeted them.

 Chapter 341 - Ch341. Orochimaru

    <h4>Chapter 341 - Ch341. Orochimaru</h4>

    Author''s Note:

    Pa treon - 35 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    https://.pa treon/kasicair

    For those that read this author noteter on and are interested in joining my pa treon, don''t subscribe at the end of the month. It is better to wait for a new month and then join. A few days worth of wait won''t kill you :D.

    ------------------------

    Orochimaru looked at the dissolving six-armed body that ran through all the guards and barged into hisboratory before slumping onto the ground with a desperate and groaning, "Oroch-", and promptly died. Frankly, it was fascinating, to watch the unknown poison corrode the body, changing even bones to a goo right in front of his eyes.

    Unfortunately, the two guards chasing Kidomaru entered theboratory right when Orochimaru''s momentary engrossment with the never-before-seen poison just ended and he realized the corpse indeed had six arms and he knew only one person with such physical disfiguration.

    "Lord Orochimaru!" One of the two guards eximed and straightened, sweat suddenly started rolling down his back. They let an intruder reach Lord Orochimaru''sboratory! That was definitely not good!

    "Hm, Riki-kun." Orochimaru impassively stated, looking straight at the six-armed corpse, "That... is Kidomaru, right?"

    The guard, Riki, was very reluctant to answer. Something in Lord Orochimaru''s casual tone told him to keep quiet. Fortunately for him, his partner was a new guy and a very eager one.

    "Yes, Lord Orochimaru! That is Kidomaru-sama!" The boy eagerly said...

    And Riki didn''t even notice when Orochimarushed out but the boy''s head rolled off his shoulders the second he finished speaking.

    "I see..." Orochimaru nodded, his lips twitching downward as the newbie''s head hit the ground with a wet thud before his body also gently swayed as gravity imed it. Orochimaru looked at Riki who was trying his best to ignore the fresh corpse next to him while wondering if he would be next. "Take care of the corpses. I need to send somebody to scout the situation in the Land of Water."

    Orochimaru was barely keeping calm. Kidomaru and the Sound Four were essential for his uing n. They were one of his best! He spent a lot of time making sure they were useful. And now... Kidomaru was dead. It was a heavy blow since Orochimaru did not have anyone capable of taking his ce for the barrier formation.

    ''I hope Guren and others got away safely.'' He frowned, not understanding what could have happened. It was a B-rank assassination mission and he sent four low-to-mid A-rank ninjas and one high A-rank kunoichi. Frankly, this was supposed to be a breeze for them! He only sent such an overkill of a team for the mission to please Gato while showing the midget to not screw with him. To show him there would be no backstabbing from his side involved anytime soon or else...

    That said, he did train his ninjas to retreat rather than die. Orochimaru wasn''t sure Kidomaru was the only loss but he was certain that not all of his investments died. ''I have to find out what happened.'' He thought as he left theboratory, leaving the shuddering Riki behind to clean the mess.

    "I have survived..." Riki let out a relieved breath, only now noticing how tense he was. He decided to take a two-minute-long pause so he could properly catch his breath.

    After he at least somewhat calmed down, Riki looked at the corpse of his colleague, ''Unlucky bastard. This was his first day on guard duty.'' He helplessly shook his head, ''Well, better him than me.'' And shrugged.

    Turning his gaze towards the humanoid goo nearby, Riki frowned. "And I have to clean this mess up. Just my luck." He grimaced.

    By now, Kidomaru''s corpse was but a bloody and fleshy goo in the form of a human, his liquefied innards spilling onto the ground around him by the second.

    "I should start. Once it dries up, it would be a bitch to clean." Riki sighed and walked towards the closet where he knew were the necessary utensils for the job. As a guard whose patrol area was nearboratories, he was the poor sod who was usually given the task to clear the mess Lord Orochimaru made during his experiments. That''s why Lord Orochimaru knew his name.

    Approaching Kidomaru with a broom, ready to sweep him off the floor, Riki chuckled, "Funny. The spiderman got liquified from the inside out. And here I thought it was supposed to be spiders who did that. Hehe." With a chuckle, he put strength behind his sweep...

    Orochimaru who was disgruntledly walking through the corridors of his hideout, deep in his thought, suddenly had to brace himself as a massive explosion shook the undergroundplex. He whipped his head towards where it came from and his eyes widened, ''Fuck! Myboratory!'' He inwardly screamed and started running in the direction from where he came from.

    He had everything there! His recent research result, his documents, his precious tools, his best DNA samples from various subjects and bloodlines! All of it!

    He reached the hall leading to hisboratory, only to discover it had turned into a massive hole in the ground, enabling him to see the sky as if it was mocking him. The priceless fruits of his months-long effort were vaporized.

    ''Whoever is responsible for this... I will find you and skin you alive!'' Orochimaru seethed in rage.

    Unknown to Anko, her little gift did its job at Orochimaru-baiting better than she expected.

    ...

    "Dead and captured? All except Tayuya and Guren who were captured are dead?" Orochimaru darkly asked, tightly gripping the armrest on his chair. It was already a week since Kidomaru''s corpse exploded in hisboratory and the scouts finally returned.

    Orochimaru was getting a little anxious when not one member of the Sound Four returned during the week. Well, now he knew why, mostly thanks to how chatty the people of Land of Waves apparently were about the happenings, and he was utterly pissed.

    Konoha was protecting Tazuna?

    Anko Mitarashi of all possible Konoha ninjas was a part of it? Orochimaru could almost imagine the rage of his former apprentice when she realized they were his grunts. Her expression when they activated the Cursed Seal must have been so hrious!

    At least, Orochimaru found it hrious and felt a sadistic pleasure at imagining that situation for a brief moment before his mind reminded him it was Anko''s fault that his elite subordinates were killed and captured.

    ''Kidomaru died of poison...'' Orochimaru suddenly realized. ''Kakashi Hatake isn''t all that proficient in poisons. The one responsible for decimating myboratory should be Anko.'' He reasoned. ''If I wasn''t so pissed, I would be impressed.''

    During the previous week, Orochimaru tried to find out what kind of poison was used. He couldn''t really do any analysis since any remains of the poison were vaporized alongside Kidomaru''s body but as an expert on poisons himself, Orochimaru had his theory. The only thing that could create such a st with nothing but a dead body... It was obvious the poison used Kidomaru''s chakra to make a bomb out of his body.

    How such a thing was possible though... now that stumped Orochimaru.

    s, he had bigger problems than the small fireworks in hisboratory. Kirigakure took the captured Guren and Tayuya.

    The second he got to know that, Orochimaru instantly red his chakra, activating the self-destruct function of Tayuya''s Cursed Seal. That should have immediately killed her... except he felt no response.

    ''My seal was countered!?'' He freaked out, making his breath hitch. The Cursed Seal was his masterpiece! Jiraiya had his Sennin Mode, Tsunade had her Strength of a Hundred Seal, and he had his Cursed Seal. It was his masterpiece and somebody managed to counter it!?

    The Cursed Seal was not only a means to enhance his soldiers. Every piece of it contained a small part of his soul from which he could be reborn in the unlikely case he died. The grunt-enhancing function was just a small bonus in Orochimaru''s mind.

    Orochimaru hissed in anger, ''No. My seal is imprable. Not even Jiraiya can do anything about its earliest stage that doesn''t contain my soul. Tayuya must be already dead.'' He calmed himself and schooled his expression.

    "You say that Anko Mitarashi is now S-rank kunoichi? Tsunade''s apprentice?" He lifted his eyebrow. "She easily decimated my elites?"

    The scout who kneeled in front of Orochimaru slowly nodded, too scared to put it into words lest Lord Orochimaru decided to relieve him of his head.

    "Good job, you can go." Orochimaru indifferently stated and the scout vanished in a burst of speed, happy to be dismissed.

    "Anko Mitarashi... heh." Orochimaru shook his head in disbelief. He threw away the girl because she was frankly useless. A burden. Worse yet, a burden he felt an attachment to. Now that he heard how strong she became despite the Cursed Seal that limited her growth... Orochimaru was proud. Proud enough to even forget about how her actions almost ruined three years of nning and preparing.

    Almost...

    "Does this mean we are abandoning the n?" Kimiro, one of the Kaguya n survivors whom Orochimaru promised n restoration and revenge in exchange for his services, suddenly asked, emerging from the shadows near Orochimaru''s chair.

    "No... this just means I have to get creative." Orochimaru chuckled, his eyes dangerously narrowing as new ns and schemes were forming in his mind. A momentter, his expression eased and a small sly smile appeared on his face, "Heh~, Anko-chan became so strong... Maybe throwing her away was a bad decision. Hmm, looks like we need more allies."

    And just like that, Orochimaru''s ns for the Konoha invasion did one-eighty.

    ''I guess I should be grateful.. Without Anko so easily killing my elites, I would never realize the forces I amassed are not enough.'' Orochimaru chuckled, ''Konoha will rue the day they forced me to remake my ns!''

 Chapter 342 - Ch342. The Family Gathering 1

    <h4>Chapter 342 - Ch342. The Family Gathering 1</h4>

    "Is the crystal user still as sullen as the newfound Uzumaki is eager?" Ringo asked Rei as she longingly snuggled to his side on the couch in the living room with an expression of pure bliss.

    She just returned back home to their mansion in the Vige on the Other Side after a particrly long week spent solely in Kirigakure in preparation for the Chunin Exams in Konoha and the events happening during or after them. It was honestly maddening and choosing teams for the exams was actually the easiest part of it all.

    Her only sce was that when her gaze fell on Pakura, who was currently using the other side of highly amused Rei as a teddy bear, the green-haired woman gave her a weak but understanding smile. Sunagakure was in full mobilization too and keeping these things secret, while a lot easier thanks to Rei''s vige-scale barrier seals, still needed a massive effort.

    Spies were routed, the vige''s forges running all day and night long, troops organized and prepared, defense and offense restructured, assassins fully notified that orders mighte any second and they will be required to don their masks, the Seven Swordsmen were having more and more sparring sessions in thest-minute rush for improvement, finances had to be sorted, budget secured, all non-vital projects put on hold and war council was put together, starting to strategize and evaluate the earliest elimination targets for assassins while making first ns for Kirigakure''s offensive and fortifications, ns that will have to be no doubt adjusted once Konoha and Sunagakure really tie the proverbial knot with them.

    The n heads were also informed what would happen shortly after the Konoha Chunin Exams to deal with their own problems and make their own war preparations for the vige was fully expecting the n ninjas to pull their weight.

    This all meant... paperwork.

    Yeah, paperwork. That sted thing. Ringo would never have guessed that putting the vige on war footing would require so much damn paperwork.

    Her reaction?

    ''Fuck my life...''

    There was no nicer way to put it when she saw the unending stacks of paper on her table, around her table, all over her damn office...

    At least this nightmarish week was finally over. Her wrist hurt more than she ever remembered. Life-long intense practice with sword and it is paperwork that made her wrist kill her with pain. That made the hardened kunoichi in Ringo quite vexed.

    It was a time like this that Ringo pitied the Third Mizukage and fully understood why the man was so stressed. It was hard enough to make the vige work with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine when everyone listened tomands. Ringo really didn''t want to imagine the mess it would be if she had to rule over unruly n heads with their own agendas.

    That simply didn''t fly during her reign, much less when the vige was on the precipice of war.

    A soft snort resounded from the door leading to the kitchen, causing Ringo to slightly turn her head towards it and notice a pale-skinned woman with horns leaving the kitchen, carrying two tes.

    "That''s putting it mildly. That crystal girl didn''t speak a word since Rei made her sign the contract. It has been weeks!" Kaguya chuckled, finally reaching the armchair opposite the sofa on which Rei, Ringo, and Pakura were seated.

    "True." Rei distractedly agreed, not taking off his gaze from the seals he was trying to put together. "Guren isn''t happy she was left on the moon."

    "As if you would let her back onto Earth. It is tantly obvious she would try to run away and inform Orochimaru." Pakura tiredly sighed, enjoying Rei''s warmth.

    Ringo tried to reach for the food on the tes Kaguya brought and put on the table but before she could grab herself a bite, Kaguya quickly took both tes again into her hands and pulled them away with a mild re aimed at the stupefied Ringo.

    "And the Uzumaki half-breed fit right into this n of redheaded bastards." Kaguya spoke, her pointed and warning look not leaving Ringo as she cradled her food in herp. Her eyes now flickered over Ringo''s red hair as a pondering frown appeared on her face.

    Ringo... just rolled her eyes and returned to her snuggling with Rei while inwardly cursing white-haired stingy alien bitches with freaky eyes.

    Kaguya was not fond of the Uzumaki n. Her descendants or not, anyone who practiced seals was on her shit list except Rei because he actually offered her help. Despite that, Kaguya did not fully trust Rei until recently. Only when he pulled out his newest product, the contracting seal, did Kaguya finally get the necessary reassurance.

    The Contract Seal was something that enforced terms stated on a contract. It worked on the soul rather than the body and while ninjas had sturdy souls, that didn''t mean breaking it wouldn''t be nasty. In fact, just the attempt to do so would be excruciatingly painful.

    Rei used it on both Guren and Tayuya as the unwitting test subjects and Kaguya instantly understood what purpose the contract held.

    And unsurprisingly, it was the very same day that Rei came back to her seal to ''seal'' the deal. They signed a contract where Rei had to free her and she would be his.

    With that, Kaguya was assured Rei would really put effort into fulfilling his part of the deal.

    What this ''his'' meant... neither Rei nor Kaguya specified. It could be anything from subordinate to lover and both were fine with leaving it so open... for now.

    Fortunately for Kaguya, this safeguard of the contract meant Rei decided it was fine to give her more freedom. The current body of Kaguya was but a special shadow clone with a multitude of seals all over it that prevented her from instantly dispelling due to idental light damage. That''s why Kaguya had only as much chakra avable to her as the clone, which meant she felt utterly powerless.

    s, she would rather feel vulnerable but capable of eating the incredible foods found in Rei''s fridge than be stuck in the seal. The asional cuddles with Rei helped too.

    But it was not all just a walk in the park. Kaguya was extremely envious of Tsunade freaking Senju who decided it was her job to goad her by visiting Rei''s chambers every. Damn. Night. While being extremely loud...

    Any attempt to relieve her frustrations waspletely useless. In the end, it was just arge concentration of chakra.

    She felt cheated...

    "Tayuya is a very talented kid." Rei smiled, ignoring the slightly hostile tone of Kaguya, "In the past few weeks, she took to her studies like a fish to water. She is no longer restricted to only doing illusions through her chakra-infused sounds."

    "Echolocation?" Ringo raised her eyebrow.

    "Yup. It was the first thing that was taught to her." Rei nodded.

    Echolocation was a quite basic ''sensing'' technique Rei and Konan invented during their youth. They did not use it much, not after they surpassed a certain limit in their power and devised better ways.

    The reason why Ringo was aware of it was that she had to spend two damned months practicing it to perfection when she was genin... only to find out it was mostly useless for her when she was finished.

    Sometimes she just had to hate the tough love of her definitely ''not'' sadistic senseis.

    "And with the girl''s affinity for sounds, she learned it in a day." Rei nonchntly added, eagerly watching Ringo''s reaction with the corner of his eye.

    He was not left disappointed.

    Ringo''s face scrunched as if she ate a particrly nasty lemon.

    ''One day!?'' She cursed Tayuya in her head. ''The bitch just earned herself a particrly high position on my shit list.'' She disgruntledly decided.

    Were her two months of suffering so meaningless?

    "Yeah, you should have seen her." A new voice suddenly interjected as Tsunade leisurely walked in, stretching like a cat, "Rei just had to exin certain concepts to the girl and she found out how to create shockwaves via her sound all by herself." She shook her head in disbelieving amusement, "The girl has potential to reach SS-rank."

    "SS-rank..." Ringo''s jaw dropped.

    In the Vige on the Other Side, S-ranks were not rare. The vige had over thirty of them. After that came SS-ranks and after them SSS-rank which was basically just Rei and his girls. To hear that the weak low-jonin level girl who loved to cuss had the natural talent to reach SS-rank was mind-boggling for Ringo.

    To be fair, even Konan and Tsunade reacted in much the same way as Ringo when they first realized this fact. They just had enough time toe to terms with it.

    "I can''t help but find it funny. Orochimaru has no idea what a gem that girl is." Tsunade derisively snorted. "He made her train in genjutsu when she could possibly use the very same amount of chakra to st through chakra-reinforced walls as she would for a mid-ss illusion. Her shockwaves are just pure bullshit, I tell you." She disgruntledly huffed at thest part, making Ringo extremely curious about the reason for her mild agitation.

    "It works on a very simr principle as her enhanced strength." Rei hinted at the reason for Tsunade''s displeasure, "And our resident med-nin is still mad that a wet-behind-her-ears girl managed to recreate the effects of her super-strength through soundwaves AND can use it as a ranged attack."

    Tsunade rolled her eyes as she arrived behind Rei and eagerly put her hands on his shoulders, starting to massage him. She could instantly feel the surge of his water-natured chakra entering her system and slightly shuddered.

    She loved to give her beloved a proper massage. With his long working hours on seals, he always had stiff shoulders. That Rei made it his duty to make the massage as pleasurable for Tsunade as it was for him... that only made it that much sweeter for Tsunade.

    "I am not mad the girl''s Jutsu is a version of my super-strength that took me years of research, study of the body, and physical training to develop. Nor am I mad she figured out how to use it to a great effect in under three days." Tsunade nonchntly said but nobody in the room believed the bullshit she just spewed. "I, however, am not sure I liked the way she looked at Rei after he introduced her to these concepts of how sound works. She looked a bit too lovestruck for my tastes."

    ''Scratch that. The bitch just earned herself the top position on my shit list.'' Ringo''s eyebrow twitched.

    "You are just mildly jealous." Konan also entered the room, and with that, the gathering was finished as Mei was currently too busy being Mei. "I, for one, like the overeager vulgar girl. She is precious."

    "And that is why you put her into Izumi''s hands? I thought you wanted to traumatize her for life." Kaguya snickered and Konan gave her a pointed look as she flopped into an armchair near the sofa.

    ''Ouch. Maybe I should lower her ranking on my shit list, after all.'' Ringo mentally hummed, feeling a sudden pity for the poor Tayuya.

    "Izumi is not that bad." Konan exasperatedly defended with a peeved expression. She trained the girl herself! There was nothing wrong with her!

    "Are we speaking of the girl who thinks using Tsukuyomi torture for mental training is a totally eptable training method?" Pakura decided to butt in.

    "You mean the girl whose idea of training our troops is having them fight against her fully formed Susanoo?" Tsunade dryly asked.

    "The Uchihas literally avoid her and call her the seconding of Madara because of her sadistic nature." Ringo added her own fifty cents in deadpan.

    Kaguya just munched on her cookies, each bite transmitting her utter disbelief at what she just heard Konan say.

    Silence momentarily ensued in the room and Konan frowned. She still couldn''t understand where the problem was. Izumi was such a gentle and clumsy girl. It wasn''t as if she used different training than she put Ringo and Mei through and they turned out just fine.

    "Ahem, anyway..." Rei decided to change the topic, "Let''s start the meeting. You can bicker about your apprentices'' questionable tendenciester on."

    He liked the girl but he was not about to discuss Izumi''s unreasonable training methods born from Konan''s tutge. He didn''t want to be forced to admit into Konan''s face that having chunins fight against fully-formed Susanoo was a bit overkill. Nor was sending their mangled bodies for a two-week-long stay at the hospital despite the incredible medical advancements the vige had.

    Well, at least there was not much his ninjas feared after that experience. Tsukuyomi for the win....

 Chapter 343 - Ch343. The Family Gathering 2

    <h4>Chapter 343 - Ch343. The Family Gathering 2</h4>

    "We came together to discuss the Chunin Exams." Rei reminded his women and instantly noticed how the room quieted down as Pakura, Ringo, Tsunade, and Konan started looking at each other warily, measuring each other''s reaction.

    They each had a vige under their thumb, even Konan who was sending a team from the Vige on the Other Side in the guise of Uzushiogakure team, and apparently, this Chunin Exam was a prime opportunity for a gentlewomanly dick-measuring contest.

    Rei wryly smiled and his eyes briefly met Kaguya''s, ''They are really into it.'' He suddenly heard her unbothered voice through their mental connection as she munched on a sandwich.

    ''Well, they have quite high stakes in the event.'' Rei chuckled. He found it quite amusing. His wives, some of the strongest people in the Elemental Nations, couldn''t settle their differences by fighting because it would cause too much coteral damage and so, they decided to simply use their viges'' teams for the Chunin Exams.

    ''Bets?'' Kaguya cutely tilted her head.

    ''Yeah, foot massages, back rubs, a coupon that could be used to force the one who issued it to do your paperwork for you. Stuff like that.'' Rei shrugged, not really caring. His wives did fight sometimes but it was never serious. This betting was more to amuse themselves than an actual conflict in the house.

    Rei was actually more worried his wives would sumb to Tsunade''s bad gambling habit. Even now, the woman still visited a casino at least once a month and utterly squandered her monthly gambling limit.

    If Rei wasn''t so rich thanks to the Biri-Biri Company and the Uzushio Trading Company, he would be unable to even afford mashed potatoes with Tsunade as his wife.

    ''Sounds dumb.'' Kaguya deadpanned. She didn''t see any point in betting on such insignificant events.

    ''It''s just a game.'' Rei rolled his eyes at her. There was no real concept of gambling in her era. In fact, there were many things Kaguya simply did not understand, concepts that felt foreign to her, and sometimes even concepts she named differently after Rei exined what he meant. It was frankly an interesting sh of cultures. Rei had a perfect way to show Kaguya why this gambling was so interesting to his girls, ''Wouldn''t you join if Konan''s special cookies were one of the prices?''

    ''Oh...'' Kaguya momentarily stopped eating and frowned, hervender eyes slightly widening and gaining an interested glint for a second before they again turned into impassivity as she realized that, ''Meh, I can get them for free anyway.'' She sent Rei a mental message that almost made him do a spit-take.

    ''What a picture-perfect freeloader.'' He thought with a twitching eyebrow, not sending this to Kaguya through their connection.

    Suddenly, Rei noticed he and Kaguya were the center of attention from his four wives who watched them with keen interest.

    "What?" He asked, feeling quite awkward from the undue attention.

    "Well... you are having a silent conversation with Kaguya as if you were a long-married couple. We are just wondering if we should start teaching her some harsh realities of our sisterhood." Konan quipped, her eyes secretly giving Kaguya a pondering look.

    Rei knew that look well. He didn''t even need to get a bad premonition. He instantly knew she was about to say something utterly embarrassing.

    "Then again, our little stalker rabbit seems to learn well by observing." She jokingly added, hinting at all the time Kaguya used her mental connection to watch Rei''s intimate moments with his girls.

    Kaguya became crimson red, silently averting her eyes and staying quiet while pretending she didn''t hear Konan''s teasing. She only slightly huffed and focused on munching on her carrot.

    ''And just like that, Konan again safeguarded her dominance.'' Rei thought in disbelief. With just a few words, Kaguya epted her defeat. Rei was aware the Rabbit Goddess had yet no idea what that would mean for the future rtionship dynamics but he could already predict it. He saw the same thing happen with his other wives.

    What good was all that overwhelming power for Kaguya when a few words managed to cow her into, to her yet unknown, submission?

    Rei exasperatedly gave Konan a meaningful look. It was far too soon for these kinds of games when it came to Kaguya.

    Or... was it?

    Rei had no idea. Maybe him thinking along those lines already meant that the time was just right. And wasn''t that an incredible revtion for Rei? He indeed felt something for her.

    ''Did I really unknowingly develop an attachment to Kaguya?'' Rei furrowed his brows as his eyes subtly nced at the white-haired woman. Only now did he realize that sharing a mental connection twenty-four-seven might have had some unexpected consequences.

    Understanding the meaning behind Rei''s look, Konan''s lips mirthfully twitched before she turned back to the other girls, "Well, since our esteemed freeloader is embarrassed enough, let''s return to the original topic, shall we? I''d say my team will win the Chunin Exams quite easily. I really have to thank you, Ringo, for bringing me the Uzumaki kid."

    Ringo nkly blinked, the gears in her mind slowly turning before her eyes widened as she understood what Konan meant. "Fuck you! You can''t do that! That''s basically cheating!" She incredulously protested.

    "Wait, you are seriously making Tayuya the part of your genin team? That''s ridiculous! The girl is almost low S-rank with her sound shockwaves!" Even Tsunade was exasperated.

    Konan smirked, "We are ninjas. We don''t y fair. So what if I am going to send Karin, Kimimaro, and Tayuya." She shamelessly said with a wide innocent smile stretched on her lips that proimed to the world her victory.

    Ringo, Pakura, and Tsunade became instantly quiet, capable of only staring in deadpan at Konan. They had a hard time believing what the woman just uttered.

    "You do realize it is going to be the Chunin Exams, don''t you? It is meant for genins." Tsunade exasperatedly pointed out.

    "They are still genins ording to the vige ranks." Konan sincerely nodded and Tsunade''s eye twitched.

    ''Karin Uzumaki, the most talented Uzumaki of this generation who inherited not only Mind''s Eye of Kagura but also Uzumaki Chains and Uzumaki healing chakra. The second she meets Uzumaki Naruto...'' Tsunade couldn''t help but wince at that. The boy would surely annoy the hell out of Karin with her being an Uzumaki and whatnot and while he was a beast with his jinchuuriki chakra cloak, Karin had her Uzumaki chains. ''Rest in piec-, ahem, I mean in peace, Naruto. At least Kimimaro is a level-headed one.''

    "Oh don''t look at me like that!" Konan eximed after she felt five sets of eyes boring into her, "You, Pakura, have no right to judge me for this! You might have forgotten but I am the spymaster here and I am fully aware you intend to send your apprentice as part of the main Suna team."

    "You are sending Temari!? She is one of your best ANBU! How can you send her as a genin to these exams, you sand-eating bitch!?" Ringo barely refrained from shouting in hysteria. She had high stakes in their little bettingpetition but her sister-wives seemed to be hell-bent on cheating!

    "As Konan-senpai so nicely put it... She is technically still a genin in the vige ranks." Pakura smugly shrugged. "Not my problem your head is filled only with forging and swords. You should have taken an apprentice too, fish-head."

    Ringo huffed and petntly crossed her arms on her chest. ''At the time it seemed such a good idea to decline. To think it woulde to bite me in the ass! How are Haku, Chojuro, and Utakata supposed to win now?''

    Frankly, Utakata should be already jonin with his current skills and Haku was not far off either. Ringo thought they would be enough for a measly Chunin Exam. Now she could only pray their opponents would slip in the middle of the match and fall on their faces, knocking themselves out. Quite improbable.

    Or... was it?

    The gears in Ringo''s head started turning, ns and schemes forming. If her sister-wives want to cheat, then so be it!

    "You are nning to send all three Sabaku siblings as one team, aren''t you?" Rei mirthfully asked Pakura, already knowing the answer. Now that was overkill if he ever saw one.

    "Well, if I want to beat Konan at her own game, I have to do my best to cheat my way through." Pakura smirked with satisfaction and snuggled closer to Rei again. Inwardly, she was not as reassured of her own victory. Konan really pulled all stops on shamelessness in this one but Pakura liked to think her kids had a decent chance. They grew exponentially during these past years, and she would be damned if she didn''t show them off.

    As she looked at the depressed Ringo, Tsunade couldn''t help but feel a small measure of pity for her. The redhead was never one for scheming but Tsunade didn''t think this was where Ringo would bow out. Far from it. Ringo was too stubborn for that.

    ''I am so d I didn''t bet on Team Seven...'' Tsunade felt smug about her own ingenuity.

    Why bet on a team from her own vige when she is fully aware of Konan''s personality? She knew the blute would y dirty from the start. She led the Biri-Biripany alongside her for more than a decade now and as they say, old habits die hard.

    For Tsunade, betting on Konan''s team was an obvious choice.. She was actually highly curious if she would still lose the bet anyway, no longer really caring for victory or loss.

 Chapter 344 - Ch344. Date In Takigakure

    <h4>Chapter 344 - Ch344. Date In Takigakure</h4>

    Rei and Tsunade in her guise of the dark-skinned Nadetsu Juusen walked the streets of Takigakure, hand in hand as they enjoyed the bustling atmosphere of the streets with various stalls where merchants tried to sell their wares.

    For a ninja vige, Takigakure was oddly weird, yet familiar. They clearly tried to imitate Konoha''s way of doing things if the number of merchants and civilians inside the vige was any indication but it was also obvious they simply failed to imitate everything.

    The overall strength of their ninjas, for one, was quite pitiful.

    s, while the couple could not just turn off their instincts and NOT notice these things, they indeed did their best to ignore it and casually enjoy their time together.

    "This is quite tasty, try it." Tsunade''s eyes lit up as she took a bite from Takigakure''s special takoyaki before gently putting the stick in front of Rei, beckoning him to try with a wide expectant look.

    ''She is too cute for her own good.'' Rei smiled and took a bite as Tsunade turned them around and pulled him back towards the stall with the takoyaki before buying five more sticks.

    "If you are hungry, we can go to a proper restaurant." He said before patting her head, making her puff out her quickly reddening cheeks like a squirrel. "You know, somewhere where we could sit down and cuddle a bit while eating." He temptingly added.

    Hearing that, Tsunade deted and embarrassedly nodded in consent. "Just give me a moment."

    Seeing a pair of kids nearby, Tsunade briefly let go of Rei''s hand and approached them. She didn''t really need five takoyaki sticks if they were going to a restaurant. A momentter, she returned to Rei, three takoyaki sticks lighter, and gave one of the remaining two to him as she again took a hold of his arm and snuggled into his side.

    "Onwards, then!" She eximed with a grin before starting to munch on the meat on her stick.

    Rei amusedly shook his head, finding her unbothered attitude funny. Especially since they were followed and observed almost from the second they entered the vige. Tsunade''s persona of Nadetsu Juusen was an internationally known woman with a lot of pull, both political and economic. It was only natural the leader of Takigakure would instantly order his men to follow her and try to find out the reason for her visit so he could attempt to gain some benefits from it.

    Tsunade obviously knew about their little stalkers but since she was on a date with Rei, she didn''t care. If they crossed the line, however...

    Both Rei and Tsunade decided to be extremely frustrating for their observers and the current leader of Takigakure, Shibuki, who probably expected Nadetsu to pay him a visit. They slowly walked through the vige, buying things like plushies, make-up, clothes... just like any ordinary couple on a vacation, giving no indication that they were present for a business deal or anything simr.

    Having somebody like Nadetsu visiting and being unable to even greet her properly withouting off as pushy and potentially making her disgruntled... the vige leader must have been quite aggravated and nervous.

    Needless to say, Tsunade enjoyed making the boy squirm in his seat quite a lot, making sure to enjoy her time with Rei to the fullest, and being extremely affectionate. That way, she not only got the most out of her date but also got the satisfaction of watching how dismayed their observers were, not knowing how to invite her for a chat with their leader without offending her.

    In the end, the duo eventually ended up in a booth of one of the high-ss restaurants in the vige.

    Tsunade sat on Rei''sp and snuggled her back into his chest much to the dismay of the poor waitress who was selected to serve their booth. Rei had his arms around her waist and leaned his head over her shoulders to read the menu in Tsunade''s hand, their cheeks affectionately nuzzled together as they enjoyed the warm and quiet atmosphere.

    "We... aren''t really choosing, are we?" Tsunade giggled, realizing they were staring at the menu for thest twenty minutes, not moving an inch from their position.

    "I suppose not." Rei tightened his hold on her. "Even with the menu in front of me, it is kinda hard to concentrate on it with such a delicacy just an eye-flicker away." Tsunade wearing a sexy loose-ish kimono was quite the problem for Rei. One that Tsunade clearly felt and enjoyed, considering the hardening of a particr part of his body on which she currently sat.

    "Pervert." Tsunade teasingly whispered and subtly wiggled her butt, making Rei almost let out a moan.

    "You are one to talk." He gently chided into her ear, causing a shiver to run up her spine. Rei could see she was starting to get excited from the way she bit her lower lip. Unfortunately for him, he had to cut the mood short. He was not keen on bending Tsunade over the table in front of the waitress. "But we should already order food or the girl in the corner will faint from embarrassment."

    Tsunade pouted but obediently listened. They both picked their food and ryed their orders to the waitress. As she left the booth with their orders, Tsunade turned towards Rei, "Faint from embarrassment, my ass. You do realize what kind of restaurant this is, don''t you? If you demanded it, she would join." She rolled her eyes.

    "And then you would kill her for it." Rei chuckled, "I like to think myself not desperate enough to visit high-end restaurants to have my wicked ways with the waitresses. That''s honestly below me and I have no idea why they even provide that kind of service." He shook his head. Sometimes the medieval-like mentality of his world still surprised him. "You girls are enough for me."

    "Eh~, is that why you not-so-subtly intend to make Kaguya our new sister?" Tsunade teased. She didn''t really mind overly much. As long as Rei didn''t neglect her, it was fine by her. It really helped that Rei put more effort into keeping his girls happy than his actual work in the vige.

    "Well, that''s not my fault. It kinda just... happened." Rei helplessly shrugged.

    "I see. The same way I, Mei, Ringo, and Pakura just happened, huh?" Tsunade amusedly giggled.

    "Mhm. Can''t argue about that." Rei straightforwardly stated and kissed Tsunade''s cheek.

    "Looking for you and Konan was the best thing that happened to me in my life." Tsunade said, shuffling in Rei''sp to turn around enough to face him. Her hands clutched at Rei''s shirt as she looked straight into his eyes, "I am very d that I ''kinda just happened''." She smiled and leaned forward, nting a quick kiss on Rei''s lips. "I am sure you can make that grumpy Goddess happy again."

    "You know she can hear you, right?" The corner of Rei''s lips twitched.

    Rei would normally cut the mental connection with Kaguya but she made sure to ask for permission from Tsunade to ''eavesdrop'' on them during their date because she was extremely curious about it. He had no idea why Tsunade agreed but she did.

    "I do. That''s why I called her grumpy. I tried to be polite to the harlot." Tsunade cutely nodded, unable to suppress her smirk, and Rei sighed as his head was filled with the impression of pouting and disgruntlement. He decided to make Tsunade feel a bit of it so he put his forehead on hers and connected her mind to the connection with Kaguya...

    "She is quite butt-hurt, isn''t she?" Tsunade smugly smirked when she felt Kaguya''s feelings bleeding through the connection.

    "You would be too, after spending a millennium in a seal." Rei tried to y it off. He didn''t need Kaguya raging, huffing, and puffing in his head for the rest of the day.

    "I know. I am just a bit angry that she can spend all of her time with you thanks to the mental connection." Tsunade confessed and the couple fell silent.

    Rei and Tsunade stared into each other''s eyes, their foreheads connected, hugging each other. There was no need for more words. The wonder of the mental connection was that it was capable of rying feelings and emotions. While it also sent these emotions to Kaguya, right now, neither Rei nor Tsunade cared as they flooded the other with their care and love for each other.

    Poor Kaguya was rendered a blushing wistful mess without either of the two lovers even noticing.

    ---

    Author Note (and rant that is as usual longer than the chapter):

    Okay, I have noticed people discussing the upper power levels in this fanfic and how it works since I forgot to exin it so I decided to enlighten you, noobs!

    And don''t give me hate when you disagree, please.

    (Yes, I said please because I got manners and shit.)

    Anyway. I said there are S-ranks, SS-ranks and SSS-ranks. No, this is not linked with any kind of self-made power level you may or may not have created. And yes, I say self-made as there is no such thing as official power level scaling in Naruto canon.

    Genin, Chunin, Jonin, Sannin, ANBU, Kage are not power levels. They are titles and ranks. They don''t have much to do with power level. Chunin could be jonin level but also genin level, same as jonin can be S-rank ninja since there is no higher rank than jonin in the viges.

    An example would be Anko who could definitely be Jonin in canon. If Kurenai could pass the tests, then Anko could ace them too. But politics...

    You get my drift yet?

    Writers use genin, chunin, jonin, etc, exactly because Narutoverse doesn''t have power scaling. The closest thing we got is S-rank which means stronger than your usual jonin chump. These are the real special individuals one should fear but even then... Hidan is S-rank same as Pain. So... there goes using it as any sort of power scaling.

    You can''t use bounties either because depending on the crimemitted, a genin could have been given a bounty worth of jonin.

    Also, Kage level. What does it exactly mean when somebody is Kage level? Kage is a freaking title! Sure, it is ''assumed'' that Kages are stronger than other ninjas in the vige but just look at Rasa! Or at the fact, Gaara became a Kage before even reaching fifteen. Or look at Danzo as Kage and thenpare him to Eight Gates Gai. How am I supposed to use that as power scaling with cases like this?

    Do I mean Madara level, Hiruzen level, Raikage level, or Rasa level when I say Kage? Or do I mean Terumi Mei level from canon?

    It just doesn''t work...

    So, I have a simple system. S-rank in my story is around S-ranks in canon as are the earlier ranks. It also means that one''s specialization, experience, hidden trump cards actually matter. But S-rank firepower or capability means being ced in S-rank even if onecks experience. This will be slightly relevantter in one chapter.

    Also, most Kages are S-rank.

    Don''t even try to argue that point. Most of Akatsuki are just S-ranks and they can definitely match Kages. Again, there is no such thing as ''Kage level''.

    SS-rank in my story is Madara/Hashirama/Pain... of course, they are not on the same level but they all fall into this category.

    I get the hype around Madara and Hashirama but they are not really as strong as people are making them out to be in their fanboy-driven delusions. They are definitely the pinnacle of ninjas but... they have nothing on Hagoromo, Hamura, final form Naruto and Sasuke.

    (And I don''t mean Six Path Madara because that is different from his original power level)

    Hence, they are SS-rank but it is not as easily quantified because they all have their tricks and specializations.

    As for SSS-rank where Rei and his girls are... well, they have their own bijuus they can fully use! If you need a blunt assessment, they are around the level of final form Naruto and Sasuke.

    Therefore far above Madara and Hashirama.

    First of all, the Madara we are seeing in the Fourth Ninja War is NOT showing his real strength. He has Edo Tensei body and with it, infinite chakra, stamina, and indestructible body in peak condition. Of course, he would perform far above his usual paygrade with that. With all the Jutsus he used, he should have been spent thrice over by the time he was resurrected for real.

    You gotta consider this angle, at the very least.

    Now, Kaguya is obviously much stronger than even this SSS rank. Call it me simping but... yeah, you would probably be right but I have my reasons, alright!?

    You can not scale Kaguya properly ording to Naruto and definitely not ording to the Boruto series.

    You can''t just give the girl capability to create dimensions and then make her power level as low as it was in the series. Just... use some damnmon sense, please.

    Creating whole dimensions is definitely a Dimensional Level of power. That''s like... far aboveary, no?

    I can agree she is weak but not because she doesn''t have the necessary power in her. Shecks control.

    But okay, let''s say she is not a dimensional level butary level to make those skeptical satisfied.

    And I am not going lower because the bullshit she showed in the final fight can''t be rated lower if one usesmon sense. Especially not when one considers that''s her untrained and controlcking self.

    Creating dimensions, reality-bending, traveling between dimensions, instant-annihtion on hit ability, do I need to go on?

    In neither fight, nor the one she had with Hagoromo and Hamura or the one she had with Naruto and Sasuke, she did not get a scratch. Yes, theynded hits on her but she was never injured and she barely moved in these fights!

    In the end, they had to seal her. And the word ''seal'' matters. They did not ''defeat'' her. They sealed her.

    Which is a form of defeat but it is not as if they had beaten her in a fight. Far from it, actually.

    Kaguya''s problem is that she never really explored her powers, taking what she could do instinctively for granted and thinking it was the end of it. She never trained, thinking in her arrogance she was powerful enough.

    I mean, even an academy student can do Kawarimi but Jonins can do it with much less chakra required and without hand seals. Because they trained!

    Look at what Kaguya can do without training and then think about her trained self.

    From what little of her powers she has shown during her fight against final form Naruto and Sasuke, if one takes into ount what she actually does and thinks what the techniques she uses and their effects really say about her prowess... I have a hard time believing Kaguya is not the most powerful thing in the entire Narutoverse.

    I don''t take into ount the crap called Boruto. If the Otsutsuki n is more powerful than Kaguya then Naruto''s is toast. There is no need for hundreds of chapters of anime. The ending is obvious. It wouldn''t matter how many power-ups Boruto can get. Not when fighting against somebody capable of busting an entire. Because Kaguya might not have explored her powers in their entirety but the other Otsutsuki definitely would have.

    But yes, this is just my own bias. Don''t take it too seriously.

    Back to my petnt rant about Kaguya''s OPness...

    Where did I end? Oh, yeah, I remember... And that is not even mentioning the fact Hagoromo was basically just a budget version of Kaguya! What he could do with Rinnegan, Kaguya would certainly be able to do better considering Hagoromo''s father was just a normal human. Hagoromo and Hamura''s powers came entirely from Kaguya and they were a form of a bloodline. Which was diluted in them because of the blood of their father.

    Hagoromo just explored his powers, unlike Kaguya.

    Well, that''s my rant and yeah, I feel better now after getting it out of my system.

    Have a good day!

 Chapter 345 - Ch345. Meeting The Leader Of Takigakure

    <h4>Chapter 345 - Ch345. Meeting The Leader Of Takigakure</h4>

    Rei and Tsunade finished their luxurious lunch, feeding each other in a silent,fortable, and warm atmosphere, concluding their date for the day.

    They didn''te all the way to Takigakure to eat lunch together. That would be silly considering they had entire viges under theirmand. Naturally, they had their own agenda ining to Takigakure and now that they had their fun, it was time for business.

    "Do be a dear and tell your leader we are ready for the meeting." Tsunade turned towards the waitress and calmly spoke, startling the girl who just realized her cover was busted.

    "I... okay." The waitress nodded with a small grimace before turning towards the door and hastily walking out. Since she was found out, there was no need to deny it.

    Seeing the woman leave the booth, Tsunade, still sitting on Rei''sp, expectantly looked at him, "Do we leave him waiting for us some more?" She asked with a sultry smile, leaning closer to him. "After all, these booths are so spacious for a reason."

    Rei just smirked and various seals suddenly burst from underneath him, covering the entire room and preventing anyone from looking or entering inside.

    "Well, I am sure an hour of waiting won''t kill him." Rei said, his hands around Tsunade''s waist pulling her body closer to him before Tsunade''s lipsnded on his in a passionate struggle.

    Needless to say, he was d that he brought the device for the automatic deployment of his advanced silencing and barrier seals with him. They were definitely going to see some use right about now.

    ...

    The young Shibuki, the new leader of Takigakure, looked at the two people in front of him with a twitching eyebrow, biting into his inner cheek to stop himself from being... cheeky.

    It was two hours ago when Taki kunoichi informed him that Nadetsu Juusen is finally ready to meet with him. So... he made sure to order some snacks to be prepared and waited. And waited. And waited some more...

    His frustration was building up by the second and when an entire hour passed, he decided to send someone to check on the sted woman. Contrary to his expectations, that did not help at all as they apparently could not enter the booth. HIS own ninjas were unable to enter a room in HIS vige.

    The security concerns this caused... Shibuki really didn''t want to think about it.

    Unfortunately, now that he had the woman in front of him... entire two hours after she informed him she was ready for the visit... Shibuki knew he could not be impolite to her. She was the president of one of thergest international tradingpanies in the world. Even the Kages of the major five hidden viges and Daimyos would mind their manners in front of her!

    That didn''t make the situation any less annoying for Shibuki though. Nor did the fact that Shibuki could inly see what exactly was the reason for her two hours dy. The amused man to whom she was clinging to as she sat on hisp while almost glowing was a clear indication!

    Shibuki was jeal... ahem, he was angry at being made to wait for such a reason!

    Unknown to Shibuki, Tsunade made sure she was presentable but also that her clothes gave small hints any ninja worth his salt could pick that revealed what she was doing with Rei while he waited. After all, unnerving and frustrating her opponent always worked in her favor no matter the method.

    This usually could not be used against civilians who were not observant enough but Shibuki was a ninja. And Tsunade knew from experience that it is those small ''hidden'' details that can be the most maddening as there is no way for him toin about it even if he wanted to.

    After all, how should he bring up the topic of her beingte due to having sex? In ''politepany'' such topics were taboo. Any reservation Shibuki could have had, anyint at all, had to be begrudgingly put to the side the second he realized the reason for her dy.

    If he did not ignore it, he woulde off as crude and uncultured, plus it could sour future rtions. It was one of those damned if do and damned if don''t kinds of situations and from the stiff expression on Shibuki''s face, the young man clearly realized he simply had to suck it up and pretend he was not just made a fool.

    "Wee to Takigakure, Miss Juusen, and..." Shibuki greeted them with stiff politeness, pausing his gaze at Rei in a questioning manner.

    "Yotsuba Rei." Rei introduced himself, not worrying about being recognized through his name. Takigakure didn''t possess a good enough information gathering department to get his name from Kirigakure''s records.

    Shibuki nodded in acknowledgment before returning his eyes back at Tsunade, "What do I owe such a..." His lips twitched in annoyance. Yes, Nadetsu Juusen could possibly bring a lot of benefits to his vige but damn if the woman was not infuriating! "pleasant visit?"

    Tsunade''s lips stretched into a wide but polite smile at that, "Don''t worry, Lord Takikage. I am not here to bother you withpany business. This visit is more of a personal matter, you see." She cheerfully said, almost eye-smiling at Shibuki whose grip on his armrest tightened.

    ''Trantion, I am not here to make a deal that would benefit your vige. I wasted your whole day for the kicks and giggles. Tehe~.'' Shibuki thought as his left eye started to twitch more.

    "Is that so?" Shibuki hummed, discreetly taking a deep breath to center himself. "Since you are visiting me, I assume this ''personal matter'' has to do something to do with either the vige or me. Am I correct?"

    "Yes." Tsunade simply nodded, keeping her polite smile on her face.

    ''Yes what!?'' Shibuki mentally grumbled. ''Would it kill her to simply tell me what she friggin wants with me!? How am I supposed to inquire about her business here if she doesn''t throw me a verbal bone!?'' He inwardly raged while outwardly his expression was the perfect picture of politeness, only the twitching of his fingers betraying his mental state.

    ''Heh, young people. So easily provoked.'' Tsunade thought. She only wanted to test Shibuki since he was not the same person who led Takigakure a decade ago when she was here thest time. She wanted to get some measure on how he would react to the reason for her visit before she brought the issue up. ''Well, at least he tries to hide his own impulsiveness. Let''s see the extent of his self-restraint. Will it survive his ego?''

    "If you don''t mind me asking... aren''t you a tad bit too young to lead an entire vige?" Tsunade ''curiously'' asked as if she had a vested interest in the answer while intently observing Shibuki''s reaction.

    Hearing the question, Shibuki blinked and opened his mouth to answer only to close it a secondter, utterly speechless. How was he supposed to answer that?

    Rei, who observed from the sidelines, almost felt pity for the young man who was being verbally roasted by his wife. There was a reason why Tsunade was chosen as Konan''s recement in the Biri-Biripany. She was simply too vicious when she wanted to be.

    In the end, Shibuki decided to just mentally shrug and humbly say, "I was chosen after my father''s demise. Young or not, I can only do my best, Miss Juusen."

    Rei slightly smiled at that, ''That was a good answer and an even better reaction. Neither overbearing and offended nor submissive and bootlicking. He is ying his disinterest in the benefits Tsunade could bring to Takigakure quite nicely.''

    Tsunade''s eyes slightly widened, ''Ho~, a humble young man, isn''t he?'' She noted, pleased. ''Good. That will probably make it much easier for me. I would loathe having to ughter the entire vige just because their new leader is a young arrogant moron with a massive ego. I can work with this.''

    Nodding, Tsunade chuckled, "That''s admirable. Forgive my straightforwardness but I just had to make sure you are worth my time." She calmly said and Rei almost did a spit-take when he heard that sentence.

    THAT was something one should never say in these kinds of negotiations.

    Did Tsunade care though? Not at all. Just because Shibuki was an ''admirable'' young man didn''t mean she would stop irritating him and probing the limits of his patience through her words. Especially since it was so much fun!

    Shibuki tried to reply with a reassuring smile but it came out somewhat wry and stiff. He really didn''t trust himself to give a verbal reply. He was the leader of Takigakure and what Tsunade said could be taken as, ''I had to make sure Takigakure is worth my time with someone as young as you in the lead.''

    ''Troublesome woman.'' Shibuki inwardly groaned. The words were polite but the meaning could possibly start wars. Just imagine if she told this to Raikage or Tsuchikage with a bit different wording. They would fly instantly off their rocket.

    "Anyway..." Tsunade continued,pletely ignoring Shibuki''s sudden awkwardness, "I am here on behalf of my dear friend. I believe Takigakure and her made a deal decade ago and I am here to finalize it." She reached into her purse and took out a card while Shibuki was furrowing his brows, trying to remember if something like that really happened.

    He was drawing nks. As the leader of Takigakure, he had to get familiar with all the long and short-term deals the vige had but he had no idea what Tsunade was talking about.

    Tsunade simply reached forward and put the card onto Shibuki''s table, waiting for him to take it.

    Seeing that, Shibuki decided to humor her. He didn''t think she was here to scam Takigakure. For that, the woman in front of him had too good of a reputation. At best, this could be some misunderstanding and at worst there really will be some kind of deal.

    Taking the card, Shibuki pulled it to himself and flipped it upside down to read its contents before his horrified gaze snapped back towards Tsunade with breathless urgency, only to see her softly smiling at him and looking at him in the same way a cat looks at mice in her trap.

    Shibuki''s pupils dted and his hand shook as he gulped down his difort and looked back at the card sporting three simple words, still having a hard time believing this was really happening.

    These three words... even now they brought a fearful shudder to every ninja who experienced the biggest crisis of Takigakure in recent history.

    The card stated.... ''Yozora was here.''

 Chapter 346 - Ch346. Agreement And Fuu

    <h4>Chapter 346 - Ch346. Agreement And Fuu</h4>

    Shibuki warily eyed the calm and collected Tsunade who curiously awaited his reaction. "You..." He shifted hisplicated gaze back to the card, "This..." And a tiresome sigh left his lips. "Are you here to steal our jinchuuriki?" He asked resignedly.

    Frankly, Shibuki liked to think he was a realist. Even without the card that basically said there is an SS-rank individual that could level his vige with the surrounding ground supporting Nadetsu Juusen, there was nothing Shibuki could do to the woman. If she was killed in Takigakure, all surrounding nations woulde crashing at his vige like a wave of hungry dogs. The best oue would be to dissuade her with his words but somehow, Shibuki doubted he would be capable of doing that.

    "Steal is such a bad word." Tsunade mirthfully quipped, "I came to check up on the girl. I am sure you know the deal my dear friend," She pointed at the card in Shibuki''s hands, "had with Takigakure."

    Hearing that, Shibuki inwardly grimaced so much it almost spilled onto his expression. ''The deal, huh? More like conditions your dear friend forced us to ept.'' He bitterly thought, smart enough not to voice these thoughts out loud.

    Takigakure''s previous leader, Shibuki''s father, indeed did promise the person supporting Nadetsu Juusen that Fuu would be given to her if the girl was mistreated. But there was no debate about what exactly ''mistreated'' meant. That''s why Shibuki was anxious and resigned, knowing in which direction this meeting would most likely go.

    After all, people like Nadetsu Juusen didn''t travel through several countries just to check on a girl she never even met. People like her sought benefits for their troubles. Shibuki was certain Nadetsu didn''te to Takigakure just to leave empty-handed.

    "I see..." Shibuki''s mind worked overtime toe up with a suitable excuse or a way to dy the inevitable but when after two minutes of silence Nadetsu Juusen lifted her eyebrow at him in a silent question, he could just sigh, "In that case, I will send for Fuu." With a hand gesture, one of the Taki ANBU hiding in the corner of the office quickly left.

    This was his defeat.

    "In the meanwhile, would you be open to discussing a business cooperation between Takigakure and the Biri-Biri Company?"

    But that didn''t mean he couldn''t try to make this bad situation at least somewhat prosperous.

    "Hmm~, good question." Tsunade chuckled and turned to Rei before cutely tilting her head, "Would I?"

    ''She is ying with me.'' Shibuki realized, feeling indignant at how his serious question was turned into yful flirting.

    "Stop messing with the kid." Rei chided as he poked the stomach of the whimsical woman on hisp, causing her to slightly yelp before pouting at him. "Just look at the poor young sod who just wants to better his vige. He is so anxious it is heartbreaking. The least you could do after all this emotional bullying is to throw him a small bone for his sad effort."

    Shibuki''s polite smile faltered at that but he decided to keep silent. After all, the man did insult him but his words were in Takigakure''s favor.

    ''As if it wasn''t enough that the woman is insulting me in a way I can''t refute. Now even her unknown partner does it.'' Shibuki''s left eye twitched. It would have been so much better if he suspected them of having an ulterior motive but Shibuki was mostly sure these two were mean to him simply for the sake of messing with him. It wasn''t even about his young age anymore. If he was an old man, they would probably start throwing retirement jokes at him.

    Tsunade exasperatedly sighed, "Rei, we are just exchanging some professional banter. This is how it is supposed to be in talks between businessmen. Just look at the boy. His indifferent facade didn''t break even once! He clearly knows his shit." She yfully scolded Rei, her lips twitching, wanting to form a shit-eating grin at the hidden indignation present in Shibuki''s eyes.

    ''Professional banter, my ass! Fuck you too, bitch!'' Shibuki got the sudden urge to break his facade just to prove her wrong and scowl at her as a pulsing vein showed on his forehead. It took a long deep breath to calm down.

    "But... cooperation, huh?" Seeing that her fun was over, Tsunade put her pointing finger on her chin in a pondering manner, "I am sure we could agree on something."

    ''Finally!'' Shibuki mentally cheered as if Christmass came sooner this year. "Then, let''s." Outwardly, he just calmly nodded and the discussion between the two started while Rei focused on enjoying the softness of Tsunade''s body on hisp. He wasn''t really interested in this minor business deal.

    Fortunately for Shibuki, the second a business deal was started to be negotiated, Tsunade switched into her business mode and became fully serious.

    A half-hour passed and Shibuki was delightfully pleased with the terms Tsunade offered him and his vige. "Thank you for your consideration, Miss Juusen! You are very kind." He was pleased enough to forget his former irritation...

    "This much is only natural." Tsunade humbly stated, "We both will benefit from the agreement."

    Inwardly, however, she rolled her eyes. ''Well, the least I can do is to give the kid some leeway. I did use him as a verbal punching bag, after all. It''s not like mypany will lose profit from it either. Young leaders these days... Give them some crumbs from the table and they are ready to worship you.'' She amusedly thought.

    Tsunade knew best that viges like Takigakure did not have a lot of resources so the deal she brokered will be very beneficial for the vige so she understood why Shibuki was so grateful. It''s not like the major Five actually offered help to minor viges like Takigakure. In fact, they mostly hindered them in gaining the necessary resources. This deal with the Biri-Biripany was like a Sage-given gift to Shibuki. After all, not even the major five hidden viges would dare to intervene in the matters of the Biri-Biripany in fear of enraging their Daimyos.

    Just as the agreement between Takigakure and the Biri-Biripany was signed, the door opened and a dark-skinned young girl with green hair walked inside the room, gathering the attention of the upants on herself.

    Rei noted that Fuu appeared quite cheerful but his trained eye revealed a different story. Her eyes showed loneliness and the way she moved screamed caution and readiness to flee at the moment''s notice.

    Thankfully, it was not the bodynguage of someone who is heavily physically abused. Both he and Tsunade expected some rough handling of the girl despite the warning Tsunade delivered a decade ago. And their expectations were apparently true if the way the girl behaved was any indication... but as a jinchuuriki, she clearly didn''t have it bad.

    "Hello!" Fuu cheerfully waved her hand at Tsunade and Rei in a greeting before turning towards Shibuki, "You called, Shibuki-chi?"

    Shibuki sighed under his nose at the antics of his resident jinchuuriki and herck of manners. Shaking his head, he answered, "Yes. These two people came here to check up on your well-being. Fuu, Nadetsu Juusen and Rei. Rei, Fuu. Nadetsu Juusen, Fuu." He introduced them to the wide-eyed girl who looked at them with an open mouth, unable toprehend that yes, there were people other than Shibuki concerned about her well-being.

    Normal ninja would get instantly suspicious but Fuu... she only beamed at them.

    Seeing that, Tsunade kindly smiled at the tense jinchuuriki who was looking at her with eyes full of excitement. "Hello, Fuu. I heard various rumors about you during my shopping spree today."

    ''So this meeting between us was just a formality for her.'' Shibuki''s cheek twitched as his eyes darkened. ''The date she had with Rei was just a way for her to scout the rumors in the vige. Damn this crafty fox.''

    "Is that so?" Fuu tilted her head, the excitement in her eyes dimming a bit after hearing what Tsunade said. She knew the rumors about her and none was good. It made her dejected that her next offer will probably be rejected but Fuu decided to try anyway. She cheerfully smiled, something that came naturally to her and she could by now make it actually seem real instead of fake, and spoke. "Would you be my friend?"

    "I will do you one better, Fuu-chan." Tsunade smirked.

    She knew the next part would utterly annoy Shibuki, if not drive him to a heart attack, and probably put Fuu into aa of happiness. She also made sure to insert a dramatic pause and only started to speak again when Fuu curiously leaned forward with an expectant gaze and Shibuki finally broke his indifferent facade and showed a small frown. Inwardly satisfied with the reactions, Tsunade eye-smiled.

    "I will adopt you!"

 Chapter 347 - Ch347. Leaving Takigakure

    <h4>Chapter 347 - Ch347. Leaving Takigakure</h4>

    Needless to say, neither Shibuki nor Fuu was prepared for Tsunade''s statement.

    The difference between the two was that while Shibuki, for the first time since Rei met the boy, dropped all pretenses and outwardly freaked out, his head snapping towards Tsunade with a wide-eyed look full of bewilderment and disbelief, Fuu seemed to totally nk out.

    "What? You don''t want to be adopted?" Tsunade mock-frowned at the utterck of reaction from the jinchuuriki.

    Contrary to everyone''s expectations, the perpetually cheerful girl actually became quiet instead of instantly jumping at the offer.

    Shibuki would have never thought he would see Fuu being silent. He, however, did note that the girl threw him a brief questioning, and much to his chagrin, almost hopeful look as if asking what to do. It was obvious from the longing in her eyes that Fuu wanted to cheerfully exim eptance but Shibuki also understood that Fuu of all people knew how painful it would be if this hope of hers was betrayed.

    That... and the girl probably did have at least a small measure of loyalty, if not to the vige, then to him.

    "Fuu... it''s fine." Shibuki reluctantly assuaged the girl''s worries in a weak tone. He knew he would be losing his jinchuuriki today anyway and he already gained some deals so there was no real need to make this more painful and longer than it needed to be. "They are really here to offer you a new home."

    "A home where you won''t be discriminated against because of being a jinchuuriki." Tsunade pipped in before Fuu could process what Shibuki told her ande up with her own doubts.

    Fuu''s expression scrunched and the gears in her head were visibly turning, if a bit slowly at that admission.

    ''Did I perhaps misread the girl? She looks simr to Naruto so I went with the reckless knuckleheaded approach but...'' Tsunade was starting to worry that her blunt blurting out what was going to happen was not working as intended but...

    Fuu''s pondering expression suddenly eased up and a small listless smile appeared on her face, "I... is there really such a ce?" She carefully asked, trying to muster up her usual facade of cheerfulness, fidgeting from nervousness.

    "Yes." This time it was Rei who answered, "You will even have some people in a simr situation like you to help you get settled down in Yozora."

    Tsunade''s eyes slightly widened and gained a subtle calcting glint as she wondered why he revealed that while Shibuki''s eyes snapped towards Rei as the revtion they had other jinchuuriki hit him like a train. His mind started quickly going through the information avable to him, trying to find out which. He only managed to guess they had Nibi but Rei sounded as if there were ''people'' as in multiple.

    With the corner of his eyes, Rei noticed how deep in his thoughts Shibuki was and inwardly smirked, ''That should force him to investigate. And we all know that a small-time vige such as Takigakure is shit at covert investigation considering their spy infestation problem. All Five Major Hidden Viges will know about this in less than a week which means Akatsuki will get the memo in under a week and a half. Let them waste their time looking into Yozora. Less possibility of them interfering in the uing conflict this way.'' He chuckled, wondering to what extent his little ploy would work.

    Well, it was just a few simple words. It certainly didn''t hurt him uttering them so even if it had a minuscule effect, he won''t be losing anything.

    Hearing Rei''s words, Fuu''s face brightened. If there really were others with the same problem as she, then she really might find some friends!

    "Then, I want to go with you!" She eximed, eyes sparkling with expectations.

    ...

    It didn''t take long for Fuu to pack her belongings, which were in no way plentiful, and after she said her goodbye to Shibuki who was practically the only person in Takigakure with some level of care for the poor girl, she was off with Rei and Tsunade.

    Fuu was... perplexed.

    This entire thing just happened too fast.

    From getting a message toe to Shibuki''s office to being offered to be adopted and then being told to pack her things because they are leaving in an hour...

    She surmised her mind just didn''t catch up to all the implications yet.

    A part of her was on the edge, thinking this might be a trap while another part of her was berating her for being silly, that Shibuki would never allow her to leave with them if it was indeed so. A quite big part of her hoped it was all true while another, more realistic part was skeptical after all her experiences in Takigakure.

    As they were walking on the road, getting further and further away from the ce where she spent her entire life, the distraught Fuu decided to once again make sure this was not just a dream, "Are you really adopting me?" She asked with some difficulty.

    It was a... ridiculous concept. Fuu was almost thirteen, meaning almost an adult ording to the ninja rules. She didn''t need to be adopted! And yet, she craved a family. This was important to her.

    It wasn''t the dark-skinned woman who answered her, however. "Don''t worry," The man, Rei, smiled at her, causing her to duck her head a bit, "While Nadetsu doesn''t intend to adopt you herself, " And that was apparently not the correct thing to say judging by how Fuu stiffened, "there are two people, jinchuurikis of two and three-tailed beasts, who are quite eager taking you in." He finished and chuckled at the deer in the headlights expression Fuu was giving him.

    "They recently had a small firecracker of a daughter so you will also have a younger sister if you ept bing a part of their family." Tsunade interjected, making Fuu double as speechless as before.

    "Is it really fine?" Fuu eventually muttered in a quiet and worried tone, "I wouldn''t want to be a bother."

    Since it was not really a question but a small mutter under her nose, neither Rei nor Tsunade deemed it important to answer Fuu''s quiet pondering. Nothing they would tell the girl now will reassure her. Only experiencing it for herself would alleviate her worries.

    To be honest, they didn''t really need Fuu for herbat potential or her bijuu. Having Nibi and Sanbi was good enough considering that Ichibi, Rokubi, and Kyuubi were basically under theirmand too. Getting Nanabi was not required.

    The only reason why Tsunade and Rei went to Takigakure was indeed to have a nice date. Tsunade just remembered her threat to Takigakure as she was nning the date and it spiraled from there, resulting in the current situation.

    Well, giving the pitiful girl a family could be counted as their good deed for the year so there was that.

    As they walked on the road, both Rei and Tsunade suddenly stopped, causing Fuu who was caught in her thoughts to bump into Rei''s back with a startled yelp.

    "Come out." Tsunadezily said, aiming her eyes at a particr tree on the side of the road. "I''d grade your hiding eight out of ten but you guys are not really that good."

    Four figures appeared in front of them in the middle of the road. Both Tsunade and Rei instantly recognized them and when they saw the annoyed scowl the redheaded boy was sporting... let''s just say they got this urge to mess with him.

    "You are our escort?" Rei asked and got three sets of deadpan looks in return that clearly asked if he was being serious. He knew them. They knew him. The answer was obvious. s, his question was not aimed at the owners of these three pairs of eyes but at the clueless redhead.

    "Yes. You arete." The redhead stated in a monotonous voice, causing Rei to feel almost sorry for him as he saw Tsunade''s lips twitch.

    Tsunade amusedly snorted before rolling her eyes and saying, "Bitch, please. We are your clients. We decide if we arete or not."

    The redhead almost popped a vein.

 Chapter 348 - Ch348. Escort

    <h4>Chapter 348 - Ch348. Escort</h4>

    The red-headed young man was clearly barely keeping himself from retorting if the massive frown and narrowed eyes stered on his face were any indications. It was ever so obvious to Rei that he did not deal with clients often and this was just a special circumstance.

    Rei lifted his eyebrow at the threepanions of the man, causing them to give him an apologetic smile which made him blink in realization. ''Wait... so, he really has no idea who we are?'' He shot the redhead who was ring at ''Nadetsu'' an incredulous look before his lips twitched in amusement.

    "Who would have thought they would send Akasuna no Sasori as our bodyguard." Rei quipped, earning himself two male groans and one female chuckle from Sasori''spanions.

    His remark did its job superbly as Sasori stopped having a stare-off with Tsunade and gave Rei an appraising look. Not a momentter, however, the tension in the air as if drained and Sasori''s face became nk as he donned his professional face and nodded at Rei, "Much to my misfortune, I was ordered to take these three genins," He slowly leaned his head in the direction of his threepanions, "to the chunin exams in Konoha andplete this escort mission on the way." He said in an even and monotonous voice with just a small hint of displeasure.

    Tsunade snorted and crossed her hands on her chest. She knew she nor Rei requested this mission. When she saw just who was blocking their path, it was obvious why Pakura seemed so pleased when she heard about their date in Takigakure and that they intend to walk to Konoha from there. ''I will have to kick her ass during one of our spars. This is tant gloating! She is basically showing off her genin team to me, knowing I have nothing that could match it among Konoha''s teams.'' Tsunade understood the subtle dig for what it was.

    Sasori forcefully ignored Nadetsu''s snort and continued speaking, "I am Sasori, the fan-wielding girl is Temari, the boy in the catsuit is Kankuro, and the one with the sand gourd is Gaara. We will make sure nothing happens to you on your journey to Konoha."

    It was really hard to stop his lips from twitching for Rei as he watched Sasori conducting himself in the best professional manner he could. It was obvious he definitely did not want to be here and wanted to be done with the mission as fast as possible.

    Rei really tried. He really did. But... It was just far too good of an opportunity not to troll him.

    Inclining his head at the three genins, Rei smiled, "That''s good to hear. We really needed somebody to carry our shopping bags." He started in a serious tone. "You see, I and Nadetsu are nning to stop in every single town along the road for sightseeing. ording to Nadetsu, she doesn''t get many chances to travel so she decided to use every opportunity she can to shop around. I am sure you will keep us safe during the following days. You have my gratitude." He said in a faux grateful tone and just watched as Sasori''s eyes started to slightly widen in a barely veiled horror when he heard that

    Rei could almost discern the colorful curses aimed at Pakura the redhead must have been using in his head from his disgruntled eyes as he barely kept himself from spluttering in indignation while Tsunade guffawed at Sasori''s misfortune, shooting Rei a mirthful look.

    ''I didn''t know I wanted to go on a shopping spree.'' Her eyes sparkled in amusement.

    ''Well, now you do.'' Rei''s eye-smile conveyed, causing her to almost burst out inughter straight in Sasori''s barely hidden sour expression.

    To be honest, she was somewhat pissed at Sasori''s attitude. He and his hate for being left waiting. If she knew they would be waiting for her and Rei here, she would make it her mission to stop at a teahouse before leaving Takigakure and leave them hanging for another two hours at the very least! He should be ming Pakura for this.

    Funnily enough, Sasori wanted to hurry to Konoha because he wanted to meet and thank Tsunade Senju for making the procedure to turn his puppet body back into a human one. He didn''t like being dyed since he, as an aplished medic in his own right, knew exactly how tough and impossible that feat was and how much effort it most likely took for Tsunade to create this method. He had nothing but utmost gratitude and reverence for the woman.

    "I understand." Sasori ground out, his eyes ring at Nadetsu who was the source of the uing impromptu shopping trip through the cities along the way. ''Stupid, arrogant, self-centered, rich bint.'' He mentally added.

    "Now then," Rei turned towards the three genins and asked, "How are you three?"

    Realizing that Rei didn''t intend to keep their rtionship secret from Sasori, they instantly got less stand-offish. Gaara''s tense posture rxed, Kankuro''s scowl eased almost into a grin, and Temari...

    Well, Temari disappeared in a burst of shunshin and glomped Rei into a tight embrace.

    ''Wait. What the heck is happening!?'' Sasori looked between Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari glued to their client''s chest in bewilderment. Did his team know the client or something?

    Rei awkwardly patted Temari''s head, making her go rigid. "It''s been a while. How is your wind mastery?" He asked, looking at the girl and noticing the profound blush she tried to hide by burrowing her head into his chest.

    "Mm, I got better, sensei." Temari subduedly answered. "I missed you, though." She added and her hold on Rei became a bit more possessive.

    Tsunade lifted an eyebrow at that. At first, she was utterly shocked that the blonde glomped on Rei. She really did not expect it. After all, she had no idea her husband had time to frolic with young girls while she was hard at work, managing a ninja vige for him.

    But when she noticed how panicked and utterly lost Rei looked, she instead grinned and enjoyed his dismay.

    No. From what she was seeing, Tsunade realized that her husband had no frigging idea what the heck was going on or that the girl''s small crush on him had grown into a not-so-small one after he deliberately distanced himself from her.

    ''If I remember correctly, his words were that it was creepy seeing a small girl eyeing him with starstruck expectant eyes full of determination. Looks like his n totally backfired, though.'' Tsunade inwardly chortled and patted the head of Fuu who was awkwardly standing next to her. Instead of making the fan girl''s crush fade with time, the distance just increased it. If that wasn''t hrious, then Rei''s helpless face as he realized this fact certainly was!

    ''And it also exins why Pakura is so hellbent to push the girl in Rei''s path. It''s basically the exact same situation as with Konan and Izumi.'' Tsunade shook her head in amusement, deciding to enjoy the show.

    ''Sensei?'' Sasori thought in confusion, trying to piece together what the heck was going on. He read Temari''s file. All of it. Even the ssified one that contained her ANBU career. There was nowhere mentioned she had a teacher for the Wind Element.

    "You will show me how much you advanced during our trip to Konoha, then." Rei slightly calmed down and decided to just wing it.

    "Sure." Temari pulled a bit away, just enough so she could look Rei in the eyes, "I made many new Jutsu. I will definitely manage to hurt you!" She eximed with a small blush creeping up on her cheeks.

    Hearing her, Sasori''s eye twitched, "Oi. We are here to protect them, not to hu-"

    "You wish." Rei smirked at the girl in his arms.

    "I do." Temari pouted.

    ''Eh?'' Sasori raised his hand before speechlessly dropping it back, not knowing what to do. ''I was just... ignored?''

    "You do?" Rei tilted his head, not expecting Temari''s reply.

    ''Good, at least I am not the only one confused here.'' Sasori released a small relieved sigh.

    "Mm, I will get the promised date!" Temari stated, her blue eyes full of resolve. Even Tsunade lifted her eyebrow at that.

    ''How does harming the client get you a date?'' Sasori inwardly pondered, his confusion only growing.

    "O-oh? ... Oh!" Rei eximed as he remembered what she was talking about, "That''s some really old promise you are swinging at me, ''Mari-chan." He jokingly chided.

    "Promise is a promise." Temari firmly stated. but her gaze seemed quite uncertain and questioning as if she was asking a silent question...

    ''Promise is a promise.'' An amused voice repeated in Rei''s head, earning itself a mental nudge from Rei, causing it to retreat with mirthfulughter.

    "I guess, I did promise." Rei nodded in eptance of his fate. ''What did the past me think when making this promise? Hurt me and you get a date? Seriously, past me. That wasn''t the brightest moment of my life.''

    ''I give up. Let''s just ept that they know each other and that Temari trying to injure our client in some twisted attempt at flirting with him will be supremely annoying in the following days.'' Sasori tiredly sighed and rubbed his forehead to prevent the arising headache.

    He threw a look at Kankuro, silently informing him he was on the sister-watching duty from now on but the boy justzily shrugged. He would try Gaara... if he wasn''t certain the kid would just ignore him. The youngest was for some reason oddly fixated on protecting his extremely scary and violent sister that did not need any protection.

    Sasori inwardlymented his fate. Really, he just had to get the most handful team into his care...

    ''I really need a moment of peace. Just me and my puppets.'' He wistfully shook his head.

    "Akasuna no Sasori. We havee for your head." Two figures abruptly appeared in front of the group, shattering Sasori''s heartfelt desire to pieces.

    ''You gotta be kidding me..'' Sasori robotically turned his deadpan gaze at them and instantly noticed it was his past colleagues from Akatsuki as he got the sudden urge to scream himself hoarse at some unwitting poor sod.

 Chapter 349 - Ch349. Sasori Vs Kakuzu 1

    <h4>Chapter 349 - Ch349. Sasori Vs Kakuzu 1</h4>

    "Akasuna no Sasori. We havee for your head."

    As the two new arrivals announced their presence, Temari instantly jumped out from Rei''s embrace, positioning herself in front of him and Tsunade in a defensive stance with her battle fan fully open. Kankuro and Gaara reacted simrly and now stood next to Temari, blocking easy ess to their clients and prepared for a fight while Fuu who was previously hiding behind Tsunade out of shyness was now also protectively standing in front of her. It was quite cute, in Tsunade''s opinion.

    Sasori''s reaction was much more subdued. He slowly turned towards his would-be assassins and sighed in frustration, his shoulders slumping as he became resigned to the bullshit happening around him.

    ''The very first time I leave Sunagakure since my defection from Akatsuki and this happens. Just my luck.'' He mentally grumbled.

    Naturally, he was fully aware that this happened exactly because this was the first time he left Sunagakure. This was the first opportunity for Akatsuki to show him the error of his ways without prematurely revealing their existence or having to face the entire vige of ninjas.

    "Hidan. Kakuzu. What an unpleasant surprise." Sasori said in a dry tone and sluggishly inclined his head, acknowledging their presence with an unbothered bored gaze that instantly pissed Hidan off.

    "Oi, what do you mean, you bastard!? This is a pretty good asion! You should be happy to be sacrificed to Jashin-sama!" He excitedly shouted, causing everyone to deadpan at him.

    Even Kakuzu facepalmed at that and let out a long, suffering groan, "Excuse the moron. He is a new and not so bright addition. I am almost certain they recruited him just to make me stop killing my partners for being annoying. In fact, after a month with this idiot, I indeed started regretting killing myst partner." He dryly stated.

    "I feel sorry for you." Sasori replied showing a measure of understanding. ''Not.''

    While the would-bebatants were having their pre-battle banter, Rei and Tsunade made themselvesfortable, sitting down and resting their backs on a nearby tree, watching the proceedings. Frankly, neither had any idea why Kakuzu and Hidan didn''t try to ambush them. From what they were seeing, however, it seemed the two were not the brightest tools in the Elemental Nations so there was that.

    "Temari, Gaara, I will take on the stupid one. You two take on the stupider one while Kankuro and the green-haired little girl from Taki defend the clients." Sasori ordered.

    "Understood!" The three sand genins replied and their formation instantly shifted.

    Kankuro stayed in front of Rei and Tsunade but Temari and Gaara distanced themselves from them in preparation to engage the enemy.

    "And why would we go along with your battle n? It is obvious that fighting team versus team will be better for us despite your numerical advantage." Kakuzu asked in mild amusement.

    Not that he thought separating would be a problem. Zetsu did his scouting and information gathering and found out Sasori was apanying a genin team on their way to Konoha while also doing a mission in-between. The only reason why they attacked now, instead of sooner, was that the clients would make this engagement extremely disadvantageous for Sasori.

    If, for some iprehensible reason, Kakuzu and Hidan had a hard time dealing with Sasori, they could always just target the important clients and Sasori will have to focus on protecting them. Not that Kakuzu thought it woulde to that. Two S-rank ninjas against one S-rank and a bunch of genins? This will be a piece of cake.

    "Because it is obvious you two are just that stupid." Sasori deadpanned in reply and Kakuzu started to get annoyed. He was about to retort again but apparently, he failed to take into ount Hidan''s short fuse.

    Hidan didn''t like being called stupid by a traitor and as anger took over, he charged at Sasori, shouting in anger and brandishing his scythe in a threatening manner.

    "No! Stop, you moron!" Kakuzu eximed in surprise, only now realizing Sasori''s words were not aimed at him but at Hidan.

    Sasori didn''t react to Hidan''s charge in any way, just dispassionately looking at him as he was quickly closing the distance and Kakuzu instantly realized it was a trap.

    It was toote, however. Hidan was almost upon Sasori, his rageful focus fully aimed at the young-looking redhead...

    The only warning he got was subtly rising winds in the area before a massive influx of crushing winds in the form of a barely visible wind snake suddenly ''slithered'' around Sasori, rushing at the iing Hidan. The jashinist managed to only widen his eyes as the snake made of winds opened its jaw and smashed straight into his waist.

    Hidan was swept from his feet due to the extreme wind pressure and the snake-like wind construct caught him in its jaws, carrying him through the air. Normally, a wind Jutsu would simply blow him back but...

    Kakuzu cursed as he watched the wind snake do something that was deemed impossible for Wind Jutsus once they are released. It twisted mid-air, changing direction and pushing the struggling and bleeding Hidan away from him while creating multiple gashes all over his body. Something told Kakuzu he would not be getting time to stitch his partner up. The bigger problem, though, was that it was not Sasori who used the wind Jutsu.

    In an instant, Kakuzu adjusted his mindset. What he thought to be an easy job was shaping up to be slightly more troublesome.

    His first reaction was to run towards Hidan, not letting them be separated since he doubted Hidan could beat someone capable of such a strong ranged wind Jutsu. Frankly, he didn''t doubt Hidan''s power. He doubted his intelligence.

    Hidan clearly had enough brute strength and endurance to face S-rank ninja but he was not a very bright guy. A ranked wind user who could dice and slice him from afar was the moron''s natural enemy with his penchant for rushing in head-on and whatnot.

    Unfortunately for Kakuzu, his instincts abruptly screamed at him, forcing him to jump back, widening the distance between him and Hidan even more as arge pyramid made of iron dust almost ttened him.

    "See?" Sasori smugly asked, trying to distract Kakuzu as he inwardly focused on shaping the objects from the iron dust.

    He made use of Kakuzu''s short distraction and surprise when Temari revealed her Jutsu to summon his Third Kazekage puppet without being noticed.

    Kakuzu couldn''t answer as a cube of iron sand flew at him, making him dodge... much to his frustration, again in a direction that got him further from his partner.

    The cubended and Kakuzu managed to evade it but as he was about to go into offensive, the cube suddenly lost its shape and spikes erupted from its surface, forcing Kakuzu to hastily step back. It wasn''t the end though. New spikes arose from the old spikes as the iron dust shifted, causing Kakuzu to inwardly curse as he was yet again made to back off even more.

    The spikes were dangerously aimed at his chest area and Kakuzu realized the puppet bastard was fully using the intel he gathered during his time in Akatsuki. He obviously knew his biggest advantage and weakness.

    The same trick wouldn''t work multiple times. When the iron dust again rearranged itself to create a new set of spikes rushing at Kakuzu, he, instead of jumping back again, crouched as his hands blurred into a sequence of quick seals. All he needed was a small breathing room to shift from defense to offense.

    "Wind Release: Pressure Damage!" He eximed, creating a current of highly-pressurized winds and making it smash into the iron dust.

    When he saw Kakuzu forming his hand seals, Sasori cursed and scrambled to counter it. He only barely managed to predict what technique his opponent was about to use and made his Kazekage puppet gather its iron dust, shifting it from spikes to a wall. He couldn''t let it reach his genins... or worse, the clients.

    Wind Release: Pressure Damage was a far too widespread Jutsu and Sasori was fully aware Kakuzu used it only because he had no regard for Hidan''s well-being.

    ''Ah, well. Hidan should be strong enough to deal with some genin brats. I guess I will have to deal with Sasori by myself.'' Kakuzu grinned as he watched his technique battle with the wall of iron dust for supremacy. His winds would eventually lose. That much he knew. But this earned him a much-needed window of opportunity.

    His hands again blurred into another set of hand seals as he announced, "Lightning Release: False D-" Kakuzu''s eyes widened as he noticed a tendril of iron dusting at him from the back. Realizing his intel on the amount of iron dust Sasori could manipte through his puppet was too outdated, Kakuzu spun on his heel, "-arkness!" And finished his technique, causing a massive and very concentrated lightning strike to intercept the iing iron dust, unhappy that he was unable to throw it at Sasori.

    Lightning Release: False Darkness was not a defensive technique but its eclectic properties electrified the iron dust, making it huddle together into a blob and causing Sasori''s control to slightly slip. He was unable to continue with his surprise attack.

    Fortunately for Sasori, Kakuzu''s Wind Technique was finished and his iron wall managed to keep it contained. He could once again stop focusing on its form and let it crumble into a dune of iron dust, only giving it a small nudge to create a wave of iron dust rushing at Kakuzu.

    Kakuzu naturally dodged it with ease but that didn''t matter. Sasori''s next attack was already prepared. All he had to do was to keep Kakuzu upied and away from Hidan.

    If he was attacked when alone, Sasori would be mildly worried. Attacking him when he was escorting the Suna siblings... now that was a mistake. He was one of Sunagakure''s higher-ups and while he was not privy to many secrets because of his past, he at the very least knew that Temari was one of the vige''s best ANBU, Kankuro was his on and off student, and Gaara had his own reputation.

    "If you think I will just roll over and die for you, then you have another thinging. I n to spend many, many years creating my artworks. Unfortunately for you, that means you will have to die here." Sasori coldly smirked as he felt a huge chakra fluctuationing from a distance away.

    Suddenly, a massive wave of sand rose towards heaven in the distance behind Sasori before falling down and leveling a good part of the forest with the ground, creating a small ocean of sand and broken trees.

    Kakuzu''s eyes widened at the scale of that attack in the distance and for the first time, he started to have doubts about Hidan''s capability to deal with these ''genins''. ''I will have to hurry this up. There is no way I can face whatever little monster that can cause that much damage and Sasori at the same time. If I fail to kill Sasori before his brats deal with Hidan... I will have to retreat.'' He sourly realized and clicked his tongue. Well, it was better to live and get scolded by the leader rather thany down his life for this ''no-longer-so-easy'' mission.

    Seeing Kakuzu''s brief faltering, Sasori couldn''t help but feel a bit amused. ''I almost pity the fools. They thought I would be an easy target only to unknowingly attack one of Sunagakure''s strongest teams. It is definitely not me who is the most dangerous person here.''

 Chapter 350 - Ch350. Temari And Gaara Vs Hidan

    <h4>Chapter 350 - Ch350. Temari And Gaara Vs Hidan</h4>

    Temari marveled at how easily Sasori riled up thenky scythe wielder. It was a mixture of ignoring his presence as if he was totally unimportant while trash-talking him alongside his partner. She surmised these two hadn''t been working together for long since the calmer one seemed to be utterly unaware of how irritated his partner became when he started calling him annoying.

    The result?

    The scythe wielder was rushing at Sasori with murder in his eyes, totally disregarding his surroundings.

    It would have been a sin not to make use of his distraction.

    Plus... she was aware Sasori wanted her to take on the scythe wielder. His small talk with the calmer one told her that much. At first, she thought he was being awfully chatty but when he started giving subtle hints of what he wanted her to do, the reason became obvious.

    Temari quickly swung her battle fan, channeling her chakra through it and using an advanced Wind maniption to form and send at the guy a barely visible wind construct that was asionally showing its shape via shimmering when it was not blending into the surrounding. Much like with her basic wind shes, she didn''t need to invoke the name of her Jutsu which only added the stealth effect.

    The scythe wielder only noticed it when it was far toote. Her wind construct took a firm hold of him and carried him away, further into the forest.

    "Let''s go." She turned towards Gaara, getting an acknowledging nod in return. She could take the guy on by herself but she didn''t want to undermine Sasori''s authority. Unfortunately, this was not a time to show off for Rei. Moreover, if she so tantly disobeyed orders and left Gaara behind, it wouldn''t make her look good anyway.

    Before they could start running after the unwillingly relocated Hidan, Rei decided to give them a small bit of advice.

    "Don''t let yourself be cut by him." He started, stopping Temari and Gaara in their tracks, "If you let him get a hold of your blood, make sure to prevent him from forming his ritualistic circle. And if you let him get your blood and make the circle, then you will have to prevent him from stabbing himself in a fatal ce for it would kill you. Just make sure to gently remove him from the ritualistic circle before destroying it with Earth Jutsu or something." He quickly summed it up, knowing they didn''t have the time for a lengthy exnation.

    Hearing him, both Temari and Gaara seriously nodded, understanding that Rei''s warning is not just because he is bored, and disappeared in a burst of speed, rushing towards Hidan.

    They found him half a kilometer further in the forest, cursing like a sailor as the multiple cuts on his body caused by Temari''s Jutsu were significantly restricting his movement.

    Temari frowned at that. ''The Wind Snake should have carried him at least a kilometer away and shred him to pieces. His body must be incredibly strong if his struggle managed to drain the chakra reserves in the Jutsu so fast.'' She nced at Gaara who, judging by how his eyebrows furrowed, clearly also understood this too.

    ''Ranged, it is.'' Their eyes met and the n of engagement was instantly formed.

    Separating, the two siblings ran in opposite directions to get into a position where they could better support each other with ranged attacks without needlessly endangering each other.

    Hidan finally noticed them and his expression twisted into a scowl, "That hurt you bitch!" He screamed at Temari. "It almost made me aroused! You are quite good girly. So much pain. Ah~, so good!" His eyes briefly rolled back as a stupid grin stretched on his lips.

    It was gone as quick as it arrived though and Hidan abruptly focused on Temari with sharp focus, "A pity I gotta kill ya. Maybe we could have some fun before I sacrifice you, what do ya say?" He proposed.

    "No, thanks." Temari sneered in reply, her disgust apparent from her expression. She would rather die than let this creep touch her.

    "Ah, whatever. Not like I need your permission. In fact, it is better that you will resist! I will just cut off your limbs and then take you. It will be glorious!" Hidan eximed and spun his scythe around his body, bending his knees in preparation for a mad dash straight at Temari... and leaped.

    His speed was nothing to scoff at but the distance between him and Temari was considerable so both she and Gaara had enough time to counter him.

    Hidan was already halfway through the distance towards his target when he suddenly felt something tightly wrap around his right leg, pulling him back. It almost caused him to trip as he was mid-dash. Only thanks to his trained reflexes did he manage to put his left foot forward, stabilizing his bnce.

    His dash, however, was interrupted.

    Hidan looked down and saw a small tendril of sand wrapped around his right ankle, causing him to snarl as his eyes found Gaara who was now positioned straight behind him.

    "You dare to stand in the way of Jashin-sama!? I will gut you, you heretical swine!" He hysterically screamed as he turned around, preparing to throw his scythe at Gaara...

    A colossal amount of pressurized wind smashed into his back, causing his feet to leave the ground as it propelled him forward and broke his spine in several ces.

    ''Heh, turning your back at me.'' Temari thought with a sadistic smirk.

    Hidan was uncontrobly barreling through the air, straight towards Gaara. Unfortunately for him, Gaara wasn''t about to let hime closer and used the tendril of sand still binding his ankle to jerkily stop him. This made his bodye to an abrupt halt and smash into the ground face-first with a bone-shattering crunch as a crater was created under him.

    Frankly, it was a bit disappointing. The man was clearly physically strong and fast enough to pose a threat even to the strongest people in Sunagakure but his modus operandi was basically just run, hack, and sh, rinse and repeat. It wasn''t hard to outsmart him.

    Gaara and Temari thought it was over and started to slowly approach Hidan''s body. Gaara was closer so he naturally arrived first...

    Only for Hidan to spring up, his body somehow healed from the injuries they inflicted upon him and his eyes gleaming with madness as he brandished his scythe at the surprised Gaara who was now in his range. Hidan''s scythe rushed through the air, straight at Gaara''s right shoulder.

    The scythe was getting closer and closer and Hidan''s smile was widening and gaining more blood-lusting appearance by the second. As the de of his scythe was about to bite into the soft flesh of his victim, his world for some reason turned ck.

    ''That was close. I was careless.'' Gaara thought in displeasure, watching as a massive amount of sand erupted from underneath him, engulfing Hidan, stopping his attack, and washing him away like a tsunami.

    Even Temari had to jump upward and use her battle fan to float in the air as the veritable ocean of sand flooded a good part of the forest, breaking and ttening trees.

    Temari flew towards Gaara who was standing on a floating tform made of sand, "You should be more careful." She gently admonished. Despite his power, her brother was not very experienced. She liked to coddle him which might or might not have resulted in him not getting any ''dangerous'' missions since he became a genin. Hisbat experience amounted to asional sparring with her or Lady Pakura.

    "You are right." Gaara impassively nodded as theynded on the ground. "I didn''t expect him to be capable of healing. Your Jutsu clearly snapped his spine so I thought that was it."

    "Let''s make sure he is incapacitated for real this time, shall we?" Temari grinned and affectionately ruffled Gaara''s hair, making him frown at her in embarrassment.

    "Yeah..." He mumbled, knowing that trying to make her stop was futile.

    It was then that Hidan erupted from the sand close to them... but Temari already expected that. Anyone who could survive her pressurized wind would have no problem surviving Gaara''s sand tsunami. Especially since he didn''t harden it.

    The second Hidan jumped from the sand, he was impacted with yet another Wind Jutsu resembling a tornado. It was a very brutal and powerful one. Hidan''s body was suspended in the air, unable to escape as wave after wave of sharpened swirling windnded on him like a cutting whish. Chunks of his body were continuously being cut off, flying all over the ce due to the strong winds. A faint crimson mist started to form around him from all the blood that was brutally shed out of his body and Hidan could only scream as his body was being dismantled.

    Temari manipted the winds with her chakra, causing the pieces of Hidan to fly all over the sandy ocean created by Gaara, making sure they are not too close to each other.

    Understanding what his sister wanted, Gaara started to bury these body parts deep underground, making them sink into his sand as if it was hungry quicksand.

    It didn''t take long for almost all of Hidan to bepletely cut apart and be buried all over the ce. It was brutal, bloody, ruthless... and efficient.

    Temari refused to give Hidan an opportunity to showcase his strength. It was better to dispatch him before he found out how to counter their ranged attacks.

    "We are done here. He won''t be shrugging off that." Temari said, doubting their opponent could get out of this even if he could heal fatal injuries.

    "Ah, just one little assurance, then." Gaara said in his usual monotone and knelt down on one knee, mming his palm into the sand, "Grand Sand Burial!" An underground shockwave spread through the ocean of sand, pressurizing andpressing it, crushing anything inside of it.

    Temari chuckled, nodding her approval before she turned around, intending to return to Rei and Tsunade, only to stumble.

    Gaara quickly caught her, worry apparent on his face.

    "Ah... Thisst one was my special S-rank Jutsu. Don''t worry. I just slightly overexerted myself. Nothing a good night''s sleep can''t fix." She reassured him. ''Maybe I can ask Rei for a massage, hehe...''

    ...

    Temari and Gaara returned in almost no time. Rei and Tsunade were quite impressed with how easily they dispatched Hidan. Naturally, they observed the fight and the strategy the siblings used wasmendable. A pincer attack by two range-oriented fighters was extremely effective against close-quartersbatants.

    Especially the stupid ones.

    As they came closer, Temari approached Tsunade. "Any use for this?" She asked as she dangled Hidan''s severed head in front of her, holding it by his hair.

    "What do you think I would need that for?" Tsunade lifted her eyebrow at the girl, amused at the hateful and somewhat aroused look of the still alive Hidan, and suspected the man would be barking one vulgarity after another while moaning if his tongue was not cut off.

    "Well, Lady Pakura always says you are interested in dubious medical experiments and I think a guy capable of surviving having his head cut off would fall into that category." Temari nonchntly shrugged.

    Tsunade gave Hidan''s head a deep look for a moment before she shook her head, "Nah. Not interested."

    "Oh, well." Temari nodded and was about to throw Hidan''s head away, intending to let Gaara bury it as the rest of his body but Rei interjected.

    "Give it here." He said, taking out a scroll from his pocket.

    His interest in the severed head surprised even Tsunade and he suddenly found himself under the scrutiny of five pairs of eyes. "Burying him fully is unsafe. Someone," Rei''s eyes flickered towards the spot from where Zetsu was watching them, making Tsunade''s eyes gain an understanding glint, "could easily dig him out and put him back together. I am taking the head with us." He exined with a small innocent smile, utterly ignoring how ruthless he sounded to Hidan.

    In fact, the jashinist would have shivered in pleasure at such brutality if he still had his body. These people... judging by their ruthlessness and brutality, they definitely must have been Jashinists in their past lives!

    ---

    Author Note:

    So... yeah, you might notice that Hidan went down VERY easily.

    Honestly, I have a hard time imagining Hidan being capable of putting up a fight against even Shippuden Temari. The Temari in my story is definitely a lot stronger so it is only natural that he got dismantled like a kid fighting an adult.

    I mean... every Akatsuki member has techniques and smarts to get around in any kind of situation except Hidan. I always thought Hidan would be next to useless against a bonafide ranged fighter who knows what he or she is doing and won''t let him get close.

    Plus, it is not obvious from the story but Hidan at this stage is a newbie in Akatsuki.. He is not yet at the level he was when he fought Asuma, so there is that. (And I also didn''t really want to stretch this fight to multiple chapters)

 Chapter 351 - Ch351. Not Just A Lucky Guy

    <h4>Chapter 351 - Ch351. Not Just A Lucky Guy</h4>

    Rei nodded, "Go." He said, giving Temari and Gaara an answer to their unasked question. Nodding back, the two turned around and rushed to quickly end this small distraction.

    Temari was quite annoyed by these would-be assassins. She could have enjoyed her time near Rei but because these two dudes showed up, she was forced into a fight. Could anyone me her for being extra brutal with them?

    "A pity there is an observer. I haven''t stretched my muscles in quite a while." Tsunade quietlyined, contently leaning on Rei who sat next to her.

    "You just want it to end quickly so you can go shopping." Rei rolled his eyes.

    Inwardly he agreed though. Zetsu being around was indeed annoying.

    ''Anything you can do about that?'' He mentally asked Kaguya but got a negative impression from her. ''Well... not like I expected much.'' He sighed.

    ''What''s that supposed to mean?'' Kaguya poutily asked. ''I am sealed. It''s not like I could just go and tell him to stop.'' Sheined.

    ''Why not?'' Rei''s eyes gained a peculiar glint.

    ''Eh?'' Kaguya let out a confused sound, ''Wha...'' And before she could even ask her follow-up question, she found herself outside as Rei created a clone and infused a bit of her chakra into it to draw her consciousness out of her seal through their mental connection.

    Both Kankuro and Fuu almost jumped out of their skin as a pale-skinned, horned woman just popped into existence right next to Rei and Tsunade.

    "You..." Kaguya gave Rei a speechless look before rubbing her forehead in exasperation. "Fine. What exactly do you want me to do?" She resignedly asked, longingly thinking about the te of cookies she was so abruptly taken away from.

    She knew this was one of Rei''s subtle schemes. His ''I just got this awesome idea so let''s make ite true'' act did not fool her at all. The second he spotted Zetsu nearby, this was most likely bound to happen. It wouldn''t help at all for her toin as, in the end, she would be doing this anyway. Better to just roll with it than pointlessly argue.

    During her time with him, she understood at least that much. He was the guy who from the shadows controlled viges that controlled their countries from the shadows. He was the guy behind the creation of the Biri-Biripany and the Uzushio Trading Company, the two international giants that influenced many Daimyos on a day to day basis. He had influence over many things. Influence he seldom used simply because he didn''t really need to.

    He might have seemed like the spontaneous kind of guy and it might have seemed that he was just the lucky sort that had everything going to his benefit for an outside observer but...

    That was just pure bullshit.

    He was simply that good at all this subtle plotting and making people do things he wanted them to without them even noticing most of the time or him having to move a finger. Kaguya would know. She had some very minor ess to his memories.

    For example, Pakura. When Rei saved her all those years ago, he already knew he would one day use her to take control of Sunagakure. He had no idea how or when but it was already in his ns.

    He did not save her because she had pretty eyes, after all.

    As for pity... yes, he pitied the woman for being betrayed by her vige after she gave her all to them but that was something that happened to many ninjas. Was he supposed to save them all just because they were poor pitiful sods stupid enough to let themselves be squeezed dry to the benefit of their viges only to be then betrayed?

    ''Heh, as if he was that kind.'' Kaguya mentally scoffed. Rei was kind only to the people he cared about and those that could bring him some kind of benefit. He was no bastard nor pointlessly ruthless but he would not go out of his way to save others just because they suffered.

    In fact, Kaguya marveled at his cavalier attitude to the suffering of others. In Rei''s mind, it was simply background noise. People suffered. No biggie. Shit happens. As long as it was not ''his'' people, he was totally fine with that and found no reason to intervene.

    While he did not foresee himself falling in love with Pakura, that honestly just helped his ns, rather than hindering them. What Kaguya found extremely endearing was that Rei was prepared topletely discard his ns for Pakura once he started caring about her. If she was unwilling to participate in them, he would drop them in a heartbeat.

    Fortunately for him, that didn''t happen. Not in Pakura''s case.

    In Mei''s case, however, that was exactly what happened so Kaguya knew Rei was not just assuring himself he would stop his schemes for his girls if it came to that. It was not just empty talk. He actually already did it. He had Konan secretly grooming Mei for the position of future Mizukage. Lessons in politics, diplomacy, and bureaucracy... In hindsight, it was obvious what they intended for the girl.

    And yet, all it took for Rei to discard his designated ns for making Mei into the fifth Mizukage was him seeing how she acted and realizing she would not like it in the slightest. She was happy in the Vige on the Other Side. She was happy making friends and helping Rei directly by mingling with his ninja force, training them, participating in various projects all over Rei''s vige, and helping it to develop with a hands-on approach. On the other hand, she absolutely hated paperwork and sitting in a chair for long periods of time.

    For such a simple reason, Rei decided to make Ringo the Mizukage instead of Mei.

    Sure, he might have presented the situation differently to his girls but deep down, he did it for their benefit as much as his. He just cared too much for them to simply use them. That was why Kaguya didn''t mind going along with his schemes. He believed Ringo could and would make the best of her time as Mizukage despite her grumbling so he put his foot down.

    And now... Ringo was the Mizukage, she had an entire vige utterly devoted to her, not even she really knew why or how, and her dream of making the best swords in the world became a reality thanks to her ability to just push the advancement of forging techniques in her vige. She literally had a vige full of grunts she could just send on material-gathering missions. A dreame true for a person such as her.

    Yes, she had to deal with being the leader of a hidden vige and all it entailed but frankly, it was pretty obvious that Ringo was happy in her current position.

    The same went for Tsunade. While her impromptu surprise take-over of Konoha was a shock for Rei and he had to re-evaluate a lot of his ns, he didn''t dwell long on it nor did he admonish her for it. Instead, he simply adjusted his ns.

    And the sheer quantity that needed adjusting was mind-boggling. In his position, Kaguya would have screamed herself hoarse at Tsunade. The woman still had no idea whatsoever just how many of Rei''s schemes she totally and utterly crushed with that little revolution of hers.

    As long as Tsunade was happy, he could live with a headache-inducing month-long renning session.

    That''s why Kaguya trusted Rei and wasn''t afraid of messing up. That''s also why she would try her best though.

    "Hm... Let''s see. I''d really like to have an informer in Akatsuki. What do you think?" Rei jokingly asked, really not expecting Kaguya to just go and try to talk Zetsu into switching sides.

    Zetsu was the driving force behind Akatsuki, after all. Obito could lie to himself that he was the guy in control but unfortunately for him, he was just a puppet of a puppet of a puppet. In fact, the guy was pretty pathetic in Rei''s opinion.

    "Okay." Kaguya simply shrugged and started slowly walking towards Zetsu''s direction.

    ''Wait, what?'' Rei nkly blinked at her back, his mind trying toprehend what just happened. ''Did she take my joke seriously?''

 Chapter 352 - Ch352. Zetsu

    <h4>Chapter 352 - Ch352. Zetsu</h4>

    Kaguya calmly walked in the direction of Zetsu in an even and measured, regal gait as if she was taking a stroll through the forest,pletely unbothered from the fighting that was going on nearby.

    One stray attack could kill her. She was aware of that. But it was not like being killed would mean she would die. Her body was just a clone with her consciousness imbued in it, after all.

    Frankly, if she died, she would at least have an excuse to return to her cookies.

    ''On the other hand, Rei would most likely just summon me again to finish my job. Haa~, the sacrifices I make for that silly man.'' Kaguya shook her head with a small happy smile stretching on her lips, not even realizing she was almost skipping.

    He really wouldn''t summon her back if she died since this was but a misunderstanding but she didn''t need to know that...

    She finally arrived at her destination and could clearly feel Zetsu being hidden in the ground a few tens of feet under her. This was only possible because Zetsu was technically still a part of her. For others, even S-rank ninjas like Sasori or Kakuzu, he was practically invisible with his concealment technique.

    ''Now... how to announce my presence.'' Kaguya wondered,menting her currentck of chakra and the limitations of her clone body.

    If she was in her true body, she would just Bansho Ten''in him to the surface, probably half-killing him in the process. ''Sigh. I really miss my convenient universal solution.''

    s, while she definitely had the ability to manifest Rinnegan even in her current body as it was more spiritual in nature for her than physical, her chakra was not enough to activate it in her current body.

    And that was only manifesting it. Actually using it for something... now that was utterly impossible. Her body would go out in a poof if she even started to try.

    ''Rei could at least give me enough chakra for the task.'' She inwardly grumbled, deciding to make her displeasure clear when she returned.

    Poor Rei really didn''t expect her to just up and go enact this harebrained wish of his and when she did so, he was first too stunned to stop her before he became curious how it would turn out.

    Attempting to convert Zetsu was honestly a stupid move at the moment. So much could go wrong with that it was not even funny.

    Rei had no idea if the guy would think Kaguya was an impostor or if he would recognize her through her chakra or something. One thing was certain, however. Simply looking like Kaguya would not be enough to persuade Zetsu. The henge was a Jutsu taught in the academy for a reason, after all. And with Kaguya in her weakened state...

    For all the nt-guy knew, his ''mother'' was still sealed in the moon and he was given the grand quest of getting her out. Having her casually pop up in front of him... there was no telling how he would react.

    Either he will have a way to ascertain it is really her or... he won''t. And if he doesn''t have such a method, then a shitstorm will follow.

    Zetsu would get to know that somebody out there knows about his mother and he would no doubt be on a quest to exterminate them with extreme prejudice. Not that he actually could do much directly. The problem was his indirect involvement. The guy was centuries old and participated in controlling even people like Madara from the shadows. He might not be capable of hurting Rei or his girls but he was good enough to make things difficult for Rei''s and his girls'' viges orpanies in some roundabout way.

    Obito targeting Rei''spanies was harmless. The guy was a mostly straightforward type. His scheming ability only went as far as Zetsu allowed. All brawn and very little brains. If he had brains, with his Mangekyou Ability, he could have won the war or forcefully gather all jinchuuriki very easily.

    Zetsu was a different kind of animal altogether. He thrived in darkness and loved maniption. A dangerousbination for a ninja world.

    Yet, Rei was too curious to stop Kaguya and decided to simply observe this meeting from afar through his sensing abilities.

    "Hmm... if I remember right, Zetsu should have unparalleled detection ability." Kaguya mused out loud, cutely putting her index finger on her chin in a pondering manner. "He is probably feeling my presence but ignoring it because of how little chakra I have, deeming me unimportant. That sucks." She clicked her tongue in mild irritation. "It would take a proper deep look at my chakra for him to recognize me. How to get his attention, though..."

    Kaguya was a bit disgruntled. For the first time since she met Rei, she felt severely limited in what she could do. Sure, she was also in clone body when in Rei''s mansion in his vige but she didn''t need her abilities there so she never really noticed nor cared how limiting her current state was.

    It was frankly frustrating and brought a beginning of depression to her as it reminded her of the time when Hagoromo was sealing her into the Moon.

    "Rei better prepare his special cookies for me after this. Reminding me of such unpleasant memories." She huffed and frowned before knitting her eyebrows together as an idea started to slowly form in her mind.

    ''Since Rinnegan is out, then...'' Kaguya thought before smugly activating her Byakugan and focusing her intent stare at Zetsu to the point even a total amateur at detection would find it extremely annoying to the point of inability to ignore it.

    She was basically broadcasting a ''here I am, look at me!'' vibe through her gaze. It was the first thing Hyuuga nsmen learned not to do after they activated their Byakugan since ninjas are usually very sensitive to being observed by others.

    Zetsu naturally instantly noticed and his head whipped in Kaguya''s direction and his eyesnded on hers that were narrowed and portrayed a great deal of impatience. It took only a moment for Zetsu to register her appearance and his eyes widened in shock. He instantly scrambled to present himself to her, not even a shred of doubt about her identity remained in his mind. He was simply too happy to doubt the sight in front of him.

    Resurfacing from the ground, Zetsu kneeled, "Mother!" He eagerly eximed, getting the feel for her chakra and understanding that yes, the person in front of him was real. "You are here! How is that possible?" He added in disbelief and awe in his tone, confusion clear on his face.

    An indulgent and amused smile appeared on Kaguya''s face at his antics and apparent loyalty. Reaching out, she subconsciously but gently ruffled his hair. Funnily enough, of all her ''children'', Zetsu was the one she felt closest to. He did spend his entire life trying to free her, after all. If nothing else, she was at least grateful for that dedication.

    "I am not really free, Zetsu. Not yet." She said and Zetsu''s expression instantly fell. Kaguya almost cooed at that. It was as if she just told a child there will be no ice cream after lunch.

    "But..." He weakly tried to protest.

    "I just acquired a very reliable man willing to help me." She continued and the smile on her face involuntarily widened, "He made this," She gestured at herself, "possible. Only my consciousness can leave the seal for now but I have full trust that the day I get freed is not far off."

    Zetsu eagerly nodded, "How can I help?"

    He didn''t think to question Kaguya or the identity of her helper. To be honest, it didn''t matter to him how or why. He was created to get her out of the seal and now that she was at least partially out, it brought him immense joy and hope.

    Rei who observed from afar was utterly baffled at how... naive Zetsu seemed. He expected many things but this... not in the slightest.

    "Mhm." Kaguya distractedly nodded, "I will need you to continue doing whatever you are doing." She relocated her hand that was nuzzling his hair onto his forehead, earning herself a small pout from him that made her giggle before she used her chakra to imprint what she wanted from him into his mind.

    Zetsu''s eyes gained a newfound determination as he understood what his mother wanted him to do and that the Eye of the Moon n was no longer necessary for her unsealing. In fact, he was surprised that she wanted him to subtly steer Akatsuki astray.

    A normal human would feel at least a twinge of reluctance after putting so much effort into it. From manipting Madara to manipting Obito, to forming Akatsuki, to subtly manipting Pain, to leading them towards the Eye of the Moon n... It took Zetsu at the very least a century of continuous effort. Yet, there was nothing but joy and willingness to serve in his mind. He felt no hesitation to make all that effortpletely obsolete and meaningless.

    It was a clear testament that Zetsu was in fact no human and despite his humanoid appearance, he didn''t feel the way humans did.

    "I understand, mother. Your will will be done." Zetsu said almost reverently.

    Kaguya didn''t really react to his worshipful tone. She was used to being worshipped. This was nothing new for her. Frankly, the teasing Rei so often subjected her to was more perturbing for her while also making her flustered most of the time.

    It was... oddly good feeling, in Kaguya''s opinion.

    "Make sure to not cause trouble for the Biri-Biripany, the Uzushio Trading Company, Sunagakure, Konohagakure, and Kirigakure in the uing months and wait for the signal to enact the ns I just mentally transferred to you." She firmly ordered.

    "As you will." Zetsu nodded, staring at her, waiting if she had any more instructions for him.

    Kaguya blinked and tilted her head, "Off you go, then."

    And Zetsu wordlessly merged with the ground again, disappearing.

    She knew he would not betray her. Zetsu was technically a part of her and he was created in such a way that made his most heartfelt wish to merge with her, bing again a part of her. That could be done only after she got fully out of the seal and it was meant as insurance that he would not stop trying to get her out. He was her will personified and that was not just in a matter of speech but at the time of his creation, her sons just betrayed her and Kaguya didn''t have much trust left in her.

    While her state at that time also transferred the corruption of Juubi into Zetsu, making him quite a bad boy, Kaguya was not worried because of that. Rei already promised her he would develop a seal that could deal with the corruption in a permanent manner so when he will inevitably merge with her, ceasing to exist, he will not corrupt her.

    ''Heeh~, I am kinda good at this scheming thing too if I say so myself..'' Kaguya happily nodded with satisfaction at the oue as she turned around, heading back towards Rei, intending to demand her just rewards.

 Chapter 353 - Ch353. The Rightful Reward

    <h4>Chapter 353 - Ch353. The Rightful Reward</h4>

    Rei''s eyes twitched at how easily Kaguya dealt with Zetsu. It was ridiculous in his very justified opinion. The guy who was indirectly responsible for more nefarious plots than Danzo, Hiruzen, and Madarabined during his existence turned into a puppy wagging his tail at the mere sight of Kaguya.

    Rei had a hard time epting what he just witnessed.

    Seeing Kaguya''s smug and satisfied expression, he couldn''t help but groan, ''Great. Now she will think she is good at making plots and try to advise me on a constant basis. How could one innocent joke bring such a disaster?''

    It was really easy to manipte a guy who would do anything you asked of him with a megawatt smile on his face, even if that thing was for him to kill himself. Manipting someone who didn''t want to be manipted and having to make sure they didn''t notice said maniption was a different matter altogether.

    And Kaguya... she sucked at that hard. It was not her keen, politically inclined mind that enabled her to weather through her time as a princess and ruler of a nation. For she had none of that. It was her overwhelming and unsurpassable power that made any scheme against her obsolete, enabling her to simply avoid all the unpleasant political maneuvering.

    Not many dared to scheme against somebody who could squash them like bugs. Especially since the people had no chakra back then.

    "What''s wrong?" Tsunade asked after noticing Rei''s sour face, causing him to give her a bitter, hopefully reassuring smile.

    "Something just went incredibly wrong, yet right. Don''t worry about it." He rubbed his thumb on the upper side of her hand in a calming manner.

    "Kaguya again making problems for you without even realizing it?" She knowingly asked, a small smirk worming its way onto her face.

    "I am not even going to try denying it." Rei snorted, causing Tsunade to giggle.

    "And she is not even out of her seal yet." Tsunade offhandedly quipped, making Rei sigh.

    "Oh, woe is me." He dramatically shook his head.

    "Uuh... who was that auntie?" Fuu curiously asked with a small head tilt. Unlike Kankuro who was on a mission and prying into the business of the client was considered rude, Fuu had no such reservation. She didn''t ask straight away because she was still feeling a bit shy but her curiosity eventually won over her.

    It was no wonder, really. With how quiet and subdued Chomei became the second the woman appeared. He usually watched the world through Fuu''s eyes but when he spotted Kaguya, Fuu only heard a frightened mental squeak and her head felt suddenly empty... er, emptier than usual as Chomei fully retreated into his seal.

    Fuu really wondered what that was about.

    "She is just a weird olddy that likes uncle Rei." Tsunade smiled at Fuu, gently deflecting the question and teasingly nudging Rei who sat next to her and gave her an eye roll in reply.

    That didn''t tell Fuu anything but she felt asking more would be rude so she decided to keep her curiosity to herself. Even Kankuro who secretly listened to the conversation was a bit disappointed there would be no big reveal.

    It was then that Kaguya reappeared from the treeline, still as unbothered and careless as she first arrived but now with a small, almost unnoticeable smug undertone in her expression while her eyes were shooting Rei meaningful looks that simply screamed ''Praise me! Praise me!''.

    She obviously knew he was watching her interaction with Zetsu.

    Sighing, Rei simply decided to indulge her and beckoned her closer with his hand, making her perk up and quickly walk towards him before making herselffortable in hisp.

    "Where are my sweets?" She asked as Rei started caressing her head and Tsunade had to avert her eyes to prevent herself fromughing at Rei''s disgruntled expression.

    "No sweets for you. You will get fat." He deadpanned.

    Kaguya''s blissful expression instantly grew nk as her eyebrow twitched, "Is that so?"

    "That''s right." Tsunade decided to join the fun with a roguish smile spreading on her lips.

    Kaguya turned towards her and narrowed her eyes, pointing her gaze at her chest for a long moment before firmly nodding, "You would know."

    Needless to say, Tsunade''s smile quickly fell for a second before returning in full again, this time a bit too sweet and fake. "Yes, I would. I am a medic ninja, after all."

    "Maybe I want to get fat." Kaguya pouted, shuffling in Rei''sp, her eyes still aimed at Tsunade''s chest, making both Rei and Kankuro sweatdrop as Tsunade became speechless. Kaguya nodded in satisfaction at her small victory and then turned slightly in her victim''sp and gave Rei a pointed look. "So... my sweets?"

    Clearly, she was on the roll.

    Unfortunately for her, that was when Rei felt the sand ninjas returning with his senses and inwardly grinned.

    "The redhead who has no idea about our identity is returning. Off with you." He smoothly changed the topic, making Kaguya gobsmacked, her mouth slightly open in disbelief at the casual way her reward was disregarded before her body was forcefully dispelled in a puff of smoke.

    After all, it might have her consciousness imbued but it was still Rei''s shadow clone.

    ''One of these days, I will have my revenge!'' Rei heard in his head before he got an impression of an angry huff as the mental connection between him and Kaguya went silent.

    ''I will be looking forward to it.'' Rei smirked, knowing she was no longer hearing his thoughts. He did intend to reward her with her favorite foods but Kaguya was kinda spoiled. If he made it easy for her, she would demand rewards endlessly for the smallest of things.

    The smoke barely managed to dissipate before Sasori came into view, followed by Temari and Gaara.

    "Done already? That was quick." Rei asked in feigned surprise, looking at Sasori.

    "Yes. Unfortunately, Kakuzu managed to run away." Sasori grunted, clearly not in the best of moods.

    Rei just lifted his eyebrow at Temari since Sasori didn''t seem very forting with information. One would think the puppeteer would get a hint and realize that Rei was fishing for information with his praise.

    "When we arrived, Kakuzu and four thread-like monsters with masks were engaging Sasori and his puppet of the Third Kazekage. We destroyed fire and lightning using monsters with our initial sneak attack and from there it was rtively easy. I took on the monster using wind and Gaara battled the one using Earth while Sasori dealt with Kakuzu himself. Needless to say, both I and Gaara had an overwhelming advantage in our elemental proficiency over the monsters so it was easy to kill them. Unfortunately, Kakuzu realized he wasn''t winning the fight far too soon and retreated before we could corner him." Temari gave her report, getting a pointed look from Sasori whose eyebrows were furrowed.

    He had no idea why she decided to narrate their fight to a civilian and wasn''t happy about it. Sadly, he couldn''t really reprimand her.

    Eventually, he disgruntledly grunted in gruff acknowledgment. "Yes. That''s pretty much what happened. Let''s go." And turned around, beckoning the group to follow him.

    Rei looked at Temari who just apologetically smiled before turning his gaze towards Tsunade who just shrugged at him before he felt her telepathic connection snap in the ce.

    ''Guess we now know why the guy prefers puppets over humans. It was a long time since I saw someone so socially awkward.'' Tsunade''s voice amusedly spoke in Rei''s mind.

    ''I guess carrying your shopping bags will teach him how to socialize.'' Rei ryed back and both grinned at each other.

    Oh... they did not intend to make it easy for Sasori these following days.. Not at all.

 Chapter 354 - Ch354. Kakuzus Misfortune

    <h4>Chapter 354 - Ch354. Kakuzu''s Misfortune</h4>

    Kakuzu finally stopped running, feeling that the sand ninjas didn''t pursue him, and sighed in relief.

    This mission was a veritable disaster of bijuu proportion and he still had a hard timeing to grips with how easily and quickly he was forced to retreat.

    ''There is no way these were genins.'' Kakuzu wearily thought, unable to even be mad at his loss of four hearts. He was too tired to even contemte getting angry.

    Not physically. His tiredness was of the mental kind. It was weariness at having his preconceived notions of how the world worked forcefully broken. Kakuzu was a realist and knew he was not on top of the world. There were plenty of stronger fishes in the pond, so to speak. He, however, took pride in his strength and fully believed he would be solidly ced among the top twenty ninjas in the world.

    Getting his stuffing beaten out of him by brats who were just entering their teenage years, even if they had Sasori''s help and the advantage of an ambush on their side, was a heavy blow to Kakuzu''s pride and worldview.

    Kakuzu could take the loss of Hidan. The welp was not important. But four of his hearts! It will take him ages to replenish those. Yes, hearts were readily avable resources if one knew where to look... But Kakuzu needed quality rather than quantity and there were not that many powerful ninjas with strong affinities across the world, much less many opportunities to get their hearts.

    The only bright spot on this whole clusterfuck was that the heart of the Second Hokage was undamaged, still beating in his chest. Kakuzu was aware he would be unable to get a better quality water heart... ever. That''s why he seldom took it out of his body.

    "I see that you took a beating." A dark scratchy voice suddenly resounded in front of Kakuzu, making him alert and raising his guard up in an instant.

    Zetsu suddenly emerged from the ground in front of Kakuzu, causing the old bounty hunter to rx again at the sight of his organization''s spy.

    "Zetsu. What are you doing here?" He gruffly asked, not paying him much attention as he was too focused on stitching his wounds shut.

    "I was tasked with observing this mission." Zetsu indifferently replied, his tone holding a hint of amusement at Kakuzu''s sorry state.

    "Of course you were." Kakuzu grumbled. Part of him was irritated that his failure was witnessed by somebody but part of him was d because it meant he would not be held fully ountable for it once Zetsu testified about the battle.

    Nobody, not even the leader, could me him for retreating when outnumbered by three dangerous individuals.

    Plus... it was mostly Hidan''s fault for rushing in. Kakuzu reckoned there would be no digging that dipshit up and putting him back together this time.

    "Well, I should return to my stalking assignment. It would be very problematic if I lose track of our target." Zetsu suddenly said after a minute of silence between him and Kakuzu, getting only a dismissive grunt in return.

    It didn''t bother him. Akatsuki was not some kind of dysfunctional family. The sheer thought of that was ridiculous beyond belief. They were coworkers and mercenaries that could barely stomach themselves at the best of times.

    Kakuzu barely registered Zetsu about to pass by him as he mentally grumbled and tried to remember the best elemental users from his bounty lists. He will have to spend the next two years on the hunt for new quality hearts and it was already making him irritated when he thought about the effort he will have to exert.

    ''And Pein will definitely expect me to continue my hunt for bounties.'' Kakuzu thought in irritation. He often regretted joining Akatsuki. Not that he had much of a choice. When someone like Pain appears before you and gives you a clear choice between joining and death, the answer is obvious.

    Kakuzu might have tried to pull Orochimaru on Akatsuki by now if they didn''t provide him with so many financial benefits, to be honest.

    As he was lost in his mind, his instinct suddenly red in danger, jolting him awake from his reverie but... he was toote.

    A sharp pain abruptly rushed through his chest as Kakuzu involuntarily spat blood before inclining his head downward in pained confusion only to notice a ck arm sticking out of his chest, straight through hisst remaining heart.

    Horror instantly engulfed his mind as he realized what that meant for his ''immortal'' self.

    "Z-Z-Zet...su!" He gritted out in disbelief and anger, realizing who was responsible for his uing demise. "Wh-y?" He gurgled through the blood that tried to rush out of his throat.

    "Because your continued survival is in the way of my mother''s wishes." Zetsu calmly said, not worried about revealing it to Kakuzu. The man would die here and he had no way to ry this information to anyone. Zetsu knew. He had extensive knowledge of all Akatsuki members. He probably knew them more than they knew themselves at this point.

    Hearing that, Kakuzu''s eyes widened as he understood. He understood that Zetsu was not as loyal to Akatsuki as he portrayed but... ''He is one of the initial members!'' Kakuzu thought in dismay. But that could only mean, ''We... we are all just puppets in his schemes, aren''t we?'' The dying man realized in painful astonishment. Zetsu was supposed to be the weakest of them but this...

    Akatsuki suddenly seemed much darker than it outwardly appeared and Kakuzu cursed himself for getting caught in its web.

    "It is funny, you know?" Zetsu''s voice resounded from behind Kakuzu,ced with light amusement at the disbelief of his soon-to-be-ex colleague, "I am the weakest member of Akatsuki. Just a spy. Someone not worth being cautious of because I could never pose a threat to any of you. Thanks to that, most of you like topletely disregard my presence. You didn''t notice anything was wrong until my hand was already about to prate your back." Zetsu let out a cold chuckle. "S-rank ninjas indeed. Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

    That was thest thing Kakuzu heard as his consciousness failed him, casting him forever into the oblivion of death.

    Zetsu looked at Kakuzu''s corpse that unceremoniously hit the ground and smirked, "I lied. I was never tasked with observing your mission."

    Unfortunately for Kakuzu, with him still in the picture, the news of this failure would reach Pein very quickly and he would then organize arger force to take down Sasori. This was a prime opportunity to hunt themselves a traitor, after all.

    That, however, would disturb the peace of mother''s friends and one of Zetsu''s orders was to not cause trouble for them. Kakuzu simply had to go.

    This way, Pein would not know about the oue for a week or so before he will inevitably but correctly assume the worst after not receiving anymunication from Hidan nor Kakuzu. It was not a long dy but by that time, mother''s friends will be long in Konoha.

    Zetsu could care less what happened to Sasori after that. The only reason why he even cared was that Sasori was escorting Rei and Tsunade.

    Kaguya had no idea what kind of horror she unleashed with her casual and careless words for Zetsu would stop at nothing in order to fulfill her orders. s, what she meant him to do and what he perceived she meant him to do were two different things.

    Not that the Rabbit Goddess could care less but the unsuspecting Akatsuki was in for a very bad time.

 Chapter 355 - Ch355. Sasoris Personal Hell

    <h4>Chapter 355 - Ch355. Sasori''s Personal Hell</h4>

    The time quickly passed and Sasori couldn''t help but regret that Kakuzu was too ipetent to kill him. These past few days must have been the worst and most frustrating in his life so far.

    The first day after the unsessful ambush, they arrived in a town that was well known for its gambling dens. Such a thing didn''t matter for Sasori at first but he quickly learned the error of his ways.

    One of their clients, Nadetsu, dragged them all over these gambling dens where they had to... ugh, wait for her as she lost the majority of her gambles. Sasori hated waiting with passion even before he had to spend most of his day doing it while watching the abysmal luck of his client. How that woman became one of the most influential people alive with such luck, he will never know.

    If that was not enough, Nadetsu did her best to embarrass them. From betting their underwear and causing the whole gambling den to howl inughter at Sasori''s and Kankuro''s expense... to betting Kankuro''s catsuit.

    The absolute worst was when she put Sasori''s services for a day as a part of her bet. Normally, it wouldn''t matter to Sasori. He was a ninja and that was basically the description of his job but when he remembered the woman Nadetsu was gambling against, he couldn''t help but involuntarily shiver. She was giving him the same look he sometimes gave his best puppets. The problem was there was no way he could ever traumatize his puppets by appreciating their beauty and his gaze never contained the raw disgusting lust the woman''s look oozed with. It almost turned Sasori''s stomach.

    Especially when he knew about his client''s abysmal ability at gambling. That made him contemte desertion yet again, to be honest.

    Much to his surprise, however, Nadetsu somehow... really, Sasori had no idea how but he definitely did NOT gape in shock at her... she somehow won every single bet since they started to be so personal to the sand team.

    After ten rounds like that, Sasori quickly formed a new opinion about Nadetsu Jusen. The woman was not enjoying the gambling per se. She simply enjoyed screwing with people. She enjoyed seeing them win and their faces lit up in hope only to plummet in despair the next round as they lost their winnings.

    In short, she was just a sadistic bitch who found a non-offensive way to indulge these urges.

    Surprisingly enough, it wasn''t all bad. Sasori gained a bit of respect for the woman as she refused one gambler''s suggestion to bet a night with Temari. The cold look Nadetsu showered the man in would probably make even a chunin piss himself. It was no wonder the man, in fact, did soil his pants and became aughing stock of the entire gambling den as he rushed out with shame etched on his face.

    Sasori barely noticed how tightly Temari was pressing her body into Rei''s as she sat on hisp and he almost missed the look of absolute fury as she pressed her head into his shoulder.

    Sasori could swear he saw Temari sneaking out of the hotel roomter that night and when she came back, she had a bit of blood on her hands and the next day, he found out a man was apparently murdered...

    Well, Sasori decided it was not his problem and stopped thinking about it.

    Nadetsu surprisingly didn''t make bets about Gaara either. When the group arrived at the hotel and he asked her why... Nadetsu simply stated with absolute conviction that Gaara is far too adorable with that expressionless facade to attempt to embarrass him and that Sasori and Kankuro simply had that virgin loser air around them that made her want to tease them.

    Damned spoiled brat...

    The first day of the escort mission passed and Sasori already wanted to tear his female client apart with extreme prejudice. That didn''t inspire much confidence about the sess of the mission in him.

    The second and third day were spent traveling and thankfully, it gave Sasori the necessary time to center himself. Nadetsu didn''t target him with her teasing... and he suspected she somehow sniffed out how close he was to snapping and decided toy off for the moment... but Kankuro got the full brunt of it instead. From asking which of his puppets is his current girlfriend, to inquiring why he wears his pajamas as if it was normal everyday wear, to arguing with him if his make-up is a war paint or not...

    Sasori had to admit his off-and-on apprentice''s patience impressed him. If it was him, he would probably bitchp the woman by now. Surprisingly, Kankuro seemed to almost enjoy the banter and snipping veiled insults at each other with her.

    The total masochistic weirdo...

    At that time, Sasori had no idea yet about the disaster awaiting him in the next town. If he thought that gambling dens were bad, the massive shopping district in the next town was hell itself.

    Waiting... waiting... waiting... waiting... and MORE waiting!

    Nadetsu dragged him, Kankuro, and Gaara as her personal bag holders all over the shopping district while she enjoyed her days, taking almost sadistic pleasure in making them wait for her.

    The worst part?

    Their second client, Rei, was not present to curb the woman''s excessive teasing. Being in her presence when he was not around was pure suffering! She was well aware the thing he hated most was waiting and shopping around with a woman was made purely of that sted activity!

    Sasori wanted to rip his hair out after the first hour. After the third hour, he deeply regretted turning back to human if only because his emotions returned and he could feel the full brunt of frustration and impatience.

    In the hours following that, he had to work hard on mentally persuading himself that killing her was not worth it as she hung one bag after another on him as if he was her personal hanger.

    And when she informed him that tomorrow she would continue with her shopping spree? ... Oh, boi.

    Anger issues were never Sasori''s problem. Nor did he ever get murder-happy. His killings were always about gaining some benefit. It was about a pure cold calction of gain and loss. Now, though, he could see what was so appealing about butchering someone with his bare hands.

    ... It was really fortunate for Sasori that he didn''t try. Unknown to him, he wouldn''t get far with that.

    Unfortunately, he was alone in his suffering too. Gaara didn''t mind being used as Nadetsu''s personal porter. He was fully satisfied with the ice cream and the good expensive luxury lunch she bought for their ''noble'' sacrifice as she called the hellish experience.

    As for Kankuro... he actually enjoyed it and even joined shopping with Nadetsu asionally, trading opinions on various clothes and so on. Well, Sasori thought he should have expected that from someone who wore make-up and a catsuit. Nothing new there...

    What really worried Sasori, was that Rei and Temari separated from the group. He was not blind and could see how the young teenage girl looked at their male client and from the way Rei didn''t protest when Temari simply flopped into hisps or started affectionately massaging his shoulders or when she got overly touchy... Sasori had a bad feeling about their mutual absence from his sight.

    ording to thew, Temari belonged to Kazekage. Her entire being was supposed to be Lady Pakura''s. Lady Pakura had the right to decide who would take Temari''s virginity, who she would marry, even how many children she could have. Her life and death literally belonged to Lady Pakura.

    Yes, it was a messed up and very archaicw bordering on very but Temari entered this kind of service to Lady Pakura willingly. That''s why Sasori was worried about the consequences if he suddenly woke up tomorrow only to find Temari with a slight limp. He was responsible for her dammit!

    He would never leave the girl out of his sight with a man she had such an obvious crush on but Nadetsu simply rejected any attempt of his to separate from the group!

    It really made one wonder if this whole irritating shopping trip of Nadetsu was not just one big farce to keep him away from Rei and Temari.

 Chapter 356 - Ch356. A Date With Temari

    <h4>Chapter 356 - Ch356. A Date With Temari</h4>

    Temari and Rei walked side by side through the town, enjoying its bustling atmosphere as they effortlessly melded into the crowd.

    Temari seemed excited and giddy while Rei was keeping a cool facade but inwardly, he was resigned and slightly happy. He refused to lie to himself. All that time he spent training the little whish next to him did make her close to his heart. If he didn''t feel any sort of attachment to her, he would never agree to this... date.

    On the other hand, her age was a bit of an obstacle and clearly, Temari was aware of it, making sure to remind him in subtle ways such as through her bodynguage that she didn''t care. Hence, the resigned part.

    Soon enough, the duo entered a confectionery, deciding to sit down for a bit and talk while enjoying some sweets.

    "I still can''t believe you actually asked Tsunade for permission to court me as if I was some kind of pet." Rei amusedly chuckled, enjoying how flustered Temari became because of his statement.

    When Rei during their light banter jokingly agreed to have a date with her if she managed to persuade Tsunade, she came to their hotel room yesterday and with a deep bow voiced her request to the Senju Princess known for her legendary temper tantrums. Rei had to admit, Temari had balls of steel for that alone.

    Needless to say, both Rei and Tsunade were utterly speechless.

    "Would it kill you not to bring it up again?" Temari mumbled and cutely pouted, intently focusing on the dessert in front of her and ying with it with her fork, too embarrassed to lift her head. "It''s embarrassing."

    Rei snickered and reached across the table and affectionately ruffled the girl''s hair, "I think it was cute how you blurted out the first thing that popped in your head." He said, making her cheeks color themselves crimson as a small indulging smile appeared on her lips.

    Rei and Tsunade totally expected such a situation to ur. Temari was trying to tantly flirt with Rei during the past few days and Tsunade never once protested. It was a long timeing but the way Temari decided to go about it was still shocking.

    "Poor Sasori though." Rei remarked, taking his hand back from Temari''s head and causing her to briefly frown at the loss of the intimate feeling. "After your actions yesterday, the man will probably have to face the full brunt of Tsunade''s vindictiveness for an entire day."

    Yes, Tsunade, with a copious amount of amusement, allowed Temari to ''take Rei out''. She even gave Rei a mirthful nce, knowing his manly pride just took a severe hit because of Temari''s wording. It was all in good humor.

    That didn''t mean deep down she wasn''t irritated because of it.

    "Should I worry about earning her ire?" Temari slightly widened her eyes at that.

    "Nah, she might be annoyed for a bit but fortunately for you, my girls seem to hellbent on making me stop holding myself back because of them, and rather than being angry with you, Tsunade is the kind of person that would respect you for grasping the opportunity when it is avable." Rei said.

    Granted, if Rei didn''t show interest in the girl and she wasn''t Pakura''s favorite, Tsunade would most likely make her into a pancake with a punch rather than give Temari her blessing. That didn''t mean she would not respect her resolve though.

    Temari nodded and reached towards Rei''s hand, grasping it as she spoke with a sinceritycing her voice, "I am grateful for that. Lady Pakura told me she could provide me this chance but grasping it is in my own hands." She admitted.

    Their date continued peacefully as the two talked about mundane everyday things, opting not to go into heavy and important topics. They rather enjoyed the warm atmosphere between them as they discussed things like Temari''s surprising interest in sewing or Rei''s distaste for alcohol... which made Temari ''subtly'' put her cup of sake she was drinking away, much to Rei''s amusement.

    They left the confectionery and continued on their walk through the town, visiting many clothing shops but that activity was quickly stopped as they realized neither of them was having all that much fun.

    While Temari liked Rei''s reaction and his veiled heated look when she tried out a few very good-looking kimonos, she was not one for shopping. She liked action more... or rather, she was morefortable in the heat ofbat rather than doing this girly stuff.

    When she awkwardly told that to Rei, he just lifted his eyebrow at her and bought her a pink teddy bear.

    She really had no idea how he knew her preferences...

    Nevertheless, the date took an unexpected turn after that and the duo found themselves leisurely walking outside of the town where they found a clearing far enough that nobody would disturb them.

    It was funny how the date quickly changed into an impromptu lesson on Wind Maniption and taijutsu. It certainly felt a bit awkward for Rei since neither of his women would say no to a good ''girly'' date. Except, Temari looked to be in her element and beaming at him as he helped her to perfect her personal Wind Jutsus.

    Rei had to admit, he had fun doing it. He liked to teach. If he didn''t, neither Ringo nor Mei would have turned out so well. Unfortunately, his position didn''t give him many opportunities for taking students.

    Now that he thought about it, Temari was hisst ''student'' as he taught her Wind Maniption on Pakura''s request and... ''Wait, is this my fetish?'' Rei suddenly gained a ground-breaking realization, freezing in the middle of a spar and letting Temari''s punch slip past his guard and deck him straight in the middle of his face.

    Rei didn''t even register as his back hit the ground. He could only stare at the clear sky with wide eyes full of reluctant eptance and disbelieving shock at this self-enlightenment.

    ''It would make a twisted kind of total sense! I mean... Mei and Ringo were my official students. I taught Pakura how to better use her bloodline and I would be lying if I said these lessons didn''t deepen our rtionship. Tsunade might have been a full-fledged kunoichi when we met but it was my meddling that allowed her to develop her Sage Arts to such heights and the less said about Konan the better. If I ignore that I was a kid myself, I basically not only trained and taught the girl but I straight out raised her!'' Rei blinked in disbelief. ''Does that make me a degenerate?'' He idly wondered.

    His eyebrows suddenly furrowed, ''Do I even care?''

    Nope... he didn''t care. At all.

    It was still a very shocking revtion for him though. He briefly wondered if Kaguya also fit into this pattern before he realized that...

    ''I am currently trying to teach Kaguya manners.'' Rei had no idea if that counted.

    "Are you okay!?" Temari hurriedly knelt next to Rei who was still lying on the ground with shock written all over his face. "I didn''t mean to-, I couldn''t stop-, I..." She was clearly panicking, not yet used to sparring with Rei so she had no idea where the boundaries lied.

    "Yeah, don''t worry. I just had a life-changing concuss-, I mean, realization." Rei quipped with a grin, easing the worried expression of Temari.

    Realizing that Rei''s bewilderment was not because he was angry at her punching him, she regained her usual confident smirk, "Heh, I am d that my punches can grant you enlightenment."

    Rei just rolled his eyes at her. "Don''t get arrogant. Considering the effort it took you to get that one punch in, it would be downright embarrassing if the punch was not enlightenment inducing."

    "Looks like one punch was not enough for your full Buddha ascension." Temari quipped with her eyebrow twitching as she raised her fist in a mock-threatening manner. Both she and Rei stared at each other for a moment before chuckling. "So? What kind of secret life truth did you discern from being decked into the face by the little me?" Temari cheekily asked, causing Rei to snort.

    She was so unsure and meek at the start of the date, cutely pouting and blushing. Yet now, she quickly eased into herfort zone when they started training and sparring. She was no longer timid, regaining her usual confident presence and Rei had to admit, she might be fifteen but he found that extremely hot at the moment.

    "You really want to know?" Rei gave her a shrewd look and smirked at her in a way that screamed, ''I know something you don''t!'', causing her to lean closer in curiosity.

    "Of course." Temari''s smile widened and her eyes narrowed in glee, her heartbeat quickening at the close proximity she was to her long-time crush. "I''d like to know what''s so specia-"

    She didn''t get to finish it as Rei pulled her to the ground and started passionately kissing her.

    Rei had his reservations but... Temari was kunoichi. She was an adult the second she received her hitai-ate and her hands were drenched in an ocean of blood. Treating her like a child was never on his to-do list. She wanted to have a rtionship with him, fully knowing what it all entailed? Fine by him!

    Since that was the case, Rei decided to take her determination seriously and his hands started to slowly undress her. He liked her, she liked him... if she wanted to give herself to him then there was no need to be hesitant about it any longer.

    It didn''t take long for Temari toe out of her initial shock and start to reciprocate the kissing, delight, and happiness surging deep within her as Rei''s hands slowly took offyer afteryer of her clothing while her hands also started to slowly undress him.

    This was exactly what she wanted. She could see the hesitation in Rei''s eyes when she flirted with him in recent days. Now she could see none of it and she would not waste this opportunity!

    ---

    Author Note:

    Firstly, I am sorry if the chapter was a bit ''meh''. I was quite tired when writing it.

    Next...

    Yes, I have previously said I will not expand the harem but I must confess, as a man, I have failed you. Yes, it is sob-worthy and waterfalls of tears are streaming down my cheeks as I write this, yadda, yadda, yadda...

    I certainly did not roll my eyes at you. I swear... fingers crossed.

    Anyway, I was content with these five girls in Rei''s harem and Kaguya on the waiting list for a long while and I was struggling, fighting, wrestling, and raging against my desire to add more for even longer but with this author note, I am officially announcing, I sadly lost this struggle.

    My cultural side won.

    I know, it is sad but that makes it no less true.

    Sorry if this disappointed you as much as it did me.

    I am one of those who could not imagine having more than one woman in real life because I would find it extremely bothersome but because of that personal defect of mine, I also can''t imagine NOT writing harem for the MC''s in my stories because I find it a total waste not to.

    They are fanfictions. They are supposed to have harems in them! You can''t decide which girl you want as a female lead? Just add all of those you like! It is FICTION for a reason...

    No dissing at stories with only one female lead though. I really respect these dudes for having the resolve to pick one girl and stick with her in their stories.

    I would be unable to do that. I pick one girl and two dayster, I have a deeply-seated urge to pick another after reading some fanfiction that ''promoted'' her. It''s kinda messed up but it is what it is.

    Well, thanks for understanding, and have a nice day.

 Chapter 357 - Ch357. Arriving At Konoha

    <h4>Chapter 357 - Ch357. Arriving At Konoha</h4>

    Sasori sat behind a table in the luxurious empty lounge of the hotel, cradling a cup of steaming hot coffee. Just what he needed to ease his shopping-spree-induced headache that was still going strong from yesterday.

    He didn''t need to worry about other people bothering him because their clients, Rei and Nadetsu, obviously booked the whole hotel just for them because... why not?

    Somehow, that only proved to add to his increasing irritation of the two.

    Just imagining the monumental waste of money it was, brought his subsiding headache back. The number of puppets he could make with that kind of money...

    It was then the door to the lounge opened and in walked Temari wearing a somewhat loose butfortable ck kimono with her hair done into a bun and from her rxed expression and contently squinted eyes, it was obvious she had a nice bath not long ago.

    Sasori''s eyes trailed over her form... before he almost did a spit-take, only barely managing to gulp down the coffee in his mouth before he started to chokely cough as he noticed that,

    ''Shit! She is limping! Lady Pakura will kill me!''

    A terror surged inside the puppeteer as the pros and cons of going rogue instantly shed through the forefront of his mind... again.

    Temari leisurely walked towards the ce where her brothers were seated and unceremoniously flopped into one of the seats with a content sigh before she started to fill the te in front of her with the avable breakfast choices. She was in the middle of this process when she abruptly stopped and her eyes rose up from the delicacies prepared by the hotel staff only to meet Sasori''s intent stare.

    "What?" Temari asked with a mild irritation seeping into her tone. She really did not like the judging way he looked at her.

    "You slept with our client." Sasori dryly stated, his stare morphed into an unamused one.

    "Yes. So, what?" Temari lifted her eyebrow at him, stubbornly refusing to y his ming game. He probably wanted her to start apologizing or something but... meh, she didn''t care. She felt heavenly and would do it all over again no matter what Sasori thought.

    "Dammit, Temari." Seeing that his blonde charge had no remorse, Sasori started rubbing the bridge of his nose to cover the exasperated helplessness that was gnawing on him. "I am supposed to be responsible for you. Lady Pakura will kill me."

    "Oh..." Temari''s eyes slightly widened in the realization that Sasori was not angry that she slept with the client. He simply didn''t want to face the non-existent consequences of her actions. Understanding that, Temari''s temper cooled off and she continued in a friendlier tone, "You don''t need to worry about that. Lady Pakura already knows."

    Her reassurances finished, Temari returned to stuffing her te with food, ignoring the gaping puppeteer.

    Regathering his wits, the gears in Sasori''s mind started to work overtime.

    ''Is that why we were given this mission?'' He narrowed his eyes, ring at the empty te in front of him with his lips set in a frown, ''Is that why she flirted with Rei so much? To get him to bed her? But why...''

    Sasori''s eyes suddenly gained an understanding gleam. Temari''s virginity belonged to Lady Pakura and the fact she just gave it to their client surely meant...

    ''This is a political transaction veiled as an escort mission!'' Sasori''s breath abruptly hitched and his eyes shot back towards Temari who was happily enjoying her food and chatting with her brothers. He couldn''t help but feel a bit of pity for the girl.

    s, it wouldn''t affect him so there was no need to fret.

    Satisfied with that conclusion, Sasori''s worries subsided as he decided to indulge in his renewed appetite.

    Unknown to him, he was totally wrong.

    ...

    It took the group nine more days to reach Konoha gates, mostly because of all the detours Tsunade insisted on. Fortunately, the road was quite peaceful, the only eventful thing being Rei getting closer to Temari and Gaara finding a report with Fuu while Sasori grumbled under his nose about ''Riajuu''.

    The redheaded boy could be seen almost smiling nowadays. And Kankuro secretly admitted to Rei that it was creeping the funk out of him before he promptly started to avoid Fuu in fear of being affected by her mentality adjusting hocus pocus.. as he named it.

    In all honesty, there was no ''magic'' involved. It was just her cheerful predisposition and insistence on being friends. But exining that to a boy who thought wearing make-up was cool... yeah, Rei quickly decided it was not his problem.

    The group finally arrived at the gates where a person was surprisingly already awaiting them.

    "Greetings, Sabaku siblings, Mr. Sasori. I am Kurenai Yuhi and I will be your guide while you are in the vige." A woman introduced herself with a polite bow, neither too submissive nor too small.

    Rei lifted his eyebrow at Kurenai and looked between her and Tsu-, ahem, Nadetsu, his lips twitching into a smirk as he realized Kurenai had no idea that Nadetsu was Tsunade. That told him a lot about the level of trust his wife was willing to exert to the genjutsu mistress.

    Rei could now see why Tsunade never showed Kurenai the vige on the other side.

    The fact Kurenai did not recognize Nadetsu Juusen, the CEO of the Biri-Biripany, however, would bite her in the ass on ater date if Tsunade''s narrowed re was any indication.

    An observing outsider would probably suspect Nadetsu Juusen didn''t like being ignored or that she was simply arrogant but Rei was sure Tsunade was ring for a totally different reason. He knew this greeting of the important guests was probably Tsunade''s subtle way of making Kurenai experience diplomacy and mingling among the people that will be important in the future while testing her behavior at the same time.

    The Suna siblings might no longer be the children of the current Kazekage but they were still very close to Pakura, hence, deemed important by other viges.

    That didn''t mean Tsunade would easily disregard that Kurenai totally ignored the civilian tag-along and had no idea how Nadetsu Juusen, one of the most influential figures of the modern economy looked like. It didn''t matter that Kurenai as a kunoichi did not really need to know Nadetsu''s face. Nor did it matter that Nadetsu never introduced herself.

    For Tsunade, this was a failure Kurenai will most certainly regret.

    Sasori didn''t respond as Kurenai expectantly stared at him. He knew he was the ''jonin instructor'' of the team and it was his job but during the escort mission, the dynamics of the team became apparent. The real leader was Temari.

    Not that Sasori minded. He was a loner by nature and preferred his puppets. Leading three brats was simply not on his list of preferred activities.

    He simply silently turned towards Temari, an unasked question obvious in his gaze.

    Kurenai noticed and quickly realized what was going on, her own eyes also relocating towards the fifteen years old blonde despite confusion being apparent on her face.

    For this show of adaptability and understanding of subtle gestures, at least, Tsunade seemed to be happy and slightly nodded in approval.

    Instead of answering, Temari nced at Rei, and Kurenai''s eyebrow twitched.

    The ravte had no idea what was going on anymore. A jonin instructor asking his student what to do? That she could take. Temari seemed to be politically higher than Sasori. But said student asking a civilian what to do? That baffled Kurenai.

    She knew this was a sort of test the second shended this mission but damn if these sand people weren''t confusing!

    Rei sighed and slightly squeezed Temari''s hand before donning a small smile as he whispered to her ear, "Go and register for the Chunin Exams. We can meet at the Senju Compoundter. You will be housed there anyway."

    Needless to say, Kurenai narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the gesture, trying to understand the rtionship and dynamics of the group in front of her. Unfortunately for her...

    "Okay." Temari agreed with a small, almost unnoticeable pout before turning towards Kankuro and Gaara while her hand slipped out of Rei''s before she gestured for Kurenai to lead the way and started following the clearly reluctant woman.

    Rei heard Tsunade snicker next to him, causing him to turn towards her with a lifted eyebrow and a momentter, he felt her hand slide into his as she gave him a tempting look. Instead of answering the unasked question, she simply leaned forward and delivered an indulging kiss on Rei''s lips, much to the embarrassment of the green-haired jinchuuriki that was trying to merge with the background.

    "Let''s deliver Fuu to the Senju Compound and then we can have a bit of alone time." Tsunade whispered, her hands snaking around Rei''s waist.

    Rei nced at Fuu who averted her gaze downward with her cheeks flushed and smiled at the cute response towards the tant affection, "Yeah," He looked back at Tsunade, "Sage knows the next few days will be a challenge with so many temperamental people all housed in the Senju Compound. A nice peaceful afternoon before the shitstorm starts will be nice."

    ---

    Just a small rant to relieve my delicate sensibilities. Feel free to skip:

    Yeaaah, sooo, I was browsing through the Avengers fanfictions on ff and I must say I am baffled. There is almost no good fanfic there.

    Half of it is focused on hurt, drama, self-harm, mental illness, and simr shit that makes me feel as if it was written by 13yo edgy mentally unstable emo angsty fangirls and I still can''t wrap my head around WHY. How did an action-based movie such as Avengers --> self-harm, emotional drama, angst, etc? Just... how?

    More importantly... how did it be such a massive segment in the Avengers fanfictionmunity!?

    And the other half is straight out homosexual content which I personally am not interested in.

    Honestly, I have nothing against homosexuals but when I browse through fanfictions and all I see is Steve x Tony, Steve x Bucky, Steve x Clint, Steve x Bucky, Steve x Steve, I want to wring someone''s neck not because they are homo but because there is no damn filter button that could just filter all of these out from my search. It is FRUSTRATING as heck.

    It really says a lot about Marvel fans when half of its fanfictions are edgy angsty emo emotional wank fests that love increasing the emotional baggage of their readers and the other half are homosexual stories though.

    Damn, I wonder how many people would get butthurt because of this :D.

    No offense meant, people. It''s a free world and you are free to do what you wish within reason. Let me just... sob my frustrations away in my lonely corner because I miss some good marvel fanfiction that wouldn''t give me more emotional baggage or a mental illness for the shit and giggles of an edgelord author who is justing into depression caused by puberty and think the world is out to get him and cutting his wrist is clearly the way to resolve all of his problems because why not?

    Nah, thank you, keep your emotional baggage to yourself. I am not interested in buying that.

    (Damn, I so needed to get that out of my system :D. Just browsing through the synopsis on Marvel Fanfictions on ff. made me feel as if I had a mental illness.)

 Chapter 358 - Ch358. Reunion 1

    <h4>Chapter 358 - Ch358. Reunion 1</h4>

    Rei stretched as he shuffled into a sitting position on the edge of the bed, his eyes straying at the naked form of Tsunade whoidzily on the bed like a cat with her eyes half-closed with contentment, enjoying the pleasant soreness of her body caused by the post-coital bliss.

    "Mmm~, don''t go." Tsunade whinily uttered, catching Rei''s wrist with her hand which caused her to involuntarily shift her body and nt her face into the pillows with a girlish giggle.

    A smile appeared on Rei''s face as he watched her antics with a small headshake. He shuffled closer to her and gently ran his free hand along Tsunade''s bare back, starting from her shoulder, causing her to shudder in anticipation as his fingers caressed the skin on her back before they got lower, reaching her posterior. The ticklish touch made Tsunade quietly squeal in delight and subconsciously raise her rear with desire but she was disappointed and let out a whiny groan when Rei''s fingers didn''t stop and continued, stroking the back of her thigh where they stopped, causing her to very unwillingly lift her head and give Rei an unamused look that silently informed him he better listen to her or else...

    "No can do." Rei rejected her silent threat with an amused, yet somewhat innocent smile as if he just didn''t make her hot and bothered. "My seals just detected Mei entering thepound with her team and the Sand siblings are already here too. We should go and greet them. You know... since they are technically the guests of the Daimyo." Rei said and lowered his head, deciding to indulge Tsunade and kiss her since she was basically begging for it with her eyes.

    When she tried to deepen it and her hand slowly snaked towards his crotch, Rei quickly put a stop to it by ending the kiss and yfully shoving her body away, making her roll over on the bed as he rolled his eyes at her not-so-subtle attempt to ditch her duties for sex.

    "Fuck the guests." Tsunade groaned into a pillow, clutching it tightly to her face in a petnt manner. Realizing she won''t be able to sway him to have another round, she nced at Rei, noticing he was having fun at her expense, she huffed, "You are no fun."

    Rei sighed, too aware of the calcting glint that passed through Tsunade''s eye that was watching him like a hawk. He knew what he had to do to get her out of bed and it honestly made him involuntarily smile at her little ploy.

    "Fine," He exaggeratedly eximed, "What nefarious bribery will I have to bestow upon my Lady for her to consider getting her ass out of the bed?" He dramatically asked with no small hint of sarcasm.

    "Why, my Lord, as the saying goes, eye for an eye, pleasure for pleasure. I will require of you a promise of spending at least three nights of every week with me for as long as we are in Konoha. That should be a worthy offering for asking such a huge and demanding favor of my ass." Tsunade said and pulled herself into a sitting position, making sure to show off her body in an attempt to entice Rei.

    Rei knew what she was doing and it amused him to no end. Tsunade was one of his more sexually demanding wives. It had to do something with her sage arts and focus on physical training. Normally, though, Tsunade kept herself at bay in respect for Rei''s other wives.

    But now, they were on her turf, and for the duration of the Chunin Exams, she apparently decided to act a bit selfish and spoiled, demanding a bigger part of Rei''s time. Rei knew she did so only because she was fully aware that Konan, Pakura, and Ringo were all too busy with the event though.

    As such, Tsunade clearly decided to indulge herself.

    "Since you give me no other choice, my Lady." Rei dramatically sighed and reached towards her head, affectionately ruffling her already messy hair, "It shall be done."

    "Happy to hear that." Tsunade contently said and her lips stretched into a satisfied smile as she leaned her head more into Rei''s palm.

    Rei suddenly smirked and made use of the situation and Tsunade''s momentary distraction by flicking her on the forehead, causing her head to snap backward and utterly breaking the sweet and warm atmosphere between them.

    "Well, then, time to move your ass, my Lady." He jokingly quipped and left the bed, leaving Tsunade gaping at the audacity of her husband.

    An hourter, Rei and Tsunade left their chambers, hand in hand, even though Tsunade was slightly ring at the amused Rei who was soothingly rubbing his thumb on the back of her hand, making it that much harder for her to properly put the necessary emotion behind her re. Tsunade was aware it came out mostly as a cute pout because of that but she was unwilling to stop the pleasant tingling this little motion was giving her.

    The worst part? She couldn''t even relegate him to the couch guard duty since this was supposed to be her chance at having more ''Rei time'' of her own!

    Life sometimes sucked...

    But as they say, when life brings you lemons, you gotta make lemonade. Tsunade totally intended to fully milk her alone time with Rei and get the most of it.

    They were nearing the courtyard when suddenly Rei came under attack from behind... ending up with Mei glued to him out of nowhere and pressing her chest into his back, her legs locked around his waist while her hands were hugging him around his neck.

    "Long time no see, R-e-i." She seductively whispered into his ear. "It wasn''t nice of you to leave us for two weeks." She petntlyined with a small whine in her tone.

    Before Rei could react, Tsunade snorted, attracting Mei''s attention to herself. "Well, get used to it. Unlike us big girls who have viges to supervise, you have a chance to be with him almost nonstop." She snidely remarked without any real heat behind it.

    "Hmm..." Mei gave out a long pondering hum in response before her lips stretched into a mischievous smile, "I distinctly remember that, unlike Ringo and Pakura, you took over your vige out of your own volition, Tsu-chan. You really have no right toin about that, ya know?" She cheerily said with a very teasing and punchable grin on her face, causing a vein to pop on Tsunade''s forehead.

    "Heh, I see you became a smart ass in the time we didn''t see each other, Mei. I thought I raised you better than that." Tsunade''s eye twitched and both Rei and Mei could see an illusion of her cracking her knuckles behind her despite Tsunade not pulling her hand from Rei''s. "Looks like you are up for a few remedial lessons in tough love."

    "Hell, nah. I''mma good." Mei dryly refused. Before Tsunade could reply, Mei turned back to Rei with the full intention of ignoring the previous topic, "Anyway, I brought the Uzushio team for the Chunin Exams. I must say, they were a delight to train this past month!" She eximed, erratically moving up and down on Rei''s back from the excitement.

    "I didn''t want you to train them though." Rei''s lips twitched. The ''genin'' team was already too strong. They did not need more training.

    "Huh?" Mei cutely tilted her head before she blinked and scrunched her nose as if heavily thinking. "I thought that was implied."

    "You... thought?" Tsunade almost stopped in her tracks from shock, making Mei pout at the stark disbelief shown on her face. "Didn''t know that was possible."

    "Now you are just needlessly mean." Mei grumbled just as they reached the courtyard and halted just before they revealed their presence as they noticed that Karin was currently having a one-sided stare-off with heavily confused Naruto.

    Knowing something interesting was about to happen, they used a bit of their supposed ninja training and became quiet, blending into the surroundings with a genjutsu as they waited for the ensuing Uzumaki get-together with anticipation.

 Chapter 359 - Ch359. Reunion 2

    <h4>Chapter 359 - Ch359. Reunion 2</h4>

    Naruto was on the courtyard of the Senju Compound, waiting for his teammates and minding his own business when he suddenly felt three foreign chakra signatures nearby and a stare trying to burn a hole into his back.

    His body stiffened for a moment as possibilities shed through his mind. He felt every single chakra signature of Konoha vigers at some point so feeling three foreign ones at once, inside of the Senju Compound... it made him think these were assassins or something.

    That notion quickly left him when he hazily remembered Lady Tsunade saying something about guests and whatnot. To be honest, Naruto found that conversation boring so he mostly spaced out.

    Still wary, he turned around and spotted the three neers, only for his eyes to widen as theynded on a pink-haired woman who was scowling at him. His hand quickly shot up and his pointing finger sprang into action, pointing at her while twitching. "Y-Y-You are the flute girl!" He eximed in astonishment.

    Tayuya''s scowl momentarily faltered and she gave Naruto a weird look. She might have been a prisoner but they spent a few days living in one house and the blondie still had no idea what her name was? How did he even be a ninja?

    "It''s Tayuya, shithead." She snorted.

    Naruto''s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, his gaze turning contemtive as he stared at Tayuya for a few seconds. Before the atmosphere could turnpletely awkward and just as Tayuya was about to ask him if he fell in love with her due to how he was staring, Naruto suddenly slowly nodded as if epting a foreign concept, "Tayuya Shithead... Weird name. I am Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo!" He boisterously eximed.

    Tayuya''s eyebrow started twitching at that, ''I am going to kill him, consequences be damned.''

    Tayuya was about to open her mouth in a retort when Kimimaro suddenly grabbed her forearm and pulled her to the side as he started walking away. She gave him an annoyed look but when she noticed his unamused eyes that conveyed, ''Don''t even think about it.'', she just frowned but obediently followed.

    Naruto watched in bewilderment as the white-haired dude interrupted his introduction and rudely walked away without even stating his name. ''Honestly... what''s with rude asshats and white hair?'' He pondered as his mind briefly flickered towards his own sensei.

    His musings were once again interrupted as he got ufortably aware the intense stare was still there, still trying to burn a hole into him. Turning his head, Naruto''s eyesnded on a... ''Whoa! She is pretty!''

    A red-haired bespectacled girl with fairplexion, red eyes, and red lips set in a firm line was studying him with an intensity that made Naruto both confused and self-conscious, making him fidget in his spot.

    The stare-off continued for a few silent moments, Naruto growing more and more confused while Karin not moving even an inch. She was quite interested in this Konohagakure''s Uzumaki but upon meeting him, she has to admit she was not particrly impressed.

    Blond hair, blue eyes... where was the supposed Uzumaki in him?... fortunately for him, the feel of his chakra had that Uzumaki-ishness she was used to and that meant she didn''t have to beat him senseless for lying about his heritage. The volume of his chakra was far above anything she would expect from a thirteen-year-old Uzumaki but then again, Karin was informed the kid was a jinchuuriki so that made sense too.

    What really intrigued Karin, though, was the impression of sincere falseness he was particrly oozing. Not many knew but her Mind''s Eye could do much, much more than just pick chakra signatures. She could even discern someone''s personality, heritage, chakra nature, and much more from how their chakra feels and the boy in front of her was an extremely amusing specimen from a psychological angle.

    He felt like someone who regrly hides under a mask of tomfoolery and stupidity, so much so, it became a part of him. If that didn''t scream totally bonkers, then Karin had no idea what did.

    Karin''s observations were interrupted as her eyes briefly flickered to something behind Naruto when her senses picked up three chakra signatures entering the courtyard before they dispersed and her Mind''s Eye stopped registering them.

    Karin knew exactly who these three were. Not because she recognized the chakra signatures from the brief contact but because there were only very few individuals who could just make their signature ''disperse into thin air'' under her scrutiny.

    "Karin Uzumaki. Nice to meet you." She politely nodded at Naruto whose eyesically widened.

    "UZUMAKI!?" He excitedly eximed. "ARE YOU MY FA-"

    And before he could finish his sentence, Karin''s fist imnted itself into his face, sending him flying back and rolling on the ground while a vein was pulsing on her forehead.

    "STOP SCREAMIN'', BRAT!" Karin screamed, wincing at her own volume that was probably heard back in Uzushio. "Haaah." She released a tired sigh while inwardly dryly chuckling, ''The blondie is Uzumaki, alright.''

    Chakra signature be damned. Only Uzumaki could reach such high decibels.

    Naruto who suddenly found himself sprawled on the ground blinked, still trying toprehend what happened. He... didn''t even see her move!

    Flipping himself into a sitting position with his legs crossed under him, he started to rub his cheek that now sported a new bruise while his wide eyes stared at Karin in awe and wonder, causing her to involuntarily shiver at the sudden feeling of danger.

    On the edge of the courtyard, hidden in the treetops, one particrly jealous Hyuuga narrowed her eyes as she watched the two Uzumaki interact. She didn''t like the look on her Uzumaki''s face. Not at all. Her eyes narrowed even further, almost forming small slits, ''Looks like he is fit for a small retraining.''

    Naruto abruptly shivered too, his gaze quickly scanning the surroundings for the source of the imminent sense of dread but even his incredible sensing abilities couldn''t pinpoint it.

    Karin, on the other hand, had no problem locating the... ''Is that a Hyuuga?'' She blinked in bewilderment before paying more attention to the feel of the girl''s chakra and her lips involuntarily widened into a grin, ''Ma~, ma~, who would have thought my cousin would have such a passionatedy already.''

    Naruto noticed the creepy grin on the Uzumaki girl in front of him and was instantly reminded of Anko when she is in her mischievous and mercilessly teasing mood, causing him to gulp. He abruptly started to feel like a mouse eyed by a cat in the mood to y with her food and didn''t like it.

    His anti-Anko countermeasures kicked in and his expression went ck. Standing up and giving the perfect picture of calmness, Naruto brushed the dust off of his shoulder and gave Karin a small pitiful smile.

    "I am sorry but I think I forgot to tidy up my bed. Gotta go."

    And with that, he shunshined away in a hurry, leaving behind the utterly bbergasted redhead who started to think her cousin was slightly mentally challenged.

    Granted, that excuse might not be exactly on spot... but it always worked against Anko so Naruto saw no need to change it.

    Karin was left standing by her lonesome self in the empty courtyard, a gentle breeze ruffling her hair as her nk gaze was aimed at the now empty spot where her blonde cousin stood just a few moments ago, and a firm resolve worthy of the future Uzumaki n head filled her.

    ''I will have to retrain him.'' She nodded to herself, feeling an inexplicable sense of camaraderie with a certain Hyuuga who also suddenly seemed more amicable to the redhead.

    Poor Naruto escaped his current predicament but he had no idea what kind of storm he called on himself with his actions.

    Nevertheless.... this was the first step towards the unshakable Uzumaki-Hyuuga alliance that would be described by historians for generations toe.

 Chapter 360 - Ch360. Unexpected Council Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 360 - Ch360. Unexpected Council Meeting</h4>

    When Naruto decided to quickly retreat, Rei, Tsunade, and Mei looked at each other in slight bewilderment but also exchanged a small shrewd smile as they now knew exactly what prompted Naruto''s fight or flight instinct in the flight mode.

    ''Heh, I reckon the next time the brat decides to have a little pranking spree at our expense, it won''t take long to sufficiently deter him.'' Tsunade inwardly smirked as the trio canceled their cloaking and entered the courtyard where Karin was still in the state of deep bafflement.

    "Looks like that didn''t go exactly as nned, did it, Karin?" Rei teasingly asked.

    Snapping out of her reverie, Karin abruptly turned towards him and gave him a small, embarrassed, and sheepish smile, "No... I guess his non-Uzumaki part is to me. He basically shed out of here."

    "Well, at least he doesn''t have a fetish for shing others yet." Mei quipped.

    "If he ever develops one, I will make him go out like a broken shlight." Tsunade snorted and crossed her arms on her chest, showing what she thought about the idea.

    Rei really pitied the boy for having this kind of family but as he was about to open his mouth to pitch in his own ''sh'' joke, he was alerted that somebody just ''knocked'' on the barrier around the Senju Compound.

    Tsunade naturally felt that too and her expression soured. "There are only a very few people who have the ess to do that. Funny how no matter which one of them it is, my day will now most certainly be shitty." She grumbled.

    Rei fought the urge to smile at her disgruntlement and simply pped her on her shoulder. "Just go. It''s not like we have time to spend time together. Mei needs to tend to her team-"

    "I do?" Mei asked in surprise and tilted her head.

    Ignoring her, Rei just continued, "-and I promised Temari to give her a tour of Konoha. Let''s see each other in the evening."

    Tsunade sighed, putting her hand over Rei''s which was still on her shoulder, and sourly nodded in agreement before taking off towards the Compound gate.

    When she arrived near it, at least some of her sour mood was alleviated when she noticed the designated ANBU operative who was mostly acting as Hokage''s errand boy standing there, waiting for someone to show up. That meant the day just might not turn out to be an utter disaster.

    "Lady Daimyo." The ANBU bowed when he saw her, "Lord Hokage told me to convey that there will be an unexpected Council Meeting in..." The ANBU briefly stopped, mentally measuring how much time passed since he got his order, "about seventeen minutes."

    Hearing that, Tsunade''s lips twitched, ''Of course, he would. When there is a day without trouble, why not go and make some yourself. You know... just for kicks and giggles.'' She tiredly sighed. "Did he tell you why or who asked for it?"

    The ANBU ufortably shuffled in his spot before quietly answering, "Hiruzen Sarutobi." And quickly shunshining away just in case Tsunade''s legendary temper rose and her fist ''subconsciously'' jerked in his direction.

    Which it did.

    ...

    The council chambers were moring with quiet, subdued chatter, mostly from the elected civilian side.

    Despite Tsunadeing to power, she didn''t fully disband the civilian council. Instead, she just ''tidied'' it up a bit and restricted what they could and could not deal with. After all, civilians should stick their noses strictly into civilian matters.

    Nobody knew why they were called into a session, especially now, when everybody was in some way busy due to the Chunin Exams.

    It may seem like a reason to meet more but in fact, it was the exact opposite. If every little decision depended on the council in these times, nothing would have been done in time.

    Shikaku Nara swept the gathered people with his half-squinted, tired gaze, stopping at the clearly annoyed Tsunade who was looking straight at him.

    He grimaced before schooling his expression into an apologetic one but Tsunade just rolled her eyes at him, making him know that she asked for the cause of this meeting since she wasn''t annoyed at him.

    That only made him inwardly wince some more.

    ''Great... this is exactly why the Council is not supposed to meet too much during these kinds of times. An argument among ourselves when we have foreign ninjas inside the vige is never good.'' He thought, instantly squashing his growing desire for ignoring the situation with the help of an impromptu nap with practiced ease.

    It almost made his chest swell with pride. His time as Hokage clearly taught him at least something.

    That feelingsted for no more than two seconds as he was once again reminded about the iing clusterfuck when Hyuuga Hiashi entered the council room in all of his expressionless glory, his gaze instantly straying towards the Senju seat before he slightly frowned when he saw Tsunade sitting there instead of Anko.

    Shikaku almost involuntarily smiled at the small flicker of irritation in Hiashi''s eyes. The man still did not give up on pursuing Anko but... the Hyuugas were like that. Stubborn to a fault.

    By now, Shikaku could with certainty say there was no snowball chance in hell Hiashi would ever get Anko''s attention, much less her hand in marriage. s, it was not his problem to worry about so he simply enjoyed the asional show with sadistic glee.

    His eyes continued their journey,pletely bypassing the civilian council, andnded on the Inuzuka matriarch who seemed restless, tired, and almost growling at her own shadow. Shikaku''s gaze morphed into an understanding one, ''Her n is tasked with the perimeter security of the vige to make sure nobody is sneaking around, huh? Must be exhausting. No wonder she is mad about this meeting.'' He gave her a deeper look, ''Ah, so she had a night shift and was probably woken up due to this meeting.'' He inwardly pitied the woman.

    On the other hand, it also made him a bit d. From her state, he could easily deduce she would be out ofmission for the duration of the meeting, hence, of no use to anybody.

    It was almost enough to make him believe in the existence of happy coincidences since the Inuzuka matriarch was one of those who still somewhat... well, not trusted per se, but... those who were willing to at least listen to what Hiruzen Sarutobi had to say.

    Shikaku was about to look at his friends Inoichi and Choza when the door to the chambers opened and Hiruzen Sarutobi confidently walked in, his expression grave and the air around himmanding as if he was still in charge. Shikaku not for the first time wondered how could such a decrepit old man give out such an aura.

    Hiruzen was followed by an annoyed-looking Asuma...

    ''Ah? Wasn''t today the day Shizune finally managed to get a day off from her office so she could spend it with her husband? Yukino was saying something about babysitting their kid... or something, wasn''t she?'' Shikaku''s lips twitched at the thought. No wonder Asuma vehemently red at his father''s back as if willing him to burst in mes if it meant the end of this meeting.

    ''Poord. Cockblocked by his own father.'' Shikaku inwardly snickered, knowing Asuma''s mood will sour even more when the meeting turns out to be pointless.

    Hiruzen stalked towards the Hokage seat like a man on a mission, intending to inform him of the grave news he heard and caution, possibly even advise the arguably smartest man in the vige. He might not be on the council. He might not be one of the Hokage''s chosen advisors... but he had his duty!

    He fully believed it was his right to use his influence and call this meeting into a session for the greater good of Konoha.

    He was so set on his objective, he didn''t even look around to ascertain who was attending. That''s why when he walked past the Senju seat and his mind registered a brief flicker of blonde hair, Hiruzen briefly froze before abruptly turning towards it with wide eyes.

    "Y-You... what do you do here, Tsunade?"

    Tsunade raised an eyebrow at him and smiled in amusement, fully intending to give him an answer that will annoy him the most.

    "I rule here."

 Chapter 361 - Ch361. A Threat In The Village

    <h4>Chapter 361 - Ch361. A Threat In The Vige</h4>

    Hearing her promation, Hiruzen becamepletely speechless.

    It was obvious from the sour expression on his face that he didn''t expect Tsunade would be present in this meeting, nor did he like it one bit. Unwilling to rise up to her provocation, mostly because despite his seeming influence, he had no real base of support, Hiruzen schooled his expression before calmly turning around, and continued to walk towards Shikaku.

    Tsunade watched Hiruzen''s back with a small smile, knowing this was her small victory. She didn''t care if it was petty and childish. This was why he let Hiruzen live, after all. This... was the worst punishment Hiruzen could be given.

    Tsunade was raised by the man. She was taught by the man. She lived a long time alongside the man. She fought alongside the man. She prepared strategies and led armies with the man. She knew Hiruzen Sarutobi''s personality the best and knew what would torture him, what would haunt his dreams, and what would really make him silently suffer. And it was not death. Far from it.

    Tsunade knew Hiruzen Sarutobi would wee death. He was a ninja. He was not afraid to die. No ninja above a certain rank possessed such a pointless fear. They would not get far with a useless thing like that.

    What men and women like them feared was being left alive. Living and being tortured for who knows how long.

    Oh, ninjas and kunoichi would tell others they are prepared for it and it is just a part of their job. That they could take it and that they have no fear of it. But...

    Tsunade knew just how much they were all full of shit.

    One simply had to find the correct torture technique that would really get under their skin. Everybody had something they absolutely did not want to happen to them. Something they absolutely did not want to lose.

    It just so happened that in the case of Hiruzen Sarutobi it was his...

    "Lord Hokage!" Hiruzen loudly said in an authoritative voice full of a lifetime of experience doing these things, "I have called this meeting to-"

    "Yes. You have called this meeting." Shikaku raised his voice, something he did very rarely even when he was angry so it momentarily broke any hold Hiruzen''s authoritative tone held over the spectators due to their sheer shock at such a rare urrence. "Is it only me who finds that shocking? Considering you do not have that kind of power. Or rather... you shouldn''t have that kind of power anymore due to your retirement. So, tell me, Lord Third. What exactly are we doing here?" He swept his hand in front of him, gesturing over all of the n heads and civilians sitting in the council chamber.

    Hiruzen momentarily faltered too, not expecting Shikaku''s forceful reaction. The former Nara n head was thest person Hiruzen thought would put on a show of strength. It was simply so unlike the usually quiet and demure man who lived more inside of his head than outside of it.

    This faltering, however, cost Hiruzen dearly as the n heads now had time to put two and two together,ing to a realization of how Hiruzen managed to call them all into one ce on his whim.

    That kind of thing did not bode well with many of them. What with Hiruzen''s past actions against the Uchiha and the Senju ns, and many other questionable things he did that miraculously came out one after another after his retirement, ever-so-slowly tearing his reputation apart piece by piece while he was unable to do anything but watch in silence.

    Him having the power to call all n heads into one ce? Despite many of them knowing Hiruzen would never do so, their thoughts couldn''t help but stray in the direction of, ''What if he used that to gather them and assassinate them all at once to get back his power?''

    It was only natural for the men and women in their positions to think like that.

    Of course, Tsunade knew the old man too well for such thoughts. He loved Konoha too much to try something so drastic. But watching the faces of the people around her, as they made their own conclusions regarding Hiruzen without anything being even spoken out loud... now that was beautiful.

    Hiruzen could not even defend himself since nobody used him of anything.

    ''And to think he did this to himself.'' Tsunade had to cover the newly forming grin on her face with her hand, ''He must be really on the end of his rope to slip like this.''

    That filled her with such joy. Hiruzen would never outwardly show his difort. He loved ying a powerful man. He only showed weakness when it was a part of his n or scheme. Just like his grandfatherly persona.

    Tsunade had to be very watchful of his actions if she wanted to see how her little anti-Hiruzen propaganda affects the old monkey. But waiting for such a reaction could be frustrating at moments too since Hiruzen had far too much control of himself.

    "Yes, I must admit, I have used the loyalty of some of our ninjas to send out an order to gather the council members but-." Hiruzen said, speeding up the tempo of his speech to prevent being again interrupted by Shikaku...

    ''Our ninjas, huh?'' Tsunade snorted, seeing even Shikaku''s eyebrow was twitching at Hiruzen''s chosen wording. ''The monkey still has the balls of steel.'' She almost shook her head in disbelief. ''To admit hepelled some of our highly ced personnel tomit what is basically treason, talk about the ninja forces as if they still belonged to him, and interfering in high politics of the vige despite being explicitly forbidden from doing just that... and all that in one sentence without even batting an eysh at it but also making it sound as if he was being reasonable and just? Just... damn.''

    Tsunade really wanted to burst out inughter. Especially when she saw most of the n heads and civilians eating it up with gusto, having no idea what exactly just happened.

    s, such was the good ol'' Professor...

    "- I did it for a very important reason! Our vige is in a dire situation! It came to my ears that earlier today, Mei Terumi entered our vige." He stopped talking, looking over the gathered people in silence in order to give his statement weight while his face was set in a grave expression.

    Utter silence descended on the council room for a moment before Shikaku''s long sigh finally interrupted it. "And?" He asked, slouching forward andzily raising his eyebrow at Hiruzen.

    "And?" Hiruzen stared at Shikaku in disbelief before his expression twisted and his anger burst out like a dam. "And!? Don''t you see the problem with that!? The threat her presence inside of our walls poses to us!? She-"

    "It''s the Chunin Exam, old man." Shikaku strongly said, stopping Hiruzen in his tracks. "The other viges can send ANYONE they want to our vige and as long as they do not cause trouble, we have no legal right to-"

    "But she is the first SS-ranked ninja ever! She can face armies alone! Her being among us is-" Hiruzen interrupted Shikaku, horrified at the indifference of his sessor to the very obvious problem.

    "And how do you expect me to ''kick her out'' without angering not only her but also the Uzushio vige that sent her here?" Shikaku snorted, his eyes filled with derision as he condescendingly stared at Hiruzen.

    Once upon a time, Shikaku looked up to the man but this... old, inwardly broken, and desperate has-been was not the man he respected. In the past few minutes, he did more oversights than in years of his rule as the Third Hokage.

    Or at least, Shikaku hoped so because if this was really how Hiruzen ruled and everybody, but most importantly, him, were blind to it, then Shikaku had to wonder how Konoha was still standing.

    Seeing that Hiruzen was still silent, Shikaku decided to enlighten the old fool. "Let''s say I kick her out. What then? You do know we are allies with Uzushio and considering her strength, I reckon she is a very prominent cookie there. You do know that Terumi Mei being a part of Uzushio means that the Downpour-" A lot of sharp intakes of breath could be heard all over the room at the mention of the long-past but still a very famous team from Kirigakure, "- is also part of that vige, don''t you? You would have me risk souring our rtions and alliance with a vige that has possibly three SS-ranks, if not more, in their midst just because... because of what exactly? Because you feel unsafe not being the strongest ninja around?"

    Another silence descended upon the council chamber, this time a deafening one.

    Noticing Hiruzen was about to open his mouth to defend himself, Shikaku quickly put a stop to that by starting to speak again, "You know what? Don''t answer that." He tiredly shrugged, "It doesn''t matter anyway. If you want to kick Mei Terumi out, the person you have to persuade is not me nor is it the council. We do not have that kind of power. Not anymore. The person you will have to persuade is..." Shikaku trailed off as he raised his hand and pointed at Tsunade while thinking, ''What a monumentally troublesome waste of time this was.''

    Tsunade observed Hiruzen turning towards her with wide eyes, probably having no idea she changed some policies. ''Look at him,'' She thought while inwardly having fun at his expense, ''He so desperately craves control.'' A small smile appeared on her face, making it even sweeter when Hiruzen frowned after seeing it. ''Many would assume the old monkey wants power but it was never power he desired, was it? Control... that''s why he simply couldn''t leave any affinity unmastered. That''s why he spent countless hours making his chakra control the best he could. That''s why he studied hundreds if not thousands of Jutsus so he always knew what to expect and had control in the battle because of it. Hiruzen Sarutobi is an animal of control. Take that away from him and he will start to flop like a fish on thend.''

    Tsunade''s smile widened into a pleasant one full of indulging enjoyment as she looked Hiruzen straight in the eyes, seeing the building frustration in them as he lost even more of his control. He probably thought warning the council of Mei would give him a more active role in the politics of the vige because of his strength. Unfortunately for him, he hit a wall called Tsunade.

    "Mei stays. Dismissed." Tsunade simply said and stood up, leaving the chambers.

    Hiruzen never felt so powerless and helpless as when he watched Tsunade dismiss him with so few words.. He didn''t even notice as the other n heads left the council room, leaving the weary old man standing there, staring into nowhere.

 Chapter 362 - Ch362. A Small Powerplay

    <h4>Chapter 362 - Ch362. A Small Powery</h4>

    The days slowly passed and the Chunin Exams started. Since it was not yet the time for the public event, Konoha was somewhat quiet, not yet filled with merchants and important civilians. Instead, the entire vige was somewhat on an edge.

    Who could me them? Especially when so many foreign ninjas were present.

    Mei often grumbled that she has at least twenty ANBU tailing her at all times she is outside of the Senju Compound. Or... well, her clone does.

    After all, Mei is skilled enough to use an improved version of Henge. Evading her tails was almost trivial for her.

    Not like her silent observers would make any difference if she decided to be unruly. It took some heavy petting for Rei to keep her grounded. He knew well that Mei might as well just decide to be ''naughty'' just to spite the dipshits who ordered her watched.

    Rei was just d Konan put Mei to work and asked her to scout the surroundings of Konoha, maybe even to create a few secret passages through the mountain range if she deemed it safe enough.

    Plus, even if Tsunade did not care, the underground tunnels of Konoha could also see some use again ording to Konan.

    With all that, Mei was often raving and raking, pouting that she was too busy.

    Tsunade, on the other hand, was kept quite busy trying to weed out Hiruzen''s remaining supporters. The incident with the Council Meeting gave her a legitimate reason to deal with them once and for all. A civilian, a retired one even, should not have any power over the political elites of the vige.

    Of course, this was not really done to get rid of those with loyalty to Sarutobi Hiruzen. The man was the leader of the vige for around four decades and children were raised hearing stories about him, taught to almost revere him. Every ninja of hers had some kind of attachment for Hiruzen.

    No... this screening was simply yet another subtle way to remind the ninja elites of the vige that Hiruzen Sarutobi was no longer their leader and that listening to him can have consequences. It was simply a powery for those slow enough to not yet realize that the new administration did not appreciate their soldiers listening to the leader from the old one.

    There was no need for some harsh punishments. Most people got only fines and warnings but... then again, the targets were not those found guilty, but those who were innocent and just observed the proceedings.

    Rei knew that Tsunade did not really expect a massive result but she made many simr moves over the years and the desired effect was slowly but surely starting to show. Hiruzen was losing more and more support base among the ordinary ninjas. Tsunade''s reforms won the loyalty of many but even those who stubbornly clung to Hiruzen''s past glory slowly started to see the light of the day.

    After all,pletely purging Hiruzen''s supporters was unthinkable.

    On a better note, this screening also helped to weed out spies. And boy did Konoha have its fair share of those in its ranks. Unfortunately for the poords, Rei''s truth seals worked splendidly and the Yamanakas were incredibly skilled at asking unassuming questions about one thing but really getting answers to another.

    For example, Kabuto Yakushi.

    It was obvious he lied to several generic loyalty-assuring questions but there was no reason to call him out on it. Letting him go with the impression he passed the screening was simply better and made everyone happy.

    Kabuto was happy nobody discovered him and that he was still the best double, triple, or whatever spy around. The Yamanakas were happy they did their job. And the Hokage was happy to have a new willing candidate for suicide missions.

    After all, why waste expendable manpower? The dude would be unable to get any relevant information now that he was discovered anyway.

    Unfortunately, these screenings came with their own downside. Hiruzen quickly caught up to what was happening and confronted Tsunade.

    The best part?

    This confrontation happened right in front of the Senju Compound and had many spectators. Something Hiruzen definitely wanted to use in his favor. Unfortunately for him, he was not as sessful as he would like to be.

    ...

    "Are you really trying to do some... some witch hunt on your own ninjas? Just because their trust in me was not corroded enough?" Hiruzen asked in outrage and disappointment, "I thought better of you, Tsunade."

    "A witch hunt?" Tsunade raised her eyebrow at the phrase, "Why would you think so?"

    "Why? Isn''t it obvious!?" Hiruzen gritted his teeth and red at his student. A lesser woman would cover in front of his gaze but Tsunade just rolled her eyes at his sad attempt to intimidate her. Seeing his tactics didn''t work, Hiruzen decided to continue, "You are hounding people, punishing them for their loyalty-"

    "Yes! I am punishing them for their loyalty to you." Tsunade dryly but firmly interjected. "And for a good reason. The vige can''t have two leaders. You are neither advisor nor n head. You have no legal right tomand my forces. Nobody can me them for admiring you, sensei. Even I still hold a bit of admiration for you. Butˇ­ Them listening to your orders is a dereliction of duty and that''s that. They should be happy to not be treated as traitors."

    Hiruzen knew she was right but he refused to end the conversation here. It was too unsatisfactory. He intended for the spectators to hear that Tsunade was unjustly punishing the ninjas for having lingering loyalty for him, their previous leader. Something that simply could not be prevented and should be expected.

    Instead, his student gave a very short but reasonable exnation of why her actions are justified. The result was simply too neutral for Hiruzen so he decided to try a different approach.

    "And? What are you going to do about them? Put them on the Red List? Have them go on suicide missions in the following years, slowly weeding them out? Just because they are my support base? Or are you going to bar them from advancing in the ranks, preferring to promote your own supporters?" Hiruzen shouted, creating a huge stir among the spectators. Naturally, the smarter ones quickly realized his game but Hiruzen knew that people, especially in the crowd, were sheep who believed anything told to them as long as it sounded good to their ears.

    These were all things he had done to preserve his control over the vige and the sole reason why he was so well-liked. The people who did not agree with him seldom managed to rise high enough in the ranks for their voices to be relevant... not that anybody needed to know that.

    Tsunade quickly swept the crowd with her eyes, realizing this was getting out of control. By the evening, this confrontation would be all over the vige via various embellished rumors. She didn''t me Hiruzen. He was just trying to get a measure of control and power in the vige and now that he saw a chance, he desperately grasped at it.

    ''Still, it is annoying as hell.'' Tsunade thought in exasperation. ''I might have pushed him a bit too far recently. Well, if he wants to stop being polite, who am I to not indulge him?''

    "Don''t worry. I will do no such thing. Only a total idiot would perform a massacre among his own ranks just because there is an unproved suspicion they are not loyal enough. We wouldn''t want to have another Uchiha or Senju massacre at our hands, now, would we, Hiruzen?" Tsunade answered with a sneer before walking away, ignoring his reaction and the deathly silent crowd.

    Needless to say, Hiruzen''s sour expression when Tsunade threw these words in his face was priceless and the rumors indeed did spread all over the vige.

 Chapter 363 - Ch363. Kidnapping?

    <h4>Chapter 363 - Ch363. Kidnapping?</h4>

    The second part of the Chunin Exam started a half-hour ago and Rei was currently crouched on a branch high in a tree deep within the Forest of Death, contemting the weird feelings within him.

    "How strange. I can''t even remember when Ist had a kidnapping mission." Rei chuckled in nostalgia. It was a long time since he had any kind of mission. That''s why his current situation seemed so funny to him.

    He sensed his target running deeper and deeper into the forest and mused how nice it must be, being so woefully ignorant. If he wanted, he could kill almost everyone in these Chunin Exams the same way the Otsutsuki n could decimate the Elemental Nation upon their descent.

    These kids, just like the Elemental Nations, never even dreamed of the possibility of someone so much stronger than them suddenly appearing out of nowhere and attacking them.

    Ignorance really was bliss...

    Fortunately for the world, he was here and he would be damned if the on which he lived was destroyed by some rabbit bastards-

    ''Oi!'' A voice in his head protested which he promptly ignored...

    The Elemental Nations should be really happy to have him. His efforts would prevent a war with an alien race. If someone told Rei in his past life he would find himself in this kind of position, he would haveughed at him, and yet, here he was.

    "I will definitely have to brag about my exploits once I am done with the shielding seal barrier for the. Since I am putting in the effort, I should be appropriately praised for it, don''t you think?" Rei spoke to the wind.

    ''Not really.'' Kaguya dryly butted in, ''Shouldn''t the knowledge that your people are safe be a reward in itself for you?''

    "Hmm... you know what? You are probably righ- HELL NAH!" Rei mock-pompously eximed and promptly got an impression of amusement from his mental tenant. "If I do something nice for someone and that someone has no idea about it, how could he or she revere me for it? Do I look like an idio-, ahem, a saint to you?"

    The amusement simply intensified at that, joined by a small echo of, ''Shameless'', in the back of his mind but Rei decided to believe it was just his imagination.

    As they say, talking to a voice in your mind is not something a sane person would do, so ignoring it anytime it doesn''t say something nice about you should surely be the correct approach in this situation.

    ''I heard that...''

    "Mhm. Time for my mission." Rei firmly nodded to himself and went back to sensing his target.

    ''Oi, are you ignoring me?''

    Getting the position of his target, he bent his knees and jumped, starting to move along the treeline silently and stealthily, easily, just like a gentle breeze.

    ''He is totally ignoring me. Sigh.''

    It didn''t take him long to reach his mark. In a clearing in front of him, Orochimaru and the three sound genins gathered while Rei observed their meeting, hidden in the thick bushes around as he masked his chakra signature and presence.

    ''Just you wait. Once I am out of my seal, I will relegate you to the couch guard duty! Not immediately, momma needs her milk, after all... But one day, when you will least expect it, IT. WILL. HAPPEN! HMPH!''

    For some reason, Rei shuddered but decided that today his imagination was exceptionally wild. No need for concern... He will just have to remember to get rid of his couch. No biggie.

    He mentally received an impression of astonished bewilderment and knew his solution was the correct one.

    No matter... Rei seemed to be quite lucky as the meeting in the clearing was already concluding and Orochimaru jumped into the foliage, leaving the three genins to their own devices. Rei followed Orochimaru with his senses for a good while and when he deemed he was far enough... his attention shifted to the three unsuspecting kiddies in the clearing again.

    They were so... unconcerned.

    ''They probably think Orochimaru is the biggest and baddestd around these parts. Poor delusional fools.'' Rei thought with a mock exasperated sigh. ''Just look at how they move. Such ease in every movement. They clearly believe in their superiority over anything that is in this forest and isn''t Orochimaru.''

    It was surreal, really. Watching genins that have no idea about the wide world. They were like frogs on the bottom of the well, unknowingly stalked by a hungry rabbit-

    ''Rabbits don''t eat frogs...''

    - that wanted to prey on them...

    Rei rolled his eyes. It didn''t matter what rabbits did or did not eat. In this world, there was this Rabbit Goddess-

    ''Here we go again...''

    - that could destroys, create dimensions on a whim, and loved to eat every single cookie in his secret stash... how she found his secret stash is anyone''s guess. Nevertheless, that was not nice. Not nice at all-

    ''And I already said I am sorry!''

    - but no amount of apologies could make up for that fact. It saddened Rei greatly that such a heinous deed was performed by his favorite pet rabbit-

    ''I will bite you... !''

    - and even though he knew the rabbit loved him deeply, he couldn''t just let it go. There had to be retribution, no?

    ''No.''

    s... Rei had his mind set. Since his cookies were under heavy assault from his pet rabbit whenever he made a new battalion of them, Rei simply decided to... stop making them. It was a simple solution, really.

    ''Oh, you will deeply regret that. Maybe not today, maybe not even a weekter, but one day... surely.''

    Rei could only imagine the deep regret in his beloved rabbit''s eyes as she realized the cause of her deeds. The sheer sadness coursing through these lovelyvender orbs where one could lose himself in their beauty. Her juicy desirable red lips must be set in a small cute frown by now, and her rosy cheeks are most likely adorably puffed out-

    ''You have a mission, don''t you? Get on with it!''

    As an impression of embarrassed outrage entered Rei''s mind, he victoriously nodded in satisfaction and decided to, for once, listen to the imaginary voice in his head.

    Sneakily jumping down into the clearing, Rei appeared straight in the middle of the three genins. He had to give them credit where credit was due. The two boys instantly went rigid for a moment before abruptly turning around, prepared to fight for their lives while the girl was much sneakier about her intentions but that probably came with being a genjutsu practitioner.

    Rei didn''t give the kiddies a chance. He kicked a small stone into Zaku''s gut, making him bend over and slightly fly backward from the sheer force behind the propelled stone as the air was driven out of his lungs. The boy was out ofmission for the next ten seconds at the very least.

    Dosu was fairly close to Rei so it was no surprise that during the three seconds it took him to deal with Zaku, the boy was upon him. He swung his melody arm at Rei... and then his eyes went wide in disbelief when Rei just caught the punch with his palm all the while negating the sound waves generated by the device. It was a clever but incredibly inferior and melee version of what Tayuya could do. Unfortunately for the boy, Rei had already seen that one once.

    Dosu didn''t get the chance to realize where his attack failed as he promptly felt a sharp pain all around his body before finding himself engulfed by darkness and going out cold.

    Rei calmly observed as the electrocuted body of the boy impacted the ground with a thud, shaking his head, "This is why having a special attack relying on meleebat is bad when you are not an impressive melee fighter yourself." He said, not really bothered by the fact his advice would fall on deaf, or rather, in this case, unconscious ears.

    Rei nonchntly turned towards the still wheezing Zaku who was kneeling on the ground and red at him in deep hatred...

    Oh, yeah, the Kin-girly was flinging senbons at Rei all the time but he was simply using the wind release to bend the air currents around him, making all senbons miss their mark. s, the girl was a sound-based genjutsu fighter but after seeing Tayuya''s proficiency in this new approach towards genjutsu, Kin was simply shit at it.

    The sound was just the vibration of molecules in the air.

    IN. THE. AIR.

    It really had no chance against someone who mastered Wind Release and knew how to counter it with it. That''s why Rei insisted on Tayuya learning how to create shockwaves through a bastardized version of her sound maniption. That could not be countered so easily when ying with the big boys.

    Zaku weakly tried to defend himself and raised his shaking arm towards Rei, releasing a wave of pressurized air at him... only for it to divide towards left and right on some kind of invisible shield in front of Rei, destroying everything around but evading the real target.

    "Your airwaves are powerful. Against genins and some low-level chunins. Unfortunately for you, there is no real potential for development in them since they are a result of a shoddy body modification experiment. I''d rate it 2 out of five." Rei answered Zaku''s silent bewilderment, causing it to turn into anger...

    But Zaku couldn''t act on this newfound anger since his head abruptly felt as if it was spinning for a second before the world went ck.

    Rei subtly used pressurized air, filling Zaku''s ears with it which affected his third ear in the brain and caused him to get a nasty case of motion sickness which knocked him out.

    Rei was simply showing the boy why exactly the scientific way is not better in some cases. Sure, the boy could use pressurized airwaves to a devastating effect thanks to these tubes in his arms, bypassing years if not decades of wind maniption training, but he could never hope to use subtle applications of them. Zaku could at best brute force it and hope for the best, sending one airwave of pressurized air after another.

    s, that did not always work...

    Rei slowly turned towards thest member of Team Dosu, who watched him with fear-filled eyes while shaking like a leaf in a whirlwind as the despair and hopelessness of the situation seeped into her mind.... and pleasantly smiled at her.

 Chapter 364 - Ch364. As Planned... Easy Interrogation

    <h4>Chapter 364 - Ch364. As nned... Easy Interrogation</h4>

    "Honey! I am home and I am also bringing presents!" Rei shouted as he entered the living room of Tsunade''s house in the Senju Compound where Tsunade currently ate her lunch. She lifted her gaze from some documents strewn on the table in front of her only for a small headache to impact her as her eyesnded on the tied-up Sound kunoichi slung over Rei''s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

    "Please don''t tell me you kidnapped one of the participants of the Chunin Exams." She stated in a dry tone in the hope that her eyes are lying to her. She even inwardly red her chakra in case this was some kind of intricate advanced genjutsu she couldn''t sense but... no such luck.

    "Rx. Nobody will know." Rei rolled his eyes as he put the unconscious girl on the ground and sat down behind the table opposite Tsunade, "Besides, you know how hard it is for me to say no to Konan."

    "Hmph. Simp..." Tsunade goodnaturedly snarked with a small smug smile, causing a good atmosphere between them for a moment before it fell alongside her smile and she got serious, "And her teammates?"

    Rei shrugged, showing how little he cared about them. "Dead. I have discreetly sent my clones to deal with them during my trek here and make it appear as if the beasts got them. The girl was frightened enough as it was. No reason to give her the impression we would kill her anyway. It would simply make the whole interrogation that much harder."

    "And just like that, when their bodies are discovered, Kin Tsuchi will be presumed dead, eaten by a wild animal." Tsunade nodded. It wasn''t a bad way to deal with the possible repercussions from the Sound Vige. "So, are we?" She asked, causing Rei to furrow his forehead in confusion. Seeing that, Tsunade decided to borate, "Going to kill her. I reckon she won''t be very useful anyway so..."

    "Nah." Rei casually said and shook his head, "Her sound Jutsus are valuable and not many can counter it as of yet. The way she was trained in Sound Vige is simply shit. That''s why she is so weak."

    "So you wish to recruit her for our vige." Tsunade understood what he nned.

    "Yup. Unlike the boys of her team whose strength came from a device that can be easily taken or a failure of a body modification experiment, the girl, or rather, her Jutsus have the potential for development. No need to waste it by killing her." Rei said.

    Well, Tsunade had to agree that it wasn''t a bad idea. The girl was still just a kid. Unlike Tayuya who changed her loyalties because of selfish reasons and would stay loyal as long as it gave her benefits, this girl, Kin, could still be molded to be ''truly'' loyal to the vige.

    Of course, Tsunade did not mean to tantly manipte her. It was also why she was wholly fine with Tayuya''s reasons for loyalty. Making people see it is in their best interest to stay loyal to the vige was simply much, much better than making them into some kind of semi-mindless drones that could only spout Will of Fire without really even knowing what it actually meant.

    Since everything was exined, Rei decided it was time to move on. He took the unconscious Kin and put her on a nearby chair before tying her up to it with a ninja wire and stering a partial paralyzation seal on her chest.

    "There. Now she will be unable to move but still able to talk." Rei spoke, happy with his work and while Tsunade seemed quite unimpressed with his solution, he decided to pay it no mind. It wasn''t as if the girl was some kind of magical ninja turtle. Even if she managed to get out of her bindings, there was no way of escaping with him and Tsunade present.

    "Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead." Rei said as he sent a weak current of lightning chakra into Kin, abruptly shocking her into painful wakefulness.

    The girl''s body violently flinched, straightening her like a rod before she let out a loud gasp and started to frantically look around, "W-Wha...?" Only then did her eyesnd on Rei, causing them to widen as her memories returned with full force and Kin tried to back off away from him. Unfortunately for her, her current state prevented it.

    Rei encouragingly smiled at the frightened genin, "Hello, I am sure you probably already have some kind of idea what is happening," He paused, lifting his eyebrow at the girl who after a moment meekly nodded much to his satisfaction. She understood the game! Good! "so, let me just tell you, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. For your sake, I hope you chose the easy way because I have a sudden itch to prove that Orochimaru is just a schoolyard bullypared to me." He pleasantly exined just how fucked she was while activating a storage paper tag on the table, poofing various torture instruments into existence.

    They even had dried blood on them... as expected from Anko''s tools.

    Kin gave Rei an uneasy look before her eyes shifted towards Tsunade... but whatever hope the girl could have gained from her presence, Tsunade quickly shot down.

    "Don''t look at me. I won''t help you." She rolled her eyes before returning to her paperwork. This would not be the first torture interrogation she experienced and it won''t be thest. Honestly, Tsunade didn''t see what was the big deal. She was in both Rei''s and Kin''s positions many times so this was not phasing her one bit.

    "Why? Why me? I am just a genin! I know nothing important!" Kin desperately half-shouted, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. She saw how utterly he crushed her teammates and didn''t have any illusions about their continued existence. Seeing all the bloodied instruments...

    "Oh, we know you won''t be able to tell us Orochimaru''s ns from A to Z. We just need a rough idea from you. If I was in your ce, I would start thinking really hard about whatever details you heard and probably deemed unimportant because it just might save your life, ya know? I don''t want to hurt you." Rei gently said and cupped Kin''s chin and raised her head so she would look him in the eyes. "Do you want me to hurt you?"

    Kin fearfully gulped and shook her head before slowly starting to speak everything she knew.

    Rei actually marveled at how easily she sumbed to his subpar acting. ''I guess Tayuya waspletely right in this case. Zaku would have been too hot-headed and Dosu too stubborn for his own good. They would definitely not crack without torture if only because of their pride.''

    Tayuya told Rei everything she knew about Orochimaru and his ns, his hideouts and stuff... but it was not enough. Surprisingly enough, Orochimaru did not keep even his four bodyguards in the loop for the most part.

    Nevertheless, since there was a chance to capture some of his subordinates in these Chunin Exams, Rei asked Tayuya about her rmendations and she told him Kin would be an easy target that will sing like a canary without a need of some heavy petting. Though, she did say she seriously doubted the girl will have any kind of useful information.

    That didn''t matter though. Spying on Orochimaru was pointless. The Sound Vige was a deceptive term. No such ce existed. The Sound Vige was a collective term for all Orochimaru''s hideouts. Hideouts that ceased to exist and popped into existence so fast that Konan was getting really frustrated with her attempts to pinpoint Orochimaru''s location and get some useful intel about him.

    The problem was... the Kages of the ninja viges and Daimyos had fixed ces where they could be found. Konan simply had to bug their offices, the council chambers, the ANBU bases and she would get her intel. With Orochimaru, this approach didn''t work.

    Frankly, it was getting increasingly obvious how the man could stay out of Akatsuki''s radar for so long despite them having Zetsu. Orochimaru never stayed in one ce long enough. He could state he is going to one hideout only to change his mind mid-way and suddenly order to go to another. He destroyed his bases seemingly at a whim. He loved to doplete sweeps of his bases, throwing away and recing everything that was not vital for his research. At the first suspicion of an information leak, he would just pack up and disappear, only to pop up again in a different part of the Elemental Nations.

    Orochimaru was freaking unpredictable and always on the move to a paranoid degree.

    Rei didn''t need Kin to tell him what the man nned because whatever it was, there was no guarantee he would not simply change his ns at thest moment as ast fuck you to anyone who got wind of them.

    Rather, Rei wanted to hear about her experiences and meetings with the man. Even if Orochimaru never told Kin his ns, his actions and details she noticed would give Rei some necessary puzzle pieces.

    Such as when she admitted she briefly noticed a ninja from Kumo meeting with Orochimaru. Kin deemed it unimportant as it was not unheard of for ninjas from different nations to work together asionally but... Rei had a much better picture of things going on in the world.

    For example, the sudden increase in expenses for both Kumo and Iwa. The two viges were gearing up for something. Oh, they were subtle about it, stretching their purchases over many differentpanies and over a long period of time. Without context, it would not prove as a reason for concern.

    But Tayuya''s information gave these actions a bit of context and now Kin''s interrogation only deepened some of Rei''s suspicions.

    Hearing all Kin had to say, Rei sent another dose of his lightning chakra into her body, knocking her unconscious before she could start asking annoying questions about what will happen to her.

    Tsunade looked at the sleeping form of the girl with her lips pursed into a thin line, "So... he will attack during thest part of the Chunin Exams, huh?" She rhetorically asked, unhappy with the conclusion she reached. "If it''s not one thing it is another."

    While Rei''s canon knowledge told him there would be an attack from Orochimaru, he had to admit he changed quite a bit in the world. For all he knew, Orochimaru might decide it is not worth his time to attack since Hiruzen was no longer the acting Hokage or because Konoha was marginally stronger than in canon or for whatever other reason.

    Rei, however, doubted Orochimaru would not upgrade his ns if he decided to attack. After all, Konoha WAS stronger than it should have been. The man was no idiot. He would not attack head-first without a n that had a high chance for sess.

    Knowing that there is no way of preventing what is going to happen, Tsunade sighed and decided to focus on something else, "And the kids? How are they faring in the Chunin Exams?"

    Rei suddenly blinked, getting out of his thoughts at her sudden question. "Hm? Ah! Don''t worry. Last I sensed, they were about to engage Orochimaru." He nonchntly waved his hand around.

    Tsunade facepalmed at that....

 Chapter 365 - Ch365. Chunin Exams: Orochimaru

    <h4>Chapter 365 - Ch365. Chunin Exams: Orochimaru</h4>

    Author''s Note:

    Pa treon - 34 chapters ahead.

    If you want to support me or read ahead:

    https://.pa treon/kasicair

    ---

    The day started curiously for Orochimaru.

    The first thing in the morning he infiltrated Konoha but was left bewildered by the new security standard of the vige. Clearly, Tsunade was taking it to a new level of paranoia.

    In the end, Orochimaru needed a few hours and Kabuto''s help to get into the vige unnoticed despite his vast knowledge of secret passages which made him both pissed and impressed at Tsunade''s prowess.

    The patrol routes now used sensor ninjas with different kinds of sensing abilities in case an infiltrator could negate one of them... and Orochimaru wondered where did Konoha get so many sensors only for Kabuto to inform him Tsunade spent a fortune to nurture medic ninjas and to train every sensor found in the vige during the past years.

    Getting past that was extremely annoying, especially since he could not kill even one of them as that would cut his visit short and start vige-wide lockdown and investigation.

    He almost punched Kabuto in that perpetually smug mug of his when he heard that...

    But patrols were not the only problem. There were also hidden traps and seals unknown to him that did who knew what. It took great care and slowed his advancement to a snail''s pace, hence, instead of the usual ten minutes he spent hours getting into the vige.

    And even then, in the middle of his endeavor, Orochimaru subconsciously shuddered and the hairs all over his body stood up as if some kind of scan passed through his body. It took him fifteen minutes of hiding in the same spot, using every subtle skill in his arsenal while trying to find out if Konoha found him out or not. When nobody came to intercept him, Orochimaru deemed it safe to continue but inwardly he still felt on edge every step of the way.

    Something... definitely happened there and he had no idea what. It made his following hours of sneaking and getting past Konoha''s defenses a lot more frustrating as his anxiety refused to disappear.

    At least it diminished when he brutally murdered the team from Taki inside of Konoha and stole the kunoichi''s skin and still nobody showed up. Konoha would not be letting him murder their guests if they knew about his presence, now, would they?

    Well, he certainly would if there was some intricate n on how to catch his target but... no. Tsunade was too soft to go so far.

    Orochimaru was eighty percent sure Konoha had no idea about his presence.

    Not that it mattered to him. Being discovered would simply mean he would fail at his objective but it would hardly obstruct his ns. Nor was he afraid of confrontation with Konoha ninjas. At worst, in case both Tsunade and Hiruzen decided to fight him, he could still escape with ease. There was nothing to fear here.

    Orochimaru walked into the examination room for the first part of the Chunin Exams and if he needed any proof that Konoha was utterly unaware of his presence, this was it. No vige, no matter how daring, would let an S-rank rogue ninja into a room full of the best of the best of their future generation.

    Not only that but if he ughtered every genin in the room... which he surmised he could do in under thirty seconds t... it would mean a shitload of trouble for Konoha with the other viges.

    Not that he would do it. His ns depended on the continuation of the Chunin Exams so the poor kiddies dodged a kunai.

    For some reason, however, Orochimaru''s hair still refused to stand down...

    Sitting down in the ce assigned to the skin he wore, Orochimaru giddily awaited the arrival of his prey.

    Imagine his shock when into the room walked... Tayuya.

    Orochimaru never gaped! But even he had to admit his mouth slightly opened for a second.

    He distinctly remembered activating the kill switch on her Cursed Seal and losing the connection to the girl, after all. Yet, here the girl was. Walking in front of him as if she was not supposed to be dead. How dare she survive that!? The rude girl!

    Granting her a peaceful and quick death was clearly a mistake.

    Worse yet, her being alive meant somebody found a way to remove the Cursed Seal. Even if it was sealed away, he would still be able to feel Tayuya through it and cause her pain but he simply did not feel the girl anymore. That... was a massive problem.

    The Cursed Seals were one of his secret death-prevention measures. He did not tell about their true function even to his closest aides and researchers. Somebody able to remove it would surely discover its true purpose and that was troubling. Someone in the vast world now knew one of his weaknesses and Orochimaru couldn''t help but feel a surge of panic run through him.

    He could not show it on his face, not in his current position. On one hand, he refused to show panic in a room full of genins because he knew it would be misunderstood as him fearing them which would mean he would have to ughter every single person in the room to assuage his pride. On the other hand, Orochimaru prided himself at keeping a cool head no matter the situation.

    Instead, he started to think about how this was possible.

    Orochimaru made sure that the removal of his Cursed Seal was fatal. He intertwined the seal with the recipient''s soul and body in such a way, there was no way to survive it.

    Yet... the proof that it was indeed possible just sat a few seats away from him.

    How very... curious.

    And unpleasant.

    And enraging.

    What made Orochimaru silently seethe even more was what Tayuya''s presence in these exams participating as an Uzushio kunoichi meant. He thought every member of the Sound Four was dead but she obviously wasn''t. That meant she willingly betrayed him!

    Orochimaru did not even notice that his target, Sasuke Uchiha, walked into the room. Nor did he pay any attention to themotion he ordered to be caused by Kabuto and the Sound Team.. He was too invested in discreetly ring at Tayuya''s back while nning her excruciatingly painful demise.

 Chapter 366 - Ch366. Orochimarus Ego

    Orochimaru entered the Forest of Death as the second part of the Chunin Exam started and found himself on the verge of a dilemma.

    On one hand, he could go after his original objective and hunt down Sasuke Uchiha to give him his present.

    On the other, he felt an almost unexinable itch to punish his wayward subordinate. Orochimaru knew he would not be sleeping well until Tayuya knew the error of her ways.

    Yet, this presented a unique problem for him. The second he starts a fight, he will be on a timer. He had no idea if somebody would sense his chakra when he started to use it with so many sensors in the vige. He also had no idea how long it would take for Konoha ninjas to discover the bodies of Taki genins.

    The smart thing to do would be to go after Uchiha and test him for a bit before retreating. No need to give Konoha a reason to fortify before his ns even start, right?

    But Tayuya...

    ''I guess the Uchiha can wait. I may still make it after I deal with Tayuya and even if not, there is an entire month in-between the second and the third part of these exams. Time to give the poor Tayuya a visit.'' Orochimaru amusedly thought, knowing his future actions were decided for him already. His ego simply could not let this slight go.

    Orochimaru ran through the Forest of Death, looking for Tayuya''s team. He might not be the best sensor out there but he had enough experience to track them down in under an hour.

    Hiding in the foliage, Orochimaru''s eyesnded on his target. She no longer wore the standard sound attire, instead, she sported unassuming ck pants and a ck shirt. Clothes that allowed her to blend in with the civilians.

    For a second, Orochimaru appreciated the concept. Ninjas had their uniforms based on which vige they served so he obviously followed this trend without really putting much thought into it and made his own uniform for the Sound Vige.

    But seeing the Uzushio team looking perfectly civilian, no headband, no vest with many pouches, no n symbol indicating their affiliation... Simply put, Orochimaru could see the usefulness of that.

    Tayuya''s teammates somewhat surprised Orochimaru.

    The boy around fifteen was clearly a Kaguya, which should not be possible since they were supposed to be all exterminated except his own revenge-seeking pet Kaguya. And yet, here it was. A white-haired boy with clothes that were clearly not expensive and could be easily discarded, and red dots above his eyebrows indicating his bloodline.

    Orochimaru couldn''t help but lick his lips at discovering this treasure.

    The girl was thirteen or fourteen and had Uzumaki crimson hair so identifying her was not a problem despite theck of any symbol on her clothes. She was obviously an Uzumaki.

    That in itself was also a good find. Orochimaru had to admit he was entirely too focused on Tayuya during the first part of the Chunin Exams so he didn''t pay much attention to the other kiddies but...

    He had no Uzumaki under his employ.

    Since the Uzushiogakure sprang into existence, all Uzumakis as if disappeared. After his defection, Orochimaru didn''t put much thought into acquiring an Uzumaki specimen at first. While Konoha had only one at the time, there were hundreds of them scattered across the world just waiting to be plucked. Everybody knew that.

    And when he heard of Uzushio and decided it was finally time to procure one of them, if only to use him or her as a spy, there was not even one to be found. He spent two whole years looking for one with no result to show for it.

    That''s why his eyebrow started to twitch at the thought of Tayuya having any ties to the Uzumaki. Yes, she was strong but she was not interesting from the scientific point of view. It was not him who did her tests. There were thousands of more interesting specimens in his vige and even more experiments in process at all times. He had no time to look at the DNA results of a pink-haired girl with limited potential.

    ''I''ll have to make an example of whoever was assigned to be her doctor.'' Orochimaru mentally grumbled.

    "Come out." A voice suddenly snapped Orochimaru out of his thoughts, causing him to lift his eyebrows as he noticed the redhead of the team staring directly at him. He briefly wondered if she was bluffing but her gaze was too focused on him. He briefly thought how could a genin discover him when...

    A smile started to creep on his face as he remembered a mention of Uzumaki''s supposed bloodline prowess. ''Is that the Mind''s Eye of Kagura?'' He possessively gulped and the importance ranking of the kids in front of him was shuffled in his mind, the Kaguya boy dropping to second ce as the redhead was promoted to the top.

    Nevertheless, it was useless to keep hiding when he was found out so he calmly revealed himself to the group.

    And was promptly shocked when Tayuya recognized him despite his Taki kunoichi skin attire.

    "Snake bastard..." Tayuya tensed, preparing for a fight.

    ''How cute...'' Orochimaru''s lips twitched at the sight. He doubted she got strong enough to pose a challenge in the short time since she defected.

    "Well, well, you grew disrespectful in the months we haven''t seen each other." Orochimaru yfully said.

    Tayuya wryly smiled, "And you haven''t changed at all. Still the same shithead."

    The only indication of Orochimaru''s shock at her tant rudeness was him nkly blinking at her as silence spread between them alongside the tense atmosphere.

    Tayuya expected Orochimaru to give back some witty remarks. As his ''bodyguard'', she spent enough time near him to know he never failed to have thest word.

    That''s why she was quite surprised when he suddenly lunged at her at incredible speeds. Clearly, her defection and lip disservice must have been too much of a shock to the man who loved instilling obedience.

    When he heard Tayuya''s response, Orochimaru decided he had had enough. The girl should have been shaking in her boots, knowing her end ising because of what she has done but instead she dared to give him snark?

    What did she think she was? An Uchiha?

    He was almost upon her, noticing she didn''t move even an inch yet, clearly unable to react to his speed. It was a pitiful disy and the reason why she was expendable while serving him.

    His mind already disregarded Tayuya, writing her off as dead, Orochimaru did not pay much attention to her as his fist was about to collide with her head. Instead, he focused on his follow-up. Should he kidnap the Kaguya boy and the Uzumaki girl? Should he leave them be for the time being and wait for a better opportunity?

    His musings were interrupted when he suddenly heard a snap of fingers and instead of feeling the familiar wet crunch of his enemy''s head being mauled by his punch, Orochimaru found his vision swirl before his brain registered the pain surging in his body, much to his shocked bewilderment. He was trying to put together what was happening, barely managing to figure out his body was uncontrobly flying through the air when it suddenly hit an obstacle with a dull thud.

    Orochimaru''s body collided with a tree, snapping it in two because of the force of shockwave used to fling him away, and a cloud of dust was sent into the air while the upper part of the thick tree slowly fell onto the ground, scaring the birds in the treetops and sending them flying away with an incessant fearful chirping. The impact of the upper part of the tree with the ground also cleared the cloud of dust as it generated a gust of wind, giving the three genins a clear sight of their opponent.

    Orochimaru groaned, feeling as if he was just punched by Tsunade. He got barely any chance to regain his wits when his instincts screamed at him. Years of listening to them quickly turned his body into autopilot and before he could even think about it with his muddled mind, his body ducked, evading being decapitated by a bone sword.

    The instincts didn''t stop ring however and Orochimaru had enough presence of his mind to jump away rather than attack. This appeared to be the correct decision as not even a second after he did that, chains burst from the ground, skewering the ce he was just a moment ago.

    Before he could get a breather, he heard the sound of a flute ying in the distance, dread inexplicably passing through his body. He heard this sound many times and knew it was Tayuya''s attack but... He snarled to push these feelings away and focus on the unexpected challenge in front of him.

    Something was wrong. How could these genins keep up with him? How could they surprise him so much?

    Something.... was very wrong!

 Chapter 367 - Ch367. Orochimaru Vs Uzushio Team

    Karin heard Tayuya''s flute and watched as the air around Orochimaru bent, pressing on him and causing his knees to buckle, which spoke a volume about the strength of his body. Karin surmised that even chunins would be crushed under so much pressure. And yet, Orochimaru just cradled his head in his hands while gritting his teeth enough for blood to flow from his lips due to the intense sound that descended upon him.

    Karin was trapped in the Sound Bubble of Tayuya once and remembering the pain and disorientation it caused made her wince. She didn''t dally, however, and instantly used the situation to her advantage, sending chains at the momentarily restrained man while noting with the corner of her eyes that Kimimaro shot ten finger bullets, aiming them around Orochimaru in case he decided to evade. Under the sound suppression, it would be hard to avoid being hit.

    The Orochimaru did not dodge, Karin seriously doubted he could even think straight right now, so Kimimaro''s bone finger bullets didn''t find purchase. Instead, her chains fiercely ripped into Orochimaru''s body, severing several vital parts before brutally pulling out, tearing chunks of meat and bone. Karin had no intention of ying nice with a known S-rank fugitive.

    Despite their attacker''s body crumbling into pieces onto the ground, with a big puddle of blood underneath it courtesy of the sound pressure and the ughter of Karin''s chains, the Uzushio team did not lower their guard.

    They had their doubts. It could not be so easy, could it?

    Sure, they were all supposedly S-rank ninjas in their own right with Tayuya being high A-rank since she discovered how to use her sound properly. It would take a bit of training but she was on the right path to bing the newest S-rank of the Vige on the Other Side. But... sparring with other S-ranks was a routine. It was never this easy. Not once.

    Their doubts were answered a momentter when Orochimaru''s body and the blood underneath it started to turn into mud and Karin''s eyes suddenly widened as her head snapped to the right, the girl almost gaping.

    "How did you..." She involuntarily spoke, staring at an empty branch.

    Hearing her, her teammates quickly refocused on the ce, knowing better than to question Karin''s sensing prowess.

    "I must say... your team y and individual abilities are most interesting." Orochimaru spoke while emerging from the tree branch, his tone deep andced with the slyness and amusement of a snake.

    "What happened, Karin." Kimimaro emotionlessly asked, his eyes trained on their opponent in case he tried to capitalize on their discussion.

    "For a moment, he disappeared from my senses." Karin said with a frown. That could be fatal and her job now became that much harder for it.

    Tayuya clicked her tongue while Kimimaro''s eyebrow twitched. Depending on Karin''s senses was addictive because it was an easy way out that worked most of the time. Fortunately for them, their trainers made sure to beat this overreliance on the girl out of them when it first emerged. Karin had to depend on her senses because they were hers but that didn''t extend to Kimimaro nor Tayuya.

    Understanding the hidden meaning of Karin''s words, Tayuya pulled the flute away from her lips in a show of rxation while secretly drumming her pointing finger on her thigh, releasing a very quiet sound...

    "If I may ask, how did you discover me?" Orochimaru asked and Karin pursed her lips before sighing. She could feel his chakra and it confirmed what she saw in his eyes. Pure curiosity. He was not fishing out a weakness. He was just curious.

    Knowing they needed a bit of time, Karin decided to go with it, "Emotions." She said and shrugged, causing Orochimaru''s eyes to go wide in glee.

    "Emotions! You can sense emotions!" He eximed, "The possibilities for such an ability." With that, he would never have to worry about the intentions of his subordinates! "What a marvelous ability!"

    "Now that I answered your question, you wouldn''t mind reciprocating, would you?" Karin offhandedly quipped, causing Orochimaru to lift an eyebrow in amusement at her before he nodded in agreement.

    "How did you disappear from my senses?" She asked, not really expecting him to reveal it. But even a hint would be enough to set her on the path of correcting the probable w in her sensing capabilities.

    Orochimaru''s lips almost mockingly widened and he gave Karin a condescending look, "Experience. Lots and lots of experience." He said, the glee in his tone unmistakable, only spreading into his eyes when he saw an angry vein bulge on Karin''s forehead when she heard his reply.

    He did answer her question as he agreed but both knew this was not really what she was asking about.

    "Heeh~, wording, girl. You are not the smartest kunai in the pouch, are you?" He smugly goaded, "I thought about offering you a position in my ranks at first but now I see it would be pointless."

    Naturally, he did think of that but from what he was observing, the girl would have never said yes. She was too smart for that and would most likely feel his intentions. Just his luck...

    Hearing him, Karin''s anger red higher and her eye started to twitch as she balled her fists. The son of a... monkey just discreetly called her stupid! She gnashed her teeth at him while giving him a withering re but didn''t move from her spot.

    Orochimaru''s amused expression started to slowly nk out, eventually ending in a dissatisfied frown. Anger was one of Uzumakis'' weaknesses so he tried to rile the girl up. She was young, it was a reasonable logical jump, expecting her to break the formation and go for an attack, making an opening in the team.

    s... Orochimaru was left disgruntled when it didn''t work.

    "This is it, huh?" He indifferently stated, pausing for a bit and causing Karin to narrow her eyes as she felt... something. Before she could give the feeling more attention Orochimaru continued, a small snake-like smile appearing on his lips, "I guess Uzushio now provides its ninjas anger management sses. I won-"

    With the corner of her eyes, Karin noticed Tayuya giving her the signal that she was ready. Without any forewarning, chains burst from around Orochimaru, tying him up. It was a real bother to sneak them so close to him without making him notice.

    During their small talk, she did not just that but also trapped the whole clearing with remotely controlled seal traps.

    Before Orochimaru could even try wiggling out of the chains, shockwaves impacted him from all sides, this time not going for lethal damage but only to incapacitate him.

    As for Kimimaro... he stayed behind to protect his teammates in case the Orochimaru in front of them was just another decoy.

    When Karin gave the signal that her sensing prowess was not sufficient, Tayuya swapped into a more subtle fighting style. She first spread the influence of her chakra into the surroundings. After weeks of training with Karin, Tayuya''s control over this aspect of her Jutsu was so refined, even Karin had a hard time sensing the chakra in the surroundings. There was simply too little of it... and yet, it waspletely sufficient for Tayuya''s needs.

    Karin could really see what Rei meant when he ranted about the potential of the sound-based Jutsus after she noticed this aspect of them.

    The entire clearing was under Tayuya''s control. She could sense almost any sound in her ''domain'', create shockwaves out of thin air, make her target feel vertigo by affecting their inner ear, cause them to hear anything from annoying to utterly debilitating sounds, and that meant she could fake the voices of her teammates, disorienting her enemy...

    Tayuya was really dangerous once she established control of her surroundings.

    Obviously, it had many ws as Rei, Konan, and even Yugito proved when they spared against Tayuya who smugly thought her new technique would be enough only to be smacked down.

    Looking at the subdued Orochimaru, Karin''s eyes narrowed and she focused more on her Mind''s Eye when something flickered further away from their position...

    "Shit." She cursed, attracting the attention of her teammates, "Just crush him." She clicked her tongue in displeasure as she realized what the weird feeling during his talking was, "It is a shadow clone. The real Orochimaru is already retreating."

    Orochimaru gave them onest smug smile and dispersed into thin air before they could ''crush'' him, making Karin and Tayuya pout.

    Kimimaro looked over the spotless clearing, knowing the innocent look it portrayed was just a guise. The number of traps... "I wonder who will clear up all these traps. Not me." He shrugged and turned around, walking away and masterfully evading the traps while ignoring the heated res of his femalepanions.

    Well, they set the traps up so they can defuse them, no?

    ---

    Author Note:

    Yeah, no major fight in this chapter happened.

    I mostly wanted to portray that not every confrontation has to end up in deathmatch and that some people are actually smart enough to retreat when outmatched.

    Orochimaru is S-rank but so is almost every member of the Uzushio Team.

    Now, that doesn''t mean they are on the same level, mind you. Power levels are not so easy. The Uzushio Team members mostly have special ability and training so they can rank as S-ranks but they are still just 13-15 yo kids while Orochimaru has several decades of being an S-rank under his belt. That''s why they did not just steamroll him and he somewhat yed with them using his words while gauging their threat level.

    Also, I got a few peopleining that my fight scenes are boring.. Anyone willing to borate and give me an idea of what is wrong with them? It might help me with bettering myself.

 Chapter 368 - Ch368. Anko & Kin

    Seeing the confrontation was over and feeling a bit of amusement at the predicament of the two Uzumaki girls, Anko decided to have some fun at their expense.

    As Karin and Tayuya were about to start clearing up the traps, Anko silently appeared behind them... "Booo!" And childishly eximed.

    Much to her continued amusement, it actually worked and both Tayuya and Karin jumped at the scare.

    Nevertheless, Anko had to grudgingly praise the kids... if only in her head... at the quickness of their response.

    Tayuya had flute near her lips almost instantly while Karin''s chains were already halfway to skewering Anko despite the girl visibly not yet being out of her shock. Even the Kaguya boya already turned around with his arms up, pointing his fingers in Anko''s direction in preparation for his only ranged attack since he was a bit far away from the girls and Anko.

    ''It is still hard to believe these brats are S-rank.'' Anko thought, withholding a sigh at the luck these bastards possessed.

    "Haa~, it is only Anko..." Karin resignedly said, her shoulders slumping as the sudden tension left her body.

    "What do you mean it''s only Anko? That''s rude!" Anko eximed in mock outrage.

    The only response she got was azy roll of Tayuya and Karin''s eyes while Kimimaro decided to be his usual stoic self.

    "You are no fun." Anko pouted when she got no retort back. Unfortunately for her, the members of the Uzushio team knew her too well than to participate in an argument with her.

    "You were here the entire time?" Karin asked in a bit usatory tone, crossing her arms under her nonexistent chest, unknowingly giving Anko ammunition for teasing.

    "You couldn''t sense me the entire time?" Anko smugly answered with her own question, crossing her arms under her considerable chest and pushing it up, her smirk widening when she got the expected reaction from Karin whose eye started to twitch in a typical angry Uzumaki fashion.

    "As expected from Orochimaru''s apprentice." Karin snarked.

    "Low blow, kid, low blow." Anko scowled, all good mood deserting her. "As if that overgrown snake coulde close to the fabulousness that is me."

    "Yeah, whatever." Karin grumbled, not giving any retort in return because she was well aware of Anko''s hatred of Orochimaru and her previous remark was a bit too much. She was only d Anko didn''t get angry because of it. "Why didn''t you help us?"

    "As much as I''d like to bash Orochimaru''s mug until it is dented inwards," Anko wistfully sighed with such a longing that Karin had to fight her instinctual urge to step back and get away from the crazy, "I have my orders." She scowled. "Lady Tsunade forbade me from engaging him and if I helped you, I wouldn''t be able to stop myself. Meh, not like you couldn''t take him on."

    "Lady Tsunade knows about the shithead!?" Tayuya eximed, abruptly interrupting the conversation between Anko and Karin. She assumed Orochimaru snuck in with no one the wiser because she couldn''t see any reason why Lady Tsunade would let Orochimaru roam Konoha unhindered. Yet...

    "Of course, she knows." Anko rolled her eyes at the naive girl. She was a good kunoichi and quite smart too as far as certain things went but... she was brash and oftentimes overlooked the bigger picture. No wonder she was relegated to a glorified bodyguard duty for a person who doesn''t need bodyguards during her service for Orochimaru. "The entire Konoha is under a surveince barrier. Lady Tsunade knows about everyone who enters and leaves her vige."

    Hearing that, Tayuya could only open her mouth before promptly closing it. That... how was she supposed to react to that?

    "You want to ask why we didn''t stop him, right?" Anko correctly read the girl''s expression and Tayuya just numbly nodded, "Well, Lady Tsunade and Rei have a n and Orochimaru has his own role to y in it. After that... his ass is mine." She shrugged.

    Seeing that Tayuya was not wholly satisfied with thatckluster reply, Karin intervened, "So... what now?"

    "Now you continue with your exam. Can''t help you with that. Rules and whatnot." Anko said and shooed them away with her hand before disappearing in a swirl of leaves, leaving three unimpressed ''genins'' behind.

    ...

    A few days passed since Rei kidnapped Kin and he had to admit, the girl was proving to be quite talented at being a maid.

    Unfortunately for the girl, Rei left her alive in hopes she could be useful but she turned out to be no Tayuya. Her sound maniption was quite subpar. She could do small things with it but that''s where her ability ended.

    It was quite a pity too, but since he already promised not to kill her, Rei decided to find a new use for her. Hence, the maid part.

    He evenmissioned a bonafide maid costume for her!

    After a fewints and a day of scowling, Kin epted her new role, and her enthusiasm only rose after Tsunade promised her training if she did well.

    Poor girl, she had no idea what kind of hell Tsunade''s training was.

    Even Anko started to offer prayers for Kin''s naive soul once she heard about the devilish bargain Tsunade offered her.

    Rei gave up on the girl, not because he was not confident in his ability to turn her into a badass kunoichi... after all, he managed to train Mei and Ringo and after them, he doubted anyone could be more challenging... but because he simply did not have the time to bother. Kin was not what one would say a talented individual.

    Well, the girl surely had talent at something but Rei did not discover such a thing yet.

    He could somewhat understand why Orochimaru sacrificed her. She was wholly unimpressive. Her ninja skill repertoire was just ugh and her mindset was meh. There was a lot of work to be done on that girl if she was to be useful.

    Tsunade, however, didn''t seem to mind and her promises of training were serious. She was just letting Kin adjust before she threw her head-first into a nightmare from where there is no escape.

    Rei made sure to not be too demanding when it came to Kin''s new maid duties. He could see how Anko silently seethed because she was ordered to let Orochimaru go unhindered. He also knew that the very first lesson Tsunade nned to teach Kin was how utterly powerless she currently was and that her opponent would be Anko who was given a few days to stew in her anger without any outlet.

    Sometimes, Rei really marveled at how outright evil his girls can be.

 Chapter 369 - Ch369. Preliminaries

    Rei sat next to Tsunade, mightily ufortable to be on a disy like this. The preliminaries of the Chunin Exams were about to start and Hokage was giving his speech.

    To be honest, if it was up to Rei, Shikaku''szy and boring drawl would be a test unto itself. Those that didn''t fall asleep while he monologued would pass.

    Sitting next to Tsunade meant sitting next to the Konoha Daimyo and that kind of position attracted a lot of attention to Rei. He didn''t like it. He was too used to being in the shadows. Even in the Vige on the Other Side he seldom appeared in front of people, opting to have other people be the ''public'' figures in his stead.

    It didn''t help that he was sitting in the seat reserved for the partner of the Daimyo, meaning people were interested in why this unknown man was parading as Tsunade''s husband. While it was known that Tsunade was married, she never really revealed to whom.

    Unfortunately for Rei...

    ''I should have never bet against her.'' He sourly thought. ''It was such an obvious application of the Murphy Laws that the woman who loses every bet will win precisely the one that would put me in an ufortable position. I should have known.''

    Rei wanted to do nothing else but stack genjutsu after genjutsu on himself, hiding in in sight, but sadly, Tsunade ounted for that too. If he wanted to uphold his part of the bet, he would simply have to suffer through the gawkers in silence.

    Frankly, this was still fine. Rei dreaded the third part of the Exams. Now, there was no Pakura or Ringo, or a vast amount of popce alongside nobles and Daimyos for that matter. It was just Konoha higher-ups and a few jonins right now. But in the third part of these exams?

    ''May the Sage have mercy on my soul...'' Rei inwardly wailed just thinking about that kind of suffering.

    s, there was nothing he could do. Bing a public figure would be good for him. He didn''t want to show himself as the leader of the Vige on the Other Side. The existence of that vige was a highly guarded secret, after all. Nor would Rei let his ownership of the Biri-Biri Company and the Uzushio Trading Company be known. That would attract a bit too much attention to himself.

    Bing known as the husband of the Konoha Daimyo was fine. Tsunade was part-Uzumaki so it would exin his pull with Uzushio while also giving him an ''in'' with Pakura and Ringo since they would be introduced as Tsunade''s friends she met during her travels.

    Secrets attract attention and ninjas were no exception to this rule. Rei instead wanted to put a false front for the public, fooling them into thinking there is no secret and that they had all the facts so nobody will try to dig deeper into the mystery of Tsunade''s husband. This bet between Tsunade and him only made him hasten his ns and gave them direction.

    Personally, he would have been a bit more discreet about it but tantly sitting next to her and kissing her in front of all the Konoha higher-ups would do as well...

    The gazes were not Rei''s only problem though. The boredom was almost worse.

    Watching genins duking it out in the arena was... underwhelming.

    For a normal person, this would have been an epic showdown and that was partly the reason why the vige was making a spectacle from the third part of these exams but for a seasoned ninja... let''s just say it was yawn-worthy for Rei and from the way Tsunade distractedly yed with his fingers, she was not feeling any different.

    There were eight teams that passed the second part of the exams. It was all the teams that passed in the canon except the team from the Sound Vige and then there were Kirigakure and Uzushio teams.

    Rei... couldn''t bring himself to feel impressed.

    This was all prearranged for the most part so there was nothing to be surprised about. He knew for a fact that half the Kirigakure and Sunagakure teams that participated in the second part could have easily steamrolled the Konoha teams that passed.

    But having the Konoha Chunin Exams dominated by Sunagakure and Kirigakure, especially just a moment before the viges were about to sign a three-way alliance, would not be good for the rtions between them. Not to mention the need for hiding one''s strength. Hence, the second part was more about a friendly hunter-nin exercise in an unknown terrain between Sunagakure and Kirigakure.

    These teams did not aim to pass. In fact, they were forbidden to pass as that would instantly mean a failure of their secret mission. They had their own objectives set for them by the Kazekage and Mizukage and if they managed to fulfill them, they would be promoted to Chunin the second they arrived back home.

    Rei wondered if Fate actually existed since the Rookie Nine, Team Gai, and Kabuto''s team all passed like in canon despite the numerous things that changed both in the world and in Konoha. This worrying belief briefly intensified before it quickly left him as the first match was called and progressed.

    To put it shortly, Neji Hyuuga and Hinata Hyuuga were called to fight it out, Neji was his usual Fate''s bitch about everything, but differently from canon, Hinata made a short work of Neji.

    Rei had to wince when he saw the girl using Neji''s self-important monologue as a distraction tond a solid kick to his balls. The boy did not even try to prevent her from walking closer. He was that assured of his superiority.

    Needless to say, the match was quickly over as the Hyuuga boy fainted from the cheap shot, his eyes still opened wide from shock as he fell to the ground with a resounding thud whereas the whole arena descended into a deafening silence.

    Itsted a few seconds before Anko started loudly cheering and praising her apprentice.

    That, however, was the end of Rei''s entertainment.

    The following matches were simply boring.

    Kimimaro faced off against Akado Yoroi, the guy with a peculiar ability to absorb chakra with touch. Sadly for the poord, it meant he had to get close and that was Kimimaro''s domain. Akado found out in a quite brutal manner as Kimimaro''s bones pierced his body when he tried to touch the bored Kaguya, making him into a swiss cheese without killing him.

    After that, Yamanaka Ino was pitted against Yakumo Kurama... which quickly ended poorly for Ino. Sure, she was more motivated and driven than her canon counterpart but it was ever so obvious to Rei why Tsunade picked Kurenai as her apprentice. Yakumo was Kurenai''s apprentice and her genjutsu proficiency would be quite impressive for a chunin, much less a genin. The girl didn''t even need to use her bloodline.

    The next fight was between Haku and Kankuro. An unfortunate match, in Rei''s opinion, and one that was definitely not random. One nce at Tsunade and it was obvious from her quiet smugness that she wanted to eliminate the possibility of all members from Pakura and Ringo''s teams passing.

    Kankuro''s puppetry was impressive. He could already control five puppets at once which made a few jonins drop their jaws but unfortunately for him, Haku had a massive advantage in speed and element. Not only was Kankuro unable to deliver even a ncing blow with any of his attacks, but Haku also focused on freezing the joints of Kankuro''s puppets, and Kankuro was made painfully aware of this weakness of his puppets.

    Well, at least the puppeteer got a valuable learning experience out of it.

    The following showdown between Temari and Utakata was honestly expected. Even Shikaku slightly turned towards Tsunade with an unamused ''Really? Couldn''t you at least put a few fights in between to make it look less suspicious?'' kind of look.

    Temari steamrolled Utakata. His explosive bubbles were neat but the young man had no way to reach Temari with them. Her ranged Wind Attacks shredded first his offense, then his defense, and then him, delivering him into the infirmary in five seconds t before she turned towards Rei with her eyes shining with a ''Praise me!'' kind of gleam.

    As for Rei... he could only give Utakata a pitying look as he felt Tsunade''s satisfaction when it became obvious her n worked spectacrly. Neither Pakura nor Ringo would have their entire teams pass the second stage.

    That said, many fights were really random. For example, the board again rolled Uzumaki Naruto versus Inuzuka Kiba for the next match, causing Rei to raise an eyebrow at that. Kiba did his arrogant boasting shtick, not expecting much from Naruto because the blonde yed a jester during his academy years. The two boys had a fairly nice taijutsu fight for genins which clearly surprised the Inuzuka before Naruto decide to end it by using a special smoke bomb with chilly vor... both Kiba and Akamaru were left rolling on the ground, crying and clutching at their burning throats and noses.

    Well, it was still better than tasting Naruto''s fart in Rei''s opinion.

    The next fight was Gaara versus Misumi Tsurugi. There was nothing much to say about that one. Misumi''s stic joints and stretching exercises did not help him when Gaara decided to squish him. They had to call a small break after the match and scrub what was left of the guy from the floor.

    Needless to say, Gaara impressed and frightened quite a few spectators with that disy. It was funny seeing even jonins throwing him wary looks.

    Rei almost rolled his eyes when he saw Tayuya and Tenten being called into the arena. Tayuya instantly insulted Tenten, making her so angry she didn''t even try to make a n as she started hurling weapon after weapon at the redhead.

    Tenten tried. She really did. But no matter how many weapons she had. No matter how precise her throwing was. No matter what she did... All it took was one blow into Tayuya''s flute in between her taunts and insults, and Tenten''s weapons were deflected mid-flight by what appeared to be nothing. They just veered off course out of nowhere or appeared to hit an obstacle that was clearly not there.

    Half the spectators had utterly lost looks, not understanding what the Uzushio girl did while the other half were grimacing exactly because they recognized what she was doing and how troublesome it would be to fight against her.

    After Tenten was utterly defeated, with no weapons left, with no hope left, Tayuya simply used a moderate shockwave to send the girl into the wall behind her with enough force to create a few cracks and knock her unconscious.

    From the outside perspective, Tauyuya appeared to be a cold-hearted bitch who liked to taunt her opponent but... Rei had instantly seen through her intentions if only because he knew her better. She aimed to show Tenten how utterly worthless her path as the weapon mistress was.

    And it really was. That ninja art did not have much potential in the higher leagues. Its user depended mostly on his weapons, so meeting a real powerhouse would be instant death. Tenten was a jack of all trades. She knew how to use numerous weapons but none to the satisfactory level even for a chunin. She... did not deserve promotion as she currently was.

    The following match was between Karin and Kabuto Yakushi who surprisingly did not forfeit at the start. Frankly, it was understandable. With Tsunade''s reforms, his spying got a lot harder and he could not just attend every chunin exam and fail without being suspected of ulterior motives. The guy decided to be smart about it and this was actually only his second attempt.

    For those with context, this fight was somehow definitely pre-arranged by Orochimaru. At least the guy had enough wits to not show up for preliminaries. It was one thing to let him roam the vige under heavy surveince even if he had no idea about it, and it was quite another thing to let him be in the same room as the Konoha Daimyo and the Hokage without doing anything about it. But since he didn''t show up, there was no need for a fight. He probably intelligently deduced that Tsunade would have recognized him.

    Kabuto tried to taunt Karin, doing exactly the same thing as Orochimaru in an attempt to make use of the infamous Uzumaki temper. If Orochimaru was present, he would have winced at that...

    Karin did not like to y with her food and Kabuto ended with a pointy tip of Karin''s chain painfully going up his ass.

    On the downside, Kabuto survived thanks to his healing factor. On the upside... well, moving on.

    Sasuke Uchiha was pitted against Choji Akimichi and this was honestly the most even fight in the entire preliminaries. Not because the boys were on the same level. Far from it. But this Choji knew when to put his timid nature to the side and from the very start, he used his Human Bullet Tank Jutsu whereas Sasuke had no way of countering it. He tried to throw a few fireballs at the Akimichi but to no avail.

    In the end, Sasuke could only dodge and dodge, waiting for Choji to run out of juice. The fight dragged on and on, the Uchiha trying to injure Choji in various ways and failing miserably at it because he didn''t have heavy-hitting Jutsu in his repertoire.

    Thirty utterly boring minutester, Sasuke won because Choji could not hit him. Simple as that.

    The next match featured Shino Aburame versus Chojuro. Shino''s n techniques certainly piqued Rei''s interest and under any other circumstances, the bug boy would have had an overwhelming advantage but not in an empty room with no obstacles.

    Chojuro did some freaky kenjutsu bullshit and sent an arc ofpressed air at Shino with a swing of his sword, showcasing he was far above genin level while almost bisecting the poor Aburame.

    The Kirigakure swordsman could only awkwardlyugh with disbelief written on his face when his opponent went down so easily while Tsunade was already moving towards Shino to save his life.

    s, Chojuro wouldn''t be the most liked person in Konoha after that stunt...

    But everything had its bright side. Saving Shino''s life and career would certainly cement the Aburame n''s loyalty to Tsunade, so there was that. Rei would honestly be unable to say Tsunade was unhappy about the ident.

    Thest fight was between Rock Lee and Shikamaru Nara and Rei thought the result was pretty obvious.

    He was wrong.

    It was a bewildering experience to watch the Nara heir utterly dismantle the taijutsu prodigy before he could even start.

    Rock Lee was strong and fast. That was a fact. But that didn''t help him when Shikamaru caught him in his Shadow Imitation Technique. Lee was simply far too direct and straightforward in his approach and that was his undoing.

    Restricted by the Shadow Imitation, weighted by several tons of weight around his ankles, and unable to open the Eight Inner Gates because Lee wasn''t yet skilled enough to open the first gate without performing Lotus beforehand. Lee was totally screwed no matter how much he tried to wiggle and get out of Shikamaru''s hold.

    Shikamaru did not need to be faster or stronger than Lee. Not when the green-d idiot was restricting himself to a disgusting degree before the match even started. By all means, this should have been Lee''s win without any doubt. Lee was fast enough to evade any attempt of Shikamaru to get a hold of him.

    But that was true only for unrestricted Lee.

    Rei noted that Tsunade simply looked at Gai, who seemed to be quite disgruntled at how easily his protege lost, and snorted. He could only wince at the verbal and maybe even physical thrashing the green-d jonin would no doubt receive in the near future.

    Wearing weights was a good training method if done right but wearing weights during a fight? What kind of idiot taught him that?

    Still, Rei thought Lee would be able to handle Shikamaru despite the moronic self-imposed handicap but apparently, motivated Shikamaru is a dangerous Shikamaru.

    The match ended quickly when Shikamaru used Shadow-stitching and put a sharp shadow spike near Lee''s throat before looking at Gai with a raised eyebrow. Lee looked stubborn and would most likely rather have his throat slit than give up but thankfully, Gai had moremon sense and stopped the fight.

    Shikamaru won.

    ---

    Author Note:

    Yeah, did not want to make several chapters out of this so I tried to sum it up in a somewhat not-so-boring way.

    Hope I seeded :D.

 Chapter 370 - Ch370. Preparations

    Two weeks passed since the end of the preliminaries and Rei found himself by his lonesome self. Tsunade was too busy preparing the vige for the uing trouble while Temari had her training.

    One would wonder why would Sunagakure''s strongest ANBU need to train whenpeting against genins but Tsunade gave the girl ess to Konoha''s library and Temari wanted to make the most out of it during this month. Rei only encouraged her when she came to him with a sheepish apologetic look. After all, he had to grudgingly admit he had his own pressing work he needed to focus on.

    Hence, Rei spent the past two weeks pouring overplicated seals so much, it brought even him a headache. Then again, sleeping only one night a week might have been a part of the reason.

    Then again, not sleeping with any of his girls for two weeks had surely something to do with it too. Rei was sure of it.

    Nevertheless, after these two weeks of work, he finally finished his biggest project yet and that''s why Rei had to visit his outpost on the other side of the moon, taking Izumi with him.

    It was very fortunate that Izumi managed to get her Rinnegan. Rei reckoned that without it he would have to do a multitude of calctions that he was not sure were even possible in order to attain the desired result. With those cheaty eyes, however, all thatplicated crap became that much easier.

    So much so Rei briefly pondered about getting a pair himself but then he remembered it would require him to pluck out his own eyes since he was no Uchiha and that trail of thought was away in a jiffy.

    Rei was willing to do many things but he had his own line he totally refused to cross. Exchanging his eyes just for a power-up was simply... bleh. No, thank you.

    ''Are you done yet?'' An impatient voice eagerly resounded in Rei''s mind for the n-th time that day as he was drawing seals over an area five times as big as Konoha on the surface of the moon. It was a very exhausting process but Kaguya was making it positively frustrating. Rei understood she was excited but damn if it wasn''t annoying!

    ''No, Kaguya. The answer is the same as two minutes ago.'' Rei dryly droned in his mind, getting a mental impression of a pout in return. It made him wistfully sigh because he knew she would ask the same thing again a few minutester after her childish anger gets overpowered by her excitement.

    It was then that yet another female voice, this time a bored one, asked from not far away, "Are you done yet?"

    Rei''s eyebrow twitched as he turned his head in Izumi''s direction, finding her crouching nearby, watching him with her blood-red ringed eyes and supporting her chin with her hands while her elbows were on her knees in a show of utter boredom.

    "No, Izumi. The answer is the same as two minutes ago." Rei exasperatedly said but inwardly he wanted to cry. What did he do in his past life to deserve this kind of treatment? Was it his fault he was forced to forbid Izumi from trying to help him after she, in her eagerness, unintentionally destroyed hours of his work for the third time because she was clumsy and tripped, wiping away some seals?

    He had to start over three times already. No way was he allowing her to evene close to his work this time!

    "When you told me you needed my help, I thought it would be much more fun." Izumi sullenly but weakly protested, feeling inadequate because of being useless to Rei at the moment. She was usually very polite but it seemed a few mind-numbing hours and even that went down the drain.

    Rei really contemted sending her to Konan for retraining of patience...

    ''And I thought having you here would be beneficial. Seems like we both were wrong and I should have just called you when I had it all prepared.'' Rei thought while the corner of his lips slightly twitched. ''Honestly... women.'' He discreetly rolled his eyes.

    "Mmm, you just thought something rude about me." Izumi sulkily pouted. Her observatory abilities with her Rinne-Sharingan activated were simply unfair. She could see every little twitch of Rei''s expression.

    Rei thought normal women were bad but then he met kunoichis only to then get to know Izumi. The horror...

    At least he was lucky and his women were a good sport about it. Imagining a woman with Izumi''s capabilities of observation that bordered on thought reading but with a very easily offended nature and Rei had to shudder at the very thought.

    Seeing that Izumi still awaited his reply with a veiled eagerness, he wisely held his tongue and swallowed his retort but he couldn''t quite contain the smirk forming on his lips so he instead decided to focus on his seals. He could argue with Izumi about literally nothing for hours on no end, as he found out during the previous few hours and while it was entertaining for both him and Izumi, he really needed to finish.

    Izumi clearly understood what Rei keeping quiet meant and didn''t disturb him anymore but she still puffed out her cheeks at him. Frankly, she knew she could have left at any moment and Rei would have called her when he was done but she didn''t have many opportunities to spend time with him and despite the boredom, this was quite nice.

    Rei inwardly rolled his eyes as he yet again felt Izumi ogling him. The girl was such a typical Uchiha. She couldn''t keep her eyes to herself.

    Two hours of non-verbal flirtingter, Izumi was a blushing mess while Rei was smirking in victory but more importantly, the seals were finally done.

    Sage bless the Shadow Clones...

    Rei loved how Izumi knew exactly what he wanted from her with nothing but a slight twitch in his expression. He enjoyed sending her mixed signals and making here to wrong conclusions quite thoroughly these past hours.

    He especially enjoyed the change in her expression after he non-verbally asked for sex before he quickly shifted his bodynguage into disinterest, only to shift back into throwing a nce at her chest while licking his lips which tranted as desire and when Izumi showed mild tion and eptance in her expression, Rei again shifted into neutral bodynguage, frustrating her.

    Who said one couldn''t have fun while working?

    Rei also aimed to show Izumi to not depend on this observation of hers too much because skilled people could still lie with their expressions and bodynguage. The trick was in always being at least partially truthful.

    Which... will most likely backfire at him in the future once Izumi found that rule out and connected the dots but Rei couldn''t bring himself to care. He had far too much fun teasing her.

    Rei didn''t even need to inform Izumi he was done with his part. Despite knowing nothing about seals, she instantly spotted that and approached with extreme care. Yet, Rei had to catch her with his Wind Release when she almost tripped and fell on a very important part of seals, almost ruining it.

    That sight only made Rei a tad bit sour. ''How can she divine my thoughts from my expression but be still capable of being clumsy enough to misstep in a way that would mysteriously cause the most damage to my work?'' He really couldn''t wrap his head around that. ''If I didn''t know better, I would say she is doing it on purpose.''

    s, Izumi''s clumsiness was legendary in the Vige on the Other Side.

    Izumi threw Rei an apologetic look as he ''levitated'' her towards him like a sack of potatoes, not letting her touch the ground in fear of her smearing a part of his seals or something.

    "Well, let''s start the next part, shall we?" Rei amusedly asked while he gently put Izumi next to him and stretched his hand towards her.

    The following part required them to mend each other''s chakra together which was quite an intimate thing. Izumi was sure if one of Rei''s wives possessed Rinnegan, he would not be doing this part with her and a part of her was d that was not the case.

    She timidly nodded and took hold of Rei''s hand, giving him a small shy smile full of determination in return.

    This was going to be hard but Izumi was resolved to do the best job possible.

    ''I can do this!'' She quietly hyped herself up.

 Chapter 371 - Ch371. Creation Of Kaguya

    Rei saw the look of deep concentration on Izumi''s face and frowned, wondering what she was doing. The next part depended mostly on him and he only needed her to start the Jutsu before letting his chakra take control of its energies.

    Deciding he would rather not think about what was going through the woman''s head, Rei started to nket the area with his own chakra, controlling his seals en-masse and preparing for the next stage. There was some margin for error but not much and he would loathe having to re-do it all.

    Izumi closed her eyes and from how her chakra pulsed, Rei instantly understood she was about to begin. He gently squeezed her hand in reassurance, causing a small smile to appear on her lips before she slowly breathed out and opened her eyes. Nine tomoes in each eye, three on each of the three rings, were madly spinning around Izumi''s pupils, with each spin her chakra felt more and more focused.

    It was amazing to witness such a thing and managed to prove to Rei that the world held many more wonders he didn''t witness yet.

    The eyes were somehow helping Izumi with the concentration and mental processes necessary to facilitate the technique. No wonder those possessing them were capable of godly feats no human would have the mental capacity to replicate. Things like creating whole dimensions, jumping through space and time without any kind of anchor to set directions, and even the Creation of All Things.

    Using those was not easy. Simply possessing the Yin-Yang release did not suffice. One could master the Yin chakra maniption and the Yang chakra maniption both and then learn how to sessfully merge them but that didn''t mean he could also recreate the Creation of All Things.

    Rei knew. He tried. He tried it a lot.

    He also seeded but... The number of mental calctions necessary to create even a simple teddy bear almost floored him. His mind was simply not built to calcte the parameters of existence in such a way.

    It really stumped Rei a lot how Hagoromo was capable of making the bijuu. Rei''s method contained a lot of pinpoint precise calctions but he did them over time. It took him months and some even years to perfect. Yet, Creation of All Things required them all done in under a second.

    That was the biggest ''fuck you'' Rei received from a Jutsu in his life...

    ''No wonder the people with Rinnegan find it easy. Their eyes are more hax than they appear! They instantly do most of the work for them!'' Rei mentally shouted in a small bout of jealousy, now understanding why various Rinnegan users had various special techniques and neither seemed to be able to ''use'' the technique of another.

    Of course, they could not do that. The idiots had no idea what they were doing even when using their own special abilities!

    Nevertheless, now that he saw how exactly the eyes did what they did, he already started to think about how to replicate the effect for himself.

    There was a reason why Rei never tried to imnt a bloodline into himself. He simply found it redundant since most abilities could be replicated despite having one. Chakra was a very poorly understood thing.

    Oh, people knew how to use chakra and create Jutsu during the Warring States period but they did not put much thought into how it worked.

    Only after the conception of the Hidden Viges and when the ns started pooling together their libraries did research on chakra start. Yet, it was still nowhere, really. Ninjas still preferred mostly to fight and not ponder about how their abilities really form or work.

    Rei didn''t want to alter his body for power. Not when he didn''t need to. He got so far with simply using his brains and managed to create things others thought impossible. Why should he break that trend only to do what everyone else tried and failed miserably at? Who cared about bloodlines anyway?

    Rei was forcefully pulled out of his brief contemtion when he felt Izumi''s chakra stir. She was clearly done with kneading and molding, remodeling it into what she needed. It took her some time but then again, what they were doing was quiteplicated.

    Izumi bit her lower lip enough to bleed, trying to keep her chakra steady and concentrated as it wanted to burst forth. It took her a lot of work to keep it all together. Then, when it somehow clicked in her mind, she understood the technique was ready and before she could even realize what she was doing, she quietly whispered, "Creation of All Things."

    Rei felt the air around them vibrate at the tant release of power as a figure started to form in front of them. It was a slow process. One that stretched for minutes and was just a tad bit disturbing.

    For the first time did Rei get a front-row seat on the creation of the brain, various organs, bones, tendons, and muscles, all knitting together... It was beautiful.

    Needless to say, Izumi looked fascinated and about to puke in the same measures, inwardly swearing to never do anything like this ever again as herplexion turned a bit green. She could handle the gore of battle but this was just a shuddering sight even for a seasoned veteran.

    When the body finally formed, it resembled Kaguya Otsutsuki to the tiniest detail. Sort of.

    But it was only a soulless husk with the strength and chakra of a normal civilian. All Izumi did was take one of her Shadow Clones as the model for the Creation of All Things and mold it into a living, breathing, physical body while altering its appearance to match Kaguya.

    That''s also why the new body did not have an eye on its forehead. It was a normal human body, after all.

    With that, Izumi''s part of the job was done and Rei pushed his chakra, taking hold of Izumi''s technique. When he was mastering Yin and Yang chakras, he had no idea he would find himself in this kind of situation but here he was and it helped him with keeping the Creation of All Things going.

    He knew there would be no way he could use it normally but that''s what the seals were for.

    Rei activated multiple sealing circles in the vicinity, the size of which easily dwarfed the perimeter of Konoha. These circles were nothing more than a crutch for his mental calctions to guide the Creation of All Things. And yet, it took so much space.

    He officially dubbed Izumi a hax...

    Now, Izumi''s work seemed like a lot but it was fairly simple. She made the physical shell of Kaguya. Now it was up to Rei to recreate its spiritualponents and give it sufficient chakra pathways while strengthening the body with Yang chakra enough that the inclusion of Kaguya''s soul would not simply blow it up.

    Yes, Kaguya could recreate the body ording to her own wants from her uing vessel and she would subconsciously do so in a small measure anyway but Rei did not want to leave any open link to the moon seal. Kaguya signed a seal contract that used their souls for binding, the strongest contract Rei was capable of creating and one even he had no idea how to undo. He wasn''t really sure it was even possible.

    While it didn''t mean Kaguya was his ve or property or anything, but she would have no way of betraying him anymore so leaving such a tant weakness would be just him disadvantaging himself.

    Hence, Kaguya''s vessel had to be very fitting since it would be her one and only. There won''t be a chance to send her back into the seal and remake her body after this.

    Rei''s part of the work was much moreplicated. He used the Yin chakra maniption to draft chakra pathways, widening them and erging the chakra coils while also making them sturdier than any human had any right to possess, all in order to allow Kaguya to wield the frightening amount of power he felt from her inside of her seal. Rei knew Kaguya would bolster her own chakrawork anyway but he wanted to give her the best foundation possible for that.

    Rei found it a bit funny because, in a way, he was building a miniature physical bijuu. His strongest yet.

    The problem was, he had to infuse the normal human body with Yang chakra all the while he was creating and strengthening the chakrawork. And it had to be in bnce. He couldn''t just push arge amount of Yang chakra into the body for it would explode. He had to do it slowly while increasing the output as the body became sturdier. He also had to bnce that with the strengthening of the chakrawork to keep them on a simr level, to keep the body''s chakra in the bnce of both Yang and Yin parts.

    Frankly, seeing how the bodyparable to a civilian was gaining strength both physically and chakra-wise right in front of his eyes made Rei a bit sour. He spent years training himself up to his current level and the soulless husk in front of him was about to surpass his state when he didn''t use his bijuu.

    Worse yet, Rei was fully aware it would surpass even his bijuu state by the end of the enhancement.

    It was just a pity he couldn''t mold his own chakrawork and body via this method. The only reason why it was possible right now was that there was no soul in the body so it was malleable.

    ''Hmm... could I take a soul out of body... seal it somewhere to keep it safe maybe?... and then use this method to strengthen said body before putting the soul back?'' Rei pondered before his eyes widened and he nervously gulped, ''God, I am turning into Orochimaru!''

    By the end of ten minutes, Rei was sweating bullets and was nowhere near done. But he knew his part would be infinitely more demanding than Izumi''s. He was creating a body for someone stronger than him. He really only managed to do it thanks to his seals doing most of the calctions for him.

    On the bright side, he was gaining valuable data in both body strengthening and chakrawork expansion. Data that would help him make the training methods of his vige more effective and definitely open a new avenue of research for him. Clearly, the current level of top ninjas was just the tip of the iceberg if the transformation of the civilian body in front of him to that of ''Goddess'' was any indication.

    It took Rei three hours and mental exhaustion before he was done. In the end, the Kaguya-look-alike in front of him did reach a level above his own even in the bijuu state. It was both humbling and irritating.

    ''Or I could just use this method to create new bodies for all of my girls and myself.'' He thought bitterly, more because of an annoyance than anything else. So much for his aversion to body modification...

    Well, there was a multitude of problems with that but Rei wasn''t in the state of mind to think about it right now.

    He pushed on, activating the remaining seals to finish his part in the procedure so he could just sit down and rest.

    As thest seals red into existence and showered a great deal of the surroundings in light... and Rei was d he was smart enough to do this on the averted side of the moon because he was damn sure the visual effect would be visible even from Earth... Kaguya''s seal started to slowly unravel itself.

    Now it all depended on Kaguya herself....

 Chapter 372 - Ch372. Freeing Kaguya

    The second the seal gave in, even if only slightly, Kaguya instantly pounced on the weakness and desperately tried to get out.

    She knew the seal would give in. Rei promised her and she fully believed in him but she just couldn''t help it. It was stronger than her. Her desire to escape overwhelmed her and made her act irrationally when she saw the first crack in the seal.

    Fortunately for her, the Moon, and the Earth, Rei designed his seals with such behavior in mind. When he was paying a visit to various jinchuuriki and bijuu before he created his own artificial ones, many of the bijuu tried to escape the second he widened the seal enough for him toe inside despite there being no chance of them to get through the small leeway he created in the seal.

    Kaguya got out but she didn''t have a body nor her power yet. Before she could even register where she was, however, Rei''s seals pulled her consciousness towards the pre-arranged ce.

    Normally, she would be pulled towards ck Zetsu because he was her will personified but Rei''s seals were closer and worked instantly.

    Kaguya felt herself entering the body created for her and a deep sense of relief flooded her. A momentter, her chakra started leaking from the seal directly into her new body.

    Knowing she couldn''t dilly-dally, she quickly started to use her power to adjust the body wherever it felt ufortable for her. She was molding it as y and fortunately, Izumi and Rei did a marvelous job creating a body for her. Kaguya found she didn''t need to put much effort into it.

    Normally, this would have been a full-time job, and even after she was freed, she would have needed a long time to adjust while being unable to use her full power because inhabiting a foreign body was just not that simple... but the one she was stuffed into was surprisinglyfortable.

    Maybe she was even starting to like it more than her original body.

    But maybe that was because this body was a gift from the descendant she liked most and a man to whom she willingly gave her heart.

    More and more chakra flooded her body, straining its chakra pathways... which, she now realized, would have been an immense pain in the ass. If ck Zetsu really managed to manipte someone into freeing her, she would have inhabited that person''s body.

    At least, that was the n.

    Now, however, Kaguya saw that it would have been a massive problem for her. If the chakra pathways were strained due to her chakra despite them being on the level of Rei, then no matter who Zetsu manipted in the Elemental Nations, her chakra would st that person''s chakra system to smithereens. That would have limited her even more for a long time. Worse yet, she had no idea where to even start repairing such damage.

    Kaguya mentally released a relieved sigh and silently thanked the heavens for putting her in Rei''s path.

    The chakra pathways of her new body were strained but they held. Widening and toughening to hold her immense chakra, transforming into a system that could amodate her power. It was an intoxicating feeling for her. Never before, not even in her original body, could she hold the power the chakra fruit gave her. That''s why she mostly limited and restrained it, forcing herself to keep a lid on it.

    But now...

    Now she would no longer need to feel stifled!

    Turning her senses inward, Kaguya quickly found the reason. On her belly, a seal started to form. A filter and storage, Rei called it. She was very reluctant to have it put on herself when Rei first introduced the idea to her but now she couldn''t feel happier. The seal was sucking the excess of her power her body couldn''t currently handle where it would be stored until her chakra pathways adjusted.

    ording to Rei, it would take a few months but her body and chakra would get progressively stronger until the seal would no longer be required. All Rei wanted in exchange was permission to monitor her during the process.

    Something about gathering important data or whatnot.

    As if he wouldn''t observe her anyway... She fully intended to get into bed and show him everything of herself anyway so giving him such an insignificant promise was fine by her.

    Oddly enough, there was no resistanceing from her power. Kaguya first expected some kind of epic but irritating mental battle, some kind of struggle between her own mind and the corruption from the chakra fruit but nothing like that happened.

    She didn''t even need to use her senses to know the reason for that.

    It was the topic of most of her evenings in the seal with Rei. On her back, there was another seal. This one disguised as a tattoo of a pure white rabbit with two blood-red Rinne-Sharingan sporting nine tomoes in each eye and ten tails blooming behind him. Kaguya had to admit the tattoo was amazing... well, she designed most of it when she was bored so of course, it was amazing!

    Her initial feelings about it were simply soured by the fact the tattoo was hiding a seal. One that would be etched not in her flesh, but in her soul. The tattoo was just a physical reflection of it. Her back could be fully skinned but once her skin regrew, the tattoo would appear again.

    This mark was a permanent one.

    The seal hidden in the tattoo had a simple feature. It purged the corruption in her chakra.

    Not kept from influencing her but purged. A small difference in wording but one that meant so much...

    Rei told her there was no way the corruption could ever be stopped. It was a part of the chakra fruit and it is now a part of her. But there was apparently no reason why it couldn''t be turned into a benefit.

    Sometimes, Kaguya really marveled at how Rei''s mind worked. All she could think of was wishing to get rid of it the second she learned what it did to her mind while Rei was trying to figure out how to make the best use of it.

    Kaguya had no idea about all its features though. That was supposed to be a secret for when she got out of the seal, much to her long-time chagrin.

    Her power was finally fully out of the seal and settled in her body when Kaguya was harshly pulled out of her thoughts with a snap. Not a physical but spiritual one. The connection between her and the Moon Prison irrevocably shattered, bringing untold joy and tion to her.

    She wanted to jump from happiness but instead, her eyes found the exhausted Rei softly smiling at her and her heart melted. With a massive smile on her lips, Kaguya jumped towards him and swept him into a tight hug, uncaring that she was naked and he was sweaty.

    "Thank you!" She whispered, her voice cracking with intense emotion as she buried her head into the crook of his neck, and tears started to stream out of her eyes, down his shoulder.

    A tired smile appeared on Rei''s lips as he soothingly patted Kaguya and thanked Sage that Izumi left a half-hour ago because she was tired. It would have been embarrassing for his manly ego to let her witness this scene.

    While Kaguya was embracing him, Rei also decided to scan her body, to make sure everything was working as it should.

    Her power settled nicely, corruption was nullified and the soul seal on her back worked perfectly, the one on her stomach was filtering as it should and Kaguya possessed only two eyes, instead of her original three.

    ''Wait, what?'' Rei''s mind suddenly stopped as he gently rescanned her forehead just to make sure.

    Feeling it, Kaguya finally pulled away from the embrace and rubbed her puffy eyes, not the Lavender pupil-less Byakugan eyes but three-ringed crimson-red ones with three tomoes on every ring, while sniffling. She looked Rei straight in the eyes and gave him a big watery smile full of emotions that was almost contagious as Rei found himself involuntarily smiling at her too, forgetting the issue of her eyes.

    He counted on her correcting it by herself. He thought she would add that one eye by herself when adjusting the body but apparently, that didn''t happen, and instead her ''normal'' eyes gained Rinne-Sharingan.

    It didn''t matter. Not when such deep happiness and affection was inly visible in these usually ruthless and frightening crimson eyes. Rei softly put his forehead on hers, content to just stare into those eyes while feeling her hands stiffly clutching on his waist.

    They couldn''t have physical contact with the seal so feeling her touch was a novelty. Rei circled his left hand around her waist, pulling her closer while putting his right hand on her cheek, rubbing it with his thumb.

    Slowly, the distance between their lips shortened until they were softly touching. Kissing at first carefully before their confidence grew and their tongues started dancing with each other.

    When they pulled away, Rei noticed Kaguya''s chakra flowing into him, revitalizing him and soothing his tiredness. He grew a bit confused and wordlessly looked for the answer in her eyes only to be greeted with hungry desire and clear excitement.

    Kaguya licked her lips and giddily whispered...

    "Now... let''s have sex! I have waited long enough!"

 Chapter 373 - Ch373. 150 Days

    Reiid in bed with Kaguya in his embrace, her head resting on his chest while she gently scraped her sharp nails over his skin, causing him jolts of tingling pleasure.

    Both were quite tired and sore from their night activities but still awake. Even with Rei''s physique being boosted with nature energy for a few decades and him possessing a body far surpassing even Tsunade in the Sage Mode, Kaguya matched his stamina almost equally. Adding that to the fact she was on a dry spell for the better part of the millennium and her recent favorite hobby was watching Rei and one of his wives going at it...

    Let''s just say that Kaguya was one fiercely horny bunny.

    Despite that, Rei enjoyed it. Surprisingly, Kaguya wasn''t one to seek domination over her partner. She was ever so eager to bend to his whims, almost lovingly following the lead and going with the flow to get the most enjoyment out of the situation.

    With Kaguya''s personality, it was the most unexpected development.

    Rei honestly med Konan for that. He had no idea how but definitely, it must be her fault. Somehow.

    Rei''s right hand was caressing Kaguya''s silky snow-white locks while his left rested on her upper back, idly caressing her smooth skin, causing Kaguya to asionally let out quiet sounds of appreciation.

    Kaguya had to admit, she enjoyed this entirely too much. It was everything she hoped for and more. With her previous husband, sex was a chore after the initial affection waned, and even before then, it was nowhere near what she experienced just a few moments ago.

    Some of the positions and ces where they did it... It actually made her feel quite embarrassed! In a good way though. She would go for a repeat instantly!

    Kaguya''s eyes silently morphed from Rinne-Sharingan to Byakugan, hers was a perfect one so no veins bulging out around her eyes, leaving only perfect Lavender irises to appear. This way she didn''t even need to turn her head to see all of her lover and it made her feel giddy on the inside.

    ''Mine.'' She thought, almost purringly, subconsciously biting her lower lip. She wanted to melt and swoon when she saw Rei''s content expression with his eyes closed and a small smile etched on his lips. It almost gave her strength to continue... before her sore body reminded her that it had enough for the time being.

    Rei didn''t let any outward sign but he could feel her overly eager heated gaze all over his body quite clearly and almost involuntarily shuddered. ''And the mystery of from whom did the Hyuuga n inherited their kinkiness and voyeurism is solved.'' He wryly thought.

    Frankly, Kaguya reminded him of Hinata with her behavior. If it was only in certain aspects, it would have been fine but what he was most afraid of were the first signs of the sickness known as yanderism.

    Since she got out of the seal, Kaguya just oozed this weird mix of fanatical possessiveness and timid submissiveness to the focus of her obsession that Rei always associated with the creepy Hyuuga Heiress. It was exhrating and worrying in the same measure to be said focus.

    During the first hours since she was out, he yed it off as his mind ying tricks on him. After all, they were at the start of a very heated sex marathon and there was not much ce for thoughts as their carnal desires and instincts took over.

    But after five days of nonstop sex, Rei started to notice how she clung to him, how she soaked every bit of attention he was willing to give her, how she desperately tried to keep his interest on her rather than ending their lovemaking... he decided the first signs of her forming dependency on him and decided to show her the affection she so desired. If only to prevent her from going full yandere on himter on.

    Rei did love her. It is quite hard to have someone basically live in your mind for months on end and not form at least a cordial rtionship when you spend hours per day talking to said person and feel her presence almost constantly. Rei could admit... this solution of his with forming a mental connection between them did not work exactly as he hoped for. In fact, it backfired as they both formed feelings for each other without even realizing it. But... at least it backfired in a good way.

    Kaguya was a very sweet and loving woman that would literally do anything for the person she loved. The only possible issue was her budding yandere tendencies but Rei wasn''t too worried about it.

    After all, Kaguya had an alright rtionship with his other wives so that would not be a problem. She had nothing but the utmost respect for Konan and grudgingly tolerated even Ringo who was her least favorite member of the pack.

    After the hundredth day, Rei decided to hell with it and started actively using nature energy to finally wear Kaguya down to her current state. It took him fifty days and he realized that... both of them were basically monsters at this point in time.

    150 days of sex without water, food, or rest, their bodies only passively powered by the thick nature energy in the surroundings. And while he did feel a bit tired and was definitely sore, he was neither thirsty nor hungry. Rei never realized this. He never went without water or food for more than a few days. He never had any need to do that.

    Nevertheless, they had all the time in the world since Kaguya created this dimension full of nature energy and containing just a single king-sized bed.

    The irony of her doing in seconds what took Rei numerous months of research and a happy coincidence to aplish when he was making his own dimension, was not lost on him... Damn the Rinnegan was a hax!

    But now that he saw how she did it, Rei had ideas on how to replicate the feat so not all was lost...

    The biggest advantage of this dimension was that time flowed extremely slowly. Hundred and fifty days inside was fifteen hours outside. Kaguya was simply the ultimate cheat worthy of the term ''Goddess'' now that she had most of her power avable to her.

    But her biggest usefulness was not what she could do but how she did it. Kaguya did not do some iprehensible hocus pocus. What she did was a technique based on chakra maniption done subconsciously. Which meant, it was replicable.

    This meant Rei could eventually find out how she did it and learn how to do it himself. Sure, it would take him a very long time to replicate what is basically a power of a God, but it was not impossible. After all, all she did was manipte chakra to a degree not yet attempted by anyone else.

    And while Kaguya didn''t pay her powers much mind since they came naturally to her, Rei had his sensing powers going full throttle whenever she was using them. Data was important!

    If Rei didn''t miss his other women, he would probably spend a lot longer here with Kaguya and he would definitelye here again with all of his lovers for a vacation but it was time to return. It took a great deal of willpower from Rei to find this determination.

    Butˇ­ a little bit more wouldn''t hurt, would it?

    Her soft body and pleading eyes were definitely an enticement enough to stay but the little minx was actually learning how to excite him! Twenty days ago, she would definitely not try pushing her chest into his body nor would she put her thigh over his abdomen, nearing his crotch, close enough for it to be teasing.

    Rei could feel himself getting hard again and if he didn''t put a stop to this, he was fully aware they would start another days-long session.

    Putting his left hand across her back on her shoulder, Rei suddenly pulled her over, making her roll over andnd on her back next to him on the bed. He instantly flipped his body above her and before she could whinily protest, his lips sealed hers in a deep kiss while his right hand gently caressed her cheek.

    Pulling away, Rei softly smiled and spoke, "Let me check your seals. It has been almost half a year already."

    Hearing that, Kaguya looked at him in silent, unwilling shock for a while before she pouted. She wanted to continue kissing, touching, and...

    But she rolled over andid on her belly with a huff and great reluctance visible in her bodynguage as she buried her face into the pillow.

    Rei smirked and sat on her lower back, gently putting his hands on her tense shoulders while hearing her breath slightly hitch as she felt it.

    ''Now then.... It was a long time since I used chakra to pleasure a woman but a small massage while I am checking the seal won''t hurt, no?''

 Chapter 374 - Ch374. Disturbance In The West

    Rei''s chakra coursed through his hand into Kaguya''s back, massaging her muscles and tingling her nerve endings with pleasure. Kaguya''s eyes widened as a loud moan involuntarily came out of her mouth while her back stiffened from the sudden rush of pleasure.

    As Rei''s fingers started moving over her shoulders, slowly working their way down her upper back, pouring more and more of his stimting chakra into her body, Kaguya couldn''t help but whimper into the pillow and tightly close her eyes in joy, her body shivering in pleasure.

    Rei watched as the gorgeous woman squirmed under him, listening to her muffled moans and feeling her involuntary shudders. He had to admit, it made him feel quite good to be able to get such a reaction out of her.

    While his hands tried to make Kaguya orgasm with just his touch, his eyes scanned the intricate tattoo on her back, peering deeper into it. It was a masterpiece, both in artistry and seal making. At least he thought so but, then again, he was its creator so of course, he would have a high opinion of it.

    Hearing another drawn-out moan from the woman under him, Rei''s concentration was disrupted, causing him to wryly smile. He already knew they wouldn''t be stopping anytime soon as he first wanted.

    ...

    In the end, Rei spent another twenty days with Kaguya before they decided to rejoin the real world. When they did, they found out Izumi was already looking for them and only the prompt glomp from Kaguya stopped the girl from asking some ufortable questions.

    Kaguya quite adored Izumi and before the Uchiha could even start to protest, she was ''confiscated''. Kaguya dragged her to her prepared room for some girl talk while Rei amusedly watched the mortified expression on Izumi, pleading with him to stop Kaguya.

    He wondered if she already regretted helping him to free the woman or if it will take a few days yet.

    "An entire day, huh?" Konan''s voice resounded from behind Rei, startling him.

    He turned around and spread his arms, causing Konan to chuckle as she dove into his embrace and kissed him.

    "Will I also get an entire day of you just for myself?" She asked, intently starting into Rei''s eyes and causing a cold sweat to appear on his back.

    Unfortunately for him, he knew it wouldn''t matter if he tried to hide how long he spent with Kaguya. She would brag about it anyway so...

    "Sure," Rei smiled at Konan, putting her head to his chest. "Kaguya can make a special dimension for us where time flows slower." He instantly felt Konan stiffening in his embrace and could almost hear the gears turning in her head."

    "Hmm~, and how long were you with Kaguya again?" Konan sweetly asked and Rei almost felt how she narrowed her eyes despite her having her head nuzzled to his chest.

    "Around a... hundred... and seven...ty days?" Rei ended that statement with a clear question mark.

    "Mhm. You are spending two hundred with me next time." Konan stated with finality and melted into the embrace again, her hold of Rei tightening.

    Chuckling in relief, Rei gently nodded, letting her feel it since his chin rested on her head.

    He could only briefly hear the muffled, "Who could have thought Kaguya would have been so useful." that came from Konan.

    Deciding to do the right thing and ignore it, Rei asked, "So... what did you do while I was away?"

    "I watched the other continents and even received new info from some of my spying clones. This world is a mess. I am grateful you took me in." She said and Rei was touched by the sincerity in her tone.

    He may have been using her because of her talents, no way would he take just some random orphan from the streets, and she was also using him to survive but it all worked for the best. Rei would not change his actions for anything and he knew if Konan was thrown back in time, she would also look for him no matter what.

    "We created a nice thing with the Vige on the Other Side." Konan idly mused and Rei hummed in agreement.

    They really did. Despite still being a mercenary vige full of trained killers, the vige was not divided into ns or ranks or anything. Even Uchihas were starting toe out of their shell and mingle with other vigers.

    There was also not much hatred for other viges and no threat of war.

    The Vige on the Other Side was the most peaceful ninja vige in thesends.

    "Anything interesting from your spying clones?" Rei asked and pulled away from Konan, making her pout before he stretched his hand towards her and she cheerfully smiled, taking his hand into hers.

    "Come, I will tell you in the Teleportation Room." Konan said and started dragging him towards a room in their mansion in the Vige on the Other Side of the Moon.

    Rei, however, had no idea what she was talking about. ''Teleportation Room?'' He thought in confusion.

    They arrived there inpanionable silence, Rei opting to wait and see rather than demand an exnation. In the middle of the room was a drawn array of seals that Rei instantly recognized.

    During his off time, Rei worked on the special teleportation seal that got them to the Moon the first time and he did finish it but then the work on Kaguya''s seal took most of his time and he never implemented it.

    "You... finished it?" Rei incredulously stated, not believing his eyes. He turned towards Konan who almost glowed with pride and expected praise but Rei only looked at her in utter disbelief and uttered, "You? Really?"

    Needless to say, Konan was not amused to hear that. She pouted and hit Rei in the side before swiftly approaching the map in the room with a huff and frown on her face.

    The map was clearly still a work in progress but it at least contained all known continents. and names of some states andyouts.

    Rei was quite impressed and as he arrived next to Konan, he put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him, "It''s beautiful." He whispered before kissing the side of her head and Konan preened, an indulgent smile forming on her lips.

    "There is trouble brewing on the ind to the west." Konan pointed towards an ind between the western unknown continent and the Elemental Nations. "The Organization there is gathering some of its warriors in the north. All I could hear about it is the appearance of multiple Yoma there but I can''t help but think something is fishy about it. And the whole Organization. Their whole modus operandi in the past reeks too much like Orochimaru''sbs. I don''t like it."

    "So, you think these warriors of theirs-"

    "ymores." Konan added.

    "mores," Rei nodded, "are just experimental subjects for them?"

    "After learning theirnguage I visited the towns with libraries..." Konan huffed, "Not that there was much to discover. The people there are so backward it hurts to spy on them. Most things I had to get from the context." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, the history of ymores is just weird. Everything from the fact there is always only 47 of them at any given moment to the fact there was no progress in their living or fighting style for centuries now."

    Rei looked at the map. He didn''t remember much from the anime ymore. It had been decades since his reincarnation and his mind was firmly set on the Naruto series. He distantly remembered what happened in the North but for all he knew, the canon might be long over or not yet started.

    In the end, he asked, "And you think they are deliberately kept that way."

    "Yes. You know that ninjas do not believe in coincidences. Dig deep enough and..." Konan started.

    "There will always be some fucker pulling the strings." Rei finished for her with an amused chuckle.

    "You would know, wouldn''t you..." Konan snorted.

    Rei ignored her and looked deeply at the map. This was a dilemma. He could go and save the ymores or he could leave them be. Both options had pros and cons. "Hmm, what to do...."

 Chapter 375 - Ch375. Intervention In The West 1

    Author Note:

    Well, I asked my patrons if I should or should not do a few chapters about Rei intervening in the west, and... considering it is here, you all can deduce the answer.

    I apologize in advance if some parts will feel a bit nd to those who know ymore anime but I had to ount for those who do not know it so I am trying to input some exnations along the way and integrate them into the story.

    ---

    Rei crouched on a roof of a house, withstanding a heavy snowfall and thanking his previous self for being smart enough to make seals that would keep him warm and wet in this kind of shitty weather as he watched how 24 ymores gathered in the square of Pieta, the town they were currently in.

    "This is insane. This Organization is going to sacrifice half of their numbers just like that?" Rei muttered in shell-shocked surprise. "It is pretty obvious this will be a one-sided massacre."

    From the information Konan gathered, there were always only 47 ymores and from what he remembered, this mission in the North was nothing more than a discreet execution. The ymores had no other choice than to participate and participation in this was a sure way tomit suicide for them.

    Even from his spot, he could clearly feel three malevolent unrefined chakras.... or Yoki as they called it here... slowly approaching, taking their time. They would arrive in two to three hours with that kind of tempo so the first attack could be expected in the evening.

    This Yoki had an artificial feel to it. It was honestly something he would expect from Orochimaru but... even for him, this would have been too primitive.

    These beings felt a little bit like Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers who were swallowed by Kyuubi and survived by eating its insides, transforming themselves into a pseudo-jinchuuriki with the ability to form their own variant of kyuubi chakra.

    Of course, such a transformation had many defects and affected the two brothers in ways even they themselves probably did not understand. If it was safe, Orochimaru would have used this method long ago. In fact, he did something simr with Juugo''s DNA and it didn''t turn out well for most.

    But... ''That would mean there must be a being that was a precursor to these man-eating Yomas. If imnting Yoma flesh is how they make ymores and ymore that goes above her limit bes ''Awakened'' turning into a special kind of Yoma herself, then the first dose of the Yoma flesh had toe from somewhere too.'' Rei reasoned.

    He didn''t feel good about how logical his thoughts sounded. He did remember that the continent to the west from this ind where humans lived had supposedly two races living and always warring among themselves. One depended on their technology of sorts while the other on their own natural abilities? Or was he wrong?

    It was too long for him to remember every detail but this stuck in his memory. Even then, it was muddled, half-forgotten knowledge and he couldn''t be sure he got it right.

    He had the distant impression that neither of these two races was humanoid though.

    ''This ind full of humans should be one giganticboratory or something. If that''s the case, it probably belongs to the race depending on technology and Yoma are something akin to the race depending on their natural abilities.'' Rei continued his theory, ''So... they are trying to artificially create a tamable Yomas here? Damn, Orochimaru is bad enough alone. We don''t need a whole race of him.''

    And that brought a special kind of dilemma for Rei. He as the leader now had to decide if he should leave the western continent be, leaving the two races to continue their war or if he should intervene.

    Both options held their own problems.

    Letting them be now could backfireter as when the war between these two races finally gets its winner, who is to say the remaining race won''t set its sights towards other continents?

    Invading would however mean facing both races. One by one or together, it didn''t matter. With war on the horizon on his own continent, Rei wasn''t very keen on joining another in a different continent.

    Then there was also the problem of what to do with the ind full of humans so close to two races that could clearly give a shit about the well-being of humans.

    Heck, one of them was using human girls as guinea pigs, imnting the flesh of the other race which caused immense agony until it mutated the girl or it didn''t... and the girl died.

    Honestly, the human in Rei wanted to exterminate the vermin. If only because Orochimaru was doing something simr, just his victims were not only little girls.

    From what Rei could feel, the three iing malevolent energy signatures were around the level of jonins energy-wise. And they did not suppress their cha-, ahem, Yoki even one bit.

    Yet, not one of the 24 ymores sensed them and the strongest of them felt just a bit weaker than the malevolent ones.

    The power disparity between the ymores was frankly ridiculous. Some of them were genin-level, some chunin-level, and only three couldpare to jonins but Rei had a feeling it was not so simple. Yes, those were their energyparison to thebat forces of the Elemental Nations but...

    Rei could only wryly smile. Their chakra was unrefined and corrupted. He doubted they could do Jutsu with that for the same reason why Kyuubi could not do a Jutsu. Not because his chakra was too vast. But because his chakra was not supposed to be molded into a Jutsu in the same way as Nature Energy.

    Both were more of enhancers capable of providing insane boosts rather than energies capable of forming Jutsus. They could enhance already formed Jutsu but there was a very limited range of things one could do solely with them.

    Sure, a jinchuuriki using its bijuu''s power was a frightening sight, and the jinchuuriki''s power was something that far surpassed chunins even if they had almost no training but they were not exactly versatile. They were all about raw power.

    Rei remembered some abilities of ymores like enhanced healing, enhanced strength, enhanced speed... but he had no idea to what degree. ''If I am correct about my assumption about Yoki being more of an enhancer, then their abilities would make sense. Yoki would simply enhance their physical capabilities.''

    Returning his attention to the gathering ymores, Rei noticed they separated themselves into five teams with the five highest-ranking ymores as the leaders.

    That was... stupid.

    If they had a simr level of prowess, sure. But like this, weaker, average, and stronger were all mixed and Rei couldn''t help but think the weaker and average ones would just hinder the stronger ones in the team like this.

    He predicted the fights will be something along the lines of weaker ymores either dying instantly or getting away from the fight, the average ones barely hanging on while the stronger ones would be really fighting. It would defeat the purpose of having teams and this way, the stronger ones would be hindered but Rei could also discern that no ymore had any misgivings about this arrangement.

    It was weird but... they were probably used to it. This was how things were done here so no matter what logic andmon sense dictated, this is how they did it.

    The Elemental Nations had simrly stupid traditions. Like sending barely trained thirteen-year-olds to war or to do dangerous missions. Rei quickly changed such idiotic traditions in his own vige and every genin going on a mission had to have enough skill topare to a chunin from other viges but Rei also understood that some people were blind tomon sense when traditions were concerned and the others simply got used to it, stopping to think about it.

    "Well, nothing to do but wait now." Rei stood up and jumped into an open window of a nearby house. He would not intervene before he could gather some more information about these Yoma and ymores and watching them fight was the best way to do so.

    ''I wonder how the others are faring...'' He idly thought.

    After all, there was a reason why he was in Pieta alone.

 Chapter 376 - Ch376. Invervention In The West 2

    The evening hours quickly came and with them, the three malevolent signatures finally got to Pieta. Rei was half-wondering if he should just go and kick their ass to the town, fed up with how slowly they moved.

    These were supposed to be scouts? They acted like damn tourists!

    At least the action started soon enough and the three Awakened Beings, which were surprisingly male. This kinda surprised Rei since ymores were supposed to be only women and Awakened Beings were just ymores turned into Yomas by Awakening.

    Deciding to uphold gender equality in this situation, Rei stopped caring.

    The three malevolent signatures acted like proper scouts and... for some utterly baffling reason decided to just fuck whatever n their leaders had and engage right of the bat.

    If Rei was still doubting if he should save ymores or try to persuade Yomas to join him, this was the answer. Why would he friggin'' need animals incapable of doing basic reconnaissance? Yes, the Yomas were individually stronger than ymores but they also seemed to possess exactly zero brains...

    It was frankly sad to watch for him as a trained ninja. Seeing such ipetence made him a bit murderous.

    Unfortunately for the ymores, Rei didn''t intend to interfere more than necessary just yet, so quite a few of them were in for some painful times.

    During the wait for these three idiots to show up, Rei actively tried to sense a wider area around the city and found out there are around fifteen other Yomas, each stronger than the three iing idiots, waiting some ways off from the city.

    Interfering now would tip them off to his presence so Rei decided to let the ymores deal with the three idiots while he watched their performance and judged if they had any worth for his vige.

    Sure, he would offer them a ce anyway as he did to many, many other ns or more well-adjusted and reasonable rogue ninjas but if he would actively seek to improve their situation and help them, now for that they had to possess at least a minimal level of necessary usefulness to him.

    Otherwise, they could simply be more cannon fodder for the vige. Rei didn''t have the time to pay attention to everyone and he obviously would put more effort into people with actual worth.

    The first Yoma appeared right in the middle of the town square, looking like a tall bald humanoid with grey skin that resembled something akin to a carapace, swinging around five thin tentaclesing from the back of its head and massacring every human in sight.

    Rei did not feel the need to save those humans. They knew well enough that the only reason for ymores to gather was to hunt Yoma and they usually worked alone. Gathering of just three ymores was a big reason for worry. Gathering of twenty-four? These people basically chose to stay in what was effectively a war zone so...

    The ymores quickly engaged with the bald humanoid Yoma, making him too busy focusing on them rather than killing the civilians.

    The other malevolent signatures were ''hiding'' on the roof of two houses, not yet transformed.

    One of the ymores, Flora, Rei thought was her name, found one of the not-really-hiding guys and instantly jumped through the roofs towards him, only to find out the guy actually had an ability to control the Yoki of others, being able to control their bodies.

    That made Rei very curious. He never really saw this application of genjutsu.

    Because that''s what it was at its core. The guy just pushed his own Yoki into the system of his opponent and instead of causing illusions, he took control over their nervous system in a very crude and forceful way.

    Yet, nobody in the Elemental Nations would even think of doing something so outrageous. ording to themon sense of the Elemental Nations, this was impossible, and yet it was happening right in front of Rei''s eyes.

    He quickly noted the ability and its basic workings so the researchers in his vige could look more into it and possibly recreate it.

    The guy was ying with the attacking ymores but it didn''tst long. He got blind-sighted because he was being an idiot and wasn''t taking the situation seriously. In a burst of speed, re, and this time Rei was certain that was her name as he distantly remembered her being the protagonist of the ymore series, used a burst of her Yoki to give her arm... correction, to give the not-her arm a boost of speed.

    re''s sword blurred and the control-guy was almost shed to pieces.

    Oh, he seemed all fine and dandy, trying to show a strong front but Rei clearly saw him evading re''s surprise attack just by a slight margin.

    He too quickly decided to transform and took the likeness of a lizard crossed with a turtle... Yeah, Rei stopped using his brain at that point.

    Surprisingly, this lizardo-turtle also had tentacles that could lengthen and be used for attacking. It was also incredibly tough as the ymores had a hard time prating its skin no matter how many shes theynded.

    Honestly, the turtle Yoma was not even trying to evade. He just stood in one ce andughed.

    And while that fight was going on, thest one from the Yoma recon group transformed into a monster resembling a massive grasshopper crossed with a bee sporting multiple legs. It seemed to also be blind since its eyes were covered in the armor-like carapace.

    Of the three idiots, this one was the most disgusting-looking but also appeared to be the smartest. After all, he was the only one not trying to have fun but went for the kill right off the bat.

    Rei actually had to intervene for the first time and prevent the ymores from receiving fatal wounds.

    He didn''t do much. Just using very subtle and insanely advanced Wind Release to shift the air currents whenever the Grasshopper Yoma attacked, causing its attacks to steer slightly to the side. The Yoma still hit its targets but missed vital ces.

    Rei also tried to affect the three Yomas with genjutsu but their Yoki was too chaotic for his chakra to have an effect. It was dispelled before it could even take hold.

    The following fight was much less dramatic than what would one expect from an anime... Well, Rei knew it was not anime anymore and his experience as a high-tier ninja was screwing the enjoyment out of the battle for him... but it was just so underwhelming!

    Sure, both the ymores and the Yomas moved at high chunin to low-jonin speeds and the Yomas had quite the physical prowess and durability but... Rei expected more.

    The Yomas had everything one would expect from a monster. Speed, power, and toughness but almost no technique or tactics. Not to mention any sort of teamwork.

    The three idiots could have dealt with the ymores thrice over by now if they worked together. Instead, they let themselves be controlled by their baser instincts. It was just sad.

    Rei almost lost hope for Yomas. What good is above jonin-level physical prowess when they are toozy to even move from their spot, just letting others hit them?

    But there was one signature with the gathering of the fifteen Yomas further away from Pieta that had energy-wise S-rank reserves, and two that actually surpassed average S-rank reserves, so he reserved his final judgment.

    For now.

    The ymores had teamwork and technique alongside some special abilities of their own. From what Rei noticed, they were separated into different types. Some were defenders that had stronger healing abilities and some were the offensive types that had... Rei had no idea what. He didn''t get that far yet.

    The problem with ymores was that they could not match the physical prowess of these three Yomas. Rei''s senses were telling him that energy-wise the strongest three ymores were on the same level as the Yomas.

    In reality, the ymores were far behind the raw power of the Yomas but they were using their brains and slowly started winning.

    What Rei predicted happened though. The ymores won the fight, killing the three Yomas by exploiting their arrogance and stupidity, and Rei gathered a lot of data from these fights, but most of the weaker ymores were wounded.

    The mix of power levels in the teams enabled all of them to survive as the strong ymores protected the weaker ones but it also made the battle unnecessarily moreplicated for the strong ymores.

    One wrong step and the oue of this battle could have been theplete opposite. Simply put, the ymores were lucky the Yomas did not actually try to win.

    Rei was not very impressed. These ymores would need a lot of work if he took them under his banner. But from what he saw of the Awakened Beings, the supposedly former ymores, Rei was a bit impressed.

    If the two above S-ranks in the distance were any indication, ymores could be real powerhouses if trained well. And who knows? Maybe he could even find a way to give them the power of Awakened Beings without actually having them transform into Yomas.

    That day, Rei was going to sleep with a lot of thoughts swirling in his head.

    Yes, ymores had potential... but that was all they currently had. The amount of work necessary to realize this potential was almost not worth it but if every single one of them could be a powerhouse physically rivaling an S-rank ninja...

    s, Rei couldn''t think about it too much. Tomorrow was his time to shine. The fifteen Awakened Beings started stirring once the three idiots were dead and Rei could already predict tomorrow would begin the real battle.

    One he didn''t intend to sit out.

 Chapter 377 - Ch377. Ultimatum

    The morning came faster than expected and Rei realized the time as the leader of his vige made him soft.

    He became a lot stronger since his time ying a ninja for Kirigakure but when he woke up today because his senses picked up fifteen new and quite strong signaturesing into his passive range, approaching Pieta, he wasn''t happy about it.

    In fact, Rei wanted to just roll over and continue sleeping.

    At least, before his eyes widened at that thought. He didn''t even realize how he got used to thefort of peaceful life.

    Unfortunately, it was time to be a ninja so he had to get up from his bed.

    These kinds of moments made him wonder if it wasn''t high time for a change in profession. Being a ninja sounded cool when one didn''t have to actually live through the gritty bits full of filth, early mornings, and hard training with no stop on end.

    He would also mention killing but considering some people actually enjoyed that...

    Rei had a nice and plentiful breakfast... and yes, he was still totally smug about making storage scrolls capable of storing food and water even though it happened over two decades ago... managed to properly wake up, and still had time before the Yoma forces would arrive.

    It was maddening how conceited these monsters were.

    Rei sensed as they finally entered the town and some of them started sneaking around, probably to surprise attack the hidden ymores.

    That told Rei some of the Yomas most likely had some way to sense this ''Yoki'' since they knew where the silver-eyed witches were hiding.

    He quickly suppressed his chakra even further, just to be sure. He definitely did not want to have to chase them if they decided to run away. Why should he bother when these Yomas were alling to him, gathering in one ce?

    The first Yoma was trying to sneak in through the underground and the ymores that were currently right above it, hiding in a house, had no idea about its presence.

    "Great. If I don''t interfere somebody is definitely going to die." Rei muttered to himself in dissatisfaction. "These girls are so gonna enter Anko''s special boot camp once they join our ranks. That ought to improve their spatial awareness if they want it or not."

    As Rei predicted, the Yoma burst from the floor, instantly grasping one of the ymores around her waist in a surprise attack. Its hand was actually big enough it could hold the silver-eyed short-haired blonde like a kid would a doll.

    The Yoma started to squeeze, causing the woman in its grasp to try resisting while a pain-filled scream tore out of her throat as her spine started to give out and her muscles and organs ground against each other inside of her due to her waist being forcefullypressed.

    Her spine already started cracking and the Yoma was about to delightfully go for thest push, intending to use its full power to squash her like a bloody grape when suddenly it stopped feeling its arm.

    Purple blood started to gush out from the new stump the Yoma sported as its arm alongside the ymore painfully gasping for air with a face full of tears and fear fell onto the ground.

    The other ymores in the room could only watch in shock as a man appeared in front of the Yoma, pitifully smallpared to the massive humanoid monster, and...

    The Yoma was somehow vertically split in two without him moving even an inch.

    The ymores warily watched as the man turned around and gave them a cheerful smile, "You alright?"

    The women clearly did not think what to think about what just happened but they did not drop their guard. Rei was actually mildly impressed by that. At least they seemed to be trainable, unlike the Yomas.

    It was then the short-haired blonde groaned, alerting the other ymores to her presence.

    "Pam!" Shouted one of them, carefully starting to approach her downed ally without stopping to look at Rei even for a second.

    ...

    At the same time, on a roof of a different house, another group of ymores was lying in wait, hoping to ambush an iing enemy.

    Unfortunately for them, there was another Yoma who snuck in through the ground and was about to use the exact same tactics as the first, intending to burst through the roof from below right under the weakest ymore in the group.

    It wouldn''t take a genius to know what the Yomas goal was.

    Unlike the first one, this didn''t aim to grab the ymore. Instead, its ws came first and were aimed to rip the ymore open from the middle of her stomach up, probably fully bisecting her up to her right shoulder.

    Rei, or rather, another of his shadow clones as it was too bothersome to move himself at this point in time, wasn''t having that.

    As the Yoma burst through the roof, Rei appeared behind the Yomas target, a girl with blonde hair done in two short braids, and put his arms around her waist before jumping back, causing her to evade her untimely meeting with death.

    This happened so fast, the girl didn''t even manage to react, only realizing she almost died when Reinded with her a few feet away on the roof. The girl instantly started to hyperventte from shock... but to give her credit, for how weak she was, it wasmendable she gathered her wits almost instantly.

    She was like a genin on a battleground full of jonins. Her fear was understandable.

    The Yoma seemed incredibly surprised that it missed its target. It was some kind of humanoid with three eyes, the third one not exactly on the forehead, rather between its eyebrows, and it also sported bat-like wings.

    Rei''s clone watched how the Yoma took to the skies, clearly nning to make use of its aerial advantage and do hit and run tactics against the ymores and him who were bound to the ground.

    Unfortunately for it, the skill Rei chose to reveal for the time being was his Wind Maniption.

    The Yoma did not get far as its body suddenly split, its limbs, wings, and head separating from its torso mid-air due to invisible des of wind doing their job.

    It died with the disturbing and sadistic smile still on its face as it didn''t even manage to realize its demise as the parts that previously made up its body fell separated onto the ground.

    Seeing that, the ymores instantly turned towards Rei who was still nonchntly holding one of theirrades around her waist, and their guard was instantly raised.

    They clearly did not like the situation since Rei had in his hands one of them and they also realized it was him who killed that Yoma.

    Their eyes held resignation. They knew they would not be surviving a fight with someone who could do... that to an Awakened Being. But there was also a determination to fight to thest breath.

    Rei smiled in satisfaction at their reaction andzily put his chin on the shoulder of the slightly shaking woman in his arms as he spoke, "Don''t you have other things to do than staring at me as if I was some kind of pervert?"

    ...

    On the square, lizard-like massive Yoma was fighting another group of ymores and managed to score a hit against one of them, pushing its open hand against her while she was mid-air, jumping towards it. The Yoma''s hand suddenly stretched, nning to squash the ymore like a fly on the brick wall of the nearby house.

    The ymore would most likely survive it with multiple broken bones if the Yoma stopped its attack once it broke down the wall with the ymore''s body but Rei''s clone could see in its eyes that it wanted to push its hand forward until the ymore was just a mangled mess of flesh.

    He quickly sent a wind de, separating the stretched arm from the Yoma''s body and saving the ymore''s life despite the fact she did destroy a brick house with her body and many of her bones were broken because of it.

    That woman was out ofmission and would not be getting up anytime soon.

    But at least she was still alive.

    ...

    Rei made exactly twenty-four clones, one to watch over each ymore. The Yomas clearly aimed to kill them in a way that was not instant, their attacks aimed to tear off limbs while also bisecting their target at the waist. This way, the ymore they hit would be still alive for a few tens of seconds, feeling the pain and being fully aware her death wasing while only able to quietly dread it.

    It was a cruel way of fighting but it was also the sole reason why the ymores had even a remote chance at winning.

    The Yomas were stronger than the ymores. So much it wasn''t even funny. The only reason why the ymores could fight them was that the Yomas were ying with them.

    There were only two more ymores Rei''s clones saved from certain death. Others were doing pretty well for themselves even though they were slowly being pushed back as the Yomas started to surround them.

    Injuries slowly piled up, as Rei''s clones only saved those in deadly situations and things like a torn arm werepletely within the eptable range, and the longer the fight dragged on, the less ymores were able to properly fight.

    The revealed clones of Rei didn''t join the fray, they just sat on the nearest roof and watched the fight.

    The more desperate the situation became, the more Miria, the leader of the ymores and the strongest of the ones gathered in the town, was looking in the direction of Rei''s clones.

    Rei saw Miria''s looks but he wasn''t about to interfere until he felt the ymores were sufficiently despairing.

    It took another half an hour and by now, thest remaining ymores capable ofbat were gathered in a circle in the middle of the town square, surrounded by the Yomas who were having a lot of fun, while in the middle of the ymore encirclement were all their members too injured to continue fighting.

    The situation seemed hopeless enough for them so one of Rei''s clones finally stood up while the remaining four revealed clones poofed out of existence, and smirked at Miria whose eyes outright begged for help.

    The clone spoke, giving her his ultimatum. "I will give you a choice. I can help you survive. All of you.. But you all will have to desert the Organization and be mine. What about it? A cheap price to keep your lives, no?"

 Chapter 378 - Ch378. Decision

    Hearing the ridiculous proposition of the Yoma who for some reason seemed to save five of herrades from certain death before it decided to just observe made Miria''s despair only increase.

    She had no idea what a Yoma of his strength would want with ymores but probably nothing good. She heard a few stories about Riful, the Abyssal One of the West, the strongest Awakened Being in the western part of the world. Riful supposedly enjoyed torturing ymores in various ways until they either died or awakened and even then, Miria heard that Riful killed every awakened one she didn''t deem strong enough.

    Miria shuddered at such a fate but the lives of herrades depended on her decision. Her options were not great. Certain death or servitude to a Yoma who wanted who knows what with them.

    Because that''s what the man obviously was. There was no male capable of matching even the weakest ymore in the world.

    The only males capable of doing that were the former warriors of Organization before it started to use solely females because males usually awakened of their own volition rather than trying to suppress it.

    The problem with male Awakened Beings is that they are all centuries old at this point. Experienced and incredibly strong. They all were exceptional warriors even before they became Yomas too.

    The one in front of Miria, however, seemed to be even stronger than that.

    For all Miria knew, the man in front of her could be another Abyssal One, Isley of the Northern Lands!

    She saw how easily he dispatched the other Awakened Beings that were all male themselves. She didn''t really see what he did. She didn''t see him moving but... he had to move to cut the Yomas, no?

    Yet, Miria, one of the fastest ymores of the current generation, so much that it earned her the moniker of Phantom because she left after-images of herself after moving, couldn''t even perceive his movements!

    ''Not epting his offer is certain death.'' Miria bitterly realized and gripped the handle of her sword tighter, ''We will either die to the Yomas surrounding us or he will get bored and ughter us all alongside the Yomas. Dammit! I didn''t survive for so long to die like this!''

    For years now, Miria survived one suicide mission after another. The Organization clearly wanted her dead because she was ''half-Awakened'' and then for trying to uncover the truth behind them and the only reason why she was not yet dered rogue with multiple single-digit ymores hunting her was that she was the current number 6.

    She might not be able to match any ymore below her number since that was the league of the real monsters but warriors of her strength were not easy to get and that saved her from such a fate so far.

    But apparently, this whole mission was just one big disposal of troublemakers.

    Miria didn''t have any illusions about Yomas. Since the man on the roof was certainly a Yoma himself, he would definitely be like the others and despite his cheerful and approachable facade, there would be sadistic and cruel nature hidden underneath it. Yet...

    She nced at herrades who were looking at her with almost pleading worry, apparent unease, and, much to Miria''s shame, a hint of hope on their faces, and at that moment, her mind was made.

    ''Even if we be his ythings, at least we will survive.'' She wryly smiled, knowing that if the man really wanted to torture them into awakening, many of herrades alongside her would rather choose death at that point. But... Miria couldn''t make that choice for others. ''It''s the only way.''

    "I can''t speak for you!" She loudly eximed, getting the attention of other ymores while being grateful that this disy seemed to be amusing for the Yomas surrounding them, so they just watched the drama unfold without attacking. "But I think we should ept the... offer."

    Miria''s tone was a level quieter with a hint of resignation and defeat. Usually, suggesting to surrender to a Yoma would quickly get her many cries of outrage. Doing that would be the quickest way to get on the hit list of the Organization and be hunted down by numbers one to five, the strongest ymores the Organization currently had.

    The ymores around Miria clearly recognized that fact too, if the cynical and bitter smiles on their faces were any indication. There were only a few weaker ymores that seemed highly ufortable but the higher-ranked ones understood her, in many cases already disillusioned with the Organization after experiencing their own shares of hardship.

    After all, if they were not troublemakers, they would not be here.

    "Heh, we are dead either way so what does it matter if the organization hunts us or not?" Helen eximed and grinned, breaking the pensive mood of the group, "I''d rather take my chances with him." She gestured with her head towards the man on the roof, showing she supported Miria''s decision.

    Miria was grateful for that but she also knew she could count on Helen, Deneve, and re as they also knew the Organization wanted them dead from their past joint mission where they almost died because the Organization ''identally'' didn''t give them enough information and sent them to hunt a male Awakened Being far above their strength.

    Surviving that was frankly a miracle.

    "I agree." Deneve also revealed her opinion in her usual reserved manner.

    While neither Helen nor Deneve was one of the five leaders, they proved their worth during the previous battles so the other ymores had quite a bit of respect for them.

    No other ymore expressed her agreement verbally but Flora, the current number eight, looked around at herrades. She didn''t like this one bit. She felt helpless and as calm as she looked, she didn''t want to die.

    She didn''t train until her hands bled and her arms refused to move from repeating the motion of sheathing and unsheathing her de so much it became second nature to her.

    That''s why she pursed her lips and also reluctantly agreed, "Fine. From the looks of it, we are all in agreement." She turned to Miria and nodded at her.

    Miria was shocked that Flora epted so readily. She pegged the mild-mannered woman that was like a sheathed de most of the time as someone who would vehemently protest this because she thought it wrong but... apparently the Windcutter was not as loyal to the Organization as it first seemed.

    Well, figures. She also wouldn''t be here if she wasn''t causing trouble.

    Miria turned back to the man sitting on the roof and shouted, "You heard us. We agree to your terms!"

    "Yes?" The man lifted his eyebrows.

    "Yes!" Miria eximed nervously as the thought that this was just some borate y to mentally torture them crossed her mind.

    "Hmm..." The man gave out a long thoughtful hum and Miria suddenly remembered something she saw on one of her missions where a high-ranked noble hired her to deal with a Yoma.

    Swallowing her pride, she gritted her teeth. "Yes, Master."

    That seemed to work as the man stopped his thinking and looked at her... before he snorted and slowly started to get up, "Oh, well. I guess I should do my part of the deal if you are willing to go that far, Miria-chan."

    Miria grimaced at that and tried to ignore the silent snickers of Helen behind her as the tips of her ears definitely turned red.

    One Yoma had clearly had enough of just observing and screamed in a tone that suggested it found this whole situation extremely entertaining, "Ha! You bitches think he can help y-"

    It didn''t finish its sentence because...

    Suddenly, all the Awakened Beings in the surrounding stopped in their tracks and uncountable sh marks started appearing all over their bodies as their sadistic expressions full of enjoyment turned into bewildered ones... and suddenly they all burst like a balloon, smearing the town square with their purple blood and small bits that were previously their bodies.

    Watching the spectacle, the ymores couldn''t believe their eyes as their jaws dropped from sheer shock and Miria was certainly not an exception.

    Her feet betrayed her and she ended up dropping on her posterior, her legs folding next to her as she couldn''t find words to describe her current feelings.

    In the end, she could only bow her head to the man in resigned gratitude, relieved her decision seemed to be a correct one.

    She just hoped this relief willst.

 Chapter 379 - Ch379. Then, What Are You?

    Rei looked at the twenty-four ymores in front of him, the prevalent majority of them exhausted, some injured by what would be definitely crippling injury for life among ninjas but none of them dead.

    It was honestly curious.

    These ymores, even the weak ones, could regenerate lost limbs whereas in the Elemental Nations, despite the advances in medical ninjutsu, this was still considered impossible by most. Yet, these backward warriors who barely had any proper technique could do it.

    "Well, would you look at that? You all survived! Isn''t that just wonderful?" Rei cheerily pped his hands, eliciting helpless and tired looks of cowed anger from some of the women while others were either in too much pain to react or too exhausted they didn''t have the energy to muster a reaction.

    "What are you going to do with us?" Miria hollowly asked, not in the mood for games so she got straight to the point.

    She was not injured but deciding the fate of herself and herrades in the face of this monster was mentally and emotionally exhausting. When she saw how he chopped the Yomas against whom they struggled to survive to pieces without even leaving his ce... it just made her that more assured there will be no backing off from this deal.

    Rei lifted his eyebrow at her and looked over at the group of exhausted women who watched him with worry and almost scared expectations again.

    "As I said, you are now mine. I will take you to my vige and-" Rei stopped when he noticed the eyes of the girls abruptly widened in fright and their jaws dropped. "What?" He frowned.

    "There is an entire vige of..." Miria trailed off, gulping nervously as the horror settled in.

    The situation was worse than she thought! A vige full of Yomas!? And he expected them toe there with him!?

    Miria had no idea how to react to that.

    Rei got an inkling suspicion there was some misunderstanding going on from the looks he was receiving but he couldn''t seem to figure it out. Instead, he just curtly nodded, "Yes. My vige."

    Miria was too shocked to speak and so, Flora decided to ask the next question, "And what are we supposed to do in this vige of yours?"

    Rei looked at the small woman with wavy blond hair and tried to reassuringly smile, "It won''t be all that different from what you do now. Many in my vige are mercenaries-"

    ''A vige full of mercenary Yomas!?'' Miria almost choked at that, having to take a few deep breaths to calm herself.

    But she wasn''t discarding this chance in her mind. The Organization wanted them dead and this might very well be their only way to survive. It stung her pride and went against everything she was raised to believe by the Organization but joining this blond man might not be such a bad idea at the moment.

    "-and you will be provided training and resources to improve your strength before joining the ranks of the vige as its warriors. The work is simr but of course, we don''t have ridiculous rules like not harming humans. I''d like to believe what I offer you is better than your current situation if only because I actually n to make you strong enough to survive your future tasks." Rei shrugged casually, reminding them they were still on a clear suicide mission.

    Which worked quite well if the mutinous and dissatisfied looks of the ymores were any indications.

    When the initial wave of disgruntlement at their predicament faded, the only emotion left in the ymores was slight depression and unease. This was, surprisingly enough, broken by Helen.

    "Sign me up. If you n to train us so we can survive then I will fight for you. Not like there is a better option anyway." Helen light-heartedly spoke in a boisterous way, giving a clear direction for the ymores.

    Now most of them stopped being so ''lost'' and started focusing on the chance to be stronger so they could protect themselves. This mission of theirs no doubt showed all of them how easy it would have been for them to die.

    "I agree." Flora said, more towards other ymores than Rei, "Even if he is a Yoma-"

    ''A what now?'' Rei lifted his eyebrow at her in speechless disbelief, the gears in his head instantly starting to turn in overdrive.

    "- he still saved us. Do you want to end up in a simr situationter on? In simr despair?" Flora finished and while her voice was soft, the effect it had on the ymores was staggering as soft muttering was heard from the group, and the mistrust and small hostility some individuals were previously showing Rei lessened by a great deal.

    Rei had to admit the woman was a natural leader.

    Unlike Miria who was more of a fighter than a leader, Flora was capable of turning the opinion of the crowd with her words and natural charisma. A charisma that was not due to her status as a single-digit ymore.

    And the girl was apparently self-taught in this skill too. She didn''t seem to have much idea what she was doing and about the small mistakes she was making. For Rei, it felt more as if she was put into leadership positions in the past and somewhere along the line realized what worked and what did not and now was using it to her benefit.

    Miria was much the same but shecked Flora''s natural grace and was much more rigid.

    Rei remembered it was also Flora who first engaged the scout Yoma during the very first fights, not letting it have a free hand while the other ymores fought the other two Yomas.

    That was a good call. The Yoma obviously wanted to sneakily take down ymores from the behind and its ability to control the Yoki of others would prove disastrous for the ymores if it wasn''t engaged in a fight.

    Flora more than likely saved all of them by breaking the ranks and interrupting the Yoma.

    While Miria was undoubtedly stronger, Rei was more interested in Flora. Miria was at best jonin level, her afterimages caused by her movement technique rather than her sheer speed. There were many jonins in his vige that could be more than her match even without using ninjutsu and genjutsu.

    Her strength in this group was irrelevant. It didn''t matter that she was one of the top dogs here. In his vige, she was average at best.

    But people like Flora with a natural aptitude for leadership and a good head on her shoulders... now these would be always in demand. Strength could be trained but natural charisma was hard to cultivate.

    While the women were having their hushed talks, Rei was thinking about their apparent false perception of him. They thought he was Yoma? He couldn''t understand how they got to that conclusion but the sooner he broke them out of it, the better.

    "Before this discussion can go on, I think we have something to clear up." He said and silence suddenly descended on the town square. "I am not a Yoma." He bluntly spoke, causing the ymores to look at him in iprehension.

    Deneve was the first to recollect her cool and carefully asked, "You are... not?"

    From her tone it was obvious she didn''t believe him, a sentiment shared by most of the ymores, but Rei just inly shook his head.

    "No."

    It didn''t matter to him if they believed him or not but he had to say it. They would eventually realize the truth even if they currently didn''t believe him so trying to prove himself was just wasted effort.

    "But... men can not be so strong!" A burly girl full of muscles with two swords on her back, Undine, eximed and Rei involuntarily snorted.

    He looked at Undine, causing her to defiantly stare at him with threatening bodynguage... but her eyes werepletely full of fright. It was hrious, seeing that girl y tough. Especially when Rei knew all these muscles were just a Yoki maniption technique. He could quite easily sense her real body shape and she was actually even tinier than Flora who was the most petite ymore in the group!

    "Girl," Rei drawled with amusement written in his expression, "I think you are misunderstanding something here. Your worldview doesn''t matter. You are just a weak experiment living on a backwater ind. You don''t have any idea what is possible in this world."

    And while his words were harsh, they were spoken jovially. It took a while for the muscled ymore to understand Rei insulted her.

    But Flora showed her leadership qualities again and put a hand on Undine''s... forearm, since she would have to reach up if she wanted to put it on her shoulder, and broke Undine''s rising indignation.

    It was so easy to forget the man in front of them was dangerous enough to wipe them all out instantly if provoked. His behavior was just so disarming that Flora had a hard time keeping her vignce around him.

    "Then, what are you if not Yoma?" She asked.

    Rei smirked, happy the woman was not arrogant enough to assume there are only Yomas and ymores in the world.

    "Me?" Rei nonchntly pointed at himself, "I am a ninja."

    Needless to say, that told the ymores exactly nothing.

 Chapter 380 - Ch380. Rigaldo

    Rei loved the confusion on the ymores'' faces. They clearly never heard of ninjas and didn''t fully believe his im of not being a Yoma but they also had doubts about their worldview.

    If Rei was indeed telling the truth, then that would mean there were other people capable of ying Yomas and... That rubbed the ymores the wrong way.

    They were always told they had to hunt Yomas because there was nobody else capable of doing so. They were made to dedicate their whole life, their whole existence, to serving the Organization and enacting their orders because only they could y Yomas.

    They took sce in the fact they were protecting humanity.

    To be told they were not really needed? That there was somebody else who could do the job instead of them?

    It was both relieving and vexing for the female warriors.

    While he was enjoying the rare expressions on the ymores'' faces, Rei suddenly blinked and turned his head towards the north before clicking his tongue before walking forward.

    The ymores had no idea how to react as he started walking through their group. There was still wariness in their eyes but resignation was more prevalent. Rei didn''t care about them right now, though.

    He had a tougher nut to crack.

    Arriving behind, or in front, depending on the perspective, of the group of ymores, Rei shifted his body weight in preparation for a quick reaction.

    "Will you show yourself or coward is your default setting?" Rei taunted.

    Such a weak taunt would definitely not work on most chunins but Rei decided there was no need for anything overlyplicated. These Yomas were apex predators for far too long. Having somebody they consider beneath them insult them would either rile them up or... it won''t and tell Rei that his opponent was worthwhile and he should take him a bit more seriously.

    It was a win-win situation for Rei anyway.

    When a slow pping sound resounded through the town square as a young man with dark hair that fell over his pale silver eyes appeared calmly walking from the blizzard that limited the visibility, Rei couldn''t muster any kind of surprise.

    By now, he fully understood that Yomas were prideful and arrogant beings.

    Why should their top dogs be any different?

    "Really? You show yourself just because I called you a coward?" Rei gave the condescending young man a deadpan look, stopping him dead in his tracks.

    The young man narrowed his silver eyes at him before his gaze slowly slid towards the ymores, disregarding Rei altogether.

    Rei frowned. Not because of the disregard but because of the utter inability to read the situation. Yes, Rei had his chakra bound tighter than Anko ties her poor victims. In the young man''s eyes, Rei is probably no more than a civilian.

    There was a reason why he did not show his full power to annihte the Yoma ''army''. He didn''t want to scare this guy away. But still, one look at the battlefield and he should see something was amiss.

    The guy just seemed to not care, judging his opponents'' prowess only by their energy levels.

    "This is a miracle. All of my Awakened Beings are dead but none of you died. You are fine warriors. If you had more time to grow, you might have posed a challenge. Unfortunately, I can''t allow that to happen." The young man spoke before a massive discharge of Yoki erupted from him.

    A vortex of crimson energy emerged around the young man, ferociously swirling and lighting the surroundings with a blood-red hue as his body started to shift.

    It slightly reminded Rei of werewolf shapeshifting and for the first time, he actually appreciated the shape of a Yoma. From what he saw up till now, Yomas were ugly motherfuckers.

    This dude however had it a bit better aesthetically.

    When he waspletely shifted, he resembled a silver-eyed, humanoid lion creature with a wolfs'' elongated snout, bulging muscles, proper six-pack, and was around three meters in height.

    Frankly, if Rei saw such a monster in his previous life, he would probably shit himself and reincarnate from the sheer fright.

    Unfortunately for the lion wolfie, Rei saw much more dangerous ''monsters'' than him.

    When Miria saw the transformation, she instantly shook in fright, "Impossible!" She eximed in a quiet voice, trying to keep her fear out of it for the benefit of herrades. "Tha-That''s Rigaldo! The Silver-Eyed Lion King, Rigaldo!"

    Her exmation was supposed to serve as a warning to get ready for anything. Rigaldo was legendary and there was no ymore that didn''t know about him. Even those who still have no clue what exactly Awakened Beings are, knew that there was an extremely powerful Yoma called Rigaldo with strength just below the three Abyssal Ones.

    s, Miria''sck of leadership qualities showed once again as the whole group of ymores was now extremely scared for their lives now that they knew who they were facing.

    Rei couldn''t me Miria for her oversight. She meant well and there was a need to remind the battle-capable ymores that their enemy is much stronger than the previous ones.

    He nced at them with a small disappointment in his gaze. They already lost half of the fight if they refused to properly stand up to their enemy.

    ''And they were doing so well against the Awakened Beings...'' He wryly smiled and gently shook his head.

    Oh, they had the will to fight and survive but it was considerably shaken after knowing the identity of their enemy.

    ''I wonder what would they feel if they knew both Isley and Prisci, two beings on the level of Abyssal Ones, are currently heading this way.'' Rei snorted. Now that would probablypletely finish off any sort of self-confidence the ymores had left.

    "Calm down!" Flora suddenly firmly spoke, "Focus on surviving, not on your fear! You will die that way."

    Her words were simple and in but they certainly hit home.

    Rei''s lips twitched upwards when he saw the ymores settle down and the battle-able ones prepared for a fight to the bitter end. They rallied behind Miria, depending on her strength but Flora''s words gave them the necessary final push to gain resolve.

    Rei thought it was... adorable. He wondered when was thest time he faced a life and death battle.

    Obviously, it was just an idle curiosity of his. The whole goal for him in this life was being smart enough to avoid such a thing. If one had to fight, he should first get strong enough to win the battle easily.

    Depending on some on-spot mid-fight boosts and strength level breakthrough... now that was totally retarded.

    In the real world, if one is not strong enough, he should not engage. Period.

    Running headfirst into an avoidable fight one was not certain to win was stupid beyond words. Granted, there were some unavoidable fights, and giving your all even if it looked lost from the start was exactly the thing that could pave the path to victory, but the point still stood.

    Now that the ymores were ready for a fight Rei was not willing to let them participate in, he refocused on the lion wolfie.

    Rei had manners. He left Rigaldo to finish his transformation without chucking a mini bijuudama at the stupidly stationary target. He wanted to see what the wolfie would do after transforming.

    Rigaldo did not further disappoint Rei.

    There was no overly long, boring monologue or boasting. He just disappeared the second he was transformed and...

    A wind blew into Flora''s face, causing her to squint her eyes, and her brain trying to process what her eyes were seeing. It took a second but her brain finally managed to register what was happening in front of her and her eyes widened in terror as she took a step back. She was however so shaken up she slid on the snow and fell on her posterior.

    ''I almost died!'' Her mind screamed at her but her body couldn''t stop shaking as he realized Rigaldo was right in front of her in the middle of the other ymores who were only now realizing what was happening, ''And I didn''t even see how.''

    Rigaldo''s w on his pointing finger was just a small distance from the center of her forehead, his massive hand held back by the deceptively small... ninja.

    The mysterious man saved her life!

    Flora gulped, her throat ufortably dry all of sudden.

    She could imagine what her fate would have been if the ninja did not stop Rigaldo. He would have split her head like a knife does an apple!

    Flora shuddered at the thought and how close she was to death. She was straight out hyperventting and felt the same fear as a rookie who was on her first Yoma hunt.

    "Rigaldo wordlessly looked at the small hand preventing him from killing his first prey before his silver eyes slowly relocated towards the owner of said hand and found the... civilian.

    If it surprised him, he didn''t show it. Instead, he asked, "Who are you, weakling?"

    Rei almost face faulted. Yes, he was still suppressing his energy levels but... wasn''t him stopping his hand enough proof of...

    ''You know what? Fuck it.'' He dryly thought and spoke, "Me? I am Rei Yotsuba, the new owner of these ymores. Trying to harm something that is mine... now that was where you fucked up."

    And with that, Rei released his chakra suppression, exactly matching Rigaldo''s own energy levels and putting yet another scare through the group of ymores who subconsciously started to put their hopes for survival in his hands and with that, seeing Rei as someone important.

    Before Rigaldo couldprehend what was going on, he received a snap kick between his legs courtesy of annoyed Rei, and flew to the nearby building, demolishing it with his body while his brain was overloaded by pain from smashed eggs.

    And who knows? Rei had his hopes up that maybe it would add some intelligence to that arrogance.

 Chapter 381 - Ch381. Rei Vs Rigaldo

    Rei watched as Rigaldo shook off the rubble of the house that copsed on him, and furrowed his eyebrows when the wolfie seemed to bepletely fine after the kick to his balls.

    Rei''s eyes involuntarily slid down... and he promptly facepalmed when he saw nothing dangling between Rigaldo''s legs.

    He didn''t know if he should feel pity for the werewolf-wannabe or mentally scold himself for his stupidity. Of course, the desired effect would not be achieved from kicking a dickless dude between his legs!

    "Rei Yotsuba, you say?" Rigaldo regally asked with interest and eagerness shining in his silver eyes as the energying off of him became more intense. "You hid your strength well. Even I was fooled!"

    ''Damn... he is a battle junkie, isn''t he?'' Rei couldn''t help but feel a bit dirty after realizing his kick between Rigaldo''s eyes seemed to excite the guy more than it hurt him.

    On the brighter side, Rigaldo seemed to lose all of his interest in the ymores, fully focusing on Rei instead. That, at least, went exactly as intended.

    "Is that supposed to be a taunt?" Rei raised his eyebrow at Rigaldo. "You know what? Let''s just fight. I doubt you could give me an intelligent conversation, animal."

    "I was praising you." Rigaldo dryly stated, "And your taunting skills are quite bad too." He deadpanned.

    Rei blinked at him, shocked that his taunt didn''t work. "Er... this is kinda awkward but you aren''t wrong, dickless."

    When in doubt, pull a Sai-move.

    Apparently, that was a wrong thing to say because if he previously had Rigaldo''s interest, now he had his full undivided attention and rage.

    Rigaldo appeared in front of Rei in a burst of speed that roughly rivaled a low-level S-rank physically oriented ninja by Rei''s estimation, and took a swipe at him with his ws.

    Rei didn''t react more than to lean back at thest possible moment, causing Rigaldo''s ws to harmlessly pass less than an inch from him as he cocked his head at the three meters tall Yoma.

    "Did I hit a sensitive spot?" He asked with an amused tone, causing Rigaldo to growl.

    Rei did not wait for an answer and the only warning Rigaldo got was Rei''s hand balling into a fist before he saw the figure in front of him flicker and then he felt a massive impact into his stomach and found himself flying back before again colliding with another house, causing it to copse on him.

    Rei casually retracted his arm and looked towards the rubble his punch caused with Rigaldo''s body. He was... surprised by how durable the Yoma was.

    Granted, Rei held his strength back but he doubted his punch actually hurt the werewolf-wannabe.

    ''I will need to use a de or more strength.'' Rei frowned.

    This Yoki was certainly unbnced bullshit when it came to Yomas. Their innate durability was nothing to scoff at.

    Surprisingly, the ymores didn''t have as many physical advantages.

    ''Or rather, their techniques do note instinctively to them.'' Rei thought, briefly ncing at the group of worried ymores that watched the fight with bated breaths full of hope.

    After all, their survival depended on Rei''s victory.

    The rubble of the recently copsed house suddenly burst from the force of Rigaldo abruptly standing up, and as Rei thought, he was not hurt even a bit from his punch.

    Rigaldo fiercely looked at Rei, his eyes shining with arrogance, as he loudly and proudly proimed, "I am The Silver-Eyed Lion King! I am the second strongest man in the world! There is only one male stronger than me and it is definitely not some blonde-haired twerp!"

    He then gave a long roaring bellow, the crimson Yoki erupting all around him as his muscles bulged and the aura around him became more fierce and primal...

    Rei just watched it with a curious mind and deadpan look. He couldn''t believe this was really happening and wondered when his life became an anime.

    ''So this is the fabled power-up during a fight.'' Rei dryly thought. ''What''s next? Will the next bosse after I deal with this one?''

    Rei wanted to scoff at that notion. He really did. But the two S-rank Yoki signatures approaching Pieta did not inspire much confidence in him.

    He really couldn''tugh it off as usual.

    Rigaldo didn''t care about Rei''s unamused mood. He rushed at him at a speed that far surpassed his previous one and punched in Rei''s direction, aiming at his head with ferocious and murderous determination shining on his broadly grinning expression.

    Rei... sidestepped.

    This caused Rigaldo to overreach and trip, his body starting to involuntarily somersault until yet another house stopped him.

    Rei chuckled at that. Rigaldo clearly had trouble controlling this new strength of his. He was not used to this kind of speed.

    But it was extremely curious. His previous low-level S-rank physical strength increased to high-level S-rank one in one big rise. All physical attributes of his were enhanced. Power, Agility, and Rei would bet his lunch money that Rigaldo''s durability increased too.

    With a roar, Rigaldo erupted from the newly made rubble. He shook himself, growled at Rei, a sound Rei interpreted as excitement and lust for battle, and lunged forward.

    Rei wryly sighed at the sight as he once again sidestepped, this time however adding a spin kick for a good measure of Rigaldo''s durability.

    He used a bit more strength than what he thought to be Rigaldo''s durability limit before his power up... and the werewolf-wannabe was sent through several houses.

    Rei winced at that. ''We willpletely destroy this town if this continues.''

    He intended to privatize this ind so destroying the town was basically destroying something that will soon belong to him.

    ''It is all for science.'' He tried to appease his greedy mind.

    By now, Rei had quite a clear picture of Yoma''s fighting ability. Rigaldo''s power-up was very interesting but in front of Rei, it was useless. In fact, Rei thought it made Rigaldo weaker.

    Before he at least could fight intelligently as was shown from his attempt at Flora''s life. Now he was more of a mindless beast focused only on fighting the opponent he focused on. He wasn''t even using his smarts much during his pathetic attempts to attack and definitely couldn''t control his new strength and speed.

    All that strength and it was wasted for useless pounces.

    Rei almost felt insulted.

    Of course, in the face of a ymore, even as strong as Miria, Rigaldo would totally wreck them before they could even realize what was going on even before he had his sudden power-up.

    Rigaldo was an extremely strong Awakened Being.

    The guy was practically a legend for centuries now. No ymore could easily best him. Not even rank 1 could expecting from a fight with him whole.

    Rei did not see Rigaldo as anything special but his standards were skewed from the very start. He didn''t value strength. He valued something else. Something much more important.

    He valued sensibility.

    Unfortunately for Rigaldo, he was foundcking.

    Rei straightened up, shifting his body into a battle-ready state as Rigaldo found his way back to the town square after his quick roll through the town.

    "I think I''ve got all the information and data fighting you could provide so... I am ending this now." Rei dispassionately said and raised his right hand towards the sky just as Rigaldo started rushing at him.

    With a short puff of smoke, a sword appeared in Rei''s hand and was quickly engulfed by lighting coating as Rei swung it in a downward arc, sending out a lightning energy wave with the sh.

    Rigaldo appeared in front of Rei in a burst of speed, the kic force of his dash carrying him forward, just as the tip of Rei''s sword reached the lowest point, the sh finished, and Rigaldo''s body vertically separated into two pieces in the middle, falling around Rei who calmly stood in between them as they were on their way towards the ground.

    The battle finished, Rei turned towards the ymores only to notice them gape at him with wide eyes full of speechless wonder and admiration.

    Most of them couldn''t even see the shes between Rei and Rigaldo! They were too fast! All they saw was a blur and then houses started copsing. The ymores felt extremely relieved that they were under Rei''s protection.

    Rei could only wryly smile at the degree of adoration in their eyes, deciding to leave setting the girls straight to Konan. No way was he doing something so troublesome!

 Chapter 382 - Ch382. Last Bosses

    Rei looked towards the north where he felt the two massive Yoki signaturesing towards Pieta, one of them seemingly distressed that Rigaldo''s Yoki disappeared, while the other was oozing satisfaction, most likely due to the weak third signature of a normal human without unlocked chakra pathways that was near her and gave of the feeling of worry.

    Surprisingly, it wasn''t a worry for his own life. It was some other kind of worry that Rei didn''t bother deciphering.

    He looked at the group of ymores gathered at the edge of the town square, waiting for his instructions, and gave them a reassuring smile. It calmed some of them while putting others at the edge but one simply can''t please everyone.

    "I am going away for ten to thirty minutes." When they looked iprehensibly at him, Rei''s smile became a bit forced. They seemed to have no concept of hours, minutes, and seconds. He knew they were backward but he had no idea it was this much. "Haa~, I will be back soon. Just... wait for me here and tend to your injured, okay?"

    He turned to Flora and Miria as he asked that, knowing these two were respected among the group.

    Getting the hint, Flora nodded and Miria spoke, "We will wait for you here."

    It would have been extremely bothersome for Rei if the ymores decided to run when he went through so much to get them into his service.

    Smiling in acknowledgment, Rei disappeared from the ymores'' sight in a burst of speed.

    ...

    Rei appeared right in front of a traveling party of three people on two horses.

    On the first horse was a youthful-looking man with long, silver hair, and next to him, on the second horse was a pretty ordinary-looking boy with short light-brown hair and a scar above his left eyebrow. On the second horse in front of the average boy sat a skinny, pre-adolescent girl with short brown hair and brown eyes.

    The girl and the silver-haired man instantly noticed Rei while the brown-haired boy seemed oblivious for a while yet.

    "Hi, I came to privatize your lives!" Rei cheerfully eximed.

    His energy was once again tightly suppressed to levels of a normal civilian. The silver-haired dude at least definitely felt his chakra when he defeated Rigaldo so Rei didn''t want to give his identity away so readily. He wanted to see their reaction first.

    He was left disappointed. The three people silently stared at Rei without any reaction until he felt quite awkward.

    The girl finally turned towards the silver-haired man and tilted her head in confusion, "What does privatize mean?"

    The silver-haired man genially smiled and said, "I have no clue, Prisci."

    Before the girl could turn towards the brown-haired boy, he too spoke, "I don''t know either."

    The trio turned expectantly towards the bbergasted Rei who decided it was the best time to facepalm, having to remind himself again he was basically dealing with cavemen.

    ''Elemental Nations, I am sorry for calling you backward when I first experienced your technology and civilization level. Compared to this, you are golden!'' Rei wistfully sighed in his mind.

    "Haa~, whatever. I came to see if you are useful to keep alive or if I should just kill you." Rei dryly said, suddenly giving off a menacing aura as his chakra burst free from the suppression in its entirety, causing both Isley and Prisci to feel as if the weight of the world dropped on their shoulders.

    Isley was instantly drenched in a cold sweat, looking at Rei as if he was a monster... which was funny, considering he was the one who ate people out of the two of them.

    Raki, much like the horses, didn''t feel a thing so he was quite confused about why Prisci stiffened and Isley looked as if he saw a ghost. The poord was just a normal human. There was no need to traumatize him by letting him feel Rei''s chakra.

    But it was Prisci whose reaction was the worst.

    At first, she stiffened, staring at Rei with wide eyes full of terror.

    Then she slowly whispered, "Yoma." In a scared voice... before her eyes turned gold.

    That was the only warning Rei got before she blurred and he was forced to jump back to dodge the ax-kick from the now transformed Prisci. When the kick impacted the ground, it created web-like cracks all around the zone of impact.

    Rei steadied himself, quite impressed with the sheer physical power disyed, and looked at the transformed girl.

    Her Awakened Form was a winged humanoid about two meters tall with a single horn on her forehead and a pair of wings on her back. It wasn''t bad, as far as a Yoma appearance went but the most human part of her was her face. Her body reminded Rei of dryads from games whose limbs were made of several branches, just in Priscis case it was all flesh and purple. She was humanoid but she did not resemble a human.

    Rei saw how the horned girl red at him with hate, causing him to lift his eyebrow at her and wonder what was her problem.

    "Oi... I said I am going to kill you if I deem you useless but you don''t have to make the decision so easy for me." Rei amusedly started.

    Yeah, he could admit that attacking a dude whoes and threatens your life was a smart thing to do but... that only applied if the dude was on the same level as you. If he was leagues above you, then attacking him was suicide.

    He wondered what was used as fillings in the girl''s head because brains were clearlycking...

    Prisci did not seem to appreciate Rei''sment and lunged at him... which he sidestepped and let her sail harmlessly past him, breaking several trees with her body as she impacted them like a cannonball.

    Rei briefly nced at the girl''spanions, noticing the silver-haired one was in a dilemma about what to do. He was clearly smart enough to know defeating Rei would be a tall order even if he joined forces with Prisci.

    Worse yet, Prisci was not a very reasonable being. It would be a miracle if he managed to not get attacked by her because he was in the way or something rather than expect teamwork from her.

    Raki on the other hand looked helpless. He wanted to help Prisci but she and the neer were just so fast his normal eyes could not even catch their shadows. He gripped the handle of his sword but did not draw it because he felt it would have been useless.

    He could only powerlessly watch and hope for the best.

    Unfortunately for Raki, Rei was going to disappoint his expectations.

    As Prisci returned, dashing at Rei again and her fingers started stretching at break-neck speed, bing sharp and intending to skewer Rei''s body, he stepped forward, drawing the sword on his hip in one fluid motion and...

    All Raki saw was a blue electric sh and had to cover his eyes. When he finally regained his ability to see, he was greeted by the scene of Prisci''s head separating from her body and flying into the air.

    Isley saw more of what happened but his vision was also mostly obstructed by the sudden blue sh. The undeniable truth was, however, that Prisci was now dead.

    Rei coldly watched as the headless body powerlessly dropped to the snowy ground as if its strings were cut and turned back towards the men on horses.

    Raki seemed to barely restrain himself from attacking Rei but Rei just rolled his eyes. The kid posed no threat even if he stood and let him hack his sword at him to his heart''s content.

    Well, it didn''t matter. His offer was not aimed at the boy.

    "So? What will it be, Isley?" Rei asked the silver-haired man who gave him a forced smile.

    "I... I think I would like to live a bit longer." Isley sheepishly said.

    He was a warrior his whole life and didn''t fear death inbat but what the man in front of him unleashed at Prisci was notbat. It was a ughter. She was so outssed it was not even funny.

    Isley did not want to meet his end in a battle against an opponent who didn''t even consider him worthy to use his full power against him. That was not an honorable end worthy of a warrior. That was a pathetic end.

    "Well, good for you." Rei nodded in acknowledgment.

    Isley seemed a bit smarter and calmer than Rigaldo.

    Well, it didn''t matter. Rei gave them his offer because he wanted to see the differences between Yoma and ymore after some training. He was also sure Tsunade would like the opportunity to research both of these ''species''.

    And since he was going to subordinate an Awakened Being anyway, why not go for one of the strongest of the lot?

    "Now, take the kid into your arms," Rei gestured towards Raki, "ande with me. I am sure you will be able to keep up."

    With that, he started to run back towards Pieta at a moderately slow pace.

    ''Hah! As if I let thest bosses show up in the town where they could try taking my new group of subordinates as hostages! I''d rather cheat and bring the fight to them instead.. Rules of conduct between viins and heroes do not apply in real life.''

 Chapter 383 - Ch383. Kaguyas First Subordinate

    Rei arrived back at the town square in less than fifteen minutes and the ymores were almost done bandaging up their injuredrades.

    In hindsight, he realized they would have not been able to run even if they wanted unless they abandoned most of their injured since he wasn''t away for long enough for that.

    Now... that made Rei feel like an asshole for warning them.

    Several ymores finally realized he was back and were about to greet him when Isley appeared next to him, carrying dizzy Raki on his back which made the ymores stiffen.

    They correctly guessed the man was a Yoma and that put them on guard.

    Well, except for one ymore who stood frozen as her eyesnded on the boy who shakily climbed down from Isley''s back.

    "Raki!" re eximed and rushed towards him.

    Hearing his name being called out by a familiar voice, Raki stiffened for a second before his eyes went wide and his expression beamed in happiness as he realized to whom that voice belonged. He barely managed to turn in the voice''s direction before he was engulfed into a tight hug.

    Rei winced, hearing the thud as Raki''s forehead collided with re''s chest. The woman most likely forgot her strength was a few magnitudes higher than a normal human in her rush and Raki would have a bump on his head for the foreseeable future because of that.

    Rei decided to ignore the reunion between the two as he was not interested in re''s fussing over Raki and the boy''s childish embarrassment.

    Rei would have been happiest if the two finally got a room and shagged their petty issues into nonexistence. It was obvious they wanted from the way they looked at each other but they pussy-footed around it to a cringe-worthy degree.

    Well, no skin off Rei''s nose. At least the boy would have something else to focus on rather than his pathetic grudge against him for killing Prisci. Rei didn''t give him enough time to act upon it but he could inly see the boy''s agitation from his bodynguage.

    Noticing the wary looks both Miria and Flora were giving Isley, Rei decided to clear up any possibility of future problems, "By the way, this is Isley. He decided to join me rather than die." He casually said and shrugged.

    Suddenly, the wary looks thrown in Isley''s direction increased, causing him to sheepishly chuckle.

    The ymores realized this was the motherfucker who sent the army of Awakened Beings at them but they were also aware of the fact they were too weak to do anything to him.

    While this could damage the loyalty of some ymores, in the long run, it would show them they were not really all that special. Maybe it would push them to train themselves harder.

    Or not.

    Rei was honestly more interested in getting Tsunade someone to experiment with and Isley was quite a good specimen.

    He was one of the strongest Awakened Beings in existence and there was certainly the usual arrogance and cruelty of Yoma ingrained in him but he still had a big part of his human personality. The soft pretty boy persona of his was not entirely a facade and his quick surrender proved he had a good head on his shoulders.

    And who knows? Maybe Tsunade would be capable of restoring more of his humanity and stopping his need for human intestines.

    Rei definitely wanted her to look at ymores and their gic make-up while trying to finish their mutation in the most optimal way. There was no reason to leave them in this ''unawakened'' stage, always on the edge between bing Yoma and being half-human. It was unstable and that meant it was an unfinished, crude, shitty experiment.

    Even Orochimaru''s Cursed Seal had more finesse than the method of creating ymores. At least the Cursed Seal bearers could transform at will and learn to control it rather than this half-Yoma bull the girls had to learn to live with and be in constant fear of being turned into a man-eating monster.

    "He won''t attack us, will he?" Flora cautiously asked, loud enough for herrades to hear her and Rei inwardly smiled.

    While Miria looked resigned and had the expression of grudging eptance, Flora did the necessary thing.

    The answer to her question was obvious but it needed to be asked if only for the peace of mind of herrades. They needed to hear it. Needed to hear they did not need to worry about being killed by Isley.

    Not that it wouldpletely put them at ease but quite a bit of the tension would be alleviated by that.

    Rei doubted Flora actually understood the full effect of her question. He doubted she knew how important it was to put the minds of herrades at ease. Not entirely. They just went through a suicide fight against monsters that could, would, and should have wiped them out at their leisure and barely survived.

    And now, there was another, much stronger, monster like that going to be near them 24/7?

    Everybody was different but the psychological impact of this could make quite a few of them into a nervous wreck quite easily. At least, they needed some reassurance to be able to sleep at night.

    "No," Rei calmly reassured them, "if he wants to live he won''t attack you." And gave a meaningful look to Isley who awkwardly nodded, not knowing what else to do.

    The ymores looked a bit better after hearing that... well, as good as a bunch of injured and exhausted warriors could look.

    Now that these matters were dealt with, Rei focused inwardly on the mental connection he had with Kaguya. Despite her being out of the seal, their connection for some reason didn''t disappear when the seal was destroyed.

    Rei had no idea why as it was basically just a connection to her mind through the seal that no longer existed. As for Kaguya, asking her for the reason was like asking a 5-year-old child why the sky was blue.

    She had no clue.

    It was one of these mysteries that were unsolvable for Rei with his current knowledge but since it caused no harm to either of them, he decided to just shrug it off and be d it remained.

    ''I am done. What about you?'' He asked.

    There was silence for a while but he could feel Kaguya felt... aggravated and mildly frustrated.

    Before Rei could start to wonder why, a swirl in the air appeared in front of him and Kaguya appeared there with a...

    ''Is that Riful?'' Rei thought in baffled surprise.

    ''Yes. How did you know?'' Kaguya curiously replied, reminding Rei that their mental connection was still open.

    ''Er... Konan''s reports. What is she doing with you?''

    A feeling of irritation was conveyed through the connection as Kaguya mentally huffed, ''I was just walking around, enjoying nature while Konan got her part of the job done when this little kid appeared in front of me with some tall and dumb monster, all arrogant and condescending.''

    ''Ah. You probably didn''t have your chakra suppressed enough and she felt a smidge of it.'' Rei nodded, totally able to see something like that happening.

    ''So I naturally had to teach them a lesson!'' Kaguya indignantly proimed.

    Now that Rei looked closer at Riful, she did seem... torn in ces.

    ''The tall guy died quite fast though. He couldn''t even withstand having his head cut off. What a weakling.'' Kaguya continued her rant.

    ''Right...'' Rei quietly deadpanned.

    Not even noticing Rei''s reaction, Kaguya just continued pouring out her grievances, ''But this little girl... I just have no idea how to kill her! I thought about just dousing her with ocean-worth ofva alongside this entire ind or something but then I remembered you actually want to keep it so I held myself back.'' She petntly acknowledged and Rei sweatdropped.

    He could kinda see why Hagoromo and Hamura saw no other way than to seal her after hearing her carefreely mention destroying an entire continent because someone annoyed her.

    Fortunately, she listened to him and Rei was good with children...

    Ups, he meant good with childish people.

    ''Riful''s real body should be... I have no idea, to be honest, but I know these ribbon-like strips forming her humanoid body are not it. You can tear it as much as you want and she would be fine.''

    ''Yeah, that much I gathered after I tore her limbs and head off for the hundredth time.'' Kaguya mentally scowled. ''And now the girl is all clingy and stuff, calling me master with a starry-eyed look. It is creepy!''

    ''Uuu~, did little Kaguya get her first subordinate?'' Rei teased,ughing his ass off.

    Outwardly it only came out as a short chuckle but the annoyed look on Kaguya''s face somewhat deepened as she suddenly smacked Riful''s head, causing her to nt her face into the ground.

    Riful quickly sprang up again, sitting on her knees next to Kaguya like an obedient dog. The entire picture was... hrious and weird.

    Both the group of ymores and Isley were not spared gaping and gawking but neither Riful nor Kaguya gave a rat''s ass for these plebs.

    ''Oh, well...'' Rei decided it was in his best interest to ignore the situation. It will sort itself out somehow. No need to participate in needless drama. ''Up for some small terraforming now?''

    ''I suppose.'' Kaguya pouted. ''It is the only reason why I am even here. I would have beenpletely fine staying at home with my cookie jar.''

    ''Ei, don''tin like an old widow.'' Rei started, barely preventing himself from choking inughter when Kaguya narrowed her eyes at him.

    ''I am an old widow.'' Kaguya dryly stated.

    Putting on his best innocent look and ignoring her statement, Rei continued, ''Now that you have a subordinate, you can order her to learn cooking for you or something. See? Me dragging you here was actually very beneficial for you!''

    Kaguya sighed, shaking her head but the idea obviously appealed to her. On the other hand, this day was shaping up to be one massive headache and she was in dire need of a mug of hot chocte if she wanted to keep herself from killing somebody.

    The Duff, or Daft, or whatever was the name of Riful''s shredded boy toy, did not count.

    ''Whatever.. Just tell me what you need of me.''

 Chapter 384 - Ch384. Kaguyas Afternoon Heavy lifting

    ''Mhm. What about transferring this ind closer to the north of the Elemental Nations?'' Rei casually spoke.

    Why not make use of overpowered waifu when he spent so much time trying to free her from her prison?

    Hearing him, Kaguya shrugged as if he was just asking her something extremely mundane and her body started to be lifted into the air.

    All the ymores and Isley gaped at the sight while Riful''s worshipful gaze increased in intensity. Flying was rare even among Yomas and flying without wings looked more like a miracle to them.

    Frankly, Rei knew most ninjas would have reacted in much the same way so he couldn''t really fault them.

    "What is she going to do?" Flora gathered her courage and asked, bringing Riful''s, Isley''s, and other ymores'' attention to Rei.

    "Ah, she is..." Rei found it hard to exin. How was he to say Kaguya was going to relocate their homnd, the ce they considered as the ''whole world'', without sounding insane? In the end, he just helplessly shrugged and said, "She is lifting this entire ce into the air."

    He also conveniently omitted to mention what ''this entire ce'' was supposed to mean.

    Naturally, that still earned him some weird looks but Rei expertly ignored them. They would understandter on what happened anyway.

    Kaguya''s body flew up until she was among the clouds and then she spread her arms, more for focus purposes than to be dramatic. Nobody could see her so high in the sky anyway so there was no need for dramatics.

    She also spread her senses, engulfing the entire ind with them, and instantly her head received massive information overload, making her very happy that Rei forced her to practice when she was still capable of inhabiting only a low-powered clone.

    Thanks to that, her chakra control was much better, and surprisingly enough, with each small step in controlling her chakra, her powers rose exponentially.

    When she learned Tree Walking, she, among other things, for the first time, managed to use her Rinne-Sharingan''s ability to manipte gravity for other things than the preset techniques it offered her at first.

    Rei told her that it was not her powers that were increasing, just that she had more ess to them now that she had at least a small idea of what exactly she was doing. But that didn''t matter. Kaguya felt much more powerful than even when she fought her sons and it brought her joy.

    With each power-up, she felt less and less worried about other Otsutsukis.

    The practice sessions were hellish and hard... Kaguya neverined as much in her life... but at first, she stubbornly kept practicing because she wanted to be praised by Rei. Then when she found out just how much it was helping her with her powers, Kaguya happily suffered, only bing much more vocal with herining to annoy Konan or Tsunade or whoever was training her for the moment.

    It was surprisingly fun!

    Kaguya started pushing her chakra into the ind below her, flooding it with her energy as if it was an invisible tsunami in much the same way Earth Jutsu practitioners were using their chakra.

    The biggest difference was the scale and amount of power.

    Kaguya''s chakra filled the whole ind to the brim, making nature bloom no matter the climate, and sick people suddenly started to get better simply because of the overabundance of nature energy present in Kaguya''s chakra, and yet, Kaguya barely felt the drain on her reserves.

    It was another thing that astonished her. The vastness of her real energy reserves. She never managed to feel all of it. That was what over-inted her ego previously. She could never reach her limit so she thought she did not have one. She thought her reserves were infinite which was not true.

    In the end, this arrogance led to her being sealed. She thought she could resist the sealing because of her chakra so she let her sons touch her with those sted sealing marks. Contrary to the uneducated belief, a strong entity needed an extremely strong seal otherwise even Kyuubi could be sealed in a storage scroll for kunais.

    Once a sealing process starts, it is like a tug of war between the chakra of the being that is being sealed and the seal trying to withstand its energy volume. If the seal holds, the being is sealed. If not, the seal gets torn to shreds.

    That was why Kyuubi needed an Uzumaki host and also why Hagoromo used the Moon to seal her. It was not because it seemed cool to him at the moment. Nothing less than a could be used as a medium for the seal to hold Kaguya''s chakra.

    Sealing was still an extremely unfair thing, in Kaguya''s opinion.

    Now that the whole ind was brimming with Kaguya''s chakra, it was an easy task for her to...

    Kaguya lifted her hand and the ind started shaking as if a sudden earthquake hit it. Her chakra was forcefully separating the ind from its connection to the seabed, breaking it and trying to lift the whole mass into the air via her gravity maniption.

    While this was going on, Kaguya could feel the panic that hit the inhabitants of the ind. Some screamed, others were paralyzed from fear, while there were also those who fell on their knees and started praying to their deities for mercy.

    It was quite amusing to Kaguya.

    So much over-exaggeration! She was just relocating the ind, geez!

    She wondered what would have been their reaction if she crumbled it under their feet and letva start to erupt from the ground. Now that would have been a situation proportional to their reactions!

    It took her twenty minutes. Twenty long minutes of tremors and shaking, which spooked the ever-living daylight of the superstitious medieval folk on the ind who thought this was some kind of judgment day, but Kaguya finally managed to loosen the ind from the seabed and started to lift it to the sky.

    Kaguya could have done it faster but the ind was embedded into the seabed quite strongly. Doing it quickly could cause some chasms creating on the ind or even destruction of a few mountain ranges.

    Not that she cared much about the coteral damage but the ind was basically already Rei''s property! It wouldn''t be nice to damage it.

    That would have also caused the crumbling of the buildings built by humans. And since Rei would certainly not appreciate that, Kaguya made sure to be gentle enough and reinforced the buildings, mountain ranges, and the ground of the ind with her chakra while trying to separate it from the seabed.

    Thanks to her efforts, thend and cities did not look devastated like they would after a real earthquake.

    Unlike the separation from the seabed, the lifting of the ind was quite a peaceful process. Kaguya doubted the inhabitants even suspected something was happening with their continent. Especially when most of them were lying on the ground in relief that their world did not end and Gods showed them mercy or some other bullshit.

    Only those living on the edge would have realized the ind was lifting. Others... not so much.

    The process was too steady and nobody witnessing the separation of the shores from the oceans would think or feel something was wrong.

    Which brought up an interesting point. What about the people fishing in the ocean when the ind was being relocated?

    Well, Kaguya had an easy solution to that. She marked their ships and would teleport them around the ind when it was relocated. Until then... the sailors will have to suffer in despair in order to learn not to be at the wrong ce at the wrong time.

    When the whole ind of the size of a small continent was finally above the sea, it suddenly disappeared. Anybody witnessing it wouldter swear that in one second it was there, in the next... nothing.

    After all, why should she physically relocate it when she can just teleport it to her desired location?

 Chapter 385 - Ch385. Training Mission

    The ind appeared north of the Elemental Nations, far enough that nobody on the northern shores could see it but close enough that sea trade would be possible.

    This cement was deliberate since the Vige Hidden on the Other Side was the northernmost settlement of the Elemental Nations.

    Kaguya gently put the ind back into the ocean, taking her time so she wouldn''t create tsunamis since that could be quite a pain in the ass for the Other-sided vige and the Elemental Nations as a whole.

    When the ind was finally settled in the water, Kaguya started embedding it into the seabed to anchor it better. It was an annoying job, but if she didn''t do it, the ind could eventually face quite a few problems.

    She also made sure to align the biggest port on the ind''s side that faced the Elemental Nations with the Vige on the Other Side, making the distance between them short.

    Since nobody would know about the ind for quite a while, Rei definitely wanted hispanies to get some nice trading deals with the countries there before other traders of the Elemental Nations found out about this new juicy opportunity.

    Honestly, Rei was not interested in ruling the ind. There was nothing special in there. No resources, no technology, and not even the people. The popce was backward and superstitious, exactly what one would expect from medieval people.

    They were useless to Rei for the most part.

    A long process of grooming and training would be required to make use of them and frankly, Rei was not inclined to invest the time and resources for that. People of Elemental Nations were sufficient for his vige''s needs.

    It wasn''t like he couldn''t just send his ninjas to secretly create gold and silver mines in the uninhabited mountain ranges of the ind either. One advantage of dealing with a medieval world was that they had no idea about the resources hiding deep in those mountains nor did they have the means to discover them.

    Rei''s ninjas could create these mines quite easily while making hidden outposts and infrastructure for spreading their mission activity all over the ind. After all, having teleportation seals would give them a massive advantage.

    ...

    Rei knew that Kaguya''s work on embedding the ind into the seabed would take time since it was a delicate process. He was definitely not about to wait for her.

    Instead, he took Riful, Isley, and the ymores back to the Vige on the Other Side. The group gawked quite a lot at the buildings and different architecture... and especially at the people jumping from roof to roof with physical prowess, they would expect only from ymore.

    During their walk through the vige, they saw many sights that wowed them and Rei deliberately led them through more shinobi-oriented districts. Showing them that there were other people capable of taking them down if they became rebellious would just increase the future morale.

    In the end, they arrived towards Tsunade''s research center where Rei gave the ymores and two Abyssal Ones into the gentle care of Tsunade who, Rei noticed, already had her hands full with another group of silver-eyed blondes, which surprised not only him but also the ymores he brought with him.

    Realizing Konan was already done with her task, he decided to pay her a visit and ask about her mission.

    Finding her wasn''t hard. In her usual fashion, she was in her office with Izumi, enjoying sake and leisurely talking about the mission.

    This tradition started when Konan had tofort Izumi after she returned from a particrly nasty mission where she was forced to kill an entire orphanage of kids who were made into unthinking and bloodthirsty monsters through experimentation.

    Konan knew talking helped and getting someforting words alongside advice was priceless after such an experience and she would be damned if she didn''t make sure her apprentice was mentally fine.

    "May I join you, girls? I am quite interested in how it went too." Rei quipped as he entered the room before walking towards the table and taking one of the free chairs.

    He didn''t get a verbal answer but Izumi slightly blushed and fidgeted while Konan was already pouring him a ss of sake, showing her consent.

    "The training mission was a massive sess, of course." She said and put the ss in front of Rei, "From the three hundred jonins participating, we only got five injured and zero casualties." Konan huffed.

    "And I reckon these five will be heavily punished." Rei wryly smiled.

    "Naturally." Konan threw a half-hearted re at him, "You know well the only way they could get injured with all the preparations we put in is if they decided to confront their enemies by themselves instead of as a team. There is no ce for foolish personal heroics in our profession."

    Rei decided to take the intelligent way out and stayed quiet about this topic. It made him a bit sheepish. Konan loved to remind him of the time he decided to fight Toneri by himself.

    It worked out itself quite well but Konan was still a bit sullen because of that decision of his.

    He had to agree with her on this, though.

    There were three hundred jonins put into a hundred three-man cells and each cell had either one target or was in reserve for another cell, looking after their backs.

    That made three to six jonins for each ymore.

    Plus the ymores were not all jonin level. Rei would be generous and say that ymores under rank 15 started to gain a measure of jonin level capabilities. But all of those had two teams assigned to deal with them.

    Only the ymores number five to one started to enter or were at S-rank physical capability alongside having some special ability like long-range sensing or regeneration or something else. But those were given to two teams of S-rank ninjas to deal with.

    Getting injured with these kinds of odds?

    Their ninjas were either ipetent or arrogant since ymores in general were just an inferior budget version of ninjas.

    They were very disadvantaged in a fight against ninjas considering theycked Genjutsu and Ninjutsu while their Taijutsu capabilities werergely underdeveloped and unexplored, nor did they receive any sort of extensivebat training.

    Yes, they could fight but their swordsmanship was not impressive. It was a bit sad. Some of them developed a nice move and gained a moniker for it but that was honestly it. ymores depended more on their instincts and brute force to swing their massive swords around. There was not much technique to speak of.

    The only way their highly trained and hardened ninjas who were extremely well-versed in fighting as a team could get injured while fighting a ymore was if they demanded one on onebat and then were arrogant enough to limit themselves to taijutsu, maybe bukijutsu.

    "Just don''t be too harsh on them." Rei weakly tried to make these idiots'' punishment lighter but from the way Konan snorted, he probably just made it worse for them. ''Oh, well...'' He mentally shrugged.

    There was no ce for disobeying orders in a militaristic vige full of trained killers. Their ninjas had a clear order to confront a ymore as a team and capture their target without forcing her to awaken.

    If it was up to Rei, he would punish not only those five individuals but their entire teams for not preventing them from disobeying the orders.

    Rei then turned towards Izumi who quietly observed them with interest written on her face. He and Konan used only three lines but their conversation was mostly non-verbal. Every twitch was a signal for a sufficiently trained ninja. There was no need to say much when they could understand each other with just a look.

    "And you? How was facing Luci?"

    After asking that, Rei''s eyebrows twitched when he saw how Izumi''s smile widened and her eyes suddenly sparkled while she started to open her mouth to answer.

    From her bright expression, he instantly knew Luci''s fate was not enviable....

 Chapter 386 - Ch386. Gotta Force It

    "It was great!" Izumi eximed before her expression slightly dropped and became a bit sullen, "Although, she refused to join us willingly."

    Rei... had no idea what to think about that. He discreetly nced at Konan only to see her subtly shaking her head, signaling that he didn''t want to know.

    There was just a slight problem with that.

    He did want to know.

    "Hm. From your initial reaction, I assume you persuaded her, then?" He asked and smiled when he saw Izumi beamingly nod.

    The way Konan instantly facepalmed at his question was a bit concerning but Rei was a ninja. How bad could it really be?

    "Yes! It took a severe beating and a long session of Tsukuyomi but at longst, I persuaded her toe with me!" Izumi proudly announced, her eyes shining in a clear ''praise me'' light.

    s, Konan decided to give her opinion on the matter, instantly shooting down any chance of Izumi being praised by Rei.

    "The woman is a drooling mess in the corner of one of our better prison cells, rocking herself back and forth while hugging her knees and constantly muttering something about not wanting to be eaten." Konan dryly deadpanned, causing Izumi''s smile to freeze.

    "Well... I might have been a teensy bit heavy-handed." She huffed and crossed her hands on her chest as she looked away in a petnt embarrassment.

    "A teensy bit, you say?" Konan eximed in exasperated disbelief, "Luci will need months of psychological help after what you have done to her."

    "Don''t exaggerate, Master." Izumi grumbled as if she was slighted, "I can give her a therapy worth months of time in under three seconds through the Tsukuyomi."

    Rei winced when he heard that. He knew what Tsukuyomi did and if Izumi really had Luci under its effect for a long time, especially since Luci was no ninja and her spiritual energies were in no way all that much cultivated...

    He doubted the woman would react well to even seeing Izumi, much less being told the Uchiha girl was going to cast the technique on her again.

    Unfortunately, for a good effect of therapy, Luci would have to be rxed and the only way for that to happen inside of Tsukuyomi was to prepare her for it. Meaning, she would have to be told what would be happening and with Tsukuyomi being the reason for her mental breakdown in the first ce... Yeah, there was no way in hell that was gonna happen.

    Rei nced at Konan, seeing she was also looking at him with the corner of her eyes and they silently agreed this was a very bad idea.

    "Out of the question." Konan instantly shot that idea down.

    "Rejected." Rei also said with finality in his tone.

    Needless to say, Izumi wasn''t happy that her idea was refused so readily and showed her displeasure by cutely pouting.

    ...

    With the ind relocated, the Organization purged, and the ymores rounded up, only the hunting of the remaining Yomas needed to be done.

    Obviously, Yomas were not natural beings. They did not breed. There was really only one conclusion from that for someone capable of using his brain.

    The Yomas were either created by someone or brought to the ind from somewhere else.

    Meaning, once the Yomas on the ind get wiped out, there will be no additional problems with intestines-eating monsters.

    Rei and Konan set up some missions for their ninjas to do the work of ymores and hunt down Yomas as an advertisement of a sort for their future ninja business.

    Taking over the Organization''s infrastructure wasn''t that hard and it would provide quite a bit of influence on the ind while it also proved to be a good information-gatheringwork.

    The hunt would be a slow-going process this way and Rei was aware he could have just asked Kaguya to pinpoint the locations of the Yoma and then send people to hunt them down but... why bother?

    With no one creating or importing new Yomas, they will eventually get all hunted down. Rei wasn''t inconvenienced by their existence at all so there was no need to go out of his way to get rid of them. They could not multiply anymore so his ninjas could take their sweet time.

    Should he care that some unfortunate strangers would get devoured by these Yomas in the meantime?

    Pfft. Death was amon urrence in this world. If he tried to prevent every death he could, he wouldn''t even have the time to mofu-mofu with his wives. It was simply not worth it.

    Now that Rei''s intervention in the west was finished, it was once again time to return to the problems at home. Namely...

    Anko being her usual bothersome self as sheined she couldn''t join the intervention in the west since she had to prepare for the invasion with Konoha ninjas and Kin''s inability to cook proper food even if her life depended on it.

    What? The uing Konoha invasion was not a problem. It was an opportunity!

    How often could a guy get a bonafide legitimate reason to invade other viges without the Daimyos and other politicians utterly unable to refute these reasons?

    Rei and Tsunade secretly signed many legal documents, even an alliance between Konoha and the Vige on the Other Side. If somebody wanted to question the legality of their actions afterward, there would be no basis for it.

    Rei knew well what he was nning would definitely be condemned as a nned attack because... that was basically what it was and anybody with half a brain would realize it.

    He only needed a good reason to enact his ns. A reason he could hide behind from all the political bullies. A reason he could put in front of their faces while broadly grinning with the knowledge he was ''technically'' in the right since he ''technically'' did not break any rules.

    After that, it would be just the question of greasing the correct hands and no matter how ufortable the Daimyos would be, with the pressure and assurances of the Biri-Biripany and the Uzushio Trading Company, they would dly look aside for some benefits.

    Rei could understand why Kages got so used to this kind of power. The feeling that he put in motion events that would affect the whole of the Elemental Nations in a very profound way was quite nice. It was a weird mix of pride and calm smugness.

    Frankly put, this feeling was the main reason why the hidden vige system would never work as it was first intended. Too many leaders wanted to stay in power, desiring their vige to be the strongest.

    When Hashirama made Konoha, he aimed to protect the children from needless fighting. The problem was, he forced other ninja ns to form their own viges in order to survive instead of conquering them and bringing them under one banner. This effectively changed the nature of conflict from small-scale skirmishes between ns into bonafide continent-wide wars betweenrge coordinated forces of ninjas.

    As time passed by, to keep themselves going, the viges started to propagate their respective Wills like Will of Fire or Will of Rock...

    It was just in old brainwashing to safeguard the loyalty of their ninjas since the higher-ups could no longer depend on n pride and the feeling of belonging since they had ninjas from more than just one n under themselves.

    And because of these ''Wills'', the viges often fought for... nothing. Their reasons for fighting could be summed up in revenge, power, nationality, and just because.

    They often said it was to get morend, more resources but that was just in bullshit.

    There was nothing productive in any ninja war so far. Each started because of some small-scale conflict or event that would in no way cause a war if the people did not actually want one, and by the end of the war, all viges were in a heavy deficit of resources and ninjas.

    There were no official winners of the war and while Konoha would like to believe they have won every one of them, if one looked at how much they lost during the war, it would be obvious they were far from winners.

    There was no winner in any of these wars.

    It seemed the viges fought more to keep each other weakened rather than to get something out of it. It was dumb and ruined so much research and potential for development it was not even funny.

    Rei managed to create a vige that surpassed every other in under a decade and he did so by gathering stray ns and rogue ninjas, training them, and providing them an environment where they were forced to grow stronger.

    There was nothing ''special'' about Rei''s vige. Yes, his seals contributed a lot but in the end, any hidden vige had the potential to aplish the same thing. They were just too caught up in the cold war against each other and too unwilling to upset the fragile status quo to even try.

    This simply had to stop but Rei was quite aware it wouldn''t happen just because he wished it. No. If he wanted to aplish that, he had to force it.

    And that was exactly what he was nning to do.

 Chapter 387 - Ch387. Spoiled Mei

    Rei returned back to Konoha a week before the Chunin Exam finals while Tsunade stayed back to study both ymores and Yomas.

    Last he heard from her, she was checking up on re because the girl confessed to having the flesh of another ymore imnted in her instead of the flesh of Yoma like other ymores.

    Tsunade was gushing about some mad Orochimaru-level experiment that would bring that ymore back from the dead since her soul was somehow preserved in the flesh imnted in re or something.

    Rei didn''t spend enough time thinking about it to understand how it came to be but it was a quite peculiar thing, but considering there are Jutsu capable of reviving others in various forms... He wasn''t really surprised.

    Nevertheless, Tsunade was too busy trying to create a body for her dead-rising project.

    The fact she was not needed in her own vige when it was about to face invasion spoke a lot about how her reforms improved Konoha. The vige was capable of fully functioning even without her input and Tsunade had full trust in Shikaku to prepare the best defense n he could pull out of his ass on such short notice.

    It didn''t matter that they only got to know about the invasion a month prior. Konoha was ready, be it for invasion or war. Tsunade survived two wars in her lifetime and in both Konoha was scrambling to get everything ready even after the war had already broken out.

    She didn''t want her vige to suffer from something simr and as such, she hoarded a lot of supplies... just in case.

    It really helped that with her position as the CEO of the Biri-Biripany, she could have these purchases off the books so nobody got rmed because Konoha was arming up.

    Because of the uing invasion, everybody was more or less busy.

    Temari was ''training'' for the Chunin Exam finals... which meant she was making sure that Suna ANBU was ready for their own role in the conflict, using the time and the excuse of training to not be missed by anyone.

    Pakura and Ringo were simrly caught up in preparations and while Pakura was having the time of her life, enjoying the task immensely, Ringo sullenly informed Rei she was not on speaking terms with him until the invasion.

    She hated every second of these tedious preparations and ording to her, it was Rei''s fault since he convinced her to be the Mizukage.

    Well... Rei decided to ignore her. She was clearly in her petnt mood. It would pass. As always.

    Kaguya had her hands full with her first subordinate Riful. Funnily enough, she took Rei''s joke seriously and was ''supervising'' Riful''s cooking lessons.

    Meaning, she was just taste-testing everything Riful made as she learned to cook for her new mistress.

    Rei found it quite hrious so he graciously sent Kin to apany Riful in her task.

    They were simr in a way... both utterly ipetent at cooking. Riful was Yoma and her usual eating habits had to do with raw human intestines, the more bloody the better. Not the tastiest thing for someone with human taste buds.

    Honestly, Yoma could eat human food. Most just didn''t see the appeal and Riful was firmly in this category. She hasn''t eaten anything that wasn''t human for centuries. Expecting her to be able to cook human food when she had no idea how it should even taste was... Well, Kaguya had her moments.

    As for Kin, she was just hopelessly bad at cooking. No excuse there.

    Needless to say, Kaguya was getting more and more frustrated by the day but she was stubborn and refused to give up.

    Unfortunately for both Riful and Kin, that meant they could not give up until they made something Kaguya would find tasty. An arduous task, Rei was sure.

    And who knows? Maybe repeating the process a few hundreds of times will make Kin at least passable at cooking something easy like... omelet. Maybe she would even finally learn to not include the eggshells in it.

    Everybody being busy except him was a very weird feeling for Rei since it was usually him who was upied with some projects while others had a huge amount of free time.

    When Rei reached the Senju Compound, he only found Mei who was sitting in the living room, supremely bored.

    She was stationed in Konoha for this month, just in case somebody got trigger happy and attacked before the Chunin Exam finals, and from her cutely scowling expression, Rei quickly gathered she didn''t like her time in Konoha much.

    Mei and boredom were never a good mix so Rei decided to start a conversation.

    "Hi, Mei. Where is Anko? It is somewhat empty here." He said, sitting behind the table, opposite to Mei who instantly straightened up from surprise.

    Rei chuckled at her reaction. She was so bored she started zooming out and didn''t notice him. That was a bit ridiculous considering Mei was a powerful sensor capable of knowing everything that was going on in the entire vige to a disgusting degree but when she was bored, it was hriously easy to sneak up on her.

    "Ah? Anko?" "She eximed, a blush coloring her cheeks.

    Rei smiled. She probably felt embarrassed at being sneaked upon again. Tsunade and Konan in particr were giving Mei a hard time because of this habit of hers for the longest time.

    "Something about needing to heal her broken bones after I dragged her for a spar since I was bored. I haven''t seen her for three days already." Mei nonchntly shrugged, trying to suppress her blush and y off the entire thing as if it never happened.

    It did not work, to be honest. But Rei didn''t mind her slip in attention. She was just a human. Not a machine. He, however, had a different thing that worried him.

    "Mei?" Rei uneasily asked, not knowing if he really wanted to know the answer to his next question but... he was too curious. "Just how much did you injure her?"

    "Er... Let''s see." Mei put her pointing finger on her chin and scrunched her nose in concentration, "There were four breaks in her spine." She nodded to herself in silent praise at remembering that while Rei promptly facepalmed. That already sounded quite fatal and she was starting with it? Did he even want to know what was to follow?

    Mei did not notice Rei''s inner turmoil and continued, "Then her left shin was shattered and her pelvis cracked... that one was an ident though." She innocently smiled. For some reason, Rei was really not buying it. "And then her right arm had seven clean breaks and her left shoulder..."

    "Okay. I get it. You totally wrecked her. No wonder she is not here, telling one dirty joke after another. The poor woman is probably making a nuisance out of herself in the hospital." Rei sighed, stopping her exnation.

    Now that he thought about it, he didn''t want to know...

    "Muu~," Mei pouted, "she was supposed to be Tsunade''s apprentice so I was a bit rougher with her." She then beamed and hit her chest with her fist in a reassuring and confident manner, "No worries, though. She will heal and I went a bit easier on her teammate."

    Rei''s lips twitched, "A... teammate?"

    Anko was not the only casualty?

    "Yup. Some spiky white-haired dude wearing a face mask." Mei causally shrugged, oozing disappointment, "I got interested in what he had under that mask but he refused to tell or show me so I was forced to beat him until he could no longer move but... he was just hiding a Sharingan. Boring!" She childishly eximed and stretched her limbs like a child throwing a tantrum.

    "You poor baby. I can''t even imagine how much that made you suffer." Rei said in a mock-understanding manner. He was quite sure Anko and Kakashi suffered much, much worse than whatever disappointment Mei felt and the fact she acted as if Kakashi wronged her because he was hiding ''only'' a Sharingan...

    ''Sigh. I have spoiled her..'' Rei inwardly ruefully shook his head.

 Chapter 388 - Ch388. Tsunade Back In Konoha

    The Chunin Exam finals were almost upon Konoha and it could be seen from how much the traffic inside the vige increased.

    One could meet all sorts of people in the streets of Konoha. Rich, foreigners, nobles, businessmen, craftsmen... they were all here to witness the Chunin Exams. Admittedly, it was not just because of these Exams that Konoha was brimming with people.

    If Rei had to pick one thing Tsunade was best at, it would surprisingly not be drinking or even healing. It would be making money.

    She quickly used the fact that the Chunin Exam is usually the only time a hidden vige opens its gates to foreigners and with her influence as Nadetsu Juusen, she made a co-operation between the Biri-Biripany and Konoha to hold several events during these Exams.

    She had set up several auctions, theater ys, invited many renowned craftsmen from both the Land of Fire and countries affiliated with the Biri-Biripany, hired the best chefs to cook food in the best restaurants in Konoha during these events, heck... even brothels were better decorated than usual and prepared for arge influx of customers.

    Of course, this was Tsunade and that meant Konoha gained several gambling dens just for this asion.

    There was a lot of preparation and all of it was geared to ensure Konoha would immensely financially profit from the fact many foreigners, of which most were important nobles or merchants, were in the vige.

    The Chunin Exams were simply the best opportunity for such a thing. It was a wonder why no Kage tried this approach. After all, this one event could bring more money to the vige than a year-long effort on missions.

    The funny thing was... the deal was signed between Nadetsu Juusen and Tsunade Senju. From an outside perspective, it all seemed good and legit. Two leaders made a deal. right?

    But Rei could only facepalm when he was informed about it. The deal was legal and nobody could gain-say it but... sigh. It wouldn''t be Tsunade if she didn''t find a legal loophole to earn herself some gambling money.

    Naturally, the deal was beneficial for both Konoha and the Biri-Biripany but it was even more beneficial for both Nadetsu Juusen and Tsunade Senju.

    The person who will get her overinted share of the profits. Twice.

    Once for each of her identities.

    On another note, with the Chunin Exams so close, Tsunade was forced to stop her experiments for a moment ande back to Konoha.

    After all, she was still Konoha''s Daimyo and it would not do for her to not be present. Rei didn''t envy her the responsibilities of a Daimyo. She had to greet and wee every visiting Daimyo, show courtesy to the important foreign nobles, take care of their well-being, set up a good hotel for them...

    And so the list went.

    Needless to say, Tsunade wasn''t very happy about it either but it is what it is.

    With her return, the quiet Senju Compound became lively and hectic again. Anko returned from the hospital, fully healed, and being her usual annoying self. Karin and Naruto were having a bonding experience... which meant Karin was nagging Naruto until he decided to run for it and hide.

    Unfortunately for the sucker, Karin had the Kagura''s Mind Eye and it never took her long to find him.

    Rei wondered why Naruto did not think of chakra suppressing seals that would allow him to evade Karin since he was quite gifted in the sealing arts. Now, Rei was in dilemma because of that. On one hand, he could tell Naruto and end his suffering or he could just keep quiet and enjoy his suffering.

    Heh, of course, he wouldn''t tell him.

    After all, it was a great learning experience for the boy!

    Temari and Pakura also arrived in Konoha and were housed in the Senju Compound, both staying very close to Rei since their arrival. Not that he wouldin about that. He liked their definition of ''close''.

    The problem was that Mei wanted to get some Rei-time for herself too and the three women started half-heartedly bickering among themselves to pass the time. It would have been fine if they didn''t do something that drove any man caught in the womanly crossfire sparse.

    When Mei in the middle of their verbal spat turned to Rei and asked, "What do you think?", he froze.

    When he noticed that all three women suddenly directed their full attention towards him and expectantly waited for an answer. Obviously, each wanted to hear a different answer so this was a total dick move from Mei as far as Rei was concerned.

    There was really only one correct answer to that.

    And so, Rei confusedly asked back, "What are you arguing about again?"

    It took a few more times before the three women realized Rei would not participate in their argument but Rei eventually reimed his peace back.

    Sadly, Konan was not yet in Konoha because she had to deal with the administrative problems regarding the three domesticated Yoma and the ymores.

    If she was present, Rei had no doubt she would have protected him from the emotional bullies! She knew how to smack them just right to get her point across.

    Rei sorely missed this ability of hers. Especially when it came to his women. As such, he had to resort to ignoring them until they got bored.

    The one difference in the Senju Compound was the presence of Tsunade''s newest experiment.

    Her name was Teresa and she was the ymore whose flesh was used to ''mutate'' re into ymore.

    Honestly, the fact Tsunade managed to revive her in under a week and a half was mind-boggling but here she was. Alive and breathing again.

    That said, the woman didn''t look good. She was akin to a starved rat.

    Her limbs were twig-like and thin, her stomach was as sunken as her cheeks and eyes, and she was always gritting her teeth because of the perpetual pain she was feeling.

    Being dead for well over a decade had its consequences and since Tsunade did not ''sacrifice'' anything to bring Teresa back, the ymore was more like a walking corpse at the moment.

    It was fine though. Tsunade reassured everyone that Teresa would eventually regain her physical fitness. Her body simply needed time and healing.

    Her mind, however, was worse. Her mind was fractured and she didn''t remember much from her ''past'' life. When re first met her, she tried to hug her and that made Teresa freak out because she had no idea who re was.

    re wasn''t very happy about that...

    The problem with Teresa''s mind was that she was dead for too long. Her ''soul'' might have been bound to the flesh imnted in re... somehow. But ording to Tsunade, her mind was preserved as a spiritual essence and after such a long time without a proper anchor... well, Teresa''s mind did not take it well.

    The fact that ymores leaned towards physical energy and had extremely underdeveloped spiritual energy did not help her case.

    Nobody knew if she would regain all or only some of her memories. The only certainty was that Teresa would eventually remember at least a bit of her past life.

    This method of self-revival was firmlybeled as unreliable because of the consequences it had on Teresa. It was also because of these consequences that Teresa was staying with Tsunade and was ''under observation'' for the time being.

    For all they knew, her body could crumble at any given moment from how weak it was currently. She really needed a doctor to be always near her.

    That made Rei wonder when he became a medic-nin since it was him who was ying nanny for Teresa while Tsunade was dealing with her responsibilities as a Daimyo.

 Chapter 389 - Ch389. A Procession

    Rei sat on a roof of a house, blending in with the hundreds of other Konoha ninjas while looking at the street leading from the Hokage Tower towards the arena where the finals would take ce.

    The street was full of civilians standing on the left and right sides, eagerly watching the procession that was currently going on.

    This was Tsunade''s idea on how to properly greet the foreign Kages and show them and their viges respect. Doing it separately for each of them when they arrived in Konoha would have been a bother so this way, everybody would be announced and introduced to the crowd while walking from the Hokage Tower towards the arena.

    It did wonders for the Kages'' feelings of self-importance.

    The Raikage... Rei had to sigh and shake his head in exasperation as the massive musclehead soaked the attention of the crowd, visibly feeling smug all the while Killer B was beside him, rapping and ''dancing'' his way through the procession.

    Rei had no idea which one of them was the bigger clown.

    Sure, the civilians were finding them cool but... he wondered why the two were not feeling even a shred of embarrassment.

    From what Rei heard, Tsunade had to let him go first in the procession because he wouldn''t have it any other way. Fortunately, the Tsuchikage had a bit more political understanding and that made him reserved about this procession so he didn''t demand to go first too.

    The midget Tsuchikage walked silently, not bothering to greet the crowd but Rei noticed he was a bit straighter and his nose was just a tad bit held higher than usual as he strutted through the street alongside his guards.

    The next leader was a shock for everyone gathered who didn''t have previous intel. The man who came out of the Hokage Tower next, walking like a snake stalking his prey with a smirk on his face as the crowd booed and jeered, was Orochimaru in his role as the Otokage.

    Because of thews that safeguarded the visiting Kages, he couldn''t really be touched despite his status as a rogue ninja. It would have brought a lot of problems for Konoha if he died inside of the vige during this event.

    Tsunade found it funny that he had the balls to show up in his capacity as Otokage but since he did, she would wee him with open arms and a promise of removing his manhood if he tried something.

    Both just cordially smiled at each other, both knowing Orochimaru showed up only because he wanted to ''try something''. But at least his arrival was peaceful because neither wanted to break the appearances.

    As such, here he was, walking through the crowd of angry people and seeming to enjoy every second of it.

    To be fair, Orochimaru mostly ignored the crowd and with the corner of his eyes looked towards the balcony where Konoha n heads were gathered. There, Hiruzen Sarutobi was trying tobust him with his gaze with the sheer rage it conveyed.

    No wonder the Snake Sannin had the time of his life.

    There was a reason why Tsunade let these three go first and the reason became apparent when the next group appeared from the Hokage tower.

    Pakura with grumpy Sasori beside her, acting as her guard, Ringo with Raiga, and Shikaku, guarded by no one since there were hundreds of Konoha shinobi all around, walked out side by side.

    The crowd raged in excitement, apuding the loudest simply because this was Konoha so most of them were Konoha''s civilians and the Hokage was walking in front of them.

    Shikaku was surprisingly a very well-liked Hokage by both ninjas and civilians. A part of it was Tsunade''s reforms and the bit of credit he got for enacting them as his Daimyo wanted but other than that, Shikaku really tried to be a good leader and it was felt by Konoha''s inhabitants.

    Neither of these three Kages showed any visible reaction to the crowd''s loud cheering though.

    Ringo looked fed-up, barely holding herself from scowling as Raiga boredly followed her, Pakura was too serious for her own good, showing a strong front for the crowd while Sasori was visibly annoyed, and Shikaku... he just sluggishly walked forward, his head dropping low every so often as if he was about to fall asleep.

    It was the ninjas, especially the experienced veterans who understood how politics worked and how they affected their work and the dynamics between the viges, that looked shocked when the three leaders appeared side by side.

    It was a clear message of their uing alliance and that spelled future conflict. And if the majority of Konoha ninjas were shocked, the other foreign ninjas were pale as snow and shitting their pants.

    Rei inwardly snickered, knowing exactly which ''civilians'' were just infiltrators from Kumo and Iwa. Their expressions were priceless as they realized they might be fucked.

    Unfortunately for them, it was toote to call off their n and their respective leaders were already almost near the arena. Even if Tsuchikage and Raikage were informed of this and got spooked, they had to attend the Chunin Exam finals. They had no time scrambling in order to change the n, much less fully call it off at this stage.

    Naturally, the entire procession was just one big farce.

    Tsunade simply wanted to show that Konoha is the ''bigger man'' and can show respect to the other Kages. No other vige had such a grand wee for the visiting Kages during their own Chunin Exams either.

    In short, it was also a flex.

    Tsunade was subtly showing to foreigners that Konoha was better than them. That it was a ''good'' vige.

    Considering she was currently seated on a balcony belonging to a luxurious restaurant with many visiting Daimyos as they watched the procession... There certainly was merit in keeping up these appearances.

    Unsurprisingly, neither the Daimyo of Lightning nor the Daimyo of Earth showed up. But... who cared, right?

    Frankly, Rei knew Pakura and Ringo should be offended by this move but he knew they wouldn''t care. Kiri and Suna were always more secretive in nature. They did not care much for prestige. They had their reputation and one procession would not affect that.

    They just found the entire thing bothersome to the extreme.

    ...

    The procession finally ended and what followed was an hour full of people moving to the arena and finding seats while Daimyos used a special entrance to get to the VIP area that also served as a restaurant in case they got hungry during the matches.

    Kages were already seated in their own area, Tsuchikage stoic and Raigake disgruntled. They did not appreciate it when the Mizukage, Kazekage, and Hokage showed up together.

    Rei sat with Konan in the VIP area for Daimyos. She was not officially a Kage so she didn''t go and sit with them despite being the representative of Uzushio. It was also a bit of security assurance for Tsunade.

    After all, if the Daimyos got hurt in the uing upheaval, it would be bad for Konoha even if it came out of it unscathed. Konan was mostly there to protect them.

    When everybody was seated, Tsunade finally stood up, slowly trailed her gaze over the crowd until it quieted down, and then she smiled before eximing,

    "Let the Konoha''s Chunin Exam finals begin!"

 Chapter 390 - Ch390. The Finalists

    Rei watched as the proctor stepped inside of the arena, followed by the chunin wannabes.

    The proctor was surprisingly Hayate Gekko. Since Suna was not going to invade, there was nobody to kill the guy so he got the position.

    Of course, with how tight the security was in Konoha and with the number of seals strewn around the vige, if any Konoha ninja was attacked in Konoha, the ce would be teeming with Konoha ninjas a few secondster.

    Rei really had no idea how Baki could kill Hayate in the middle of Konoha with no one the wiser as to what happened. Konoha was supposed to be a freaking ninja vige and they had no one and nothing watching over foreign ninjas in their territory? They allowed a murder of their ninja to happen inside of their vige right after Orochimaru killed a team from Taki... inside of their vige?

    When he saw that scene in his past life, Rei didn''t really care or think about it but now he had a bit more knowledge about how hidden viges worked, or rather, how they should work. He couldn''tprehend how ipetent Konoha''s higher-ups must have been to allow for that to happen twice in a row.

    Once would have been understandable. Especially if the killer was Orochimaru. The problem still was that no one knew about him... which meant there was no sufficient revamp of security after his defection... but it was understandable.

    But after that, Konoha''s ANBU should have been everywhere.

    How could a guy die in the middle of the vige with no one witnessing it?

    Rei awkwardly smiled and decided to forego that trail of thoughts as it led to nowhere. He still threw a nce at Hiruzen who seemed frustrated, trying not to re at Orochimaru sitting in the Kage area.

    Looking back towards the arena, Rei noticed the finalists were finally gathered.

    There was the entire Team Sevenposed of Hinata Hyuuga, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha.

    This made Tsunade smug and gleeful. The kids had no chance against half of the contestants but the fact they all made it to the finals with this kind ofpetition was enough for their promotion.

    They did not know it yet but they would be bing chunins after this no matter what. Not because they deserved it but because they pleased their superior.

    Pakura, Ringo, and Konan surprisingly found amon front as they quickly told Tsunade it was a disgusting show of favoritism but her answer was simple.

    She simply scoffed and said, "I am the Daimyo, I can favor whoever I want."

    And that was the end of that discussion.

    Not that Pakura could reallyin. It was obvious she favored Sabaku siblings heavily.

    Ringo might not have favorites nor did Rei think she really cared what Tsunade did with Team Seven. She probablyined just for the sake ofining.

    And Konan... she had that, ''I approve but publicly showing it would be beneath me'' kind of smile as she verbally dressed Tsunade down.

    It didn''t really matter. Tsunade was in the right. Everyone had favorites.

    If favoritism didn''t exist, Hiruzen Sarutobi would have never be Hokage. Danzo Shimura would have never gotten a chance to reach so high in the vige ranks. Koharu and Homura would have never be the Hokage advisors. Jiraiya would probably still be strong but there was no way he would have been a seal master, and Orochimaru would probably never be a psychopath.

    Having talent was nice but it was the resources Hiruzen gave thesest two that enabled them to be the powerhouses they were now.

    In one way or another, a significant part of the ability to reach so high was due to the favoritism of a kind. But nobody wanted to be called out on it and in some cases, some people loved to use ''I can''t favor anyone because of my high position'' as a good excuse for the naive folk who actually believed such bullshit.

    Next to Team Seven stood Yakumo Kurama as the only finalist from Team Eight. From what Rei heard from Tsunade, Kurenai was a bit disgruntled her boys did not pass but she was equally delighted her favorite student got into finals.

    This past month, Yakumo was having an intense training schedule, probably making her berate her past self for passing. After all, Kurenai did learn some extreme yet effective training methods from her apprenticeship under Tsunade.

    Thest Konoha finalist was Shikamaru Nara who boredly stared at the clouds.

    Shikaku couldn''t have been prouder when he saw the expression of utter boredom and disinterest on his son''s face. He was a true Nara indeed.

    Then there were the two finalists from Kirigakure. Haku Yuki and Chojuro.

    Chojuro had a bountiful month under Raiga''s not-so-tender care because Ringo could not be bothered to train her genins even if she really wanted to win the bets against Rei''s other girls.

    As for a Kage training a genin? Ringo was thest person to bother with the opinion of others.

    Haku, however, got a teacher in the form of Yuriko Yukimi so there was a chance he would learn Snow Sage Mode from her if he impressed her enough.

    Naturally, Yuriko came to teach him only because she owed Ringo a favor. For some reason, Rei doubted Haku got such a treatment for free but he didn''t pry.

    Suna was represented by Gaara and Temari.

    Pakura had a lot of trust in Temari and Rei had to admit, it wasn''t unfounded. Temari was very strong but he wondered how she would fare against the Uzushio team since they were as young as her but also as talented.

    As for Gaara... he was fine. Since there was no Rasa and Shukaku to mentally torture the kid, he was just that. A kid. Pakura did train him to one day effectively wield Shukaku''s power but she wasn''t overdoing it nor was she trying to make him into some kind of weapon.

    Hence, his ''youth'' was preserved.

    Thest participants were the Uzushio team. Kimimaro was stoic, Tayuya was arrogantly smirking, thinking this would be a breeze, and Karin was nervous because she knew well neither of Rei''s girls were nice people.

    She totally expected some kind of ''screw you'' from this tournament since she doubted Tsunade would allow S-ranks facing genins from her vige. Especially since from what she has seen, the Konoha kids were exactly that. Talented but still genins who at best were chunin level.

    And while Karin had no idea how Tsunade would deal with this problem, her gut feelings were telling her she would not like it.

    Neither Kumo nor Iwa were represented in the tournament but both Tsuchikage and Raikage got invitations to the event because tradition dictated so. Nobody expected them to show up for obvious reasons but... since they dide, Tsunade weed them.

    If she didn''t know their scheme, she would have been nervous but since Konan was such a good spy, there was nothing to worry about.

    Rei wondered what face they would show after seeing these ''young talents''...

    He looked back at the teens in the arena and smirked. Some were indifferent, some nervous, others looked resigned, a few were all fired up, and one or two simply did not care.

    Neither of them knew who they would fight. During the past month, they had to scramble to gather intel on every participant and prepare ordingly for every eventuality. It was an impossible task, which was supposed to put them under a lot of pressure and stress while simting a situation before a true battle to the death in the field.

    The Chunin Exam finals started the second the preliminaries ended. The participants were just not told.

    ---

    Author Note:

    I am sorry if some of you might know this chapter was just one useless filler but I have to think about those who do not keep what happened previously in the story in their brain.. I thought re-introducing the participants would be best for the start of the Chunin Exams arc.

 Chapter 391 - Ch391. The First Figth 1

    Hayate approached the finalists and coughed.

    "The first match will be between Hyuuga Hinata and Kurama Yakumo. The two participants please prepare yourself for the fight. The others please proceed to the waiting area."

    The arena cleared out except for Hayato, Hinata, and Yakumo and Rei raised his eyebrows at this match-up.

    "I see what is going on here." He deadpanned and his eyes trailed over to Tsunade who sat on the other end of the arena and was looking straight at him with a smirk. "Random matchmaking, my ass." He silently mouthed and her eyes gleamed while her smirk widened and became smugger.

    Of course, since she did not ''cheat'' in the same way as Konan, Pakura, and Ringo, she had to resort to other means.

    The match started silently, both Hinata and Yakumo got to their designated spots and Hyate raised his hand in a sign he was about to start it.

    There was no jeering, no initial pre-fight banter aiming to get an emotional response... just two determined kunoichi prepared to face each other as they measured the other with their eyes. In a way, it was exactly how the start of a fight between two ''noble'' n heiresses should look.

    Rei had no doubt the Hyuuga Elders would have been frothing from their mouths if Hinata started vulgarly insulting her opponent.

    Hayate''s arm fell down and the fight started as he jumped back.

    The two kunoichi instantly sprang into action, Hinata rushing at Yakumo while Yakumo tried to widen the distance between them by jumping back as she reached into her pocket, taking out a storage scroll, and summoning... nothing.

    Hinata did not stop even for a second because of what happened. She threw senbons at Yakumo and tried to close the gap between them but Kurenai''s training showed and Yakumo nimbly evaded each of them with a great efficiency usually not seen in genins, keeping her distance from Hinata as they ran all over the arena in this cat and mouse game.

    ''A genjutsu, eh?'' Rei inwardly hummed, looking to the side at Konan who seemed to be very impressed with the Yakumo girl''s ability. The flicker was brief before it was covered by the smoke from the storage scroll opening but Yakumo did take out something small and instantly used it for her Jutsu at such a speed, it seemed as if her summoning failed.

    Unfortunately for Hinata, she was not using her Byakugan yet. Whether it was because of some misjudged Hyuuga pride, the Elders expected her to beat her opponent without it, or because she was trying to bait the genjutsu user... Rei had no idea why.

    It was, however, exceedingly arrogant, in his opinion.

    The two girls darted all over the arena with such speeds, the civilian audience had a hard time following them with their eyes, creating many surprised exmations of astonishment from the crowd.

    Even the ninja audience was impressed. This was not the speed a genin was supposed to possess. The two girls were obviously cut far above their peers and theirbat ability was too good for their ranks.

    And yet... only the most experienced ninjas noticed Yakumo, the real Yakumo, not the genjutsu ''clone'' that Hinata was chasing, sitting on the edge of the arena, hidden behind a tree and furiously doing some finishing touches on the pre-drawn picture of the arena.

    "She has quite developed control over her bloodline. I doubt that Hyuuga girl could see through this particr genjutsu even if she was using her Byakugan." Konan suddenly spoke as she observed the match.

    Obviously, the ''perfect'' genjutsu of the Kurama n had some ws since the n was never well-known. If it was as unbeatable as it was hyped up to be in rumors, it wouldn''t have been Uchihas who dominated the genjutsu field in Konoha...

    But since Hyuugas depended on their eyes entirely too much, Kurama nsmen were their hard counter, considering their use of sight as the main medium for their genjutsu that was simply too subtle for a Hyuuga to detect just with eyesight, no matter how good it was.

    The trick was using more senses in tandem to beat this level of genjutsu but... that was a technique far above genin or chunin levels of ability.

    Then again, the girl was just a genin and Rei could see even some jonin affected by her wide-area genjutsu covering the entire arena. Her skill with her bloodline was more than just praiseworthy.

    Rei doubted Hinata would be able to see through Yakumo''s genjutsu even with her Byakugan. Yakumo was not trying to influence Hinata with her chakra. Instead, she was directly creating illusions over the surrounding area through her bloodline. At best, a skilled Byakugan user could see the area being a bit richer in ambient chakra.

    "Kurenai definitely showed the girl how to fight a Byakugan user with genjutsu. Considering Yakumo''s bloodline is genjutsu-based and counters their bloodline..." Rei shrugged.

    It was obvious Yakumo was far too well prepared for facing the best genjutsu detection bloodline in the vige. He wondered if Kurenai prepared Yakumo for all participants to such a degree in hopes the girl would win.

    "Heh," Konan chuckled, "what a tant show of favoritism."

    From her tone it was obvious she meant it as praise. A jonin instructor was supposed to train their charges and Yakumo clearly hit jackpot with how willing Kurenai was to train her.

    "Well, considering Anko is Kurenai''s best friend and she thinks of Hinata as her ''apprentice''... Kurenai most likely knew Anko would b about Yakumo''s abilities and strengths, maybe even help Hinata develop a way to fight it." Rei added with a wry smile.

    "Ah. So this is basically a fight between Anko and Kurenai to see who can prepare their protege better." Konan nodded in understanding, finding it amusing. Anko was stronger than Kurenai but Kurenai was definitely the better teacher of the two. That would even the odds.

    She started contemting if Hinata was not using her bloodline because of some other purpose than in old arrogance.

    In the arena, Yakumo was finished with her painting and grinned to herself in relief. She was on edge during thesest five minutes, always wondering if her pre-drawn genjutsu picture would hold against Hinata but fortunately, it did despite not being perfect.

    When Yakumo heard her opponent was to be the Hyuuga heiress, she was a bit shaken. Sure, she had a n against her since she was one of the very few individuals on whom intel could be gained quite ''easily'' in Konoha, but Hyuugas were always hard opponents for genjutsu users.

    Fighting Hinata meant that over eighty percent of her Jutsu repertoire became t-out useless. Taijutsu was also a no-go because while she became a lot more capable in a physical fight since she started training under Kurenai, she was still a bit on the frailer side for a kunoichi.

    Funnily enough, the more she exercised her body, the more her ''Yang'' rose but much to her frustration, this also increased her ''Yin'' exponentially as it tried to attain the previous bnce. Hence, the more she tried to get physically better, the more potent her genjutsu became and her body improved only very slightly.

    It was driving Yakumo mad.

    There was no way she would have won against a trained Hyuuga in a physical fight unless the Hyuuga in question missed both eyes, at least one arm, and one leg.

    It was sad but that was the truth and she had to deal with it. That didn''t mean she could not send a heated re at her genjutsu projection Hinata was chasing. Being fit enough to have that kind of speed... a girl could dream.

    On the other hand, Hinata had that kind of speed.

    The second she saw that, Yakumo huffed and decided to be extra vindictive with her next move, resulting in her picture being a bit more... dangerous.

    The only effective thing Yakumo had left was her bloodline. She was never so d she listened to Kurenai and experimented to what degree she could pre-draw a picture for it to be still usable in a fight.

    Knowing she would be fighting in Konoha''s arena was a very big help.

    ''I''d like to see some burning fit person.'' She thought and started channeling her chakra into the picture with the arena up in mes, using her bloodline to weave an intricate and realistic illusion all over the surroundings.

    The second Yakumo''s chakra red, Hinata''s entire body jerked to a halt, her eyes widening as she realized the ''Yakumo'' in front of her was not real. Before she could do anything, however...

    Heat engulfed her.

 Chapter 392 - Ch392. The First Figth 2

    Rei watched as roaring mes suddenly engulfed the whole arena, mes that someone with Yakumo''s chakra reserves would be never able to use.

    It frankly reminded him a bit about Madara''s Great Fire Annihtion. Sure, the mes were a lot weaker, had a lot less chakra in them, but the volume... their volume was astonishing.

    His mind started going a mile a minute, thinking about how this ability could be used to its best potential.

    "Holy shit." He dryly stated after a while, the mes still going wild in the arena, stunning the audience into horrified silence. "The Kurama girl is basically using the first principle of the Creation of All Things. She is instinctively turning spiritual energy and giving it a form."

    Yin created a form and Yang gave life to said form. That was the Creation of All Things in a nutshell. It was obviously much moreplicated than that but this was simply ridiculous. Nobody knew what exactly made the Kurama n''s bloodline so special.

    Now, Rei discovered the truth and even he was bbergasted.

    "No wonder their genjutsu is rumored to be unbreakable." Konan wryly smiled.

    Most ninjas never even started Yin and Yang maniption. Even those ''skilled'' by the standards of the Elemental Nations in these two things, barely scratched the surface. Beating something one did not even start to understand was... improbable.

    "It would most likely take a Mangekyo Sharingan to break out of it if one has no idea about Yin maniption." Konan continued. Yakumo definitely gained her attention.

    The things she could aplish if she gained an understanding of how her ability worked...

    Hearing Konan, Rei chuckled, calmly looking into the arena with an amused glint in his eyes as he spotted something interesting. "That or..." He trailed off and Konan''s eyes slightly widened as the arena exploded in a blue vortex of spinning tornado-like chakra.

    The chakra whirled around in a massive imitation of the Hyuuga Kaiten technique, except, it was not concentrated in a small area around the user who instead, a massive whirlwind was sent outwards without much control.

    The reason why Rei was amused was that he noticed a certain thing in the technique.

    Gravity Maniption.

    The thirteen years old Hinata Hyuuga did not have enough chakra to create a vortex spanning the entire arena so the reason why this was happening should naturally be something else than her ability.

    And when Rei looked closer, he could see a hint of blue in Hinata''s Byakugan while some subconscious Gravity Maniption was imbued in the technique.

    "Really interesting. I wonder if this is the result of Tsunade''s special training regime she was giving the girl through Anko." Rei mumbled to himself with amusementcing his voice.

    The one person with the most knowledge in ''evolving'' bloodlines was Tsunade and considering who was the teacher of Hinata''s teacher, the culprit for this situation was obvious.

    "I really envy her." Konan suddenly spoke as she watched the heavy chakra-powered winds whirl in the arena, causing the audience to hold tightly to their seats because of how windy it was all around.

    Rei looked at Konan who gave him a small awkward smile. "I just thought about what we were doing at her age. Thirteen and already creating a spectacle like this? The girl is gonna be famous."

    "You of all people are going toin about the power of a bloodline?" Rei dryly deadpanned.

    "Hush you." Konan giggled, "Just because my bloodline is strong doesn''t mean I can''t envy others."

    Rei rolled his eyes at her and redirected his attention back to the match since the whirlwind of winds and chakra was finally calming down.

    The arena was devastated. The tree inside was uprooted and the ground sported shallow gashes.

    In the middle of this devastation was Hinata, standing and supporting her body with her hands on her knees as she panted from exertion. Her body sported slight burns all over as did her clothes and the girl was obviously wincing from the pain.

    Yakumo certainly intended to cook her and that made Hinata feel no remorse for what she had done.

    It was clear that this was herst move in this fight though. If Yakumo managed to get out of it, the fight was a certain loss for Hinata. She was not fit to continue. Neither mentally nor physically. Just standing took a lot of effort.

    Fortunately for Hinata, Yakumo was knocked out at the edge of the arena, sporting several cuts and nasty bruises all over her body. From her state, it wouldn''t be surprising if she had numerous broken bones.

    She was on the other edge of the arena than where she stood when Hinata''s Jutsu began. During Hinata''s technique, the whirlwind was throwing Yakumo''s body around like a rag doll, mming her into the ground before picking her up into the air again and she had no way of getting out of it as the spinning force took hold of her.

    Yakumo was clearly out for the count, not only for this match but also for her ninja duties. She was due for at least a month in hospital.

    Seeing the fight was over, Hayate appeared in the arena again, alongside medic ninjas who promptly took both Yakumo and Hinata with them on the stretchers.

    "Er... the winner of the first round is Hinata Hyuuga." Hayate announced, his tone still a bit dazed from the spectacle he just saw from a genin.

    Only then did the crowd realize the match was already over. Hinata''s technique literally took their breath away and dazed them into their seats. Both ninjas and civilians were astonished by what they just witnessed.

    Civilians were easy to impress. Contrary to popr belief, ninjas did not go around showing off their moves. Civilians were really ignorant of what power ninjas really wielded. They had a rough idea but... honestly, that didn''t mean much.

    Seeing firsthand the entire arena being devastated by one technique from ''genin''... naturally, they were speechless.

    Even Daimyos, who had the best idea about ninjas'' prowess, couldn''t help but feel shaken by the spectacle.

    Ninjas, on the other hand, couldn''t believe a thirteen years old girl managed to produce such a technique when most jonins would struggle with chakra requirements of that. In their minds, Konoha gained a new prodigy.

    And while pride bloomed in the minds of the Konoha ninjas as they inwardly celebrated the birth of new genius, the Tsuchikage, and Raikage in the Kage box had sour expressions.

    Especially the Raikage who realized who the Hyuuga girl was.

    The situation would have quietly passed with no conflict whatsoever, at most, the two leaders would have silently started to plot and scheme how to get rid of or kidnap Hinata but...

    "So... what do you think about my Hyuuga girl, Raikage?" Tsunade smugly asked as she appeared next to Shikaku''s seat, leaning on it with her shoulder while looking straight at Raikage with a shit-eating grin, aiming the obvious insult at him because he ordered Hinata''s kidnapping all those years ago.

    She was basically saying, ''This could have been yours, too bad you are ipetent.'', with her expression.

    Needless to say, Raikage didn''t take that well and his short fuse was lit.

 Chapter 393 - Ch393. A Little Fun Between The Matches

    But no matter the anger Raikage felt, he couldn''t just attack. This was not his vige and he was practically surrounded by enemy ninjas. Not to mention, there were numerous important guests in the audience.

    He retaliated in the only way he could. Verbally.

    "She is passable." Raikage gruffly grunted. "Maybe one day she will seed you and get her ass handed down to her while receiving a cool nickname out of it too."

    "Heh, you wish. You are nowhere near Hanzo''s level, kid." Tsunade derisively snorted, reminding him of his younger agepared to her. "Neither are you on the level of your father, for that matter."

    As she said that, she gleefully watched Raikage stiffening. Thanks to Konan, she knew the biggest weakness of Raikage was his deeply ingrained need to surpass his father, the Third Raikage. Considering the guy could fight Hachibi to draw and the only wound he received from it was self-inflicted... that was quite a tall order.

    "May I offer you some refreshments?" Shikaku quickly butted in, forcing a smile on his face as he gave Tsunade a brief and subtle pleading look while also discreetly signaling the ANBU hidden nearby to bring some drinks.

    The ANBU didn''t really want to. Presenting something to these legendary ninjas would mean getting near them when they are somewhat pissed off. Unfortunately, his Kage ordered him...

    Tsunade and A stared at each other for a few long seconds, and Shikaku started to think his distraction failed when Tsunade turned towards him,pletely disregarding Raikage who continued to attempt setting her on fire with his re.

    "Sake would be nice, thank you." She pleasantly spoke, causing Shikaku''s lips to twitch at the one-eighty she did on the moment''s notice.

    Even Ringo, who mostly broodily sat in her chair and boredly waited for this useless event to end, couldn''t help but smile at the disy.

    "I will have water." Pakura spoke with a smile, despite knowing Shikaku was simply wanting to break the conflict between the two.

    "Mmm, can I have some dango?" Orochimaru asked with an amused smile, his eyes hovering over Tsunade with curious glint as if he was trying to solve aplicated puzzle.

    At any other time, he would like nothing else more than the conflict to escte to blows but now was not the time. His ns depended on timing and if Raikage decided to just go ''yolo'' at Tsunade, everything would have instantly gone to hell.

    Orochimaru had no desire to make all these months of nning and preparation go to waste because of one lightning-d muscle-head with anger issues. Nor did he appreciate his former teammate being her usual dickish spoiled self.

    Tsunade was an acquired taste that tasted sour or bitter even after acquiring, depending on if she wanted to tease or straight up piss you off.

    He was not a fanˇ­

    There was a reason why he never approached her after his defection even though he knew she would not really fight him for Konoha. Her expertise would have been invaluable for his experiments but Tsunade was one of the rare few people who could piss him off on a daily basis because of how well she knew his tells. There was no way Orochimaru was recruiting her unless he had no other choice.

    "As expected, Konoha''s hospitality is as always questionable. And here I had my hopes up from the earlier showing during the procession." Tsuchikage spoke, looking at Tsunade with contempt. "At least when the monkey ruled, there was order. Kids these days..." He feigned a sigh with fake disappointmentcing his tone.

    "Zip it. This is a talk between grown-ups, midget. Be a good boy and return to your fence-sitting until you at least reach our shoulders." Tsunade clicked her tongue at him.

    Tsuchikage alongside with other Kages were momentarily stunned by how direct and blunt Tsunade was. Her insult to Raikage was at least veiled but this...

    It took a few moments for Tsuchikage''s mind to reboot before he went beep red. He did not represent only himself but also his entire vige. Insulting him meant insulting the entirety of Iwa! Veiled insults were one thing but this could not be tolerated.

    "How dare y-" He started but Tsunade promptly interrupted him.

    "No, how dare you speak to a Daimyo like that?" She dryly asked in a firm tone that left no room for defiance.

    That shut Onoki up as he gritted his teeth upon realizing that Tsunade was not just some two-bit high-ranking ninja anymore. She was bonafide Daimyo and that meant she was officially higher on the proverbial socialdder than him. It was so easy to forget this fact when Shikaku was the Hokage.

    Of course, no Daimyo was stupid enough to act high and mighty in front of a Kage but Tsunade apparently couldn''t care less for the unspoken usual social dynamics.

    "Don''t speak out of your station like the bull-headed overrated light-bulb next to you." She nonchntly added but her eyes stared straight into Raikage''s and her lips stretched into a smirk when the man stayed silent.

    With her superiority established, she took it as her win.

    Shikaku, on the other hand, did not like how quiet the usually boisterous man was. It felt too much like a quietness before a volcano erupted. He decided to act, if only to prevent a disaster.

    But his attempt was futile and not needed. Despite the usual image the man portrayed, A was Raikage and that meant he had enough patience for the job.

    In fact, Shikaku''s pathetic attempt insulted him more than Tsunade''s jabs.

    "Do you think such a pathetic attempt would have stopped me if I wanted to attack her?" Raikage asked, looking condescendingly at Shikaku, signaling that he noticed the subtle Kagemane no Jutsu discreetly spreading through the interconnected shadows of their chairs, connecting with his feet.

    "Probably not for more than a second or two but it wouldn''t hurt to try." Shikakuzily said with a sardonic smile and an expression screaming how bothersome he found this entire situation. "Would you mind calming down, please? We wouldn''t want to cause a scene in front of all these important people, now, would we?"

    Before Raikage could react, Shikaku turned towards Tsunade. He knew how to defuse the situation. No matter how one looked at it, Tsunade started it so he had to end it with her in a manner that would satisfy all parties and offend no one. Diplomacy was such a drag...

    "Could you please stop teasing our guests, Lady Tsunade?" Shikaku politely asked, a great deal of annoyance present in his tone. ''This is why spoiled brats should not be in leadership positions...'' Shikaku thought, his half-lidded eyes sluggishly trailing from Tsunade to Raikage and back.

    Tsunade pouted in response, knowing her fun was over since making things any more difficult for Shikaku than this would have been a dick move, while Raikage scoffed at the lighthearted reprimand.

    Teasing, his ass! She was tantly insulting him and they all knew it.

    But... causing a scene in front of so many Daimyos and important merchants from all over the Elemental Nations wouldn''t do. Not yet.

    He could only let it go. For now.

    Shikaku resignedly sighed as Tsunade shunshined away and he was left with two indifferent and two disgruntled Kages. Oh, and there was also the clearly irritated but curious Orochimaru too.

    Sometimes, his life sucked. But recently, it was always because of Tsunade...

    Deciding to forego that trail of thoughts since there was nothing he could do about it anyway, he looked into the arena... and groaned as a realization hit him.

    ''So she was not here to be a pain in my ass. She just came and insulted Raikage and Tsuchikage because she was bored and had time to kill during the ten minutes break between the matches..'' He dryly realized as he saw Hayate about to announce the second match.

 Chapter 394 - Ch394. The Second Match 1

    "Could Kimimaro Kaguya and Tayuyae down to the arena?"

    When Rei heard Hayate say that, he groaned and mumbled, "So it was not a coincidence."

    It wasn''t impossible to have teammates fight each other in this kind of event since the matches were ''usually'' chosen at random but it was very rare.

    The problem with that was that Konoha was the sole party who chose who would fight who and this matchmaking was starting to appear very fishy not only to Rei but also to his girls.

    Tsunade expertly ignored three unamused pairs of eyes gazing in her direction, opting to enjoy the delicacy in front of her. It was just an excuse for her to not raise her head and meet these looks but it worked.

    When Orochimaru heard who would be fighting, he couldn''t help but perk up in curious interest. He definitely had a bone to pick with Tayuya for deserting but when he found out that she was included as a genin from Uzushio, he couldn''t help but find it funny.

    That feeling left him the second he attacked the Uzushio team in the Forest of Death.

    He briefly scowled remembering that encounter. It should have gone entirely his way but...

    The Uzushio brats were strong and he wondered how Tayuya became so strong in such a short while.

    But Tayuya didn''t seem like her usual self-assured mocking self right now. Considering that the Kaguya kid was in a team with her, that could mean only one thing. She was not sure of her victory.

    ''Interesting...'' Orochimaru subtly licked his lips.

    After all, he was very interested in a survivor from the Kaguya n, and in the fight against him, Kimimaro did not do much. His prowess was mystery and Orochimaru did not like mysteries.

    If nothing else, Tayuya could prove as a tool to test the boy''s skill before Orochimaru deals with her in the invasion. Thest time the girl was lucky to have teammates around her but no matter her improved prowess, Orochimaru was certain he could take her on in one versus one.

    After all, strength was not everything in the ninja world.

    Hayate started the match off and jumped back but unlike the previous one, the twobatants didn''t instantly jump at each other.

    Kimimaro and Tayuya stared at each other in the arena, Kimimaro stoic while Tayuya was visibly in a bad mood from this match-up. As part of the same team, they sparred with each other on a regr basis so they knew how the other fought, and needless to say, Kimimaro was not Tayuya''s favorite opponent.

    "Oi, bonerhead. I am gonna wipe that indifferent mug of yours outta your face." Tayuya scowled as she saw Kimimaro''s perpetually unbothered expression.

    Most of it was because Kimimaro''s uninterested facade was pissing her off though. Surprisingly, they were honestly quite evenly matched most of the time.

    That''s also why Rei suspected foul y with this match-making. So many match-ups would have been a total curb stomp for one of the participants, yet, two matches already were quite evenly matched. Coincidence? He thought not.

    "You are wee to try." Kimimaro indifferently spoke, not rising up to her insult.

    He was focusing too much on shifting his bones to create ayer of chakra-reinforced bone armor under his skin. Honestly, they fought so many times already... he wondered when Tayuya realized the trick in beating him in the most efficient way was to strike fast and not give him time to create this armoryer.

    Tayuya, on the other hand, thought that he had his armor up since they entered the arena so she didn''t bother stopping the initial banter. The slitted yellow eyes of a certain pale shithead boring a hole into the back of her head were creeping the funk out of her. She needed to center herself and insulting Kimimaro seemed like a good way to calm herself down.

    She would naturally prefer sending a shockwave at the pale pervert but he was currently in the Kage box and pissing off Lady Pakura and Lady Ringo was suicide.

    She could only grumble under her nose about lucky pale shitheads before focusing on Kimimaro again. She knew this fight would be an extreme pain in her ass. Not only will she have to hold back to a degree but Kimimaro was not the easiest opponent to counter with her abilities.

    ''Fine... let''s do this!''

    As that thought passed through her head, Tayuya swiftly raised her flute towards her mouth.

    She knew Kimimaro could and would wait for hours on end for her to do the first move if only to get the initial advantage since he was a close-quartersbatant.

    Worse yet, the bastard''s bone armor took almost no chakra to maintain because it was concentrated in his body, hence, the chakra was not really leaving it so he could preserve it.

    As much as she hated to give the advantage of reaction to him, she had no other choice. She once tried to wait him out and it ended in them staring at each other for four hours before she cracked and furiously attacked, screaming bloody murder and various colorful insults at him.

    Four hours of her life were totally wasted by that bastard!

    The second Tayuya started to move her hands, Kimimaro also shot forward in a burst of speed, disappearing from his spot in the eyes of most of the audience and appearing in front of Tayuya, his arm ready to strike as a sharp, sword-like bone was pushed out of his palm.

    Tayuya was very experienced fighting Kimimaro so she expected this and prepared her first attack ordingly. She did not panic from him being so close. She just blew into her flute, sending a melody into the surroundings while watching with the corner of her eyes as Kimimaro''s bone sword neared her neck...

    Kimimaro pushed himself to his physical limits, fighting them for just a bit more speed... but he instantly realized he was not fast enough when a shockwave appeared out of nowhere and impacted his stomach, bending him over and sending him flying towards the wall behind him at speed most chunin had trouble following with their eyes.

    Tayuya noticed that Kimimaro''s body created a small dent in the wall surrounded by a multitude of spiderweb cracks before the impact of his body to the wall sent the surrounding dusk into the air and denied her visibility.

    Resisting the urge to click her tongue, Tayuya blew into her flute a few more times, sending shockwave after shockwave into the dust cloud, straight at the ce where Kimimaro should be embedded into the wall.

    It was such a brutal disy that many ninjas in the audience winced despite not being able to see through the dust cloud. The redhead was clearly ruthless and they wondered if there would be something more than just a bloody smear left from the Kaguya boy.

    After twenty shockwaves, Tayuya finally stopped her onught and jumped back a few times to widen the distance between her and the ce where Kimimaronded. She also didn''t go far enough to reach the wall behind her to leave herself some ce for maneuverability if it was needed.

    The dust started to clear out and the audience waited with bated breaths, wanting to see Kimimaro''s state when....

 Chapter 395 - Ch395. The Second Match 2

    The dust started to clear out and the audience waited with bated breaths, wanting to see Kimimaro''s state when...

    Kimimaro burst from the dust cloud in a powerful leap, instantly dispersing it due to his speed as he flew straight at Tayuya like a bullet.

    Tayuya was forced to throw herself to the side in order to avoid him. She barrel rolled on the ground before using the momentum of her body to spring back to her feet, inwardly prepared to fend Kimimaro off once again.

    As she predicted, Kimimaronded in a crouch on the side of the wall and used his chakra like a spring, propelling himself into another powerful leap as he aimed the trajectory of his jump to lead him towards Tayuya.

    She was a long-range fighter while he was a close-quartersbatant. It was only natural he had to be aggressive in this exchange if he wanted to win.

    This time, however, he did not have the advantage of surprise, and Tayuya was prepared for him. The second he heard the flute melody, he knew he was too slow even before the shockwave hit him.

    Tayuya watched as Kimimaro twisted mid-air, ''kicking'' straight at her shockwave... in a way absorbing it with his kick.

    ''Friggin bone armor!'' Tayuya inwardly groaned.

    Any normal person would have their muscles shredded by such a shockwave but not Kimimaro. He just had to have an ability that couldpletely counter her Jutsu.

    Kimimaro finished ''kicking'' the shockwave, whichpletely stopped his momentum and made him fall back onto the ground. He wasn''t given enough time to start rushing at Tayuya again. Instead, he had to spin and punch forward, intercepting another shockwave sent at him by Tayuya.

    Tayuya started to create an onught of shockwaves with her flute, sending them at Kimimaro from all around him, forcing him to spin and twist, sometimes intercepting them, other times weaving in between them but he was avoiding almost all of the damage which was definitely pissing Tayuya off.

    The shockwaves were pretty much invisible and Kimimaro had to depend on his chakra sensing to locate the direction from which Tayuya would attack... to the audience it seemed as if he was fighting some invisible foe and some civilians looked at him funny as they thought he simply went mad.

    The ninjas suspected genjutsu for the most part, mostly because of Tayuya''s weapon of choice. Only very few noticed a hint of what she was doing.

    Orochimaru, on the other hand, couldn''t help but frown as he witnessed the technique to make shockwaves with chakra in the sound waves. This was the reason why he so quickly retreated when he tried to attack Tayuya''s team. The Jutsu was very interesting but he had a hard timeing up with a way to replicate it. Hence, the frown.

    Poor guy... there was no way he would realize he first had to learn sound-based genjutsu and then alter it into ninjutsu. After all, most ninjas believed that genjutsu and ninjutsu were not ''mixable''.

    It didn''t help that he was sessfully misdirected into thinking Tayuya needed her flute for her Jutsu.

    Down in the arena, Kimimaro had had enough of this irritating work-out but he had a hard time finding a way out without showing more of his abilities than he was allowed.

    He knew causing this level of shockwaves was effortless for Tayuya and she could continue for hours on end. During their spars in the Vige on the Other Side, she usually leveled a small forest from the coteral damage of all her shockwaves.

    These shockwaves had the power to barely crack the ground... there was no way they could affect his body through his bone armor. Tayuya clearly knew that too and was only trying to annoy him.

    She knew full well that he hated moving around more than necessary during fights, yet, here she was forcing him to ''dance'' with her attacks in order to not give away an indication of just how durable his body is.

    This continued for a few minutes, Tayuya trying to lock Kimimaro into defense while Kimimaro tried to find a way out of his predicament.

    The audience absolutely loved this fight. They were not loud, instead, their attention was fully grabbed as they watched the redheaded girl ying her flute and the white-haired boy trying to defend from some kind of invisible foe.

    The only clue that Kimimaro did not, in fact, go mad, was how the ground underneath him cracked whenever he shed with... whatever was attacking him.

    One would think the spectators would get quickly tired of this disy but, on the contrary, they watched with bated breaths to see who would fall first.

    Will the girl make a mistake and let the boy out of this deadlock or will the boy run out of his stamina first? They couldn''t wait to see!

    They had no idea the twobatants in the arena could go at it in this manner for hours...

    Kimimaro finally decided to ''bend'' the rules a bit in his favor. He let one shockwave ''slip'' his attention, causing it to harmlessly nce his shoulder, using it to break Tayuya''s pace.

    She had it all calcted to a genial degree, every attack covering for another and they all weaving together in one massive ''symphony'', as she liked to call it.

    But Kimimaro fought her enough to discover a small w in her ingenious technique. Now that one of these coordinated attacks was disregarded, it was ever so easy to just weave through the remaining ones since their tempo was out of sync with Kimimaro''s movements.

    Kimimaro knew quite a few of those powerful ninjas watching this fight would notice his body withstanding the shockwave with no trouble at all but he didn''t care anymore. Tayuya''s shockwaves did not feel like a massage to him. Every hit felt like being violently shoved and while it was harmless to him, it felt extremely irritating.

    It was as if he was being bullied without the ability to ''hit'' back and the thought made Kimimaro grit his teeth in frustration.

    Tayuya was clearly using his emotions against him because she knew exactly how he felt about being in this kind of situation.

    Kimimaro finally escaped Tayuya''s onught. From experience, he knew this would mean Tayuya would have to change her melody, which brought him a few vital moments.

    This time, he would not be too slow!

    Tayuya''s eyes widened as Kimimaro increased his speed to the allowed limit in one big burst.

    Her mind nked and her body reacted instinctively... she didn''t have the time to think about a counterattack anyway. She swiped the flute away from her mouth and since it was the only durable thing she had on hand, she used it to block Kimimaro''s sword that aimed at her neck.

    Flute locked with a sword made of bone as Kimimaro and Tayuya''s arms shook with exertion. Tayuya pushed more and more chakra into her arm, visibly losing this match of strength as Kimimaro''s sword was pushing her flute back, nearing her neck.

    She snarled in frustration and shock at how bad her situation suddenly became.

    Escaping backward would hinder her movements give Kimimaro the much-needed advantage and would most likely end the match.

    Evading right was no option because of the strength she had to exert on her right arm. If she tried, Kimimaro''s sword would simply cleave through her.

    Trying to flee underground would be a gamble. In any way, she would need to stop pushing against Kimimaro''s sword for a second, and there was the chance a part of her head would get chopped off.

    Fleeing upward... that required more skill than she was allowed to show in this match.

    Frankly, if she could show her full power, this deadlock would be an easily solvable inconvenience at best. But she was not.

    Her only feasible escape route was to the left but she couldn''t really jump to that side because her opponent was clearly expecting it, if not outright weing that oue. Only a bone bullet would await her if she tried and she liked her body without unnecessary holes.

    "Fine." She discontentedly grumbled through her gritted teeth with annoyance written all over her expression. "I give up."

    It was ever so obvious she hated to say these words but there was nothing she could do. She couldn''t use her flute and she had orders to not show too much of her abilities.

    Showing a strong Jutsu dependent on her flute was eptable. Showing that she didn''t really need her flute and could cause shockwaves... much stronger shockwaves than she showed in the match... with any kind of sound was definitely not eptable.

    That said, Kimimaro was holding back a lot too so there was nothing Tayuya couldin about.

    Or so Kimimaro thought, too satisfied with his victory to notice that....

 Chapter 396 - Ch396. The Second Match 3

    In his satisfaction, Kimimaro forgot one vital thing. Tayuya was a kunoichi and her specialty was genjutsu and sound maniption.

    While he heard "I give up.", the audience and the proctor heard, "Fuck you, shithead.".

    Because of that, he rxed his body, thinking she already surrendered and that was when Tayuya sprang into action, tackling Kimimaro''s body to the ground.

    His back impacted the ground as Tayuya straddled his chest and stopped the pointy and sharpened end of her flute an inch from his left eye, prepared to ram it straight through his skull at moment''s notice.

    Unfortunately for Kimimaro, his eyes were one of the very few weak spots on his body he couldn''t coat in his bone armor.

    Kimimaro nkly stared in astonished shock at the smug and winning expression of the redhead as the realization suddenly clicked in his mind.

    "You tricked me!" He eximed in disbelieving exasperation, still finding it hard to believe he fell for such a basic trick.

    "Well, duh, genius! I am kunoichi." Tayuya dryly deadpanned.

    She was genjutsu mistress. Most of her Jutsu were based on tricking people. It wasughable how ninjas were always wary of high-level genjutsu, yet, they would fall for a few simple words simply because they expected her to say them.

    After all, who would have thought the brash and crass girl with raging temper would be cunning, right?

    "Do you give up?" Tayuya gleefully asked, enjoying the situation immensely, even letting the sharp point of her flute to near Kimimaro''s eye enough to make it extremely ufortable for him. He tried to back away but under his head was hard ground which prevented this course of action. He couldn''t even turn his head in fear of damaging his eye anymore.

    Gulping down, Kimimaro realized he could easily skewer her boy. She was straddling his chest and he could eject his sharpened ribs. But this would definitely make her ram the flute through his skull.

    Tayuya was an experienced kunoichi and knew he could do that. She angled her flute in a way that the shock from being skewered would jerk her hand down and... Kimimaro shuddered at the picture of what would be left of his brain after that.

    Basically, he could either give up or suicide while hoping to kill her in the process.

    ''What a scary bitch.'' He bitterly thought.

    Inwardly sighing, he epted that this was his loss. "I give up." He emotionlessly said and a smirk appeared on Tayuya''s face for some reason, Kimimaro instantly knew she would not let him live it down for months on end.

    His immediate future seemed very bleak indeed.

    ...

    "Hmm, quite impressive, wouldn''t you say, Lord Otokage?" Pakura shrewdly looked at Orochimaru with the corner of her eyes while a teasing smirk was stered on her lips.

    "Yes. Very curious indeed." Orochimaru spoke with unveiled interest, his eyes not leaving Tayuya.

    Not giving Pakura his full attention was quite impolite in this situation but Orochimaru couldn''t bring himself to care about diplomacy. Not when he saw something interesting.

    Pakura, however, took this as the green light to subtly retaliate.

    "I heard the girl was once your kunoichi." She uttered with a barely-veiled glee noticeable in her tone. This naturally made Hokage, Raikage, and Tsuchikage interested in the topic, causing them to try to subtly eavesdrop. Pakura did not care and just continued, "Who would have thought the girl would get so much stronger in such a little time after leaving your service, huh? Quite the coincidence, don''t you think?"

    Hearing her, Orochimaru frowned.

    He wanted to scowl, re, and most definitely wittily threaten the impudent woman but he could not allow his emotions to slip. Not in front of the other Kages.

    That''s why he had to be satisfied with a small frown.

    He wasn''t about to answer Pakura''s question though. He only wordlessly stared at her, barely concealing his hostility in his unamused deadpan look while trying to y the part of the victim in this verbal ping-pong.

    Of course, this role suited him well for the moment. He didn''t believe he would be able to keep himself from verballyshing out if he opened his mouth now.

    No matter how calm he tried to stay, the proof that he didn''t handle Tayuya''s training well was right in front of him. What really made him mad, though, was the fact he did not see her potential. He wrote her off far too quickly and thought he knew everything there was to know about her abilities.

    Being proven wrong stung his ego as hell.

    When Pakura realized Orochimaru was not going to answer, she clicked her tongue, "Cheh. You are no fun."

    It made her disappointed that the big bad snake kept his calm. She could understand why Tsunade came to cause trouble during thest break between the matches. These breaks were boring as heck.

    The problem was... neither of the five Kages was in the mood for small talk. The tension between them was palpable even if they pretended it didn''t exist and acted as if nothing was wrong. Only a total moron would not notice the discontent, though.

    Unfortunately, Ringo was seated on the other side of the Kage box so that was also not the solution to Pakura''s boredom.

    Fortunately, Shikaku unknowingly came to her rescue.

    "I thought the girl is genin from Uzushio. Do you say she worked for Orochimaru in the past? Isn''t Uzushio concerned about betrayal?" He curiously asked.

    His voice betrayed nothing of his intentions. Neither was there usation nor disapproval. Just pure curiosity.

    "Oh! No. from what I know, Uzushio is fine with her past. They are fully certain her past loyalties are the thing of the past." Pakura eximed, too happy to exin while ignoring Orochimaru''s stormy and disgruntled look.

    He even had to incline his head downward to hide it under his hat.

    Pakura revealed a slight smile at that and continued, "Honestly, Suna has some trade agreements with Uzushio so that''s how I know about the girl. She was apparently a diamond in the rough. Only an utterly brainless idiot would waste her potential." She dismissively waved her hand left and right in front of her.

    Ringo snorted at Pakura''s sunny disposition as she uttered those words. The look of anger shing through Orochimaru''s eyes was simply far too amusing to ignore.

    Raikage and Tsuchikage also seemed entertained even though they tried to hide it and pretended they heard nothing. They definitely would not be joining the conversation. The redheaded girl was strong but considering that herbat style depended on her flute, in their minds she was not as big of a threat as Kazekage was making her out to be.

    Nor was she as impressive. Theyforted themselves with the thought that they had someone more talented at home and that was the end of that matter for them.

    Unfortunately for Pakura and Shikaku, their chat about Tayuya came to an abrupt end when Hayate announced the end of the break and started to announce the next match.

    "The third match will be between...."

 Chapter 397 - Ch397. ???

    "Why do I have to do this?" Anko petntly mumbled to herself while pulling out a knife from the neck of her recent victim, some no-name Otogakure ninja who was unluckily patrolling the area around their ''hidden'' camp. "I just demanded to see my cute underlings fighting. Why did Lady Tsunade have to pull her ''old scary hag'' persona and shout at me until I agreed to do this." She childishly pouted.

    "Never took you for the self-pitying type." Kakashi quietly said with a fake cheer in his tone as hended on the tree branch next to hers. "Wouldn''t you get the full experience once your shadow clone in the arena poofs? I have no idea why are you so melodramatic. Is it already that time of the month?"

    "Fuck you, Hatake." Anko hissed, mindful of keeping her tone low as her cheeks slightly reddened. Her unamused look, however, told Kakashi enough. He knew he was in deep shit once they returned from this mission.

    But...

    "I wouldn''t be against." Kakashi victoriously eye-smiled at her.

    Since they were sneaking towards the enemy camp, Anko couldn''t beat him up or scream at him. He had to milk the situation for all it was worth, consequences be damned, no.

    He at least had enough presence of mind to jump away from her, not waiting for her reply. Taunting Anko was already ridiculously dangerous for his continued good health. There was no need to overdo it.

    Anko watched with her narrowed eyes Kakashi''s retreating back... before she smirked. The bastard was indeed deserving of his rank. He had balls of steel. Even after so many beatings from her, he was still not cowed and from time to time showed it.

    ''Well, I guess working with him wouldn''t be interesting otherwise.'' She thought and suppressed her urge to shake her head. ''I''ll ignore it for now.''

    Her group still had to destroy two hidden camps to finish off all of her assigned seven. She wondered how would Orochimaru''s expression look when he realized there would be no reinforcementsing from outside of Konoha.

    The only thing he can depend on once Lady Tsunade''s and Shikaku''s n seeds will be the Oto ninjas who sneaked inside of Konoha in the guise of civilians but... there was a n for that too.

    Sometimes Anko wondered if the real snake of the Sannin team was not Lady Tsunade. She definitely did not use her cunningness a lot but when she started...

    Anko sheepishly smiled, remembering the simple yet efficient battle strategy that was exined to the ANBU units and a few loyal jonins who participated in this secret Otonin extermination mission.

    ''I gotta finish this soon if I want to be back in Konoha for the final sh with Orochimaru. No way in hell I am letting anyone else than me kill him!''

    And with that, she jumped after Kakashi, her eyes gleaming with ruthless determination.

    That day the forests around Konoha were stained in blood but their peacefulness remained intact.

    ...

    "These trackers and assassins from the Uzushio vige are quite the scary bunch. I wonder how Lady Pakura managed to get them to help us with this." Sasori quietly grumbled as he walked next to Shun Riku on the helm of a unit of two hundred Suna puppeteers who were currently trekking through the mountains.

    Two hundred was a small number for an army but a massive amount of effort, nning, and resources were used in order for them to stay unnoticed. That was only possible because every single of these two hundred puppeteers was a jonin level ninja.

    There was also a division of tessenjutsu usersprised of the best wind users of Suna numbering hundred and fifty in totaling from a different direction and a hundred best ANBU taking yet another route towards their target.

    ''If this goes awry we will be so fucked.'' Sasori mentally groaned.

    They were deep in the enemy territory with numbers not reaching even five hundred. Direct confrontation was definitely not on the table but if everything went as nned, their victory was assured.

    He thought getting to their target unnoticed would be the hard part but...

    "Does it even matter?" Shun Riku smirked, "We can barely notice their presence and even then it is because we know they are here, killing every nearby patrol. They are doing a scarily good job considering the terrain. And here I thought it is Kirigakure that focuses on this kind of thing. It is good they are only escorting our force and helping us stay unnoticed. Letting them fight our battles too much would be a blow to our pride as Suna ninjas."

    "Hmph, you just want to try your new remotely controlled puppets." Sasori clicked his tongue at her before inaudibly mumbling, "Just my luck to be working under this battle maniac and Suna fanatic."

    It was really pissing him off a person like this, a person with no sense for art was the best puppeteer of Suna. But he had to grudgingly admit her abilities and reluctantly give her the due respect.

    He might not like being number two but... the bitch was too good with her puppets. He could only bear it for now.

    He decided to clear his head of unnecessary matters. Just one more mountain and they willpletely reach their destination and their target, the Iwagakure, will be visible.

    But really... what was Tsuchikage thinking, taking a sizeable force from his vige to aid Orochimaru''s invasion of Konoha?

    He was practically begging to be invaded in return!

    ...

    All twenty-one Kirigakure''s Swordsmen were gathered in a house in the residential area of Kumogakure.

    Each of them infiltrated the vige in their own way, making a game out of it to see who could get inside faster and with the least fuss.

    When people saw someone like Zabuza, they would never think he would be great at this and honestly, most of Kiri Swordsmen were the same, each having his or her own weird quirk that would make them noticeable in the crowd but...

    It was entirely too easy to forget Kirigakure prided itself on its assassins. Every member of the Kirgakure''s Swordsmen mastered the art of assassination. Infiltrating Kumogakure did prove a bit challenging but in the end, every one of them pulled it off.

    Unlike Pakura, Ringo did things her way in her vige. While Pakura tried to create an army of ninjas that could work together as one cohesive unit, Ringo still kept the old idea of ''special'' units going strong and supported the Kirigakur''s Swordsman, using a position among them as a reward and recognition for the best of the best from Kirigakure.

    For each of them, she crafted a special sword. Well, except those who wielded one of the original seven swords like Raiga Kurosuki who fought with the other swordsmen and proved himself the strongest of them despite being a neer.

    Hence, he earned the position of leader.

    "So? Will you finally tell us our mission? I doubt we had to get inside of Kumo just to have a dick-measuring contest among ourselves." Zabuza asked and looked at Raiga, voicing out the thoughts of every single member of the group.

    They were not told about their mission beforehand. The ideology of their vige might have changed drastically but Kirigakure still viewed its ninjas as tools. They just stopped recklessly sacrificing them for every small gain since Ringo became the Mizukage.

    That meant, the Kirigakure Swordsmen knew the mission in front of them waspletely manageable for their skill level. Ringo never gave them a mission they could not fulfill. But that didn''t mean they were informed of details they did not need to know.

    In this case, they were kept in dark in order to prevent information leakage, and honestly, they were fine with that. It was just a part of their job.

    Raiga chuckled, "Impatient as ever, Zabuza. This mission will be to your liking though. We are to simply cause chaos and sabotage the important facilities of Kumo."

    The room abruptly descended into deafening silence.

    "Are you for real?" Zabuza spoke first. "Just the twenty-one of us?" He was quite a in disbelief. This sounded too much like a suicide mission.

    Still... from what he was seeing on the expression of hispanions, they felt exactly like him. Utterly excited about this kind of challenge.

    He didn''t doubt his face sported the exact same grin as theirs.

    "Yes." Raiga confirmed while approaching the table in the middle of the room and taking out a map from a storage scroll. "Raikage is in Konoha alongside quite a few of his strongest ninjas." He smirked and started pointing to ces on the map, "Our hunter ninja division, ninjutsu heavy hitters, and mist genjutsu specialists are already encamped around Kumo. Don''t ask me how. Uzushio seal masters are apparently very crafty. That''s all I know about it. Anyway, we are just a distraction before the main attack. So? Are you happy with this mission?"

    He was obviously speaking to everyone gathered in the room, not just Zabuza, but from their expressions it was self-evident.

    ''Heh. Bunch of muscleheads. Of course, they are happy.'' Raiga inwardly snorted. ''This mission is dangerous but... We wouldn''t have it any other way.''

    After all, the Kiri Swordsmen loved the thrill of their profession.. No one remained sane after reaching their level of power.

 Chapter 398 - Ch398. The Third Match 1

    "The third match will be between Naruto Uzumaki and Haku Yuki!" Hayate announced.

    Naruto was almost bouncing from excitement. Finally, it was his turn to show everyone how badass he is!

    Watching him, Haku had a small exasperated smile on his lips but could only shake his head. He understood that this was Naruto''s usual behavior. Because of their prior acquaintance, he was used to it. It was Naruto and Hinata who showed him Konoha during the past month.

    Sasuke Uchiha was heavily avoiding him... which put a satisfied smile on Haku''s face. He didn''t need to deal with a gender-confused Uchiha thanks to that.

    "Let''s give the audience a proper showing, Naruto-kun." Haku said, partly in order to stop Naruto from jumping around like an idiot. He wondered how much of his acting out was just to keep pretenses and how much was his real excitement.

    Naruto calmed down and turned towards Haku, giving him a thumbs-up. "Sure, thing, Haku-chan!" He eximed, making Haku''s lips twitch.

    For some reason, the Uzumaki loved to make fun of him by reminding him of how feminine he was. Whether it was Naruto or Karin, they could be insufferable at times. Haku was d they lived in different viges.

    ''Did he really have to call me that?'' Haku inwardly sweatdropped as he noticed several males in the audience showing infatuated looks as they stared at him. He deeply sighed in depression, ''Why did I have to be born with this kind of face?''

    If he didn''t know Naruto, he would have suspected this to be a proper emotional attack but Haku was sure the orange-d Uzumaki had no idea what he had just done...

    "Ahem," Hayate cleared his throat, attracting the attention of the twobatants, causing them to realize they should get ready for the fight. When he was sure they were prepared, he raised his arm. "Fight!" He dropped his arm and jumped back.

    The first charge naturally belonged to Naruto who didn''t wait for even a second and rushed at Haku while creating several shadow clones around him. The creation of those clones came with a copious amount of smoke that perfectly covered the surroundings for a few seconds and gave Naruto the chance to do some secret nning of his own.

    Haku pulled out a few senbons from his long sleeves and took abat-ready stance. The second the first Naruto clone appeared from the smokescreen, a senbon was sent hurling his way. Before the clone could react, he was stopped in his tracks because the senbon embedded itself into his shoulder, causing him to briefly fly backward from the force of the impact before he popped out of existence.

    Haku could aim at the forehead, eye, or throat but he could not be sure which Naruto was a clone and which was the real one. If he hit the real one in those ces... Just his luck that he was better at lethal moves than restraining ones.

    He dealt like this with five more clones and the situation started to feel somewhat fishy to him.

    ''This is far too easy.'' He mentally mumbled. He might not have seen Naruto fight during the Wave mission but he knew about his prowess from what Zabuza told him.

    He realized that a bit toote though.

    The ground in front of him cracked, making Haku''s eyes go wide.

    ''Under me!?'' He inwardly freaked out but his body reacted on instinct.

    Naruto who burst from the ground and tried to uppercut Haku''s jaw failed as Haku leaned back, letting Naruto''s fist sail harmlessly an inch from Haku''s chin.

    Naruto could only stare in wide-eyed disbelief that his n did not work before Haku''s body snapped back into action like a spring and Naruto, who was currently still mid-air due to his jump, was sted back with a powerful kick to his abdomen.

    Or so would have happened if this Naruto was the real one. Unfortunately for Haku, he only poofed out of existence while releasing a massive amount of smoke to the surroundings, creating yet another smokescreen that engulfed Haku and impaired his sight.

    Because of that Haku could not rx and his senses became alert.

    A split of a secondter, he noticed a kunai flying towards him from behind. He spun around, senbon appearing in his hand as he swung it in an attempt to block the kunai but...

    Before the senbon could sh with the kunai, the kunai was substituted with another Naruto who spun mid-air, redirecting his trajectory and avoiding Haku''s swing with the senbon while attempting to deliver a kick to Haku''s face.

    Haku ducked his head and spun on his right foot while driving his left leg up, delivering a kick to the Naruto who attacked him... only for him to pop out of existence followed by another wave of smoke.

    Haku angrily huffed but his body tensed a momentter before he snappily leaned back, letting a kunai sail through the ce where his shoulder was just a moment ago.

    And then again. And again...

    Kunais rained on him from all directions and he dodged, leaned out of their trajectory, spun on his feet to avoid them... it was like a dance and after Haku''s initial surprise faded, he also started to counter-attack while dodging, throwing senbons towards the ces from where the kunais were thrown.

    Sometimes he was rewarded from a muffled yelp, sometimes not, but he would have been damned if he let Naruto lead this fight so easily.

    Haku knew the Shadow Clones took a lot of chakra. He was fine with Naruto wasting his chakra reserves like this.

    But when three kunais came flying at him from three different directions and before they could hit, they puffed into three Narutos, Haku realized he was that kunai barrage was just to lull into a fake sense offort by Naruto.

    The three Narutos attempted to hit Haku but he was more experienced and faster than Naruto. He nimbly weaved around their attacks, delivering his own counter-blows and popping the three of them out of existence... which, much to his growing annoyance and frustration, only reinforced the fading smokescreen around him.

    Haku wanted to groan in frustration and only his own hunter ninja training prevented him from that. Naruto''s fighting style was the epitome of irritating.

    He didn''t get time to rx. Another kunai flew at him, another Naruto popped in its ce when it was near Haku, and tried to strike.

    And then again, and again, and again...

    Sometimes it was only one Naruto, sometimes as many as five surrounded him at once and tried to score a blow.

    Haku had a hard time spinning and countering every one of these attacks. He could not see where they wereing from and he was given no break whatsoever once the intervals between these attacks started to shorten.

    In only two minutes... and a whole sixty-five attacks like this... Haku realized Naruto was not getting tired anytime soon but his stamina was depleting extremely fast and the constant requirement for utmost attention was mentally wearing him down.

    Haku''s eyes slightly widened as he realized that Naruto was making use of his superior chakra and stamina reserves to slowly wear him down.

    While Haku had the time of his life dodging a kunai-parade, Naruto, the real one, was observing from the edge of the arena with his sensing capabilities and creating more clones to substitute the destroyed ones.

    He knew Haku had the ability to fight jonins. That''s why he chose tactics that would enable him to defeat a jonin. Ninjas were still human. They could react only to so many simultaneous attacks even if these attacks came from weaker foes. They could only go without a break for so long before their mind started slowing down. They had only so much stamina and chakra reserves.

    With his tactics, Naruto already wasted at the very least ten percent of Haku''s chakra reserves and thirty percent of his stamina reserves, bringing a massive advantage to himself even if Haku somehow disrupted his strategy right now.

    ''Don''t me me for fighting dirty, Haku-chan.'' Naruto thought with a foxy grin, ''You should be d I am not using my extra spicy Uzumaki pepper bombbo on you!''

    The fight against Guren made Naruto think a lot and he ultimately decided to widen his repertoire, making some of his prank items more dangerous and integrating them into his fighting style.

    But Haku was his friend and he would never use them on his frie...

    Chakra suddenly erupted from the center of the arena and Naruto''s clones were instantly frozen, disintegrating into icy dust instead of poofing into smoke. The smoke all around the arena also ''froze'' and disintegrated into icy mist, causing the entire arena to glitter like a reflection of the sun''s rays on a water surface.

    The real Naruto evaded the full st of this icy chakra thanks to his position on the edge of the arena but even then, his body was involuntarily shivering. He was used to cold but this was positively arctic!

    In the middle of the arena, Haku suddenly turned straight towards the ce where Naruto was located. Hisplexion was unhealthily pale and his usually dark eyes glowed bright blue while his ck hair turned snow-white.

    "I am sorry, Naruto-kun but I think you deserve some spanking." Haku sweetly said while his eyebrow was twitching in irritation. He alsopletely ignored how a part of the male audience swooned at these words.

    Naruto gulped, watching as the air around Haku''s body was misting from the freezing coldness his opponent was emitting...

    There was only one way to keep fighting and Naruto sank into his mind to attain it.

    ''Ah... Kurama? Would you mind giving me a hand?'' He nervously asked.

    ''Weren''t you boasting you could pass this without me with your eyes closed and hands tied behind your back yesterday?'' Kurama stated in an exasperated tone but his eyes showed extreme smugness.

    He just knew there was no way the small brat could win without him. Since the seal was loosened, he could feel the surroundings and some of the participants were positively monsterspared to Naruto.

    ''Hehe...'' Naruto sheepishlyughed, ''No. I have no recollection of...''

    Kurama gave him a deadpan look and forced the memory to rey in Naruto''s mind.

    ''Er...'' Naruto awkwardly shuffled, no way to rebuke it. In his defense, he might have been a bit drunk because of Anko.

    ''Haah~. Fine.'' Kurama sighed, ''Your opponent is using Senjutsu so I guess lending you my chakra is only fair anyway.''

    And Naruto was forcefully ejected from his mind as orange chakra started to wrap around him, scaring the shit out of many Konoha citizens.

 Chapter 399 - Ch399. The Third Match 2

    "Who would have thought the kid would grasp Snow Sennin Mode under Yuriko''s tutge." Konan said in a tone full of praise and slight jealousy that Ringo had someone with such potential in her vige.

    She didn''t envy her sister-wife too much. She had the original Snow Sennin under her leadership since Yuriko Yukimi was officially a ninja from the Vige on the Other Side. But Konan understood that talented individuals were amodity that one could never have enough of.

    "Yeah, Ringo called all the favors Yuriko owed her from losing various bets over the years." Rei chuckled, "You should have seen the face Yuriko showed when Ringo told her that she wanted her to share her best technique. I bet Yuriko instantly regretted ever getting into Ringo''s debt."

    "Heh. As if. Yuriko would have never shared her way of attaining Sennin Mode if she didn''t approve of the kid. You know that and you also know how tough Yuriko''s personal requirements are. Not one person in the Vige on the Other Side managed to score an apprenticeship under her so far." Konan said with a slightly annoyed tone. She didn''t like that one of her SS-rank ninjas didn''t find an apprentice even after years of trying. "That''s why I find Ringo''s situation a bit enviable."

    Frankly, she was even less thrilled that when Yuriko finally found herself an apprentice, it was somebody outside of the Vige on the Other Side. It simply rubbed her the wrong way but fortunately for Haku, Konan would not prevent Yuriko from teaching him just because he didn''t belong to her vige.

    Rei stayed silent. He could have rebuked Konan quite easily because it wasn''t that there were no people fulfilling or even surpassing Yuriko''s initial expectations. The final requirement was simply too restricting. She didn''t care about bloodline but one had to be able to form snow with their chakra.

    Not many bothered to try, much less spent time practicing such a skill.

    He could argue that Konan never promoted or tried to encourage people from attempting to clear all Yuriko''s expectations nor did she ever add such skill into the repertoire their ninjas had to learn. She could have done a lot of things to help Yuriko find an appropriate apprentice.

    But... why would he pour oil into the fire? Rei would rather have an idyllic afternoon of watching kids beating each other up with her than a pointless argument.

    "I understand. You are right, dear." He nodded, sneaking his hand into Konan''s, which made her smile and lean on him.

    ...

    While Rei and Konan discussed the revtion of Haku''s new ability, the fight in the arena was starting anew.

    Naruto was d in a bijuu cloak with three tails swishing behind him... Kurama did not give him more chakra because Naruto''s body was still too young to handle more and he did not have much control yet either. Three tails were the current Naruto''s limit as far as safety went.

    Haku, on the other hand, was as if d in a freezing cold chill that spread all around him. The air was glittering from microscopic particles of icy mist floating all around Haku that came to existence from freezing the air itself.

    Every experienced ninja in the audience had an ugly expression upon seeing it. If the boy could freeze the air around him in this manner while not really focusing... they did not want to see what he could do with proper focus to an enemy that got too close.

    Naruto, however, didn''t care and charged forward.

    The boiling hot chakra of a bijuu shed with the chillingly freezing energy of the Snow Sennin Mode as Naruto''s fist collided with Haku''s forearm and the entire arena was once again engulfed in smoke, this time, however, it was one created by a sh of very hot and cold air, sending a sizzling hiss throughout the surroundings.

    The smoke was instantly blown away as Naruto and Haku exchanged another blow, this time it was Haku who attacked and Naruto blocked. They were revealed only for a moment as their sh once again produced a lot of smoke, covering them.

    With every strike, they produced smoke and continuously blew it away because of the force of their next blow, involuntarily creating a spectacr show as they danced in a flurry of taijutsu moves all over the arena and devastating the surroundings.

    Ice shards formed and evaporated in seconds. With every step, Haku froze a patch of ground but with every move, Naruto instantly turned that ice into the water... it didn''t take long for the arena to be full of mud but neither of the boys was affected by it.

    Haku simply froze it all over again while the heat Naruto''s cloak was giving off solidified the mud under his feet almost instantly.

    The audience watched in stunned silence. Nobody could have expected the Chunin Exam finals to be so spectacr. The matches before this one were special in their own ways but here civilians and ninjas alike saw raw power shing against raw power. They saw how monstrous a fight between two ninjas could be.

    The ground cracked with every step of the twobatants. The surroundings froze and heated up constantly, so much so it was obvious any unfortunate civilian bystanders that got too close would be either frozen or evaporated... or both at the same time.

    Even some chunins would have a hard time surviving in such a sh.

    The sounds of fists continuously meeting flesh resounded throughout the arena with the intensity of thunder and force enough to create a wave of air strong enough to generate powerful winds capable of blowing out the ever-generated steam from the drastic temperature changes in the arena.

    The fight was brutal and Naruto was as always more of a brawler while Haku was nimble and relied more on technique than the power of his fists.

    Unfortunately for Naruto, Haku''s shoring of raw power was covered by the senjutsu chakra augmentation and unfortunately for Haku, Naruto''s overreliance on tanking enemy blows waspensated by the sturdiness of his bijuu chakra cloak.

    The two boys were at a stalemate, neither capable of delivering the decisive blow.

    Rei watched the sh and understood why the two boys were unable to prevail over the other. Naruto''s chakra was powerful but it was all over the ce,pletely uncontrolled. Making a Jutsu with chakra like that would be a miracle. Hence, he had to depend on his fists and enhanced physical prowess.

    Not that his blows were weak. As he was now, with just three tails, he could probably match or surpass most jonins in taijutsu as far as speed and strength went.

    Haku, on the other hand, seemed too new with senjutsu. Rei could clearly sense the boy struggling with maintaining the Sennin Mode. His internal energies were barely bnced. If he tried to use a Jutsu, he would be done for as his energies would get out of control too.

    The spontaneous freezing of the area around him was a clear testament to Haku''sck of control.

    It was a funny coincidence. Both boys couldn''t control their ''power-up'' state for different reasons and that prevented them from going ''all-out''.

    It was probably for the best.

    ''Just a pity the winner is obvious.'' Rei thought after watching the taijutsu bout between boiling bijuu chakra and chilling senjutsu chakra for a few minutes while using his chakra senses.

    The audience was still mostly silent, enamored by the showcased fight. The people were on edge, having no clue who from the two boys would win since they were pretty evenly matched.

    Naruto could not score a proper hit on Haku and Haku could not damage Naruto through his bijuu cloak.

    Around an hour passed like that and this fight was officially the longest one in these Chunin Exams finals so far, yet, it seemed to also be the most interesting one for the audience. For the entirety of its duration, the fight was fast-paced, neither of thebatants slowing down even slightly. In fact, its intensity only increased with time.

    s, it had toe to an end.

    As Naruto was about to strike Haku, his bijuu chakra cloak suddenlypletely vanished, leaving him totally open and frozen in shock when Kurama retracted his chakra back into the seal.

    A secondter, Naruto''s body was engulfed in excruciating pain, causing his eyes to widen.

    Haku did not hesitate and delivered a swift blow to Naruto''s chin, causing his head to tilt to the side.

    "Eh?" His face showed a disbelieving iprehension as he fell unconscious and his knees crumbled under his weight, causing him to sprawl onto the ground.

    Haku gave the unconscious Naruto a small respectful smile, "I am sorry, Naruto-kun. This is my win." He promptly fell onto his knees as he deactivated the Sennin Mode, gasping for breath.

    The winner of this fight was Haku.

 Chapter 400 - Ch400. The Fourth Match

    The audience was going wild, loudly cheering and pping in congrattion for Haku''s victory. The fight they witnessed seldom happened even among the top ninjas and that''s why not only civilians, who had mostly no clue how rare the spectacle they just witnessed was, but also ninjas praised the two boys.

    Even if it was a bit unfair, Naruto was expected to be powerful since he was a jinchuuriki. But Haku''s victory after Naruto used the power of his inner demon... Now that has impressed many veteran ninjas.

    "Looks like your vige was hiding some extraordinary talents, Mizukage." Tsuchikage grumpily said.

    Inwardly he wasparing his own jinchuuriki and the kid in the horrendous orange jumpsuit. More precisely, he wasparing the odds of his jinchuuriki winning or at least performing as well as Minato''s brat... because it was ever so obvious whose the kid was... against the Kirigakure''s prodigy.

    Reaching Sennin Mode when he is just fifteen years old at best? The ice kid was a monster in his own league.

    Obviously, that meant both Tsuchikage and Raikage were already thinking about what kind of bounty they should write on the kid''s head and if it was worth it to send their own hunter ninjas after him.

    Ringo waspletely aware of their thoughts. Haku showed to have the potential to be dangerous and as leaders, it was their duty to assess his threat level and act ordingly. That much was fine as it was natural.

    She didn''t care about the new target on Haku''s back. Such was the life of a ninja.

    ...

    The break was rtively peaceful this time and the next match was announced, Hayate calling Shikamaru Nara and Chojuro to the arena.

    Shikamaru was his usual slouched self while Chojuro had a look of sheer determination... The contrast between them couldn''t have been more obvious.

    The match started and bothbatants were just standing in their spots, looking at each other. Shikamaru decided to gauge his enemy''s prowess by fighting defensively while Chojuro did not attack because he remembered Shikamaru''s shadow jutsu from his preliminary match.

    For a swordsman who needed to get into melee range, Shikamaru was a nightmare to fight.

    Still, for the ninja audience, the situation was obvious and they inwardly praised the swordsman boy. The Naras were famous for beingzy bums so Shikamaru being unmotivated and passive was normal. But they were also known to be the natural counter to melee fighters because getting close to them almost certainly meant being caught by their shadow.

    Chojuro not being reckless and just charging forward as a genin usually would, was alreadymendable. Nobody would fault him even if he gave up at this point because his opponent was his exact counter. The normal approach to this situation in a field would be a retreat, after all.

    The civilian audience didn''t understand this, however. They got bored of the two boys standing and staring at each other really fast and then the booing and jeering started as they tried to urge them to finally fight. Not that it moved either boy.

    But Chojuro was not a candidate for a spot among the Kiri Swordsmen for nothing. He might not have been able to use Kirigakure no Jutsu yet but Lady Ringo trusted in him enough to order Raiga to train him for the month! Chojuro could not just give up!

    Taking a deep breath, Chojuro''s fidgety behavior shifted into aplete focus as he unsheathed his katana and took a stance.

    Despite looking utterly bored, Shikamaru''s half-lidded eyes did not leave Chojuro even for a second. He knew this fight would be fast as their respective skill sets would drive his opponent to go for a single decisive blow so... either Shikamaru would prevent it and win or he wouldn''t.

    Fortunately, the previous fights messed up the arena quite a lot and now it was uneven, filled with small obstacles, and muddy in some ces... There was even the hole Naruto dug to try ambushing Haku but Chojuro clearly took note of it and stayed away from it.

    Shikamaru didn''t idle. He tried to subtly redistribute his shadow and hide it behind these small obstacles around him like cracks in the ground or uneven surface where Chojuro could not Shikamaru''s shadow from his position.

    Chojuro finally finished his preparations. The atmosphere in the arena briefly tensed for a moment before he dashed straight at Shikamaru.

    He was almost at the ce where Shikamaru hid a part of his shadow, just a step away from a good ce to ambush him when he abruptly stopped and put his sword into a shing position.

    Shikamaru wondered what he was doing while inwardly cursing that he didn''t take one more step forward and step directly into the range of his shadow. He quickly focused and got his shadow moving towards Chojuro''s feet but then he noticed as Chojuro''s sword gleamed with chakra...

    Chojuro shed forward, gathering chakra in his de and as his sh was about to end, he released it towards Shikamaru in an arc of energy... before he found himself paralyzed as Shikamaru''s Shadow Possession Technique caught him not a split second after he managed to release his sh.

    Shikamaru''s eyes widened and he quickly threw himself to the side, only barely evading the chakra sh that was gouging a small ravine in the ground as it flew.

    It was enough to break his focus and Chojuro found himself free. He used the fact Shikamaru was still distracted to try getting into melee range since the energy sh took a lot of his chakra and unfortunately, it was his only mid-range move for now.

    Shikamaru stood up, only to notice with the corner of his eye that Chojuro was almost upon him. He inwardly cursed, knowing he was not fast enough to evade the approaching sword...

    Chojuro chanted, ''faster, faster, faster'' in his mind, mentally beckoning his sword to go forward faster as every millisecond counted in this fight. He had to strike his opponent before he could properly focus on his shadow!

    His sword was nearing Shikamaru''s chest... fifteen inches, ten inches, five inches!

    And as hope was rising in Chojuro''s mind, it was instantly dashed when a shadow tendril ''tripped'' his opponent by sweeping his legs under him and causing Chojuro''s sword to miss by a slight margin.

    Shikamaru knew just this was not enough to give himself the necessary time to catch Chojuro so he manipted his shadow again and this time the tendril wrapped around is wrist and yanked his body to the side, forcefully dragging it away from Chojuro who was already in the middle of switching stances in preparation for a downward sh aiming straight at the ce where Shikamaruid just a moment ago.

    As his opponent''s body was suddenly yanked out of his sword''s reach, Chojuro was hit by a desperate realization that he couldn''t let Shikamaru get enough time to center himself. He quickly rushed after him.

    Shikamaru flipped his body up, ending in a standing position while his feet slid on the ground for three more meters due to the kic force of the shadow tendril. He stopped in his tracks and without even looking at what his opponent was doing or where he was, he quickly spread his shadow in a thick circle with a radius of two meters around him...

    Chojuro''s sword suddenly halted an inch from Shikamaru''s neck as his body stopped moving. Chojuro desperately tried to force it... it was just an inch!... but he waspletely unable to push his de forward no matter how much strength he tried to exert.

    Shikamaru finally focused on his enemy, and his thoughts froze as he noticed how close the sword was to his neck. He involuntarily shivered, thanking whatever deity above that he did the smart thing and acted before thinking for once.

    His unnerved eyes met Chojuro''s frustrated gaze and for a moment, the two boys just stood there like that. Shikamaru focused on his shadow to restrain the swordsman who tried to push his de the remaining inch towards Shikamaru''s neck. It was a battle of wills in which Shikamaru had a massive advantage.

    Still, this victory came far too close to a fatal defeat in Shikamaru''s opinion. He had to acknowledge it.

    "You are strong." He, for the first time, spoke to Chojuro but got only a determined look in response. Obviously, his opponent didn''t want to be distracted by chatter as he didn''t give up and still tried to win the match.

    A sheepish smile appeared on Shikamaru''s face. Since his opponent was like that, he decided to respond in kind and strained his focus.

    Instantly, sharp shadow tendrils started to form before skewering muscles in Chojuro''s body, causing him to groan from the pain.

    Shikamaru might not be able to physically move when restraining someone with his Shadow Possession but that''s exactly why his n came up with Shadow Stitching.

    This match was won by him.. Now he just had to force his stubborn opponent to acknowledge it.

 Chapter 401 - Ch401. Matchmaking

    Chojuro didn''t try fighting the Shadow Possession for too long. There was a thing called knowing when you are beaten and Ringo made sure it was beaten into the Kiri recruits fairly early on.

    After all, nobody could know if there will be an opportunity to escape once you get captured. Hence, surrendering was preferable.

    The whole order of importance of actions in Kirigakure was winning... and if that can''t be done then escaping. If escaping was not an option, then surrendering and surviving should be prioritized before dying.

    Naturally, Kirigakure had quite brutal anti-torture methods which were simply put their recruits under the skilled hands of a master torturer so they were aware of what kind of experience it was and could resist it betterter on.

    Honestly, not many could measure up to Kirigakure''s torture master so Kiri ninjas seldom cracked under torture.

    Since Ringo took over, Kiri gained a reputation for spitting out some tough but also smart cookies out of their training program.

    Of course, they were still assassins so if surrendering and escaping was not an option... Well, death was also a kind of escape.

    But that was really the final and most drastic measure.

    In this kind of situation, giving up actually earned some points for Chojuro as chunin was not a rank for people who didn''t know when to stop. A leader has to be able to assess the situation and decide to call a retreat when a retreat is needed.

    And while his showing was definitely not enough to earn him a rank up by the Chunin Exam standards, that didn''t matter for him anyway.

    After all, it was not Konoha officials that decided if he gets promoted or not. It was Ringo. Chojuro had to impress her. Not the current ''judges''.

    Unfortunately for him, he could be almost certain his previous showing was definitely not impressive for the current Mizukage. She did not send him here to have a quick match and lose on top of that.

    He was supposed to show off the might of Kirigakure but...

    Eh, he didn''t do much of that.

    Chojuro was in for a very painful reprimand followed by even more painful long training months once he arrived back at Kirigakure. That was for sure.

    Ringo''s eyebrow was twitching at how fast the match passed. It didn''tst even two full minutes and half of that time was just the boys staring at each other.

    Sure, the battles between ninjas are often finished instantly but this was the Chunin Exams. This was the tform where ninjas had to show off. She even ordered Raiga to train the kid and this was the result? After all that annoyingining Raiga put up in hope she would get fed up and stop that order?

    It was simply beyond disappointing.

    "Well, this match passed certainly quickly." Shikaku tried to start a conversation with Ringo whose eyebrow was visibly twitching. He felt it was his duty not just as the current Hokage but also as the father of the boy who... ahem... unknowingly humiliated the Kiri contestant and by that probably pissed off the extremely dangerous woman sitting next to him.

    Shikaku doubted the redheaded Mizukage would be so petty and put a high bounty on a genin. Especially not on a son of the Hokage. But she was a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure and these were almost in every case extreme nutjobs. One could never be sure with them.

    So, just in case, Shikaku wanted to make sure while attempting to calm down any ruffled feathers.

    "But I guess it is natural. The boy from your vige was certainly at a disadvantage. I apologize for that. The match-ups are random." Shikaku continued and smiled apologetically at Ringo only for her to snort when she heard that.

    "My mood swings are more random than these match-ups." She grumbled under her nose, loud enough for every present Kage to hear her, which made Shikaku''s smile freeze as the other Kages chuckled.

    "But don''t worry. I am not mad at your boy. He fought well and I am certainly not gonna kill him just because Tsunade is a bitch who rigged the matches in her vige''s favor. Hah, every Kage does it so there is no problem with that." She rolled her eyes and instantly killed any follow-up conversation that might have urred.

    The other Kages did not even try to give some childish and subtly insulting remark on how easily Chojuro lost after hearing that. Mostly because what she said was the truth. Every Kage tried to give the participants from his vige an edge. And if the Chunin Exam happened to be in their viges... well, naturally they would reflect that desire.

    It was just natural.

    Not having Konoha ninja win Chunin Exams urring in Konoha was humiliating enough. If no Konoha ninja got past the first match of the finals... what message would that send to the future potential clients?

    Still, that didn''t mean she had to state the reality so bluntly. Some secrets should stay discreet even if everybody knows them...

    ''Heh, she is definitely pissed.'' Pakura inwardly noted with a small smile gracing her lips.

    She stayed quiet as the other Kages, not seeing the point in stirring up this particr conversation even if she could.

    With how the odds were stacked against Tsunade''s vige in these Exams, nobody could fault her for giving the Konoha participants a bit of a push by matching them against someone they either had a chance to beat or could counter with their skill set.

    But even then she could not have been sure her participants would win. Thepetition was just that hard.

    Winning the whole thing? Tsunade could forget about that with people like Karin Uzumaki and Temari participating and she definitely knew it too.

    Hence, the uneven match-ups. She at least made sure to pit people of simr prowess against each other so the matches are not utter curb-stomping. So far, in every match, bothbatants had a chance to win.

    That would not have happened if someone like Hinata fought Tayuya, for example.

    The match-making was not that terrible. Honestly, the show of power to civilians was one of the best Chunin Exams ever had. Granted, that was more because of the quality of the current contestants than anything else.

    Speaking of quality...

    "The next match will be between Sabaku no Temari and Karin Uzumaki." Hayate announced and Pakura wryly smiled as she nced at the smug-looking Tsunade.

    ''Of course, she just had to put the two strongest against each other.. Shrewd shrew.''

 Chapter 402 - Ch402. Womanly Spat

    The two women walked into the arena and from the first moment, it was obvious the hostility in the air skyrocketed.

    Hayate shuddered as he suddenly found himself right in the middle of the two ring and approaching women. He had no idea why it reminded him of Danzo''s bloodlust when he once coughed right into his face by coincidence but...

    ''Aren''t they supposed to be genins? Why does their bloodlust match something a jonin would be capable of releasing?'' He inwardly sweatdropped and took a few subtle steps back to not be in their direct line of sight in fear they would start to fling Jutsu at each other without him even starting the match.

    Fortunately for Hayate, neither Karin nor Temari had any intention of fighting outside of the official match as they knew such behavior would not be appreciated by the... ahem, special few people among the audience they would not dare to piss off.

    Well, they certainly had the guts to annoy them if only a little bit and neither liked the woman standing opposite them so they didn''t intend to pretend to be all buddy-buddy even though they knew it would have been preferred.

    The one to start the trouble was, as Rei expected, Temari. While Karin had a temper worthy of an Uzumaki, Temari''s personality could be very provocative against those she both loved and didn''t like. Just for both of those categories, she was provocative in a different way. Rei enjoyed and appreciated her provocative side but he doubted Karin would feel the same way about it simply because of how Temari felt about Karin.

    "If you have something to say, say it, pipsqueak." Temari uttered with a grin, smugly staring at Karin who silently red at her in a very reserved manner for an Uzumaki. If a look could kill, Karin would have won the Exams already.

    Seeing how much the redhead held herself back, Temari''s grin widened. She knew exactly what would provoke the redhead enough to get her temper rolling.

    She raised her nose upward just enough that only a trained ninja could notice the gesture. But even to those observant enough, it would have meant nothing. For Karin, who knew Temari well, though...

    Karin grit her teeth as she saw the subtle condescending and gloating look in her opponent''s eyes. She hated those teal eyes full of mockery. She hated it even more than the words Temari uttered.

    Considering that her temper would usually not be able to handle even those words without giving a very strong retort back... Karin had no way of holding her emotions at bay once she noticed Temari''s expression.

    "Hah!? Just because you are a vulgar harlot that likes to spread her legs where they don''t belong, doesn''t mean I gotta be vocal about it!" Karin shouted back in anger, baring her teeth at Temari with her hands balled into fists.

    She really thought she looked menacing but...

    Half of the audience, mostly the male part, found her act very cute. The redheaded girl looked like an angry harmless ginger squirrel to them.

    Temari raised an eyebrow at Karin when she heard her words. It prompted her to cross her arms on her chest and smirk in victory. "What do you care for whom I spread my legs. Just because I am able to get the man I want to pound me into the sheets, while you can''t, is not a reason to be so pathetically unreasonable." She said, her toneced with sweet derision.

    Temari had the time of her life taunting Karin. Especially since she saw it was very effective because of how Karin''s expression twisted.

    Karin angrily huffed but she didn''t refute Temari''s words. The redhead was inwardly baffled that the Suna bitch was so blunt about it. It took quite a lot from Karin to prevent herself from flushing red from both immense rage and dumb-struck embarrassment as she heard Temari so brashly admitting about her love life in the middle of Konoha''s arena.

    ''And she says it with such smugness! The... bitch!'' Karin inwardly seethed as the shes of the loathsome harlot in front of her having sex with the man she loved passed through her mind.

    ''Why couldn''t it have been me!? Grrr!''

    Of course, her reason for being angry was not really that Temari had sex with Rei. It was mostly that Karin didn''t and Temari loved to smugly remind her of that at every opportunity.

    After Karin did not react for a few seconds, Temari decided to throw another jab at her. "At least you know how to listen to a reason and know when to be silent like a good girl. Who knew it could learn... Eh, pipsqueak?"

    "Who are you calling pipsqueak, you shitty bitch." Karin spoke, trembling in a cold rage. "I will never know why he would choose you over me. Who knows how many other men you spread your legs for. What good could be some cheap bitch like you for?" She sneered, her eyes gleaming with a desire to inflict severe harm on Temari. She couldn''t wait for the match to start.

    Temari''s grin instantly fell when she heard Karin''s usation. She didn''t appreciate that one and it was obvious from how severe her expression became. "Oi, oi. Are you questioning my fidelity?" She spoke with an ice-cold tone as her lips twisted into a frown, "Wanna die before reaching a breedable age, kid?"

    The atmosphere in the arena became extremely suffocating and the small breeze totally halted as the wind became stagnant. Exactly like a calm before the storm.

    While the civilian audience enjoyed the exchange of insults between the women, every experienced ninja felt as if sitting on needles. They knew what was toe as they could feel the ''disturbance'' in the chakra and the threat it carried. It was far from a pleasant feeling.

    "Just because you are a few years older..." Karin let out through her gritted teeth. She was squeezing her fists so hard, her sharp nails dug into her palms, driving blood and causing her to feel a painful sting.

    Just because she was still a ''kid'', Rei always deflected her advances. How was it fair that he fucked Temari and not her!?

    Karin wanted nothing more than to see the shithead who decided fifteen being the age of majority in the Elemental Nation and tear him to shreds. She was a kunoichi! An adult! She was old enough to kill so it should automatically mean she was old enough to give herself to the man she loved, no!?

    Frankly, the pain helped her to prevent herself from leaping at Temari and smashing that bloated sand swine''s face into a bloody mess. Who permitted her to spread her legs for Rei before her!?

    Karin''s chakra also exploded outwardly like a raging inferno as her thoughts became more and more turbulent. It was not visible for civilians but the ninjas jolted at the abrupt flood of energy and malice. The bloodlust they could feel from the small redhead amplified to heights even experienced chunins were starting to feel unsure about their continued safety in the arena.

    s, one, Gekko Hayate, could only discreetly weep bitter tears as Hokage himself gave him the job of proctoring the matches. If he knew he would be caught in the middle of these two hostile torrents of chakra desiring nothing but to tear each other apart, he would have declined the ''honor'' and kept the heck away from the arena today!

    It was starting to be physically painful just to stay in the vicinity of their powerful chakra. Genins, his ass!

 Chapter 403 - Ch403. Temari Vs Karin 1

    Hayate decided it would be unprofessional of him to dy the beginning of the match any longer when thebatants were in such high spirits.

    "The match between Uzumaki Karin and Sabaku no Temari start!" He eximed and jumped... not to the edge of the arena as during the previous matches but he outright jumped out of the arena in fear of getting caught up in between the two outraged ''genins'' who could put most elite jonins to shame with the potency and volume of their chakra.

    What could a poor Special Jonin like him do against ''children'' like these!? How was he supposed to proctor this match? Stopping it when they go overboard? Him? Really? With what army?

    ''Now I know why Lord Hokage looked at me with such a pity when he handed me this ''honor''.'' Hayate bitterly thought with an inward sigh and outward cough.

    Oh well, it was no longer in his power to intervene. What should happen will happen no matter if he pointlessly puts his life on the line or not. That''s why he decided he would rather keep his life and body intact. The two ''not-genins'' could tear each other apart for all he cared.

    Down in the arena, the second Hayate started the match, both women moved.

    Temari fully opened her war fan in one swing, sending a gust of powerful wind at Karin while two chakra chains burst out of Karin''s sleeves, snapping in Temari''s direction.

    The gust of wind and chains, both supercharged on chakra, met in the middle, creating a powerful shockwave that dispelled the wind and deflected the chakra chains while forcing Temari to shield herself with her war fan and Karin to create an Earth Wall to avoid said shockwave reaching them.

    Because of the shockwave, the inside of the arena felt as if a ferocious storm was passing through it. The hair of both girls iled wildly in the uncontroble winds that sprang forth from the impacts of the shockwave with the walls of the arena. Cracks were left on every ce the shockwave impacted a surface and soon enough, the whole arena was covered in them.

    It was incredible... to think only their chakra shing could do this much damage to the environment.

    On the same note, the Kages instantly realized a small problem. The women were far too strong for the restricted space of the arena. At this rate, the fight would surely spill out of it and the audience would be caught up in it!

    Fortunately for them and the unknowing civilians, Tsunade would not pit Karin against Temari in a ce where they could massacre half the vige just as coteral damage without sufficient preparation.

    Seals started to spread at breakneck speeds all over the cracked walls of the arena, visibly repairing them and covering them in ayer of chakra barrier. The barrier continued to spread until all walls were covered in it and a translucent dome was created above the arena to enclose the barrier.

    The amount of chakra funneled to this barrier surprised many ninjas, especially the foreign Kages and Orochimaru. Konoha definitely did not possess anything like this during thest war as they could see numerous ways of how to use such a barrier in a war but Konoha never did.

    This barrier had enough chakra to withstand a bijuudama!

    For some reason, that only hammered down their confidence in the uing invasion. Tsuchikage even started to regret his decision to join a pathetic snake like Orochimaru now...

    Once the shockwaves were over, Temari hoisted up her war fan and started to wildly swing it from left to right, sending chakra-enhanced wind sh after wind sh at Karin, hoping to catch her off-guard because her visibility was impaired by the huge Earth Wall in front of her.

    Karin, however, didn''t need her eyes to see. Especially not when chakra was involved. Her Mind''s Eye of Kagura warned her about the iing attacks the second they left Temari''s war fan. She put her palm on the back of her Earth Wall and focused, drawing a sequence of seals from her memory, inscribing it onto the wall with just her chakra.

    If the current Sealmasters saw a girl of her age doing this, they would puke blood, thinking their lifelong efforts were just a waste of time since even a small girl could replicate it.

    Temari''s wind shes sshed onto Karin''s Earth Wall but unlike Temari expected, they did not go through it like a knife through butter. Instead, their force was mostly deflected sending the inside of the arena into yet another windy storm that increased in ferocity with each sh that hit Karin''s wall.

    Deep gashes formed all around the ground in a show of just how much power each sh contained and while some of these deflected shes reached the walls, the chakra barrier held firmly, only slightly shaking from the impact.

    This utterly shocked Karin. Her Enhancing Seals were strong enough to nullify B-rank Ninjutsu head-on! The fact they had to deflect Temari''s attacks instead of nullifying them meant each sh contained power surpassing B-rank Ninjutsu.

    Karin''s smile ufortably twitched at that thought. ''Crazy bitch. She is really trying to kill me.'' Her smile widened, her red eyes gaining a gleeful malicious gleam, ''Hehe, that just means I don''t have to feel bad about going for the kill from the get-go.''

    On the other side of the arena, Temari was having the time of her life. She didn''t care if her attacks were deflected. Just spamming them on that redheaded banshee was enough to relieve her pent-up stress. Hit-Karin could really be one of the best stress relief activities for her!

    The fact the arena was drowned in sharp screeching winds was really rxing for her too. It didn''t matter that the visibility was bing worse and worse. Or that her extremely trained hearing sense was bing really irrelevant because of the winds. She felt at home in this environment and it only made her inner tion skyrocket.

    Suddenly, her rxing daze was interrupted as multiple chakra chains burst from the ground around her, snapping in her direction with brutal precision, every single one of them aiming to pierce an instantly lethal ce.

    Temari remembered the redheaded brat was a powerful sensor and frowned. It certainlyplicated the matter.

    ''And here I thought I would be able to just rx and drown her in ranged attacks. Sigh, kids these days are troublesome.'' She distractedlymented while twisting and spinning her body on her heels, just right to avoid the chains by inches. Her instincts and senses were trained to the extreme under Lady Pakura''s tutge. There was no way some Uzumaki upstart could kill her with such a pathetic attempt!

    Unknown to Temari, Karin didn''t aim to harm Temari with her attack.

    The chains were all around Temari. Because of their length, even if she avoided the attack of the sharp pointy end, their long body was still quite restricting to her movements.

    Temari''s eyes widened as she realized her area for evasion was shrinking. She clicked her tongue and reached for her fan with the intention to st these pesky chains away...

    And that was what Karin waited for.

    Her chakra chains suddenly shifted, new chakra chains emerging from the body of her old chains in a simr fashion as Orochimaru''s snakes burst out of his sleeves when he uses the Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes.

    A sense of danger invaded Temari''s mind as she found herself surrounded by sharp pointy ends of chains about to rush at her from all sides and she didn''t have enough time to reach for her war fan.

    ''The tomato brat hid her intentions well.'' Temari grumpily thought, watching the threatening sharp chains approaching her body in slow motion.

    Even in her most absurd dreams she never thought Karin would be able to corner her like this.

    ---

    Author Note (or rather rant because I didn''t do one for a very long time and I feel like nitpicking and I am also a bit bored so I wonder what kind of response I will have for this):

    Lately, I noticed a few guys doingments like: ''Boring'', or with simr meaning.

    I think I should address that :D. Feel free to express yourself if you find it boring. That''s fine and I won''t get offended. Actually, I am just amused by that kind of childishness.

    Look guys... we are at chapter 400th+ right now. If you feel the story bores you, just stop reading for a month and then read all chapters at once if you are still interested in it.

    If you are here, then I think at least something in my story kept you reading for the past four hundred chapters. Going through that experience, you should have noticed that I am not talented enough to make every single one of my chapters exciting and interesting.

    I try but... I am sorry for being blunt but, in the end, I don''t write for you. I write because I like it and have fun doing it. I write what I want to write and if you don''t find that exciting enough for you... then I am sorry but this is the best I can provide.

    Nothing will change by typing ''Boring'' intoments.

    If you feel the need to express yourself, at least give me a reason why you find it boring. Describe which part was rubbing you the wrong way, which interaction was not well done, what did you not like. Give me that feedback :). If you need to roast me alive, feel free to do so but state a reason for it. That would actually make me happy.

    ''Boring'' ... is discouraging. I don''t let it get to me too much. I had tons of people trash-talking me inments and reviews so something like that is not enough to get to me but it still brings the mood down when reading it.

    Getting proper feedback on ''why'' you think it is boring and maybe how it could have been done better would be a different case.

    Nevertheless, some of my chapters will still be boring. No way to go around that.

    And that''s because I don''t have a precise n in my mind while writing each chapter. I vaguely know where it is heading but when I write a chapter, I write whates to mind and what I find interesting. I write in a way I think would be interesting for me.

    In the end, I write for myself, and in order to get better at it.

    To be honest, sometimes I am t out testing some stuff and people''s reactions to them. Like purposefully doing certain things in the plot and then reading all thements regarding them to know how they would be received.

    But my point is...

    <- This guy, is no JK Rowling.. Don''t expect too much from me, please :D.

 Chapter 404 - Ch404. Temari Vs Karin 2

    Gritting her teeth, Temari made a tough decision. It was either get hit by some chains and get her war fan or leave her fan and dodge.

    Naturally, her war fan would usually be the priority as it was an extremely important weapon for her but she couldn''t afford to be injured. Not by Karin. Not like this. Not so easily.

    Her pride was reeling in disgust at the thought. Plus, this fight would most likely be quite a long one and whoever would get injured first would be at a huge disadvantage.

    Her course of action was set and Temari...

    The formation of chains tightened as they fully encased the ce where Temari was standing in a ball of chakra chains sharp enough to bisect a tree all over their length.

    To the audience, it seemed as if Karin managed to get Temari with a finishing blow as the ball of writhing chains, grinding against each other in all of their shredding might, was a very menacing sight.

    But Karing knew differently and stayed alert. Her sensing prowess caught something just before her chains struck. She was not certain what it meant but she was not about to underestimate her foe.

    Her vignce was rewarded five secondster. The earth on the opposite side of the arena from the writhing ball of chains suddenly became sand and Temari emerged from it with a very put-off face.

    Part of it was definitely the fact she had to leave her fan behind but Karin realized the biggest reason why she seemed so discontent was that she realized a sneak attack would not work because of how focused Karin was. To appear on the other side of the arena, her route definitely led underneath Karin and that meant, the opportunity for a sneak attack was definitely there.

    Now... if only Karin could find out how Temari evaded her senses when she was underground. That was quite a worrying ability.

    Nevertheless, Karin couldn''t help but give Temari a quick smirk. She one-upped the uppity bitch so well, her ego''s ass would hurt for ages!

    Seeing Karin''s smirk, Temari frowned. Yes, she lost her war fan but what''s with that winning expression? Why was the Uzumaki brat grinning like a loon? As if she had already won?

    Did nobody teach her the fight is not over until your opponent doesn''t breathe anymore?

    ''This is why kids are so...'' Temari inwardly shook her head in exasperation.

    "I can admit that was a well-nned assault." Temari started speaking towards Karin. "But it looks like I will have to teach you an important lesson in the ninja world." She sighed, "How you can be so self-assured at this point is beyond me. Did nobody ever tell you that..."

    Temari paused and put her hand into her kunai pouch and took out a very harmless-looking storage scroll.

    Karin, who initially got on guard, looked at Temari in bewilderment. Storage scroll? That was it? Was she hiding a second war fan or something? That is the reason for her confidence?

    What could a storage scroll contain? Kunais? Shurikens? Pfft, as if such tools were useful in a fight of this level...

    Giving a nce at her deadly chains... Karin could not believe the Suna harlot could still maintain that condescending look.

    ''I will really have to cut her up real good to wipe that smug facade off of her face, won''t I?'' Karin narrowed her eyes and prepared herself. She refused to believe a second war fan is what made Temari so on top of her game despite her bad situation.

    Temari''s smirk widened as she noticed Karin getting focused, expecting some grand attack she would have to dodge or block.

    "Expect the unexpected!" Temari leisurely said in a lecturing tone before she snorted and threw the scroll high into the air, right in the middle of where they both stood.

    Karin blinked, resisting the urge to follow the scroll with her eyes.

    She was not impressed. Misdirection was the oldest thing in the books. Trying to use an ordinary storage scroll to get her attention away from her opponent?

    Hah~...

    Karin was not impressed. Her eyes stayed firmly on Temari, giving her a deadpan look that conveyed, ''Really? That''s your big lesson? Bluffing?''

    It seemed that Temari''s ploy failed as she stood awkwardly rooted in her ce, her lips twitching when Karin''s eyes refused to let her out of their sight while the small scroll spun in the air, reaching higher and higher.

    "Pathe..." Karin dryly started.

    She was however interrupted midway when the scroll burst open and an entire ocean of sand emerged above the arena, starting to fall down like an inescapable crushing waterfall.

    And while Karin was too stunned to do anything, taken off guard pretty heavily, Temari just let out a pearl ofughter full of enjoyment and glee as her body seemingly turned to sand which then fell to the ground, forming a pile there.

    There was no time for Karin to react as the ocean of sand reached the ground, burying the arena alongside her in itself, creating a small desert of quicksand.

    The audience was utterly stunned at this usage of storage scroll. Many ninjas wondered what Temari intended to do with a storage scroll in this kind of fight but...

    Nobody could even begin to guess that she stored a desert in it. In hindsight, having so much sand dropped on one''s head would be indeed... unpleasant. The people wondered if the redhead was even alive at this point. Being buried alive by sand weighing several tons at the very least... that gotta be lethal, no?

    After a few seconds, small tendrils of sand rose up from the new sandy ground, forming into a humanoid shape before they solidified, revealing Temari who kneeled down, putting her palms on the sand and chuckling.

    "Surprise bitch. Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral!" She eximed and the sand underneath herpressed with such force, a crater was created on the surface of the sand dune, sending a cloud of sandy dust to fly upward, covering the arena.

    The sand dropped around two meters in height. That''s how much it waspressed. The individual grains of sand were so close to each other, the sand surface was now as hard as a chakra-enhanced rock.

    When the ninjas in the audience saw that, they couldn''t help but grimace while thinking, ''Yep, there is no surviving that one...''

    And while many were utterly bewildered, the Suna ninjas in particr couldn''t help but get chills when they saw someone other than Gaara manipting sand in this manner. Gaara''s Sand Coffin was extremely well known in Sunagakure. Seeing its upgraded version? Of course, the people old enough to remember Gaara''s bloody childhood would not find it amusing that the technique got an upgrade.

    Temari slowly stood up, rolling her tense shoulders.

    This was it. She revealed her bloodline to the world. And damn if it wasn''t such a drag!

    "My body is so stiff! I shouldn''t have channeled so much chakra through it into the sand." She loudly groaned, giving thepressed sandy ground a sheepish nce before uneasily muttering under her nose, "Er... was this a bit of an overkill? Rei would have saved the Uzumaki kid from being ttened if my attack was life-threatening." She tried to awkwardlyfort herself but the uncertainty was tantly obvious in her tone. "Right?"

    As she awkwardly stood in her ce, hunched over from how weary her body was, Hayate stepped into the arena, deciding to end the match. In his opinion, there was no way the Uzumaki was still alive. This move could possibly tten a few streets in a vige.

    ''What a monster.'' He thought as he nced at Temari about to call her victory while inwardly feeling a distaste for her because of killing her opponent. "The w-..."

    But as he was about to say it, the sandy ground of the arena suddenly started to violently tremble as many cracks abruptly emerged all around it.

    It seemed Karin was not as dead as everybody thought.

 Chapter 405 - Ch405. Temari Vs Karin 3

    The sandy ground was violently shaking, the tremors spreading even to the walls of the arena beyond the chakra barrier since it was a dome and the ground was not covered.

    Suddenly, the ground underneath Temari became bloated, forming a massive sand dune, and it was ever so obvious an eruption was imminent. Temari furiously tried to pour more of her chakra into it, hardening andpressing it even further but something was pressing against the dune from within, causing it to expand outward no matter how much Temari tried to suppress it.

    When she realized this tug of war would be eventually lost by her, Temari decided to stop trying to crush Karin''s attempt at getting out of the sand. She could dy it but whatever Karin was doing, it was working a bit too well.

    Temari leaped back,nding on the side of the wall and crouching there in wait, mentally preparing herself for whatever was gonna pop up from the sand. She had no idea what Karin was doing but whatever it was, it must be huge considering the counter-pressure it was able to exert against her chakra.

    Now that Temari stopped suppressing Karin''s attempt, the sand dune abruptly erupted as if a bomb had just gone off within it. Sand flew all around and dust clouds rose into the air before it was quickly dispersed by a huge gust of wind as a massive torso of a gigantic crimson samurai armor made of chakra violently tore itself out of the ground with a roaring st.

    Anyone who knew what Susanoo was would instantly notice the incredible likeness to that technique. The only difference was... instead of forming it via the Mangekyo Sharingan, Karin used her own bloodline, her Adamantine Sealing Chains, to create this construct ording to the example Izumi showed her.

    Of course, Izumi would have never thought Karin could actually pull it off but apparently, one should never underestimate a motivated Uzumaki. Despite that, it was very much a work in progress as it obviouslycked the lower part of its body.

    The gigantic chakra samurai armor suddenly stopped and zoomed in on Temari. The atmosphere in the arena became still for a moment as if calm before a storm. The moment dragged on and the time as if slowed down... but a few secondster, a chakra chain sprouted from the armor''s right hand like mes before it skillfully spun it like a whip, sending powerful gusts of wind all around the arena while aiming topletely devastate the ce where Temari was standing.

    Temari''s pupils shrank as she realized the chakra chain with the width of a room was just swung towards her at breakneck speeds. She reacted as if on autopilot and just barely managed to turn into the sand before the chain impacted her position.

    The chakra barrier shed with the chakra chain, sending a loud booming sound followed by a massive shockwave into the surroundings. The barrier remained intact despite the brutal raw strength behind the blow and because the arena was covered by it in its entirety, the shockwave had no way to ''escape''. This caused the pressure from it to build up until the winds picked up and the grains of sand started to erratically fly in the air, creating a powerful sandstorm.

    Temari''s chakra only nudged that process a bit.

    Karin pulsed her chakra, controlling her chakra armor to spin the massive chakra chain it held around itself, creating another gust of wind, dispersing the sandstorm in an instant and revealing Temari''s position.

    Karin smirked at the wide-eyed Suna kunoichi and prepared to control her armor to strike again...

    Unfortunately for her, Temari was not wide-eyed because she was caughtpletely off guard. She just couldn''t believe how stupid the Uzumaki bint was to do... this.

    Before Karin''s crimson armor could brandish its massive chakra chain at Temari again, the powerful winds created by Karin''s previous swing rebounded on the barrier, engulfing the whole arena and picking up the sand upward to the air in yet another massive sandstorm, this time, one much more ferocious as the previous one.

    There was no need for Temari to nudge this sandstorm with her chakra. Karin did all the work for her by being a mindless violent brute of an Uzumaki and thinking that punching a problem is the correct way to go. She clearly forgot they were in an enclosed space where the recoil of her swing will be rebounded right back at her in the form of strong winds.

    Temari slipped from Karin''s radar, letting her chakra seemingly disperse into the sand. This was a technique she previously used to pass unnoticed underneath Karin. With this sandstorm, there was no way Karin could locate her.

    Karin, realizing that Temari again used whatever she was using to escape her senses, had a problem. She could not sense Temari and she could not see shit through all the sand flying around! But she also couldn''t just disperse the sandstorm as it would only create a stronger one!

    Not seeing any solution, Karin''s temper started to get the better of her.

    ''Agh! To hell with it!'' She inwardly screamed and started to angrily fling her chakra chain around the arena in a tantrum, intending... well, more like hoping... to hit Temari with her blind blows.

    Karin was furiously smashing and shattering every piece of thendscape around her immovable armor, powerful blows rained all over the arena, creating untold devastation and mayhem.

    The sandstorm was continuously being blown away and reformed again and again, with each blow bing stronger and stronger until there was nothing but sand everywhere.

    Karin was blind and she hated it!

    The sand was doing something to block her senses! It drove her sparse. The more she rampaged, the blinder she became, the more bothered by it she was. It was one vicious cycle.

    Many in the audience, civilians and ninjas alike, went deathly pale at the sight of such mindless violence perpetrated by a hulking mass of chakra of the size of Hokage Tower. So much so Rei even regretted installing seals that allowed the audience to see what was happening despite all the visual obstacles such as the sandstorm.

    Karin was simply not giving any shit about appearances. She utterly wrecked everything around her with extreme prejudice and the ninjas in the audience had their lives shing in front of their eyes as they started picturing encountering... that... during a war.

    The reluctance was almost palpable in the air.

    Both Raikage and Tsuchikage stared at the spectacle in mute horror, quickly abandoning their ns to deal with Uzushiogakure after they dealt with Konoha.

    The massive chakra construct was causing craters with every blow. Hills were created and then demolished in an instant as the powerful force of the chakra chain terraformed thendscape in a mindlessly casual flick.

    Yes, Raikage could punch strong enough to pulverize a small mountain but not with such ease!

    Yes, Tsuchikage''s potential for destruction far outstripped what he was seeing but he could not use his Dust Release so casually.

    Thisrge-scale destruction was visibly not taking any toll on the girl! She was not thinking where to strike next. She was just waving that chain of hers left and right, no technique or skill, just pure brute strength, and this was the result. She could go on and on. Powering that chakra giant as if it was some kind of D-rank Jutsu.

    Needless to say, both Raikage and Tsuchikage were scared out of their minds. Just imagining that crimson armor being in the middle of their vige...

    It sent shivers down their spines.

    If nothing else, Karin unknowingly earned respect from two leaders.

    Without the chakra barrier surrounding the arena, the Kages surmised there would be no arena left standing after that tantrum of hers. Frankly, there probably would not be half of Konoha left standing.

    The barrier soaked up all the shockwaves which were much more devastating than the blows themselves.

    And while Karin was blindly rampaging, hoping to get out of her utterly mortifying situation, Temari was preparing her counterattack.

    The Uzumaki wanted to pull a giant made of chakra out of her ass? Well, there was only one response to that! Since she wanted a giant, she will get a giant!

    Temari''s eyes gleamed with vicious light.

    And not just one but several!

    ''I am going to teach you somemon sense, brat.'' Temari heatedly thought. She was trying to restrain herself for the sake of appearances but since Karin wanted to go hardcore.... ''Who told you to pull a vige-ending move in apetition meant for genins, haah, brat!?''

 Chapter 406 Ch406. The Showdown Of Giants

    As Temari started to focus on using her next Jutsu, the sandstorm in the arena suddenly halted because the sand in the air started to gather into three massive wriggling tendrils surrounding Karin. Even the ground level started somewhat decreasing as the sand from there also quickly crawled towards the base of the tendrils, causing the ground to literally move.

    Karin was delighted Temari stopped the sandstorm as at least her vision was recovered and her chakra sensing was starting to be useful again but she also realized these tendrils were a preparation for a huge attack. These tendrils were as high and thick as her chakra armor and she couldn''t move the armor yet. She knew there was a big chance that demolishing them would start a new sandstorm but Karin didn''t really have any other option right now.

    That''s why with massive disgruntlement, Karin controlled her crimson chakra chain to smash the tendril to her right.

    The tendril of sand burst like water from an abruptly shattered ss bottle, sand flying everywhere, filling the arena again.

    Karin didn''t wait for her chain and directly punched the second tendril with her armor''s free hand, bursting it into massive streams of falling sand too. By the time her punch was finished, her armor''s other arm already controlled the momentum of the chakra chain, ready to swing it once more.

    But before she could destroy thest tendril, Karin became bewildered as the first one she destroyed started to quickly reform, sand being sucked into it from the surroundings as if it was a vacuum cleaner.

    Her momentary hesitation cost her a few seconds and when she finally got past her shock, the second tendril was already halfway finished reforming.

    Karin understood that destroying the tendrils would not work and her eyes started to look for Temari. If attacking the Jutsu did not work, then attacking the user was the only option.

    That was easier said than done however as even though Karin was one of the best sensors on the continent and she tried her utmost best to locate Temari, she still had a hard time.

    Unfortunately for her, Temari was already done with her preparation and gathered enough sand for the next part of her Jutsu.

    The outeryer of three massive spinning sand tendrils burst outwardly, revealing three massive giants made of sand, every single one of them matching her armor''s torso in size.

    Unlike Karin''s chakra armor, these giants were not made of raw chakra, hence, Temari could make multiples with much less chakra cost than Karin had to spend only for the torso.

    The arena was bing cramped since the gigantic constructs'' eye level reached almost the audience area. Considering how high this area was ced, it was a sight to behold.

    The three sand giants roared and burst into action, rushing at Karin with the intent to smack the hell out of her chakra construct.

    Karin''s eyes widened as she scrambled to whip her chain at the one on the right, hitting him in the chest, and much to her shock, she did destroy the giant but in just a moment it was once again in one piece, raring to rush at her again.

    The problem was, it took much more force than she nned for.

    Karin couldn''t focus only on the giant on the right, however. Two more were trying to rush at her.

    She stopped the one on the left of her by grabbing him around his torso with her construct''s free hand, holding the giant back as it uselessly iled its arms around and asionally smashing them against the surface of her chakra armor''s arm.

    s, the giants in their full-size being as big as the torso of her armor meant she had much longer reach with the arms of her armor so the trapped sand giant couldn''t reach her with its arms

    The problem was the third sand giant, the one in front of her. Karin''s armor ran out of hands. She first nned to smash the one on her right with her chain and then swing her chain at the one in front of her but the surprising density of the giants prevented that. When her chain impacted the first giant, it didn''t go clean through him as it should but instead, the chain lost its velocity and fell to the ground.<sub> </sub>

    Gritting her teeth, Karin let go of the chain and it instantly started to dissipate as most of the chakra forming it started returning to Karin.

    With this new influx of chakra, a new arm sprouted from the armor''s chest just as the giant in front of it was about to reach it. The arm grabbed the giant by its head and forced it down, plunging it to the ground, sttering it with sand as the head burst like a watermelon. Not done yet, the arm then balled its hand into a fist before starting to smash the giant''s body into a pulp, not stopping even when it started to reform again and again and... again.

    Karin hoped the reforming cost Temari a lot of chakra because of how fast it was.

    By the time she stopped the two giants, the one on her right was almost upon her and she tried to grab it with her right hand that no longer held a chain but the giant ducked under it, leaping at Karin''s torso and embracing it, most likely trying to tackle her to the ground.

    Karin''s chakra armor was however much denser and heavier than the sand giant. It didn''t budge even an inch.

    Karin reached with her armor''s right hand again, grabbing the sand giant, and tried to pry him off of her torso but his sand arms fused together behind her back and it refused to let go, squeezing her chakra armor with the ring of sand its arms and chest created.

    From an outside perspective, it looked as if the giants were children manhandled by an adult but... the more experienced shinobi knew that all Jutsu cost chakra. It wasn''t as simple as it seemed.

    And indeed, sweat was running down Karin''s forehead as chakra was being sucked out of her system inrge amounts. Holding three struggling sand giants down was no small feat. Especially the one trying to squeeze her armor''s torso was problematic as creating counter-pressure with chakra took a lot out of her.

    ''So this is her n, huh? Tire me to death?'' Karin thought while focusing on regting her breathing. ''Ha! She must have never faced an Uzumaki before. I am not losing an endurance fight, ''tteba!''

    The fight continued and the giants struggled to escape Karin''s armor''s hold while trying to sneak an attack or two in while Karin had problems containing all three of them. Splitting her focus three-way was quite a problem. So much so, she even dropped her attempts to locate Temari with her chakra sensing.

    Karin realized her mistake when the sand underneath the chakra armor suddenly sprang up, wrapping itself around her armor, trying to pull it down into the massive amount of quicksand that ''somehow'' appeared under it.

    ? Karin tried to pull her armor up bypletely ignoring the sand giants and using her armor''s three hands to support her armor''s massive frame but even the hands started to sink, only quickening the process of her being dragged down.

    While Karin was preupied with the three sand giants, Temari had time to leisurely set up her next move so she made it a massive one.

    She ground the ground underneath the arena into more sand before turning it into quicksand. The chakra armor was massive and provided extreme protection, that much was true. Even S-rank Jutsu would probably not be enough to prate it. But it was also heavy and big, but worse of all, immovable at this stage.

    It would have been ever so easy to pull it underground and then put pressure on it until Karin''s chakra would not be able to support it.

    Especially with quicksand that pulled it down the more it struggled.

    When Karin''s massive chakra armorpletely disappeared into the quicksand, leaving only a calm surface behind, Temari, who was crouching upside down on the ''ceiling'' of the chakra barrier, directly above the ce where Karin''s armor was sucked underground, took a deep calming breath. Her chakra reserves suffered quite a bit to pull this off but it was worth it.

    This was definitely the end.

 Chapter 407 Ch407. Explosion

    Temari wasn''t aiming to kill Karin. Far from it. Karin was an S-rank ninja and something like this should not be able to kill her off. If it did, then she would have been just a waste of air.

    Temari''s whole n was based on the fact that the chakra armor took a lot of chakra out of Karin to stay active. The three sand giants were not only a distraction but also a means to gather intel and probe Karin''s defenses.

    Finding out that putting pressure on a part of the armor meant Karin had to focus more and spend more chakra to reinforce that part was the reason for Temari''s n. The chakra armor seemed really menacing but having this kind of obvious and massive weakness... it really was not a finished technique yet. What gave Karin the confidence to use it against her, Temari would never know.

    In short, underground, Karin''s armor would be pressured from all sides, which would drain Karin''s chakra at an extreme pace. Yet, she would be unable to drop the armor since she would be surrounded by Temari''s sand.

    ''It should not take long for the girl to faint from chakra exhaustion.'' Temari vindictively thought as she sensed what was happening underground through her sand.

    It would have been so easy to squash the Uzumaki brat to a bloody mangled ball of broken bones and torn flesh but no matter how much animosity was between them, Karin was still one of the ninjas from the Vige on the Other Side, and killing her would not make Rei happy so Temari refrained from wringing that pathetic head of hers.

    Suddenly something underground shifted. Temari was not exactly seeing what was going on, rather, she was feeling it not unlike a blind person trying to orient himself with touch. The difference was, Temari felt everything every grain of her sand was ''touching''

    It was a very cumbersome sensing technique that was useless most of the time but Temari was proud of having it. It took her months to perfect, after all, and it was an incredibly efficient way to train her control over sand with her chakra.

    This time, however, it gave her the necessary warning of Karin''sst vain attempt at resistance.

    Except... ''Oi, oi, oi! You ain''t gonna blow the entire ce up, are you!?'' Temari frantically screamed in her mind when she realized the massive chakra underground startedpressing and gaining intensity and density in a very simr way to the techniques of the Explosive Corps of Iwa.

    Temari, who was still crouching upside down on the ''ceiling'' of the dome made of chakra covering the arena, looked down with rm and quickly started to prepare her defenses.

    Tendrils of sand abruptly sprang up from the ground, flowing through the air towards Temari before the sand started to form shield mid-air while hardening,pressing, and bing enhanced with more and more chakra.

    This was just the first shield and as the intensity of the underground chakra build-up increased, sweat started forming on Temari''s forehead. Realizing just her sand shield would not be enough, she started topress and quicken winds in front of the shield to provide a bit more resistance and partially scatter the force of the explosion before it could even reach her shield.

    This happened too fast, in fact, only three seconds passed since Karin startedpressing her chakra so Temari did not have much time to create countermeasures.

    The chakra build-up underground suddenly stopped but Temari was not happy at all. The amount of chakra in it...

    The only warning the spectators got was a brief expansion of the sand surface before it burst and filled the entire arena with a deafening explosion as blinding white light flooded the chakra barrier. Many people in the audience were blinded by it and had to rub their eyes to recover their sight while others tried to cover their ears because of the loud booming sound.

    Fortunately for them, Rei''s chakra barrier held otherwise at least a half of Konoha would have been just a crater.

    Still, both Tsunade and Rei started to be quite annoyed with how much they had to focus to prevent a massive earthquake from urring... again.<sub> </sub>

    Honestly, did the two women not understand this was supposed to be a fight between genins? What''s with this vige destroying shit-show!?

    The explosion quickly reached Temari''s wind shield, blowing through it as if it didn''t even exist and only slightly diminishing in intensity. It reached her sand shield, and the sand started to instantly turn the surface of it into a ss before it shattered due to the extreme heat the explosion carried.

    The sand shield held somewhat even though the explosion was getting through ityer byyer. By the time the sand shield waspletely destroyed, the force of the explosion was greatly reduced and Temari had a barrier made out of her chakra in front of her.

    She might not be extremely proficient in this kind of Jutsu, but she wasn''t just a one-trick pony who could only do wind Jutsu and manipte sand. Lady Pakura has beaten an entire repertoire of Jutsu into her just in case she someday needed them.

    The force of the explosion met Temari''s hastily put chakra barrier, making it violently tremble. s, Temari''s chakra barrier was directly supplied by Temari''s chakra... and damn if it wasn''t draining as heck... so the barrier was preserved even if only barely.

    Temari sessfully withstood the explosion that could level half of a vige and didn''t even get scratched. After all, getting a scratch from fighting Karin would have been embarrassing in her opinion.

    Of course, shepletely ignored the fact she did not inflict even a scratch on Karin either.

    The blinding light started to clear out and the aftermath left many spectators in a daze. Where previously were dunes of sand, now only a massive crater spanning the whole surface of the arena remained. It wasn''t a ''clean'' crater either. Its surface was filled with many jagged protrusions that seemed to be made of something simr to obsidian, the whole ground was ck and shiny, so much so, a person could even see their reflection on it.

    The environment of the arena was rearranged for the third time during this fight alone.

    And in the middle of this crater, Karin was huffing and puffing, her hands on her knees as he tried to catch her breath. The reason for her survival was obvious as her whole body was covered by the human-sized version of her previously massive chakra armor.

    Now, it only covered her body, not unlike Ringo''s Lightning Armor technique.

    Seeing it, Temari''s expression twisted into a grimace. The biggest weakness of Karin''s chakra armor was its chakra consumption. Because of its huge size, the redhead had to supply an ungodly amount of chakra to keep it active. But now with size reduction, she could focus more of her chakra to strengthen its defenses, make the chakra more condensed, while also using much less chakra overall.

    ''Did I just help her to get a breakthrough in her Jutsu?'' Temari disgruntledly thought in deep displeasure as she flopped down from the ''ceiling'' of the chakra barrier onto the shiny ck ground just a few feet away from the huffing Uzumaki.

    Karin grinned at Temari through her heavy breathing, "Heh... How did, haaa, you like it? B-, haa, -itch?" She asked, causing Temari''s eye to twitch.

    "Such a cheeky mouth when you are half-dead on your feet. You really should learn some humility. Someone else might have killed you by now because of how annoying you are. Well, I guess that is a gic defect of the Uzumaki bloodline so you can''t really help it." Temari retorted back in a condescending manner, knowing it would annoy Karin a lot.

    Contrary to Temari''s expectations, there was no explosion of temper. The Uzumaki was probably too exhausted for that.

    Karin just derisively snorted, "You, haaa, are underestimating, huuu, me too much." She raised her gaze, her determined red eyes looking straight into Temari''s teal ones, causing them to widen when...

 Chapter 408 Ch408. Special Kind Of Fight

    Temari felt the subtle surge of Karin''s chakra as her eyes connected with Karin''s, while the crimson armor around Karin started to dissipate. A surge that should have been impossible for the exhausted redhead to produce.

    As Karin''s hard breathing started to quickly even out and she straightened her back, Temari realized what happened and her expression became glum, "So you actually have a brain, huh? You didn''t just blow your whole chakra reserve up as I first thought."

    Karin''s eye twitched as she heard that. What did the sand harlot think she was? Stupid?

    "Of course not!" She exasperatedly eximed, her tone sounding very wronged, "I reabsorbed most of my chakra construct and only used for the explosion the remaining few percent that I wouldn''t be able to take back into my chakra system."

    "Remaining few percent, my ass. You had to use at least sixty percent of the chakra construct to create an explosion of that magnitude." Temari rolled her eyes with a snort and Karin''s eyes nervously shook, causing Temari to knowingly smirk.

    She didn''t need more confirmation that she was right. The Uzumaki redhead had at best forty percent of her chakra reserves left. That was extremely good news for Temari as she also spent a lot of her chakra to counter that explosion.

    "Hmph. It makes no difference." Karin sniffed, "I still have many ways to beat you."

    "Oh~? Do tell, kid. What fantastical move have you prepared for the little ol'' me?" Temari provocatively asked as her battle fan appeared in her right hand with a small puff of smoke.

    She naturally retrieved it after summoning the sandstorm. After all, leaving her special weapon just lying around would not be very smart.

    Karin did not rise to the weak provocation of her opponent. Her lips spread into a small smile, "I am an Uzumaki and there is one thing Uzumaki are very well known for but it always goes unnoticedpared to our fame for the sealing arts, huge vitality, and chakra reserves. Let me show you... the Uzumaki sword style!"

    An exquisite katana abruptly appeared in her hand and a secondter a crimsonyer of chakra covered its surface, reinforcing it while Karin took a stance with her sword in front of her and her knees slightly bent in preparation to move in whichever direction necessary.

    Manifesting a full body armor with her current chakra reserves would have been wasteful. Karin learned her lesson from the previous exchange and she grudgingly admitted that Temari was an extremely experienced kunoichi. Clearly, she had no qualms of making this a waiting game of who canst longer. Using an exhausting Justus like that was not in Karin''s best interest. That''s why she opted to coat only her de.

    "Unfortunately for you," She slowly spoke, looking at Temari with self-confidence, "I-"

    She didn''t finish her sentence and instead instantly rushed at Temari at breakneck speed, swinging her sword in a downward arc.

    s, Temari expected it and blocked the sh with her closed fan, momentarily surprised at the force behind the attack but... it was nothing she could not withstand. Even if it drove her feet into the ground enough to crack it.

    As for suddenly attacking being dishonorable... heh. There was no honor among thieves and they were ninjas. Close enough.

    Karin quickly realized there was no way to overpower Temari and decided to adjust her tactics. Slightly leaning the tip of her sword to the left alongside her body, she tried to use an Uzumaki sword technique where the user slid her de alongside her opponent''s weapon before fluidly executing a stab.

    Temari noticed the slight adjustment of Karin''s body, however, and thanks to her vast experience, she realized what the redhead tried to do. Inwardly clicking her tongue, she... let go of her war fan just as Karin started her sword technique.

    Sliding one''s de against the opponent''s weapon required the opponent to have a firm hold of his weapon. The second Temari let go of her war fan, Karin''s technique gained more momentum than it should have and Karin found herself involuntarily pulled forward without being able to stop.

    Her eyes barely managed to widen when Temari''s elbow brutally smashed into her face.

    Karin couldn''t let that go unanswered. As her head was snapping backward with blood flowing from her nose, she let go of her katana, and with her now free hand, she punched Temari in the kidney, causing her to grunt in pain as she leaned forward and gritted her teeth.

    Karin also used the momentum of Temari''s blow and didn''t just try to stop the momentum of her head. Instead, she used it to rebound her head forward...

    Temari who was a bit distracted from the blow to the kidney suddenly experienced Karin''s forehead smashing into hers with a loud thud followed by a surge of pain as her head bounced back, making her drop onto her ass.

    Karin was no different and also fell onto her posterior, wincing from the self-inflicted pain while her lips were curled in a gleeful vindictive smile. With the blood flowing from her nose, it was one disturbing sight.

    After the initial shock wore off, Temari realized what just happened and reached up, touching her forehead before bringing her fingers in front of her eyes only to see her blood, making her expression shift into utter bewilderment.

    ''Did that bitch just headbutt me?'' She looked in disbelief at the groaning Krain who held her forehead in her arms while lying three feet away from her.<sub> </sub>

    Realizing it really happened, Temari was suddenly filled with seething anger and her expression twisted.

    Karin was slowly getting past her pounding headache while berating her past self for having such an amazing idea for a counter-attack. Her head was throbbing as heck!

    But just as her mind was starting to be clear again, she was suddenly grabbed by her hair and her head was forcefully smashed into the ground.

    Her poor nose... suffered yet again.

    Karin quickly reacted and hit her assant who was behind her with her elbow into the area she assumed to be hips. Fortunately, it helped and her hair were let go.

    Karin groggily pushed herself away from her attacker while turning around. The world was swimming in front of her eyes and when she saw Temari clutching her sides and ring at her, Karin remembered she was still in the match against the Suna bitch.

    Fire red in her eyes as she slowly stood up, Temari mirroring her actions, both swaying from side to side as if drunk and disoriented, ring at each other.

    Karin was a bit quicker, however, and was standing sooner than Temari. She used it to her advantage and lunged at Temari, her handsnding on Temari''s shoulders as she pushed her back onto the ground.

    The breath waspletely taken from Temari as her back impacted the ground when Karin used her whole weight to push her down. Her mind was still kinda sluggish but when her lungs suddenly felt the impact and lost the air in them, her rity momentarily returned and...

    Karin was about to start delivering blows to Temari when her head jerked to the side as Temari''s hand pped her straight across her face, making her stop with her attempt at attacking Temari from sheer astonishment.

    She let go of Temari''s shoulder with her right hand and put it on her reddening cheek, feeling the sharp sting as if to make sure she was really pped. When her mind finally registered that she was not dreaming, her face twisted in rage but...

    Letting go of Temari''s shoulder was stupid and Temari used it to her advantage. As Karin''s face twisted, Temari''s fist met Karin''s nose... again.

    This made her topple over to the side as she clutched her face in pain as blood was pouring out of her nose. But as she was rolling over, Karin managed to get onest blow in and delivered a brutal axe kick with her heel, straight into Temari''s abdomen.

    Temari spat saliva and blood as her stomach area received another blow.

    While Temari was catching her breath, Karin raised herself on one knee, gasping for air, and noticed Temari''s hair bands were snapped and her hair were all over the ce.

    Not one to miss such a sun-kissed opportunity, Karin took a handful of the blond locks and pulled... very hard.

    Temari gasped in pain as she felt her head being forcefully pulled back by her hair.

    Amidst her struggle, she noticed Karin''s posture was not very stable and in an attempt to make her let go of her hair, she threw herself at Karin, making both of them tumble on the ground yet again, both groaning.

    This time the two girls recovered almost at the same time and started to exchange ps, pulling each other''s hair, and asionally even delivering a punch or two while they rolled on the ground.

    Needless to say, the audience had a hard time believing what they were seeing.

    Rei was openly chuckling at Konan who had her eyes closed, unwilling to look at what was happening in the arena. Pakura in the Kage Box seemed like she wanted nothing more than to disappear into the thin air from embarrassment.

    This was not a fight between kunoichi. There was no finesse. No techniques.

    No... this was a bonafide catfight and for some reason, Rei found the situation exceedingly amusing. To think these two girls would start pulling each other''s hair in front of all these foreign dignitaries and Kages...

    ''Well, so much for Uzushio''s and Suna''s dignity.'' He chuckled while witnessing Karin trying to scratch Temari''s face with her nails as Temari was trying to deliver yet another punch into Karin''s face.

 Chapter 409 Ch409. A Prelude To End

    The catfight between Karin and Temaristed for ten whole minutes when Temari suddenly kicked Karin off of her, sending her flying back straight towards her ''discarded'' sword.

    When Karin noticed that, she didn''t hesitate and retrieved her sword mid-flight before she dug her heels into the ground, sliding on it into a halt. She quickly regained her bnce and sprang back towards Temari who was still unarmed because her war fan wasying on the ground a few tens of feet away.

    ''Chance!'' Karin inwardly thought with glee, preparing to sh at the Sand bitch with her sword.

    Temari''s eyes widened when she realized what was happening. But she was not one of the best Suna had to offer for nothing. As Karin''s de neared her, Temari crouched down onto the ground, her palms mming into the ck surface. With this one motion, she created a small opening in the ck ss-like material, and instantly sand flowed through this opening, creating a wall in front of her.

    Karin scowled at such annoyance and just continued with her sh. As if a bit of sand could stop her! She pumped chakra into her de before discharging it with a swing, sending a razor-sharp arc of chakra through the air.

    The air trembled from the force passing through it and the sand wall was barely an obstacle as Karin''s sword cut through it in a simr manner a knife cuts through half-melted butter.

    But it fulfilled its purpose. Even if it slowed Karin down just for a split of a second, it was enough for Temari to escape. Especially since the sand wall obscured Karin''s sight.

    Noticing her target was not split in half, Karin frowned. She expected this kind of result but it still slightly disappointed her. She didn''t need to look for Temari. Karin may not be able to sense her but she knew exactly where her opponent was. There was really only one direction in which Temari could have fled.

    Karin looked at the ground and smirked.

    ''All ording to the n!'' She inwardly eximed in tion before raising her right foot and starting to fill it with chakra.

    The spectators suddenly felt a tremor as Karin mmed her foot onto the ground, causing spiderweb cracks to splinter the ck obsidian-like surface of the arena all over the crater. The force of her stomp was aimed mostly downward, traveling through the ground with the intention to squash everything... and everyone... hiding in there.

    Karin might not have been Tsunade''s apprentice but after years of interacting with the Senju Princess, the Uzumaki heiress learned a few things on her own. Even if Tsunade never really tried to teach the girl, Karin''s chakra sensing was a tremendous advantage that could be utilized not unlike the Uchiha n''s Sharingan.

    Naturally, Karin asked for Tsuande''s permission first as she didn''t want to be ttened into a pancake in case Tsunade took offense to her technique being copied...

    Unfortunately for Temari, Tsunade indeed gave Karin this permission, and as such, when Temari emerged from underground, she sported many new bruises andcerations from the pressure exerted onto her body when she was hiding underground.

    She was honestly still in quite good shape, considering the force of Karin''s stomp would have squashed an ordinary chunin into a paste.

    Temari didn''t mind her injuries even though she felt annoyed that Karin got her good. What irked her far more was the fact her sand clones were destroyed and with them, her ambush n had to be scrapped.

    Clicking her tongue, Temari outstretched her hand in the direction of her war fan... and it quickly flew into it, as if she just used telekinesis.

    It certainly impressed the audience and got many surprised exmations but it was far from the truth. In fact, this was all possible only thanks to Karin.<sub> </sub>

    Karin''s stomp might have destroyed Temari''s sand clones but it also created cracks in the ck obsidian-like material covering the arena. Surprisingly enough, this material was quite hard to break and the only source of sand Temari had at hand was underneath it. Even for the almost useless sand wall, she actually had to make an opening in the ck material.

    This was a massive problem for her and that was the reason why she even went underground in the first ce.

    After these cracks were made though... It was exceedingly easy to get some of her sand through them and make it ''grab'' her fan and ''throw'' it towards her.

    "What''s with that stupid face." Temari mirthfully chuckled while she subtly prepared to both attack and defend with her fan at a moment''s notice. "You didn''t really think some half-assed imitation could finish me off, did you?"

    Karin, who was sourly looking at Temari, scoffed. "I hoped you would have enough human decency to drop dead from it but I see you are too dumb to die."

    "Uu~, you tter me. But... I wonder. Are you so t because of your big brain?" Temari grinned when Karin growled at her.

    "For someone who just had a date with a meat-grinder you are quite chipper." Karin retorted. "Are you sure you don''t want to surrender? You still didn''t manage to deliver any worthy hit on me and yet, you look like a cheap prostitute from a war-torn country who just received a beating of her lifetime."

    To be honest, Karin had a point. Temari was extremely disheveled, her messy hair free from their bindings and her clothes torn in multiple ces while her skin sported various bruises. She was simply a mess.

    Temari''s amused expression did not cease despite the insult. Instead, she snorted, "Bitch, please. Stop bluffing. We both know it is you who should be nervous. You might have put some scratches on me but it is me who has enough chakra to continue for a whole day while you are running very low right now. It is me who can just rx and wait for you to fall from exhaustion."

    Karin did not have a retort to that. Her expression twisted in distaste at the fact Temari was aware of her circumstances. Karin tried her best to act as if nothing was burdening her but Temari noticed that she was pushing herself. That wasn''t good.

    "I wonder if you are fine, Karin-chan. Don''t you wanna take a break? Maybe an afternoon nap would do you some good." Temari mocked in a tone full ofughter. She might have looked bad but she waspletely fine in every way that mattered.

    Karin rolled her eyes and her sword started glowing with chakra again, "Don''t you worry your sand-filled noggin because of me. I will end it with the next attack." She lowered her gravity center and entered another sword stance, preparing for a big move.

    Temari''s smile fell at that and she also prepared herself.

    ''Yeah. No matter what, the next attack will end the match.'' Both of them coincidentally thought the same thing.

    For a moment, the time in the arena as if halted...

    Before the moment passed and Karin leaped forward, a massive and oppressive force of chakra emitted from her de that hungrily rushed at Temari whose war fan was vibrating with the chakra of the ma release, unleashed in its full potential.

    The two weapons shed and...

 Chapter 410 Ch410. Karin Vs Temari Fin

    The two weapons shed, butting their chakra reinforcements against each other, and the arena became a maelstrom of strong winds and chakra once again. The surroundings reverberated with a loud ng as the katana met the war fan as a cloud of dust rose into the air and was instantly sent spinning on top of the two women due to the generated winds, restricting the visibility.

    It barelysted three seconds and the dust made at most one spin, when another burst of chakra passed through the arena, scattering the dust and revealing the result of the sh.

    Temari stood above Karin''s unmoving body, breathing hard as her expression showed a slightly bewildered discontent.

    "To think you would run out of chakra so fast." Temari amusedly jeered towards the unconscious girl, "That''s kinda hard to believe. I guess your ability was greatly over-exaggerated if you can''t even regte your chakra exertion to not be knocked out by your own technique." Her tone appeared to be mocking and condescending but in reality, she was hinting at something.

    "But you know..." She continued in a more serious manner but extremely slowly, drawing out every word, "You should have never-"

    She didn''t manage to finish her sentence as the ''body'' in front of her poofed out of existence in a puff of smoke, causing Temari''s eyes to widen in surprise. At that same moment, Karin burst from the ground directly in front of Temari, revealing that she used the previous sh to dig a tunnel in the ground for this surprise attack.

    But despite the situation, for some reason, Temari''s face did not lose its knowing smirk.

    Karin saw her opponent was surprised, which only made her determination grow as her fist neared Temari''s chin in an attempt for a one-hit knock-out.

    When she nned this ambush, she knew Temari would not have enough time to dodge this as long as she caught her off guard. The hard part was catching the Suna harlot off guard but she did it!

    tion filled Karin and made her pump a bit more chakra into her fist than strictly necessary for a simple knock-out... or house demolition.

    That tion didn''tst long though. Karin''s fist indeed found purchase on Temari''s chin, and for a split of a second, Karin thought she had won.

    Except...

    Temari''s head, instead of snapping back as it should be after receiving an uppercut to the chin, burst into the sand, making Karin''s eyes widen in disbelieving shock.

    The redhead didn''t have much time to contemte where her n went wrong. Temari''s headless body showed it was not just an ordinary sand clone when it morphed into the sand after losing its head... and instantly reformed into Temari once again, in the best position for an attack. Before Karin even registered what was happening, Temari was already mid-swing at Karin whose body was mid-air.

    To give Karin credit, she did try to send a chain from her back towards the ground in order to give herself an ability to maneuver out of this trap but...

    It was just a panicked rash instinctual attempt.

    Despite the chains'' speed, before it could even reach the ground, Temari''s fist smashed into Karin''s chin, causing her head to slightly snap to the side and her eyes to be like saucers from mute astonishment... before she fainted just as gravity started to work on her body again, making her unconscious body flop into a heap on the ground.

    Temari stayed vignt even after Karin''s body hit the ground. After all, she did just bait the redhead so there was no reason why the redhead could not try to bait her into a false sense of safety while pretending to be defeated too.

    But after there was no follow-up attack iing and her senses did not register anything out of ordinary, Temari partially rxed.

    She looked at the unconscious Karin and chuckled, "Heh. You should have let me finish my advice, kid." She condescendingly grinned, "I wanted to say you should have never tried to ambush me from the underground. I can feel everything there due to my sand, ya dolt."<sub> </sub>

    And when Hayate showed up in the arena and Karin''s follow-up attack was still noting, Temari seemingly rxedpletely, now really assured of her victory.

    But only after she did that and no attack still arrived, did she finally ept that her opponent was out cold for real.

    Hayate quickly checked Karin, noting she was alive and just knocked out... which in his humble opinion was a miracle after this kind of fight. The girl did not even have a proper bruise on her body if he discounted the nasty one forming on her chin!

    His eyes couldn''t help but to briefly roam the ruined interior of the arena. The previously t grassy ground was now a deep crater full of a ck jagged ss-like material, grains of sand were everywhere, in the air, on the groundˇ­ just everywhere, and no semnce of nature survived the ferocious fight. There was not even a hint of thepletely obliterated trees that were previously on the side of the arena.

    His eyes came back towards Karin and he inwardly eximed in astonishment, ''And yet, she has only one bruise after all of that!? What kind of monster... no.'' He suddenly realized an important fact and his gaze snapped towards Temari who was patiently waiting for him to finally proim her the winner.

    Noticing that Hayate looked at her, she raised her eyebrow at him.

    Honestly, she was quite fed up with the proctor. He seemed as if he just saw Kyuubi ring at him. She so wanted to yell at him ''Less gaping, more proctoring!'' but she was a guest in a foreign vige. It wouldn''t do, to be impolite in front of such a massive crowd...

    ''I wonder if the monster is the girl who has only one bruise after this kind of fight or the girl who managed to knock her out while reallynding only one hit.'' Hayate gave Temari a sheepish look.

    Inside of this look, however, was hidden much deeper and searching once-over. The kind every experienced ninja could use. He quickly assessed Temari''s injuries... and came to a shocking discovery. The Suna kunoichi''s wounds were barely surface scratches. She outwardly looked like a mess but she was totally fine!

    ''Did she purposefully make herself look this way to lower the Uzumaki''s guard?'' Hayate wondered as he proimed Temari the winner of this match.

    Either way... he decided the second he would see one of these girls on the opposite side during a mission, he would hightail it back to Konoha, saying screw the mission. He was sure many of hisrades felt the same after witnessing the spectacle of their fight.

    In the audience, Rei was shaking his head at Karin''s hotheaded stupidity.

    ''Well, this was expected.'' Rei thought in deadpan. ''Digging underground tunnels towards the victory seems like an Uzumaki thing. Did she really think such a thing would work against someone like Temari? When she knew that for the Sand Release, Temari would have needed to be extremely proficient in Earth Release since she did not have Shukaku?'' He wryly smiled and peeked to the side at Konan whose eyes held stoic cold fury.

    ''I almost pity the girl. To make such a rookie mistake.'' Rei''s lips twitched into an amused smirk. ''Not that I can admonish her. I did advise Temari to never use her Earth Jutsus in order to not be known for them since they were such a great hidden ace.''

    Temari''s gravity control was especially incredible. s, there was no way she would have used it in front of so many ninjas even if it meant losing against Karin. Showing it here would ruin the entire purpose of keeping it hidden for when she was in a pinch.

    But back to the silently seething blute next to himˇ­

    Frankly, Karin losing the match didn''t matter. The problem was the dumb manner in which she lost. That made Konan''s vindictive side really activate, considering she was here as a representative of Uzushio.

    Karin was in for some seriously painful session of remedial training if Konan''s look was any indication.

 Chapter 411 Ch411. Reaction Of Kages

    And as the break between the matches started, Rei focused on keeping Konan''s sullen ire at bay by cuddling and improving her mood with tender kisses.

    Unlike the fluffy mood between them, the Kage Box was silent as a grave after the Kages witnessed the previous fight.

    Orochimaru had a hard time keeping himself from outwardly showing his orgasmic mood during thest fight so right now, he was just silently enjoying the residual joy.

    The more power Temari showed, the more she unveiled the real prowess of the Maic Release, the more he regretted not proceeding with his original n of assassinating the Kazekage and impersonating her.

    Temari was a perfect vessel!

    Powerful chakra, body in superb physical shape and extremely used to elemental ninjutsu, an incredible bloodline that, he had to admit, he underestimated quite a lot before witnessing to what heights it could reach inpetent hands.

    She was the wet dream of any body-snatching madma-... ahem, any civilized gentleman with a penchant to dabble in science.

    Oh, oh, oh! And the Uzumaki''s girl show of recreating Uchiha''s Susanoo with her n bloodline! That was pure gold! He almost moaned from tion when he saw that!

    Yes, it was unfinished and half-assed at this stage but the girl basically proved it could be done!

    Orochimaru found it really hard to not drool at that sight. Wasn''t this what he wished for since Danzo showed him the scroll holding the information on the secret evolution of Sharingan? The reason why the Uchiha n was really feared by those strong enough to be in the know?

    If Susanoo could be replicated to this extent... what''s to say other techniques like Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu could not be replicated either!?

    This! This was the reason why he was so obsessed with ninjutsu! Breaking the notion of possibility with nothing but chakra alone! He wanted... no! He needed this!

    ns on how to kidnap these two girls started sprouting in his head like a weed. He didn''t care about the power they showed in the arena. He was confident enough that with his superior intellect, he coulde up with a n to defeat them. He was not a Sannin for nothing!

    Needless to say, if Rei heard his thoughts, he would snort and say that his delusions knew no bounds.

    And while Orochimaru was reliving his boyish wet dream, the other Kages were feeling quite troubled because of what they just witnessed.

    Shikaku gained a new understanding of why Tsunade put her foot down and decided to tweak the matchmaking to her own liking, not taking anyone''s opinion into consideration.

    At first, he thought she just wanted to give herself better stakes at winning some bet... which, unknown to him, was the real reason... but now he could see that Tsunade''s foresight was incredible.

    From the power levels he saw throughout the finals, the matchmaking was done incredibly well and people around the same level fought with each other. And considering there were monsters like the twost girls mixed up withmbs like... ugh, like the Konoha genins, it was a miracle that no match had a massive curb-stomping so far.

    Shikaku gained a newfound respect for Tsunade for managing to aplish this feat.

    He didn''t even want to imagine how he would have felt if Shikamaru was to face that Suna girl, Temari. That would have been a disaster! There was no way in Shikaku''s mind that hiszy boy would be able to handle her.

    In that regard, he was extremely grateful to Tsunade.

    Frankly, Shikaku did not care that the two girls were definitely not genin-level kunoichi. As long as Konoha did note to harm, he could care less if they trashed the arena. He also didn''t want to reprimand either Uzushio or Suna as both were allies of Konoha but...<sub> </sub>

    He was the host here and that position came with certain duties and the need to uphold an impartial image.

    That''s why he turned to Pakura beforezily asking in a disinterested tone, "Lady Kazekage... would you mind exining why you sent someone far above genin level topete in these exams?"

    Shikaku knew his question was utter bullshit because Kages usually sent their strongest genins to foreign viges'' Chunin Exam and these were seldom genin level ninjas. But for the sake of appearances, he asked it. Just to make sure the Tsuchikage and Raikage would feel much less threatened.

    Fortunately or unfortunately, Uzushio''s representative was not in the Kage Box so he did not need to ask for her intentions right now.

    Pakura amusedly raised her eyebrow at Shikaku as she quipped, "What are you talking about, Hokage? The girl is bonafide genin rank! I can''t see what''s the problem with her participating in this fine event!" She eximed with feignedck of understanding that fooled no one.

    But... ''Heh. So this is the angle you want to y it?'' Shikaku inwardly mused, thinking it smart. After all, as long as officially the girl was still a genin, there was nothing any of the other Kages could openly do. Temari''s participation would be fair.

    "Demoting your high-ranking ninja just to show off in Chunin Exams... have you no shame, woman? Even we would not fall so low." Onoki gruffly grumbled under his nose, purposefully loud enough for others to hear.

    There was a reason why no Kage ever did something simr to what Onoki just described. It would drag the vige''s reputation through the mud in the eyes of the potential clients.

    Funnily enough, normal people actually expected a degree of honor from ninjas because it gave them a sense of safety that the ninjas would not abandon them mid-way through the mission. That''s why the viges strived to show a positive facade and avoid seeming deceptive during these kinds of events.

    The darkness should be left buried deep enough for the normal people to not discover it, after all.

    "Demoting?" Pakura smirked, "I think your brain no longer works so well in your old age, Tsuchikage. I have never demoted Temari. She just didn''t get a promotion yet." She finished innocently and Onoki wanted to spit blood at the shamelessly smug woman.

    She basically in a roundabout way just admitted this was all nned!

    And while the Tsuchikage had a hard time keeping his blood pressure down due to the audacity of the Kazekage, the Raikage grunted, "Hmph. What else to expect from the woman who pretended to be dead for years before she walked into her former vige, murdered her former Kage, and took his ce."

    His tone was full of contempt and Pakura''s eyebrow twitched at his sentence. It was provocative enough to make even Ringo snap out of her thoughts and turn towards the conversation.

    The tension in the air increased and Shikaku knew this was not going well. He was there to moderate these big-shots and prevent them from starting a fight but... ''Ain''t they simply ignoring me?'' He inwardly groaned.

    This was why Kages had to be extremely powerful ninjas. Without that, getting even basic respect from other Kages was hard. Unfortunately, he was not in this category.

    As he pondered what to do, a voice resounded through the Kage Box, making him feel as if salvation came early.

    "Heh~, I see you are still the same petty bastard, shit flinger." Tsunade jeered at Onoki before turning to Raikage, "And you should keep your mouth shut about being a deceitful piece of shit because that description fits you quite well too. Hyuuga incident, remember?" She snorted and turned away, not even waiting for a reaction from him.

    "The matter is closed. Temari''s documents are all fine and that''s that. Now then, tell me, how did you like the show?" Tsunade grinned at the disgruntled and probably offended Kages. She thought asking this would be interesting and she was not left disappointed.

    Just... The first answer came from the least expected person.

    "Kukuku~, Tsunade-chan..."

 Chapter 412 Ch412. Tsunades Chaos

    "Kukuku~, Tsunade-chan, it was magnificent. I wonder what kind of ''coincidence'' allowed both Uzushio and Suna to gain geniuses like that at the same time, eh?" Orochimaru slyly chuckled in a calcted manner.

    His words instantly prompted a shift in the atmosphere as both Raikage and Tsuchikage realized a few important things now that they were pointed out so bluntly.

    There were no free lunches in their world and geniuses did not fall from the sky nor were they cabbages.

    For both Suna and Uzushio to gain these ''earth-shattering'' prodigies at the same time... now that was fishy as hell.

    Needless to say, the attention of everyone shifted towards Pakura. Even Tsunade and Ringo did not try to break the situation off, both taking sadistic pleasure from throwing Ringo under the bus like this.

    Pakura, however, did not even blink an eysh at the sudden attention. She just leisurely leaned into her chair, "I can''t speak for Uzushio but... Suna is just that good!" She eximed in a prideful manner while smirking smugly.

    The people watching her gave her deadpan looks for that answer.

    "Oh~? Are we to expect more miracles like that from Sunagakure?" Orochimaru slyly asked,pletely ignoring the fact that Pakura''s answer was basically a subtle way to blow off the topic.

    He didn''t care if Suna was really ''just that good'' or if they had any new secret. He surmised he would know soon enough as this discovery practically cemented his resolve to infiltrate Sunagakure.

    While he definitely would not dare to go for Uzushio because of their strong sealing defenses... after all, he spent thest few years sending spies into their vige only for none to return... Suna was a different matter altogether. Orochimaru really didn''t think he would have many problems getting in.

    Pakura chuckled at his question as she found amusement in his telling expression. Anybody who knew his modus operandi would guess what was going through his head and Pakura was a bit wistful that the guy would not survive past today. She could certainly make use of his schemes as a group training exercise for Sunagakure''s chunins.

    "Miracles, heeh~?" Pakura mysteriously quipped while briefly ncing at Tsuchikage with a small mischievous smile. ''I wonder if making an old man homeless could be called a miracle.'' She inwardly mused before she answered, "Naah. Temari is special." And nonchntly shrugged, too experienced in the kunoichi arts for her lie to be caught.

    Temari... despite her bloodline... was not really all that special. What made her reach her current level was attention and tutge from both Pakura and Rei as her teachers. Pakura taught the girl the basics and more intricate things kunoichi needed to know while Rei polished Temari''s chakra natures, bloodline, and chakra control to an unprecedented degree.

    That was honestly all there was to it. Temari simply had the guts and determination to stick to their training and her current level was the result.

    In short... it was definitely something they could replicate with someone else if they really wanted and that person could take their training methods. In fact, Konan was making her own experiments with training others and they werergely sessful. After all, the number of S-ranks in Uzushio attested to that.

    This fight between Karin and Temari? It could be taken as a measure of sess between their two methods. Karin was mostly trained ording to Konan''s training method while Temari was under Pakura''s influence.

    ''Needless to say, it is obvious whose method is superior. Hehe.'' Pakura gleefully thought, happy with the result of this match. Temari was definitely in for a nice little bonus for her victory!<sub> </sub>

    If Rei knew what she was thinking, he would have shaken his head in exasperation. Obviously, it was HIS training that made Temari prevail. After all, she mostly used elemental Jutsu and her bloodline, did she not?

    And while Pakura was on the moon for one-upping Konan in this way, the other Kages took her word for Suna not having another genius. As suspicious as they were, geniuses were indeed not somethingmon. They just could not believe Suna to have more than one of them. It simply didn''t fit theirmon sense, and hence, such thought was subconsciously discarded.

    In this manner, the topic was concluded, much to Tsunade''s and Ringo''s dissatisfaction. They wanted to see Pakura sweat a little under the scrutiny of the Kages but it seemed the other Kages were just pussies with limited mental capacity if they couldn''t press her more...

    ''How utterly disappointing.'' They both thought in disgruntlement.

    Of course, Tsunade would not let her fun end like this. She did not put the effort intoing to the Kage Box during the break between the matches just to be stopped from witnessing a bit of chaos. And since the chaos would not happen on its own, she had to help it a little bit, no?

    "So, old man shit-flinger," Tsunade addressed Onoki who turned to her, not at all happy at her calling him that. He did not show it outwardly, however. Just as when Hiruzen called him that in the past, he once again put an unbothered facade and snorted at Tsunade as she continued, "A little senbon-using birdy told me that you and the old pedo-snake had a small reunion. Wonder what that was about..." She grinned, giving a side-nce at Orochimaru.

    Orochimaru, Onoki, and A almost had a heart attack when they heard her mentioning this.

    Orochimaru almost involuntarily gave a signal to start the invasion because he thought they were exposed but fortunately, his cold head prevailed and when Tsunade''s words fully registered, he realized she was just fishing for a reaction.

    There was no way Kin, because there was nobody else this ''senbon-using birdy'' could be, would know about his ns. Realizing this, Orochimaru forcefully calmed down and donned a genial smile, ignoring how Onoki and A were subtly eyeing him.

    Couldn''t they at least pretend to not be on edge!? Damn muscle-headed idiot and paranoid old fool!

    "Since the Land of Rice is close to the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth, our viges recently entered talks about doing business together. It is only natural. But I guess something like diplomacy does not belong to your barbaric worldview, Tsuna-chan. I remember you prefer a ''punch it till it goes away'' method of solving things." He calmly replied, his expression the perfect picture of amusement.

    Tsunade snickered at that, "Oh, you have no idea. In fact, Konoha recently also decided to enter an alliance with Suna, Uzushio, and Kiri! What a coincidence, riiiight!?" She childishly uttered, causing Shikaku to facepalm.

    The second Orochimaru heard that, his calm smile fell, and his eyes involuntarily nced at Pakura and Ringo who observed him with calm amusement.

    The only thought that filled his head as he realized what that meant for his ns was...

    ''Oh... fuck.''

 Chapter 413 Ch413. Provocation

    Even the Tsuchikage and Raikagepletely stilled, utterly stupefied at the bomb Tsunade just dropped. There was not one person in the Kage Box who did not realize what this new alliance meant and they couldn''t believe Tsunade just bluntly admitted it with an innocent grin on her face.

    It was stuff like this that was deemed the highest grade secrets in the viges. People died to keep it secret and here Tsunade was just leisurely revealing it without a care in the world.

    Orochimaru, Onoki, and A subconsciously thought her to be an idiot but they were too shocked at the implications to really put much attention to Tsunade''s foolishness.

    In their minds, by revealing this information, Tsunadepletely decimated any chance for Uzushio, Kiri, Suna, and Konoha to gain the most out of their alliance. She ruined any chance at surprise attacks from multiple sides as now, both A and Onoki will expect such a thing to happen in the future.

    Little did they know that Tsunade was very careful what she revealed as the benefits of this alliance were already about to be reaped and there was no longer any need to keep it secret. They would no longer be able to react anyway...

    And while Onoki''s and A''s priority was their vige, Orochimaru was furiously contemting the impact this news would have on his invasion and he didn''t like the picture he was seeing.

    s, it was far toote to call it off.

    ''I guess I will just have to cut my losses and let the Tsuchikage and Raikage take the fall for me.'' Orochimaru thought in displeasure. The two Kages were almost certainly bound to betray their little alliance anyway with how things were going. It would be better to cause some trouble for them now.

    As much as Orochimaru believed in himself, having only Otogakure against Uzushio, Konoha, Kiri, and Suna... He could admit they would have been outmatched. Roping in both Iwa and Kumo to his side in this conflict was indeed the best thing he could have done. They would be an excellent buffer for him.

    With these two Kages participating in the invasion on his side, Orochimaru had the confidence to at the very least kill Sarutobi and cause some nice damage to Konoha before he orders a retreat in a code he ''forgot'' to mention to his Iwa and Kumo allies. How... unfortunate for them.

    Now that he had it all figured out, Orochimaru''s smile eased into a pleasant one as he looked at Tsunade, "In that case, I congratte you for your new alliance. It looks like Konoha''s future is going to be bright."

    Seeing that Orochimaru was not gonna visibly freak out, Tsunade pouted in disappointment. She knew well enough that by ''bright'' he meant ''on me'' but she was not gonna call him out on that. Anko and thatzy bum tag-along of hers already returned and discreetly took the ce of their shadow clones which meant the surprise forces Orochimaru was counting on were no more. Tsunade decided to leave Orochimaru his delusions. He was pitiful enough as it was.

    "Why thank you!" She amicably eximed, her expressionpletely innocent as she delivered the next part. "Konoha''s future is indeed looking up now that you, Danzo, and Sarutobi are no longer in any leadership position!"

    That actually made Orochimaru''s eyebrows twitch. He hated beingpared to Sarutobi and Tsunade knew it. That''s why she did just that.

    The other Kages, and even Shikaku, were extremely surprised Tsunade had no qualms calling out Sarutobi like this in front of them. To throw dirt on one of the most iconic ''heroes'' of Konoha in front of the leaders of the ''enemy'' viges...

    Both Tsuchikage''s and Raikage''s opinions on Tsunade''s intelligence only lowered and their tenseness rxed. In their minds, Tsunade was no leadership material. She might have been the best medic in the world but from what they were seeing, the woman was dumb as a rock. There was no need to worry. Their invasion was in no waypromised. Thest Senju was just being her retarded self.

    And while the worries of the two started to dissipate, Shikaku was throwing Tsuande a look that basically screamed, ''What are you doing!?''.

    Unfortunately for him, Tsunade totally ignored him, grinning at Pakura and Ringo who were having the time of their life, enjoying the private joke between the three of them. They could inly see how the two Kages disregarded Tsunade because of her words. She was throwing tant hints that something is wrong and yet... they already made their opinion about her because of how set in their ways they were. Not for a second did they consider this to be a ploy.

    After all, Tsunade Senju was known to be an extremely straightforward woman who was blunt as a hammer.<sub> </sub>

    "Heeh~. Looks like the day you defected was a real blessing for Konoha, eh, Snake?" Ringo decided to join the fray, light-heartedly making a jab at Orochimaru.

    The poor dude paled even more from the repressed anger but they all knew he could not afford to make a scene. While he had diplomatic immunity to a degree, Oto was still just a minor and new vige. As long as this... banter didn''t turn physical, Orochimaru could only sit tight and take their words while trying to give back his own retorts.

    And that''s exactly what he tried to do, "Hehe. You would know... After all, you are my role model, Ameyuri. Bing a rogue ninja scum and then returning to your vige only to be its Kage. Kirigakure''s standards have really fallen if they allow their rogues to be their leaders nowadays. I wish Konoha was the same." Orochimaru wistfully sighed.

    "But... I wonder how you got so strong. From what I know the Raikage," He nced at A, "defeated you with one punch when you met him for the first time. Your unit ughtered the Kumo ninjas and killed his fiance, I heard." He purposefully mentioned that incident and then watched how A''s expression tightened alongside his fists.

    "Such a poisonous tongue." Pakura interjected, gaining the attention of the others before Orochimaru sessfully goaded the Raikage into doing something stupid too soon.

    p This teasing was all in good fun but Rei would probably spank them silly if their little fun made the invasion start sooner than it was supposed to.</anda>

    "Only an idiot would fall for a provocation like that." Pakura deadpanned, totally ignoring the fact that A seemed to have a hard time stopping himself from pouncing at Ringo now that he had the reason for his dislike of her tantly thrown into his face.

    Of course, Pakura had to insult him in the process which earned her a re from the man too.

    Orochimaru amusedly chuckled at that, "That''s riching from the person who didn''t see her Kage sacrificing her in a suidice mission to get himself rid of thepetition. Then again... you also killed him so your case is not all that much different from Ameyuri." He casually pointed out, making Onoki loudly snort.

    "Rogues bing Kages. The vige founders would roll in their graves if they knew." Onoki grumbled, supporting Orochimaru''s im.

    The lines were clearly drawn at this point. Orochimaru, Onoki, and A on one side while Pakura, Ringo, and Tsunade on the other. It might have just been a small conversation during a break but... it clearly showcased what the future held for their viges.

    Or so the Raikage, Tsuchikage, and Otokage thought.

    "Hmph. Former rogue or not, what does it even matter? I made my vige much better in five years than what you managed in a lifetime." Pakura retorted, making Onoki bristle much to her delight.

    At this point, Shikaku felt as if life drained out of him. The atmosphere among the four other Kages was so hostile, he wondered how there was still no fight among them. He knew there was no way for him to stop them. Either verbally or physically. He was not strong enough to do so and that also meant his word was not respected enough.

    So, he did the only thing he could. He pulled his secret move and... started doing puppy eyes on Tsunade.

    Seeing how pitiful her Hokage was acting, Tsunade inwardly sighed. ''Well, I guess this has gone far enough for now.''

    "I''d be you, I would stop this dick-measuring contest. We all know Orochimaru has none and Raikage''s massive body size is practically him overpensating. As for Onoki... Well, he is a dwarf in both the body and below the belt. Good for you Shikaku, you win!" She mirthfullyughed while the three men whose manhood she just insulted red at her. Not giving a shit, she continued, "As fun as this was, I will be going. Thest Uchiha''s match will be starting soon. Bye!"

    With that, Tsunade disappeared from the Kage Box, leaving three butthurt men behind and causing their focus to shift towards her, instead of trying to start a fight with Ringo and Pakura.

 Chapter 414 Ch414. The Last Match

    The break between the matches was almost over and yet the audience was still quiet and stunned from the previous match, barely paying attention to what was going on since the people were still trying to process the battle they had just seen.

    As the amazement started to slowly tick off, the people began to realize what match was going to follow and they couldn''t help but grow even more excited. Most civilians in the audience were wondering what kind of impressive spectacle the next match would be!

    After all, it was now certain that one of the participants in the next match was none other than Sasuke Uchiha!

    Temari and Karin? Kimimaro and Tayuya? Sure... they were amazing but they were not Uchiha! They were unknown! Without reputation!

    But the Uchiha n''s reputation was known far and wide, even among the civilians and that''s why the civilians expected thest Uchiha to be special, to surpass what they have seen so far. To wow them with his skill and prowess. To showcase his superior talent!

    The audience was indeed crazily excited about it.

    Many gambled money, betting on Uchiha winning the entire Chunin Exams. Some going even so far as to stake their livelihood on it just because of the fame of the Uchiha n.

    Especially some wealthy businessmen tried to gain money like this because they had hired Uchihas in the past and had an inkling of the power of their bloodline.

    Many came to Konoha with the sole purpose of seeing thest scion of the Uchiha n fight. Sasuke''s story was well known even outside of Konoha and people were naturally curious about him.

    Many thought he would be just as talented as the infamous Itachi Uchiha and they wanted to see it!

    <o>,m Unlike the ninjas who knew the two girls who previously fought were monsters, the civilians'' expectations of Sasuke grew ording to what they had already seen and they expected him to perform better. Much better.</o>

    They expected him to showcase the superiority of the Uchihas!

    Even the Daimyos who were currently watching expected a lot from this match. Since they were just kids, they were hearing from their nannies about the strength of old ns like Senju and Uchiha. That went especially for foreign Kages who could not afford to underestimate these people. A fair bit of their early education was spent on how to treat ninjas. How to maintain their superior status in the face of someone who could kill them with a look.

    Naturally, their education brushed heavily on the past and the rtionship between the ninja ns and their ancestors. And the name ''Uchiha'' came up a lot there.

    There was a saying Uchihas of old liked to spread as their motto of a sort during the warring states era and every Daimyo knew it.

    ''Only an Uchiha can beat an Uchiha.''

    In a way, that came true when Itachi Uchiha ughtered his own n.

    After learning these kinds of things while growing up, these Daimyos would naturally be curious about this st'' Uchiha and if he could fulfill the saying and had the potential to one day best the infamous Itachi.

    Poor Gaara... nobody paid him attention.

    Hayate appeared in the arena and announced the next match will be between Gaara and Sasuke. Nobody was surprised, considering these two were thest two remaining participants.

    Both Sasuke and Gaara took their timeing down to the arena, Sasuke because he was taught by Kakashi how to be cool...

    And Gaara because he had to deal with some pesky civilian thug idiots who thought he would not squash them because he was just a kid.

    He had no idea how these stupid idiots thought. They were literally watching a tournament full of superpowered kids trained to kill others and they still thought they could go and try to kill one when they had no chakra? Because they were grown-ups?

    Ridiculous...<sub> </sub>

    As such, a few halls of Konoha''s stadium were repainted red and meaty.

    Mothe-, ahem, Lady Pakura would be so proud!

    When the two finally arrived at the arena, the audience went wild, loudly cheering for Sasuke. s, little Sasuke didn''t dare to show an arrogant expression. He knew well that if Anko saw that, she would have beaten the arrogance out of him. Again.

    So... in his new humble self, Sasuke just smugly stared at Gaara in a provocative manner.

    Maste-, ahem, Anko would be so proud!

    Gaara stood with a dull expression as the cheer for his opponent washed all over him. His sleepy gaze trailed all over the stands, only seeing people going wild and wishing the best to the Uchiha...

    Sasuke suddenly shivered as he felt a chill passing through his spine.

    But then Gaara''s eyesnded on Temari and Kankuro in the stands and his lips twitched into a small, almost unnoticeable smile when he saw his sister giving him a thumbs-up with an encouraging smile and his brother Kankuro...

    Well, who cares about Kankuro.

    The subtle murderous intent permeating the arena eased considerably, making Hayate stop sweating bullets. The experienced ninja could not help but throw the Uchiha heir a pitying nce.

    There was a reason why ninjas used Killing Intent as a measuring stick for how dangerous one was. It was a projection of chakra so a civilian could have killed thousands with his own hands but he would not have strong Killing Intent. A ninja that killed thousands though...

    And the killing intent of the red-haired small kid was giving even Hayato creeps.

    Especially with how well the kid was hiding the intent. He doubted he would have picked up on it if he didn''t stand so close.

    "Let''s get this over with!" Sasuke interrupted Hayato''s thoughts with his strong exmation, condescending determination burning in his eyes.

    With a tired sigh, Hayato decided to just let the kids duke it out among themselves and promptly started the match.

    Sasuke intently looked at the bored Gaara and smirked as his eyes turned red and three tomoes started spinning in them. "I''d advise you to give up, kid." He bluntly stated, peering straight into Gaara''s eyes.

    And if an illusion somehow ended up influencing Gaara... well, that would have been a total coincidence!

    Unlike Sasuke thought, the red-haired midget didn''t sumb to the subtle nudging feeling of wanting to give up.

    Instead, the cork on his gourd came off and...

    Sasuke''s eyes widened as he saw sand starting to pour onto the ground and the scenes from the previous fight reyed in his mind.

    Then, Gaara''s heavy killing intent hit him like a truck, Gaara no longer trying to conceal it and instead, mixing some of Shukaku''s into it for the added effect. It was so sudden, Sasuke''s mind didn''t get enough time to deal with it and...

    "Okay! I give up!" Sasuke eximed like a scared duckling.

    Before he even registered what was going on, Hayate called Gaara the winner, and Sasuke was left gaping at the red-haired midget who gave him a bored smirk, "You are a hundred years too early for mental warfare, boy." Gaara drawled before he sluggishly turned around and victoriously walked away.

 Chapter 415 Ch415. Ambush

    The entire arena fell into a deafening silence, both the ninjas and civilians bewildered beyond their wildest dreams.

    The match ended sooner than they could register and they were still excited... but there was no outlet for the excitement. As the seconds passed and the people started to realize what happened, the excitement slowly started turning into an outrage.

    People suddenly realized their ''chosen champion'' got his ass handed to him even without an exchange of blows. They realized their expectations were misced.

    And they couldn''t ept that.

    Hence, the arena was instantly filled with the angry screams of the audience.

    Another part of the audience, the ones who bet on Sasuke winning, were currently sinking into despair as they realized they lost their bets. They thought this was a sure-fire way to earn themselves money!

    And yet...

    They could only pray that some intervention would happen that would render all bets null and void because quite a few of them just lost their years-long savings.

    The self-pity and despair slowly receded, leaving room for other emotional outlets and many chose anger, getting dragged into the flow of the angry audience, causing the volume of the enraged protests to only rise.

    And while the discontented people were showing their displeasure, Sasuke could just numbly walk out of the arena, his dismayed mind not even registering the shouts as he tried toe to terms with the fact he lost.

    One thing was for sure.

    Sasuke just gained a reputation that would haunt him his whole life.

    ...

    The situation in the Kage Box did not differ much from the outside. The only stark difference was the noise. The Kage Box was utterly silent.

    Despite the silence, the heaviness of the atmosphere was palpable. While Shikaku was feeling quite embarrassed about how easily thest Uchiha lost, Pakura was smugly smirking. Orochimaru, however, was visibly seething, spreading a dark aura all around.

    The only reason why he even bothered to show up as Otokage was to have the best spot for witnessing his next vessel''s prowess. He put an incredible amount of scheming and effort to be able to sit among the other Kages without having to worry about being killed on the spot.

    He wanted to see Sasuke giving his all in the fight! He wanted to measure him! Topare him to Itachi! To see the boy''s potential!

    Orochimaru gritted his teeth. ''And this is the result? A five-second long match where his opponent uses mental coercion to make him surrender!?'' He hissed.

    He didn''t even know if he was angrier at Gaara for doing that or at Sasuke for falling for it!

    Because of how bewildered he was by the swift result of the match, he even forgot to signal the start of the invasion! He missed the best opportunity!

    In fact, that opportunity had been so great, it totally made even him stupefied...

    As he started calming down, Orochimaru noticed with the corner of his eyes that both Raikage and Tsuchikage were eyeing him in worry. The n was for Orochimaru to give the first signal but they both knew the signal shoulde after thest of the first matches.<sub> </sub>

    Realizing that his dy could cause severe problems among his ninjas who had no idea how to proceed. If some of his units decided to attack despite having no signal, the entire situation could get out of his control! Orochimaru decided to cut his losses and signal for the attack even though the surprise effect would not be exactly as high as he would have liked.

    Fortunately, the crowd was being quite rowdy so that was ying in his favor.

    The second he red his chakra in the before assigned way, several things happened at once.

    Firstly, genjutsu covered the entire arena, and the hidden troops of Oto, Iwa, and Kumo that infiltrated the Chunin Exams as foreign civilians quickly lost their disguises in order to recognize each other.

    Secondly, the area where Daimyos sat, the same area where also Rei and Konan were seated, was engulfed in smoke as some of the guards turned up to be ninjas from Kumo and Iwa... these were mostly hiding as the guard units assigned to the Earth and Lightning Daimyo and these two Daimyos knew a diplomatic headache was awaiting them if they survived this ordeal... while other guards promptly dropped to the ground with a dull thud, knocked out.

    Not even Orochimaru was crazy enough to start killing inside of the room full of Daimyos. And even if he was, Onoki and A would have never agreed to such a thing as it would shoot all of their viges'' credibility into a proverbial toilet.

    At most, they dared to take the Daimyos as temporary hostages in the guise of protecting them from the invasion.

    The third thing that happened upon Orochimaru giving the attack order was for both Onoki and A to spring into action. Onoki dashed at Pakura, his hands already forming a cube of his dust release with the intent of deleting her out of existence, while A rushed at Ringo, his lightning armor ring around him in a split of a second.

    Neither of them cared about honor and tried to go for the kill from the ''back'', betting on surprising their targets.

    Unfortunately for them...

    Onoki''s Dust Release hit the ce where Pakura was sitting, vaporizing the entire area around it in an instant. But Onoki did not rx as he didn''t think it would be so easy and this saved his life. Just a small momentter that would have been enough for him to rx after his attack if he had been careless, his senses alerted him of danger.

    Not even trying to locate where the attack wasing from, he ceased his gravity maniption and let his body fall onto the ground just as a de passed where his neck was a second ago.

    Worse yet, Onoki didn''t have the leisure tond properly andnded on his back with what Pakura would deem a very satisfying crunch, causing him to yelp in pain and grit his teeth as cold sweat engulfed him when he realized how close he came to death.

    Unlike Onoki, A was not going for an overwhelming attack with the aim of erasing Ringo out of existence. Over the years, his resentment for her was only increasing but he had no outlet for it since the woman herself was unreachable for him. That''s why he went for a simple lightning-chakra enhanced punch that should be able to knock the head of any jonin straight off of his or her body.

    He just wanted to punch her far too much to do anything else.

    As his fist neared Ringo at speeds which not even jonins would be able to see, much less react to, a spark of hope rose in A''s chest. He had the bitch!

    But at thest moment, Ringo raised her hand, stopping his fist with just her finger coated with lightning chakra, making it obvious her lightning chakra maniption far surpassed his, and looked at him with a bored expression.

    A''s senses red... but it was toote as he felt something he didn''t feel in years. Not since he fought Ringo for the first time.

    Ringo disrupted his Lightning Armor by changing the frequency of the lightning chakra in it, but this time, she was skilled enough.

    A''s lightning armor vanished, leaving him bewildered at the impossible feat but he didn''t get enough time to contemte how Ringo managed it as he had to throw himself to the side in order to avoid a sharp lightning beam Ringo produced with her finger pointing at him.

    Their ambush was an utter failure.

 Chapter 416 Ch416. A Chance

    While A''s and Onoki''s attempt at taking out Pakura and Ringo right off the bat was failing hard, Orochimaru was about to use the distraction to deal Konoha a heavy blow.

    Namely, he was about to use Shikaku''s surprise from the sudden attack at two Kages inside of his home, to assassinate the man quickly.

    It was really just a trivial task to him. Orochimaru doubted it would have been hard to do so even if Shikaku paid full attention to him.

    Killing the reigning Hokage would have been a huge blow to Konoha. Maybe it was not on the same level as if he killed Third Hokage while he was still in the office, considering Tsunade would be there to mitigate the worst of the consequences, but it would be felt and that was honestly all Orochimaru cared about.

    He simply wanted to make Konoha in general suffer.

    ? And besides... nobody said he was leaving without killing the Third Hokage anyway!

    But just as he was about to move in Shikaku''s direction, a voice stopped him in his tracks.

    "Heh, you don''t really learn no matter what, do you, Orochi?" Tsunade''s voice resounded from behind him, causing him to freeze.

    He didn''t know she was there until she spoke!

    It had to be said, he knew the woman for decades and Tsunade was never very good at the sneaky approach. Even Jiraiya was better than her in that and the toad face was one of the loudest morons Orochimaru had the displeasure of knowing!

    To be sneaked upon by Tsunade like this... especially when he was always on alert against sudden sneak attacks... it blew Orochimaru''s mind.

    Though, a major part of his utter bewilderment might have been the fact his lower legs were suddenly entangled by vines sprouting through the floor.

    "Maa~, maa~, how naughty Tsunade-chan. I heard you were capable of the Wood Release but I dismissed it as baseless rumors." Orochimaru gleefully smiled, full of giddiness at discovering Tsunade really had Wood Release.

    His spies from Konoha indeed informed him that the Last Senju learned the Wood Release but when he first heard it he just scoffed at the notion. The information in the ninja world was always full of diversion, subterfuge, and t-out lies to manipte, cheat, or disorient the enemy. Hence, nobody could really trust every piece of rumor they came by.

    Something like the Last Senju having the Wood Release was a pathetically old way of garnering interest. Orochimaru would know... He was one of the guys who were covertly spreading such rumors for Konoha during the second world war, trying to make other nations send their strong ninjas after Tsunade''s life with the aim of turning the tables on them during their ambush.

    It worked pretty well at that time, to be honest.

    Tsunade did use Wood Release in the past in front of an audience but despite everything, Konoha was still a ninja vige and people were at least semi-capable of keeping secrets. Unless she used Wood Release on a regr basis in front of other people, there was no way to confirm with any level of certainty if she really could or could not use it.

    Seeing that he was wrong and Tsunade really had the power of her bloodline did not make Orochimaru mad. In fact, it made him extremely happy.

    "After all, despite being a medic, you never liked experimenting with people, did you? You never joined me on any of my projects for the vige..." Orochimaru said in a mock hurt tone. "A medic of your caliber would have been extremely convenient to have back then." A wistful sigh escaped his lips, "Just thinking about all the dismemberedb rats you could have put together for further testing for me... I have wasted so many of Konoha''s prisoners to get some results because of not having your expertise at hand."

    He totally knew that talking about using humans asb rats was one of the things that could rile Tsunade up. It also didn''t hurt to remind her he was doing pretty much a very simr kind of research for Konoha with Konoha''s blessing as the research because of which he had to defect. The only difference was in the test subjects. One used Konoha''s prisoners... basically ninjas from other nations, and the other used Konoha citizens.<sub> </sub>

    Orochimaru didn''t see a difference. They were both human and bled the same but apparently, Konoha''s higher-ups disagreed and he had to pack his things and flee.

    The best thing that ever happened to him, really...

    While Orochimaru was trying to provoke her, Tsunade noticed she piqued his interest and smirked. The man, for all his good qualities when it came to ninja-stylebat, had one massive weakness. He was easily sidetracked and prone to losing sight of his objective if something interesting in his opinion happened.

    That''s why she showed him this minor Wood Release. With just that, Orochimaru forgot that Shikaku even existed.

    All the while, the man in question, used the distraction to slink into the shadows and leave. Shikaku knew full well there was not much he could do in the uing conflict between six Kage level ninjas so he did the smart thing and hightailed it out of there.

    "Experiments?" Tsunade mirthfully scoffed at him, "Yourck of faith in me hurts, Orochi. I did not acquire my Wood Release by experimenting on others or with my genes. I''ll have you know, it is wholly natural."

    Hearing such tant bullshit, made Orochimaru''s smirt twitch, "I heard aboutte bloomers but the sixties is a bit toote for the awakening of a bloodline, Tsuna-chan. If you want to speak nonsense to me, at least make it a bit more believable."

    In Orochimaru''s opinion, there was no way Tsunade did not experiment with her genes. Her Wood Release was supposed to be too dormant to naturally awaken. He would know. He did many tests on her blood and flesh under the orders of both Sarutobi and Danzo andter with his own initiative.

    Tsunade ignored the second part of Orochimaru''s sentence because her focus was fully held by the first part. "Nobody ever told you mentioning ady''s age is a sure way to piss her off?" She frowned at him.

    "You mean ''old''dy''s age?" Orochimaru smugly raised an eyebrow at her.

    Contrary to his expectations, however, Tsunade did not instantly swing her fist at his face. Much to his shock, she actually chuckled. "I''ll let you know that while you were cutting people apart, trying to find immortality in the bodies of below-average criminals or unlucky farmers, I have managed to reverse my aging, making my body physically in its prime while also slowing my aging to a near halt." Her tone was not full of bragging. Instead, she was speaking in a measured and light tone that showed she didn''t put much importance on the matter. For her, it was not something to be proud of. It was just a normal everyday thing.

    Before Orochimaru could do more than to slightly widen his eyes at the admission, Tsunade continued, her tone flipping into a condescending one, "Funny that I only needed medical ninjutsu for that, huh? I guess I reached your goal of agelessness before you could even get a workable Jutsu prototype that would not have a literal mountain of repercussions. It''s your fixation on little boys, Orochi. That''s clouding your judgment, you know?"

    Before Orochimaru could react... and he was visibly really starting to get annoyed at her... Tsunade decided to cut the talking short and reveal why she was here, "But enough banter. I am not here to tten you into the ground under my heel like I would a worm. I came to give you a chance."

    "A chance, she says." Orochimaru scoffed at her in distaste. He didn''t like to be likened to a pedophile. Not at all. "As if I would belie-"

    "A chance to fight Sarutobi." Tsunade increased the volume of her voice to interrupt the attempted interruption.

    When Orochimaru''s mind registered what he just heard, he stopped in his tracks and searched Tsunade''s face for deception but...

    ''She is serious?''

    He couldn''t help but be stupefied. She really meant it.

 Chapter 417 Ch417. Trap?

    Orochimaru stared at Tsunade, weighing his options. He could put some trust in her, do what she wants and go with her or he could send her to hell because this was such an obvious trap it was pathetic.

    The problem was... it was working on him.

    For so long he wanted nothing but to show Sarutobi up. He didn''t really hate Konoha in general. He hated Sarutobi and hurting Konoha was the most direct way of revenge for forcing him to defect.

    Were his experiments over the top? Sure, he could admit that much. If he had seeded, it would have set Konoha''s might apart from every other nation. Just imagining an army full of Wood Release wielders...

    Konoha would have been able to conquer the continent.

    But these experiments were not all that different from what Sarutobi and Danzo had him doing for years up till that point.

    In fact, every vige had something like that. They were ninja viges and contrary to the perfect picture they portrayed for their gullible clients, being a ninja was a dirty business full of cruelty, ruthlessness, blood, and gore.

    Sarutobi knew that.

    Danzo knew that.

    Heck, even Jiraiyia was fully aware of that fact despite his mind not being able topute anything that didn''t have to do with perversion. Orochimaru would know. He saw how Sarutobi baited Jiraiya into learning sealing arts by showing him spying seals.

    Another thing that utterly pissed Orochimaru and forever soured his feelings towards Konoha was when Minato became Hokage instead of him.

    Was him beingpletely left out of consideration for the Hokage seat reasonable? Orochimaru did not think so. He was perfect Hokage material. Maybe he was a bit ruthless and cold but he could make the vige stronger and capable of protecting itself while advancing.

    But Sarutobi chose Minato over him just because Minato was all about puppy-eyed sunshine that did not have a capacity of thinking beyond serving his vige.

    Did Minato''s service in the third ninja war bring a lot of benefit to the vige? Sure. But did him winning one battle in a very shy manner outweighed decades of service, scientific advancements, and being a very skilledmander in two wars, never letting the enemy cross into Konoha territory despite being horribly outnumbered all the time?

    Orochimaru would like to think that was not the case and Sarutobi was simply biased against him.

    He had tons of other small reasons why he disliked Sarutobi too, and that was why this obvious bait worked so well on him.

    "You know me too well." Orochimaru whispered under his nose, showering Tsunade with searching looks. In the end, he sighed and raised his tone so his former teammate would hear him, "Okay, what do you mean by that?"

    Tsunade smirked at that. She deliberately worded it in a way that would appeal to Orochimaru''s more paranoid side, making him definitely think this was a trap. She simply wanted to see what he would do if she dangled in front of his nose something he wanted for so long.

    And he indeed did not disappoint. After only brief consideration, he jumped after this offered opportunity.

    Oh, he might not seem eager and his eyes held a lot of caution but Tsunade knew him far too well. If he wasn''t immensely interested, he would have never asked her to rify. If he thought there was zero chance for this to be a genuine proposal, he would not even consider it.

    "It''s simple, really. I just offer you what I offered Sarutobi." Tsunade chuckled, "A way to resolve this feud between you. A deathmatch basically." She shrugged.<sub> </sub>

    To be fair, this was a very crafty way to gain benefit no matter in which way the situation would proceed. If Sarutobi died, she would lose one of the biggest opposing voices in Konoha and if Orochimaru died, Konoha would lose one of its more revenge-driven enemies that would simply not let go of their grudge just because Sarutobi was no longer in the office.

    In the end, she didn''t really care which one of them would survive. She could take care of the remaining one at some other time. She mostly organized this for her own entertainment.

    "And Sensei agreed to that?" Orochimaru asked in utter shock.

    Tsunade shrugged, "He thinks it is high time to correct a few of his mistakes."

    Orochimaru understood what Tsunade meant by that. Sarutobi apparently wanted to kill Orochimaru as he med himself for his defection and turn towards the dark path.

    That... wasn''t entirely correct. Sarutobi was only responsible for putting Orochimaru under Danzo''smand and the old war hawk showed him the ropes of the darker underbelly of Konoha but that was beside the point.

    This turn of events made Orochimaru creepily chuckle at the irony, "Hehehe. How very expected of our teacher, don''t you agree, Tsunade?"

    "Indeed, how very hypocritical." She snorted and rolled her eyes, "But who cares. Are you in or not?"

    Orochimaru pursed his lips while seemingly pondering his options. It wouldn''t have been like him to instantly agree so he had to put up a bit of show. He had a reputation to uphold, after all.

    In the end, however, his choice was obvious. "Fine. Lead the way." He eventually said in his  usual manner.

    Tsunade didn''t deem that with an answer, she just turned around, fully showing him her back as if baiting him, and walked towards the door leading out of the Kage Box.

    Orochimaru amusedly watched, wondering if she expected him to attack her, before he started following after her.

    As they walked, he realized they were heading towards the rooftops, where he ironically firstly nned to trap Sarutobi with the help of the Sound Four after baiting him there by kidnapping his grandson, Orochimaru wondered how could Tsunade be calm when the ninjas of Kumo, Iwa, and Oto were currently fighting Konoha''s forces all around.

    She was the Daimyo of Konoha, yet, she seemed to have no care in the world during a stroll through the battlefield turned arena as if it didn''t even matter.

    He supposed her reasons were simr to his. Explosions, screams, and cries resounded in the background, all noises they were both far too familiar with from their long service in Konoha''s ranks.

    But still, he expected more worry for the vige from Tsunade.

    Her bodynguage basically betrayed that she didn''t care and that baffled Orochimaru.

    Their walk was silent as neither started a conversation. Whatever reason Tsunade had, Orochimaru didn''t care but he was d for it. He had a lot of nning to do in his head. Facing Sarutobi, even in his old age, would be a hurdle. He knew that much.

    They eventually reached the rooftops and when he saw a lone Sarutobi already waiting for them, Orochimaru''s worries fell.

    This... was actually not a trap!

 Chapter 418 Ch418. Orochimaru Vs Sarutobi 1

    Upon seeing Tsunade and Orochimaru, Sarutobi, already geared up in his battle armor and holding transformed Enma, narrowed his eyes, and gravely spoke towards Orochimaru. "So you have agreed, Orochimaru. I didn''t expect you to have a shred of honor left but here you are."

    "Honor... No, sensei. That''s something a ninja doesn''t need. I agreed because this is simply the most efficient way to aplish my goals." Orochimaru gleefully rebuked, enjoying how angry his words made Sarutobi.

    "If that''s the case, why attack Konoha!? Why cause so much death and suffering in your home vige!?" Sarutobi cried out, balling his fists in anger.

    He still had a hard time believing his student actually did this. Didn''t he do a good job as a teacher to instill the love for Konoha in Orochimaru? Defected or not... Sarutobi never thought Orochimaru would ever attack Konoha directly. Not like this.

    Orochimaru, clearly enjoying Hiruzen''s anger, just shrugged, "It seemed fun."

    That made Sarutobi grit his teeth and turn to Tsunade as he hissed out, "Let''s start the fight."

    Tsunade, a bit bored of the drama between them, just shrugged. "If you are done talking." She beckoned them towards the central part of the roof that was surrounded by seals, leaving only a big area inside of them.

    Sarutobi confidently moved inside while Orochimaru gave an apprehensive and cautious nce at the seals. The onlyforting thing was that Sarutobi was not bothered by them so... Tsunade would not ce a kill switch into the seals with Sarutobi still inside of them just to kill him, would she?

    Orochimaru was uneasy but he believed she was too sentimental and soft for that. No matter how disrespectful she seemed, Orochimaru thought she still valued Sarutobi as her teacher.

    When they both got inside, Tsunade kneeled down on the edge of the sealing circle and put her palm onto a marked area. The seals instantly red into life, glowing red before a barrier rose into the air, creating a massive restricted area where nobody could get in or out. Not unless they got through Tsunade first.

    The entire barrier was made by the example of the Four Violet mes Formation that made a simr barrier but needed four people to power it up and keep it standing. Unlike that one, this barrier Jutsu needed only one anchor and power bank, which was Tsunade, and despite her being that, she could still move around and fight, as long as she didn''t leave the range of the chakra transmission between the seals on her palm and the sealing barrier.

    <o>,m There would be no ANBU getting in to help Sarutobi nor would there be any unforeseen get-away chance for Orochimaru. Rei went so far to ascertain that, he even added an anti-space feature so not even reverse summoning would work.</o>

    Both Orochimaru and Sarutobi couldn''t help but admire the barrier that sprang up around them. They were ninjas and adept at sealing for long enough time to recognize the danger of the barrier and partially unveil its functions with just a nce.

    They both instantly recognized its origin was from the Uzumaki Sealing Arts. The same as the Chakra Barrier around Konoha and the Four Violet mes Formation.

    And while Orochimaru wondered when Konoha got stuff like this and how to steal it, Sarutobi wondered when Tsunade got stuff like this and how to... er, politically privatize it for his n.

    Only when their eyes coincidentally met did they realize they were here to fight to the death, and not admire a new Jutsu. That''s how big Ninjutsu nerds they both were.

    The atmosphere turned awkward for a second before both Sarutobi and Orochimaru wordlessly sprang forward at the same time, both trying to take advantage of the awkwardness of the other.<sub> </sub>

    Enma in his staff form met Kusanagi de, sending sparks all around as Orochimaru and Sarutobi entered the contest of strength. Despite his age, Sarutobi still had an edge though.

    "You were again cking in training your body, old boy." He teasingly pointed out while trying to put more of his weight into his weapon, "All those chemicals can not be good for your health. You gotta be more youthful."

    Orochimaru inwardly cringed at that reference, imagining himself in green spandex and with a bowl haircut.

    Of course, Sarutobi instantly capitalized on that slight distraction and his leg shot up... only narrowly missing Orochimaru''s crotch because he noticed it at thest moment and managed to shift his body to the left.

    "That was cheap!" Orochimaru eximed as he let Sarutobi win the weapon sh all the while he leaned to the left with his entire body, letting Sarutobi''s staff harmlessly pass him as his Kusanagi sword shed downward, aiming to get a good chunk out of Sarutobi''s leg.

    To Orochimaru''s surprise, he managed tond a hit and cut off Sarutobi''s leg right under his knee...

    Only for Sarutobi to burst out of existence with a puff of smoke.

    Orochimaru''s eyes widened as he felt heat abruptly rising from behind him. He didn''t have enough time to look at it. Sarutobi was too expert of a caster for that. Orochimaru quickly spun on his heel, his hands blurring in hand signs mid-spin, and when he was finally facing the source of the heat and realized it was not just a fireball but actually a boiling sea of mud...

    He released the Water Wall Jutsu he was preparing to counter a fireball only for the water to be instantly suppressed by the far heavier mud while also being partly vaporized with a hiss due to the heat.

    Sarutobi watched as Orochimaru was engulfed by his boiling mud but he didn''t drop his guard. Orochimaru was a far too tricky opponent to do that.

    This time, it wasn''t needed as Orochimaru did not intend to attack. He simply rose from the ground on the opposite side of the arena from Sarutobi and started talking while cleaning the dust from his shoulders, "That was a good one. You almost got me. Using a shadow clone for distraction. I don''t think I have ever seen you do that, sensei. And here I thought an old dog could not be taught new tricks."

    Sarutobi didn''t expect to defeat Orochimaru with that move but seeing himpletely unharmed even though he managed to catch him off-guard was a bit disheartening. Contrary to his feelings, his tone was grandfatherly and light, "I was learning new tricks from Naruto, you see."

    Orochimaru felt his ego sting a bit when he heard he was almost hit by tactics made by that orange-d fool. It definitely showed on his face as Sarutobi chuckled at him, causing him to nk out his expression.

    Mirth shining in his eyes, Sarutobi decided to verbally unbnce his opponent even more. "But you are starting to monologue. Does that mean the warm-up round is done and you are finally prepared to unleash your trump card?"

    Orochimaru almost stumbled and Sarutobi smirked.

    The brat was a hundred years too early to try winning a trash talk match against him. He probably already forgot who taught him all his psychological tricks.

 Chapter 419 Ch419. Orochimaru Vs Sarutobi 2

    "Indeed, it is time to stop with these small tricks." Orochimaru tried to appear nonchnt but it was obvious he was not exactlyfortable.

    Sarutobi chuckled at his foolish disciple and his incessant need to always be in control of the situation.

    "Then show me... what kind of sick technique is your trump card." He shouted with determination to defeat whatever it was. If only because he felt responsible and obligated to.

    Hearing that, Orochimaru''s lips stretched in a nasty smile. He apuded his teacher''s determination but he also doubted Sarutobi had any idea what kind of trump card he had. If he knew, he would never wish for him to use it.

    s... Sarutobi''s feelings were unimportant. In a way, Orochimaru learned this technique and picked his ''summoned'' targets mostly to spite Sarutobi.

    "Very well, Sarutobi-sensei. I''ll happily grant your request." Orochimaru yfully quipped with an undertone of excitement in his tone.

    His hands blurred in a set of hand seals... hand seals Sarutobi instantly recognized and his eyes widened in dread just as Orochimaru finished the necessary signs and proceeded to m his palm onto the ground.

    "Edo Tensei!" Orochimaru eximed and Sarutobi''s stomach sank.

    Sarutobi was one of the very few people who were old enough and close to the second Hokage to actually see the effect of this Jutsu in the hands of its creator.

    Tobirama might not have been called the God of Shinobi like his brother but his power... especially when he used Edo Tensei... could not be disregarded. The scene of Iwa and Kumo ninjas being brought back to life only to be sent to fight their reluctant and horrified colleagues, friends, and family, ughtering them without being able to control their bodies, only capable of weeping at their actions...

    It was a war then and Sarutobi understood the need for such cruelty even when he was young. But that sight was also the reason why he marked Edo Tensei as a forbidden technique.

    If he had used it, the Second and Third Ninja War would have been much easier for Konoha, and a lot fewer Konoha ninjas would have died but Sarutobi always thought their sacrifice was not in vain. He would rather let them die all over again than for this technique to see the light of the day.

    That''s why...

    "What have you done..." Sarutobi whispered in horror as three coffins started rising from the ground, marked by numbers one, two, and four. It didn''t take a genius to know what those numbers meant.

    Despite his utter disgust and profound disappointment, Sarutobi knew he could not let Orochimaru finish his technique. But he couldn''t stop all three coffins.

    The decision of which one to stop came to him fairly easily. Contrary to popr belief, it was not the first God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, who Sarutobi feared to be summoned the most.

    No... it was Minato Namikaze and that''s why Sarutobi quickly ran through the sequence of hand seals for counter summoning Tobirama taught him during one of his private lessons, putting his full focus on stopping the Fourth Hokage''s coffin from emerging.

    The reason for this was very simple. Tobirama was the creator of this technique and Hashirama was both too powerful to be controlled and brother of Tobirama. Meaning, there was no way for Orochimaru to summon them in their full power unless he wanted to lose control. Sarutobi theorized Orochimaru would at best be able to bring them back with around low S-rank prowess.

    If he went for anything higher, Sarutobi would be overjoyed because that would mean both the First and the Second Hokage would break free from his control and would be supremely pissed at his attempt to use them against Konoha like this.

    Minato, however, would be utterly at Orochimaru''s mercy.

    ''I have to stop that at all costs!'' Sarutobi desperately thought.<sub> </sub>

    Just the idea of a man capable of ughtering an army of thousand high-ranking ninjas on his own wreaking havoc inside of his beloved vige made Sarutobi frantically despair at the possibility. He might be able to fight Minato, and surely even win in the end, but he was very aware there was no chance to do that before serious damage was done. And Sarutobi did not doubt even for a second that Orochimaru would order Minato to do exactly that.

    To destroy Konoha.

    After all, seeing his vige demolished right in front of his eyes while being unable to do anything to stop it... that would make Sarutobi feel a lot of despair.

    When Tsunade saw what Orochimaru was attempting to do, her eyes twitched in irritation. But when she saw how Sarutobi reacted, she couldn''t help but facepalm.

    Wasn''t he supposed to know what using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal meant for the user? There was no way Minato, who is still trapped in Shinigami''s belly to be summoned and yet the old coot is trying to prevent it?

    ''I swear the old monkey gets more and more senile the older he gets...'' Tsunade inwardly sighed and despondently watched her teacher waste his chakra like an idiot. ''And they call him Professor.'' She shook her head in exasperation.

    After a long struggle, Orochimaru lost the battle of wills and Sarutobi managed to prevent Minato''s summoning, blissfully unaware that whether he seeded or not, there would be no Minato showing up for this fight.

    In the meantime, however, both Tobirama and Hashirama stepped out of their coffins, looking around but unable to move as the chakra they had avable was just a tad bit lower than what they would have needed to get free of the caster''s control.

    Tsunade was using Senjutsu so she could feel that and found it both hrious and exasperating. Orochimaru definitely did not calcte how much chakra he could give them to retain control so this entire situation going in his favor was one massive coincidence.

    ''No wonder I never won a gamble against him. He is practically shitting luck!'' She inwardly grumbled.

    Seeing the two summoned Hokages, Orochimaru smirked at Sarutobi who waspletely mortified he didn''t prevent this disturbance to their eternal rest.

    No way was Orochimaru wasting this golden opportunity to taunt him.

    "Kukuku, what a touching reunion, isn''t it, sensei?" He gleefully said as he walked towards the unmoving Hokages, taking out a kunai with a control seal from his sleeve. Every move of his was deliberately slow in order to prolong Sarutobi''s agony but also fast enough so there was no chance for his opponent to interrupt him.

    As he reached the two Hokages and was about to put the control seal into them, his tion reached the peak. This was it! The moment he waited for so long! The moment when he would make Sarutobi suffer as he watched the two biggest heroes of Konoha turned into his faithful puppets!

    ''It could have been much better if he didn''t prevent Minato''s resurrection but oh well, two Hokages are better than none.'' Orochimaru nonchntly thought, glee filling him.

    But just as the kunai were about to enter the two Senju ancestors... they suddenly got teleported outside of the arena before it could reach them.

    Both Sarutobi and Orochimaru''s heads whipped in Tsunade''s direction, only to find thest Senju ring at them as if they just killed her puppy.

    Orochimaru gulped as he realized he totally forgot about the fact that the person with control over the seals around the arena was also a Senju.

    As for Sarutobi... he had no idea why he was being red at. Tsunade grew increasingly more unreasonable by the year so he assumed this was just yet another show of that.

    No way he did something wrong... right?

 Chapter 420 Ch420. Family Reuinion 1

    "I told you this will be a deathmatch between you two. As in one versus one, Orochimaru. I know such a concept is hard for your treacherous mind but I don''t intend to let you break the rules I set." Tsunade spoke calmly with just a slight but obvious annoyance in her tone.

    Inwardly though...

    Where did the shitstain gain the guts to summon Hashirama and Tobirama with Edo Tensei right in front of her!?

    She wanted to step in and pull his innards out of his stomach, enwrap them around his neck and strangle him with them!

    But this was Sarutobi''s great moment so she held herself back and just decided that Orochimaru was not walking alive out of here even if he won. Previously, she would have let him go while just secretly putting a tracking seal inside of him. The second he summoned her ancestors though... his life was forfeit.

    With her piece said, Tsunade turned around with an audible ''hmph'' and left Orochimaru and Sarutobi dully staring at her back as she approached the still disoriented Tobirama and Hashirama.

    The atmosphere in the makeshift arena turned awkward as both Orochimaru and Sarutobi exchanged a sympathetic look full of understanding before they could stop themselves.

    Both instantly shook in disgust as they realized what they had just done and the awkwardness turned to the more natural hostility and killing intent. Orochimaru might have lost his trump card but he was not giving up now.

    ''If I can''t use the Hokages to kill Sarutobi, I will just have to use my own hands!'' He spitefully thought.

    After all, he didn''t summon the Hokages because he thought he needed them to defeat Sarutobi. He summoned them because he thought it would bring Sarutobi anguish. Just because they were taken away didn''t mean Orochimaru would be unable to go blow for blow with such an old senile coot as Sarutobi.

    Neither was Sarutobi giving up. Instead of dropping his guard due to his perceived advantage, he became even more cautious. He knew how devious Orochimaru was and doubted the boy had no other trump card stored up in his ass.

    Both again drew their weapons and rushed at each other before Enma met Kusanagi in yet another struggle for dominance. This time, a much more cautious one as neither Orochimaru nor Sarutobi dared to go all out in fear of being outyed by their opponent.

    A long battle of attrition and stamina started as medium and low ranked techniques flew left and right throughout the arena, devastating the surroundings within the sealing circle epassing it.

    ...

    While Orochimaru and Sarutobi were having their fun, Tsunade arrived near the two still immobile Hokages.

    When Tobirama and Hashirama saw Tsunade...

    "Oi, brother, doesn''t that hot blond chick remind you of Mito? Why not try to flirt with her?" Hashirama spoke, thinking he was being quiet and from Tobirama''s face, it was ever so obvious that if he could, he would have facepalmed.

    God of Shinobi indeed...

    Tsunade''s fond smile suddenly froze for a second. She would have never thought they would not recognize her but... it was a few decades after all. Nevertheless, her left eye twitched in annoyance and her lips stretched wider, getting past fond and entering the territory of nasty and devious as she grinned at the two, her eyes gleaming the same way when she caught Jiraiya trying to peek on her.

    ''Uh-oh!'' Tobirama and Hashirama thought as their eyes widened when they spotted Tsunade pulling her arm back in preparation for a punch. Their instincts told them to dodge and they definitely tried but...

    They realized they couldn''t move as they were still bound by the Edo Tensei and their expressions became dumb-struck as the world entered a slow motion for the two reanimated corpses and they could with a great reluctance clearly see Tsunade''s first getting closer and closer, coated in a very concentrated chakra that became almost visible to the naked eye due to the sheer intensity of energy it contained.

    The punch seemed to be extremely slow from their perspective but in reality, it was very fast. Before the two even managed to utter a sound, Tsunade''s fist impacted the ground in front of them...<sub> </sub>

    The entire Konoha could witness and more importantly, hear the resulting explosion as a dust cloud rose into the air above the Konoha''s arena before instantly dispersing due to the shockwave that followed shortly after the first impact.

    This was apanied by such a loud crash it stopped half of the fights going on throughout the vige. Even Orochimaru and Sarutobi momentarily stopped and looked towards Tsunade... only to see half of the roof missing.

    Neither paid much attention to it though. Both knew Tsunade and this was nothing new. Violent tendencies and low self-control followed by property damage were her everyday modus operandi.

    Since there was nothing out of ordinary, the two just shrugged and continued their fight.

    Tsunade, with a self-righteous satisfaction, noted that both her grandfather and granduncle were disintegrated just as she aimed for.

    Because their bodies were made by the Edo Tensei technique, the two started to be quickly reconstructed in front of Tsunade.

    "Definitely reminds me of Mito... Ahahahaha!" Hashirama started to boisterouslyugh, totally disregarding the fact he was disintegrated just a second ago.

    "Hashirama... just shut up." Tobirama groaned. "Don''t you see we have more pressing matters?"

    "Huh? What could be more pressing than finally getting you a woman? Do you even realize you are already dead and still single? It''s sad, Tobi!" Hashirama boisterously eximed and Tsunade had a hard time not chuckling. She could have sworn Tobirama actually blushed at that. But it was gone as quickly as it came.

    Hearing Hashirama, Tobirama''s face twitched. "I''ll punch you."

    "No, you won''t. Neither of us can move. Tough luck." Hashirama grinned.

    "Sage, just kill me again..." Tobirama muttered.

    Just then the attention of the two men was attracted by the ''hot blond chick'' who snorted at them, "Why, grandfather, I would have never thought you were into incest. To think you would offer your own granddaughter to your brother. Then again... it is a known fact that Senju and Uzumaki are rted."

    Tsunade chuckled, watching as the jaws of the two reanimated men dropped and both unconsciously gave her a once over. Not the kind of look a man gives a woman but rather, the type a grandparent gives their grandchild after not seeing him or her for a long time.

    After a moment of stunned silence full of bewilderment, Hashirama was the first to regain himself. "Ts-Tsuna!? Is that you!? You grew up!" He eagerly eximed with wide eyes full of shining stars that made Tsunade want to take a step back.

    "Oi, calm down! You are scaring her!" Tobirama rebuked, "Besides, she is right. You just offered her to me. Creep." He snarked in deadpan.

    "Wha-?" Hashirama blinked before furrowing his eyebrows. His expression suddenly turned sharp, "Oh, no, no, no! You are not getting anywhere near my sweet Tsu-chan, Tobirama! Even if it would mean you dying a virgin, I forbid it!"

    "I am already dead." Tobirama retorted, "And I am not a virgin..." But then he noticed Hashirama was too engrossed in observing Tsunade in fascination to listen to him, "and he is no longer listening to me. Typical." He tiredly sighed. If he could, he would have shaken his head at his brother''s antics.

    "As funny as this little conversation of yours is, I am already taken." Tsunade said and showed them the ring on her finger, knowing only something like this would stop them from bickering like children.

    "..." Silence instantly fell onto the two of them as they looked at each other.

    As the satisfied Tsunade was about to start talking again, the two spoke at the same time, threat gleaming in their determined eyes, "Who is the dead meat?"

 Chapter 421 Ch421. Family Reuinion 2

    "I think we have much more important things to do than you giving my decade-long husband a shovel talk." Tsunade dryly deadpanned.

    Inwardly though, she really wanted to deflect that particr topic. Having her grandfather and granduncle trying to intimidate Rei would be extremely embarrassing for her. It had to be avoided at all costs since it would give her sister-wives ammunition tough at her for months.

    Speaking off which...

    ''I don''t think neither of these two would appreciate the fact I am not Rei''s only wife. I can already imagine grandfather being his hasty self and trying to beat some manners into Rei for being a womanizer while granduncle tries to stare him to death.'' Tsunade sweatdropped and her determination to dy their meeting with Rei, preferably until... never, increased.

    "She is right, Hashirama." Tobirama, bless his heart, decided to switch back into his serious self.

    They were both extremely gifted sensors with loads of experience so there was no way the war raging in the middle of Konoha could escape their senses.

    In fact, Tsunade noticed Tobirama''s fingers slightly twitch while he joked around with Hashirama. He no doubt wanted nothing more than to go and defend the vige. The only reason why he was still here was probably the hold Orochimaru''s Edo Tensei had over him and his experience.

    As an experienced ninja, he knew that leaping blindly into a fight was just asking for trouble. Tobirama hoped Tsunade would provide more information on what was going on. That''s why he steered the topic back to the ongoing invasion.

    Hearing him, Hashirama''s face sank for a moment. His lifelong wish to prevent war by creating a vige failed. This situation was the biggest proof of that.

    Itsted only for a second though and before Tsunade could even blink, Hashirama''s face hardened. Dreamer, he might have been but he was first and foremost a ninja. And no matter how childishly he acted at times, nobody gets called God of Shinobi by being kind to people. Especially not his enemies.

    Seeing her ancestors beingpletely serious, Tsunade nodded in satisfaction before she started speaking, "Konoha was just invaded by Orochimaru''s-"

    "Wait! That pale skin and yellow eyes... Isn''t that Orochimaru?" Hashirama interrupted, faintly remembering small, four-year-old Tsunadeining about a genius in her ss once or twice before he died, "Tsuna-chan, what is your first crush doing, invading Konoha?" He asked with genuine concern and curiosity shining in his eyes.

    Tsunade groaned and facepalmed as Tobirama chuckled. He too could remember how annoyed little Tsunade was that she was not first on this or that academy test.

    "He was NOT my crush!" Tsunade eximed, her embarrassment showing on her slightly pink cheeks as she red at him.

    Hashirama grinned at her reaction but refrained from teasing her further. Her re reminded him far too much of Mito and that was one woman even the God of Shinobi did not want to piss off.

    It really warmed his dead heart to see his granddaughter all grown up like this.

    "Are you sure? I distinctly remember-" Tobirama didn''t have the natural filter only men married to an Uzumaki woman acquired and so he decided to go for a slight tease at Tsunade''s expense.

    He didn''t get far as before he could finish that sentence, Tsunade''s fist impacted the center of his face at speeds even he could not see and his entire upper torso was sted to smithereens.

    "Yes! I am quite sure!" Tsunade irritably eximed and Hashirama winced. Yes, this was exactly the brutality of an ''Uzumaki'' woman. He would know, having Mito as a wife.

    Now that he thought about it, he actually pitied Tsunade''s husband!

    When Tobirama finally reformed, Tsunade was not in the mood for more jokes so she started exining the situation.

    "The invasion is not as bad as it might seem on the first look. In fact, it is merely a training exercise for our troops." Tsunade dismissively said and both Tobirama and Hashirama couldn''t help but to gape at that statement.

    Enemy ninjas were traversing the streets of Konoha and fighting was going on throughout the vige... where exactly did she get the gall to call it just a ''training exercise''!?

    ''Did themon sense get screwed while I was dead?'' Tobirama thought in shock.

    ''Mito... our granddaughter is not very smart. Sigh. I wonder whose genes spoiled her.'' Hashirama wistfully sighed.

    Tsunade could see on their faces that they thought something rude but considering what she had just told them, she couldn''t really me them. Instead of doing what her impulses were telling her to and punching the hell out of them, she opted to do the patient thing and try to exin more.<sub> </sub>

    "Just... try to sense deeper, especially the chakra signature on each of the civilians. It should clear things up a bit." She said, knowing that at the very least her grandfather was skilled enough sensor to recognize what was going on if he really tried to sense deeper.

    Hashirama indeed did as Tsunade asked, and when he noticed what Tsunade was trying to point out, his eyes widened.

    "You must have an excellent seal master at your side... to think such incredible shielding seals could be deployed to each civilian. Mito would have been totally dumbfounded, hahaha!" He started to boisterouslyugh.

    His mood lightened and his worries eased. As somebody who had one of the best seal masters of his time as his wife, Hashirama could recognize seals just by the feeling of his sensory abilities. He could not perfectly tell what the seal did but various seals had various ''feels'' and chakra had its potency.

    That''s why he could tell these seals on civilians were meant to protect them and what reassured him was the potency of the chakra infused into them.

    At least, the civilians in Konoha were totally safe.

    Tobirama didn''t need an exnation. He was also a good sensor. He might not be on Hashirama''s level but with a bit of context due to his brother''s previous sentence, he realized what was going on and he found himself giving Tsunade an approving look.

    Unlike Hashirama, Tobirama focused more on the readiness of Konoha''s forces and he could feel them all not only sporting simr seals, if only a bit weaker, but also moving in a coordinated fashion to counter the enemies.

    Konoha was clearly well prepared for this attack.

    "My husband is the best seal maker in the world!" Tsunade smugly proimed, "As you can see, there is no need to worry about Konoha. You can go and help to fend off the invaderster if you want. Now..." She turned towards Tobirama with a sardonic smile, "I am sure you would like to see your student and talk about some of his... exploits."

    Tobirama furrowed his eyebrows at her smile, not knowing what it meant but she had a point. Since Konoha''s defense was not such a pressing matter, he surmised seeing the young monkey would be a good thing.

    "One of which he is currently fighting." Tsunade added with a dose of sarcasm, gesturing at the ce where Orochimaru and Sarutobi were exchanging ninjutsu for ninjutsu. The sealing barrier around them was quite strong, to contain their moves without disturbing Tsunade, Hashirama, and Tobirama who stood just a bit away from it.

    Tobirama almost face-faulted hearing that. He realized what Tsunade meant... realized he was summoned by Hiruzen''s student.

    ''That would exin how somebody set against Konoha could use Edo Tensei.'' Tobirama thought and his eyes grew stormy. ''Hiruzen... just wait till I get my hands on you. I am gonna spank you till your butt cheeks fall off. I didn''t entrust you with my worst and best Jutsu for you to let it fall in enemy''s hands.''

    Tobirama felt immensely disappointed.

    At the same time, he was extremely surprised somebody actually managed to ''recreate'' it. The version he entrusted to Hiruzen when he was begging him to be taught was iplete.

    Tobirama did teach him but he also knew Hiruzen was too dumb to finish the iplete version. He always had a knack for nature maniption but when it came to more esoteric ways of ninjutsu... like seals, space-time, and shadow clones... Hiruzen was average at best.

    Tobirama felt safe entrusting the unfinished version to him with the instructions to never let anybody see it. If nothing else, he could trust Hiruzen to never show it to anyone until he mastered it himself.

    Which was just not gonna happena€|

    Seeing somebody capable of progressing the iplete version to this degree was astonishing. Hearing that Hiruzen let a genius capable of doing this out of his sight, allowing him to defect the vige, was downright outrageous. And seeing that this genius was not ''taken care of'' before he could threaten the vige like this was thest drop.

    When he let Hiruzen be the Third Hokage, he expectedpetency!

    Hashirama could see his brother''s expression go nk and promptly took a step away from him. He knew his brother and somebody was in for a very rough beating.

    Tsunade... just smirked. ''Heh, and he has no idea about all the problems with Konoha during Sarutobi''s reign yet. Like... the extinction of the Senju line.'' She deviously thought.

    There was no way she would let go of this golden opportunity to make Sarutobi''s life a bit harsher.

 Chapter 422 Ch422. Tsunades Bragging

    "Well, then, let''s go and take a look at Sarutobi''s fight, shall we?" Tsunade innocently smiled, not giving away how satisfied with how the situation was progressing.

    Unknown to her, Hashirama knew that smile very well from her younger days. He was both very impressed at how subtly she manipted his brother and not impressed at all that she really did do it in this kind of manner.

    But...

    ''Some things just never change, eh?'' Hashirama inwardly chuckled, reminiscing about a simr, if a bit more innocent scene, between little Tsunade and Tobirama. She always knew how to ckmai-, ahem, justly acquire candies from her granduncle.

    As for Tobirama... he didn''t notice. He was far too preupied with his own thoughts about his protege turned Hokage.s

    "Tsuna-chan, you do know we can''t move our bodies, right?" Hashirama decided to point out the obvious w in her n.

    While they could speak and change expressions, maybe even do things like twitch fingers and such, the Edo Tensei restricted any bigger movements. After all, Tobirama usually used it on the vige''s zealous enemies so it had to have a feature to restrain them before the control seal could be imnted lest they attack the caster.

    "Ah, that." Tsunade dismissively hummed before she flexed her chakra in a way that affected both Hashirama and Tobirama.

    The two men instantly felt the restriction on them shatter, causing them to be astonished. Tobirama''s mind even momentarily forgot his anger at the feat his grandniece just aplished.

    "How..." He quietly muttered under his nose in bewilderment.

    Tsunade, thanks to her Senjutsu-enhanced senses, heard him and smirked, "I might or might not have studied Sharingan a lot." She threw him a bone.

    Tobirama instantly froze when he heard her, his head snapping towards her and his eyes going wide.

    "Oh..." Tobirama dumbly said with a dumbstruck expression on his face. "So you have realized that..." He trailed off. Nevertheless, his chest was swelling with pride at Tsunade being so knowledgeable in ninjutsu.

    Tsunade saw that the conversation went over Hashirama''s head and as a dutiful granddaughter, she decided to enlighten him.

    Looking at him, she spoke. "There is a reason why Edo Tensei summons can not be put down normally. Tobirama used a lot of the concepts of Uchiha''s Izanagi technique in his Edo Tensei."

    Hearing Tsunade, Hashirama blinked and turned towards his brother, gaping at him. Didn''t this dude hate the Uchihas the most? Why did he base his techniques on their bloodline!?

    Tobirama just sheepishly smiled, not liking the awkward atmosphere surrounding him. This was exactly why he never confessed this fact to anybody...

    While bloodlines could not be fully replicated, nobody said one could not observe how they worked and learn a lot from it. Most Tobirama-made Jutsu were on the esoteric side... yin side. The same as the Sharingan bloodline. He really believed to prevail over one''s enemy, one had to study their prowess with impunity. This gave him a lot of insights into how Sharingan worked and gave him a lot of inspiration for Jutsus.

    It was also because Tobirama studied Sharingan that he disliked the Uchiha n. He simply understood their bloodline more than most Uchiha-born ninjas. And he didn''t like the picture and the influence it had on the user. Not at all. That''s why he always warned his brother about Uchiha''s being a loose cannon!

    "I gotta say, granduncle, you really are ingenious." Tsunade continued without a care in the world, "You not only managed to implement an Izanagi-like system into your technique but also bypass the only limitation of it. Since they are already dead and just chakra-constructs of a sort, there is no permanent blindness associated with reformation for the summoned." She wistfully sighed and dreamily put her hand on her cheek, "It almost reminds me of my research to evolve Mangekyo Sharingan to the next stage. Just a bit more simple."

    Tobirama and Hashirama almost face-faulted when they heard her.

    "Mang-!" They started at the same time, stopping when they realized it. Looking at each other, they came to a silent understanding... "Wha-!" They again started at the same time. Apparently, they both had their own understanding of who was allowed to ask first. Getting annoyed, they decided to just speak. Both raised their voices and loudly eximed in outrage. "Evolve Mangekyou Sharingan!? Are you mad, Tsunade Senju!?"<sub> </sub>

    Surprisingly enough, it was Hashirama who was the louder one. While he didn''t hold a grudge against the Uchiha n and was quite epting of them, he was, in the end, a Senju. He knew how dangerous that bloodline was and hearing of its final stage evolving... his world almost spun when he heard those words.

    "Please tell me you failed!" Tobirama almost pleadingly asked. Even the ninjutsu nerd inside of him couldn''t make him want to see such monstrosity!

    "Sure," Tsunade shrugged, "I failed."

    Both Tobirama and Hashirama sighed in relief at that...

    "If hearing a lie can ease your mind, I''d dly supply one." Tsunade grinned at them.

    Both men looked at her in horror, but she didn''t really care. Finally, someone listened to her bragging about her research and gave her a proper reaction! Whenever she talked about it to her sister-wives or Rei, they did listen but they wereckluster about it.

    Evolving Sharingan was no big deal for a guy who created his own dimension. Nor did it matter to a woman who had Kekkei Tota and could create the biggest spywork, spanning the entire Elemental Nations, just with her paper abilities. Nor was the carefree, sweet Mei interested in hearing about anything icky like science. Nor did Ringo care since gics was not sword-making or swinging.

    The only person who listened to Tsunade gushing about her research was Pakura and even then she rolled her eyes at her more often than not before she returned to her paperwork or other administrative duty.

    Tsunadecked somebody who would give her a good reaction to her aplishments!

    "You... seeded?" Hashirama swayed back. "W-who did you... who is the... whose Sharingan... I mean..."

    Tobirama didn''t even speak, he just looked deathly pale. Like a corpse.

    "Ah, knock it off." Tsunade rolled her eyes at them, feeling smug to cause these two ninja idols to almost faint in front of her. "I only allowed one of my friends to have the evolution of Sharingan."

    "Friend? With Uchiha?" Tobirama muttered in disbelief while inwardly musing, ''Did I fail to educate her?''

    Hashirama, however, beamed at Tsunade, his worries forgotten. ''Looks like my granddaughter is walking in my footsteps!'' He was delighted.

    "The girl is a bit of a clutz but at worst, she will erase a mountain or two by coincidence. No biggie." Tsunade dismissively said.

    And the worries of the two men came instantly back...

    "Konoha sure got a lot stronger, huh?" Tobirama muttered, still not sure how to take such a powerful Uchiha being allowed to live. But he would give this... Uchiha ''clutz''... the benefit of the doubt. For Tsunade''s sake.

    "Eh? Konoha?" Tsunade furrowed her eyebrows at Tobirama who tilted his head at her reaction.

    "Did I say something wrong?"

    "Just... The Uchiha n is no longer residing in Konoha, you know?" Tsunade started...

 Chapter 423 Ch423. Hard Truth

    "Just... The Uchiha n is no longer residing in Konoha, you know?" Tsunade started...

    Both Hashirama and Tobirama felt as if a bucket of cold water was just poured on them when they heard that. Both for different reasons.

    Hashirama was bitter that this came to be. Konoha started with the Senju and the Uchiha ns and it should be continuing with them. He and his n did so many sacrifices to keep it that way... to hear they were for naught was disheartening.

    Tobirama felt ted but also conflicted.

    On one hand, Uchiha-free Konoha was like a dreaming true for him. Finally, the ticking time bomb was away from his precious vige! Whoever was responsible, Tobirama would love to congratte them for being the biggest hero of Konoha!

    On the other hand, he felt very conflicted because Uchihas were not all bad. He had a student, Kagami Uchiha, who was a niced. Tobirama did not dislike individuals. Rather, he didn''t like the risks that particr n was bringing to the table.

    And in the end, the Uchiha n was a part of Konoha''s power. Losing them felt kind of sour for the Second Hokage despite his personal feelings. When he was the Hokage, he always strived to keep them ''controlled'' but also to make them feel wee in the vige. He gave them the duty to police the vige, after all. That was something every n wanted and he relinquished it to Uchihas.

    "What happened to them?" Tobirama asked with a grunt, not even bothering to contemte the possibility that they could have gone extinct. No way that was the case. In his opinion, Uchiha''s were like cockroaches.

    Tsunade thought for a second if she should tell them the truth or not. She was not sure if she wanted them to spend more than a few hours in thend of the living or not. If they stuck around, the truth would eventuallye out and if not, it wouldn''t have mattered.

    In the end, she just shrugged and decided to simply roll with it, "Danzo and Sarutobi drove them over the edge so the n head and some of his most arrogant ponces wanted to stage a coup..." She purposefully trailed off, giving her bbergasted ancestors time to think about her words.

    Now even Hashirama was getting a bit angry but he kept it in, not outwardly showing it. He worked so much... did so much... sacrificed so much... even went against their n''s rules as n head and made quite a few of his nsmen dissatisfied with him... all to bring the end to the Senju and Uchiha feud, and all of that was undone by his supposed sessor? The Hokage?

    What the hell!?

    The knowledge that both of these men were Tobirama''s students made it only worse.

    "Sarutobi was his usual maniptive self and was purposefully pussy-footing around the issue, letting it grow bigger and bigger, building up the Uchiha''s dissatisfaction with the vige while Danzo t out fed the mes behind the coup because he wanted some freshly harvested Sharingan and the supply was kinda low at that time." Tsunade lightheartedly continued.

    Now... both Tobirama and Hashirama were battle-hardened veterans with kill count in hundreds, if not thousands, but their stomachs could not help but turn at how easily Tsunade was talking about harvesting parts of humans for their bloodline.

    For a n ninjas, such a thing was disgusting.

    Tsunade was not disappointed and when she saw the twitches in her ancestors'' expressions, she chuckled, "In the end, Danzo went behind Sarutobi''s back and tricked one immensely talented but very naive Uchiha kid genius into killing off his own n. Elderly, children, babies... it didn''t matter. They were all supposed to die."

    As talented and smart for his age as Itachi was... he was still a thirteen years old kid. Nobody could expect him to win in the maniption department against old foxes like Sarutobi and Danzo. Still... Tsunade thought the notion that Konoha had to rely on one thirteen years old boy to deal with the Uchiha n was ridiculous and she didn''t understand why Itachi actually believed that.

    He had options. He could have gone to another n for help. Maybe that would have made him indebted to that n but... ns like Nara, Yamanaka, or Akimichi, would definitely help him without asking an exorbitant price for it.

    They simply were not dicks like Hyuugas.

    At the very least, this way would have saved more Uchihas than just Itachi''s brother.

    But like a kid without much knowledge about how these things worked and what options he had to resolve such a bad situation, Itachi chose to be a good boy and do what Danzo was telling him.

    It just shows that power is not really everything. Knowledge about your options is also a very important thing.<sub> </sub>

    Tsunade was about to continue but, "So the Senju n is thest remaining founding n in Konoha, huh? That''s kind of sad." Hashirama dejectedly said, his shoulders sagging in depression.

    Since her grandfather interrupted her like this and brought up a quite important point, Tsunade decided to omit how the Uchiha n survived and relocated to the vige of her husband. It would need a lot of exnations and she was not in the mood for that.

    She had no idea how epting her ancestors would be of her decision to ''abandon'' Konoha for Rei. Or about her usurping most of Hokage''s privileges and bing the Daimyo of Konoha. Or...

    Well, there was a lot that could not be to their liking. She''d rather direct them straight at Sarutobi''s ass rather than deal with all of that right now.

    "Senju n is extinct. I am thest one." Tsunade bluntly told them.

    The things they were told up to now were shocking. But this was something that made them regreting back to life. Something that hit them with enough force that if they had a working heart, they would get a heart attack.

    Both of them were ninjas from the Warring States Era where the n was above all. To hear said n is extinct... Both Tobirama and Hashirama felt sick.

    "B-But Nawaki! A-And the others? We intermarried a lot so..." Hashirama spluttered, trying to deny what Tsunade was telling him while Tobirama just stared at her, silently observing her expression and when he didn''t find any form of mischief or falseness, bitter eptance and anger started to rise in him.

    "Nawaki died in the Second Ninja War, grandfather. Konoha sent him on a mission close to enemy lines despite him being thest male Senju." Tsunade bitterly spoke, still feeling resentment for that. "In hindsight, it should have been obvious to me. I only discovered what really happened decadester."

    While Hashirama was having a small mental breakdown at the knowledge his line was all but culled out, Tobirama decided to retain his cold head and get some more information. "And the others? As my idiot brother already said, we intermarried a lot."

    Despite mentioning that, he didn''t have much hope. He didn''t think Tsunade would disregard that fact.

    "Checked blood tests," Tsunade shook her head, "Danzo was thorough enough to have every single person with Senju blood meet some unfortunate ident."

    Tobirama''s heart froze. "Danzo? You want to tell me my student is responsible for the demise of my n?" He asked in an icy tone.

    It has to be said, he did not just teach his students how to survive in the turbulent ninja world. He basically raised them as his own. He gave them ess to resources they would never be privy to. Even Hiruzen, who was a member of the Sarutobi n, would never get enough teaching material to learn all five chakra natures without ess to the Senju library.

    They were supposed to be far more than just ''students''. They were practically family. An honorary Senju. To hear this...

    Tsunade sighed and nodded. As devious of her as this scene seemed, she was not really trying to manipte them. This was something they had a right to know. As men who spent a massive part of their lives on bettering Konoha and serving their n, they should be aware that their n is considered extinct.

    Keeping it secret would not be mercy. That would have been cruelty.

    "Don''t worry about it, I have already made him suffer a very cruel fate for someone like him." Tsunade snorted.

    Both Hashirama and Tobirama wanted to protest but... they were dead. They guessed the future belonged to Tsunade now so they did not really have a justification to argue that point.

    The atmosphere turned a bit gloomy because of the topic and Tsunade had one massive bomb to drop on them yet. With a sigh, she decided to rip it off like a band-aid. That was the best approach when dealing with ninjas.

    "But you can have your way with the other culprit of our n''s demise. Sarutobi is still alive."

 Chapter 424 Ch424. Interrupted Match

    Sarutobi is still alive."

    "Sarutobi!?" Both Hashirama and Tobirama eximed inplete surprise.

    "What do you mean by Sarutobi participating in..." Tobirama started, cutting himself off before finishing. Sarutobi was his sessor whose role was to safeguard Konoha and its ns. To hear he had a part in the Senju n extinction... Tobirama''s mood darkened and he became sullenly contemtive.

    ''Did I choose my sessor wrong?'' Tobirama wondered as self-guilt started to flood his conscience. ''Should I have picked Kagami?''

    Nobody would ever be able to answer that question for him.

    While Tobirama was pondering about his life choices, Hashirama felt a rare twinge of anger seep on the surface. He was usually a very jovial man with a capacity to forgive a lot but this... this made him want to go and deal with the entire Sarutobi n.

    Such was the ''justice'' andmon sense of men raised in the Warring States era.

    As he usually did when such a situation arose, Hashirama pushed this impulse down, knowing it would not solve anything. This time, however, he was not about to let it go. "What exactly was Sarutobi''s part in that?"

    "Honestly?" Tsunade wryly smiled, "From a certain standpoint, you can''t really me him nor his advisors, granduncle''s other students. They had no direct involvement. They just knew about it and allowed it to happen. ''For the good of Konoha.'' of course." She imitated Sarutobi''s grave voice before snorting at the notion.

    It was easy for her to talk about these things. Decades passed since her n perished and her new family helped her to deal with it. She wasn''t really even an adult when most of her n members died so it had not that big of an impact on her. Yes, attending a funeral every other week was depressing but the biggest and most rememberable impact on her had Nawaki''s death.

    Unlike her, however, Tobirama and Hashirama died when the n was still going strong. For them, it was like being taken from a time when everything was alright and put into a time when one of the most important things in their life was simply gone.

    Tsunade''s light-hearted manner of speaking and snarkiness did not carry the same humorous undertone for them as it did for her. In fact, it only fueled their anger.

    That''s why Tsunade was utterly surprised when the two men just walked towards the sealing barrier before turning towards her with an intense stare so simr to each other that there was no doubt they were brothers despite their ridiculously different hair coloring.

    The purpose of their stare couldn''t be more obvious. They were as if demanding for her to open a passage for them.

    Sarutobi was almost a part of the family. To hear he just sat by and didn''t even try to prevent the extinction of the Senju n for his own selfish purposes...

    He might not have killed them with his own hands or orders but in Tobirama''s and Hashirama''s opinions, what he did was bonafide betrayal regardless. They gave so much to the little shit and he couldn''t even make sure their legacy would be preserved!?

    It was such an outrageous thing they would normally question the truthfulness behind Tsunade''s words. s, Hashirama''s Senjutsu could discern between lies and truth quite well and his senses were telling him Tsunade was truthful to them. And since Hashirama looked so crushed, Tobirama also understood this was no distasteful joke.

    His very own students turned out to be utter scumbags. The only good one was the Uchiha. The one he kept at arm''s length.

    What an irony...

    Seeing their demanding determination, Tsunade inwardly chuckled as she opened a small passage through the barrier, letting the two previous Hokages enter the arena where Sarutobi and Orochimaru were still locked in an intense ninjutsu battle.

    ...

    Orochimaru had a hard time. He was sweaty, panting, and under a lot of pressure as bullets of molten earth swished all around him.

    He, however, refused to break his calm and collected facade in front of his former teacher.

    The fact that Sarutobi was also heavily panting was the only highlight in his unpleasant situation for Orochimaru.

    He tried everything. He fought Sarutobi in a weapon fight, shing his extremely poisonous de with his teacher''s indestructible staff...

    He only needed one goddamn cut to poison Sarutobi to death but apparently, the old monkey was prepared and eager to fight. Hence, Orochimaru could notnd even one ncing blow. It was extremely infuriating and frustrating.<sub> </sub>

    Orochimaru''s ego actually wanted to sneer.

    When the weapon-shing led to nowhere, they started to use ninjutsu and the oldest trick in the book, deception. Orochimaru would love to think he returned as good as he received and Sarutobi''s disheveled appearance would certainly be a good proof of that... but that was only because Orochimaru had to use his special life-saving skin-shedding four times already.

    In short, a prepared Sarutobi was an exceedingly difficult opponent. If there was no sealing barrier around the arena, Orochimaru would have fled a long time ago.

    As crafty as he was, matching Sarutobi''s pure firepower was proving to be quite demanding.

    Fortunately for him, the opening in the sealing barrier proved to be just enough distraction for Sarutobi to stop his onught of Jutsus. The old geezer still had more juice in the tank than his frail facade would suggest and Orochimaru found that the hard way.

    Unfortunately for Orochimaru, he was not stupid enough to think he could use this opportunity to sneak attack Sarutobi. The opening Sarutobi showed as he slightly turned around was far too tempting and reeked of a newbie mistake. There was no way it was anything but bait.

    As Orochimaru turned towards the opening, he suddenly saw two utterly pissed Senjus and instantly went deathly pale. He had enough problems with Sarutobi alone!

    ''Tsunade! You bitch! You said this was one on one!'' Orochimaru seethed while sweat was pouring down his forehead.

    He didn''t want to die! He still had so many Jutsus to research! So many people to cut open! So many bloodline users to experiment on!

    His journey for immortality could not end like this!

    Orochimaru was desperately looking for a way to run away but... the more he looked, the more he realized just how tight the sealing barrier is. Not even the reverse summon seal responded and that scared him witless.

    Thest time he felt so powerless was when he fought against Hanzo the Smander and he at least had his teammates with him there.

    Unlike Orochimaru, Sarutobi felt relieved and smug. With Tobirama and Hashirama on his side, there was no way his slippery misbehaving student could run away!

    He of course did not fully trust Tsunade''s barrier Jutsu so Orochimaru getting away was a real concern for him.

    But with two Hokagesing to help him...

    ''This will be your end, Orochimaru!'' Sarutobi thought with determination, intent to wash off the biggest mistake of his life that was currently staring at the two Hokages with fright in his eyes.

    Tobirama and Hashirama walked towards Sarutobi, intently staring at him.

    "Hiruzen-" Tobirama started.

    Sarutobi, however, did not want to give Orochimaru the time to prepare a counter-attack and escape n!

    "Tobirama-sensei, we can talkter." Sarutobi interrupted Tobirama with urgency in his tone as he didn''t let his eyes wander off of Orochimaru''s body. "Now we have to deal with my misguided student! You can''t imagine what heinous deeds he-"

    He didn''t manage to finish his sentence. Tobirama had had enough and right in front of Orochimaru''s eyes, a sight that made his jaw drop in utter bewilderment had just happened.

    Tobirama grabbed Sarutobi''s shoulder, instantly spreading restraining seals on him and immobilizing him. Sarutobi didn''t even manage to widen his eyes in shock before he found himself bent over Tobirama''sp and then...

    <o>,m The chakra-enhanced spanking began and Sarutobi''s painful howls were heard all around Konoha.</o>

    Orochimaru had to wince at every smack he witnessed and tighten his posterior when he saw how proficient and creative Tobirama was with the lighting chakra nature.

 Chapter 425 Ch425. Hashirama Vs Orochimaru

    While Sarutobi was getting spanked like a misbehaving unwanted child by pissed Tobirama, Orochimaru came face to face with an unamused Hashirama who had his arms crossed on his chest.

    "You know..." Hashirama started, "I have no idea what problem you have with the foolish little monkey but attacking Konoha is going one step too far."

    As he finished speaking, he unleashed the full brunt of his chakra''s pressure upon Orochimaru, making his knees almost buckle. Only his long experience with life and death situations allowed Orochimaru to keep himself standing. His whole body, though, was slightly shivering from the passive killing intent Hashirama was releasing.

    It was not full of hostility and ill intent like Orochimaru''s was. Instead, it was somehow filled with disinterest and annoyance, only making Orochimaru that much more pissed. If he was reading Hashirama''s killing intent right, the man didn''t even consider him a warm-up!

    Yet, whenever Orochimaru wanted to move, he would realize his body was fighting him.

    ''Is this the level of the first God of Ninjas? It is nothing like Sarutobi! They are totally in a different league!'' Orochimaru was inwardly freaking out.

    Unfortunately for Orochimaru, as Tsunade removed the restrictions on Hashirama and Tobirama, their Edo Tensei forms regained their full power. In front of Orochimaru was now standing Hashirama who could go one against one even with Kyuubi and easily have the upper hand.

    Sweat poured from Orochimaru''s forehead but the man still crazily smiled and yfully asked, "Why? Are you gonna spank me too?"

    Hashirama''s eyebrow twitched in a mild annoyance. "That... was gay."

    ? Hearing that, Orochimaru''s jaw dropped in speechlessness. He expected many types of responses but not that one. The worst part was that he was utterly unable to refute him since he recently possessed a female body.

    It really made him wonder if there was no unexpected side-effect to his Possession Technique.

    "Ah, whatever. Who am I to question your sexual orientation." Hashirama offhandedly shrugged and took a fighting stance.

    Orochimaru would usually throw a hurtful remark back but with Hashirama focused on him, he could not let his concentration slip for some petty pre-fight trash talking.

    It actually saved him too. In a blink of an eye, Hashirama was upon him, his fist razing its path towards Orochimaru''s abdomen with bone-shattering force and Orochimaru only barely managed to twist out of its path thanks to how focused he was.

    But...

    He didn''t get enough time to rejoice because a split of a secondter, Hashirama''s second fist found purchase on Orochimaru''s jaw, causing his body to be catapulted back before it bounced on a floor a few times and stopped in an unmoving heap.

    Hashirama definitely felt bones breaking upon his fist connecting but this was supposed to be one of Konoha''s brightest and strongest. No way did the fight finish with just that. He knew he went down into history as a naive idiot, especially for giving other nations their bijuu... and he served his well-deserved no-Mito couch time for that... but he was not that naive.

    Even his stunt with the bijuu was in hopes of preventing a senseless war. He might have miscalcted human nature there but it was not a decision made out of naivety.

    "Cut the small tricks." He spoke towards the downed body of his opponent.

    Orochimaru did not get up... instead, his body dissolved into the mud, causing Hashirama to lift his leg and stomp onto the ground with enough force that if the roof was not supported by the sealing barrier, it would have crumbled down.

    Unfortunately for one Snake Sannin, that meant he was caught between the unmovable sealing barrier and the full brunt of Hashirama''s stomp, reminding him of his academy history lesson where he learned that the First Hokage was the best sensor Konoha ever had. The force from the stomp pressed Orochimaru''s body onto the barrier, squashing it so strongly blood flowed out of his mouth, eyes, and ears while multiple bones broke and muscles got mangled.<sub> </sub>

    Hashirama watched as his opponent was turned into a gory pulp, inwardly sighing. Not everyone could be Madara and withstand his strength head-on. Not even Tobirama could match him in taijutsu.

    But then something surprising happened. From the mouth of the mangled pulp, like a snake shedding its skin, another Orochimaru emerged and Hashirama had to prevent himself from retching.

    The dude waspletely covered in stinking saliva!

    ''Where does he go for ideas for these kinds of Jutsu! Did his teacher never teach him anything about propriety!?'' Hashirama inwardlyined, taking a step back from the disgusting man. ''Somebody should have given him mental medical help a long time ago if this seems like a good technique to him.''

    Tobirama, who was still inflicting untold atrocities upon Sarutobi''s body by spanking him with various chakra natures, was actually quite impressed by the technique of Sarutobi''s protege. Visuals aside... it was a masterpiece!

    s, it was apparent the technique was not yet finished and even if it was, against his brother, it would be meaningless.

    Just as the ''new'' Orochimarunded, he already had to swing his sword in order to prevent Hashirama fromnding a blow on him...

    Or so he attempted to do. Hashirama was a bit more experienced than Orochimaru ounted for, though. Instead of dodging the sword sh, Hashirama caught Orochimaru''s wrist and broke it in one fluid twisting motion. With this motion, the sword''s path also twisted, and before Orochimaru could even register the pain from his now broken wrist, his very own sword impaled him right through the center of his chest, causing his eyes to go wide in disbelief.

    Hashirama rxed his grip on Orochimaru''s wrist, looking him straight into the eyes, "You are too slow." He said just as blood spurted out of Orochimaru''s mouth, flowing down his chin.

    The skin-shedding technique was no magic. It was a chakra technique and as such, needed preparation from its caster. It just so happened that Hashirama was much faster than Orochimaru''s reaction time that Orochimaru did not manage to use his life-saving technique before the blownded.

    As the light was leaving Orochimaru''s eyes and his eyelids started to drop, hemented, ''I guess I will have to use my contingency measures. How... unfortunate.''

    His soul left his body just as Hashirama sidestepped, letting it fall down onto the ground.

    Outside of the arena, Tsunade watched the exchange and she had to admit, her grandfather was strong. No wonder people called him a legend.

    She also relished Sarutobi''s utter disbelief and hurt look when the sword entered Orochimaru''s chest. The old monkey did not enjoy seeing his misguided student dying.

    ''Who knows... maybe I will be lucky and this will finally mentally break him enough to stop meddling in the politics of the vige.'' Tsunade wistfully thought, knowing it was just not to be. Sarutobi was getting very close to the ''need to get rid of with my own hands'' category in Tsunade''s books.

    As she contemted these things, she suddenly felt something peculiar and chuckled.

    Orochimaru''s soul did not dissipate as is natural for dead people. Instead, it was being pulled in a certain direction... only to be met with an imprable wall in the form of the sealing barrier.

    ''Heh, the sucker definitely did not think that an anti-spiritual barrier would be a thing.'' Tsunade snorted as she manipted the barrier, causing Orochimaru''s soul to be stuffed into a vial she took out from her pocket.

    She looked at the bluish wispy substance in the vial and cooed, "So you want to be immortal?" Her lips stretched into a massive smile before she giddily added, "You can be my immortal guinea pig, then!"

    Just his luck that Tsunade was in a dire need of somebody she could kill and resurrect as many times as she wanted in order to progress with her current research.

 Chapter 426 Ch426. Ringos Side

    While Tsunade was dealing with Orochimaru and Sarutobi, Ringo faced off A and B who were clearly prepared for this attack.

    ''Cute. They actually spend time nning a strategy against me.'' Ringo thought with an inward chuckle. ''I wonder if the musclehead joined Orochimaru only to have a go at me.''

    It wasn''t a coincidence that B was here, prepared to double-team Ringo with A. Kumo no longer had two bijuu, so having their biggest weapon outside of the borders of their vige, much less their country, was something no Kage would allow. The second B appeared at the gates of Konoha, red rms were instantly ringing in many heads.

    Not that Ringo cared about that particr thing. But it was a nice way of provoking her enemy so...

    "Tell me, Raikage, do you think your vige would survive an attack with your biggest defensive tool out here?" Ringo smirked, clearly addressing B''s presence.

    "Heh, there is no need to worry about that." A dryly chuckled as he was standing up, his senses trained on Ringo. She totally caught him off guard with thest lighting beam attack and he just barely managed to dodge. If she hit his head with that, it would have been game over for him.

    "Yeah! Bro is right, you underestimate Kumo''s might! Kono-yaro, baka-yaro!" Killer B rapped before... "Wheeeee!"

    Both Ringo and A looked at him with dull gazes, resisting their urges to facepalm.

    With a twitching eyebrow, Ringo tried to continue as if she did not just see... that. "I have no idea where such confidencees from." She mirthfullyughed but to A''s ears, it was a cold and ruthless sound full of mockery. "With the vige''s defenses so weakened, some nefarious party might take advantage of the poor defenseless Kumo. Who knows if the next time you visit it will still be under your rule." She smugly stated.

    A was visibly angry at that insinuation but he was doing a great job at keeping himself in line. "Empty words!" He scoffed in response. "You are just trying to rile me up, bitch. We both know Kiri does not have such resources. Especially not when their Kage is away."

    Despite the insult, the smirk did not fall from Ringo''s face. "Maybe I am just spouting hot air to provoke you, or maybe I am not and your vige is indeed under siege as we speak. Does it even matter?" She licked her lips, knowing full well the second option was the correct answer. Not that she was obliged to tell Raikage that. "You are here to kill me. Give it your best shot."

    It has to be said, Ringo did hold a grudge for her defeat at A''s hands when she first fought him. It was humiliating and Rei had to save her which only increased her embarrassment. Not to mention her body was an utter wreck afterward.

    And as a responsible Mizukage, she naturally had to think of her reputation and return such humiliation in full.

    ''Sigh. Being Kage is troublesome.'' Ringo thought. ''But the asional violence is sure making up for the dull parts!'' With that, a de appeared in her right hand,ing out of a storage seal tattooed on her wrist.

    When A saw the de, his eyes shook. "Are you mocking me?" He gritted his teeth.

    The sword was a totally normal katana, not even made of chakra metal. It might as well be a wooden stick in front of someone like Raikage. Ringo intending to use it against him was clearly a very deep insult to his pride.

    Ringo did not reply. She just smiled and... charged at both B and A.

    After all, there was no need to give them more time to prepare by talking to them. As if Raikage really cared if she faced him with an iron katana or not. He was a ninja and in collective ninja books, anything that made the opponent easier to kill was an advantage. There was no way A wouldin about the katana Ringo was using if he didn''t need to stall for time.

    Ringo''s first sh was a wide arc aimed at both A and B since they stood quite close to each other. It was no wonder they both dodged it, but Ringo''s aim was mostly to separate them, which she aplished. A jumped back to the right while B to the left.<sub> </sub>

    They didn''t manage to evennd and Ringo already spun on her heel before chasing after B, brandishing her sword with considerable force.

    When A saw that, he inwardly cursed. Ringo clearly would not give them enough time to prepare abo attack. She was also too strong to fight alone so he instantly leaped towards B, managing to spark his Lightning Chakra Armor back into existence from sheer desperation.

    In the meantime, B whipped out one of his swords and blocked Ringo''s sh... only to realize he severely underestimated the petite woman''s strength as his body was sent sliding back on the ground while his entire arm vibrated from the impact.

    While B was wrestling with the basics of physics, Ringo half-turned around, pointing at A who was halfway through the distance towards her and B, his face showing iron-d determination as lightning danced around his body.

    "Kirin!" Ringo intoned and lightning suddenly fell from the clear sky at invisible speeds, right on top of the charging A, stunning him into a halt.

    Ringo''s Kirin was so fast, even Lightning Armor wearing Raikage could not react fast enough to evade it. But for such a speed, potency had to be sacrificed. A was not hurt. His Lightning Armor tanked all of the damage, but Ringo''s goal was aplished.

    Because of the sh of lightning energies right on top of his body, A was left considerably disoriented, giving her a few seconds of ''alone time'' with B.

    Knowing she really had just a bit of time, Ringo didn''t dally and turned back towards B, who was just getting his bnce back, and started waving her sword at him in shes from various sides, forcing him to defend without break.

    The difference between them was apparent from the first look.

    While Kumo taught swordsmanship a lot, they seldom produced known master swordsmen. B was good but he was far from Ringo''s level.

    Finally, his arm could not handle the sword waving at Ringo''s speeds and Ringo managed to smack the sword out of his hand... making B momentarily defenseless. Ringo''s hand snapped forward...

    B was about to enter the bijuu mode, Konoha be damned, since he didn''t have enough time to take out another sword, but Ringo was much faster than he thought and her palmnded on his shoulder.

    Before he could even register what had happened, he poofed out of existence.

    It just so happened that A recovered his wits a few moments prior and witnessed the scene. "B!" He cried out.

    Ringo turned towards him and rolled her eyes. "Don''t worry, he was just sent to a ce where a special opponent is waiting for him. Have no fear. Everything is ording to the n."

    With those words, A''s eyes grew wide as he realized just how prepared his enemies were for this attack. It was them who were supposed to stage an ambush and deal with most threats before they could realize they were being attacked. But apparently, the entire n was a failure from the very start!

    "Now then," Ringo smirked, "we can now fully enjoy some quality one on one time, no?" She said and released her bottled-up killing intent that was umting for over a decade, her smirk bing colder. "I still owe you for messing up my face with that punch all those years ago!"

 Chapter 427 Ch427. Ringo Vs A 1

    Despite being a battle and sword maniac, Ringo was still a woman. Having her face messed up... and especially having Rei see her right after Anded that bone-shattering blow on it... Ringo slightly shuddered in self-pity. Her love saw her when her face was basically turned to a gory mush! She was already not the most womanly girl out there but this made her self-confidence take yet another hit.

    In short, a grudge formed in her heart. It might not have been a grudge strong enough to make her trek into Kumogakure and trash it but it was a grudge nevertheless. Now that she had an opportunity to return it, there was no way she would pass up on it.

    A nervously gulped when he felt the menacing aura all around the petite redhead in front of him but what could he do? There was nothing else for him than to try and fight.

    Their respective Lightning Armors red into existence around bothbatants at the same time, sending screeching and chirping sounds all over the surroundings while cracking the ground under them from the force of their chakra.

    Despite his nervousness, A was an easily riled-up man. Just the fact Ringo did not even deem it necessary to draw out her sword yet, made him feel insulted. The woman totally intended to fight him with just her fists!

    Ringo quickly realized his thought process from the subtle shift in his expression and to push him over the edge, she knowingly grinned at him.

    A''s expression twisted even more as he huffed like a bull, and charged...

    Ringo didn''t move. She simply stood in her spot and waited for A. Thanks to her heightened reflexes and reaction speed, it was a child''s y to react to the quick punch as he appeared in front of her.

    Instead of blocking, a kunai fell into her hand from her sleeve, and with the flick of her wrist, she sent it on its way while imbuing it with her chakra...

    Time as if stopped for A and his pupils dted as he noticed the kunai coated with concentrated lightning chakra razing its path through the air towards his neck from below.

    His punch was almost upon Ringo... and the batshit crazy woman was still looking into his eyes, smiling, not moving even an inch except throwing that kunai.

    ''She... She is testing me!?'' A realized, causing him a big inward disturbance.

    He realized Ringo wanted to see if he would get hit by her attack for the sake ofnding that punch, or if he would abandon his attack in order to dodge. A was fine with being injured. Wounds were a part of his profession but this was something else! Whether his punch or that kunai... it could easily kill an average ninja thrice over! These were not the kind of techniques you just wait to be hit with.

    ''I knew it! She is a total whacko!'' A inwardly screamed while using chakra to allow his momentum to shift as he quickly jumped away from Ringo, barely evading the thrown kunai.

    Ringo''s crimson hair wildly iled in the burst of wind A''s quick movements caused, but the curious smile on her face did not cease.

    "You dodged... that was unexpected." She chuckled and tilted her head as her smile widened, her eyes slightly brightening while A felt ufortable with her looking at him as if she was studying him. "You will have to be faster if you want to hit me like that."

    A prided himself in being one of the fastest ninjas so being told he was too slow was a direct hit to his pride. Snarling, he disappeared in a burst of lightning chakra as he fed more and more of his reserves into his lightning chakra armor.

    Ringo''s eyes slightly widened... and her hand shot up with lightning-fast reflexes, her fingers tightly curling around A''s wrist and stopping his fist an inch from her face. "That''s more like it." She whispered.<sub> </sub>

    A tried to yank his hand away but Ringo''s grip on his wrist was inhumanly tight for a woman of her stature. His sense of danger suddenly wildly red...

    From the perspective of the people outside the Kage Box, the entire Kage Box suddenly exploded with loud screeching and sparks of lightning wildly dancing all around it as a lightning strike fell from the sky once again straight in the middle of the Kage Box with a loud thunderp, deafening those in the arena. For a brief moment, the surroundings were bathed in blinding blue.

    After the attack passed, what was previously the Kage Box, was now mostly rubble and the air was full of dust clouds.

    A coughed, breathing hard and feeling extremely sore all over his body. There would definitely be some bruises on his bodyes tomorrow but he was still whole. That was all that mattered.

    "Heeh~, I guess we are more simr than I thought." Ringo giggled from behind the dust cloud. A turned in the direction of the sound and could only see a dark outline of a person. "You seem like a total musclehead but your head is not totally empty, is it? To think you would stop the brunt of my attack by applying a counter explosion of lightning chakra in my direction... marvelous usage of our chakra nature." Ringo praised in an amused tone.

    The dust in the air slowly cleared as the air breezed through the Kage Box, and A could now see Ringo''s state.

    "Are you mad?" He quietly muttered, barely audibly enough for Ringo to hear.

    Ringo''s clothing was reduced to scraps that barely covered her modesty... only a bra and shorts remained that curiously did not sport any signs of being damaged by the wild lightning chakra. Other clothing of hers was utterly shredded.

    Her well-toned figure would otherwise be mouth-watering for most but right now, her whole body was littered in nasty dark purple bruises. A wondered how the woman could still stand, much less be so carelessly smiling.

    "Am I?" Ringo burst out withughter. "Hmm... you do not realize it? Just luck, then, I guess."

    Ringo was inwardly shocked, to say the least. She thought her opponent finally found the weakness of her counter-move against his lightning armor but... apparently not.

    The thing was... countering worked both ways. The frequencies of lightning simply countered and nullified each other. Ringo just came out on top because she was aware of that fact and could reapply her lightning in an instant. It was so fast that it seemed as if hers was not nullified.

    "No matter." Ringo sighed and flooded her body with Crimson''s chakra from within her, healing her body at a visible pace. ''I was careless. I did not use Senjutsu nor Crimson''s chakra in my Lightning Armor so A was able to counter it.'' She inwardly grimaced. ''Good that neither Konan nor Rei saw it or I would have been grounded.''

    It was invisible outwardly but after her body was healed, Crimson''s chakra seeped into Ringo''s skin and muscles, toughening them considerably as a defensive measure.

    A''s jaw dropped when he saw the bruises on Ringo disappearing one by one, leaving only unblemished skin. He thought he could eventually wear her down and when he saw how damaged she already was, he was on cloud nine but...

    ''What a freak...'' He bitterly thought.

    The win condition has just gotten much harder for him.

 Chapter 428 Ch428. Ringo Vs A 2

    Seeing that A just stood in his ce, staring at her with visible indignation, Ringo frowned.

    "Well? What are you waiting for? Come at me!" She eximed in dissatisfaction. "You wanted revenge enough to drag your entire vige into a war! What are you waiting for!? I stand right in front of you! Come on and attack!"

    Those words were enough to get A out of his stupor and cause his determination to return.

    "Yes, that''s more like it." Ringo whispered when she saw the shift in A''s expression, her tone full of dark glee as her lips widened into an excited smile and her brown eyes gleamed. "Come at me with the intent to kill. Don''t stop now. Our fun is just starting!"

    The two rushed at each other with a burst of speed, appearing in the middle of the Kage Box just a split of a second afterward...

    Ringo was about to catch A''s opening punch with her hand but A, knowing how powerful the deceptively frail woman was, instantly retracted his right arm and instead his left sprang forward, aiming at Ringo''s outstretched hand with the intent to break it.

    In response, Ringo just slightly swayed on her feet, causing A to miss by a slight margin, before she spun on her heel, using the momentum to get her previously outstretched arm away from A''s reach, and also as a driving force behind her uing high kick.

    Knowing what wasing, A raised his arms into a guarding position in front of his chest and caught Ringo''s kick with his forearms as loud thunder-like sound resounded through the surroundings when lightning met lightning. A managed to tank the hit without being pushed back overly much thanks to the fact, he spread the force evenly over the surface of his lightning chakra armor.

    Not even a moment passed, and both A and Ringo disappeared in a burst of speed, separating from each other...

    Only to appear in the exact same spot a split of a secondter, this time Ringo blocking A''s attempt at Lariat with her left hand, sliding on the ground for a few meters due to the kic force of A''s attack.

    Powerful she may be but her frame was still less than half of his. Size mattered...

    Ringo swung her free hand in a follow-up attack, aiming to deliver a gut-wrenching punch into A''s abdomen but A disappeared with a blue sh before her punch couldnd.

    A small frown appeared on Ringo''s lips before she also disappeared from her spot, only for A to appear near it, seemingly punching an air... or rather, the same ce where Ringo''s head was just a moment ago.

    A''s eyes widened, and he promptly disappeared in a speed untrackable by the eyes of a normal human, only for Ringo to appear right above the ce where he stood just a split of a second ago, and deliver a crushing heel kick onto the ground, cracking it throughout half of the Kage Box.

    This kind of exchange continued, bothbatants appearing and disappearing before an attack couldnd.

    asionally, they locked their fists or an attack got blocked when one got slower or quicker and caught up to the other but a decisive blow was nowhere to be seen.

    Because of that, A''s confidence started to slowly increase.

    He could do this! He was matching the mad lunatic blow for blow! All he needed was a good opportunity and he could take her out for good!

    Just the idea of killing the red-haired woman responsible for the death of his fiance filled him with more determination and intent to kill.

    The sh got fiercer and fiercer as shockwaves full of lightning started erupting every time their blows met, which started to be more frequent as time went on. A was getting faster, he could feel it! He was starting to match Ringo''s pace!

    ''I can do this!'' He thought with self-assurance. The woman who faced one on one against a bijuu was not so tough, after all! ''With her death, I will be again a step closer to the greatness of my father!''

    He couldn''t help but get giddy and his chakra showed it. The hum of his lightning armor became more frequent and energetic as A''s battle intent soared and his speed increased yet again.

    Ringo calmly blocked hisst attack, putting her palm on his wrist and redirecting the punch before it could reach her.<sub> </sub>

    She was not channeling too much of her chakra for this fight. Not at all. Instead of brute-forcing it, she simply used technique and reflexes to make sure A''s punches would not reach her body.

    A went ferociously on the offensive, showering Ringo with punch after punch, each more powerful and quicker than thest, going so far as to release lightning strikes with each punch from the sheer speed and concentration of lightning chakra behind them.

    And yet... the crimson-haired woman stood her ground and with minimal movements, always pushed A''s blows away from herself.

    The room around them was no longer recognizable and even the rubble was getting destroyed at an increasing pace as A''s lightning chakra struck wherever Ringo redirected it... which was basically all around her and sometimes even outside of the Kage Box.

    Ringo was actually proud of herself! A might not have noticed yet but she did kill quite a few Konoha invaders by just redirecting A''s lightning strike punches.

    Some of which were Kumo ninjas.

    But when A didn''t notice even the third Kumo ninja getting roasted with a stray shot of his, Ringo started to get a bit annoyed. It was time for the muscle-head to notice.

    Ringo actually found the perfect target for that too!

    Seeing as A''s next punch was quickly approaching, she prepared and a grin appeared on her face, causing A to realize that something was wrong...

    But he was unable to stop his momentum before Ringo already redirected his punch.

    This time, he was fully aware that Ringo had an ulterior motive so he actually checked where his punch was going tond and...

    "Mabu-!" A cried out as he noticed the lightning strike from his punch heading towards the unguarded back of his secretary and lover who was fighting with one of Konoha''s ninjas in the stands of the arena.

    Unfortunately for A, this distraction was enough for Ringo to capitalize, and before he finished Mabui''s name, Ringo''s fist embedded itself into A''s face, breaking his nose and some teeth and snapping his head back before his body caught up with the momentum of the punch and was sent flying a bit back, rolling on the ground until it was stopped by a small part of a wall that was not yet demolished.

    Ringo looked at the downed A and... "That... was so satisfying!" She eximed before she sighed in utter content. "You have no idea how long I wanted to just sucker punch you like that, you bastard." She lightly added just as A started slowly standing up.

    The second Ringo''s eyes met A''s, she could see an unbridled fury in them at her little scheme.

    "Y-, You! Killing my fiance was not enough for you!? Now you need to attack my current lover too!?"

    Ringo raised her eyebrow in amusement at that.

    Well, sucks to be him. They were ninjas and exploiting one''s weaknesses was a significant part of their profession. It wasn''t as if A never did something simr.

    But now that he mentioned it...

    ''That dark-skinned woman is his current lover, huh? I had no idea.'' Ringo thought, her lips twitching in amusement at the coincidence.

    But now that she knew... A n started forming in Ringo''s mind.

    ''Nice of him to inform me.'' She inwardly chuckled.

 Chapter 429 Ch429. Help Or Burden?

    The only reason why A didn''t explode in an impotent rage was that he noticed Samui pushing Mabui out of the trajectory of his deflected attack before she barely managed to evade it herself.

    It was obvious the feat took a lot from the panting Samui. A was actually very bbergasted that she managed to pull it out. She might have been a Kumo jonin but reacting to his top speed was a feat of its own.

    Ringo curiously observed as Samui rescued the dark-skinned secretary of the Raikage, not reacting or trying to intervene at all. She was quite impressed with what she saw and a spark of curiosity was lit in her.

    A saw Ringo''s eyes linger in Mabui''s direction and he didn''t like it at all. A frown appeared on his face. He didn''t like the red-haired bitch''s attention on his lover! Nothing good coulde from that!

    He pushed himself back onto his feet, ignoring the stinging from his nose and mouth, and clenched his fists in anger.

    "I am here you bitch! Where are you looking!" A screamed and charged at the distracted Ringo.

    Ringo used her small stature and ducked under A''s swing, but she couldn''t capitalize on his brief opening because A''s left leg instantly sprang up, attempting to deliver a kick to her gut.

    Ringo disappeared before the kick couldnd and reappeared a few feet away from A, her eyebrows furrowed as she wondered what got his panties in a twist.

    A didn''t even notice as he dashed at Ringo again, cracking the floor underneath him with every step.

    This time, Ringo blocked the punch with her palm and sidestepped the following kick before she sent her own counter-kick which was promptly evaded by A and the two took a distance from each other again.

    Not a split of a secondter, the lightning armor''s around them buzzed as they shed once again, exchanging a blur of attacks before they separated.

    This kind of exchange continued for a few rounds and it would go on for much longer if a distraction didn''t interrupt them.

    As A was about to rush at Ringo for the n-th time, frustrated that he still could not deliver a proper blow at Ringo but still confident because she didn''t hit him either if he didn''t count the earlier punch, he was suddenly stopped in his tracks when his ears recognized a familiar voice.

    "Raikage-sama!/A-sama!" Two female voices eximed from what was previously the entrance to the Kage Box.

    Both A and Ringo turned to the neers, A inwardly scared witless as his senses entered overdrive and zoomed on Ringo''s action, while Ringo had cat-like half-lidded eyes and an amused smile on her lips.

    She was happy they finally showed up.

    In fact, she observed them with her sensory abilities while she fought A and knew they headed in this direction.

    And to be frank, fighting A was getting a bit boring. She weed the distraction.

    One of the two females was Mabui, Raikage''s secretary, while the other was Samui, one of Raikage''s guards.

    Mabui clenched her fists. She seemed eager, maybe even desperate, to leap into the battle in order to help A, and only the fact she was too experienced to let her emotions rule her prevented her from rushing in.

    Samui drew her sword upon seeing Ringo''s attention on them... but her hands visibly trembled. She knew this battle was above her paygrade but sometimes, you simply are not afforded the luxury of picking your fights.

    When Ringo saw how the pitiful girl reacted to a bit of her killing intent... okay, maybe that ''bit'' was a bit too high for your everyday ninja... she was a bit disappointed. But the determination behind those clear blue eyes... now that piqued Ringo''s interest further.

    "You fools! What are you doing here!? Go away!" A loudly shouted, trying to make them take a hint without being too obvious so Ringo would not notice his feelings about the situation.

    He really felt cornered right now.

    Defending himself from Ringo? That much he could do.

    Fighting her while defending his lover? He wasn''t sure about that.<sub> </sub>

    Funnily enough, the thought of defending Samui never crossed his mind. Nobody could really me him for it, though. As grateful as he was for Samui saving Mabui earlier, he didn''t have the leisure to be sure of his ability to protect his loved person so there was no need to contemte his ability to choose the life and death of some unimportant guard in this battle.

    As much as A tried to hide it, Ringo easily picked up on his unease but she did nothing. She simply enjoyed the emotional pressure her proximity to Mabui caused to A.

    "We havee to help you, A-sama." Mabui spoke with conviction.

    It had to be said, not just anyone could be the secretary of a Kage. Mabui was not some random chunin. She was actually one of the best jonins Kumo had to offer so even if she would not necessarily be able to win against Ringo in a fight, she was ready toy down her life in order to help A.

    Samui just nodded in agreement, her eyes not leaving Ringo. She was still slightly trembling but her body and mind were slowly getting used to the killing intent.

    Ringo wondered about that and with a veiled smirk, she was slightly increasing the pressure. Not in a noticeable amount. Just enough that an experienced kunoichi like Samui would not just instantly get used to it while also making sure she would not notice.

    She simply wanted to see how far she could push the girl before she crumbled. It was painfully obvious that from the three Kumo ninjas, the busty blonde was the least experienced.

    Yet, most intriguing for Ringo.

    A didn''t like what he was hearing but there was no time to scream himself hoarse at them. He had a dangerous threat in front of him and even a small slip in his attention could prove fatal. As much as he hated it, there was no other way than to let them stay and fight by his side.

    "Fine." He grumpily spoke, "Mabui, take care of the defense and long-range support, Samui, melee offense with me."

    Of course, giving Mabui the safest job was totally intentional.

    "Cool." Samui muttered, not really expecting any different. Her tone was even and dry with a smidge of emotionlessness but if one really tried, the underlying nervousness could still be heard in the woman''s voice.

    "Are you sure the girl can take the fight? Just look at her, she is trembling from fear." Ringo mockingly remarked while smugly grinning at A.

    "She is a proud Kumo kunoichi! She will do her duty!" A bellowed.

    Ringo opened her mouth in order to deliver another witty remark but she was interrupted as both A and Samui rushed at her.

    They were clearly not interested in talking.

    The first to enter the fight was A, simply because the man was far faster than Samui. He tried to deliver a punch at Ringo''s chest, trying to distract her from Samui''s attack. Just because he put the woman in a very risky position didn''t mean he would not try to help ease the danger to her.

    But A got a nasty surprise the second he engaged Ringo inbat.

    Ringo was no longer interested in ying with A. Instead of humoring him and blocking his hits with pure technique and a bit of lightning chakra, this time she exerted a bit more of her expertise, power, and skill.

    A barely saw as Ringo''s body suddenly elerated beyond his wildest imagination and Ringo''s hand clutched around the wrist of his incredibly fast punching hand.

    His pupils constricted but Ringo was too fast and before he could react, she already spun on her heels, using the momentum to force A''s body off the ground and throwing him away.

    The next thing A knew was that his body was flying through the air... before it was stopped by mming into the wall, crumbling it on impact with a loud crash.

    Unlike Ringo expected, Samui did not stop her attack just because her leader was defeated in one exchange of blows, which only made Ringo more curious about the expressionless blond.

    After her throw of the Raikage, Ringo quickly drew one of her sheathed swords and quickly turned around before blocking a sh from Samui''s katana, sparks flying around as the two des ground against each other.

    Ringo''s lips stretched into a Cheshire grin as she measured the strength behind Samui''s sword, "Don''t disappoint me, Kumo girl." She whispered and that was the only warning Samui got before...

 Chapter 430 Ch430. Bs Sudden Displacement

    While Ringo was amusing herself with A, B found himself in an unfamiliar ce and instantly got on guard. He also tried to disrupt his chakra flow to mitigate any possible illusions but... nothing happened.

    That told him this was not an illusion and he was indeed transported... somewhere.

    This was stirring a strange feeling of deja-vu inside of him, one he didn''t like at all so he decided the situation needed a few good rhymes to alleviate his nervousness.

    "Oi, Hachibi, this feels like the work of the sh, we should prepare for a hard sh, yo!"

    Despite the cheerfulness of his voice, beads of sweat started to appear on his forehead. He wasn''t afraid for himself. He was the mighty Hachibi jinchuuriki and the best rapper under the sun, Killer Bee! Kono yaro, baka yaro!

    No, he was afraid for the safety of his good brotha A. The thought of the Fifth Mizukage being capable of transporting him away with just a touch just like Yellow sh... B didn''t like the sound of that. He was not stupid. Just sometimes brash.

    It was then he heard a soft giggle from behind him and abruptly turned around!

    Only for his darkplexion to drastically pale as he spotted his opponent.

    "Haa~, this is unfair." B dryly said, his shoulders slumping as he even forgot to make a rhyme out of his sentence.

    Mei chuckled and, "Ah, grow a pair." She amusedly finished the rhyme for him with her hand on her hip in apletely rxed way.

    B''s eyes sparkled at that and his uneasinesspletely vanished. He whipped out his personal rhyme book and started writing the rhyme he just heard into it.

    Seeing him, Mei''s eyebrows momentarily furrowed as she wondered what that was about but then her eyes gleamed in the exact same way B''s did when she suddenly had an idea.

    ''Oh, I see! He must really like rhymes as I like making harmless Jutsu!''

    That made sense to her. She heard his peculiar predisposition for rapping but she didn''t expect him to be so driven! If this was the case, he definitely must be as good in his hobby as she was in hers.

    Mei could admire that kind of dedication and patiently waited for B to finish.

    Needless to say, she was supremely d neither Rei nor Konan observed her because letting her opponent have the time to make a proper strategy was the very first thing they had beaten out of her. But apparently, she needed remedial sses for that lesson.

    The sweat on B''s forehead increased. He expected an attack the second he started writing into his heavenly book of knowledge! Everybody got pissed at being ignored and instantly attacked him, giving him the upper hand of deciding how to counter-attack!

    But his opponent didn''t attack this time!

    ''As expected from the first SS-rank kunoichi! She is not falling for my scheme, she knows her stuff to the extreme!''

    ''B, I think you should focus.'' The irked voice of Hachibi resounded through B''s mind.

    ''Right-o, partner!'' B replied and started to devise a battle strategy while pretending to write into his book. As taken off-guard by Mei''s actions as he was, he was also still a ninja and could make use of the opportunity presented to him.

    Of course, the previous rhyme was already written down. He would not let it be forgotten!

    That''s why when half a minuteter he finally put the notebook back in his pocket and looked at Mei... their eyes barely met and red chakra instantly engulfed B as he started turning into Hachibi, releasing an oppressive pressure all around.

    His transformation did not take even three seconds, which was impressive in itself, and at the end of it, there was only a crimson-haired girl facing a huge eight-tailed monster in a grassy clearing surrounded by trees.

    Any other ninja in Mei''s situation would be shitting their pants after being stared at by Hachibi but...

    "Final form right from the start?" Mei asked with a calm smile, cocking her head to the side in interest.<sub> </sub>

    "I am sorry but I can''t hold back. You are a tad bit too strong for that. Let''s roll, Hachibi! Wheee!"

    B wasn''t about to entertain Mei''s childishness. He at the very least recognized this was a dangerous situation for him and acted as such.

    Before Mei could even retort to his statement, she received a point-nk bijuudama straight in her face... or rather, at her position... causing the surroundingnd to tremble from the powerful explosion that engulfed the entire clearing and created a massive crater while ripping multiple trees from the ground alongside their roots before the following shockwaves proceeded to throw them back and crush them into a powder midair.

    The resounding earthquake and big angry red ball of doom caused by the explosion of the bijuudama were heard and seen even in Konoha despite the massive distance between the ce and the vige.

    And then the red ball cracked, causing the heatwave to hit... evaporating everything in a three-kilometer radius, leaving thend barren of all life.

    B waited with abated breath as the dust cloud started setting in the unnatural silence after the explosion.

    Half of him refused to believe an SS-rank ninja would be felled so easily and another half wanted to desperately believe his attack worked.

    His hopes were, however,pletely dashed as a cheerful voice resounded through the area and the wind slightly picked up, revealing Mei patting the soot away from her shoulders.

    "Hum, passable destructive capability." She nodded, still sporting her easy-going smile on her face.

    "I knew it wouldn''t be so simple. This is quite the pickle." B muttered in a disheartened tone under his nose but because of his Hachibi form, his voice could be heard kilometers away.

    Mei giggled at that. "Of course, it won''t, silly! We are just warming up! I always wanted to fight a bijuu but it just had to be that hag who got the first chance." She pouted.

    Her face was so expressive, B almost started pitying her but he caught himself in time, suddenly having an internal turmoil. He wondered if this was some kind of genjutsu supposed to make him sympathize with his enemy but...

    Once again, he didn''t find any trace of foreign chakra in his system.

    ''This woman is weird.'' B thought.

    ''More like touched in the head.'' Hachibi snarkily replied before quietly murmuring Not that you of all people would recognize such a state.''

    ''Huh? You said something, partner?'' B mentally tilted his head.

    ''No, B. Nothing important.'' Hachibi deeply sighed, knowing this was a lost cause. No matter what he said, B would not correct his behavior. He tried. For years. And here they were... ''You better prepare. She is going to attack soon.''

    Realizing the truth behind Hachibi''s statement, B once again focused on the battle where Mei was just finishingining left and right about this or that small detail in her personal feud with Ringo.

    "But have no fear! I finally got permission to fight you from hubby! He even told that hag to help you get to me! Hehehe!" Mei cheerfully chirped, almost bouncing in her spot with shining eyes.

    For some reason, B had a bad premonition that-

    "In my own final form, at that!" Mei added and chakra engulfed her, causing her to transform into a titanic form of nine-tailed of the same color as Mei''s hair.

    Needless to say, both Hachibi and B were stunned speechless, and rooted in their spots at the sight.

    ---

    Author Note:

    Sorry guys, I just needed a small break from Ringo''s plotline since ideas were running a bit dry.

 Chapter 431 Ch431. Testing

    "Don''t disappoint me, Kumo girl." She whispered and that was the only warning Samui got before...

    Ringo intended to go into the offensive for the first time but she was interrupted as a massive explosion rocked the entire vige before an earthquake hit, causing most ninjas to lower their stability center in order to keep standing.

    Many looked towards the ce where the explosion urred, only to see a massive big orange ball.

    And while there were a lot of ninjas that had no idea what caused it, quite a lot of Kumo jonin were aware of Killer B''s ability to transform into Hachibi. There were also a lot of Konoha''s survivors of the Kyuubi attack and they witnessed a few simr balls in the past.

    "Bijuudama..." Mabui muttered, inwardly wondering what could force B to transform and use his most dangerous attack. ''That would exin why he is not here, guarding A-sama as he should.''

    ''So they are already fighting. Hope the pipsqueak is satisfied with this and won''t bother me in the foreseeable future.'' Ringo inwardly mused, looking in the direction where the loud explosion came from.

    Mei could be extremely annoying when she wanted something and that brought Ringo quite the headache before she relented and promised Mei to deliver Hachibi to her.

    Samui was just as surprised as Mabui but she kept her cool and instead of gawking like a civilian, she noticed their opponent''s attention slip from them... a kunai coated in lightning chakra instantly headed in Ringo''s direction.

    s, it was just wishful thinking and Samui inwardly cursed when Ringo, not even deeming to look in the direction of the attack, raised her hand and caught the fast kunai by its handle, not bothered in the least by the intense lightning chakra still crackling around it.

    Ringo looked at the kunai with a raised eyebrow and a pleased smirk. "That... was really cold-hearted of you. To think you would be an honorless swine who attacked people''s backs. As expected from a Kumo ninja." She quipped in a reproachful tone.

    Inwardly though, Ringo snickered. ''Pot calling kettle ck. Almost always works.''

    Samui didn''t reply but from the corner of her eye, Ringo could see the girl did not falter at her words at all. In fact, the girl actually got more on guard. Ringo''s smirk slightly widened in satisfaction before she flicked her wrist and threw the kunai in Mabui''s direction at speeds Samui could not intervene with.

    The blondss tried but before she even registered what was happening, the kunai was already halfway through its path...

    Mabui''s eyes widened and she tried to move out of the path but... her eyes were faster than her body and it was obvious she would not make it.

    When the two women thought there was no chance... blue lightning appeared in front of Mabui just in time to deflect the kunai, revealing the form of A who was angrily frowning and ring at Ringo. "Aren''t you too an honorless swine? Attacking Mabui like this!?" He bellowed.

    "Meh," Ringo casually shrugged. "I saw you preparing tounch an attack at my back. What better way to stop that than to force you to save your lover''s life?"

    A didn''t have a retort to that so he just kept silently ring at Ringo while Mabui was almost hyperventting behind his back,ing to terms with her near brush with death.

    Now she understood why A didn''t want her to interfere. This was not a fight where she had a chance to survive if Ringo wasn''t ying with them. Fortunately, she had A to protect her and was delegated to a long-range support role.

    For a split of a second, a pity for Samui shed through Mabui''s head. The second their opponent decides to get rid of the blonde, there was no chance A could save her. Not when she was supposed to engage the Fifth Mizukage in meleebat.

    But the pity was gone as fast as it came. This was Samui''s role as Raikage''s guard. Her duty was toy down her life for the vige and its leader and never surrender to their enemy.<sub> </sub>

    The fight resumed when A decided to go on the offensive again, this time followed by Samui. A tried to use taijutsu to restrict Ringo''s movements and create an opening but Ringo kept deflecting his blows with casual disregard.

    Especially now that she had her de drawn.

    It was actually A who had to be extremely cautious and careful not to hit the sharp side of the lightning-coated sword because he was fully aware his fist would most likely be split in half if he tried to brute-force it.

    Samui attacked too, not really trying to make use of openings. Instead, she tried to lock des with Ringo and get her attention. She was fully focusing on trying to create an opening for her boss.

    Ringo shed with the girl in delight, always swatting one annoying buzzing fly away beforehand so she wouldn''t be inconvenienced by a sneak attack before she blocked, hacked, or shed at Samui''s sword.

    She always put just a bit more power behind her attack than what she received from the busty blonde, always interrupting Samui''s sword technique midway by unbncing her.

    Whenever A got his bearings back, Ringo increased the power of her attack, causing Samui to backpedal as her sword and entire arm vibrated from the sheer power of the attack they just tanked.

    In the meanwhile, Ringo turned her attention back to A, sidestepping his brash attack, punching him away with her free hand to gain herself a few seconds where she could y with the blonde girl some more.

    As for Mabui''s attacks... Ringo was fully encased in her own Lightning Armor. She didn''t really have to pay attention to the dark-skinned secretary no matter what the woman threw at her. It was visibly frustrating the secretary and most likely made her feel useless but... meh, Ringo didn''t care.

    Turning back to Samui, the woman was already finished with calming her vibrating arm and prepared to go again, her cold blue eyes or stony expression not betraying any emotion at all. There was no frustration at failing her attacks nor any fear at facing an overwhelming foe.

    It really endeared Ringo. She could see her younger self in the woman. Just... a much weaker version that didn''t have the luck to meet Rei.

    Samui tried to use an interesting move where she quickly shed at Ringo, putting only half of her strength behind her shes and depending more on speed... and Ringo humored her, matching her sh for sh, putting only as much power into it as Samui did behind her own shes.

    The swords of the two women blurred, releasing sparks all around every time they briefly met in a sh. Samui tried to angle her shes in various ways, left, right, center, downward, upward, she tried everything in order to get her de past Ringo''s but it was futile.

    The fight went on, Ringo continuing to battle with both A and Ringo, turning the two versus one into two separate one versus one through her sheer skill alone all the while judging Samui''s performance.

    She was not interested in the girl''s current power. Instead, she was measuring her sword techniques and her improvisation. By now, Ringo was reasonably sure she pushed the blond girl to use every sword technique in her repertoire. She also asionally stopped mid-attack, only to redirect her sh and force Samui to improvise to adjust to the sudden unpredictable change.

    Admittedly, she almost killed the busty blonde a few times... but what would be a test without a few close brushes with the afterlife?

    In the end, Ringo liked what she saw. The girl was not as good as Mist''s Swordsmen but she was talented when it came to sword-wielding.

    After her impromptu testing, her decision was only reinforced so...

    "I have decided. You will be my apprentice, Kumo girl!" Ringo eximed with a pleased grin, dropping a staggering bomb at the three Kumo ninjas.

 Chapter 432 Ch432. Persuasion

    Both Samui''s and A''s brains momentarily stopped in their tracks as they heard the outrageous thing Ringo said.

    It took a second but eventually, A reacted, "You think I''d let you take her as an apprentice? Are you mad?" He growled, "I would rather kill her myself than allow something like that!"

    While A was too worked up to notice, Ringo stood directly opposite him and Samui so she saw how Samui slightly flinched at that statement.

    s, one thing that Rei... ahem, pounded... into Ringo''s head quite early in her Kage career was that ninjas were people too. Not just tools.

    Even the most seemingly emotionless and ruthless bastard still had at least some semnce of personal feelings.

    This might not be all that important as most ninjas were raised to ''live for their vige'', but treating her ninjas like humans, at least outwardly, rather than just disposable pieces was better in the long term. Sarutobi Hiruzen certainly showcased it during his long reign.

    It was mind-boggling how popr the old coot was despite being a scheming bastard.

    Ringo smiled when she heard A, deciding to capitalize on the presented opportunity.

    "Look, you overgrown monkey." She dryly rebuked. "I am dominating you in one versus two, the dark-skinned bimbo of yours doesn''t even count as a proper obstacle. I think you are not in any position toin. Her unconditional servitude to myself and eptance of the apprenticeship for your miserable life. I reckon that''s quite a good dealpared to the only alternative you have."

    Not for a second did Ringo turn towards Samui during her speech. She waspletely focused on Raikage to hide her intentions.

    It worked too... if how shaken Samui''s eyes seemed was any indication.

    Since she became a Kage, Ringo came a long way from the sword-waving brute she was in the past. Now she actually knew how to manipte people and that was exactly what she was doing right now.

    She did not need to openly persuade the girl. Simply giving her a good reason why she should do what Ringo wanted and making epting her offer seem beneficial while putting a slight doubt in her current position was enough. The rest would either solve by itself or Ringo would be forced to n a kidnapping.

    Eh, both were fine by her but thetter would take much more effort and time. Time she could instead use to do her hobby.

    A didn''t like what was said and it was obvious from how he was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. He wanted nothing but to scream a rebuttal at Ringo but by now, even he realized what she said was true.

    Not that he would give up as, in his opinion, there was still a chance at victory.

    "You are too arrogant, bitch." A menacingly said while ring at Ringo. "She is my kunoichi and you won''t have he-"

    He didn''t manage to finish his sentence because something suddenly hit him, sending him into a wall that promptly crumbled upon impact. Normally, he would have shrugged such a blow like nothing since his lightning armor could soak up a lot of damage but... this time it didn''t work and A took the brunt of the attack with his body, instead of his armor.

    Both Samui''s and Mabui''s couldn''t even see what happened, only registering that A no longer stood in front of them after they heard the crash of the crumbling wall. Their heads whipped towards it and their eyes widened in both bewilderment and fright when they spotted A... with his left leg and both arms broken.

    While Mabui quickly ran towards A and started fussing over him, Samui shakily returned her gaze to Ringo, noticing the red-haired woman relocated back to... the surprisingly untouched seat for Mizukage... and sat down, her eyes excluding the feeling of boredom. The thing that made Samui uneasy, though, was the fact Ringo''s eyes were directed at her.

    "I wasn''t asking, Kumo girl. I was informing you what will happen. You WILL be my apprentice. That''s non-negotiable." Ringo boredly drawled.

    As shaken from seeing her leader being literally one-shotted as Samui was, she quickly gathered herself, putting on an emotionless facade as she coolly asked, "Why me?"

    Ringo chuckled, "Your level-headedness is admirable." She praised. "To be frank with you, I found your instincts and talent for swordsmanship quite good. I''d like to see to what degree you can develop them under my tutge."

    As someone taught by Rei and Konan, Ringo knew the threshold of how far one could go depended on their teacher unless they were monsters like Ringo''s teachers. Sure, Ringo was talented and even if she was self-taught, she would have probably gone quite far. But since she lucked out with her teachers, she reached beyond what she thought possible.

    Bing the Mizukage? She didn''t even dare to dream about that when she was a kid. Shooting for a spot in the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri was a long shot for an orphan like her.

    And yet... here she was. Even if she wasn''t exactly thrilled to get the unwanted position.<sub> </sub>

    Ringo knew Samui could go just as far as her if she was taught by Rei. But Ringo wanted to see how well she could groom that talent of the busty blonde by herself.

    Well... okay. She might have been a bit jealous.

    Konan had that Uchiha girl, Pakura had Temari, Tsunade had the sadistic snake-lover who cussed like a sailor, and even the childish bother called Mei had Yugito who could be counted as her apprentice!

    Ringo was never really interested in passing down her skills to someone. Not before seeing the battle between Karin and Temari, that is.

    Karin might not be officially counted as Konan''s apprentice but the young Uzumaki was taught by her enough to unofficially count.

    And when Ringo saw them fight, she realized... ''There are some serious bragging rights with a strong apprentice!''

    Of course, she has to procure her own pupil! If only to shut Mei up if she ever brought the topic up!

    "I can not ept, Ameyuri-sama." Samui emotionlessly stated, her eyes resigned. "I am Kumo kunoichi."

    Samui was fully prepared to die for those words. In her experience, saying no to someone as powerful as Ringo was never good for your health. In the end, it all came down to personal power and it just so happened that Samui was weaker.

    And while bing Ringo''s apprentice would have made her stronger, she still had a brother in Kumo and...

    "Damn, Kumo is indeed good at instilling loyalty, ain''t it?" Ringo amusedly quipped, causing Samui to blink in surprise that she hadn''t killed her yet for daring to refuse her offer. "And here I thought you would have at least pretended to ept only to stab me in the back at the first opportunity." Ringo sighed in mock-disappointment.

    "I would do that if there was any chance it could have worked." Samui shared her opinion with blunt and brutal honesty.

    "What a pessimistic attitude. You orphan too, eh?" Ringo idly asked,pletely disregarding A and Mabui, fully focusing on Samui.

    A was too injured to continue the fight and even if the bull-headed man refused to give up, she could simply break his remaining limb. No... for now, Ringo wanted to get to know her future apprentice. Even if the said girl had no idea her refusal was silently denied.

    Samui did not answer, she just nodded before continuing to stare at Ringo while inwardly feeling weird. She didn''t like the smug look of the crimson-haired woman. It gave her the impression Ringo already counted her as hers.

    "I reckon your vige also trained orphan girls for the unsavory kind of missions." Ringo gave Samui a knowing once-over, making the blonde woman''s eyes slightly shake. "Don''t be so surprised." Ringo chuckled, "Your attitude and bearings are practically screaming it. Just look at yourself. Miniskirt, showing off your thighs, big cleavage... I could go on." She shrugged, "I would have to be blind to not notice what your early training entailed."

    Samui still stayed silent, notmenting.

    Yes, she was trained to be a honey trap. Yes, she still used most of what she learned in that training. It wasn''t easy to discard the habits she learned when she was a kid.

    "Tell you what... I know how people with your training mentally operate." Ringo said, amusedly smiling at Samui. She knew it was all ''for the vige'' with kids trained in that kind of environment. After all, the very first thing instilled into these orphans was the will to sacrifice themselves for the vige. And that yed well in Ringo''s ploy.

    "You can just take it as doing a service to your vige by bing mine. In exchange, I can promise not to destroy Kumo." Ringo flippantly continued but the aura she gave off was quite menacing.

    Well... promising not to destroy Kumo was not the same as promising not to invade it so all was fine. Wording actually mattered. Who would have thought, huh?

    At any other moment, Samui would rebuke that was impossible but only a nce at the state of A told her Ringo was fully capable of such a feat. Yet, she still remained silent.

    No matter what... she could not ept Ringo''s offer without permission from her Kage. Which she knew would not be happening. Her fate was sealed. She hoped Ringo would get annoyed with her silence and kill her on spot. Quickly and painlessly. That seemed like the best oue for Samui at the moment.

    "Still no? Come on!" Ringo''s eyebrow twitched and her smile became a bit more forced. "Don''t make me kidnap you. You won''t like it, girl."

 Chapter 433 Ch433. Negotiation

    When Ringo saw that Samui was still not inclined to ept, she groaned in annoyance and stood up.

    "Fine!" Ringo grufflyined. "I''ll get you your much-needed permission then."

    Ringo naturally knew what was the problem with the girl. She came from a simr environment and for people like them, betraying their leaders was unthinkable. Simply put, the hidden viges were good at washing them... brains.

    This wasn''t all that bad, however. While Samui saw her stubborn and senseless loyalty as a reason why Ringo would most likely kill her, Ringo saw a massive value in it. All she had to do was to switch whom Samui considers her leader and she would have a loyal minion.

    Ringo moved towards A and Mabui, and Samui wanted to intervene but when Ringo noticed, Samui suddenly froze and her eyes widened in fright as a wave of overpoweringly potent killing intent washed over her.

    "You stay put!" Ringo pointed at Samui and ordered, giving the blonde a meaningful look.

    ''What the hell is this!?'' Samui mentally freaked out, trying to move her body but it refused to budge no matter how much she mentally pushed.

    As much as Samui was resolved to die for her vige leader, the killing intent was too strong and took her byplete surprise, freezing even an experienced jonin like her. It evoked the same reaction a prey has when cornered by a predator it can''t ovee.

    Ringo casually walked towards A and when she was near them, Mabui stood up, cing herself in between A and Ringo with desperate determination shining in her eyes...

    "Move." Ringo spoke in irritation, at the useless action.

    Mabui was clearly shaking in her boots, deeply afraid and unwilling to even look Ringo in the eyes but Ringo had to admit, the woman really did love A. After all, she refused to step out of Ringo''s path.

    Unfortunately, this was not some sappy story where love prevails over all other evil beings that definitely do not feel love because that''s reserved only for the main hero and heroine.

    "I sa-" Ringo started again, this time her tone was pretty forceful, carrying a premonition of what would happen if she was not obeyed.

    Her sentence was, however, interrupted by A who was sitting on the floor, leaning against a small part of a half-demolished wall, "Mabui... let her through."

    From his tone, it was obvious the man knew the battle was over but his reluctance to just give up was obvious.

    ''Stubborn beyond reason.'' Ringo mentally snorted. ''Let''s see how far your stubbornness reaches.''

    When Mabui stepped aside, Ringo smirked at the man with three of his limbs broken. Those were visible injuries but Ringo knew how and where she hit him. At the moment, he should have half of his ribs broken in several ces and his pelvis cracked alongside with a quite nasty concussion.

    It was not enough to kill him but definitely enough to get him out of a fighting condition for a long time.

    "You know what I want. We were speaking loudly enough for you to hear and despite my belief in the stupid cliches and my utmost certainty that yes, you are a muscle-headed idiot, you are also the leader of an entire ninja vige. I reckon you came to your own conclusions upon listening to my talk with Samui." Ringo boredly said.

    "Do you really think I would let you have one of my ninjas?" A spoke in a low voice, his anger and battle intent surging up... yet his body was in no state to fight. In the end, he could only re at Ringo and act tough, "I might have been defeated but I still have my pride as Raikage!"

    The second he finished that sentence, he started coughing blood due to how his body shook from anger. Mabui quickly jumped close to him, concern written all over her face as she gently put her hand glowing with green medical Jutsu on his chest.

    "Careful to not pop a vein, Rai-ka-ge." Ringo yfully teased with a smug smile. "You should not be so aggressive with all those broken ribs in your chest."

    If the way A took a deep breath with an irritated whine to calm his anger down at that remark was any indication, Ringo''s advice was taken to heart. She cheekily smiled with a satisfied nod, causing A to grit his teeth even more, before she put her hands on her hips, her petite form towering over the massive sitting man.

    It made her oddly proud. Normally, she wouldn''t have reached even up to his chest if they stood side by side.

    "As for your pride..." Ringo hummed, "I wonder what is more precious to you. Your pride or that woman''s life." She gestured with her chin towards Mabui who froze before pursing her lips and deciding to focus on treating A''s injuries, pretending she did not hear a thing.

    A scoffed at that, "As if you would let us live." He snarked.

    The situation looked pretty hopeless, in his opinion. There was no snowball chance in hell for Samui and Mabui to beat Ringo and he was out ofmission. It was game over.

    Ringo rolled her eyes at him, "Unlike you, I don''t have some profound grudge against you. If I can profit from letting you live, I will do that. It''s called being responsible and giving priority to benefits over personal vengeance. You know... the stuff someone in your position should be aware of." She couldn''t help but take a jab at him.

    After all, the whole reason why Kumo joined in this invasion was that A held a grudge.<sub> </sub>

    "So? Which is it? Samui''s ownership... er, I mean your permission for her to be my apprentice." Ringo chuckled, "or Mabui''s life? Which girl is more dear to your heart, I wonder?" She teasingly added.

    A gritted his teeth and lowered his head before he quietly spoke, "-ui."

    "What was that?" Ringo leaned closer, her smile widening, "I didn''t hear you well."

    "I said... Mabui." A let out through his gritted teeth, his face flushed red from shame.

    "Oh? You want me to kill Mabui?" Ringo feigned a gasp as she eximed in mock surprise.

    A''s head snapped up before he hastily shouted, "No!"

    "No?" Ringo repeated, tilting her head. "You sure are a confusing man. Thumbs up to the woman who can tolerate you."

    Hearing her, A realized she was just having fun at his expense and his silent rage and shame deepened.

    Inwardly, he swore he would have his revenge one day if she really let him and Mabui leave alive.

    "You really won''t attack Kumo if I relinquish her to you?" A doubtfully asked.

    With this failure of an invasion, A knew he would have to spend several more years rebuilding Kumo''s forces. He also knew how vulnerable his vige would have been.

    That didn''t mean they were weak. Even with this loss, Kumo was still a top powerhouse in the world... or so he thought.

    But as powerful as his vige was, there were monsters like the Fifth Mizukage who could handle most of Kumo''s high-ranking ninjas by herself. A really underestimated her. Now he saw she was on the same level as histe father and only a massive army could wear her down before she could be killed.

    s, Kumo simply could not afford the kind of losses such a thing would require. Not now.

    Having the Mizukage promise not to attack personally was a big boon. A was not afraid of Kirigakure. He believed Kumo could fend off any attack that wasn''t led by the monster in front of him.

    "And what use would Kumo be to me? I only care about my swords." Ringo deadpanned before shrugging. "I personally won''t move a finger for Kumo so do go on. Say the words. We both know what has to be spoken."

    A sighed, turning towards Samui who was looking at him in shock... It made him a bit sorry since the girl was one of his brother''s students... and with a great distaste, he spoke, "Go with her and serve her well. For Kumo''s sake."

    He couldn''t force himself to put it into a longer sentence. It still felt like a shit to throw the woman in the path of a kunai to save his own hide.

    ''For Kumo, my ass.'' Samui coldly thought but outwardly, she just bowed, "As you wish, A-sama."

    She was still somewhat shaken. She would have never imagined being handed to Ringo like this. The A she knew was a prideful man who would rather let her die than hand her ove-

    ''Ah...'' Samui''s mind suddenly halted as she came upon a realization that soured her mood. ''So I now have to watch out for Kumo assassins, don''t I?''

    As a ninja, she was prepared for the unexpected but this turned her whole life upside down. With just that one sentence, whether she epted or not, changed her allegiance without needing her input on the matter.

    "See? That didn''t even hurt!" Ringo happily eximed while turning towards Samui, "I told you that you will be my apprentice, eh?"

    "Yes..." Samui sourly spoke.

    "Yes...?" Ringo expectantly trailed off, giving Samui a look.

    "Yes... Master." Samui relented with a sigh. ''Might as well just go along with it.''

    Just like that, Ringo obtained her first poke-... apprentice. She was already mentally calcting what kind of hellish training she would put the poor Samui through in order for her to catch up to the apprentices of her sister-wives.

 Chapter 434 Ch434. Mei Vs B

    A loud explosion resounded through the surroundings and B in the form of Hachibi was forced to leap to the side, mowing several trees with his body as it unceremoniouslynded on the ground and caused a small earthquake.

    Arger and much more powerful earthquake followed shortly afterward when the attack B had just evaded reached its final stage and released thest and most powerful st of energy as it ceased to exist.

    The resounding shockwave was powerful enough to push even Hachibi''s massive form a few tens of meters, creating arge trench in its wake. Needless to say, if the force of the shockwave could push even Hachibi, the nearby trees and nature had no chance. The final result was arge crater with no semnce of greenery anywhere in it.

    "You are quite nimble for an octopus crossed with a bull!" Mei, in the form of her bijuu, Auburn, cheerfully but loudly eximed. Unfortunately for the local fauna, her booming chakra-enhanced voice generated another shockwave that erased everything living in a two hundred-meter radius around her. Not that Mei noticed.

    "Do it again!" She childishly ordered before starting to charge another attack.

    Hachibi''s eyes widened as he saw the insane woman in front of him charging another attack simr to a bijuudama, yet so very different. A red ball simr to magma appeared in front of Auburn''s maw, growingrger by the second and angrily pulsing as if whatever was inside wanted to break free...

    Hachibi barely managed to propel himself away with his tentacles, before the ball shot from Auburn''s maw and as if teleported to the ce where he was just a moment ago.

    For a second, the ballpressed... before exploding outward, releasing yet another loud explosion followed by shockwave after shockwave, leaving another deep crater in its wake once it finally ceased to exist.

    Mei cheered, finding the way Hachibi moved around with its tentacles very funny.

    He was just so fast! It was exciting! She just wanted to see it aga-

    B and Hachibi saw the gleam in Auburn''s eyes and before they even registered it, they were already charging a bijuudama in Mei''s and Auburn''s direction.

    Subconsciously, they both realized that unless they attack, Mei would just continue shooting these balls of doom at them because she seemed to have a lot of fun doing so.

    The bijuudama shot towards Auburn and Hachibi-d B wondered why his opponent didn''t charge a counter-attack... before Auburn just casually pped the flying bijuudama away with her paw, causing the eight-tailed jinchuuriki to gape at her.

    The deflected bijuudama flew through the air before it impacted a ce a few hundred meters from Mei and B, generating another earthquake.

    This finally woke B up from his bewilderment, only to notice that Hachibi took over for a second... perks of being so in tune with the beast... and he was already in the middle of changing position and charging another bijuudama at Auburn-d Mei.

    ''Spacing out here can get us killed B.'' Hachibi mentally said and B seriously nodded.

    ''She is too strong! We need to go more bonk-bonk!'' B rapped, but his voice didn''t hold his usual uncaring ''my-pace'' tone.

    Mei raised her eyebrow when she saw her opponent trying out yet another bijuudama.

    Too curious about her opponent''s n, she didn''t counter-attack or even move from her spot. She only stood her ground, deflecting the bijuudama once more.

    This time, however, she didn''t even manage to pull a smug look at her opponent before her eyebrows raised as she noticed another bijuudama already flying at her.

    Auburn quickly swished one of her tails, smashing it against the bijuudama and sending it flying away to the distance as if it was just a ball.

    Not a second passed, and another bijuudama already flew at her.

    Auburn deflected that one in a simr manner.

    And then the next one.

    And the next one.

    And another one...

    Hachibi was charging and shooting bijuudamas and shooting them at Auburn like a machine gun, bbergasting even B.

    Despite their good rtionship, B never gave Hachibi the freedom of just taking over and Hachibi never did it on his own. This was a special situation where B knew he stood no chance so he let Hachibi be in charge.

    He could have never imagined Hachibi was capable of... that.

    Just one bijuudama could level most of a hidden vige with the ground and he could shoot them as often and as quickly as a jonin could throw a kunai?

    B couldn''t help but gain new-founded respect for the Third Raikage who faced the bijuu without getting even a scratch in return.<sub> </sub>

    While B was having his enlightenment, Auburn was flicking her tails left and right, decimating the surrounding country with deflected bijuudamas, not letting even one hit her.

    But it was getting a bit annoying and both Auburn and Mei decided to cut this short. Pulling one of her tails away from the defensive, they both focused and started mixing their chakra, creating a seemingly solidified ball of misty substance that visibly boiled.

    This was one of Mei''s specials.

    ''Time to have a steamed takoyaki!'' Mei inwardly grinned as she threw the ball forward with Auburn''s tail.

    Hachibi was too preupied with trying to overpower his enemy with a sheer amount of bijuudamas to notice and that made him react toote to the misty boiling ball that flew at him.

    The ball impacted thetest bijuudama Hachibi was charging, setting both itself and the bijuudama off right in front of Hachibi''s mouth. The Eight-Tails didn''t even manage to widen its eyes before it was engulfed by a short-lived explosion that was smothered by the boiling mist that wrapped around it and startedpressing itself.

    The world finally grew quiet, no more booming explosions from deflected bijuudamas, nor one earthquake after another guing thends... the only indication it even urred was the totally destroyed country all around. The only semnce of what was previously forest were a few remains of broken trees among the literal sea of deep craters.

    When the mist finally dispersed, it revealed exactly what Mei expected. A steamed form of Hachibi. His skin was brown, his body was somewhat gaunt, and smoke was rising from it as even thest bits of water molecules were being evaporated directly from its body due to the extreme heat.

    This boiling misty ball was Mei''s first sessful attempt at creating a non-world-destroying Jutsu with her own brand of Jutsu creation. Yes, it left her opponent a smoked husk even if it was a bijuu... but Mei thought it was a resounding sess! She finally managed to tone down the damage of her self-made Jutsus to a manageable level! They no longer erased continents, now they only erased bijuu.

    Before she could celebrate, Mei looked to the side and frowned.

    "Do you really think you can escape me like that?" Auburn tilted its head.

    No reply came for a few seconds, making Mei seem as if she was a lunatic talking to herself but then...

    A small part of a cut-off tentacle, buried deep in one of the craters, stirred, its owner knowing he was found out. With a dejected sigh, Hachibi pushed his chakra into the tentacle, and instantly, his body regrew to its former glory as the smoked husk nearby crumbled down.

    "Concentrating all of your chakra into a small part of yourself and then regrow your physical manifestation out of it... I guess you really are just a massive hulk of sentient chakra, aren''t you?" Mei spoke as she observed what just happened in front of her.

    The way Hachibi just regrew itself was mightily impressive in her opinion and most importantly, gave her new exciting ideas!

    Hachibi scowled at her. It knew getting alive out of here was basically impossible. But its pride would not let him just give up. Moreover, he did have a few words for her!

    "Are you mad!? Do you want to destroy Konoha? We are not that far away from there!" Hachibi bellowed.

    It was a long shot but just maybe this would stop her?

    "Ah, don''t worry. My hubby gave me a barrier and I activated it when I turned into Auburn. Only our first attack could have been felt over there!"

    Apparently not...

    Hachibi dejectedly sighed. ''Sorry B. I think this is it for us.''

    Well, it was it for B. Hachibi knew he would not stay dead for long. But still... he liked B and it was a bit disheartening to know the man would die here.

    Before B could react, Mei suddenly groaned, attracting both Hachibi''s and B''s attention.

    "Muu~, that old sword maniac is finished with your brother." Mei poutily said, causing B to stiffen at her words. Not paying it any attention, Mei carelessly continued, "She just has to ruin my fun! Couldn''t she prolong his suffering a bit so I can enjoy myself ying with you? Stupid, stupid, stupid Ringo!" Sheined and repeatedly stomped her leg on the ground, most likely forgetting she was in the form of Auburn so with every stomp, the ground shook.

    Much to Hachibi''s relief, Mei actually started shrinking, taking on her human form.

    As careless as that was, Hachibi had no delusion he could win against her and forced B''s body to revert back to its human form by draining his chakra from it. The red-head did not seem like she would kill B anymore so...

    ''Meh.'' Hachibi shrugged and left B to the wolves before retreating back to his seal.

    B could only uneasily look at Mei in front of him with utter shock, his mind still in the process of registering the fact his partner has just ended his transformation and left him alone to face...

    "What are you doing! Your brother made a deal with Ringo. Don''t stand and gape at me like an idiot! Come on, we are returning to Konoha." Mei huffed before she turned around and casually strolled through the destroyedndscape in the direction of Konoha.

    B... was left speechless. ''What the heck just happened?''

 Chapter 435 Ch435. Pakura And Onoki - Banter

    While Mei was dealing with B and Ringo was in the process of plummeting A while getting a new apprentice, Pakura faced off against the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki.

    Though, to be honest, they were not really fighting, but chatting instead. After all, Onoki''s back did get a little cracked up when Pakura counter-attacked his sneak attack.

    The old midget had problems standing straight, much less fighting, and Pakura was juicing the situation for every possible nugget of humiliation she could get out of it.

    She even sat at a nearby chair, giving Onoki a provoking look to which he scowled but whenever he wanted to attack, his back would once again remind him why abruptly moving was a bad thing.

    Sure, he was a ninja and he could bear the pain but it was in no way pleasant.

    So, since his opponent was giving him the opportunity to recover, Onoki took it and didn''t progress the fight, even if it meant soaking up some humiliation in the process.

    "Look at that. The proud and mighty shit-flinger of Iwa kneeling in front of me, the Kazekage." Pakura teasingly quipped, leaning her cheek onto her palm as she started to support her head with her arm in a show of boredom. "What would your subordinates think if they saw you now, I wonder?"

    Onoki''s eyes narrowed in contempt, "They would be proud I stand tall in front of you despite my injury!"

    Pakura''s eyebrows rose at that before she snorted as she inclined her head down to properly see him, "Stand tall, eh?"

    "Shut up!" Onoki''s cheeks reddened a bit when he realized he might not have used the bestparison. ''This bitch is totally looking down on me!'' He gritted his teeth.

    "Would you mind telling me why exactly you went along with the invasion of that brainless retard and pale pedophile freak?" Pakura drawled, "I know you are smarter than that, Onoki. Why join those social rejects? Or is it just you wanting to y with the cool kids?"

    Onoki decided to ignore the jab at his appearance but the re he directed at her only intensified, "As a fellow leader, you should know well I can''t just ignore Konoha growing stronger." He grumbled. "What I don''t understand is why you allow it to happen! Aren''t you afraid of them breaking the shaky alliance between you and invading Suna? You know well that the best alliance between our kind doesn''t mean shit in front of power!"

    Pakura revealed a small nostalgic smile at his heated reasoning. He wasn''t wrong. He was definitely not wrong. Hidden viges did not havesting alliances. Whenever one signed an alliance with another, the countdown to one of them being eventually betrayed started.

    That... wasmon sense.

    s, it was also a thing of the past. Now that Rei''s wives were holding their respective viges in a firm and unshakable grip...

    The betrayal would not ur simply because, unlike the previous leaders, the viges were not the priority for them.

    Yes, Pakura loved Suna and was doing her best to make it a better, stronger ce. But in the end, the thing dearest to her heart was Rei and if he wanted her to abandon Suna, she would have done so.

    Reluctantly and with profound sadness... but she wouldply and return back to his side, sulking for a few weeks before she would get over it and be happy with her life.

    "Betrayal, huh?" Pakura thoughtfully spoke, "You do know my past, don''t you?" She didn''t let him answer and continued, "You must know. I am a fellow Kage so investigating my origins and story is something nopetent Kage would omit."

    "Nukenin bing a Kage. Yes, it is quite disgusting." Onoki sneered, inwardly happy that his back was starting to hurt less. ''Just a bit more and I will be able to fight without being handicapped.''<sub> </sub>

    Naturally, he was a ninja and since he knew he had back problems, he did learn a bit of medical ninjutsu to help himself with it.

    "I was never a nukenin." Pakura grumbled, really annoyed. "I was dered dead. There is a difference, you twat."

    Was it so hard to get their facts straight? She was never designated as such! Whoever started that ridiculous rumor... once she got her hands on them, they could look forward to hellish torture.

    Onoki smirked. Of course, he knew that. But he also knew the woman in front of him hated being called nukenin. Still...

    "Being away from the vige for years and serving some unknown nobody as his slut instead of your vige." Onoki alluded to the man who appeared in Suna alongside Pakura when she fought the previous Kazekage.

    Onoki indeed ordered an extensive information gathering on Pakura when she became the Kazekage out of nowhere and boy did he learn things. Pakura had a husband who was not from Suna. Some kind of unrecognizable nobody who was reported to not even be a ninja and seldom appeared outside of their house. This was the height of shamelessness!

    The woman had a unique bloodline and if the previous Kage was not a fearful idiot, he would have never ordered her on a suicide mission. Her children would have been something that could really strengthen the vige. If she had them with another strong ninja, their potential would have been incredible. s, she married a civilian. As a Kage, she failed in Onoki''s eyes.

    He wouldn''t care if she had a harem of men made from her best ninjas. He wouldn''t care if she included her civilian boy-toy into it... but not breeding with powerful shinobi that can give birth to very talented children when she had such an amazing bloodline was basically a betrayal to her own vige.

    Onoki continued his statement, "Now that pretty much screams nukenin for me. The only reason you were not dered as such when the Kazekage saw you are alive was that you had the support of the Daimyo."

    Pakura wanted to rip the rude old man to shreds for what he just said. Not because he insulted her. That was fine. She didn''t mind that.

    But insulting Rei... even if he had no idea about who he was and what kind of strength he possessed... that was above Pakura''s tolerance.

    Fortunately for Onoki, Pakura had a n and she loathed to derail from those. Hence, the only show of how much the insult affected her was a slight pursing of her lips in displeasure. Entirely too small of a reaction to bring Onoki any kind of satisfaction from provoking her.

    It inwardly riled him up that his insults did not evoke any sort of angry reaction... but it was expected. Pakura was a Kage, after all. Still, his back was now almost painless and he deemed himself in a good condition to fight.

    That''s why... "Heh, are you gonna just sit there while I insult the male sex toy you brought from your gallivanting across the Elemental Nations while your vige thought you dead and had economically a hard time?"

    Well, despite Pakura''s small reaction, there was no reason to not re-use the insult, in Onoki''s opinion. In the end, it did produce some kind of reaction from her.

    Pakura raised an eyebrow at his tant provocation and smirked. "Me? Fight you?" She chuckled with a lot of condescension in her tone, "I see you must have some kind of misunderstanding. That would have been overkill. Instead of that, your opponent will be-"

    Pakura''s speech was interrupted as Temarinded nearby and knelt down, "Lady Pakura, you called?"

    "Ah, yes, Temari," Pakura smiled while Onoki couldn''t help but gape at the audacity of the woman who intended to pit her student, a genin, against him, a Kage. Not affected by the bewilderment of Tsuchikage, Pakura continued, "I found a new dummy for you."

    Temari turned towards Onoki and her teal-colored eyes gleamed, "No idea if he will be any good for testing but he does seem kind of dumb."

 Chapter 436 Ch436. Protective Badges

    When the attack started, Rei and Konan were in the VIP area with several foreign Daimyos. Neither of which were affected by the sleep-inducing illusions because of the protective seals around that area.

    Despite that, the second the illusion was unleashed, all chaos broke loose.

    Guards of the respective Daimyos jumped towards them, some in an attempt to protect them... but some had malicious intentions.

    The problem was, neither their employers nor their colleagues noticed.

    Nevertheless, Rei''s intent-based seals picked it up and promptly terminated them. Each of those who wished harm upon a Daimyo was either engulfed in searing hot crimson mes or torn to shreds by incredibly sharp paper strips.

    While Rei''s seals were subtle enough to not give away who the attacker was, the same could not be said about Konan''s attack and the stupefied Daimyos only saw one of the VIPs killing their guards. It wasn''t hard for them toe to their own conclusions.

    The loyal guards around them, those that were not killed, were also wary, only making a protective circle around their charges, but their eyes betrayed they were aware they were no match for Konan from what they had just seen.

    "Wha-!?" One of the dumber dignitaries eximed in shock just as thest body of the now-dead guards dropped onto the ground. He crossly looked at Rei and Konan and asked, "Why did you kill my guards!?"

    Obviously, the other Daimyos were curious about that too but they were much smarter than to bother somebody who could kill them with just a casual thought. Most of them actually realized their ninja guards were no match for these two representatives of the Uzumaki n.

    ''Earth Daimyo''s representative, huh? Prideful and dumb as a rock. That fits.'' Rei idly thought.

    While the Earth Daimyo and the Lightning Daimyo did not show up, they still had their representatives here. That was a must to uphold a certain image of dignity.

    Reizily pointed at the badge every guest was distributed upon entering Konoha, "I am a seal master and this has intent-based seals on it." He drawled, letting out just enough information to be taken seriously without giving away that it was him who created these seals. "Those dead guards wanted to attack you and most likely take you as hostages, that''s why we prevented that. You are wee and Uzushio would ept the mary remuneration for saving your lives at ater time. We thank you very much."

    While Rei''s voice was bored, his eyes were sparkling with mirth. It wasn''t every day one could be rude to so many Daimyos and actually have them be thankful for it.

    "Intent-based seals?" The Lightning Daimyo''s representative asked, probably thinking he was quiet enough but the whole room heard him, causing them to look at him. When he noticed, his cheeks slightly reddened as he turned his head to the side.

    Rei smirked. The bastard clearly knew about the invasion. That''s why he was surprised. After all, with these intent-based seals, the hostiles should theoretically not even be able to cross the border of the vige without Konoha knowing that something was fishy.

    His brain was most likely just now realizing the implications.

    Looking at the Earth Daimyo''s representative, Rei realized that this guy was not informed by Onoki about what would happen. Well, it was probably for the best.

    But Rei was not the only one who was good at observing others.

    "You bastard, you knew!" A voice resounded through the room, causing others to turn towards it only to see the Fire Daimyo ring at the Lightning Daimyo''s representative with clear hostility and anger.

    If there was not a circle made of guards around the Lightning Daimyo''s representative, the Fire Daimyo would most likely already initiated a fistfight or something. Or so his twisted expression was telling.

    "We did know." The Lightning Daimyo''s representative surprisingly confessed as he sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Unlike you, Kumo is more militaristic and independent from our Daimyo''s rule. I was informed about the invasion to dodge any sort of unpleasantness but I was also told our Daimyo was not given any chance to forbid it." He tiredly shrugged in a ''what can you do'' way.<sub> </sub>

    That earned him and the Lightning Daimyo the sympathy of most of the Daimyos because they were experiencing something simr. Keeping the hidden viges in control was really hard for most of them. Only people like the Fire Daimyo, the Earth Daimyo, and the Wind Daimyo were in a fairlyfortable spot when it concerned their hidden viges.

    Fire Daimyo officially didn''t have one since Tsunade became the Daimyo herself so his worries in this matter were nonexistent.

    Wind Daimyo couldn''t reallyin because Pakura did her duties superbly and he enjoyed an amicable rtionship with her so she didn''t try to screw him over every little detail like the previous Kazekage.

    As for the Earth Daimyo... he wouldn''t have been bothered if he was present because he would not have been told anything anyway. Onoki held a tight grip on the control over his vige.

    The Fire Daimyo was not satisfied with the answer of the Lightning Daimyo''s representative but he knew there was nothing he could do. With a huff, he turned towards Rei and in a polite voice, he asked, "What about Konoha civilians? Do you know if they are safe? What about the foreign traders? It would be really bad for Konoha if something happened to them."

    Rei blinked when he heard that. He didn''t expect the Fire Daimyo to be concerned about Konoha''s safety.

    ''The friendship between him and Tsunade must have been good if the man was so concerned for her people.'' Rei inwardly hummed.

    Yes, he saw the man was on good terms with Tsunade and thought her to be a friend but that could have been easily faked by someone who was a politician for his whole life.

    Rei shrugged, "The badges also contain protective seals and paralyzation form. Everybody is safe except those with hostile intent to Konoha and its residents. Those can be paralyzed anytime."

    Of course, Rei would not reveal that stronger ninjas could counter the paralyzation form with the intensity of their chakra. In the end that didn''t matter.

    "Then... why are the attackers not paralyzed yet?" The Fire Daimyo confusedly asked, looking outside the VIP area and seeing fighting going on everywhere.

    Kumo, Iwa, and Sound ninjas were fighting against Konoha ninjas that were asionally supported by Suna, Uzumaki, or Kiri ninjas. It was a mess, to be honest.

    "Look closer. No civilian is getting injured during those fights. Moreover, nobody on ''our'' side is getting lethally or permanently injured." Rei spoke, waiting until the Daimyos and their guards took a really careful and long look at what was really happening under the initial seemingly messy fighting that was going on in the arena, and when he saw their eyes gain a semnce of recognition, he continued. "In short, this is a good training exercise."

    The Daimyos were bbergasted when they heard that. The Fire one gaped like a fish, the Wind one didn''t care and sat down on his chair before he started to enjoy the food again, and the Lightning Daimyo''s representative grimaced.

    His mumbling was quiet but Rei''s hearing sense was sharp enough to hear a muffled and discontent, "I asked A not to do it."

    Obviously, the word of a diplomat would not sway a Kage. That was wishful thinking. But at least the guy tried.

    "The Konoha Daimyo and Hokage really allowed their own vige to be a battle zone just for a training exercise?" The Earth Daimyo''s representative spoke in bewilderment, "That''s... insane!"

    Rei blinked in shock at that. That was a pretty point-on description of how this would seem for somebody who didn''t know all the details.

    ''Huh? Guess the Earth guy is not as dumb as he looks!''

 Chapter 437 Ch437. Fanfictions?

    Rei wasn''t interested in talking more with the Daimyos. He definitely was not gonna argue with them if this n was stupid or not. They will see for themselves once everything is said and done.

    After all, he already got a report through the telepathic connection he had with Kaguya that the invasion of Kumo and Iwa had already started.

    Stupid? Pfft.

    Nobody in Konoha was in any real danger. Rei was hundred percent sure of that. He had that much faith in his sealing skills. And in exchange for roughing up Konoha a bit, thest two major hidden viges not under his rule would be suppressed enough to never be a problem again. All that while everybody was fixated on what was going on in Konoha.

    It was a nice strategic sleight of hand and if he didn''t have the two biggest tradingpanies, Konan''s perfect spying, many interesting seals that could conceal loads of important things, and thorough knowledge of how the informationwork of hidden viges worked, it would have never been possible to aplish.

    The only Daimyo he would not mind speaking with was the Fire one, and even that was because he seemed genuine in his appreciation of the friendship between him and Tsunade. While the Wind one had a simr rtionship with Pakura... Rei couldn''t find a guy with over fifty consorts and past desire for one of his women likable.

    Call it pettiness if you will but...

    Rei was barely managing to keep his girls happy. How could the dude do fifty!? Life was friggin unfair sometimes!

    And no. He was definitely not pouting, huffing, nor was he cutely scowling no matter what Konan said as they were leaving the room.

    He didn''t see it so it can''t be true. Period.

    "So? What are we gonna do? Any n or aim?" Konan asked, her voice slightly excited while her amber eyes sparkled expectantly as she looked at Rei.

    She might not mind doing paperwork every day but she wouldn''t say no to more... exciting ninja stuff.

    Not even causing a massacre seemed all that bad after a few years of ''desk duty''. No wonder every Kage was a murderous bastard.

    Rei questioningly raised his eyebrow at her, "How would youe to that conclusion? We are just tourists here." He innocently tilted his head, making Konan snort augh at his answer.

    "Well, you usually have one of those during chaotic times like these." Konan offhandedly remarked after she stopped her briefughing. Her tone suddenly flipped back to an excited one, "Remember how we first met Pakura? The entire Sunagakure could not calmly sleep for at least a month afterward! And how much chaos we caused when we were going around as Yozora, getting the samples of the bijuu chakra?" A content and nostalgic smile appeared on Konan''s lips, "We plunged the entire Elemental Nations into chaos and made them chase ghosts so we could calmly focus on building up our hidden vige. Ah, fun times."

    Rei''s lips twitched at that. While true, it was not his aim at that time. To bepletely honest, causing chaos was fun. That''s why he did it. Not because of some scheme with so many twists even Orochimaru with his special predisposition would not be able to wrap his head around it.

    "Now that you mention it, we really do thrive during the chaos, don''t we?" Rei idly spoke with an awkward smile. "But no. There is nothing to do in Konoha. No foe that would require our attention, no vault worth our time to steal from, and no person worthy to be kidnapped." He sighed and looked towards the horizon, seeing Konoha in all of its beauty, even if it was marred by lots of fighting on the streets and several houses burning.

    ''No need for such things as we already own this vige.'' Rei added in his head as he frowned, ''But damn if this n won''t cause the need for a lot of costly repairs. I wonder who will pay for that.'' His eyes briefly wandered in Konan''s direction as he knew Tsunade was too stingy to use her own pocket money.

    After all, there was this thing called work-rted expenses... ''And Konan will not be happy with her for that. Family drama is iing. Oh, joy.'' Rei mused.

    Then again, those were always fun to watch. He would have to remember to make a lot of popcorn. Kaguya was an expensive rabbit to keep and feed. Especially when she was amused. No doubt would she demand some refreshments for the show.

    Unfortunately for Rei, she learned the invincible puppy-dog eye technique and it worked damn well with her Byakugan eyes. Evil thing, that.

    ''And she just had to get interested in seduction techniques on top of picking Mei as her teacher. Talk about a recipe for a disaster.'' Rei''s awkward smile became a bit forced, ''At least I have the mental connection with her and can be certain she would only try to practice those techniques on me. I guess that''s a plus.''

    The men of Elemental Nations should thank him for that. Kaguya would sooner crush them to death in irritation than woo them.

    ''Now that''s a funny mental picture. If she was not mine I would definitely want to see that.'' Rei amusedly thought.

    "I guess, we suffer from the exact same thing in these fancy fantasy scrolls, don''t we?" Konan giggled. But when she saw Rei had no idea what she was talking about, she decided to exin a bit. It wasn''t weird he didn''t read it. He was a guy. Expecting a sense of art from him would be too much.<sub> </sub>

    "The main characters in these stories usually make themselves so powerful and have so many capable subordinates that in the end, they have nothing to do." Konan exined.

    Rei continued looking at her weirdly, ''Since when does Elemental Nations have fanfiction?'' He inwardly thought in shock.

    ''More importantly, howe I don''t know about it!? So much value for entertainment wasted!'' Rei got excited and was about to ask where she read those stories when...

    "Unfortunately, the fantasy scrolls are just fanciful kiddy scrabblepared to real life." Konan cluelessly continued with a sigh, "It was less interesting than the ounting books of the Biri-Biripany."

    "You meant to use them as an excuse to ck off while still appearing like you''re working." Rei deadpanned, knowing that technique from his past life. Having a book in front of you helped make you seem busy as long as people could not discover what exactly that book is.

    Konan slightly blushed and turned her head away, "I have no idea what you are talking about. You must be mistaken. My work ethics are nothing but diligence incarnate. How could you use me of cking off, I would never know." She huffed but Rei could clearly see the twitch of her lips.

    She was totally lying.

    Rei sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration, "Just tell me this..." He hopefully pleaded in a quiet tone, "were those stories really that bad you rather did your work than read them?"

    An awkward silence spread between them, and the only noise interrupting it wasing from all the fighting around them.

    Rei was anxious for the answer. Getting entertainment from books was really hard for the current him. The ninja life spoiled most of the local fantasy genre because, in a way, he lived in a fantasy book. There was no reason to read about heroes with special abilities when you were a killer with special abilities.

    Just... boring.

    But fanfictions? That could actually be a bit interesting, no? These tended to go beyondmon sense even if it meant sounding dumb as heck!

    That''s why he hoped for a no from Konan but fate is never really kind.

    "Yes." Konan delivered the final judgment and Rei instantly knew he would not enjoy them.

    If Konan preferred doing her least favorite part of being CEO rather than reading these things, they must have been exceptionally bad. Webnovel level bad. Marvel fanfictions level bad. Or worse.

    While Rei had already forgotten most of the fanfictions he had read in his past life, he still remembered these references.

    <o>,m It... was just not worth it.</o>

    ---

    Author Note:

    Yeaaah, I am taking a jab at the webnovel fanfictions as ofte.

    Do you have the same problem as me? At the time I wrote this chapter, there seemed to be no good new fanfic. Nothing I could be excited to read about.

    I have a few personal likes but... I simply feel that in the past, there was a bigger variety of interesting storiesing out.

    Sad, really.

 Chapter 438 Ch438. Temari And Konan

    As Rei and Konan walked around without a care, being ignored by every enemy or allied ninja thanks to Rei''s seals, Temari suddenlynded in front of them.

    "Rei!" She lunged forward, engulfing Rei in a hug and making him raise an eyebrow at her.

    Rei briefly nced towards Konan but the woman just covered her mouth and went, "Ufufu," while giving Rei a knowing yet provocative look, ''you are starting to go down a dangerous path, husband.'' Konan teased him through their mental connection, shrewdly looking at Temari. ''They are getting younger and younger by the year.''

    Rei''s eyebrow twitched, ''Hmph, don''t be jealous.'' He sent her the mental picture of him showing her his tongue.

    Konan''s smile widened at that. ''Jealous? Not at all, dear. Some things can be offered only by an experienced woman.'' She lightly said, subtly licking her lips and winking at Rei. ''We both know you would never swap me for a younger model. Simply because there is no younger model better than me.''

    ''Arrogant much?'' Rei quipped with an inward chuckle as he finally returned Temari''s hug, rubbing her back a bit.

    Konan just smugly but in jest replied, ''Not enough.''

    Rei chuckled and inclined his head downward, looking at Temari, "Shouldn''t you be helping Pakura?" He instantly felt the girl in his arms stiffen briefly before she once again rxed.

    ''I guess that answers my question.'' He mused.

    "Lady Pakura ''s fine." Temari reluctantly mumbled and looked up, her eyes full of innocence staring straight into Rei''s amused gaze with conviction. "There is nobody who could pose a threat to her."

    Rei''s lips twitched upwards at that, "And you think I am in danger?" He raised an eyebrow at her in a questioning way. He was really interested in what answer woulde out of her.

    Temari pursed her lips at that, and her eyes wandered around as if trying to find a good answer to Rei''s question. A moment of silence followed since finding an answer to that was clearly harder than Temari thought.

    When Rei was about to think he would not get an answer, Temari suddenly turned back towards him and said, "I am not here to protect you. I am here to be protected by you!"

    She said it with such a straight face that Rei got momentarily speechless while Konan burst outughing at his slightly gaping expression.

    But Temari was not done yet, "See all those wea-, uh... dangerous ninjas around? What could a genin like me do against them? I need my big tough protector!"

    Konan was finding it hard to stopughing at Rei''s misfortune but she decided to add her own salt into the wound, "She got you there, mighty hero."

    Rei closed his eyes and sighed as he rubbed his forehead, "You couldn''t have thought up something less cringe? Or at least not say it in front of Konan? I will be teased for months for this."

    "I know, but..." Temari shuffled a bit in Rei''s arms, a guilty glint shing through her eyes, "it was for the greater good!"

    "What?" Rei furrowed his eyebrows as Temari pulled apart from him and took a few steps back.

    "There. It''s my win. He was totally surprised. I hope you will fulfill your part of the deal." Temari cutely narrowed her eyes at Konan.

    "Sure," Konan offhandedly said, and justpletely ignored Temari as she amusedly watched the realization start to register in Rei''s brain.

    "You already roped her into your schemes to embarrass me?" Rei turned towards Konan with apprehension.

    This was not the first time he experienced something like this. Konan regrly roped his other wives into things like this. Frankly, Rei had a suspicion the woman loved his retaliation. After all, she had a small but well-hidden masochistic streak in her.

    Seeing his expression, Konan giggled, "Well, you know what they say. The younger they start..." She unrepentantly shrugged.

    Konan was too used to him and Rei realized no matter what he said, she wouldn''t care much nor would he be able to make her feel guilty. That''s why he turned towards Temari. "And you went with it?"

    Temari embarrassedly fidgeted under his gaze and rubbed her hands together... but her voice held strong conviction and her eyes were steady and resolved, "The reward was too good to pass."

    "Damn, you really know how to find them." Konan quipped, amused by the fact Temari was so straightforward. She was starting to like the girl more and more.<sub> </sub>

    To be honest, Konan thought the girl would fit right in. Tsunade, Ringo, Mei, Pakura, and Kaguya... none of them were shy or reserved. They were all women who knew what they wanted in life. Now that Konan had a better look at Temari and how she acted, she could see why Rei was interested in her.

    ''So that''s why he doesn''t show any interest in my apprentices.'' Konan inwardly frowned, imagining Izumi and her shy, awkward, and clumsy self...

    Not that Konan didn''t try to help the girl with it. But the end result was simply making Izumi innocently and cluelessly cruel duringbat while her clumsiness outside of it didn''t improve at all.

    Konan was many things, at most of them she could brag to be the best in the world, but a psychologist she was not.

    ''So Rei likes his women more assertive, huh? I guess you learn something new every day.'' Konan inwardly thought. After so many years, she noticed only now. It was wonderful how surprising life could still be.

    To give her credit, these were the easily overlooked things... and then there was Mei.

    Even if it didn''t seem like Mei was assertive, that girl was the most devious and evil of them all. She was so devious, she hadn''t even realized it yet.

    Like... her hobby is creating world-ending Jutsu. Who does that!?

    Then again, she was practically raised by Konan and Rei so... ''I''d better not go down that line of thoughts.'' Konan hummed. ''Our parenting skills are depressing.''

    "What did you even promise her for this?" Rei''s exasperated voice pulled Konan from her thoughts.

    Konan blinked and tried to reorient herself a bit, "Ah, I promised her an uninterrupted week with you." She said, still a bit distracted by random thoughts.

    Rei frowned at that and nced at Temari. "Without asking me first?" His question clearly made Temari a bit nervous but he grabbed her hand to calm her down and show her he wasn''t against spending time with her. It was just that he still had quite a few projects to finish and the sooner he did that, the better.

    "It''s not like you can''t do your stuff during that week. I haven''t promised her anything concerning yourself. If she wants to get you in bed, she will have to seduce you herself." Konan shrugged, "The ''uninterrupted'' part only applies to myself and my sisters." She exined further.

    If it was like that then Rei guessed it was fine. Nothing different from normal for him. He built quite a bit of resistance to seduction attempts over the years. That was the sad consequence of having multiple loving wives all the while enjoying something as time-consuming as fuinjutsu research.

    But still... he was curious. "How will you persuade my other girls to go with this? I don''t think they will be happy about it." He didn''t need a catfight in the house. Nor did he want to deal with pouty Mei or stabby Ringo.

    "Oh, that." Konan deviously smiled. Naturally, she had it all thought out. "I won the bet."

    "The bet?" Rei tilted his head for a bit before a realization struck him. But that shouldn''t be... "But Uzushio did not win the finals." He confusedly stated and Konan smirked.

    "Tsunade is not the only one who can cheat. You remember the seal you made for our bets that locks our choices so they can''t be changed?" She asked and Rei nodded, "I just used the little you managed to pound into me about fuinjutsu to dy the locking mechanism and snuck in another choice of mine right before the seal closed. I chose the finals will be interrupted and nobody would win." She mirthfully giggled, "Not my problem Tsunade imitated my first choice."

    Rei was surprised at her shrewdness but he had to admit, it was fair. It''s not like shepeted against civilians.

    And while Rei was amusedly musing about the reactions of his other wives to the loss they had yet no idea about, Temari seemed to gain a newfound appreciation for Konan. While Lady Pakura would always be first for Temari, Konan seemed really cool too!

    Of course, Konan did notice it and inwardly grinned. After all, it wouldn''t do for a wife of Rei to not look up to her in some way.

    ''All ording to the n.'' She thought in satisfaction.

    ---

    Author Note:

    For those who didn''t understand as it can be a bit confusing, I guess... this happened before Temari was called by Pakura and I will make it clear in the next chapter.

    Another thing... sorry guys, this is more of a slice of life without much action. When I started writing this chapter, I nned to write something filled with action, progress the plot, and all... but in the end, I wrote it like this because I felt like it.

 Chapter 439 Ch439. Temari Vs Onoki 1

    As the trio of Rei, Konan, and Temari, who once again, much to Konan''s amusement, tried to meld with Rei''s side in an affectionate hug, enjoyed their casual peaceful moment while chatting about unimportant things while ignoring what was going on around them, Temari suddenly stiffened... and pouted.

    Rei chuckled, causing the blonde girl to raise her face towards him and when their eyes met, Temari instantly donned a pleading expression but Rei...

    "Don''t look at me like that." He calmly smiled at her, "I felt the subtle ring of Pakura''s chakra as well. Go. She is calling for you." He patted the girl''s head while she reluctantly separated from him.

    "Fine." Temari grumbled.

    Before she rushed towards Pakura''s position, however, she decided to be a bit mischievous and walked towards Rei before pecking him on the cheek. Her cheeks gained a pink dusting because of her action but before either Konan or Rei could start teasing her, Temari disappeared in a swirl of sand.

    Rei, rubbing his cheek, was smiling in amusement, "That girl..." He helplessly shook his head.

    ...

    Temari arrived at the ce where she could feel Lady Pakura''s chakra and noticed her leisurely sitting on a throne-like chair while talking with some midget...

    ''Did she really have to call me? She is one of the strongest ninjas in here. Why does she have to disturb me?'' Temari inwardlyined at her time with Rei being cut short.

    When shended and greeted Lady Pakura, she was told she was supposed to face off against the midget who was apparently the Third Tsuchikage. Well, Lady Pakura created a nice way to provoke the prideful dwarf so Temari saw no harm in giving a follow-up.

    "No idea if he will be any good for testing but he does seem kind of dumb." She said while looking at Onoki.

    Onoki was obviously annoyed at the jab at his intelligence but unlike Pakura, he did not consider the young genin as someone on the same level as him. Her words did not have much of an effect on him.

    <o>,m Instead, he turned towards Pakura, "You really want me to face the girl first? Have you no shame?"</o>

    Pakura did not answer Onoki. She ignored him and turned towards Temari, donning a disbelieving expression, "Does he actually expect me to answer that? Did he not witness you fight in the arena?"

    "Seems like it, Lady Pakura." Temari quipped with an easy-going smile, "One would expect the Tsuchikage to know what being a ninja means but who knows what else than his height is stunted."

    From their interaction, Onoki understood verbal attacks had no effect and they would only keep mocking him.

    "Very well. As you wish." Onoki''s face darkened as he put his hands together, "I will quickly deal with the girl first before I deal with you, then."

    His knees bent in preparation for recoil and a small white light started to gather in the middle of his joined thumbs and pointing fingers. The light was slowly growing bigger and bigger, being charged by Onoki''s potent chakra...

    It didn''t even take two seconds for Onoki''s attack to be ready and a white beam shot straight at Temari at breakneck speed.

    The beam traveled through the air and the second Onoki finished firing it, he started turning toward Pakura, considering the blonde girl done for.

    Yes, the show she gave in the arena against the Uzumaki girl was impressive and very fancy but Onoki would not dub her a Kage-level powerhouse. Not yet. He fully believed firing his bloodline jutsu at the girl was enough to get rid of her or at the very least lethally injure her.

    That''s why he was left surprised when Temari just whipped out her fan and... did the impossible. She deflected the beam upward with it, straight into the clear sky, until the chakra powering it was used up and the beam disappeared into thin air.<sub> </sub>

    "Wha-!? How did you-!?" Onoki eximed, suddenly much warier about the ''genin'' in front of him.

    It had to be said, the Dust Release was one of the most destructive bloodlines in the world! It was also known to be able to get through any physical obstacle with the ease of a knife going through butter. The only reliable way to survive it was to dodge it but that was easier said than done since the Dust Release Jutsus were very fast too.

    Just with this one bloodline, both the Second and the Third Tsuchikage were capable of bing the best Iwa ninjas in their respective generations and secure the position of the Tsuchikage for themselves. They definitely had many more tricks up their sleeve but their bloodline yed a very important role in their rise to power. There was simply no way to easily counter it.

    And yet... Onoki just witnessed a kunoichi using a battle fan to deflect his Dust Release attack. It utterly baffled him.

    "I used my fangirl powers." Temari smugly retorted, making Onoki''s mind nk out for a second at the stupidity he just heard.

    Before Onoki could regain his focus, Temari suddenly grabbed her fan with both of her hands and channeled a massive amount of wind-natured chakra into it, before swinging it at him.

    A tornado full of kamaitachi whirlwinds burst forth, appearing out of nowhere and engulfing Onoki. It was so massive that everyone in Konoha could see it as the sky was seemingly connected with the ground through it.

    Inside the tornado, the wind chakra ground against each other, creating a very efficient meat grinder capable of turning anything entering it into dust. It was no wonder that part of the arena was instantly disintegrated by it.

    "There, that should do it." Temari nodded in satisfaction as she leaned on her now folded battle fan. She put quite a bit of her reserves into this attack as she wanted to quickly return to Rei. Turning back towards Pakura, Temari impatiently asked, "Can I go now?"

    In response, Pakura just chuckled, "Firstly, you overdid it."

    Temari unrepentantly grinned, "It worked, no? That''s all that matters." She shrugged her shoulders.

    Pakura''s lips stretched into a teasing smile at that, "Secondly... you are underestimating your enemy."

    Pakura timed her answer very well as the second it was out of her mouth, the tornado suddenly exploded in white light prating it in multiple ces, copsing the entire Jutsu with pure force, overpowering the wind chakra inside of it.

    When the tornado full of razor-sharp winds dissipated, Onoki could be seen standing in his original spot, not even a scratch on him.

    "It will take much more than that to put me down, kid." He red at Temari, not amused with her assumption that defeating him was so easy.

    Onoki was a prideful man. He could stomach being verbally mocked. Especially when his opponent used the jabs at his height. Everyone did that. He was used to it.

    But having his ability questioned and being looked down upon by some wet behind the ears upstart?

    Now that pissed him off.

    Onoki put his hands together, much like when he shot the first beam at Temari, and his chakra red around him as his killing intent fell on Temari''s shoulders while he condescendingly shouted,

    "You deflected one... can you do the same with ten!?"

 Chapter 440 Ch440. Brief Interruption

    When Onoki broke out of Temari''s tornado and revealed his unscathed form, it looked a bit like a magic trick.

    After all, both Temari and Pakura fully knew there was no way for him to tank it with his own body without being turned into a meaty paste. Even if he used the variety of Earth Jutsu that hardened its user''s skin, there still would have been deep gashes all over him.

    Only when Pakura noticed the very small pebbles asionally sprawled all around him did she understand how he did it.

    ''So he simply created a very dense Earth Dome, let it tank the attack while he was charging his own counter-attack. But then, why didn''t he aim his counter-attack at Temari and shot it into the air?'' Pakura inwardly mused, ''Wait.'' She tilted her head as an idea struck her. ''He realized the weak point of the tornado? Tsk. He must be quite experienced with fighting against Wind users.''

    When Pakura was finally done with her theory, she noticed Onoki charging his Dust release again, aiming at Temari. Pakura could feel the amount of chakra and...

    Ten white rays split from Onoki''s hands, razing their way through the air straight at Temari who was prepared to deflect them with her battle fan...

    ''Haa~, youth.'' Pakura could only sigh.

    Onoki''s Dust Release rays met Temari''s fan, but unlike thest time, they were not immediately deflected upwards. The Dust Release impacted the extremely durable high-quality chakra metal of the fan, the special chakra paper made by Konan and enhanced by Rei''s fuinjutsu to match the durability of the chakra metal and be able to amplify the user''s wind chakra, and on top of all that, was Temari''s own special chakra coating technique where she mixed her Wind and Earth Natures in a simr yet different way than what her Sand Jutsus used and made her battle fan the best at deflecting and pushing attacks away from itself thanks to the ''maic'' properties it gained. The usually fragile weapon such as a battle fan, could thanks to that be used as a Jutsu repulsive shield without the worry of it being damaged.

    It was one of the creative ways of how to use her bloodline Rei taught her. After all, her bloodline was not Sand maniption but Ma Release.

    But it seemed that Temari''s chakra-enhanced battle fan had just met its match as Onoki''s concentrated Dust Release was trying to drill through Temari''s chakra coating on the fan, refusing to be deflected and disintegrating the coating bit by bit.

    Temari''s eyes slightly widened as she felt herself being pushed back despite already putting her full strength into her battle fan. She pushed more of her chakra into the coating, desperately trying to resist Onoki''s technique while trying to push her fan upwards to make deflection easier but the pressure and momentum of Onoki''s Dust Release were not letting her, instead, transforming the exchange into a straightforward sh between Temari''s and Onoki''s chakras.

    <o>,m When Temari was about to lose, her coating almost prated, and Onoki''s technique was about to impact her now-unprotected battle fan...</o>

    Emerald-colored chakra suddenly bubbled from Temari''s wrist, the same spot where Pakura marked her when she took her as her kunoichi. The emerald-colored chakra quickly spread all over the fan, easily pushing the Dust Release back, eroding it as if it was an effortless task.

    Temari was about to sigh in relief that her precious battle fan was saved from destruction but her eyes widened once again when she noticed another white ray heading toward her.

    Onoki definitely did not just wait until Temari''s struggle with his attack ended. He was preparing for his next attack.

    The white ray was too fast and already too close... Panic filled Temari as she knew she didn''t have time to defend. Not only was this ray much more powerful than the previous ones but there was no time to concentrate the chakra-coating of her weapon enough to at least buy her time.

    It was toote...

    That''s when Pakura suddenly appeared in between Temari and the white ray, her palm outstretched towards it. Not even a split of a second passed and the ray impacted Pakura''s palm, the white chakra of the Dust Release smashing into emerald me-like chakra in which Pakura''s palm was engulfed.

    And just like that, without any fanfare, when the full Dust Release ray gathered on Pakura''s palm, she abruptly closed her hand into a fist, and the Dust Release was effortlessly squashed like a bug by the emerald chakra.

    Onoki could only gape at... he had no idea what that even was! His bloodline is the most destructive out there and the woman in front of him just... caught it? His mind couldn''t even startprehending what he had just witnessed.<sub> </sub>

    Onoki''s astonished eyes met Pakura''s gaze full of calm apathy, and for the first time in decades, he froze, his body locking up in irrational fear.

    Thest time he felt like this...!

    His mind shed back to his meeting with Uchiha Madara in his youth, to the time he locked eyes with the man''s Sharingan and felt the sheer disinterested malice in those eyes...

    While Onoki was having the shock of his life, Pakura slowly half-turned towards Temari, causing the girl''s breath to hitch when she saw how Pakura''s usually brown eyes were now shining in a striking emerald color surrounding cat-like slitted pupils.

    The sheer intensity and feeling of danger those eyes held was something that mesmerized Temari.

    Only Pakura''s voice pulled Temari back to reality, "I called you here to fight a Kage. Stop underestimating him. He is far too experienced and his Jutsus are far too destructive for you to take it easy. You already experienced prosperity and became a monster. Now it''s your time to experience proper adversity and finally grow up. I hope you won''t disappoint me... again."

    With that, Pakura disappeared into thin air, neither Onoki nor Temari capable of following her with their eyes as she reappeared on her chair, leisurely sitting and supporting her cheek with her palm while waiting for them to continue their fight.

    Temari shook at Pakura''s words, a feeling of shame dwelling in her. She was too cocky and self-assured. She thought fighting a Kage would be easy for her.

    Her rise so far was in no way easy. The training Pakura and asionally Rei gave her was in no way easy. But it made her stand above her peers, above other ninjas from her vige. It made her better but she had never thought herself to be arrogant.

    But... apparently, she grewcent when she had no right to be.

    When Temari finally realized where she went wrong, she raised her eyes back towards Onoki, but now they gleamed with an iron-d resolve. The resolve to win.

    Onoki''s eyes followed Pakura with deep unease. He felt fear. It had been so long since he felt like this...

    But he was a Kage. He was not one of those weak-willed wet behind their ears guys that couldn''t face their fears. He understood long ago that facing their fears was something every person eventually had to do if they wanted to improve.

    Even if Madara stood in front of him right now, he would fight. No matter how the man still scared him, even long after his death... Onoki would fight.

    For he was a ninja, a Kage. The protector of his vige and his people. Therefore he would fight even if it would cost him his life.

    Despite his resolve, facing monsters like Madara was never easy. Hence, his uneasiness.

    ''Another one appeared in the world.'' Onoki thought as he watched Pakura with apprehension, his stomach sinking. ''Why can''t one pop up in my vige?'' He inwardly grumbled.

    As an answer to his gaze, Pakura just kindly smiled and waved her free hand at them, "Don''t mind me. My apprentice needs all the training she can get. Feel free to continue."

 Chapter 441 Ch441. Temari Vs Onoki 2

    ''This bitch.'' Onoki inwardly seethed at the carefree and casual way Pakura ordered him.

    s, he could do nothing about it and it wasn''t as if his opponent decided to not fight him if he dered his disinterest in fighting. Even if he didn''t want to obey Pakura, he would be forced to act in ordance with her order simply because he couldn''t do anything else in his situation.

    Somehow... that made him even more incensed.

    His eyes trailed over to Temari, and when he saw the determination in the girl''s eyes, he snorted in contempt.

    "Girl, thest time I underestimated a youngster was with the Namikaze brat and I regret it to this day. Don''t think I will go easy on you just because you are at the age where you barely don''t need to use diapers anymore." Onoki gruffly spoke and prepared for a fight.

    But unlike what he just said, he didn''t intend to fight Temari with the aim to kill her. Not even with the aim to defeat her.

    No... Onoki simply wanted to wait for an opportunity to flee.

    And for that, he had to go hard enough on the girl to push her back while not defeating or killing her. All in order to prolong their fight so the chances for such an opportunity toe would be increased.

    "I... might have underestimated you, old midget." Temari''s face scrunched as if she ate something disgusting. "But that won''t happen again." She said in a barely audible voice.

    Both Onoki and Temari were about to leap at each other when Pakura''s voice suddenly interrupted them.

    "Oh. You both can fly so either fight in the arena or go into the air." She turned towards Temari, her eyes holding a stern but warm look, "Konoha is now our ally, Temari, I don''t want to see you destroying more of it than necessary." After saying that, Pakura''s eyes shifted towards Onoki, her gaze turning cold. "As for you... better do what I say or it won''t be my apprentice you will be facing but me."

    Naturally, Pakura couldpletely see through Onoki''s n. She wasn''t born strong. She was in his position quite a few times herself so she could imagine what he was feeling and what he hoped to aplish.

    Hearing her, Onoki grimaced but he could only give a curt nod in a defeated eptance. At least Pakura didn''t seem to try preventing his attempt at running away. If anything, she seemed amused and curious. He tried to console himself with that.

    Both Onoki and Temari jumped down into the arena, neither really opting to fight in the air.

    For Temari, it was because in the air, her Sand Maniption would have been severely limited and she now knew she would have to use everything in her arsenal to fight Onoki.

    For Onoki, it was because most of his defensive techniques relied on Earth Nature Maniption, and it was infinitely easier to cast them near the ground. While he could make earth for his techniques mid-air, it was very draining, and right now, he needed to preserve his chakra as much as he could.

    The two fighters soundlessly dropped onto the ground of the arena and looked at each other. The stare-off didn''tst more than two seconds before the fight started.

    No insults, grandstanding or boasting. They were past that stage of the fight and both now knew the other wouldn''t be shaken by a simple insult.

    Neither Onoki nor Temari wished to engage in close-rangebat as it was not their main strength.

    They abruptly stopped rushing at each other when they were just fifty feet apart, Temari sliding on the ground due to her momentum, using it to brandish her battle fan, while Onoki stopped seamlessly in his spot, allowed to do this due to his body floating slightly above the ground.<sub> </sub>

    Running was for plebs anyway...

    As Onoki stopped, his hands came together, charging another Dust Release ray... after all, why do something new when the old thing worked so far? He totally expected to overpower Temari with his next attack.

    And if not, then he could simply deploy one of the many backup strategies that were brewing in his mind.

    Unlike the previous times, when Temari was about to finish brandishing her battle fan and her Wind Jutsu was about to be shot towards Onoki, a spark suddenly came out of her mouth as she ground her teeth together. That was the only cue Onoki got before...

    Temari suddenly spat a stream of fire in front of her, directly into the trajectory of her Wing Jutsu, causing a fiery inferno to roll in waves at the startled Onoki.

    Knowing he had to react fast, Onoki stopped charging his attack and shot it in front of him, easily prating the fiery inferno and creating a massive hole in the middle of it.

    Onoki''s aim was impable and he shot it straight at his opponent. But when he saw his Dust Release ray pierce straight through Temari''s fan and body... he instantly knew he was fooled even before Temari''s form dissolved into sand.

    He had other problems than pondering where his opponent was, though. Unlike his expectations, the inferno wasn''t disruptedpletely and still advanced toward him, sealing up with more raging mes as it got closer to his position.

    Onoki was however too experienced and as the ming inferno engulfed him, roasting him alive, his charred form suddenly crumbled, revealing it was just an Earth Clone.

    It took ten whole seconds for the inferno to cease existing, devouring all the chakra funneling it and leaving behind only a massive ck mark spanning through at least half of the arena.

    Neither Onoki nor Temari could be seen inside the arena.

    While the arena seemedpletely peaceful, down below it, a vicious fight continued. Temari tried to ground as many rocks together as she could in order to make more sand for herself while Onoki was focusing on furiously solidifying the sand into rocks with his chakra. Both did this all the while trying to locate the position of the other.

    Having their attention divided like this wasn''t pleasant but they both knew stopping would mean giving the other the advantage and both were too stubborn to allow that.

    Two minutes passed, rocks being ground to sand and then sand being solidified into rocks in an endless circle... by now the entirety of the ground under the arena went through this process and it became visible even on the surface in several ces.

    It looked like a disturbance on the water surface. Several ces on the surface were turned to sand that was moving in waves like water, but it didn''tst long and the sand was hardened, turning back to rock only for this exact phenomenon to repeat in different ces in the arena. Again and again, and so it went.

    No ninja had the guts to step into the arena during that time as they all knew the sign of danger.

    If that wasn''t enough, the sight of asional kunai falling into the arena and impacting the ground... before it was either covered by sand that rose from the unsuspecting ground and crushed the kunai or two chakra-hardened rock tes appeared from the ground and squashed the kunai in between themselves before pulling in deep underground depending on who controlled the ce where kunainded at that moment.

    <o>,m Both Onoki and Temari were using their senses, rather than their sight, to fight so whoever got into the arena would be shit out of luck as they would assume them to be their opponent and go for attack no questions asked.</o>

    As this kind of fight continued, it was surprisingly Onoki who got lucky and got the first hint of Temari''s location.

 Chapter 442 Ch442. Temari Vs Onoki 3

    Temari was growing more and more disgruntled the more she searched the underground of the arena. She was extremely good at locating enemies thanks to her innate talent and loads of hard work in both earth and wind maniptions.

    After all, she wasn''t like Gaara or her father who had their bloodlines right off the bat. Temari had to work hard to awaken hers. And since it did not awaken on its own, forcefully awakening it would have been impossible without mastering the natures needed for her bloodline.

    At this point, Temari was the best at Earth Maniption and only second to Lady Pakura in Wind. And she was damn proud of it too.

    So... why couldn''t she get even a hint of her opponent!?

    ''As expected, he knows his stuff as a Kage should.'' Temari thought, feeling disheartened.

    Temari''s thoughts were interrupted as she felt her chakra sense catch something extremely unexpected.

    As usual, the sandy ground was turning into rock but this time, it wasn''t erratic and random. No, this time it headed straight towards her!

    ''He found me!? How!?'' Temari inwardly freaked out.

    Right at the start of their fight, she understood they both used the same way of locating each other. They both tried to send a sonar-like wave of earth-natured chakra into the ground, getting a clear picture of anything the wave passed.

    The problem with that was simple. Her wave and Onoki''s wave canceled each other out whenever they met, and as such, no wave ever reached either of their bodies.

    As Temari frantically thought about how she was found out while fighting the rock-creation Jutsu of her opponent with her sand-making Jutsu, preventing it to get closer to her position, she suddenly felt her most recent wave of earth chakra cancel out Onoki''s wave... but in her focused state, she for the first time felt a very subtle and weak wave of chakrae right after the main wave, passing through her.

    Temari''s eyes widened, ''So that''s how! The cunning bastard!'' She grumbled.

    s, experience counted for something and it was obvious Onoki had the advantage in that...

    Temari realized that fighting underground was no longer in her best interest. Not when her opponent was better at locating her.

    Temari quickly stopped trying to fight Onoki''s Jutsu and propelled herself upward, burrowing towards the surface. After reaching it, Temari did not stay on the ground. Instead, she flew into the sky, hovering around fifteen meters above the ground while channeling her chakra downward, focusing on turning more of the ground to sand.

    It might have appeared that Temari had an advantage now that she wasn''t underground. After all, she could affect a bigger surface of the ground, and by now, the entire surface of the arena was a well of moving sand.

    Onoki seemed to be trapped. He was underground and above him was sand... Temari''s domain.

    s, there was a reason why neither Temari nor Onoki tried to get out of the underground at the start, trying to utilize this kind of tactic.

    Temari abruptly jerked her body to the right, only barely evading a thick Dust Release beam that suddenly came out of the ground. Before she could rx, she had to move back, evading another beam... and another, and another...

    Temari was flying from left to right, back and forth, evading Onoki''s attacks by a slight margin.

    This was why neither of them wanted to get out of the ground. Earth had more density, hence the sonar-like chakra location technique took time to return results. Air wasn''t as dense, however, and as such, even when Onoki was underground and practically blind, he was still able to locate Temari with pinpoint precision and aim his Jutsu at her.

    While she was frantically evading the vicious attacks, Temari was also slightly focused on preparing a counter-attack. She knew the only way to break out of being on the defensive was to go on the offensive, even if it was a bit risky and tricky to focus on two things at the same time.

    Onoki was too focused on trying to hit Temari and that made sneaking an attack past his guard easier than it should have been.

    Then again, nobody could me him for that. His attacks were literally one-hit-kill.

    Temari''s sand almost reached him, and if not for his vast experience and quick reflexes... even if his back hurt from the sudden movement... he would have been squished into a paste.<sub> </sub>

    Onoki barely dodged Temari''s sand but he was forced to leave the safety of the ground and resurface. Knowing that staying on the ground was foolish when fighting against somebody capable of manipting sand, he instantly floated into the air.

    Temari was not happy that she didn''t catch Onoki with her sneak attack. But she decided to take what she could get and be satisfied with it. Having him out of the ground and where she could see and attack him was good enough.

    "That wasn''t half bad. I guess you really know a bit about being a ninja." Onoki remarked in a tone that made it impossible to know if he was being sarcastic or not.

    Temari looked at him, opened her mouth... and Onoki barely scrambled to the side as a Wind sh almost bisected him, causing cold sweat to drench his hurting back.

    ''How careless of me.'' He scolded himself. He expected the inexperienced teenager to be swept by the need to have thest word and when she opened her mouth, he got distracted for a second due to his expectations.

    He really expected Temari to be bratty and too stubborn. Even adult ninjas sometimes fell for this pitfall and started having a verbal battle during a fight at the slightest verbal provocation. Too much unnecessary pride.

    Onoki too was prideful and stubborn but he knew a battle was no ce for these things.

    "Tsk." Onoki clicked his tongue. ''The bitch actually used my experience against me!'' He inwardly grumbled. ''Why can''t she just drop dead? Bothersome brat.''

    Temari''s and Onoki''s eyes met and their chakras surged up, pressure and killing intent spreading to the surroundings as the winds around Temari started to get sharper while Onoki''s hands gained a slight white glow.

    A silent second passed... before the two got into action, Temari sending one Wind sh after another at Onoki while evading one Dust Release beam after another.

    Onoki used his proficiency in gravity maniption to evade Temari''s Wind shes, frowning a bit when he noticed therge gashes these shes left on the arena walls when theynded. There was enough power in them to split him in half if they hit.

    Then again, with every evade of Temari, his beams were making holes in the opposite wall of the arena. These holes were big enough that Temari would lose a big chunk of her body if she was hit.

    Onoki''s expression darkened when he started to notice that Temari was a bit too fast at evading. That led him to pay more attention to her flying technique and when he did, he received the shock of his life. It was too simr to his own! He was supposed to be the only one in the world capable of doing that!

    Temari was not really using the Wind Chakra to fly. She simply used the most advanced form of earth chakra maniption, gravity maniption, as well. Not even Hiruzen Sarutobi was capable of doing that and he was given the title of the God of Shinobi! Onoki was extremely proud of being the only man capable of such earth maniption mastery.

    And yet...

    Onoki gritted his teeth in anger. ''Good! I will show you, trying to use gravity maniption in front of me!'' His attacks became even more vicious, faster, and deadlier but this time, he tried to affect Temari''s flight technique with his own chakra.

    Unfortunately for him, Temari just rolled her eyes when she felt it. Gravity maniption was her trump card. It was what she was best at. As if some decrepit old geezer could control her own flight technique... She inwardly scoffed and let Onoki continue trying, if only to make him waste more of his chakra.

    In this manner, the match between Temari and Onoki continued, both trying to score a hit on the other.

    Despite that, there were no massive moves. Nondscape devastating techniques were exchanged between them. Both were using basic but incredibly fast and deadly attacks in hopes to save chakra, both for different reasons, while trying to incapacitate their foe for good.

    s, that was easier said than done in a fight between two long-ranged Kage-level fighters. Especially when both were reluctant to use their strongest techniques.

    Their impasse would continue for a long time yet...

    ---

    Author Note:

    Uff... enough of Temari vs Onoki for now :D. I will finish the fightter, maybe showcase some of Temari''s Gravity Techniques, but I have the urge to write more about Rei right now so that''s why I ended this one so vaguely.

 Chapter 443 Ch443. Appreciation For His Flower

    When Temari left and Konan stopped snickering at Rei''s embarrassment for being kissed on his cheek like a little boy, Rei cleared his throat and turned to Konan as if the previous situation did not happen.

    "Ahem, so, where were we?" Rei rhetorically asked before he added, "Ah, yes. Using chaos to gain benefits, right?" A pleasant smile formed on his lips.

    Konan instantly knew where this was going. ''As I thought, he DOES have a n to use the situation to his benefit. And here I almost started to believe all this bullshit about not interfering.'' Konan inwardly chuckled while outwardly an amused smile appeared on her lips.

    Even if the enemy ninjas could see them right now, they would definitely avoid them at all costs. Two ninjas grinning like loons at each other in the middle of a bloody battlefield... well, that didn''t speak well about their mental state.

    After a few moments, when Rei was satisfied with observing the cute grinning face of his blute, "While there is nothing to be stolen and nobody to be killed in Konoha, there is one little matter that still needs to be dealt with for the Greater Good of all that is mine." Rei sagely uttered.

    "Heeh~, how nice of you to think about our safety." Konan purred as she approached Rei and seductively melted into his side, not in a dissimr fashion from what Temari did previously.

    Rei instantly embraced her, pulling her even closer to him as their eyes fondly met, "Of course, I care." Rei put his forehead against Konan''s, "You are my precious." He whispered, making Konan almost swoon with giddiness.

    "Mhm." Konan happily giggled, "So? Who are we getting rid of for this fabled Greater Good of yours?"

    She knew she could have redirected the topic or even try to further Rei''s advances, and no doubt, they would have ended up doing a very heated bedroom training. She really wanted that too. She was burning with the need for Rei... but that could wait.

    Rei was showing a great deal of trust in her by showing this kind of vulnerability at this time. Out of all of his girls, only Konan and Pakura were given this kind of trust. Both because they were not either childish dumb-dumbs or selfish bitches. Or so Konan liked to believe.

    The failure in her parenting was not lost on her but... she would have never confessed this but she fulfilled what she wanted to teach both Mei and Ringo.

    <o>,m In the end, they did end up with Rei and infinitely more powerful and happier than what they could have been otherwise, no? Her ''kids'' were happy with ''daddy''.</o>

    In her opinion, her form of upbringing was a smashing sess.

    If Rei knew her thinking process right now... Konan briefly shuddered. She knew well the inability to sit down for weeks from the spanking that would ensue would have been her smallest problem.

    Then again, all she did was in order to make Rei happy. She would not regret that. Ever.

    That''s why this kind of special treatment was very nice to her. She knew there was no way Rei would give Tsunade, Ringo, or Mei, and sage forbid Kaguya, any sort of control over his actions. Especially when he was about to enact some kind of n. They would instantly drag him to do something else in an attempt to monopolize his time.

    Hence, Konan did the opposite and did not try to seduce him further. She enjoyed the warmth of his embrace, but she didn''t push for more.

    ''More willeter.'' She thought with satisfaction. Rei had never betrayed her expectations and her loyalty was rewarded with more trust and love. And Konan cherished that the most in the world.

    She was his ''first''. She prided herself in knowing him most and being the most useful to him.

    Of course, Rei was not testing her or anything. He would be hard-pressed to do that while he was enjoying her embrace. Especially when her, albeit modest, but extremelyfortable chest was pressing into his.

    He did not immediately answer her question because of that, instead of waiting to see if she would press forward with her seduction. He didn''t really care if she did, to be honest. The problem he was about to deal with could be finished off at any time now.<sub> </sub>

    It was a bit funny for him. The woman who was supposed to be the biggest support pir of Nagato was now clinging onto him with adoration in her eyes. Rei knew he should probably feel guilty about depriving Nagato...

    But all he felt was smug satisfaction. And ''serves him right'' feeling.

    The redheaded bastard would just waste such a perfect and devoted flower like Konan in his inane quest for peace through such misguided means that it made Rei almost groan whenever he thought about it.

    With all the advantages Nagato had, with all the godlike powers he was freely given... and the boy still couldn''t use his own head to find his own path or even to get his head out of his ass.

    So yes, Rei couldn''t muster any pity for the boy who was used from an early age in Madara''s schemes. The only one in Akatsuki who could stop Nagato if he went out of ''control'' was Obito and while he would have been a dangerous opponent, Nagato possessed Rinnegan. He could have managed to defeat Obito if he was really driven to do so.

    Zetsu was no threat whatsoever. Not to someone prepared for an attack from him.

    The only thing in Akatsuki, Rei was a bit curious about, was the woman that took Konan''s ce beside Nagato but he never checked about her identity... and that told a lot about the level of his curiosity.

    He was curious if Konan''s recement reached at least S-rank prowess because... It would have been pitiful otherwise.

    In Rei''s hands, Konan bloomed.

    In his hands, she aplished her full potential.

    In his hands, she became something much more than just a stoic maid for a redheaded brainwashed waste.

    In his hands, she managed to build the biggest informationwork the Elemental Nation had ever seen and nobody was aware of it.

    In his hands, she led apany to be the richest in the Elemental Nations.

    In his hands, she refined her bloodline to such a degree that fighting her was a massively irritating chore even for someone of Rei''s prowess, much less defeating her.

    And even if she had no idea what her life would have looked like without Rei... or maybe it was precisely because she could guess how she would end up without meeting him, after all, he did find her among homeless and prostitutes... not once did she stop showing her gratitude or try to improve herself.

    Rei really found it endearing.

    Konan was precious. His ever-loyal beautiful flower.

    It wasn''t a coincidence that she was apanying him to the Chunin Exams. For it was time to visit their past home. Not as Yozora. Not as a Vige Hidden on the Other Side. But as Konan and Rei. As... Downpour.

    "Akatsuki. I am going to deal with their ''God''." Rei finally stated as he looked towards the clear sky while possessively snuggling with the surprised Konan, "It''s time for Downpour to visit the nation where we came from."

 Chapter 444 Ch444. Lights Out.

    "So we are finally going to Amegakure?" Konan calmly asked, but her eyes betrayed the overwhelming excitement she felt.

    She always wanted to return and check it out. It was the ce where she was born, after all.

    And while she could always just go alone, she never did. It wouldn''t have felt right to do so without Rei. That''s why Konan calmly awaited the day when Rei finally decided to pay Amegakure a visit.

    And she was not disappointed. The time has finally arrived.

    "Yes. Having Zetsu working for us is quite convenient, you know?" Rei spoke with a smirk, holding Konan close to his chest with his right arm, while with his left hand he showed Konan a tanto sword that had a sealing tag enwrapped around its hilt.

    Konan''s eyes widened, "Hira-" She didn''t manage to finish her sentence as the Space around them shifted and she found herself in a dark room...

    "Wha-!"

    "Wha-?"

    "Wha-."

    Three confused voices eximed, one belonging to Konan who didn''t expect Rei to shift their position so abruptly, the other two voices...

    Konan barely managed to turn her head and look at the two utterly shocked people in front of them before the sword Rei was holding found purchase and shed straight through the eyes of the redheaded man in front of them while hispanion, a nondescript brown-haired woman could just watch, her blue eyes slowly widening in horror as her brain was slowly registering what was happening.

    "Nagato!" The woman screamed in horror, drawing out a kunai from a pouch on her tight at praise-worthy speeds...

    But before the woman could even raise her hand in front of her, her face abruptly met the floor, making her dizzy from the sudden impact as her brain rattled.

    Konan appeared above the woman, one knee firmly nted on her back and holding her down, while her other foot was pressing the woman''s outstretched main hand to the ground, all the while she was pressing a sharp slice of paper full of wind chakra to the woman''s neck.

    As confused as Konan was at the start, she quickly understood the situation and acted ordingly, disarming and subduing the only threat remaining in the room. She also subtly distributed a few of her paper slices into the dark corners of the room where they would not be noticed, just in case reinforcements show up.

    It happened in a split of a second and Rei was just leisurely standing in his spot, in front of the man who was screaming in pain while pressing his hands onto his eyes as blood was gushing out from in between his fingers...

    But Rei didn''t really care. His eyes were firmly observing Konan. He couldn''t help but lick his lips at how hot she currently was, kneeling on, and subduing the woman that took her ''fated'' ce in the world.

    "Any exnation of why we attacked these people and who they are?" Konan raised her head towards Rei and asked.

    Only then did she notice how his eyes trailed over her curves, making her blush a bit and show a slightly smug, and very satisfied smile full of happiness. She almost preened under Rei''s attention, pushing her chest a bit out.

    She knew the expression Rei had very well and it made her girlish excitement gush forth.

    ''Oh, yes... we are so having sex tonight.'' She inwardly thought, happily shrieking in her mind.

    At that moment, she could care less who was the woman under or the man Rei blinded. Her paper slice involuntarily approached the brte''s neck, drawing blood and causing her to try getting her neck away from it in fear...

    "Konan, don''t kill her."<sub> </sub>

    Only Rei''s words pulled Konan down from her tion, back into reality as she realized she almost slit her captive''s throat while daydreaming.

    Rei threw the disturbed brte an apologetic smile, but for someone like Konan, someone who spent years with him, it was ever so easy to see the amusement behind his gaze.

    "These two are Nagato and... er, I have no idea what''s her name," Rei nodded in the direction of the frightened brte who was slowly gathering her wits before shrugging. "Oh, well, the redhead boy is the leader of Akatsuki. Or so he would like to think."

    "Akatsuki?" Konan blinked in bafflement. "As in the mercenary shits that try to imitate us? That Akatsuki?"

    "Yup." Rei nonchntly admitted.

    "Oh..." Konan eloquently replied, not knowing how to react to that. Akatsuki was never a big threat. In fact, she sometimes used their mercenary services for the Biri-Biri Company. She had no idea why Rei wanted to kill their leader but... It didn''t really matter to her.

    "Who are you?" The brte under Konan finally regained her mental state and looked at Rei with hatred.

    Konan was about to grab her by the hair and smash her face into the floor at the disrespect the bitch was showing to Rei but when she tightly gripped her hair, Rei gestured for her to stop.

    With a pout, Konan obliged, but not before she yanked the woman''s head by her hair a bit, making her hiss from pain.

    Rei could only wryly smile at Konan''s vindictiveness. ''Better not tell her she could have easily been in the brte''s ce.'' He could already tell she would have thrown a Konan-style tantrum which would end up with the entire Akatsuki dead.

    And that wasn''t Rei''s aim.

    Rei looked at the defiant brte and gave her a pleasant, but fake, smile. "We? We are Yozora."

    The brte''s eyes widened a bit, clearly recognizing that name. Her surprisested only a split of a second before she gritted her teeth, "What are you going to do with us?"

    Rei raised his eyebrow at that. The brte was quite smart. She quickly realized them being still alive was for a reason. They were full at Rei and Konan''s mercy and could have been killed any time they wanted.

    Rei could also see her from time to time give a ''subtle'' worried nce in Nagato''s direction. The man was still gritting his teeth, trying to get through the pain and the shock from the sudden lights-out while clutching his ruined eyes and whimpering... which made the brte quite distraught even though she tried to hide it. Obviously, she cared a lot for the redhead.

    It really reminded him of Konan from canon. If a bit weaker.

    Or maybe his perception was a bit screwed? Eh, it didn''t matter...

    The brte would clearly do anything to ensure Nagato''s survival. Rei could tell her to strip and she would do it, even if reluctantly and with hate. Not that he would do that. His women were enough for him, thank you very much!

    He was not even going to utter that as a joke because Konan''s hand would most likely slip and the brte''s head would roll before he could even finish such a joke.

    Plus, he knew he had Konan in a good spot. She was hot and bothered, looking forward to having some nice intimate time this evening. As a gentleman, it was his duty to not sour that mood and enjoy her body to the fulleste evening.

    Therefore, he decided to be serious instead of yful.

    He kindly smiled at the unnamed brte as he crouched in front of her and patted her head as if she was a misbehaving child he was about to lecture, "Would you believe me if I said I just didn''t like his eyes so I decided to do him a favor and get rid of them for him?"

 Chapter 445 Ch445. Manipulated Idiot

    "First of all, I think you should be grateful. I just saved his life." Rei self-righteously stated, making the still-unnamed brte even madder.

    Not that he cared how she viewed his depriving Nagato of his sight but he felt like exining since they had time to waste until Obito finally showed up.

    Someone extremely meticulous like him definitely had a way to notify him if his most important pawn was in danger. And even if not, Zetsu was on standby to do just that. After all, a y could not go on without its main actor, no?

    "A-and wh-why?"

    Surprisingly, it was not the brte who responded but the still-suffering Nagato who managed to get that resentful question out through his gritted teeth and whimpering.

    Rei turned towards him and put his hand on Nagato''s shoulder in a friendly manner, "Look, mate, I get it. You think losing your special eyes is bad but to be honest, they were not even yours, to begin with."

    Now that stopped the blind boy''s seething almost instantly. He still tried to rudely shake off Rei''s hand though...

    Obviously, Nagato was not aplete fool. Nobody who could create and lead an organization like Akatsuki could be stupid. Arrogant and ignorant... yes. Stupid... no.

    Rei counted on that fact and surmised that Nagato did his research on his eyes. It was only natural to be interested in why he had them and how he got them. Yet, not even some Kages knew about Rinnegan. It was so obscure and veiled in myths and legends that it might as well be fiction. Zetsu did his job well and the proper information about those eyes was very hard to get.

    That''s why Rei''s sentence made Nagato still and tempted him no matter how it inwardly made him feel ufortable.

    Seeing that, Rei smirked, "You didn''t really think you are some kind of chosen one, did you?" He yfully rolled his eyes, "Well, in a manner of speaking, you are. You are Madara''s chosen one. Those eyes I just ruined belong to Uchiha Madara. The real and dead one, not the ridiculous wannabe that was manipting you for over the past decade." He nonchntly dropped the bomb on them.

    Nagato grewpletely silent when he heard that, even his whimpering ceased. It was obvious he was still in pain from how tightly he clenched his fists but he was too focused on digesting the information.

    Ninjas'' minds worked a bit differently than civilian ones. They had to consider a lot of information on a daily basis, connecting patterns and deciding the truth from lies. It was a matter of life and death for them so Nagato would not just rashly believe whatever Rei told him without any basis behind it.

    But that''s where the trapid. Rei didn''t need to present proof. He knew Nagato spent over a decade in Tobi''s presence and he definitely had his own misgivings. He just silently let Nagato mull over it for a bit ande to his own conclusions. No matter if they were right or wrong.

    "How?" Nagato eventually asked in a quiet voice and Rei gestured for Konan to let the brte go.

    Konan pursed her lips but reluctantly obeyed, appearing next to Rei in a burst of speed, her eyes watching the brte''s every move.

    The unimportant girl instantly stood up and worriedly limped towards Nagato, giving Rei a distrustful yet questioning nce.

    "Tend to his wound." Rei dismissively said as he reassuringly rubbed Konan''s lower back to make her rx a bit.

    "Back to your question," He spoke towards Nagato, "I am sure you started learning the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, no?"

    Nagato slowly nodded, hissing a bit as the brte slowly pulled away his hands from his face, revealing his face with a horizontal gash going through his eyes and nose. It wasn''t a pretty sight.

    "And I guess it wasn''t exactly your idea, right?" Rei led him to the conclusions he wanted him to arrive at, taking great pleasure at his minuscule reactions like scrunching of his face there, a twitch in his cheek here, or balling of his fists, as Nagato was slowly connecting the dots.

    Rei didn''t need an answer to his previous question. The thoughtful frown on Nagato''s face told him what he needed to know. "Tobi no doubt reasoned it would have been a great boon to have a technique capable of reviving the Akatsuki members." He ''guessed'', causing Nagato to flinch at how urate Rei was.

    Theoretically speaking, Nagato already had the King of Hell that could revive people but that only worked on recently deceased. Anybody who died more than just a few minutes before he was tossed as a munchie to the King of Hell''s maw would note back to life. That''s where the sacrificial revive technique came to y.

    Well, Rei did have Zetsu tell him precisely how Obito managed to persuade Nagato to learn a suicide Jutsu so it was less about guessing and more about simply being maniptive.

    "What he didn''t tell you is that you were just a pawn supposed to revive Uchiha Madara when it is time, sacrificing your own life in the process." Rei revealed decades of secret ns with one sentence, feeling extremely smug about that aplishment.<sub> </sub>

    While Nagato fell into silent contemtion, it was actually the brte who gasped at the implications, "The technique was supposed to work without Nagato having to die." She eximed, reluctant to believe it.

    "Sure, it does." Rei shrugged. He knew about that from Kaguya. She could do that easily depending on the strength of the revived person... not that she would waste her chakra for others like that. "But only if he had a more advanced form of Rinnegan. Unfortunately for him, he is an Uzumaki. He can wield the eyes to a very limited degree because of his ancestry but he would never be able to evolve it. Not naturally, at least."

    Rei suddenly blinked as he finished exining and his eyes gave the woman an inquisitive look, "By the way, what''s your name? I think I forgot to ask."

    That earned him a small nudge to the side from Konan and a prompt eye roll.

    "I am Amagi Mika." The brte said with a frown, her hands not stopping to tend to Nagato''s wound.

    When Rei heard her name... he shrugged her existence off. At first, he thought she was a canon character he was forgetting about but he had no recollection of a character with that name. As he thought, she simply was not important.

    "You are quite skilled at medical ninjutsu." Konan quipped.

    She was d about that. Usually, it was her who kept the ''prisoners'' alive. Mika being capable of healing enabled Konan to just rx and let Nagato''s life in her hands. After all, the woman clearly cared more about his life than Konan ever would.

    "Mhm." Mika neutrally hummed, not willing to start a conversation with the woman who almost killed her. She could still feel the painful tingle from the small cut on her neck.

    "Rude." Konan frowned, causing Mika''s cheek to twitch a bit.

    The brte wanted to scream that she was almost decapitated just a few moments ago by Konan so being rude was a mild response in her opinion but... she was smarter than that and kept quiet, focused on helping Nagato while ring to nowhere.

    While this was going on, Rei was screening the town with his senses, quite surprised at the instilled order and the improved quality of life of the inhabitants. Being under Akatsuki clearly helped this town a lot and he was a bit curious if other settlements in Ame were like this.

    ''Not all that viins do is bad, huh?'' He thought. He doubted Akatsuki would be the viin from the perspective of the Ame people. Not after their lives were improved so much thanks to them.

    And yet...

    Rei looked at Nagato with a sigh. The redhead clearly knew only might makes right. That was the entire basis behind his ''gather the bijuu and threaten the other nations'' n. As stupid as it was, Rei could see it working.

    Of course, as with everything, it would require some poor, ignorant, and arrogant sods to die so the others could see he was not joking but... in a world like theirs, the strongest could easily take the reins.

    Nagato also obviously wanted to improve people''s lives and Rei med Jiraiya for his naive outlook. The man was no true ninja. He might dress like one, and he might have a semnce of thinking of one instilled to him by Jiraiya buta€|

    He was just a misguided idiot with too much power to be healthy who was manipted from his early childhood. Whether that maniption was done by a white-haired peace-loving pervert or fake Madara, it didn''t matter as it caused its fair share of damage.

    Nagato could not think for himself. Even if something was clearly fishy with Tobi for years, he ignored it and blindly chased his stupid goal. Reia€| really couldn''t understand the man.

    ''Speaking of fake Madaras.'' Rei turned around, his hand snapping upward and catching the wrist of a person that appeared from a swirl.

    Rei looked at the kunai that was supposed to end up in his back and raised his eyebrow at the new arrival. "Did you really think this would work?" He looked at the man with an orange swirl mask whose single Mangekyo Sharingan was ring at Rei from behind it in utter rage.

    "Do you have any idea what you have done?" The fake Madara menacingly growled.

    Rei just pleasantly smiled at that, "Why don''t you exin it to me as if I was five?"

 Chapter 446 Ch446. Stupid Move

    Tobi snarled at Rei''s provocation, unable to control his feelings due to the realization that the Tsuki no Me n waspletely ruined.

    Without Madara''s Rinnegan, there was no way to bring Madara back to life or even summon the Gedo Mazo, nor to seal bijuu into it. Without Madara''s Rinnegan, there was no way to go forward and every n and machination becamepletely meaningless.

    From Zetsu, Obito knew how Madara unlocked Rinnegan. One needed a very strong Uchiha with Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan to have the blood and flesh of a powerful Senju imnted into his body and then wait for the eyes to evolve.

    But even with Madara taking in Hashirama''s flesh, it still took considerable time.

    The biggest problem was... the Uchiha and Senju ns were no longer in existence. As far as he knew, the only people capable of evolving Rinnegan were himself, Sasuke, and Itachi Uchiha. And even then, there were no sufficiently strong Senju around.

    Thest remaining Senju was Tsunade and Obito kinda doubted her strength. She was like a puffed-up peacock, full of pride and attitude... Yet, Obito knew she was supposed to be the weakest of the Sannin Trio. Compared to Hashirama, she kinda fell short, in his opinion.

    That wouldn''t have been a problem otherwise but Obito suspected the stronger a Senju is, the stronger his chakra is, the quicker the evolution process would go.

    Yet, the same problem was with the Uchiha side. Between Itachi, Sasuke, and himself, the closest to Madara strength-wise was him and he knew well that he fell short of the man''s prime by arge margin.

    How long would it take for a new set of eyes to be evolved from the avableponents? Fifty years? Hundred years? More?

    Obito didn''t have an answer for that but he knew it wouldn''t be anytime soon, if ever. Somehow, he doubted quantity would make up for quality, andpared to the legendary ninjas, Madara and Hashirama, the quality of this time fell short by a lot.

    That''s why Rei ruining Nagato''s eyes put an instant stop to his and Madara''s ns. It was over.

    Obito''s body fully materialized and the swirling around him stopped. He had no idea who the bastard in front of him was but he knew he was strong. If the interception of his sneak attack was not proof enough... And Obito prided himself in being able to sneak up on people with his Mangekyo... then the state Nagato was in was enough to convince Obito to take Rei seriously right off the bat.

    The second hisst use of his Mangekyo ceased, he instantly reactivated it, this time aiming directly at Rei''s chest and causing the air there to swirl, sucking the middle of Rei''s chest inside...

    Obito wanted to prematurely close the portal, ripping Rei''s chest into shreds and quickly ending him but to his surprise, he found himself unable to do it.

    The swirling continued on and on... the portal between Obito''s personal dimension and the ce Obito targeted refused to be closed.

    "What the heck is going on!?" Obito growled in frustration, trying in vain to forcefully interrupt his Jutsu. At this point, he would be d even if Rei came out unscathed.

    His Kamui usually did not use a lot of chakra as long as he opened a portal, hopped through it, and instantly closed it. He could use it constantly that way. Yes, the swirling teleporting took time but that was mostly for the shock effect and style, rather than because of necessity.

    After all, in the middle ofbat, he could relocate parts of his body to his dimension, making himself seem intangible to his opponent. If the technique took a lot of chakra, it would be unusable.

    But... it had its own rules and disadvantages. Right now, his Kamui was trying to suck another being, which was a massive expenditure on chakra. That''s why Obito tried to do it quickly, just open a portal and close it right after a part of Rei was sucked in.

    Him being unable to close it sent rms and panic through his head as his chakra was sucked out of him at a quick pace.<sub> </sub>

    Rei watched the distraught Uchiha in front of him and chuckled, "You really are arrogant as the rest of your n, aren''t you?" He quipped with a smile, "Did you really think your Jutsu had no counter?" Rei shook his head, "All it took was using a Space-Sealing Seal right after you opened your little portal." He curtly exined and Obito''s eyes widened in disbelief.

    No wonder he could not close the portal! The entire space around them was locked in its previous state... which meant the portal would be maintained until the seal holds. Yet, the portal needed to be fueled by something and that something was Obito''s chakra.

    Obito''s face paled at the implications and he frantically started to try forcefully closing the portal, not even realizing he was trying to jerk his wrist out of Rei''s hold.

    Rei, however, just tightly held his wrist andughed in amusement at Obito''s pitiful attempts.

    He had many countermeasures against Obito but... why fight a prolonged battle when he could just cause the man to exhaust himself to death without even moving an inch?

    Both Maki and Nagato could feel the quickly decreasing reserves of Obito and even though Nagato was blind, he had a clear picture of what was happening just by using his chakra sensing and hearing. Both of them were full of horrified awe at the ease with which their co-leader was defeated and realized they are lucky to be still alive. If these two intruders intended to kill them, then even if the initial ambush failed and Nagato had the time to mobilize his Paths, it wouldn''t have mattered.

    Konan also watched what was happening but unlike Nagato and Maki, she was just disappointed. Akatsuki was supposed to be strong and people in the know oftenpared them to Yozora with reverence.

    Yet... the idiot got caught in such a simple trap!?

    How friggin hard was it to understand that space locks are the biggest threat to him and prepare ordingly? And he had literally NOTHING to counter them? And this was supposed to be one of the best S-rank ninjas in the current Elemental Nations sans the Vige on the Other Side?

    Really?

    Sure... Uzumaki were not back in business that long and they definitely did not sell these kinds of seals to their customers but back in their heyday, they were known for their ability to lock space. It would be prudent to prepare for the eventuality...

    ''I guess my worldview is a bit skewed due to Rei''s views.'' Konan wryly smiled.

    It took barely three minutes and Obito''s fierce thrashing started slowing down, until he totally stopped moving thirty secondster, letting out a muffled wheeze before he powerlessly fell to his knees and inclined his head down as the swirling on Rei''s chest slowly ceased.

    Rei blinked and let Obito''s wrist go, his arm instantly falling down, and then he put two fingers on Obito''s forehead, giving him a gentle shove that caused his body to fall over on its back.

    Rei pursed his lips, staring at the sprawled Obito on the ground, his sole Mangekyo Sharingan still staring at the ceiling from behind his mask...

    "Yup, he is dead." Rei shrugged as he felt no chakra signature from the body in front of him, and turned back towards Nagato and Maki who nervously gulped at having his attention.

    ---

    Author Note:

    If you feel like it, feel free to leave your thoughts on how Obito was dealt with and if you think it is realistic or have some misgivings :D. I find myself curious about your opinion.

 Chapter 447 Ch447. Deciding The Future Of Amegakure

    "What are you nning to do with us?" Mika asked for the second time.

    Now she realized she had been brushed away the first time she asked and much to her shame, her attention was redirected all too easily because of her worry for Nagato''s life.

    But seeing Rei dispatch Obito so easily, she was reminded she didn''t get a proper answer to what will happen to them.

    Rei dryly looked at Mika, giving her a long stare which made her feel nonexistent pressure, causing her to nervously fidget... before he simply uncaringly shrugged, "For all I care, now that the chosen-wannabe no longer possesses Rinnegan, you can go and do whatever. Whether you chose to be farmers or continue ying at hidden rulers of Ame, it doesn''t concern me at all."

    "That''s it?" Mika uttered in disbelief.

    Hees here out of nowhere, cripples Nagato, and now he says he doesn''t care what happens to them? That was... hateful!

    Mika gritted her teeth, trying to hold her feelings in.

    "What? Did you expect something else or are you dissatisfied with being left alive?" Rei tilted his head when he saw how the girl was ring at him.

    Surprisingly, it was Nagato who saved the situation by butting in, "No, we are grateful for letting us go."

    Rei redirected his gaze at him, feeling shocked from the bottom of his heart as one of the most delusional people in Elemental Nations actually did something that made sense.

    Of course, Rei would not kill them. He already decided to let them go but that didn''t mean he couldn''t mess with them. At first, he thought it would be a bit too much since he had already crippled Nagato. But when Mika started to act out, he decided to have his fun at her expense.

    Yet, Nagato ruined it for him.

    ''Should I cut off his tongue this time?'' Rei offhandedly mused, his lips twitching in indignation.

    "Can I ask what you n to do with the rest of Akatsuki?" Nagato asked, from his tone it was obvious he really cared for hisrades. Or at least, for some of the saner ones.

    "Some will die, others will be subdued and tried to be reasoned with. And if that won''t work, they will be dealt with. I don''t intend to do this kind of leg-work by myself though. Not all of it at least. So I can''t tell you precisely who will and who won''t survive." Rei nonchntly shrugged, only toote realizing that Nagato couldn''t see him.

    "I see." Nagato clenched his fists in frustration.

    There was nothing he could do. Most of his power came from Rinnegan and losing it meant he lost ess to its abilities. Fighting Rei would be suicide so being polite to the bastard who blinded him was his only option if he wanted Mika to survive.

    Not all was lost, though. As he slowly started to get used to being blind, he was managing to ''see'' through his chakra sensing and he felt if he trained it enough, it would have been as if he had never lost his sight. He would just perceive the world a bit differently. That was a massive relief for him.

    Nevertheless, this... was a really nasty reality check for him and his only goal for now was to survive. Survive to see another day and have time to train and...

    "If you think about having revenge against me then forget it." Rei guessed what the redhead thought from his expression. "You would have a hard time even with Rinnegan. Without it..." Rei shook his head as if he found the notion ridiculous.<sub> </sub>

    Nagato was used to using the Heaven Path for the negotiations and speaking with the Akatsuki members so he didn''t have all that much self-control in his own body. The Heaven Path was expressionless by default so it didn''t require all that much self-discipline to not show any reaction.

    But Rei was speaking with Nagato''s real body and the boy was no ninja. His expressionpletely betrayed his intentions.

    Rei saw Nagato stiffen when he heard his words, no doubt feeling a surge of fear, which made Rei satisfied. He wouldn''t kill the redhead simply because he was resentful. He had the right to be.

    Rei gave Nagato a bit of leeway because he felt a bit sorry for him. Losing his eyesight and having some hard truths told to his face must have shaken his world from the ground up. s, it had to happen.

    "What is going to happen with the Amegakure?" Konan asked, surprising Nagato and Maki that one of their assants cared about such a thing.

    Both of them were on the brink of despair, not knowing how they would hold the current peace and regime in Amegakure together with losing Nagato''s prowess. While living on a farm somewhere far away was tempting, both Nagato and Mika knew it was not a life for them. They desired to bring peace to Amegakure and it was too ingrained in them for them to stop pursuing this dream.

    Even if it cost them their lives.

    "Naturally, we will upy it." Rei said in an amused tone, watching how Mika''s eyes widened and Nagato''s expression tightened. Seeing their expressions shift at contemting this or that disastrous scenario of Amegakure being upied was fun but Rei decided to exin further to not cause a misunderstanding. Well, he did after he enjoyed their fright for a few moments. "I would feel bad if the people of Amegakure suffered because of my actions. So I guess we can simply take it as ours and protect it. After all, we doe from this country." He shrugged, dropping the verbal bomb on Mika and Nagato.

    "You..." Nagato started but he was instantly cut off.

    "Ah, so you want to im Amegakure under the Biri-Biri and Uzushio protection. Yes, that would do it." Konan nodded in understanding, causing Nagato''s head to whip towards where her voice wasing from, his expression hopeful.

    "Yes, having a country in the center of the Elemental Nations as the Biri-Biri base would help business immensely." Rei hummed.

    It was a great idea. Not only would hispany profit from it, but Amegakure would grow wealthier and nobody would try any tricks on it for fear of losing Biri-Biri''s services.

    Nagato couldn''t help but be happy about this and tears started to roll down his cheeks. When he was powerful, he naturally had grand dreams but bing powerless was a shock enough to make him realize what was truly important to him.

    It wasn''t the world. No. What Nagato really longed for was that...

    His country... would be safe.

    Just like that, any thought of revenge was forgotten by him, instead, he felt grateful.

    When Kaguyater informed Rei about Nagato''s feelings regarding his person, even he would scratch the back of his head and wonder how he managed to make a man whom he crippled be so grateful to him.

    Uzumakis were just too weird for hismon sense.

 Chapter 448 Ch448. Arrival At Iwa

    Author''s Note:

    If someone is too impatient to wait for webnovel updates, the story is already finished and depending on the pa treon tier, will be fully essible there by the 10th or the end of June.

    https://.pa treon/kasicair

    ---

    After they were done with Mika and Nagato, Rei decided to go and check the progress of his ns while Konan dutifully followed.

    They teleported close to the Iwagakure, the same ce where they hid before wreaking havoc in the vige all these years ago. Rei turned toward Konan with an inquisitive look, "How is the situation?"

    Every unit of Sunagakure ninjas was given a slice of paper connected to Konan so at all times, she had quite a good overview of what was going on. Nonchntly managing such a massive influx of information while still acting as if nothing was happening made Rei a bit impressed but throughout the years, Konan became really good at that. With her spywork, she had to.

    "The fighting is over. Suna lost two hundred and thirty-one ninjas while Iwa lost quadruple that before Suna took over the Kage Tower alongside defeating the enemy leader and Iwa forces mostly surrendered. Right now, the Suna troops are dealing with stragglers who barricaded themselves in a few buildings and refuse to give up before they are put down." Konan exined as they started to walk towards Iwagakure.

    Since the battle was mostly over, there was no need to worry about being dragged into it. As easy as dealing with Iwa would have been for them, this was a training mission for Suna troops.

    Yes, Rei and Konan were strong but they could not babysit people all the time. The entire reason why Rei aimed to unite the ninja viges was to put a stop to the foolish mentality where the viges tried to sabotage each other, going as far as starting wars just so their enemies do not have the opportunity to grow too strong.

    Instead of trying to improve themselves, the viges put more effort into hindering each other before Rei''s girls started to take control. It was pathetic.

    So much talented young blood wasted... and for what? In the end, no matter what the decrepit old fools would like to believe, there was never a winner of ninja wars. Everyone lost. Some just lost a tad bit less than others.

    "Mhm. Why not just blow them up alongside the buildings?" Rei casually shrugged, no longer caring. His patience for the viges grew thin and their attempt to join Orochimaru in order to invade Konoha was thest straw.

    Rei might have been very calm about it but he certainly did not inwardly approve.

    Of course, he would have invaded Iwa and Kumo anyway. That was just a question of time since he didn''t really have anybody who could covertly take over the government and install themselves as Raikage or Tsuchikage.

    But Rei''s ns for the takeover were... mild. He certainly did not n to kill over a thousand Iwa ninjas in the process as happened now.

    The second these viges joined Orochimaru... all bets were off and Rei decided to fulfill Pakura''s and Ringo''s little wish of revenge.

    During her younger age, Pakura fought in the Third Ninja War against Iwa. She was waddling through a river of blood belonging to her ownrades while trying to turn any Iwa-nin into ash. That kind of grudge doesn''t disappear entirely.

    The woman wanted to have this ''field exercise'' against Iwa for quite a bit of time now but Rei always rejected the notion. That''s mostly why Pakura was so forting with Onoki right now and didn''t instantly kill him. If Onoki''s decision hadn''t pissed off Rei, she wouldn''t have been allowed to have her way with Iwa. She was grateful to the old midget.

    As for Ringo... she had a grudge against A for messing up her face.

    That was enough for her to sic her own vige''s best swordsmen against it, all the while making it a field test of her newly-made special swords.

    What else to say? Kiri was full of nut-cases as always.

    Not that Rei had any right to judge...

    ...<sub> </sub>

    Rei and Konan arrived at the Iwagakure''s Kage Tower, dropping their perception obscuring genjutsu and causing the two Suna jonins guarding the entrance to stiffen as their eyes went wide when two strangers suddenly appeared in front of them without their senses alerting them.

    The perception obscuring genjutsu was quite an ingenious piece of ninjutsu made by Konan''s apprentice, Izumi Uchiha. It didn''tpletely vanish a person, just redirected the attention of others to different things.

    By all means, it should not have worked against trained ninjas who know well their life and death can depend on noticing a small detail. Yet, it seemed it was especially those ninjas who were the easiest to affect by this genjutsu. Izumi engineered the Jutsu to work better against people on guard.

    For example, while Rei and Konan were walking throughout the vige, the ninjas around them were far too busy and preupied with their own things. They had just survived a battle and were still in enemy territory so they were on alert but that was especially why their attention simply slid off the two harmless-looking passersby, no matter how bizarre it was to see a calmly strolling passersby in a war zone where martialw was established and civilians were told to stay in their homes.

    Their minds simply subconsciously told them they had more important things to deal with.

    To give them credit, the two guards almost instantly sprang into action, about to subdue Rei and Konan. It was rash and unprofessional to not even ask who they were but... well, ninjas were twitchy on what was de facto battlefield.

    As the guards were about to reach them, both Rei and Konan simply released their killing intent, stopping them in their tracks and for a moment, rooting them in their ces.

    It didn''tst, however. These two ninjas were Jonins so despite being bewildered due to the pressure of Rei''s and Konan''s intent, they quickly regathered their wits. And while they were leery of facing off against somebody who could produce such a strong killing intent, they also wouldn''t be backing down.

    But Rei and Konan released their intent for yet another purpose.

    By the time the guards regained their wits, they were no longer the only ninjas facing Rei and Konan. Instead, the entire street was full of Suna ninjas, some standing on the ground, some on the rooftops, and some were crouching horizontally on the walls...

    All of them were nervous but prepared to tackle Rei and Konan together, ready for a fight to break out at any time.

    Only the words of their second inmand stopped them from pouncing.

    "You...?" Sasori spluttered as his eyesnded on Rei, the supposedly rich boy civilian he escorted from the Waterfall Vige to Konoha... just remembering that nightmarish mission that tested his nerves to their limit made Sasori shudder.

    The redhead puppeteer subconsciously looked around, looking if the blonde menace was also present but to his infinite relief, he didn''t see Nadetsu Juusen anywhere.

    That was the only reason why he, from sheer panic, didn''t order an attack yet.

    But Sasori was not the only high ranked ninja who came out. When Rika Shun spotted Rei, she pleasantly smiled, "Oh, Rei-sama. Nice to see you. I was expecting your arrival. Everything is prepared."

    Sasori''s head snapped to her, his lips frowning and his head having a hard timeputing... ''What the hell!? The boy was not just Juusen''s boytoy?''

    Rika was his subordinate as far as the puppet corps jurisdiction went but outside of it, she outranked him as Pakura''s right hand woman. That''s why it was her who was given themand on this operation and Sasori didn''t mind all that much.

    "All of you, back to your jobs!" Rika barked an order at the bewildered Suna ninjas, causing them to scramble to obey, and before long the semi-half street was once again empty.

    Sasori watched as Rika led Rei and Konan inside, barely capable of restraining himself from dropping his jaw to the ground, utterly confused by what just happened and why.

    ''I feel myself insufficiently informed and mymon sense offended. Were two intruders just treated as if Lady Pakura herself descended on us?'' He thought as he hurriedly followed, definitely intent on asking some pointed questions to Rika.

    Poor Sasori... everybody forgot to inform him about vital stuff.

 Chapter 449 Ch449. A Helping Hand

    "The invasion went smoothly. Our puppeteers set up a poison cloud around the perimeter of Iwa before our Battle Fan specialists used their Jutsus to quickly spread it all over Iwagakure just as nned. With the chakra weakening poison in the air, our troops managed to overwhelm Iwa forces in under two hours." Rika reported without being prompted as she led Rei and Konan inside.

    No doubt, it was an overwhelming victory for Suna, one that brought a lot of satisfaction to Pakura''s subordinates. Many of them fought in the Third Ninja War and their primary enemy was Iwa. This was a way to get back at them.

    But...

    Rei didn''t care about that!

    "That''s fine but I think you should report that to Pakura once she returns from Konoha." He wryly smiled, "I am more interested if you managed to capture Onoki''s granddaughter."

    To give Rika credit, she faltered only for a brief split of a second before she regained her bearings and nodded. "The bitch killed over fifty of our ninjas before we finally subdued her. I have no idea why Lady Pakura wanted her alive." She indignantly huffed.

    And due to that reaction, Rei decided to keep his involvement in that order secret from Rika...

    Rei, Konan, and Rika entered the temporarymand center, which was basically just a trashed and remade office of Onoki, and Rei''s eyes instantlynded on a form of exhausted and bloody girl tied to a chair with ninja wire while silently ring at everyone who was quietly worked in the room.

    Not that she could talk with a gag in her mouth.

    Rei nced at Riku and raised an eyebrow at that, only getting vague and uncaring, "She just wouldn''t shut up.", and a shrug in reply.

    Rei noted that Kurotsuchi had definitely seen better days. Her right arm was broken at the elbow while her left one sported many cuts and gashes. Both of her arms were painfully twisted behind the chair''s backrest and tied together by a wire in a way that brought the woman constant suffering.

    Her legs and the rest of her body were no better, for that matter.

    Her clothes were scraps at this point, her modesty barely covered since nobody bothered to get her new clothes after she was captured, and her previous battling reduced her own torn wreck.

    Despite most of her body being barely covered, Kurotsuchi wasn''t very attractive right now. Her body was littered with deep purple and ck bruises, sporting several nasty cuts that would definitely scar if nothing was done about them.

    While ninjas didn''t mind scars, Kurotsuchi''s current form was way past fashionable and started to enter the territory of distasteful even for them.

    Rei sighed and shook his head, fully aware that Suna had enough medics present to spare one for the Iwa girl. But they were most likely dying it as much as possible out of sheer spite.

    Not that he could scold Riku for that. Having her medics tend to her injured people first wasn''t exactly a bad decision.

    Rei ignored the questioning looks of the jonins seated all over the room who were dealing with reports and directly approached Kurotsuchi, un-gagging her and smirking when she tried to bite his fingers the first chance she got... and not in a yful way.

    It was a child''s y to evade her bite and Rei amusedly watched the unwilling irritation in Kurotsuchi''s half-resigned and narrowed eyes as her jaw clicked together with enough strength it made her try and fail to repress her groan from pain as her upper and lower teeth smashed together.

    "I am the only person in the room who doesn''t wish you to violently die, girl. While your resistance is admirable, you should be way smarter about showing it so openly." Rei lightly chided, causing Kurotsuchi to look at him as if he grew a second head while her expression became sour at his nonchnce.

    Rei didn''t wait for her answer and quickly put his hand on her bruised cheek, making Kurotsuchi hiss from pain... before her eyes went slightly wide as she felt healing chakra start to mend her face.

    It took Kurotsuchi a moment to understand what was going on and her expression was shifting through various emotions, the woman too tired to even try hiding it. In the end, however, resigned gratitude seemed to win as she leaned her head more into Rei''s palm, enjoying thefort of his healing chakra while staring at his eyes as if judging his intentions.<sub> </sub>

    Rei let her do whatever she was doing, not rushing her as he was too curious about what she would do. Much to his disappointment, there was no more biting y. Sadge.

    A few seconds passed, and Kurotsuchi hesitantly opened her mouth...

    "What do ya want?" She quietly asked with a tinge of reluctance in her tone, much to the bewilderment of the other upants of the room that watched the interaction between her and Rei with rising interest.

    The girl was like a rabid animal before she was gagged, screaming and cussing at everyone present, so much so that even the jonins found it hard to ignore her and focus on their work. Hence, the gag.

    Seeing the same spitting mad bitch so... subdued, made their jaws almost drop to the floor.

    When Rei saw that, he almost rolled his eyes at them. Of course, she was more agreeable to speak with him. Wasn''t it obvious? No matter how messed up her body was or how tomboyish she was, she was a woman!

    And if Rei learned something about the unexinable creatures called women, it was that they valued their faces a lot. Many would deny it, saying appearance did not matter but they would be lying.

    The second he started to heal Kurotsuchi''s face, he knew there was a seventy percent chance she would chill the fuck out and stop her temper tantrum due to the sheer shock.

    And while Rei was a bit downtrodden that the girl didn''t persist with her fiery resistance and fell for this small trick, it worked better than a bitchp... something the idiots around definitely tried considering how bruised her cheek was.

    ''Sure, ya twats. Try shutting a kunoichi down by further messing up her face.'' Rei barely pushed down the desire to facepalm.

    While that would have worked against genins or chunins, Jonins were made up of different stuff. And Iwa jonins were known to be stubborn to the point of stupid. They were known to rather die than be captured so Kurotsuchi acting out was quite normal.

    "I have an offer for you." Rei disarmingly smiled... a gesture that was very hard to dismiss, considering he was currently healing her.

    But Kurotsuchi didn''t fall for it and a spark of anger once again slightly reignited in her coal-like eyes. "Do you really think I would help you? After thi- aw! Wha av yu doving!?"

    When her voice rose, Rei promptly grabbed her cheek and started to y with it, stretching and squeezing it, which might have made Kurotsuchi indignant but the spiteful kind of anger gave way to a more childish one without her even noticing how much that gesture calmed her down.

    "And who knows..." Rei nonchntly continued as if her earlier outburst didn''t happen. "If you are a good girl, maybe, just maybe I will make sure your grandfather''s life is spared. He is currently battling Pakura''s apprentice and just between us..." Rei leaned closer and said as if he was sharing a secret with her, "I don''t think he is enjoying it."

    "My grandpa will win!" Kurotsuchi rebuked with confidence and was about to continue her tirade, but Rei cut her off.

    "Even if he wins," Rei strongly interrupted, "he would still need to face thepletely fresh Kazekage. I think his back will give out sooner though." He shrugged.

    The room descended into silence for a moment, everybody too interested in how the situation would unfold to interrupt as Kurotsuchi was considering her options.

    "What... kind of help?" In the end, Kurotsuchi reluctantly asked, subconsciously looking down as she gritted her teeth.

    Rei inwardly smirked. He knew the girl had a lot of trust in her grandfather but she was aware he was just a human too. And therefore, she was unable to persist in her blind trust once the threat to his life was directly pointed out to her.

    "It''s quite simple." Rei kindly smiled, much like a devil would when offering someone on theirst leg a helping hand, "I want you to officially swear yourself as my personal kunoichi."

 Chapter 450 Ch450. Resignation

    Kurotsuchi reeled back when she heard what Rei wanted from her and even the Suna ninjas in the room couldn''t help but stare in shock at his audacity.

    "You want me to be your ve!?" Kurotsuchi eximed in horror, her expression full of unwillingness and disgust.

    Unlike Temari who was ten when Pakura took her as her own, Kurotsuchi was in the middle of her teenage years and her understanding of the world was much, much deeper. Temari might have known of the old concept under which ninjas served their lords but she did not fully understand what it all entailed when she swore herself to Pakura. Kurotsuchi, however, was different and had a clear picture of what was asked of her.

    "Now, now. Don''t let your imagination run wild, girl." Rei chided her as if she was a kid, "You are what? Fourteen? And a total tomboy on top of that." He gestured towards Konan with his head, "I have much better options if I want to bed somebody so that''s not it."

    "I am sixteen, you bastard!" Kurotsuchi eximed, ring at Rei for his unspoken insinuation that she is not attractive enough for him.

    Rei inwardly grinned. There went her fright. The best way to misdirect the attention of people with a fiery temper was simply to trigger said temper.

    Outwardly, however, Rei only sagely nodded, "Mhm, it''s hard to know with such a modest chest. Puberty doesn''t treat you well, does it?" He offhandedly remarked, causing Kurotsuchi to try to stomp on his foot.

    When Rei casually relocated his foot, making her miss, she scowled at him.

    Rei just raised his eyebrow at her, "I wonder which perverted idiot did tie your thighs to the chair instead of your ankles." He smirked

    "The one with the stupid yellow bandana." Kurotsuchi defiantly smirked back.

    Konan who was looking at their interaction from a bit further away couldn''t help but shake her head. The Iwa girl waspping Rei''s maniption up, not even noticing what was happening.

    Even Riku was impressed at seeing Lady Pakura''s husband in action. His bodynguage and actions... they were all appealing to Kurotsuchi''s temper and defiant personality.

    Hisst question coupled with his bodynguage, for example, made it easy to foster a small spark of ''camaraderie'' between them. Kurotsuchi might not have noticed but she was far too rxed for somebody who was being ''interrogated'' and ''negotiated'' with.

    ''Not that the girl realizes what is happening.'' Riku inwardly sighed, ''That man... he is good at dealing with children, isn''t he?'' She chuckled in disbelief.

    "Is that so?" Reizily turned towards the man who suddenly found the entire room staring at him, making him quite ufortable. A few seconds of silence passed and the man started to slightly fidget under Rei''s stare. He, like everybody in the room, had no idea who Rei was but the way Lady Riku deferred to him made it inly obvious that he should not be offended.

    When Rei thought the man was sufficiently nervous, he deadpanned at him, "Admit it, you just wanted to touch her thighs. Isn''t that right, you pedophile?"

    The ufortable silence became instantly awkward, the ninjas around werepletely bbergasted at the nonchnt usation.

    The silence was suddenly broken by Kurotsuchi who erupted withughter. Deep down, everybody, even her, knew it was ridiculous since she was a bruised mess... but the nonchnt attitude of Rei made her feel oddly light-hearted.

    Rei chuckled and gave the bandana-wearing spluttering man a reassuring smile to show him he was not really serious before he turned back towards Kurotsuchi.

    "So? Is the prospect of being my ve still so frightening?" Rei leaned closer to her and cheekily asked.

    "No... Yes..." Kurotsuchi grimaced, inwardly waring with her own feelings. The man was kinda cool and didn''t seem the bad sort but she still had her pride! "I mean-" The same pride that was being offended the second she realized she actually considered agreeing. Kurotsuchi scowled and gave Rei a re, "Fuck you."

    "Hmm~, cheeky." Rei mused, "So that''s how you feel about me? I am ttered."

    Hearing him, Kurotsuchi''s eyes widened, realizing how her words could have been taken, causing her to show a mortified expression

    "Fuck me." Kurotsuchi uttered at Rei''s ''misunderstanding'', once again not thinking about her word choice.<sub> </sub>

    Rei''s lips quirked upward at how easy she was making it for him. "Maybe once you get a little bit older, little girl." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

    "That''s not-!" Kurotsuchi eximed in aggravation before she decided she had enough and scowled, "You know what? Fuck you, bastard! I am not ying word games with you!"

    "No, I guess you are too smart to not notice what is going on." Rei remarked before he paused, inwardly rolling his eyes in amusement.

    Kurotsuchi''s expression almost became pleased at the praise but that''s when Rei once again started speaking, his stillpletely nonchnt but his words...

    "You are currently tied to a chair while the good people around us are deciding your worth. You can be anything from executed in a show of power and what happens to those too defiant for their own good, to bing a breeding sow, chained like an animal in a cell, and taken out once a year to be impregnated to provide Suna with a new generation of ninjas capable of using the Lava Release."

    Rei''s words were chilling to Kurotsuchi, making her feel as if a bucket of cold water was poured over her head when she was so bluntly told the facts.

    Of course, Rei knew Pakura couldn''t care less about the girl''s genes. The practice of kidnapping women and breeding them for bloodlines was discontinued in Suna the second she became the Kazekage.

    But Kurotsuchi didn''t know that.

    The girl was raised in Iwa and while Kumo was known for these practices, the militaristic Iwa was not that far behind. It was just less known since Iwa actually cared for their image. This made Rei''s words believable to the girl who for the first time started thinking beyond the current moment.

    Frankly, Rei just spoke bullshit and made the cute impressionable tomboye to her own dark and gloomy conclusions.

    Worked like a charm ny-five percent of the time. Rei rmended.

    "Oh, and we should not forget about your grandfather who is currently fighting for his life against Kazekage and her apprentice who is also an S-ranked ninja. I wonder how long he willst. Who knows? Maybe he is already dead, hm?" Rei casually added, ignoring the slowly rising despair in Kurotsuchi''s distressed eyes that begged him to stop speaking.

    Rei then turned towards Riku, "What about her father? Dead?"

    The amused puppet mistress shook her head, "In a cell, still barely alive but... literally disarmed." She answered, adding a bit of dark humor to the ending.

    Rei turned back and looked straight at Kurotsuchi and his tone for the first time became serious, "You lost. You should realize that. You have a choice now. You can choose your pride and perish with it, dragging your family to the grave with you. Or, you can be mine and while your family would lose Iwagakure, they will survive this clusterfuck. So, let me ask you for thest time, girl. Will you be my ve or not?"

    Kurotsuchi was so wide-eyed her thoughts became a jumbled mess as the reality hit her like a truck and she was unable to form a coherent reply. Her desire to send Rei to hell battled with what she knew she had to do to survive, making her stressed and angry and frustrated and...

    Eventually, her head dropped, as a choked sob resounded throughout the deadly silent room. Tears started falling into Kurotsuchi''sp and it was obvious she was trying very hard to stifle her sobs, only managing to reduce them to sniffles.

    For a moment, her sniffles were the only noise that filled the room, Rei all too happy to let her stew in her emotions for a bit and think her situation through.

    It made it that much sweeter to know her final decision would be fully her own, and the girl would be less likely to betray him because of that fact.

    It didn''t take long for him to finally hear the expected reply.

    "Yes... Master."

    Kurotsuchi eventually dered her resignation in a tearful voice full of sorrow and pain, and Rei''s eyes narrowed in satisfaction.

 Chapter 451 Ch451. Return To Konoha

    After getting the resigned confirmation from Kurotsuchi, Rei decided to stop being an asshole and gently put his hand on her hair, ruffling it a bit.

    "Good girl." He kindly said and started to properly heal her. His healing Jutsu was nowhere near Tsunade''s, but when living with the foremost expert in the field, one learns a thing or two.

    Fortunately for Kurotsuchi''s continued well-being, Konan helped too.

    After the still morose girl was all patched up, she calmed down enough to appreciate in silent wonder as her broken arm and bruised body were mended in a matter of minutes.

    While it was still astonishing even for the Suna ninjas, since Pakura became the Kazekage, a lot of improvements were slowly introduced to the vige, one of which was better medical techniques. Rei had no idea what kind of bullshit reason Pakura gave her people for having those techniques, but he knew she didn''t hold out on them. That''s why the sight of advanced healing didn''t shake them as much as it did Kurotsuchi.

    For the girl, this was a very shocking sight. The medical field was nowhere near as advanced as Rei thought in his past life while reading Naruto. In fact, it was Tsunade and Orochimaru that were the freaks of their generation when it came to medical techniques.

    Most of their techniques were self-made. Hell, most of the ''modern'' healing procedures were either invented or improved by Tsunade herself. Her title of the best med-nin in the world was not just lip service.

    The woman was a legend in the ninja world for a reason...

    For other medics, broken bones were still very bothersome and while their mending could have been elerated, the hospitals existed for a reason. If every injury could be shrugged off with just a few minutes of a healing technique, they would have been redundant.

    And while Tsunade started researching methods how to elerate the process tremendously, and was sessful for the most part as a bit of it was already applied in the hospitals all over Rei''s viges, not many ''average'' medics had the necessary chakra potency and quality to pull it off the same way Tsunade could so she had to dumb it down for them. It was still a work in progress.

    Now that Kurotsuchi was in a good condition, Rei freed her from the wire that bound her to the chair, all the while not letting down his guard. As much as he would love to believe the girl knew what was best for her, she was still a teenager.

    Kunoichi or not, hormones affected everyone the same.

    Rei could not be sure something flipped in her head, causing her to try a foolish thing like escaping a room full of experienced jonins or starting a fight. Hence, he stayed vignt.

    Thankfully, Kurotsuchi was still in too much shock to think about things like these, and Rei''s visit to Iwa went without any unforeseen incident. He and Konan didn''t dilly-dally in Iwa, leaving the situation there in the capable hands of Riku as they ushered the bewildered Kurotsuchi out of the room, and using a teleportation technique back to Konoha the second the door closed behind them.

    They arrived in the exact same ce where Rei and Konan previously disappeared from the vige. In the middle of a street.

    ''Hiraishin!?'' Kurotsuchi mentally freaked out, mistaking the technique.

    It didn''tst, however. When her eyes took in the surroundings, her thoughts were diverted by the sight of Iwa ninjas'' bodies strewn around the street, causing her to grimace in sadness as she distractedly followed Rei.

    It was obvious the invasion did not go as her grandfather nned. If it did, the friggin Konoha ninjas would not have been leisurelyughing and joking among each other, as if it was just another usual Monday at work, while they were clearing up the bodies of Kumo, Iwa, and Sound ninjas.<sub> </sub>

    Two hours passed since Rei and Konan left Konoha and the battle was pretty much over by now. From what their chakra senses were telling them, there were some stubborn stragglers that still needed to be dealt with, but the overwhelming majority of the enemy troops were already either killed or had surrendered.

    Eventually, Rei, Konan, and the disheartened Kurotsuchi reached the arena, and Rei led them to where he could feel Pakura still leisurely sitting, She was still in the same spot as when they left, much to Rei''s amused surprise.

    Well, he could feel the showdown between Temari and Onoki was still not concluded so it was only natural that Pakura would pay attention to it so no mishap happened to Temari. After all, Onoki was a highly dangerous ninja despite his old age. One good hit and Temari could be in danger.

    This fight was supposed to be a training exercise for the girl and while a bit of danger was healthy for her awareness, by now every woman of Rei adopted his distaste for putting their proteges at unnecessary life-threatening risks.

    It sure worked for those who survived them. Pakura was taught that way and she became a legend in Suna during the Third Ninja War. But there were a lot of those that failed at the surviving part.

    In Rei''s opinion, doing that was just a waste of talent. Nobody was the same but everybody could be taught and trained to be strong. While some didn''t have the predisposition to be great fighters, that didn''t mean they could not bepetent in the field if a good teaching method was implemented. The necessary approach differed from person to person. Trying to force one kind of approach on everybody just caused a lot of unnecessary casualties.

    "They are still at it?" Rei asked as he entered the room where Pakura sat, announcing his presence with the question.

    "Yeah. The old geezer is tenacious as hell." Pakura quipped, not even turning to look at Rei. She could sense him the second he teleported back to Konoha so she was aware of him when he entered the room too. "But I gotta say, I am proud of my girl. I was a bit worried when she underestimated him at the start but thankfully, she learned her lesson and took the fight seriously since then."

    When Kurotsuchi realized who the person sitting in front of her was, her eyes went wide. Rei told her that her grandfather fought against the Kazekage''s apprentice but Kurotsuchi inwardly doubted that. An apprentice would not be strong enough to fight her grandpa!

    She naturally thought it was actually the Kazekage herself who battled Onoki but here she saw the woman leisurely lounging in afortable chair, while...

    Kurotsuchi''s eyes slowly moved towards the arena, discovering a sight she would have never thought possible.

    In the arena, a girl not much older than her was facing her ancient grandpa on even footing, pushing him back even. Kurotsuchi''s jaw dropped to the floor at that. She found it hard to believe this was possible. She fought against her grandfather a lot in her training but not once did she manage to erase his leisure smile.

    Yet, Onoki right now waspletely focused, his expression grave and full of tiredness. That shook Kurotsuchi''s confidence like nothing else.

    It was with great apprehension that Kurotsuchi realized the Kazekage really had not made a move yet.

    At that moment, Kurotsuchi felt relief flood her as she realized that her decision was correct. For, there was no way her grandfather would have survived this situation without the deal she made with her new master.

    Nowa€| she had a different problem.

    How the hell was she supposed to exin it to her grandpa in a way that won''t send him into a fit of rage? Logic didn''t work on her family!

 Chapter 452 Ch452. Temari Vs Onoki - Fin

    Rei didn''t instantly intervene and interrupt the match between Temari and Onoki. He wanted to see Temari''s full prowess and what better time to witness it than a fight against a Kage-level opponent where she is forced to give her all?

    Instead, he gestured to Konan to getfortable and sat on a chair next to Pakura, causing Kurotsuchi to awkwardly stand in her spot and uprehendingly stare between them and the fight where her grandfather was having a hard time.

    She opened her mouth, about to remind her new master he was supposed to stop the fight, but one look from Konan shut her up really fast, making her huff and flop into a chair a bit away from the trio as she crossed her arms under her chest and scowled.

    "Mah~, don''t be so childish, Kuro-chan." Rei quipped, "Don''t worry, I will make sure your granddaddy will survive the fight but I want to see the fight so bear with me for a little bit, ok?

    Kurotsuchi did not reply nor even turn towards him but he saw her shoulders sag a bit and that was an answer enough for him. Smiling to himself, Rei turned back towards the ongoing battle.

    He could inly see the fight evolved to a whole new level since he left two hours ago. Temari was no longer using her battle fan nor any wind Jutsus, deeming them useless against Onoki who could easily dodge any of them except ones with the widest area of effect. Instead of these, Temari was fully focused on her Ma Release and Gravity maniption.

    Onoki, on the other hand, started to use more of his Earth Maniption, not using his bloodline willy-nilly as he did at the start. Now when he used it, it had some serious juice and aimed to destroy a lot more than just make a small hole in whatever it hit.

    Down in the arena, an intense exchange of numerous small flying objects made of Iron Sand, something Rei knew Temari was working on but her control over it wasn''t quite there yet thest time he saw her practice with it, rushing at Onoki. From what Rei could tell, these objects would have never reached that kind of speed with just Ma Release.

    The biggest problem with Sand Maniption techniques was their speed. In the higher leagues, the user had to rely on trapping their opponent because chakra could enhance the speed of whatever was manipted only so far.

    Temari, however, was also using Gravity Maniption in tandem with it, lowering the weight of these objects to featherlight, causing their speed to be three to four times higher.

    Onoki was having a hard time dodging the unceasing hail of projectiles and acted ordingly. His skin was almost ck, hardened to the highest degree with Earth chakra, and he also started hovering closer to the ground in order to have quick ess to Earth Walls.

    But despite spamming numerous Earth Walls to stop the projectiles, their sheer number usually punched through the walls. It did slow them down, however, and gave Onoki the necessary time to dodge the hell out of their way.

    Yet, Rei could see a few gashes on Onoki already, telling him that not everything was cleanly dodged.

    Temari wasn''t stupid. The second she saw her approach was not working, she slightly adjusted her strategy, trying to get past Onoki''s defenses, but Onoki was experienced enough to understand this and counter it.

    That''s why the fight turned into a tactical tug of war, bothbatants waiting until the other made a mistake.

    It came sooner than Rei would have thought. Just five minutes into his watching, Onoki managed to sneak in a small localized earthquake under Temari''s feet. It wasn''t anything grand, just a small shake, but it was enough to briefly disrupt her focus, slowing down her projectiles and giving Onoki the much-needed few seconds for a counterattack.

    Temari barely managed to regain her bnce, only for her eyes to widen as she noticed a massive white beam heading directly towards her. She didn''t have enough time to dodge it and felt deja-vu about what happened earlier.

    This was why she didn''t let up on her offensive. Onoki''s bloodline was far too destructive and far too fast! She didn''t allow him to use it without being prepared to evade it. Yet, this momentarypse in focus cost her dearly.<sub> </sub>

    Temari knew there was only one thing she could do to save herself from being disintegrated. Only one Jutsu of hers had the necessary properties to block such a powerful Dust Release point-nk. But she was reluctant. The attack was not yet controble enough...

    ''Ah, to hell with it!'' Temari inwardly snarled, knowing she didn''t have a choice anyway. Between possibly being ripped to shreds by her own attack and being definitely disintegrated, the choice with even a slight chance of survival seemed better to her.

    Focusing in front of herself, Temari molded her earth chakra in a veryplicated manner. It took barely a split of a second for a small, barely visible dot to appear, seemingly sucking in the air around itself as it started to quickly grow, reaching the size of a ping-pong ball...

    It didn''t manage to grow more as Onoki''s Dust Release beam smashed directly into it.

    Temari nor Onoki didn''t manage to even register what happened before a shockwave hit them, sending them flying back like a ragdoll in the opposite directions before they both hit the wall of the arena behind them, punching right through it with their bodies.

    Rei, Konan, and Pakura only watched with astonishment the shockwave impacted the ground and the walls all around, horribly cracking them. The only reason the spectator spots were not affected was that the barrier that safeguarded them during the matches still worked. The force behind the shockwave wasparable to a high-level A-ranked Jutsu and considering it came to be just by a sh of two techniques, it was incredible enough.

    "Grandpa!" Kurotsuchi abruptly stood up and screamed in worry.

    With a sigh, Rei stood up, recognizing that this was the moment where all fun ended and the fight should not be allowed to go on anymore lest thebatants get too desperate for their own continued well-being.

    As the dust started to settle in, both Onoki and Temari started to slowly crawl out of the rubble, wobbly standing up, trying to stop the ringing in their ears and catch their breath again. Their bones were creaking and their muscles hurt, their bodies moved by their sheer will, running on fumes as they powered through the pain.

    Temari''s teal eyes met with Onoki''s gaze, making her snarl and take a threatening step forward before she swayed on her feet, causing the old midget to dryly chuckle... before he winced from the sting the action caused him.

    He didn''t try to recklessly move. Instead, he stayed on all four on the ground, enjoying the few seconds of reprieve and using them to regather his strength since his opponent was also out of it and it would take time for her to get back on her feet, so to speak.

    But as they both started to feel better and resolved themselves for the continuation, Reinded in the middle of the cracked ground of the arena, sting both Temari and Onoki with the pressure of his chakra, making them sway and barely keep standing on their feet.

    "I think that''s enough for the both of you." Rei casually stated.

    He didn''t put all that much effort into that pressure since he didn''t want to hurt them but it was so sudden that the still mostly disoriented fighters were greatly affected.

    Their bodies locked up, tensing from the threat... and that was the mistake. At that moment, the two lost control of their bodies, even if only for a brief split of a second. Since they were already using mostly willpower to force themselves to move, losing their focus was enough for the exhaustion of their bodies to hit them like a proverbial truck, causing them to copse.

    As both Onoki and Temari flopped down onto the ground, unable to move, they knew there was no getting up from this one.

    "Dammit, my back hurts." Onoki grumbled with a grimace, "And here I thought I would outlive the old monkey bastard."

 Chapter 453 Ch453. Shocking Reveal

    "Dammit, my back hurt." Onoki grumbled with a grimace, "And here I thought I would outlive the old monkey bastard."

    "Eh, you have better chances than him." Rei quipped, knowing that Tsunade could hold a grudge like no one and the mentioned poor son of a bitch was partly responsible for the demise of her n.

    And if the two special chakra signatures around her were any indication, Tsunade was going for a mental breakdown kind of revenge as far as Sarutobi was concerned...

    Rei walked towards Temari, sitting down next to her and pulling her head into hisp with a small but proud smile, "You did great." He gently caressed her cheek.

    Temari tried to smile back but it only prompted her to release a pained groan as her body hurt like hell.

    "Admittedly, the result is not great but it''s the effort that matters." Rei chuckled, flicking Temari''s forehead when he saw her slightly pout at his words, getting yet another pained and whining groan from her.

    Satisfied with her little ''punishment'' for losing her focus during the fight, Rei started to heal her, spreading afortable and rxing feeling all over her body, causing her to subconsciously turn over and snuggle her cheek into his thighs.

    The sweet atmosphere between them was abruptly interrupted when they heard a shrill, "Grandpa!", making Temari''s half-lidded eyes shoot open in wariness, her body involuntarily tensing.

    On the other side of the arena, Onoki had the exact same reaction as Temari for all the different reasons.

    ''Kurotsuchi!? What is she doing here!'' He thought, cold sweat washing over him.

    He instantly tried to stand up and tell her to run, his brain no longer thinking logically as it entered a protective mode... but as he finally stood up and swayed on his feet due to exertion, Kurotsuchi reached him and shoved him back onto the ground, making him hiss from the abrupt pain in his back.

    "What are you doing, old man!? You are hurt! Don''t stand up!" Kurotsuchi admonished.

    At that moment, Rei chuckled and Temari''s wariness disappeared. Kurotsuchi just caused more damage to Onoki in one moment than what Temari managed to do in minutes of intense fighting.

    Witnessing that wasˇ­ hriously humiliating for Temari.

    "Kurotsuchi..." Onoki groaned, "What are you doing here?"

    "I am saving your ass!" Kurotsuchi huffed as she kneeled beside him, trying to imitate Rei as she shoved Onoki''s head into herp... banging the back of his head on her bony thighs, making her grandfather hiss from the sudden blow.

    When he instinctively tried to stand up, Kurotsuchi took him by the shoulders and forcefully pushed him back, making his back painfully crack enough that his body involuntarily bent with his chest sticking out, which made his eyes go wide and flooded them with a pain-filled look.

    The poor Onoki couldn''t even speak from the abrupt spike of pain.

    Not that Kurotsuchi noticed what her actions did. Her expression was full of worry and resolve to make him feel better.

    "Now rx!" She forcefully ordered, putting her hand on his forehead and pushing the back of his head once again onto her thighs, using a bit too much force so his head banged against her bones again.

    If Rei didn''t know she wasn''t doing it on purpose, he would think she wanted to kill or cripple the old man.<sub> </sub>

    ''Damn. At this rate, I will have to save him from her.'' Rei deadpanned.

    Pakura and Konan, who had just arrived at the scene and now stood behind Rei''s back, put their hands on his shoulders in a show of support. They could feel his exasperation but the spectacle in front of them was far too amusing for them to intervene.

    Realizing there was nobody other than him who would step in before more harm coulde to the old midget, Rei sighed and spoke to Onoki and Kurotsuchi, "Onoki, just listen to your granddaughter and rx. We have no intentions to attack you right now."

    Onoki''s gaze was redirected towards Rei, causing his pupils to constrict a bit when he saw and realized the dynamics between him and the three women around him. They all felt pretty powerful to Onoki and that just made him that much more uneasy.

    "And who are you?" Onoki rasped in a tired yet cautious voice.

    He had never seen the man who was so tenderly tending to Temari and that made him wary. With his informationwork, he should have been aware of all the major yers in the world.

    The man clearly had a close bond with all three women, of which one was Kazekage so that made him Iwagakure''s enemy by default.

    "Me?" Rei raised an eyebrow at him, feeling a bit mischievous. "I am Rei from Yozora." He quipped and shrugged, enjoying how Onoki became speechless at that admission.

    Onoki choked when he heard that.

    This was the bastard who invaded his vige all those years ago and caused the rampage of one of their jinchuuriki!?

    Onoki wanted to stand up and send a Dust Release Beam up the bastard''s ass! But since his situation did not allow that, he was at least about to spew a string of very colorful curses at the bastard when Rei spoke again.

    "Just earlier I visited your vige and Suna''s forces had already taken it over." Rei leisurely said and raised his head to look at Pakura as he reassuringly squeezed her hand, "Good for you, your n worked wlessly."

    That stopped thest of Onoki''s silent painful whining almost instantly, making him forget about the surging pain coursing through his body as his mind focused on the outrageous news he had just heard.

    Onoki''s heart skipped a beat and his throat went dry, his mind in chaos as the possibility of this being the truth sneaked into his thoughts. He couldn''t help but turn once again towards Kurotsuchi with an unasked question in his eyes...

    "Oh, her?" Rei noticed Onoki''s gaze and decided to offhandedly borate, "She entered my service to save yours and your son''s life. You are lucky to have such a diligent and loyal granddaughter."

    "What?" Onoki breathlessly whispered and looked at Kurotsuchi, desperately looking for denial of this news. Iwagakure was supposed to be totally safe right now. He only took barely thirty percent of the vige''s forces with him to Konoha. There was no way anybody could...

    But Kurotsuchi just curtly nodded, her eyes tearing up a bit.

    Onoki''s eyes suddenly widened as he grabbed at his chest and started silently gasping for air, thrashing around for a second before his eyes rolled in and his body went abruptly limp in Kurotsuchi''s arms.

    "Huh?" Kurotsuchi blinked before her brain registered what was going on and she immediately checked his pulse, using what she knew of first aid to try and help him all the while she handled him so roughly Rei didn''t doubt Onoki had just gained several new bruises.

    Realizing what was going on, Kurotsuchi frantically looked at Rei with a look of urgency, worriedly shrieking, "M-Master! I think my grandpa just had a heart attack! Please, save him!"

 Chapter 454 Ch454. Iwas Future

    With a sigh, Rei carefully relocated Temari''s head out of hisp before he stood up and walked toward the frantic Kurotsuchi who was holding Onoki''s unmoving body.

    He kneeled beside them and put his hand on Onoki''s chest...

    Onoki''s eyes suddenly opened wide, his heart getting shocked to work again as electricity coursed through his body, wildly shaking him and making him spasm in Kurotsuchi''sp in an abrupt excruciating pain.

    At that moment, he wished he stayed dead.

    ? Rei used quite a brutal voltage but... eh, the old man was a Kage. He could take it.

    Ten seconds of uncontroble shakingter, Rei happily withdrew his hand from Onoki''s chest with a satisfied smile, causing the old man to quickly gasp for breath.

    Rei nced at Kurotsuchi, receiving a thankful subdued nod from her before she worriedly looked back at Onoki who was finally slowly regaining his wits after being shocked back to thend of the living.

    Seeing his granddaughter, Onoki smiled at her, "Ah, Kurotsuchi. I just had the most ridiculous dream where Iwa was taken over and you..." He suddenly stopped, owlishly blinking at the grimacing girl as a realization hit him. "It wasn''t a dream, was it?"

    Kurotsuchi apologetically smiled and mutely nodded...

    Onoki''s eyes once again rolled back and his body went limp in herp.

    Rei''s smile froze and the corners of his lips started to twitch as he heard the soft giggling of Temari, Pakura, and Konan behind his back. They were apparently having great fun at his expense.

    "Alright. We can do this all day, old man. I have time." Rei muttered under his nose as his eyebrows twitched and his lips morphed into a vindictive smile. Raising his hand, lightning chakra crackled in between his fingers...

    Needless to say, Onoki got another ten-second body shake free of cost and once again woke up with a painful gasp and wide eyes.

    "Will I have to wake you up again?" Rei asked with a twitching left eye, staring Onoki directly into his eyes.

    Onoki understood the underlying threat in his words and with a tearful expression he slightly shook his head, "No, no more."

    "Good." Rei nodded with a huff and turned around, walking back towards the three chuckling women.

    ...

    It took ages for Kurotsuchi to exin to Onoki what happened in Iwagakure during his absence, and once he understood the gist of it, he stubbornly red at Pakura through the rest of the exnation.

    Thankfully, despite Pakura''s smug grin, the former Tsuchikage could control his impulses enough to not start a fight he had no way of finishing.

    Rei could see a smidge of grudging respect directed at Pakura in his gaze, though.

    To be honest, Pakura was now the very first Kage who managed to conquer another major hidden vige. An achievement that will write her name into the history for a very, very long time no doubt.

    Only when the conversation reached the point where Kurotsuchi swore herself to Rei as his personal kunoichi did Onoki''s re swap targets, bing even more heated as he willed Rei''s death with his eyes.

    Rei decided that giving the man an eye smile was a good way to lower the tension.

    s, despite it always working for one unnamed masked ninja, Rei was no Kakashi and his eye smile worked exactly as Kakashi intended when he first invented the thing. It just pissed Onoki even more.

    Only the recent memory of being brought to life by being shocked half-to-death stopped Onoki from trying to strangle Rei. Yozora or not, Onoki didn''t know him. Unlike Pakura, Rei did not have an iron-d reputation in the Elemental Nations. Somebody as strong as Onoki did not see a reason to fear an unknown like him.

    It was exactly due to this kind of misguided courage that Onoki tried to argue Kurotsuchi''s new life situation.

    "You already took Iwa from me. Why do you need Kurotsuchi also?" Onoki gritted his teeth and clenched his fists to control his increasing temper.

    Rei could have answered this in numerous ways, many of which would be ridiculing and would have served only to fan the mes between them but that would have been counterproductive.

    He didn''t take Kurotsuchi in because he liked her or something as asinine as wanting her to join his ''harem''. He had enough to do with his time with his current count of women vying for his attention. There was no need to add another to the equation.

    He had different ns for Kurotsuchi.<sub> </sub>

    Rei also knew Onoki was stubborn to a fault and he would never ept a half-hearted misdirecting exnation. Not when his granddaughter was involved. Despite his current weak position and battered body, the man still had balls of steel, considering the fighting spirit Rei saw in his eyes.

    Killing Onoki would have screwed things up with Kurotsuchi so...

    Rei sighed, "I will be honest with you. I want to make Iwa a satellite of Suna and after some training, Kurotsuchi will be put in charge of it."

    Hearing that Kurotsuchi''s head snapped toward Rei with disbelief written on her face. The second Iwa fell, she thought her dream of leading her vige was a moot point. But her master now wanted her to do just that!?

    In her teenage naivety, this only increased her subconscious loyalty toward Rei.

    The idea sounded ridiculous. Anybody with positive intelligence would instantly say it was stupid because Kurotsuchi will definitely eventually try to rebel.

    But Rei had secret weapons. Strict Pakura and no-nonsense Konan.

    These two would teach the girl the ropes and Rei had no doubt self-interest would eventually win Kurotsuchi over to his side. And if not? The n could always be adjusted ordingly.

    "Once she is deemed loyal enough, you mean?" Onoki raised his eyebrow and sneered, but there was a barely visible relief in his eyes, and his body slightly rxed.

    Fortunately, Kurotsuchi was not in his field of vision right now or he would probably have another heart attack if he saw her giddy expression due to the news.

    "Of course." Rei nodded, "There will also be various fail saves implemented to make sure she won''t try to do something shady. You were a Kage. You must have an idea of how these things go." He tiredly sighed. To be honest, this topic was very ufortable for Rei.

    But... it had to be said.

    "We can''t leave Iwa as it is now. The vige is full of trained killers raised with the idea of the will of rock or whatever bullshit you spout in your corner of the world." Rei dryly remarked, causing Kurotsuchi to frown at his words but Onoki''s lips just twitched upwards.

    He was a Tsuchikage. He knew it was just propaganda. And yet, it wasn''t. It was something that gave the loyal ninjas to push beyond their limits. It was their belief and source of strength.

    "If Suna tried to upy Iwa as it is, they would have lost control of it in five years tops." Rei continued. "The only way is to screen every ninja and ughter those too loyal for their own good."

    Onoki''s expression turned grim. He was aware of these problems and he hoped the people in front of him forgot about them.

    Even though he came to invade Konoha, he never thought of upying it or taking it over. Controlling a vige full of trained ninjas loyal to it was an exercise in futility.

    Onoki was about to open his mouth to try persuading Rei from massacring Iwa''s loyal ninjas when Rei spoke again, clearly waiting for this moment, "Or we could simply put in leadership somebody Iwa troops will trust and slowly make them used to the idea of being subordinated to Suna. Propaganda and belief conversion take time, ya know?" He yfully stated and enjoyed the sour expression of Onoki.

    Frankly, Rei couldn''t fault the old midget. He was talking about destroying the lifetime of his effort but... what could Onoki do? He could only frown and silently seethe while it was going on.

    Once the innovations and reforms hit Iwa, most of the people will voluntarily stay under Suna if only because their living standards will drastically improve and their sries increase.

    "You want to destroy my legacy by using my family member." Onoki mumbled.

    Rei didn''t reply to Onoki''s sentence. He could keep trying to persuade him that it was better for the world if the ninja viges united like this but for someone like Onoki, someone who spent his lifetime trying to make Iwa great and other viges weak, it wouldn''t have mattered.

    Just the idea was a direct offense against everything Onoki had ever fought for.

    Kurotsuchi could only helplessly stare between the nonchnt Rei and the sullen Onoki, not knowing what to do to improve the mood,pletely lost.

    Onoki might have seemed resigned but he was a ninja. Rei knew the midget was already plotting how to use his n to his advantage to take his vige back from its ''oppressors''.

    Unfortunately for him, Rei wouldn''t let that happen. He finally got Iwa into his grasp... no way was he letting it go. The first chance he got, he intended to put a lot of surveince seals around it, and give ess to them to the loyal Suna ninjas overseeing the vige.

    No coup was gonna happen. Not on his watch.

    After all, nobody said Onoki would be just let free to attempt one after thisa€|

 Chapter 455 Ch455. Reunion

    Talking to Onoki was like arguing with a stubborn rock.

    Onoki wanted to find a way to get some kind of leeway for Iwa, not taking no for an answer and being a persistent annoying little dipshit who just wouldn''t shut up.

    As time passed, even the extremely patient Rei was slowly getting fed up whereas Pakura and Konan held themselves back from introducing him to a world of pain only by ignoring him.

    Fortunately for Onoki''s continued existence, Rei felt Tsunade and the three other chakra signatures with her to finally move towards them.

    When they arrived Rei could see a satisfied Tsunade, who was almost glowing from smugness, two disgruntled and huffy reanimated Senju brothers, and... a pig?

    Rei winced when he realized the identity of the pig just as Onoki burst into rambunctiousughter and eximed, "Old Monkey! I like the remake of your facade!"

    That earned him a mild re from the man with a heavily swollen and bruised purple head that could barely walk and resembled one big angry pimple.

    Sarutobi did not have any bone in his body broken but every muscle was damaged or bruised in some manner. Let''s just say the Senju brothers were not amused about his part in their n''s demise.

    Rei watched as Sarutobi angrily wobbled towards the only person in the room he could probably defeat in his current situation, and even that was because Onoki was too exhausted and injured himself, and he couldn''t help but feel a twinge of pity for the former Third Hokage.

    The extensive physical injuries aside, the biggest damage was the mental scars the beatdown had inflicted on the man. Sure, Sarutobi was showing a strong facade despite being one pain-filled swollen pimple but being trashed by two people he respected most in his life, his two mentors, must not have been pleasant.

    From how pleased Tsunade looked with herself and how her eyes sparkled with self-satisfaction, she knew that as well.

    Sarutobi came close to Onoki and spoke... or at least he tried but his swollen and bruised cheeks, lips, and tongue were making conversation quite difficult.

    "W''y abe yo'' hebe!?" He furiously let out, hating that this old man saw him in his current state.

    "What? You gotta first learn to speak well enough to be understood if you want an answer!" Onokiughed, relieving his stress by mocking Sarutobi.

    The previous discussion with Rei was getting nowhere and he was really upset because his attempts did not move the young man at all. Sarutobi came just in time to be his stress relief.

    "I ''oud ''ike tah she yo'' talgi''g bith inguwies ''ike ''ine!" Sarutobi quickly let out in anger at being mocked by his oldest rival, and instantly regretted it as he felt a spike of paine from his mouth, causing him to groan as his eyes became tearful.

    "Aww. Is the poor monkey baby inguwed?" Onoki said in a baby voice and pettily grinned, making Sarutobi incensed.

    "Shad up, shit flinger! Yo''..."

    Deciding he had heard enough of juvenile arguing, Rei twitched his fingers and a barrier formed around the two ancient ninjas, saving the others from having to hear their petty squabbles.

    The two men were too hurt to start physically fighting and they at least seemed to understand that so there was no need to watch over them as if they were little kids.

    Rei barely managed to cast the barrier and he already had to brace himself as Tsunade impacted him, embracing him in a warm and tight hug as she cutely rubbed her face on his chest.

    "Home, sweet home." She giddily whispered as Rei rxed and wryly smiled, circling his arms around her small frame, also embracing her.

    "Hooh~, so you are the husband of our little princess." A male voice interrupted their reunion...

    But the room was instantly washed in potent killing intenting from Tsunade as she disgruntledly half-turned around, her arms not letting go of Rei as she made Hashirama backtrack with her re before she with huff turned her head back and snuggled into Rei''s chest again.

    The Senju brothers got the hint. They just awkwardly but quietly stood around, not knowing what to do, for the next ten minutes while Tsunade was recharging her Rei energy.

    Only after she had enough did she finally pull away from Rei and motioned to the stupefied Senju brothers that they could start their ''interrogation''.<sub> </sub>

    But she forgot they too were Senjus and they were vindictive like her.

    From the Hashirama''s tone, Rei had expected a proper shovel talk but instead, much to his amusement, all he got was the man animatedly talking about his princess cute little Tsuna while Tobirama also quipped from time to time about his little niece.

    Deciding to roll with it and be happy he didn''t have to deal with bothersome unrealistic threats, Rei listened to them, and surprisingly, he was learning a lot of ckmail material.

    The more the two brothers talked, the more embarrassed Tsunade got, cutely blushing next to Rei from shame. She tried to re them to silence again but Rei''s arm around her shoulders gave the two reanimated corpses enough confidence Tsunade would not make them into real corpses anytime soon.

    Throughout the conversation, Rei''s lips were progressively curving upwards, giving Tsunade meaningful nces, enjoying but ignoring her betrayed and pitiful, pleading gaze. This family reunion was a surprisingly pleasant one!

    Their fun time was, however, cut short when Ringo showed up with a busty blonde following behind her, and a bit further, A and his secretary, Mabui, also reluctantly trailed behind her.

    "Done too?" Rei amusedly asked, happy that Ringo seemed satisfied with her ''revenge'' and that A actually survived it.

    "Yes, and I even gained a new apprentice!" Ringo widely smiled as she pushed Samui a bit forward, giving Konan, Pakura, and Tsunade a smug look.

    The three women looked at each other and shook their heads in exasperation, opting to notment and let Ringo have this moment.

    Unfortunately for Ringo, Mei didn''t get the memo. She burst through the door, ruining the mood for Ringo and making her eyebrow twitch.

    "I have arrived!" Mei gushed out before taking the hand of her ''captive'' and dragging the awkward-looking B into the room.

    "Oi, your timing sucks, Mist-brain." Ringo snarked, crossing her arms under her chest and instantly getting Mei''s attention with her remark.

    "Oh? What''s going on?" Mei tilted her head, a mocking smile appearing on her lips as her eyes caught Samui in Ringo''s hands, "Don''t have any curves to show off so you are showing off somebody else''s body?" She puffed out her chest at that.

    The air between them instantly grew tense as Ringo frowned.

    "Don''t push your luck, child." Ringo said, walking towards Mei.

    Mei also walked forward and when they reached each other and Ringo had to slightly look up to meet her eyes, she smirked, "You should grow up first if you want to keep calling me that." Mei smirked.

    "No," Ringo chuckled, "I will only stop when you mentally grow up. So that ain''t happening. Kid."

    "Are you implying I am stupid, bitch?" Mei''s eyes narrowed...

    On the other side of the room, A, B, Mabui, and Samui walked closer to Rei and his group, not even being surprised at the appearance of the two deceased Hokages... after all, they had seen quite a few ridiculous things in the recent hours so what''s one more?

    "Shouldn''t you stop them?" A gave Rei a nce, not wanting the two monsters to start really fighting. These two didn''t exactly seem the type to mind coteral damage.

    Rei chuckled and shook his head, inwardly knowing Rei and Ringo were more responsible than A thought. He patted the man''s shoulder in reassurance...

    ''Wh-!?'' A''s eyes suddenly widened as he felt his remaining chakra reserves getting restricted to genin level.

    Before he could even exim in shock, Rei was already in the middle of Onoki and Sarutobi, his hands on their shoulders, and the same thing happened, the two old Kages freezing in their spots as they felt their chakra being locked down to a genin level as a seal slithered through their clothes, anchoring itself on their skin and spreading through their bodies... before it vanished from view.

    When they gave Rei shocked looks, he just pleasantly smiled at them with amusement dancing in his eyes, "What? Did you think you could invade one of our viges and face no consequences?"

 Chapter 456 Ch456. Situation In Kumogakure

    The three Kages dealt with, Rei turned towards Mei and Ringo... and sighed as he saw them butting heads and making menacing faces at each other while exchanging childish insults as if they were kids.

    He wryly smiled, noting that Kurotsuchi and the Kumo ninjas were on the edge, scared shitless that the fight between the two redheads would escte and techniques would start flying around. Both of them were known SS-ranks so it was understandable.

    Still, seeing someone like B, a man over two meters tall andposed of a massive amount of bulging steel-like muscles, trying to subtly increase the distance between himself and the two petite arguing women all the while his eyes shined with deep worry was a bit funny for Rei.

    Rei knew there was no danger in letting Mei and Ringo have a go at each other. This was their usual behavior and despite everything, they never came to blows. He had no idea if they liked insulting each other but at least they had themon decency to keep their fights strictly verbal when not on the training grounds.

    Surprisingly enough, the hotheaded woman and the childish woman were both quite responsible with their powers.

    Shaking his head in fond exasperation, Rei turned toward Konan and asked, "What does the operation in Kumo look like?"

    "Wait! What operation in Kumo!?" A instantly eximed in bewilderment, starting to get angry as his imagination started to run free.

    The other three Kumo ninjas in the room also seemed ufortable at the sudden shift in the topic but they recognized their position and stayed silent.

    Only Samui seemed more or less ''cool'' with whatever. Poor girl... Rei noticed she was in a deep inner conflict right now.

    He had no idea what it was about but he coulde to a few conclusions considering Ringo introduced her as her new apprentice while walking inside the room alongside A and Mabui.

    ''Oh, well, not my problem.'' Rei shrugged these thoughts off.

    "Well, of course, we hit Iwagakure and Kumogakure both. Isn''t that obvious?" Rei innocently tilted his head, looking straight at A who both paled and became redder from rage at the same time.

    "You-!" A spoke through gritted teeth but he was instantly cut off.

    "The Swordsmen of the Kiri are making a right mess of Kumo but they did not yet seed in conquering it." Konan interrupted, reporting what was going on.

    That... was expected. Rei liked to think he was a realist even though he asionally had his own bouts of unrealistic insanity.

    The situations in Iwa and Kumo were different.

    Iwa was besieged by the force of an entire hidden vige and it was a proper invasion.

    Kumo was attacked by a handful of individuals and while each of them was strong, they were facing an entire vige. There was no way to conquer the vige in a straightforward manner for them. They had to use hit and run tactics and make it into a hide and seek chase all around Kumo. That was the only way to win for them.

    Funnily enough, the resistance of his vige made A visibly proud... until Konan decided to continue, instantly crushing his smugness.

    "They have caused enough damage to the infrastructure and forces of the vige that taking over the remnants with the iing Kiri army should be a child''s y." She uttered in a t tone, but the mirth in her eyes was unmistakable for anyone who knew her.

    Now that dashed all of A''s hopes, making him horrified.

    "Ah, that''s good. We have their Kage and remaining jinchuuriki safely tucked in here so I guess there won''t be any unexpected turn of events, right?" Rei sweetly said, looking straight at B and daring him to try something with his gaze.

    The eight-tailed jinchuuriki was the only strong enough unrestrained Kumo ninja in the room but as ufortable and indignant as he looked, he clearly knew well how futile it would have been and just resignedly slumped his shoulders.

    "Yes. How nice of them to deliver themselves to our footsteps." Tsunade giggled, making A clench his hands into fists while he quietly quivered from barely restrained anger.

    It wasn''t only his vige that was at risk. He already exchanged Samui for Mabui''s and his life so it wouldn''t do to ruin her albeit unwilling but nevertheless noble sacrifice with his temper tantrum.

    If Samui heard his thoughts, she would have outwardly frowned... and inwardly sneered at the audacity of the man.<sub> </sub>

    "What about the casualties?" Rei continued asking about the attack on Kumo. Since Ringo was preupied with Mei, at least someone had to care about Kiri ninjas.

    Though, Rei could see Ringo was listening to Konan''s reports with one ear as she continued arguing with Mei so she probably cared more than she let on.

    Being the Mizukage definitely changed her a bit and Rei was happy for her.

    "The Kiri Swordsmen had suffered two casualties so far and three of them are too injured to continue fighting." Konan briefly nced at Ringo, "One of these is Zabuza." She informed the redhead who briefly stiffened and gave a barely audible nod, not even bothering to turn toward Konan as she continued ring at Mei.

    Seeing that Ringo received the information, Konan turned towards A, "The casualties on the Kumo side are around four hundred bodies currently." She tly said, not caring one way or the other.

    A was clearly conflicted about the information but in the end, he just gave Konan a small but heavy nod of appreciation. ming the messenger would do him no good anyway.

    That was when Samui decided to worriedly step toward Konan and uneasily asked with a measure of desperation, "What about my brother?"

    "And your brother is?" Konan dryly asked and raised her eyebrow at the girl, her gaze loitering a bit lowera€| and a small frown appearing on her lips.

    Did the busty blonde think she is some kind of omniscient entity? How was she supposed to know about the brother of some unimportant two-bit Kumo jonin with tits that even a cow would be embarrassed about?

    "A-Atsui. He... he is my only family." Samui lost her usual cool for a moment and stuttered a bit. It was obvious the woman was disturbed a lot by the possibility that her brother...

    She clutched her hands, unable to even think about it. They might bicker a lot among themselves but Samui loved her brother.

    "Mhm." Konan nomittally hummed, not looking in Samui''s direction and staying silent for a few seconds, making Samui more and more nervous.

    Samui had no idea if Konan was ignoring her or searching for the information because the woman was just standing in her ce, her mind seemingly elsewhere. Fortunately, Konan blinked before Samui''s fragile patience could run out.

    "Your brother is fine. His left arm, right cor bone, and both legs are broken and he is bedridden in a medical tent but he is alive." Konan informed, making Samui sag in relief.

    "Konan, send the Swordsmen an order from their Mizukage to not attack the medical tents." Rei piped in, knowing well such tactics were entirely possible to happen.

    Both Onoki and A watched in disbelief that Ringo didn''t even twitch when Rei ordered her ninjas for her. Their eyes drifted from the man to the woman who was too busy butting heads with Mei, and back... unable toprehend the dynamics in this group.

    ''Who the heck is this guy?'' They thought, realizing that despite being in his presence for quite a bit of time already, they had no clear idea about his identity.

    Onoki knew him as the Rei of Yozora and A recognized him as Rei of Downpour but neither of those should give him such irond authority over Ringo.

    The Mizukage seemed to act as if she was his subordinate and that both spooked and baffled the two Kages.

    A could understand it a bit as Ringo was Rei''s former apprentice but still! Her deference to him was too much.

    "Thank you." Samui said to Rei in relief, showing him a small grateful smile.

    "Don''t mention it." Rei nonchntly quipped, ncing at Ringo, "It''s the least your mentor could do for you."

    At that moment, an ufortable thought sneaked into Samui''s mind, and refused to leave.

    Maybe... just maybe bing Ringo''s apprentice was not all that bad. Maybe, with how things progressed, she actually got the better deal?

 Chapter 457 Ch457. Promise?

    "Rei, what about my request?" Tsunade suddenly asked, causing every conversation in the room to stop and look at Rei... making him feel quite ufortable.

    Now, how was he supposed to tell her he had forgotten about it?

    An awkward silence spread throughout the room and several people raised their eyebrows after a moment, but Rei was too preupied trying to figure out a way out...

    Suddenly, Rei visibly brightened up, opening his mouth and many people in the room, even the losers who lost their viges, were extremely curious about what he would say, only to deadpan when he self-righteously and cheerfully eximed, "I had forgotten!"

    Tobirama instantly looked at Hashirama who sheepishly chuckled, knowing that when dealing with an Uzumaki woman you should never be so cheerful about these things! They both were expecting the poor guy to get the beatdown of the century but...

    Rei approached Tsunade who had a sullen look and gently caressed her cheek while gently asking as he put his forehead on hers, "Will you forgive me?"

    Tsunade meekly nodded, smiling shyly at Rei. "That''s a dirty trick and you know it." She whispered, embarrassedly pouting a bit as she felt the pulse of soothing chakra enter her system through Rei''s hand on her cheek.

    Rei cheekily grinned, "But you love every second of it." He pecked her lips, making her quietly hum in appreciation as their hands joined and they stared into each other''s eyes with a lovey-dovey atmosphere spreading around them.

    Needless to say, both Tobirama and Hashirama''s jaws dropped to the floor in disbelief.

    "Tobirama... are you seeing the same thing as me?" Hashirama asked, rubbing his eyes.

    Maybe something in the Edo Tensei technique made him hallucinate?

    "Possibly." Tobirama shortly nodded but didn''t confirm anything.

    Who knew if Orochimaru didn''t mess something up and made them hallucinate?

    "Should we ask for tutge?" Hashirama unsurely nced at Tobirama.

    "Definitely." Tobirama once again nodded.

    Umu... in hindsight, who cared if this was a hallucination? He wanted to learn that!

    "But we are already dead." Hashirama sheepishly reminded Tobirama.

    Would they even need such a skill in the afterlife? He wouldn''t know. He couldn''t remember anything after his death, after all.

    ? Tobirama turned towards Hashirama with a serious expression adorning his face, "If there is even a minuscule chance of meeting Mito in the afterlife, I''d rather know this technique when exining how our n perished." He nced at Sarutobi.

    Hiruzen noticed it, and worse yet, he heard thest bits of their talk and he drastically paled, going from angry purple-ck to Orochimaru-approved skinplexion in seconds.

    Suddenly, even he started to rapidly gain interest in this technique.

    It took a few moments of poking and weakly shoving each other as they exchanged meaningful looks but Hashirama eventually lost in their brotherly exchange and stepped forward, sheepishly walking towards the lovey-dovey couple.

    "Uhm." He weakly tried but instantly stopped as he saw Tsunade ring at him from the corner of her eyes.

    "One more word grandfather and I will make sure you will need a second funeral." She slightly turned her head towards him and half-growled.

    ''But I didn''t say anything yet?'' Hashirama sweatdropped but... "Yes, dear." He answered on instinct, trained from decades of marriage with Mito.

    Turning back, Hashirama walked back to Tobirama and mournfully said, "Apparently, there is no trick. Just pure love." He apologetically smiled.

    "..." Tobirama silently deadpanned at him before tly saying. "I heard her."

    "Mhm." Hashirama firmly nodded, no shame visible on his face as if he wasn''t just caught in a white lie. "Your turn, then."

    "She is your granddaughter!" Tobirama urged, trying to wordlessly persuade Hashirama that she will listen to him the most.<sub> </sub>

    "She is your grandniece!" Hashirama disagreed and stubbornly stared back at his brother.

    "And she can hear you!" Tsunade eximed, making them stiffly straighten their backs at her tone while inwardly cursing that she inherited Mito''s trademark annoyed voice.

    Rei was extremely amused by the shenanigans of his inws and Tsunade but as a man, he decided to earn himself a few brownie points from his already deceased extended family and cupped Tsunade''s cheek, gently turning her face back towards him.

    Her seething look slowly and reluctantly turned into a slightly embarrassed pout as Rei in silence admired her beautiful eyes for a moment.

    Only when he saw she was in a good enough mood to listen, he spoke again, "Since I forgot about the promise, how about I make it right?" He coaxingly asked.

    To be honest, the promise was nothing hard. He could have fulfilled it on the spot right now. Hell, he could have volunteered himself and it would have been just a slight inconvenience.

    But it was a matter of principle. He forgot a promise and that would usually make every woman angry.

    "What do you have in mind?" Tsunade mumbled.

    Pakura, Ringo, Mei, and Konan almost rolled their eyes at their byy. This was an old scene for them. Only Rei could instantly tame Tsunade''s erupting temper. The blonde woman loved him too much to stay angry and he definitely took advantage of that at times to calm her down.

    Still... They loved him because of how fair and caring he tried to be to all of them.

    For the other people in the room, this was totally new.

    Temari had a hard time believing how jealous she was feeling, trying not to re at Tsunade''s back. She stopped only when Pakura put her hand on her shoulder and shook her head in exasperation, knowing the girl will eventually get used to this the more of these sweet moments she will have with Rei.

    Onoki and A averted their gazes, disturbed by the sight of the old woman flirting with someone as ''young'' as Rei.

    Sarutobi, however, gaped. He taught Tsunade throughout her entire youth and he had always tried to help her find a respectable young man from Konoha that would understand the Will of Fire. Tsunade had never reacted. Not once did she show interest in anyone so seeing her so lovey-dovey with this foreigner... Sarutobi almost had a heart attack.

    Unlike his brother A, Killer Bee was grinning from ear to ear as he watched the happenings from behind his notebook that was covering half of his face while he was scribbling into it alongside mumbling and asionally giggling to himself. He was on the verge of making a new hit. He could feel it!

    Kurotsuchi, Mabui, and Samui all blushed but couldn''t help throwing nces at the couple. While Mabui was open about her interest, Kurotsuchi and Samui kept their cool and stubbornly refused to show open interest, unlike Mabui who was quietly ah''ing and oh''ing to herself.

    It was then that Rei gestured with his head towards Samui, "Why not try out the prowess of Ringo''s new apprentice and do your little experiment at the same time?" He nonchntly said.

    Samui''s mind froze when she heard him, making her eyes snappletely towards them as unease filled them.

    Experiment?

    Nope, nope, nope. Not cool! Not interested!

    Not when it is something for these bat-shit crazy people!

    s...

    "If she does good, we might even give Kumogakure to her to govern." Rei said to Tsunade as if Samui was not there, and grinned in satisfaction when from the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Samui suddenly seemed much less reluctant after hisst admission.

    Oh, she still seemed unwilling but her cold eyes gained a pondering gleam.

    Rei turned towards the second busty blonde in the room and asked, "What do you say?"

    Samui was at loss about what to say. Her usually cool expression wavered as she nced at A, before looking down at her own hands and tightly clutching them.

    What did she really desire? She had never asked this herself. She mostly wanted to survive but now that she was offered more... Did she dare to go for it?

    She raised her eyes back towards Rei, "I..."

 Chapter 458 Ch458. Teresa

    "I..."

    It was hard for Samui to decide what she should do. The lingering loyalty to the Raikage was making her hesitate a lot. One doesn''t get raised with a particr mindset and then can throw it away at a moment''s notice.

    Only the fact she was utterly pissed at A made her ignore some of her urges born of ingrained loyalty.

    "What do you want me to do?" In the end, she coolly asked with determination shining in her eyes.

    More reasons for denying it shed through her mind than reasons for epting. She didn''t desire the power of a leadership position. In fact, Samui was pretty content in her current rank and with her current responsibilities.

    But she knew that was all gonna change now that she was under Ringo''s ''tutge'' anyway.

    She had no idea what changes woulde to Kumo but as a conquered vige, Samui did not imagine a very good oue.

    The problem was... even if she disregarded her inner voice screaming at her to do her best for her vige... she still had acquaintances and friends there. Her hotheaded brother was part of Kumo too. And Samui did not want the ''choice'' that was forced upon her to affect him.

    She was aware that if a rtive deserted, the entire family would be under heavy scrutiny, suffering from passive harassment like inability to move up in ranks due to suspicion. It''s how the system worked. Just one more way to prevent those with family to desert the vige in the face of a suicide mission or the like.

    And while Samui had no idea if this rule would persist despite A''s dethroning, if she became the Raikage, she would be able to make sure her brother and friends were safe.

    It was not a grand reason.

    Nor was it a proper one.

    But it was a reason that made her choose this path.

    Rei chuckled at Samui''s determination. She acted as if he was going to ask her to do some grand task or something...

    "You will fight one of Tsunade''s... hmm, how to call it? Experiment? Nah. One of Tsunade''s current patients. Yeah, that sounds about right." Rei mused aloud, making the uninformed spectators confused.

    Sarutobi, however, looked at Tsunade with shock and disgust, "I had no idea you could have fallen so low to imitate Orochimaru." He said in deep disappointment.

    Naturally, that made the three Senjus in the room cringe and look at him in usatory disbelief, their gazes reminding Sarutobi he was not in any position to judge anybody when it came to morals.

    Tsunade didn''t care for Sarutobi''s usations and just mentally gave her ''patient'' a heads-up before she activated a teleportation seal on her...

    And in the room, a silver-eyed woman with pale blonde hair dropping down her shoulders appeared. She wore light armor and on her back was a big ymore sword.

    Ringo raised her eyebrow at Tsunade, "Teresa is already fit enough to fight? It''s been only a week at best since you started treating her..."

    Ringo was a bit unhappy that she was not informed of this. ymores were swordswomen like her and the prospect of fighting the ''strongest'' ymore was mouthwatering to Ringo.

    "Who do you think I am?" Tsunade rolled her eyes at the redhead, "She is well enough to face off against a jonin, not a brute like you." She scoffed.

    Despite her temperamental nature, Tsunade took the well-being of her patients very seriously. As if she would allow Ringo to spar with Teresa anytime soon! The only person who can abuse her patients is her!

    Teresa ignored the conversation about her and the looks she was getting from the people around and her eyes sparkled when she noticed Rei.

    She walked toward him, and excitedly eximed, "Are you going to y with me again?"

    Rei chuckled and shook his head, much to Teresa''s disappointment. She was like a child and during the past week, she spent most of her time with Rei since Tsunade dumped her care onto him because of how busy she was with the Chunin Exams.

    Caring for a woman who remembered almost nothing was a bit simr to caring about a curious child. Fortunately for Rei, after training both Ringo and Mei..., especially Mei... he knew how to handle overly excitable and curious children.

    He had used her state to create several ''games'', which were basically rehabilitation training in disguise, bing Teresa''s new favorite person for ying with her.<sub> </sub>

    Honestly, during the course of the week, some of her memories returned and she started settling back down into her old personality a bit, but it was still a work in progress and the woman had her bouts of childishness here and there.

    "No, Teresa. I-" Rei started patting the woman''s head, only to notice a few people in the room give him weird looks, causing him to stop talking and frown.

    He thought about what was the problem only to notice the position he was currently in...

    He was giving head pats to a seemingly impressionable beautiful woman that acted like a child.

    A realization suddenly hit him and he scowled while turning toward those ingrates as he eximed in exasperated outrage, "It''s not like that!"

    "We understand." Tobirama wisely nodded, trying to assure Rei, "Your fetishes are safe with us."

    "Un." Hashirama resolutely nodded too. "To each their own, grandson-inw. As long as your wives don''t mind..."

    ''My granddaughter is in the service of a pervert.'' Onoki thought, shooting horrified looks at Rei.

    "Tsunade? A little help here?" Rei turned to the most capable person to exin the situation, only to find her grinning at him. The second he saw her expression, Rei knew he fucked up.

    "Should I tell them how you motivated her with candy?" Tsunade yfully asked, causing Rei to groan as the intensity of the usatory looks he was receiving doubled.

    Well, of course, he was motivating her with candy! She had the mentality of a child due to her memory loss! What else was he supposed to use!

    Rei gave Tsunade a half-hearted re, but the woman was not quite done yet.

    "Or perhaps mention about how you slept with her at night?" Tsunade ''innocently'' asked.

    He also told her a story about ymores before sleep to jump-start her memory. That one doesn''t count!

    Also...

    "That''s not what happened and you know it, Tsunade Senju. I distinctly remember you being in the bed too." Rei gruffly said, crossing his arms on his chest as he gave her a pointed look.

    But Tsunade had the best answer for that already prepared.

    "Oh, yeah, I do remember. That was kinky." She dreamily sighed, dragging Rei''s reputation down even more as the imagination of those around ran wild.

    Rei realized she was doing this on purpose, and not just to slightly tease him. He deeply sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

    "What did I do to deserve this?" He tiredly asked.

    To which Tsunade just shrugged, "You forgot a promise."

    "Ah." Rei wryly smiled, having no rebuke for that.

    To be honest, Rei didn''t mind this small revenge of hers. He didn''t care what most of the people in the room thought about him. His wives and Temari knew Tsunade enough to realize what she was doing and if Hashirama and Tobirama took this banter seriously, he would know. With their personality, it would be impossible for them to not have an outburst.

    Suddenly, Rei felt his sleeve being pulled and he turned to the right,ing face to face with Teresa who tilted her head, "So... a game?"

    Rei chuckled and pointed at Samui, "She will y with you."

    Of course, that only earned him a disbelieving look from the cool blonde. When she heard she would have to fight somebody, she didn''t expect it to be a woman who acted as if she was a child!

 Chapter 459 Ch459. Teresa Vs...

    Samui had no idea how she got into this kind of situation but right now, she stood in the decimated Konoha arena, standing opposite Teresa who was happily swinging her massive ymore with one arm, causing a wry smile to appear on Samui''s face as she readied herself for the fight.

    "Why am I doing this again?" A grumpy voice grumbled next to Samui, making her even more upset.

    Fighting Teresa was one thing. The thought that the fight will be two versus one was another. It was simply rubbing Samui the wrong way.

    Kurotsuchi huffily stood with her arms crossed on her chest as she red at Teresa. Unlike Samui who was given a choice, she had to participate because Rei ordered her.

    ''To not make it too easy on Teresa.'' He said.

    Pfft, as if some malnourished airhead could defeat her! Even in one-on-one Kurotsuchi doubted she would lose so having to double-tag the thin blonde made her feel distasteful.

    When sheined about this to Rei, he onlyughed out loud at her and asked her if she was a samurai or a ninja. the bastard!

    Ninjas could have honor too!

    But Kurotsuchi quickly realized she would not get out of this fight so she decided to show Rei it was a bad idea by beating Teresa ck and blue by herself. Who cared about some Kumo bitch with titsrger than the faces of past Hokages on the Hokage monument anyway?

    Just as the match was about to start, "Let''s work together." Samui said, deciding not to underestimate Teresa. If her new teacher''s lover said the girl could handle her and Kurotsuchi, Samui was not about to disregard that warning. It was better to keep a cold head and consider the possibilities...

    "Pfft. Bullshit." Kurotsuchi hot-headedly eximed, ring at Teresa while her bodynguage showed she had no inclination of working together with Samui at all.

    Unfortunately, Samui didn''t get more time to persuade her. She had spent the pre-fight preparation time observing her opponent rather than trying to reason with Kurotsuchi and only now did she realize it might have been a mistake.

    A gong reverberated through the arena, signaling the start of the match and Kurotsuchi instantly jumped into the air, her hands weaving seals before they quickly relocated toward her mouth as she eximed, "Lava Release: Volcanic Flow!"

    From her mouth, she spat arge amount ofva, enough to flood the entire bottom of the arena in it. Theva impacted the ground in waves, advancing like Tsunami toward Teresa who simply turned around and ran towards a wall.

    By the time theva covered the entire surface of the arena, creating a smallke of itself, Teresa was horizontally perched in the middle of the arena''s wall. While she could not use chakra because of her half-Yoma status, Rei spent a lot of time teaching her how to use rudimentary ninja techniques with her yoki.

    Samui was on the wall on the other side of the arena, staring with obvious annoyance at the back of Kurotsuchi''s head.

    The bitch almost buried her inva there!

    Samui was right next to Kurotsuchi so she was way closer to the initial impact zone than Teresa. She almost didn''t have enough time to react. It made her wonder if Kurotsuchi wanted to really get Teresa out ofmission or if the attack was meant to get herself out of the way.

    But Kurotsuchi was not done yet.

    Spinning in mid-air, she made her back face the ground while her front was turned towards the sky as she slowly started to fall down. Her hands once again started to weave hand signs, making both Teresa and Samui widen their eyes as they realized what the crazy bitch wanted to do...

    "Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique!"

    Kurotsuchi spat a huge amount of quicklime into the air above the arena... and gravity did the rest as the quicklime started falling down, making a shadow befall its whole premises.

    There was enough quicklime to cover the whole arena so both Samui and Teresa were sandwiched between the ground covered in liquidva and the falling quicklime from the sky, giving them no safe spot inside of the arena.<sub> </sub>

    Kurotsuchi used the terrain to her utmost advantage and with a mockingugh, she used the Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique to burrow herself inside herva just as shended on the ground. This way, she will evade the quicklime and be prepared to spring forth and continue her offensive the second her attack impacts her opponents...er, opponent.

    Samui''s eyes grew dull and her expression darkened as she watched the iing heavy and thick quicklime that was gaining falling momentum the closer it got to the ground.

    Who would have thought the Iwa bitch would possess brains sufficient to make a strategy like this?

    Frowning, Samui unsheathed her sword and fed it lightning chakra as she prepared to sh her way through the quicklime. She... refused to go down so easily.

    On the other side of the arena, Teresa happily smiled, squeezing the hilt of her ymore, causing the de to be covered by crimson yoki full of malevolence as her silver eyes shined and curiously roamed over the falling substance above her head. Suddenly, her gaze stopped on a particr ce and her head tilted a bit, her smile turning serene.

    "So that''s the weak spot." She slightly nodded to herself and crouched down.

    With one mighty leap, Teresa closed the distance between her and the falling quicklime... her sword blurring in insanely swift movements as the quicklime in the weak spot was obliterated to fine powder by hundreds of shes just enough for a petite person like her to pass through, and Teresa''s leap continued unimpeded.

    The quicklimended on theva, mixing with it and creating a hissing sound as the two together started to harden, quickly creating new ground just before Teresa''s body reached it andnded in a crouch before nonchntly standing up as if she just didn''t evade an attack that would have been certain death to most chunins.

    By now, Teresa''s expression lost all traces of childishness and only serenity with a calm smile was left as her battle instincts finally kicked in. This was almost instinctual to her even though she barely recollected her past. She did not try to do this. It just felt right.

    With interest barely shining through her silvery eyes, Teresa watched as Samui alsonded opposite her, the de in her hands crackling with lightning and her clothes covered in a bit of quicklime... which obviously made the Kumo woman very annoyed if the way her eye was twitching was anything to go by.

    Samui suddenly spun on her heel and raised her sword... and for anybody facing her in a fight that would have been a cue to tense and raise their guard, but Teresa just leaned back and leisurely watched, sensing that there was no danger directed at her.

    Samui disappeared from her spot in a lightning shunshin, instantly appearing in a different ce in the arena as she stuck her de into it up to its hilt, channeling a lot of electricity through it so the de went through the hardened quicklime andva as if they were butter.

    Her actions made sense only when a momentter, Kurotsuchi jumped out of the ground just a few inches away from the spot where Samui buried her sword, snarling and ring at the expressionless Kumo woman.

    Kurotsuchi didn''t get cut. She only got a few hundred volts through her body because of that cow''s lightning release and it hurt like a bitch.

    "What are you doing, you Kumo cow!? I am not your opponent!" Kurotsuchi eximed as she slid on the ground, getting a bit of distance between herself and Samui.

    "Then why the fuck did you try to kill me, you Iwa dumbass? Did all thatva melt your brain?" Samui coldly sneered, her tone remaining t but her words were quite spicy.

    "Oh, you are on." Kurotsuchi growled and took out two kunais before rushing at Samui.

    The two women started fighting with their weapons, throwing small Jutsus at each other with the aim to disable and outright cripple the other... all the while Teresa just dumbly stood in her spot, blinking in confusion as she watched the two women having fun.

    Without her.

    ''Weren''t they supposed to y with me? Why are they ignoring me now?'' Teresa inwardly pouted, the only sign on her serene expression of her worsening mood was her silvery eyes gaining a golden hue as they narrowed and malevolent intent started leaking all around, freezing both Samui and Kurotsuchi in their ces as they shakily turned toward Teresa who was still donning her serene smile. But now it seemed a bit too sweet to be real.

    ''They are bad girls and bad girls gotta be punished.'' Teresa nodded to herself with a small blush, remembering as Rei spanked her when she didn''t behave herself...

 Chapter 460 Ch460. Samui And Kurotsuchi In Pinch

    As Samui and Kurotsuchi bickered among themselves while exchanging blows with their weapons, suddenly an arcing sh of crimson malevolent yoki flew in between them, almost hitting them both.

    The two women abruptly hissed as the heat from the sh scorched the surface skin of their hands because of how close to them it was when it passed through, making them reflexively pull them back as they jumped away from the spot, increasing the distance between them and warily turning towards Teresa who was the source of the sh.

    "Stop ignoring me!" Teresa melodiously said but for a keen listener, a pout could be heard in her undertone.

    Samui and Kurotsuchi exchanged a brief nce, both seeing how freaked out the other was while cradling their hurt hand.

    The damage wasn''t excessive and as jonins, the girls were used to being in pain but it was still restricting and distracting. Damaged hands were a big problem for ninjas who usually fought with weapons and needed to weave hand signs.

    The inwardly sullen Teresa couldn''t give a shit about their worries, though.

    The only prior indication Samui and Kurotsuchi got was Teresa briefly tightening her hold on her ymore before she abruptly rushed straight at them.

    Fortunately, she didn''t use shunshin or something like that so while Teresa''s speed was still up there with other jonins enhanced by their chakra, Samui and Kurotsuchi had ample time to react. They decided to fight together... for now, and closed the distance between them so they can have each other''s back.

    As Teresa finally arrived close enough, her first sh was blocked by Samui''s sword, making Samui''s feet slide a few inches back on the ground from the sheer strength behind Teresa''s swing.

    Kurotsuchi was about to capitalize and her hands blurred together...

    Only for Tereasa''s sword to disappear in the middle of its sh and tug of strength with Samui''s de, making Samui utterly stupefied as Teresa spun on her heel and almost bisected Kurotsuchi who just barely evaded her second swing by jumping back, her hands stopped in the middle of weaving the necessary hand signs for her Jutsu.

    Teresa was not done yet, continuing her spin, her sword rushed through the air, and soon enough, Samui had to quickly turn to her left and quickly position her sword to once again block Teresa''s ymore. This time, however, Teresa''s sword had enough momentum behind it that Samui was sent flying back and then rolling a few times before she finally managed to regain control and flip herself back onto her feet, sliding to a halt.

    Samui''s eyes were wide with a smidge of fear as she stared at the deceivingly thin and obviously malnourished woman that blew her away with a sword swing. Gulping, Samui pushed some of her lightning chakra into her de.

    At first, she didn''t want to go seriously against Teresa. The woman looked like she would keel over soon. Pale, thin, slightly sunken cheeks, unnatural pale hair that seemingly lost its coloration...

    But apparently, she had no other choice.

    While Samui was dealing with her troubles, Teresa no longer paid her much attention. The second she sent the Kumo woman flying, Teresa turned on her heel and gave chase to Kurotsuchi.

    Unlike Samui, Kurotsuchi showed herself capable of using arge area of effect and ranged techniques, and Teresa''s instincts screamed at her to not let her, as Rei called it, ''free-cast''.

    Seeing Teresa rushing at her, Kurotsuchi snarled and inwardly cursed Samui for her inability to upy the blond menace for a while longer as she turned around, running away while employing the very limits of her speed. She didn''t intend to only run but Kurotsuchi knew she had nothing on Teresa in closebat. She wasn''t a taijutsu or bukijutsu expert. She was a ninjutsu fighter and Teresa clearly knew how to interrupt her attempts to use her techniques.

    While running, Kurotsuchi tried to weave some hand signs to make the chase harder for Teresa. Kurotsuchi thought ying for time was the best course of action right now. She needed the Kumo cow to make herself useful for once and distract the freakish blonde in order for Kurotsuchi to be able to use her techniques.

    A second passed and Kurotsuchi was in the middle of weaving the hand signs for her technique when her instincts warned her, and she ducked her head... only for beads of sweat to appear on her forehead as she frightfully realized Teresa''s ymore had just passed through the spot where her neck was a moment ago.

    ''How did she catch up with me!?'' Kurotsuchi freaked out, kicking the ground under her and using her chakra to leap as far away as possible.

    Kurotsuchi was using her chakra to enhance her speed so even if Teresa could match her speed, she should have been unable to catch up!

    Unfortunately for Kurotsuchi, Teresa''s base speed could match jonin... and while Yoki was shit atplicated techniques like ninjutsu, it had much greater properties for body enhancement.

    Teresa didn''t chase Kurotsuchi anymore. Her eyes followed the ck-haired girl, letting her know that she still had her attention, but instead of rushing at her, Teresa just tilted her head when Kurotsuchinded several feet away from her.

    "What are you doing? You are supposed to fight me, no? Don''t run away." Teresa evenly said, genuinely confused.<sub> </sub>

    Rei, Konan, Mei, and Tsunade had never tried to get away from her like this. They just... faced her head-on. So it was a bit weird to her that her new ymate is trying to run.

    That made Kurotsuchi pissed, but she could do nothing about it except re at Teresa. Her eyes suddenly gleamed...

    But Teresa took a step to the left, cleanly evading a downward sh from Samui''s de aiming to bisect her as electricity arced behind it.

    Teresa looked at the bbergasted Samui from the corner of her eyes... but then she hopped a bit back, dodging a stone spike that sprang up from the ground beneath her courtesy of Kurotsuchi who clicked her tongue when she realized she missed.

    Samui used that time to regain her wits and followed up with her attack, swinging her sword at Teresa. Left, right, stab, feint, stab, left, feint, center, downward sh... Teresa always evaded by the slightest margin to avoid not only the sword but also the lightning chakra coursing from it.

    As this was happening, Kurotsuchi was trying to support Samui, throwing Rock Bullets, creating Rock Spikes, and making the terrain uneven in ces where she predicted Teresa would dodge.

    Slowly but surely, Samui''s and Kurotsuchi''s teamy was bing better and better... but the two women were not happy.

    In fact, they were growing frustrated. Despite Kurotsuchi''s best efforts, Teresa never... not friggin once!... fell for her traps.

    Every time she created a Rock Spike, Teresa would just change the direction of her sidestep or evade it as if she expected it long before the ground beneath her moved.

    Every time Kurotsuchi shifted the terrain, Teresa wasn''t surprised at all, adjusting instantly despite not even having an entire second for it. Again, as if she freaking knew Kurotsuchi was doing it.

    And the Earth Bullets? These weren''t even a minor inconvenience to the woman!

    Heck, Kurotsuchi was forced to stop using those when Teresa started to giggle as she began to lead the unassuming Samui, using her body as a shield from them.

    That earned Kurotsuchi a few quick res from Samui who was sent tumbling to the ground when her back was painfully impacted by a Rock Bullet.

    Fortunately for them, Teresa didn''t take the advantage presented to her and justughed at them in these instances.

    Which only made Samui''s and Kurotsuchi''s pride that much more hurt since the thin woman was no longer even using her sword to attack properly.

    It was getting ridiculous.

    Not even the best chakra sensors could simply use their sensing abilities to evade Jutsus like this so neither Kurotsuchi nor Samui suspected Teresa of actually sensing their attacks. They thought it was her experience or quick reaction speed, and that''s why their attempts at hitting her were futile.

    They simply didn''t evene close to the right approach in fighting her.

    All the people who spent time training, aka ying, with Teresa in the week before the Chunin Exam could only wryly smile at Kurotsuchi''s and Samui''s attempts, and pity the girls.

    Tsunade the chief among them as she knew how frustrating fighting that girl could be. Of course, she had never used her full power since she didn''t want to make Teresa into a pancake but she still used S-rank speed, and yet... the malnourished girl whose bones could be seen through her skin actually fucking made even her curse like a sailor at how ridiculously hard it was tond a ncing blow on her!

    Just by predicting attacks through sensing the energy movements. It was a frightening skill in which Teresa was inhumanly proficient.

    Tsunade surmised that nothing short of catching Teresa off-guard with above Kage-level speed or destroying arge area with insanely powerful ninjutsu could put her down for good.

    As for winning against her in a fight where she is focused?

    Fat chance average jonins like Samui and Kurotsuchi could do that.

 Chapter 461 Ch461. A Small Drama

    Rei watched as Teresa was toying with Kurotsuchi and Samui, having quite a lot of fun witnessing their struggles. When he proposed to them to fight Teresa, he had already expected something like this to ur.

    Unfortunately for them, Rei wanted to kill two flies with one hit. This way, he fulfilled the promise to Tsunade while testing their level, ws, and preferences inbat so he would know how to train them.

    The least they could do for their bright future was to suffer a bit, no?

    He let the three girls y for an entire hour before he decided he had enough data to make a proper training schedule for Samui and Kurotsuchi. By now, both of them were wheezing and panting in exhaustion, and Rei decided this was a passable show for them of what to expect during his training sessions.

    Throwing a kunai in front of Teresa who was leisurely walking toward the two exhausted kunoichis with a small smile on her face and her hand on the hilt of her ymore, Rei attracted her attention before gesturing that the match is finished.

    Teresa looked at Samui and Kurotsuchi with a mild discontent, unnerving them for a moment before she finally spoke, "You two are boring!"

    Her piece said, Teresa was satisfied and walked out of the arena.

    Both kunoichis could only depressingly watch as their opponent disregarded them. In their respective viges, they were in no way on the top but this kind of disregard was felt for the first time by them.

    Yes, Kurotsuchi fought against her grandfather at times in the guise of training but he never so mockingly toyed with her.

    Unknown to them, this moment of frustration would motivate them throughout the hell that awaited them.

    ...

    Evening came and Rei''s group relocated to the Senju Mansion.

    Surprisingly enough, Kumo was still resisting the Kiri Swordsmen but it mattered not. Kiri army was already encamped around the vige, the mountain mist superbly helping them with staying hidden.

    Tomorrow morning, their attack willmence and Kumo will fall. There was no need to intervene and Rei was happy about that. He didn''t feel like helping with it at all.

    A decade of nurturing subordinates... In Rei''s opinion, it should better start to pay dividends!

    He didn''t train and teach people for so long in order to have to end everything by himself. He finally had entire armies under hismand so he had to use it and sit back, enjoying the peace while others fought for him.

    His hard work finally bore fruits.

    The only Kage that was with them in the Senju Mansion was Onoki and that was because of Kurotsuchi''s request. Sarutobi, A, B, and Mabui were given to the tender care of Morino Ibiki since Rei didn''t want to hear theirints about his actions against Kumo.

    Even Sarutobi tried to use his ''disappointed grandfather'' routine on Rei when he saw it had no effect on Tsunade. s, when he looked more like an angry pimple than an old man, it was more cringe than effective.

    Tsunade had no intention of having them tortured and Ibiki was just supposed to put them into VIP cells in the most guarded area in Konoha''s prison but they didn''t know that at the time. When the man showed up to take them away... even Sarutobi looked a bit frightened.

    Needless to say, with their chakra restricted to genin level, there was nothing much they could do.

    Thanks to getting rid of the annoyances, Rei''s evening was peaceful as he sat in hisfortable armchair with his family sitting around him and Tsunadefortably seated on hisp, cuddling to celebrate their easy victory.

    Maybe it was too soon but there was no longer anything in the Elemental Nations that could stand in their way unless some unexpected hidden force revealed itself or Madara was somehow brought back.<sub> </sub>

    But there was no way that could happen, no?

    Konan''s informationwork would reveal any such hidden force and Rei made sure to destroy any way for Madara to resurrect.

    The only pair of Rinnegan eyes was destroyed and Kabuto was just a little whelp who was barely jonin level. There was no way he could learn Edo Tensei. Especially since he was already arrested during the invasion.

    He was the reason why Anko was still in her hobby job at the Torture and Interrogation Department. The poor bastard. But Anko''s tender care was totally deserved in this case.

    Since Tsunade became the Hokage, she made sure that Kabuto would be unable to do anything too nasty but before that...

    Let''s just say that once upon a time, he was one of the trainers for the orphans taken to ROOT. It wasn''t like his medical proficiency fell from the sky. He also needed some... guinea pigs to train and his intimate knowledge of the human body was definitely not acquired by practicing on fish.

    Unfortunately for Rei, his expectations were betrayed and Anko actually didn''t intend to spend her night having fun with her new toys in the T&I. His peaceful evening was ruined when she appeared at the door, ring at Tsunade and clenching her fists.

    "You promised that Orochimaru is mine!" Anko petntly screamed, making the whole room speechless and dissipating the merry mood in the air.

    Tears streamed down Anko''s cheeks as she stomped her way to Tsunade and started weakly hitting her while wailing like a child. Tsunade was too stunned to react and even after she recollected herself, she didn''t just p Anko away. Anko grew on her and Rei knew she regarded the crazy woman as sort of an adopted daughter.

    Speaking of Rei...

    The poor man on whom Tsunade was seated could do nothing more than inwardly groan as this was happening. Not only did he feel every impact of Anko''s fist, no matter how weak it was, as Tsunade shifted her weight on hisp, but his ears also protested due to Anko''s harpy-like shrieks and incessant cussing.

    Sure, he understood that Anko was angry, but... His peaceful evening!

    Noticing that Rei was on the verge ofshing out, Tsunade quickly caught Anko''s wrists, stopping her temper tantrum as she stood up and dragged the unruly girl towards the empty spots on the couch where she sat down, forcing Anko to also sit on the spot next to her.

    Rei had a lot of patience for his girls, but Anko was not one of them. As patient as he was, there were a few triggers that would make even him annoyed. Having his quiet and peaceful evening disrupted after a hard day was one of the bigger ones. Rei worked a lot, whether on seals, plotting, or governing his vige and forces, so he utterly hated having to deal with more drama during his free time.

    He didn''t mind witnessing it. He may even like that. But he totally hated it if he was involved in any way. That''s why Tsunade decided to relocate from hisp to the couch, swapping Rei''s position from participant to a silent observer.

    "Don''t be silly, Anko." Tsunade coaxed, looking at the sorrowful and tearful girl who was sullenly pouting. Wiping her tears, Tsunade continued, "I will resurrect him for you once per week so you can have your fun. How about that?"

    That got Anko''s attention, "You can resurrect him?" She hopefully asked.

    "Mhm." Tsunade nodded with a small smile, "So, deal?"

    "Yesh." Anko sniffed, a smile returning to her face.

    The drama dealt with, Rei rxed again and Tsunade looked back toward Rei, about to relocate to hisp again, only to find out that Mei took the opportunity to take her ce, causing her to indignantly huff.

    In response, Mei just stuck her tongue out at her.

 Chapter 462 Ch462. Great Chakra Revolution

    A new day came and Rei was up among the first among the residents of the Senju Mansion. He made himself breakfast and sat down on the porch with the tter in hisp, enjoying his sandwich, the morning breeze caressing his skin, and the chirping of the birds.

    It was a nice peaceful morning and...

    ''God, I feel like an old man.'' Rei inwardly chuckled. ''But... It isn''t so bad.'' He contently added, staring at the sunrise on the horizon.

    Unfortunately for Rei, his cool protagonist moment was interrupted... once again like every single before it... by the reanimation of Tobirama Senju joining him on the porch.

    "You are up early.: Tobirama awkwardly tried to start a conversation.

    Rei inwardly sighed, knowing there was no way for his moment of peace to return even if he chased Tobirama away. Looking at the man, Rei donned a helpless smile and resigned himself to his fate. "Hm? Why would you think so?"

    Tobirama was damn d he could not blush as he tonelessly spoke, "Considering the... noisesing from Tsunade''s room yesterday untilte midnight, I thought I wouldn''t see either of you until lunch."

    As reanimated corpses, Tobirama and Hashirama didn''t need to sleep or eat. Hence, they had decided to look around the vige for a bit during the night and maybe help with a bit of rebuilding.

    No doubt, there will be many shocked civilians to see their ruined houses rebuilt with the wood release this morning. Ninjas will also rejoice at not going to be forced into too manypulsory D-rank missions for the vige since Tobirama used his shadow clones to take care of some rubble and clean up.

    And because Tobirama was using clones but Hashirama had to be present to finish his work, Tobirama was back in the Senju Mansion sooner.

    "Fortunately for you, it was me and not Hashirama who noticed otherwise your nightly activities would have been promptly and rudely interrupted." Tobirama tly remarked.

    Rei gave him a long stare at that. He wondered if Tobirama was going to say something about the fact Tsunade was not the only loud female voiceing from that room yesterday but the Second Hokage seemed to selectively forget about that.

    Rei chuckled to himself, "Eh, you are quite cool for an old virgin."

    "I am not a virgin!" Tobirama instantly rebuked, affronted at the usation.

    His rebuke was a tad bit too fast to convince Rei but he didn''t want to aggravate him further so he only nonchntly shrugged his shoulders, "Ok."

    "I am really not!" Tobirama exasperatedly eximed.

    "Sure." Rei once again easily agreed with him and Tobirama could only grumble under his nose at that.

    An awkward silence spread between them, and Rei didn''t rush to interrupt it. Tobirama approached him so the man definitely had some aim. He would start talking when he is ready.

    And Rei was right. Tobirama could not keep quiet for much longer. After throwing a few nces in Rei''s way, Tobirama''s curiosity won over his silent embarrassment and he got to the point.

    "Tell me, what exactly are you trying to aplish with this world conquest of yours?" The Second Hokage asked in a serious tone.

    Tobirama recognized that Hashirama should have united all ninjas under his banner. Even if by force. That''s why seeing somebody actually do what his stupid brother should have done was intriguing for him.

    He wanted to know Rei''s reasons.

    After all, what could motivate someone to aplish this?

    "Ah, so that''s what is bothering you." Rei nodded in understanding. "I want to make the Great Chakra Revolution into a possibility."<sub> </sub>

    "The... what?" Tobirama furrowed his eyebrows and Reiughed a bit. He simply pulled that out of his ass, imitating the Industrial Revolution''s name of his previous world. It was natural these words would mean nothing to the Second Hokage.

    ? Smiling at managing to baffle the man, Rei continued, changing the angle of his exnation, "Do you think being ruled by mundane men like Daimyos are qualified to lead superpowered individuals like ninjas?"

    "So you will try to overthrow the Daimyos next." Tobirama stated, a bit disgruntled. He wasn''t sure he liked that course of action.

    "Not really." Rei hummed, "I won''t have to move a finger now that every big ninja vige is in my grasp. This old-fashioned feudal system will disappear by itself in time." He admitted.

    Tobirama broodily tilted his head and stayed silent for a moment as he crossed his arms on his chest. He tried to think about why that would be the case but he just didn''t get it.

    When he noticed, Rei didn''t me him. The man was an old ninja and set in his ways.

    Rei decided to exin it to him as if he was five, "In a world with super-powered individuals and mundane people, the super-powered individuals will always inevitably take the reins. The survival of the fittest is still a thing, no matter how the weak shriek about equality and whatnot." He paused for a second to let his words sink in.

    "The ninjas should have overthrown Daimyos long ago but they were far too preupied with fighting among themselves and far too scattered all over the world, grouped only in small groups. They didn''t have the numbers and time to threaten the Daimyos and when this or that n started to be threatening with its growth, the nobles simply made some problem to pit it against the n''s enemies." Rei gave a meaningful look to Tobirama who looked as if he bit into a sour lemon as he understood what Rei tried to say.

    That was exactly what was happening between Uchihas and Senjus. Their rivalry has been going strong since ever but time heals all wounds. The only way for the hatred between the ns tost was if someone was fanning the mes.

    And from Tobirama''s expression, he understood this point and started to put two and two together.

    There was a saying in the Warring States period. Only the Senju n can match up against the Uchiha n. That''s why whenever one faction hired Uchihas, the other hired Senjus and vice versa.Tobirama knew the possibility that some of their shes might not have been necessary at all. But no ninja would ever ept that. It was the same thing as saying the death of hispanions was meaningless.

    "Hashirama changed that." Rei continued, "He made ninjas group up into arger force led by one leader. Hepletely changed the rules of the game and the Daimyos of the major nations realized that if they wanted to have a fighting chance, they too would have to ept the formation of a hidden ninja vige. They were forced to ept and even nurture the biggest threat to their rule. Care to guess how they kept the ninja viges in line now that they couldn''t just hire them to wage a war against each other?" He chuckled, tantly putting the answer into Tobirama''s mouth.

    Tobirama tried to find a good counter argument. He really did. But even to his ears anything he thought up sounded weak. Maybe if it was Hashirama, he coulde up with some naive bullshit with all his heart that would have worked only if onepletely forgot that politics existed, but Tobirama could not be so carefree.

    "The ninja wars." He glumly replied, ring into the space.

    "Yes. No ninja vige would just say ''Yes, Sir!'' when ordered to start a war. They decided for themselves when to go to war and the Daimyos knew it. They don''t have as much influence over the ninja viges as one would think. They are just figure heads when ites to ninja matters. Yes, they are theoretically above Kages in hierarchy buta€| not really. Theypensate for that by being good at politics and business so through them, they can somewhat keep ninjas in check. They can also make various conflicts, and continue doing what they were always doing best. They fan the mes of hatred. This time not between the ns but on arger scale, between the viges. All to keep the status quo in the world." Rei carefreely said.

    "I still don''t understand why would the unification lead to the abolishment of the Feudal System." Tobirama disgruntledly remarked.

    "That''s quite simple. Now that ninjas don''t have to fight with each other, they can focus on developing chakra in both personal and technological ways. Humans only need proper conditions to rapidly advance. In a few decades without war, without worrying about war, and without having to spend all the time on preparing for eventual war, our society will advance by leaps and bounds in our ways. That''s what I call the Great Chakra Revolution. And with this advance, the old system will be ineffective." Rei tried to portray the situation to the man who was so old he was practically already a dead man walking.

    He only hoped Tobirama would get it since you can''t teach an old dog new tricks.

    "With the ninja viges under one banner, the Daimyos will be unable to do anything." Especially since Rei owned the two richest tradingpanies in the world. "They will realize this soon enough and the only way to survive for them would be to adapt. And when humans adapt to their surroundings, that''s where the biggest changes happen. They will not necessarily lose their influence or wealth, but they will sure as hell lose their iron grip over their nations."

    Rei''s old world went through various political regimes and not every revolution had to be bloody. And with superpowered people on one side, and the wealthy butpletely mundane rulers on the other, it was obvious which of those will be forced to adapt to the ways of the other.

    Just as Rei thought Tobirama would be satisfied with his answer, the Senju surprised him with his sudden insight.

    "I have no idea if things will go ording to your imagination but you didn''t answer my original question. I''ll apud you for the attempt to redirect the topic and admit that you might believe in your reasoning to a degree but I''d still like to know the real reason. Why are you doing all this?" Tobirama tried to stare a hole through Rei with his gaze.

    Rei silently groaned and wondered why must these old geezers all be so damn perceptive.

 Chapter 463 Ch463. The Need For Unity Among Ninjas

    "Have you ever heard the story of the Rabbit Goddess, the mother of chakra?" Rei asked somethingpletely outside of their topic, causing Tobirama to frown in dissatisfaction.

    Nevertheless, the Second Hokage yed along.

    "No?" He gave Rei a weird look, not having any idea what some story had to do with Rei''s motivation to conquer the world.

    "Hmm..." Rei thoughtfully hummed, "what about the story of her son, the Sage of the Six Paths?"

    "I..." Tobirama was about to instantly say yes since this legend was quite well known, but when he registered Rei''s full question his weirded-out look only intensified, "the Sage had a mother?"

    ''No shit Sherlock.'' Rei rolled his eyes and yfully snarked, "Well, he certainly didn''t fall from a tree."

    "Er... yeah, I heard that one." Tobirama grumpily answered, trying hard to not let his embarrassment show in his voice. Of course, the Sage had a mother. Everyone did. Tobirama wanted to facepalm at the stupidity of his question.

    Rei just nodded. He recognized the best opportunity to tease the old guy but this was supposed to be at least somewhat serious discussion so he used all his willpower to refrain from quipping a joking remark about the Senju n''smon sense.

    It was a hard-fought mental battle but Rei eventually won against his baser instincts and spoke in an easy-going tone, "Forget whatever bullshit you heard." He took a bite out of his sandwich, letting silence spread between him and Tobirama.

    Tobirama''s expression turned annoyed as he watched Rei chew his sandwich while birds chirped all around. The husband of his grandniece was either ying with him or he really tried to get to the point but damn if he wasn''t taking his sweet time.

    Either way, Tobirama wanted to strangle him right about now.

    Eh... Rei really tried to be nice but some people are just too short-tempered.

    It took several seconds for Rei to finish his bite but when he was done, he gave his sandwich onest longing look before he sighed and pointed at the sky, "Somewhere up there, is a powerful n named Otsutsuki. They can travel through dimensions," Rei had no idea how to exin the universe to Tobirama so he said the next best thing, "and harness the power of worlds."

    That might have been an extremely oversimplified exnation of what the Otsutsuki n did but it served its purpose.

    "So they are basically stealing it." Tobirama frowned, applying his ninjamon sense to what Rei told him and nailing it on the first try.

    "I knew you would catch up." Rei snickered, taking another bite out of his sandwich, much to Tobirama''s growing ire.

    It probably wouldn''t have been so annoying if he could eat but here he was. His conversation partner once again cut himself off at the important part and let him wait while he could only watch the smug prick enjoy his food.

    Tobirama''s inner desires upgraded from wanting to strangle Rei to wanting to drown him.

    Rei continued once again only when he finished his bite and sighed in satisfaction, making Tobirama''s eyebrow twitch.

    "Kaguya, the Sage of the Six Paths'' mother, deserted her n, backstabbed the man who was sent here with her, and then brought chakra to this world." Rei summed up the few hours long storytelling into one sentence.

    He wasn''t about to exin the whole crap about the Chakra Fruit, Kaguya''s motivations to betray her n or her attempt at being a cheap viin. Tobirama didn''t need to know such details and Rei was toozy to bother.

    Of course, Tobirama instantly noticed, "You are leaving quite a lot of the story out, aren''t you?" He asked in an annoyed tone but he already knew there was nothing he could do about it. Rei was inplete control over what he revealed and what he did not.

    Rei only smiled, continuing without bothering to answer the question or give Tobirama said details, "As you probably expect, Kaguya''s n was not amused by her actions."

    Tobirama''s expression gave a great impression of, ''Well, duh.'' before he groaned and rhetorically asked, "They wille here, won''t they?"

    Honestly, it sounded like some third-rate plot from a fantasy story and Tobirama didn''t like it but if Rei was not just screwing with him for his own amusement, then this was a damn massive problem.

    "Mhm." Rei nonchntly nodded, taking another bite out of his sandwich.

    Unfortunately, Tobirama no longer reacted in a funny manner so Rei''s fun was cut short, making him inwardly pout.<sub> </sub>

    "How strong are they?" Tobirama asked. He needed to know that to start nning and preparing...

    "Bijuus wouldn''t stand a chance against even one of them." Rei said with amusement palpable in his tone. But if one listened deeper, there could be found exasperation and helpless irritation too.

    In Rei''s opinion, cohabiting with nine city-smashing ''monsters'' was one thing. Having an entire n of continent-busting psychos about to unleash unholy hell on your was quite another.

    "Sage damnit!" Tobirama abruptly cursed and rubbed his forehead.

    Rei looked up in surprise, staring at Tobirama in disbelief. He did not expect such an outburst from the usually calm and collected man.

    "No wonder you are trying to unify the ninja world." Tobirama muttered under his nose.

    Rei heard him and shrugged. He didn''t answer because Tobirama was a bit misinformed.

    Rei didn''t need to unify the ninja world. He didn''t need this to survive. He could simply relocate everyone he cared about into his dimension and the problem would have been solved for him. But he wanted to see how far the ninja world would go if given optimal conditions for progress.

    "Can we win?" Tobirama asked, pulling Rei out of his thoughts.

    "Win? No." Rei amusedly shook his head.

    He wouldn''t depend on canon knowledge for this one. If the Otsutsukis were any smart, they would have sent an army to this once their initial probe failed. It would have taken a massively stupid decision for the Elemental Nation to get a fighting chance.

    Before Tobirama couldment, Rei continued. "Hide until we are strong enough? Definitely."

    As someone who fought his entire life, Tobirama understood that hiding was not an option and he felt it was his duty to tell Rei how stupid that n is.

    "Peace creates weak men. Weak men create war. War creates strong men. And strong men create peace. Thest thing the Elemental Nation needs right now iscency and weak men." Tobirama said, disagreeing with Rei.

    Rei, however, just chuckled, "There are still enough enemies on this the ninjas can unite to fight."

    Tobirama''s eyebrows furrowed...

    "The Elemental Nations are not the only continent." Rei continued exining, knowing that ninjas while developed in certain areas were totally backward in others, "With a good enough enemy far away and a drive to improve, our kind can get strong enough in a few centuries of progress. I am already working on a way to prevent the Otsutsuki n from finding us too."

    After all, there were four more continents and at least one of them had two species that didn''t hold humanity in the highest regard. There was no shortage of potential enemies.

    Tobirama slowly nodded in understanding. He didn''t have any knowledge about this but he also realized he had no way of finding out so he epted Rei''s answer at face value. That, however, begot the most important question of all.

    epting things at face value was one thing but...

    "How do you know about this?" Tobirama suspiciously asked.

    This husband of his grandniece was far too well informed if the things he told him were true.

    Rei wasn''t offended by Tobirama''s suspicion. He would have been embarrassed for the guy if he just believed him straight away. That said, Rei wasn''t about to try to prove himself.

    Lazily shrugging, Rei spoke, "Mhm, Kaguya might or might not be one of my wives."

    Tobirama didn''t even realize it when his jaw dropped as his brain tried topute the crazy statement.

    Before his mind could finish dealing with the information overload, Rei slowly stood up and patted his thighs, "Speaking of which, today I gotta go and spend some time with her lest she decides to wage a war on this continent due to being grumpy. Hmm, I should bake some cookies for her." He mused out loud as he entered the house, leaving one totally bbergasted Senju to stand on the porch and stare into nowhere.

 Chapter 464 Ch464. Appeasing Kaguya

    Rei arrived at his mansion in the Vige on the Other Side, holding a basket of cookies.

    As he walked through his mansion, his eyebrows started to furrow more and more with every empty previously sweets-filled cupboard he encountered.

    ''Damn. I don''t know if I should be happy she will never go fat thanks to her chakra or be upset that because of that, she will have nopulsion to stop these eating habits of hers.'' Rei helplessly shook his head, heading to the kitchen where he could distinctly feel the upset chakra signature of Kaguya.

    Arriving in the kitchen, Rei instantly saw exhausted Kin sitting on the floor with her back leaning on the kitchen cupboards, her head in her hands, sluggishly muttering pleas to let her rest, while the humming Riful was continuing baking cookies like a dutiful housewife while asionally creepily giggling to herself, her eyes sporting a kind of craze that made Rei want to avoid her at all cost.

    Rei didn''t even want to know what kind of nightmarish night they had to have behind themselves to be affected like this.

    Turning his head towards the kitchen table, he found it full of empty tters as frustrated Kaguya nibbled on a charcoal-like cookie, clearly too deep in her thoughts to care.

    And that scared Rei more than seeing the half-dead Kin and newly-insane Riful.

    Kaguya and deep thinking usually produced something very, very convoluted and bothersome so he knew he had to put a stop to that asap.

    Fortunately, he came prepared.

    Rei approached the table and when he was five meters away from it, Kaguya''s eyes suddenly moved, zeroing in on the basket with cookies in his hands as her nose cutely sniffed the air a bit.

    Rei chuckled and Kaguya blinked a few times,ing back to reality. Her eyes widened when she noticed Rei... and before Rei could react, he had one clingy rabbitdy hanging around his torso, rubbing her face on his chest.

    Rei helplessly sighed, letting Kaguya have her moment, knowing he might owe it to her for leaving her behind.

    Eventually, Kaguya leaned her head back, her white eyes staring at Rei''s face with usation behind them while she was visibly pouting, "Why did you leave me at home? I could have helped." She sullenly eximed.

    ''That''s exactly what I was afraid of.'' Rei inwardly deadpanned.

    Before the Chunin Exams finals started, he ordered Kaguya to stay and guard their home. He didn''t want her to join any of the invasions. Kaguya was getting better but she had Mei''s level ofmon sense and Ringo''s level of self-control at times.

    That was a dangerousbination and Rei didn''t want to hear that she leveled some poor vige because she got pissed off and miscalcted her attack.

    He didn''t have these worries when he sent her to fight against Riful. That ind held nothing Rei was interested in so even if Kaguya smashed some towns to smithereens, he would hardly care. But the hidden viges were different.

    Sighing, Rei put his hand on the top of Kaguya''s head and started to caress her hair, causing her to narrow her eyes at him.

    "I won''t be appeased so easily!" Kaguya huffed, but contrary to her words, her body slightly rxed against Rei''s.

    Rei smirked, "Hmm... I think you are lying." He smugly said, making Kaguya gnash her teeth at him but there was no hostility behind the gesture.

    Rei chuckled at her cuteness and continued rubbing her head, "We both know you are a glutton for food and sex, my dear little rabbit." He cheekily stated, causing Kaguya''s face to erupt with a blush. Before she could rebuke him, he continued, "I am bringing you your favorite food and intend to spend the entirety of today with you in the bed. Would that be enough to appease you, my Princess?"

    Kaguya''s slight re instantly shifted into a look of delight, all past transgressions were forgotten and forgiven as she heard about the prospects of enjoying her favorite food and favorite activity all in one day.

    "Oh, yes." She delightfully mewled with a big excited smile before she pushed herself on her tiptoes and pecked Rei on the lips.

    She then turned around, catching the amused Rei''s hand, and dragged him toward the table. When they reached it and Rei put the basket down, Kaguya pointed at her chair, "Sit!" She ordered with an adorably serious expression.

    Trying to resist his urge to smile, Rei obeyed and sat down... only to have Kaguya''s posterior instantly perched on his thighs as she gotfortable on hisp and leaned her back into his chest.<sub> </sub>

    The woman was definitely aware of what she was doing if the way she slightly rubbed her bottom against Rei''s thighs was any indication. And when his lower member reacted and stood at attention...

    Kaguya''s ears perked up as she tried to let him ''innocently'' join the fun.

    Rei, blushing slightly, put an abrupt stop to that when he put his arms around Kaguya, pulling her into an embrace so tight that she couldn''t move. Rei''s chin rested on Kaguya''s shoulder and his mouth was near her reddened ear as he whispered, "You eat first. I''ll partake in youter."

    "Mhmm~." Kaguya quietly moaned, shuddering in Rei''s hold.

    Rei had to take a deep breath to calm himself a bit as Kaguya cked a bit against his body. This perverted rabbit could get herself off so easily it made even him hot and bothered despite his experiences.

    Wryly smiling, Rei closed his eyes and tried to put his mind at ease. It wasn''t easy. Especially with Kaguya releasing her pheromones inrge quantities. She definitely knew how to utilize her chakra for these kinds of stuff when she wanted. Yet, she was toozy to properly train in taijutsu.

    His attempt was ruined a few secondster when he felt Kaguya''s lips start to tenderly trail all over his neck, nting a needy kiss after kiss on it until she reached Rei''s ear.

    "This Princess demands attention." She purred and licked his earlobe.

    Rei couldn''t help but chuckle, partly due to being ticklish and partly due to the way he felt about this. He slightly regretted his oversight of letting the two alone in a room but he also found it amusing when Mei introduced Kaguya to that kind of roley. ''The unruly princess getting tamed by her new Master'' as Mei called it, was Kaguya''s favorite.

    Honestly, even Rei grew embarrassed as heck during that. He didn''t have any exceptional fetishes but... sigh. What would a man not do for the happiness of his girl?

    Taking a cookie into his hand, Rei stuffed it into Kaguya''s mouth before she could continue with her kisses, making her blink in surprise... but nevertheless, she instinctively started nibbling on the cookie.

    "Then I will make sure this Princess learns how to obey her man." Rei huskily growled, but then he did aplete turn in attitude. His tone turned flippant,  "And you man said to eat your cookies. I still have something serious to talk to you about."

    Kaguya pouted. It was a massive downer in her mood for her advances to be stopped like this. She may have desired to be taken on the kitchen table but outright telling that to Rei was too embarrassing for her.

    ''Stupid Rei.'' She thought in frustration, violently munching on the cookie in her hands to relieve said frustration.

    Silence spread between the two, the only sounds that asionally resounded in the room were Kaguya''s hums of appreciation as her good mood started to return faster with every cookie she ate.

    Seeing that she was back to her usual cheerful self, Rei decided it was time to ask the question that bothered him.

    Sighing to himself, he decided to just get it out. Tapping Kaguya''s shoulder and getting her attention, Rei uncertainly started, "Kaguya... tomorrow," Because he was in no way sacrificing his day with Kaguya in bed for this. He was too hot and bothered to let her escape his grasp today. "would you like to talk to Hagoromo?"

    When Kaguya heard what Rei said, her eyes grew wide and conflict brewed inside of them. She was so shocked that her cookie fell from her mouth.

    "You... can do that?" She quietly asked in a low tone, her eyes tearful but also very resentful.

    Rei mutely nodded, letting her think about it by herself.

    Kaguya weakly smiled with uncertainty visible in her expression, "I''d... like that. I think." She clutched her hands into fists. She had no idea what she thought about this but... at the very least she wanted to scream herself hoarse at her stupid dead son.

    Biting her lower lip, Kaguya''s intense stare full of determination turned to Rei, "Now, ravish me. No more excuses!" She firmly stated, showing she would not take no for an answer.

    Rei helplessly shook his head, waiting until she was about to open her mouth again before he abruptly shifted her into a Princess carry, "Speaking out of turn, are we?" He quipped, his eyes narrowed with mirth.

    The giggling Kaguya barely managed to grab the basket with cookies from the table as Rei carried her to the bedroom.

 Chapter 465 Ch465. A Lunch With Kaguya

    After enjoying the night together, Rei and Kaguya woke up in thete afternoon and it took them two more hours, shower included, to finally get to their breakfast sh lunch.

    Kin and Riful were with them too, Riful contently sitting opposite Kaguya and swinging her feet back and forth as they didn''t reach the ground due to her childish body.

    Kin, on the other hand, approached the sitting Rei, making him look at her in a deadpan as she dramatically fell to her knees next to his chair, "Thank you for saving me from the death from exhaustion, Master!" She eximed with a tearful expression, her lips quivering.

    Rei was briefly stunned and... weirded out but before Kin could get closer and hug his thigh while ''coincidentally'' rubbing her hands on some more intimate part of his, he chuckled and abruptly poked her forehead with two of his fingers, putting into it enough strength to make her body fall over and causing the bewildered Kin to end up lying on her back on the floor as she stared at the ceiling with wide eyes.

    "A weak attempt, Kin. Don''t forget that I know where you came from and how you were raised." Rei hummed before turning back to his food, having a hard time believing Kin actually did try to seduce him in such a half-assed way.

    Sure, the former Oto kunoichi was still just a kid and obviously not trained in the art of seduction but that was just... sad.

    ''She must really hate cooking for Kaguya if she resorted to something like this.'' Rei amusedly thought.

    Kin sullenly pouted, "I meant what I said." She insisted only for Kaguya to rebuke her.

    "Stop lying on the ground and make yourself useful by eating your lunch, girl." Kaguya disgruntledly said, giving Kin an unamused stare with her narrowed eyes.

    That prompted Kin to instantly stand up at attention before she obeyed Kaguya''s words as if she had months-long training under the woman instead of just being her cook for thest several days.

    Rei looked straight at Kin who was seating herself down on her chair opposite him and raised his eyebrow... only for her to bow her head down in shame.

    He could understand. Kaguya could be... difficult to handle even for him. For someone as powerless as Kin, this might have been the worst punishment she could have received.

    Just imagining having Kaguya breathing down his back as he cooked and demanding him to make cookies faster while he could do nothing about it was making him shudder at the nightmarish notion.

    ''I will have to swap her out soon lest she goes crazy.'' Rei mused.

    Seeing that Kaguya didn''t stop staring at Kin in discontent and it was making the girl really ufortable, Rei decided to intervene. Of course, only after he had his share of amusement due to Kin''s difort.

    "Stop wishing you couldbust the girl with your eyes, Kaguya." Rei admonished his rabbit-girl, ruffling her hair a bit, much to her hidden delight but outward huff of irritation.

    "She is a calcting bitch who wouldn''t mind climbing on the table and spreading her legs for you if she saw you wanted her. You gotta be strict with these kinds of sluts." Kaguya muttered, making things really awkward in the room.

    Kin''s face went beet red and Rei let out a dryugh while Riful was blissfully ignoring the happenings and just munched on her food.

    Unfortunately for Kin, Rei would not be defending her from that usation. In their world, strength mattered and if nothing else, this experience of being Kaguya''s maidservant should be very valuable, motivating her to reach greater heights.

    Unlike Tayuya who had a simr ability to Kin, the girl''s progress was abysmal. Shecked Tayuya''s drive. Kin was mostly a follower, a pawn, a cannon fodder. And she was fine with that. She didn''t strive to improve herself at all. It was no wonder Orochimaru was fine with sacrificing her for the Reanimation Jutsu. With this kind of attitude, she would have never grown past low-chunin rank anyway.<sub> </sub>

    Of course, Rei didn''t expect Kin to be S-rank in a week. She didn''t have Tayuya''s advantages, skills, or chakra levels. Hell, she didn''t have what it takes to be S-rank, period.

    But he did expect her to show at least some effort to improve, which she didn''t and that earned her this little apprenticeship under Kaguya to remind her that power mattered. Kaguya had a very special way of motivating people. She was a miracle worker when it came to that.

    A few days under her and Kin wanted nothing else than to leave this hell.

    Frankly, Rei was happy for the lucky addition of Riful. The female Abyssal One could cook quite well and loved serving someone as strong as Kaguya. She was honestly god-sent.

    At the end of the day, Rei only wanted the best for Kin. He wouldn''t mind her being just an ordinary servant with rudimentary ninja training if that''s what the girl really desired. But he could clearly see she wanted more.

    The way Kin looked at Rei''s other wives with jealousy and desire in her eyes...

    The girl wanted to be powerful but her mentality belonged to someone who never tried to attain her desires. Rei didn''t mind helping her a bit even if it meant mentally scarring her in the short term.

    "Heh~, this is actually delicious. Your cooking is getting better and better, Riful." Rei suddenly praised the food.

    "Thank you. I will be the best cook for Lady Kaguya!" Riful enthusiastically eximed, her eyes narrowing in happiness.

    It was quite weird but oddly endearing to see this murderous human-eating monster find such a simple joy in serving Kaguya simply because she was strong.

    Throwing Riful a yful look, Rei jokingly teased, "I hope you didn''t add some special ingredient of your liking, though."

    Riful didn''t get the joke...

    "Don''t worry. The only te with mashed human intestines is mine." She said in a matter-of-fact manner and happy-go-lucky tone, causing Kaguya to raise her eyebrow at that admission while Kin went promptly green, her fork stopping just an inch short of entering her mouth as the girl now eyed her food warily.

    "Too much information." Rei sheepishly chuckled, suddenly losing his appetite.

    After that, the only two who didn''t care and were stuffing their cheeks were Riful and Kaguya while Kin was doing her best not to throw up and earn herself the punishment for spoiling Kaguya''s appetite.

    She had seen many messed up things in her service for Orochimaru but the image of having human meat mixed in her food made her stomach turn anyway.

    The lunchsted ten more minutes... because it simply took that long for Kaguya topletely finish every dish on the table, finishing even Rei''s and Kin''s unfinished portions, only leaving the Riful''s food untouched. She really loved to eat a lot and Rei couldn''t bring himself to stop her.

    It wasn''t as if she could grow fat anyway so he let her enjoy herself.

    "Well, then, now that we are fed and watered," When all the food was finished, Rei turned to the side, looking at Kaguya with a small mirthful smile on his lips, "Ready to scream yourself hoarse at your dead son?"

 Chapter 466 Ch466. Hagoromos Plight

    Kaguya did want to meet with Hagoromo. Ever since she was released from her seal and learned that Hagoromo''s spirit was still hounding the world, she wanted to tell him off.

    Unfortunately for her, despite all her strength, she simply could not reach the ne of existence where he currently resided.

    It wasn''t a question of power. Kaguya had enough power to create basic dimensions at a whim.

    It was a problem with ess. She had no idea how to ess that ne.

    Some things... one simply can''t just power through no matter how much energy he has at his disposal.

    Of course, during one of their intimate moments when they were cuddling in a bed after an incredible night, she did inform Rei about this wish of hers and the problems she was facing.

    Honestly, she thought he had already forgotten about that since he never brought it up again and Kaguya did not expect him to solve all her problems for her.

    And yet, here she was. Sitting in the middle of a sealing formation spanning an entire room that should let her spiritual form ess the ne of existence where Hagoromo''s spirit was hiding and observing the world.

    She finally could verbally spank that misbehaving boy of hers!

    The seals shed with chakra and Kaguya felt as if she blinked despite not doing so, and the world in front of her eyes shifted.

    Looking around, Kaguya found herself in a depressing edgy room that was mostly empty. She was sitting opposite Hagoromo and when she saw his jaw on the floor and his eyes wide due to her sudden and unexpected arrival, Kaguya giggled into her palm.

    But her eyes were not smiling at all...

    ...

    Contrary to the popr belief, Hagoromo was not observing the Elemental Nations twenty-four-seven nor did he know everything that was going on. He was just a man, no God as the people liked to believe. And like any other man, he was not all-seeing. He had only one pair of eyes.

    Yes, his eyes could see much further away than anyone else''s, even going beyond the realm he was in right now, but he had his limit. He could observe only one ce at a time and there were simply too many things going on at the same time in the world.

    On top of that, not all of his time was spent staring at the Elemental Nations. Yes, he was bored out of his mind but even he needed a break from time to time. He liked to take week-long breaks to just... meditate and let his mind go blissfully nk.

    No plots, no worries, no problems, just basking in the quietness of his mind.

    If not for his inner peace, he would have gone mad a long, long time ago in this realm.

    That said, as ofte, the world was starting to near another breaking point, another crucible that would test if the world would be destroyed or not. Plots of those hiding in the dark were reaching their conclusion and Hagoromo could already tell there would be a war starting in just a few short years.

    A war unlike anything seen before in the Elemental Nations.

    Hagoromo could do nothing but watch, but he was at the very least fully capable of following the actions of ck Zetsu and the fake Madara. He watched them in worry, praying somebody would stop their madness.

    Yet, it was obvious this cmity would not be stopped before it was unleashed onto the world. Just like any other before it.

    Over the years, Hagoromo lost a lot of his initial faith in humanity. He watched the reincarnations of his sons fight over, and over, and... over again in an unceasing foolish battle that had no end goal. They fought and fought, usually for the stupidest of reasons, and more often than not, this led to the death of both of them, only feeding the circle of hatred.

    Hagormo could withstand a lot but even he was getting tired, weary of it all.

    And then, Madara and Hashirama came, uniting together to forge a better future.

    Hagoromo was overjoyed at the reincarnation of his sons finally finding a way to reconnect, be friends, and work together towards a brighter future...

    But his joy didn''tst long and Madara fell to the ploys of the ck Zetsu, causing Hagoromo to grit his teeth at the damage his ''third brother'' was causing in the world. If he had any idea that his sted mother made anotherst vain attempt at freedom just before she was sealed, he would have turned every rock in the Elemental Nations to find his ''third brother'' and permanently deal with him.

    s... he had no idea and the result was the Elemental Nations being plunged into deep, centuries-long darkness.<sub> </sub>

    Thest attempt at the freedom of his mother pretty much screwed the generations of ninshu users toe, going so far as to corrupt his own two sons and goad Indra to both fight against Asura and create the abominable ninjutsu the people of nowadays used to kill each other.

    And now, history was repeating and the board was set once more. this time, just with much higher stakes going on behind the scenes.

    Two new reincarnations of his sons were born, both having their own circumstances. With the Rinnegan created by Madara, ck Zetsu and his pawns were preparing to start their ultimate n, and the somewhat peaceful era was going to be interrupted the second the first bijuu was captured.

    But that was not all...

    Some time ago, Hagoromo did feel someone prate the realm he was trapped in and stare at him right through the boundary. The second it happened, Hagoromo stiffened like a deer being watched by a wolf, sweat drenching his back...

    And then the feeling was suddenly gone as fast as it came.

    Hagoromo scrambled to peek back, to find who was powerful enough to do that. His mind whirling in panic with numerous possibilities and all of them so dangerous to his beloved world that he felt afraid for it like only once before.

    Yet, he couldn''t find anyone. No, he... couldn''t ''see'' anyone. His senses were telling him there was someone but his eyes simply refused to reveal it.

    Hagoromo''s mind shed to the time when his mother taught him how to use his eyes and how she could conceal herself on instinct purely because her Rinnegan was much, much more powerful than his own.

    But he quickly shook that thought away. That was nigh impossible.

    His mother was safely locked in the Moon.

    There was no way for her to get free so of course, it had to be some other Otsutsuki. That was good. That meant his world still had a fighting chance. They could still gather their heroes and win.

    As long as it was not his dear mother, the world was not yet done for.

    Hagoromo knew best the level of power his mother held. Two people on his level could not put a scratch on the woman for months. And it was ever so painfully obvious she had no idea how to use her abilities to fight at the time.

    But during their fight, she was slowly but surely getting better, grasping her abilities more and more, and that''s why Hagoromo became desperate, opting to seal her away. For he knew if they fought for another week, neither he nor Hamura would be able to reach Kaguya anymore.

    Hagoromo''s worries only intensified when he felt the same kind of stare on him from time to time. It usually ceased as fast as it came, but sometimes, he was left squirming for a few minutes under the scrutinizing and slightly hostile gaze.

    But no matter what he did, he couldn''t find the culprit. And he did try almost everything he could.

    Was it any surprise his no-longer-beating heart almost stilled all over again when Kaguya Otsutsuki of all people appeared in front of him?

    ''Not her, anyone but her!'' Hagoromo repeated in his mind while his jaw dropped and his eyes widened in horror.

    Yet, his mother only sweetly smiled at him... but her purple pupil-less eyes betrayed the arctic coldness of her heart and Hagoromo felt as if he was shrinking under her gaze.

    The resentment she felt towards him was palpable in the air and the tension between them was only increasing by the second, making him inwardly freak out in panic...

    When suddenly, it was as if a great burden was lifted from his shoulder, letting him take a deep breath.

    But his new-found rxation didn''tst long as he realized Kaguya was not using any sort of technique or even her chakra to pressurize him. It was all simply her presence and...

    ''She learned how to control some of her power!?'' Hagoromo looked at her, the horror in his eyes increasing. Abruptly, the spark in his eyes turned to apathy and... resignation. ''The world is doomed.''

    There was simply nothing more he could do. The monster his mother was had won.

    But instead of getting instantly ughtered as he thought, Kaguya only smirked at him.

    "Well, hello there, Hagoromo. How is watching your beloved humans ughter each other treating you, my least favorite son?" She calmly drawled as she slowly looked around. "Seeing you trapped here by your lonesome self, unable to find eternal peace... I guess serves you right, you prick." She nodded to herself in satisfaction.

 Chapter 467 Ch467. Stepdaddy

    "How?" Hagoromo asked in a heavy tone.

    He... knew he had lost but he simply wanted to know how this happened and how it could evade his sight. He should have been notified the second the Kaguya''s seal broke. But as he checked his connection to the fuinjutsu on the Moon, it was still there.

    So... how?

    "How what?" Kaguya calmly asked and raised her eyebrow at Hagoromo. "You gotta be more precise, son. This is why I liked Hamura more. He was always faster on the uptake." She casually insulted Hagoromo.

    It was just a pity that Hamura also liked to overthink things and that meant he was prone to his opinion being easily swayed if one knew how to go about it.

    Hagoromo ignored the insult. It inwardly surprised him that his mother was so passive-aggressive with him. Never before did his mother insult either him or Hamura but... Apparently, things changed.

    When he looked into Kaguya''s eyes, it pained him to see that the small flicker of affection that was always there whenever she looked at him or Hamura, was gone now.

    No matter how... mad... Kaguya was, Hagoromo knew his mother loved him and his brother dearly. Yet now, these feelings were either perfectly hidden or gone. For some reason, that made him feel ashamed more than seeing his grand ns for the world crumble under human selfishness.

    But now was not the time for pointless sentiment.

    Recollecting his bearings, Hagoromo calmly borated. "How did you get out of the seal without me noticing, mother?"

    Frankly speaking, Hagoromo left a failsafe in the seal in case it was broken. This failsafe would allow him to bestow his chakra to worthy individuals in hopes to fix the seal.

    This was thest and only way for him to interfere in the world.

    Yet, it was something he prayed would nevere to pass. He was alright with being unable to interfere in any way if it meant his mother would stay locked in the seal.

    But now... the seal was intact and he could not even use his failsafe because of that!

    How the hell did she manage to do this!?

    Kaguya let out a smallugh at Hagoromo''s reaction. He was so cute, trying to be all calm, yet, it was as always his eyes that betrayed his panic. Just like when he was a kid and was stealing cookies from the kitchen. Nothing really changed since then in that regard.

    "I had the help of the best Seal Master in the world." She truthfully stated with a fond smile on her lips.

    Hagoromo was too distracted to notice. Of course, he instantly knew who his mother meant. He did pay attention to the ongoing events, after all.

    "Yotsuba Rei. He let you out?" He asked in bewilderment and... disappointment.

    Hagoromo was eagerly observing Rei''s progress. The man reminded him a bit of himself, to be honest. A man stronger than others simply because he refused to be bound by theirmon sense and explored the energy avable to him further than others, teaching his apprentices, creating a proper vige, caring about his lovers and the people under him...

    Rei was striving for improvement but he was not sacrificing human lives in the process. In fact, he tried to make them better. That was a very rare thing in the ninja world.

    Hagoromo could respect that.

    That''s why hearing it was his favorite person in the current Elemental Nation that let his mother out made Hagoromo very disappointed. He felt as if his favorite hero in the story just betrayed his expectations. He was... seething.

    Hearing the disappointment and silent anger in Hagoromo''s tone when he mentioned Rei, Kaguya had just found the way how to... as Tsunade would say... verbally fuck with her target.

    "Is that the tone you should use when talking about your new stepdaddy?" Kaguya narrowed her eyes, dropping an unexpected bomb on Hagoromo who suddenly felt like a child who was just scolded by his mother for being mischievous.

    Sage.exe had a hard time loading the verbal nuke that was dropped on him.

    "What?" Hagoromo nkly asked, his mind refusing to let him properly think.

    "Your new stepfather, boy. Show him some proper respect or else..." Kaguya coldly ordered, "You might be over a thousand years old but that doesn''t mean I can''t bend you over my knee and spank you like the misbehaving child you are."<sub> </sub>

    In fact, Hagoromo''s current situation would make that extremely easy for Kaguya. The boy had no idea yet, but she was already nning to visit him on a regr basis to regale him with the tales of his stepfather''s heroics both in and out of the bedroom.

    She thought about it for a very long time... trying to find out the best punishment for Hagoromo.

    Yet, Kaguya knew there was not much that could or would shake her son as he was now.

    Physical pain would not work. He didn''t have a physical body anymore so he would not even feel it if she tried to torture him without using spiritual attacks.

    A spiritual attack, however, was out of the question as she didn''t want to erase him from existence. That would have been too easy and fast.

    Thankfully, Kaguya had incredible advisors and during one of the girl nights Rei''s wives had two times per month, Kaguya got kinda drunk on Rei''s special wine and told her problem to Ringo and Tsunade. The two of the both worst and best people to ask when one wanted to torture someone else.

    In the end, Kaguya''s answer was easy.

    Emotional damage.

    Hagoromo''s spirit was trapped in his separate realm and Kaguya had now easy ess to him without him being able to stop her in any way. She had all the time in the world to punish him for locking her away.

    "Right..." Hagoromo trailed off, his mind still in great turmoil. "My new... stepfather." He grimaced at that thought. He didn''t know his father but he was very interested in him when he was a kid and his mother eventually told him about the man.

    And it influenced his entire life.

    His father was a man who wanted only the best for his people. That was the kind of man Hagoromo wanted to be. That was the reason why he eventually decided to stop all the suffering his mother was causing and devote his life to repent for her mistakes by helping out the people with his special abilities.

    It was irrational but getting to know that his mother had a new man... for some irrational reason, that irked Hagoromo more than her release from the seal, and his expression visibly soured as he thought about it.

    When Kaguya saw it, she instantly knew the uing centuries would be very fun for her.

    Taking a deep breath, Hagoromo decided to focus on what was really important. The family talk could be postponed to... preferably never. The poor naive boy had no idea about his inevitable future...

    "What are you nning to do now that you are free?" He asked in a serious tone.

    He needed to know. His mother was a disaster but since she wanted to... be intimate with a human, maybe she wouldn''t try to destroy the world again?

    Hagoromo was very hopeful...

    "Mhm." Kaguya thoughtfully hummed, "Maybe I will make a few tens of siblings for you in the uing century?" She giggled, "I love the bedroom activities. Your father was never good at that but my new husband... mhmmm~." She released a needy moan, causing Hagoromo to blush like a maiden.

    "Be serious, mother!" He ashamedly eximed in outrage, not liking the sleazy expression his mother showed at all.

    "What? I am serious. Fucking like rabbits is my new favorite hobby, son." Kaguya yfully quipped, making Hagoromo even more mortified.

    "Mom!" The situation was so ridiculous that Hagoromo even forgot their current hostile rtionship and whinilyined.

    "You want me to be serious?" Kaguya teasingly asked, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

    "Yes!" Hagoromo firmly said in an exasperated tone, his cheeks slightly flushed.

    He loved that his mother seemed to be interested in something else than world domination but he utterly hated that this new interest of hers was to fuck with some random dude that couldn''t measure up to Hagoromo''s father.

    "As you wish, boy. Let''s talk seriously now." Kaguya spoke and the air between her and Hagoromo suddenly tensed as heavy pressure full of malicious intent descended on Hagoromo, forcing him to lean forward as his eyes went wide.

    Staring at his scowling mother and remembering the conflict they had between them, Hagoromo realized that no, he didn''t really want her to be serious...

 Chapter 468 Ch468. No Choice? Bullshit.

    "You sealed me. How dare you seal your own mother!?" Kaguya spoke in a low tone, staring a hole into Hagoromo, "Especially in a seal that would make a lesser being go crazy in the first year!" Her tone rose as she sneered.

    Being sealed... she could handle that. But the seal Hagoromo used was the epitome of brutality. Any maternal love she could have had for him evaporated in the first decade of being sealed in there.

    "I had no other choice, mother. You were corrupted!" Hagoromo eximed, trying to justify his actions. "You would have wiped humanity if you were allowed to continue and I couldn''t let that happen, could I?"

    In a way, Hagoromo was right. What he did save humanity from his mother.

    Unfortunately for him, Kaguya was not looking at it from the same angle he was. Hagoromo didn''t understand she didn''t care about being sealed. Honestly, she was even slightly happy about that as it allowed her to meet Rei. All that suffering... it was worth it!

    But no, Kaguya was not mad at being sealed but at how Hagoromo handled the entire situation. With his resources at the time, he could have done so many other things than just trying to recklessly y a hero.

    "No other choice? No choice you say!?" Kaguya seethed, too agitated to stay calm. Her son just didn''t get it, did he? He still tried to be the hero shouldering the fate of humanity and it made her so angry! "Pray tell, what the hell do you mean by that? You, the one who basically created fuinjutsu arts from scratch. You, who was able to remake Moon into prison for me. You, a bonafide Demi-God with chakra reserves to match, and with all the years you had by my side couldn''t do something a ''lowly'' human managed to aplish in a few months. Do you really want me to believe that? Stop making pathetic excuses, Hagoromo."

    Hagoromo furrowed his eyebrows at that, not understanding what his mother meant, "What do you mean?"

    Kaguya scoffed. Seems she had to spell it for him to make him finally open those divine eyes of hers and take a proper look. How... disappointing.

    "Do you feel the corruption still influencing me?" She dryly asked in a disappointed tone. When Hagoromo''s face showed a massive surprise as he finally took a proper look at her, Kaguya inwardly sighed in indignation. Her son was a hypocritical moron. Just like his father. Heaven... What did she do to deserve this?

    "Of course, you don''t." She condescendingly sniffed, "The man who freed me from the seal also made sure the corruption no longer affected me. He did that almost effortlessly. In. A. Few. Months!" She emphasized, "A human managed to do something in a few months that you, a Demi-God couldn''t in the years you opposed and fought against me?"

    Kaguya''s tone was almost amused. It was a ridiculous notion. As strong as Rei was, he was not yet on the level of Hagoromo. Kaguya sure as hell nned to help him reach and surpass her son in the future even if she had to sacrifice her own chakra reserves in the process but she would not cover her eyes from reality.

    Her lover still needed a bit of effort to reach Hagoromo''s prowess.

    And yet, he had already surpassed her son in every way that mattered. He created artificial bijuu, he created his own dimension, he reverse-engineered Hagoromo''s biggest fuinjutsu work, her moon seal, he cracked a way to integrate chakra and nature energy... and much more.

    Kaguya couldn''t have been prouder of her man. Of her human. The human that already surpassed a Demi-God with his feats and imed her heart.

    "Don''t make meugh! You never tried to help your poor mother despite knowing there was something wrong with me. You only wanted the glory of defeating me. No matter if my mind was a bit clouded at the time, I raised you, Hagoromo. Don''t think you can lie to my face or hide your intentions from me, boy." Kaguya snorted, leveling a disappointed look at him which made him flinch.

    Her war with her sons was not just one massive battle. They stood against each other for a few years. Both sides had enough time to scheme and make ns.

    Kaguya never really went through with all the ways to eradicate her sons, though. Despite being half-insane, she did love them dearly. Her whole effort in making an army of white Zetsu was to protect them.

    Killing them wouldpletely defeat the purpose of her efforts.

    But her sons were different. They genuinely wanted to stop her.

    Did Hagoromo really want to make her believe in all these years, he not once thought of a way to help her clear the corruption that was guing her?

    That was total bullshit and he knew it!

    He didn''t want to help her. He wanted to win against her. It was as simple as that.<sub> </sub>

    Hagoromo sagged his shoulders after hearing out his mother''s usations. He... really didn''t have any counterargument and felt quite embarrassed. The woman in front of him was his mother and he might not have liked it but she knew him best.

    After all these years, this was the very first time he admitted the intentions he had then and his eyes became weary, "I-... I was foolish, mother." He quietly admitted, dropping his head down.

    He would like to proudly argue but... the proof that his way was the wrong one was clear. One simply had to look at the Elemental Nations to realize his wish of peace was not fulfilled at all.

    He sealed his own mother and estranged his brother, his two sons entered into a war thatsted beyond their graves, and the world was still in perpetual conflict.

    What exactly did he aplish that would make him proud?

    "Still don''t get i-, wait what?" Kaguya was about to reprimand him, expecting her boy to start making another useless excuse but his simple admittance of guilt made her stop her tirade.

    Hagoromo chuckled when he noticed his mother looking at him as if he grew a second head. Wearily sighing, he decided to borate, "Hamura. He left me because he regretted what we did to you. He relocated to the Moon and tried to find a way tomunicate with you." He donned a sour expression, "He realized that..."

    But Kaguya quickly cut him off with an unimpressed face and a small glimmer of disappointment in her eyes, "You are trying to manipte me."

    "No, I-" Hagoromo''s eyes widened in surprise and rm.

    How could she-!

    "Foolish child." Kaguya sadly chuckled and gently shook her head in exasperation, "You were always very talented but so very slow on the uptake. Just like your father." She wryly smiled. "The second you realized that I am no longer under the influence of the chakra fruit corruption, you tried to manipte me, knowing that I often indulged you as a child. I really did spoil you too much, did I not?" She wistfully sighed to herself.

    Her sons being powerful was a matter of fact. They had her blood, and therefore a share of her abilities. Considering that she had no idea how much more powerful she could grow with proper training, they inherited a monstrous power by human standards.

    The power they gained mostly for free, just by being her sons.

    Maybe if she didn''t give them everything they wanted and let them learn their morals from their human nannies when they were younger, the situation would have been different. s...

    Kaguya slowly stood up and stretched, "I guess I had enough of you for the foreseeable future, son. I wille for a visitter. Until then, think about your actions and repent for you are grounded." She snickered to herself.

    Hagoromo looked weirdly at his mother, "You are not going to kill me?" He asked incredulously.

    This... was extremely unexpected.

    "And why would I do that, Hagoromo?" Kaguya raised her eyebrow at him, "Despite everything, you are my child and I do have some lingering affection for you. And besides," She looked around the realm where he was imprisoned and snickered again at the irony, "you made your own nice inescapable prison so why should I help you to get out of it so easily? This being able to watch but not interfere is a good punishment for a meddlesome fool like you. But be a good boy and don''t peek at your mommy being naughty with your stepdaddy or I will have toe here and spank you, alright?"

    Kaguya yfully finished and disappeared from Hagoromo''s realm, leaving only the bbergasted and blushing Sage of the Six Path in her wake.

    Hagoromo had... some long days of contemtion and meditating in front of him if he wanted to get that mental image out of his head.

    Much to his horror, he realized his mother could and would visit him again. He... didn''t look forward to more emotional damage like this. Not at all.

    Why couldn''t she just kill him?

 Chapter 469 Ch469. The Mad Clan

    "How did the family reunion go? Hagoromo knows he has a new step-daddy, yet?" Rei teasingly asked with a grin as soon as Kaguya reappeared back in the seal formation.

    Rei expected Kaguya to be at least a bit embarrassed about it, maybe even try to hide it from her son. s, his expectations were totally wrong.

    Hearing his question, Kaguya betrayed his expectations when she puffed up her chest and proudly proimed, "Of course! It was the very first thing I informed him of! Alongside your ability to satisfy my needs in bed."

    Rei''s n to make Kaguya blush backfired spectacrly and instead of her, it was now him that couldn''t prevent his cheeks from slightly reddening as he speechlessly asked, "You... what?"

    This was not how this kind of situation was supposed to go. Shouldn''t a mother be at least a bit reluctant about telling her son that he has a new stepfather?

    His imagination worked overtime and when he realized what kind of talk Hagoromo just went through with his mother... Rei actually pitied the guy. Unlike Kaguya, he held no grudge against him so, from Rei''s perspective, Kaguya was being damn cruel here. A son being forced to hear all about the sexual exploits of his mother? Ew...

    "Yup. We even agreed that I will visit again. My son might have unknowingly imprisoned himself but like a good mother, I at least should regrly make sure his sanity is not deteriorating." Kaguya cheerfully said, and Rei gave a silent prayer for Hagoromo''s sanity.

    Kaguya was not that bad when it came to her behavior. She was definitely better and more reasonable than Mei. But she could be the right bitch to anyone who earns her resentment.

    Kin was the prime example of this. It wasn''t as if Kaguya was overworking the girl just because she was bored. Kaguya didn''t like how Kin tried to make eyes at Rei, so the girl was punished and Kaguya put her through the exact same routine as Riful.

    That was why Rei didn''t mind Kaguya viciously ying with Kin and acting like a total bitch to her. In a way, the ex-Oto kunoichi deserved it.

    Until you earned Kaguya''s ire, she was as harmless and cuddly as a slightly annoying and very clingy rabbit. Once you did earn it, though...

    "We can''t have his suffering abruptly end because he went insane, now, can we?" Kaguya gleefully added, wistfully sighing as she was already mentally nning what kind of conversation she should strike with Hagoromo to maximize his emotional torment.

    ''Yup. Exactly my point.'' Rei looked dryly at her.

    But he wouldn''t voice his thoughts. It was not him who was trapped for a millennium in the darkness of a seal, cut off from his powers. He had no idea how that felt to Kaguya and he had no familial ties with Hagoromo.

    Cleverly adopting the motto, ''Family business should stay in the family.'' Rei mentally threw Hagoromo to the wolves for his own peaceful love life.

    The dude deserved it anyway...

    "Maybe I should really make him a sibling? Kaguya mused, muttering under her nose barely loud enough for Rei to hear, causing him to involuntarily take a step away from her, "Hmm... I really want to be a mother again and it would probably make him at least a bit jealous if I let him watch how I care for my new baby. Especially since he wouldn''t be able to stop himself from watching because of his overly emotional brotherly ''love''."

    Rei''s eye was twitching as he heard her plotting how to emotionally torment Hagoromo while fulfilling her own desires...

    And it rubbed his humane and fragile sensibilities the wrong way. Kids shouldn''t be used that way! At least she really wanted to be a mother again and was not going to try getting pregnant only for emotional ckmail on her oldest son.

    From all the tales about the Otsutsuki n, Kaguya had told him, this kind of approach could be considered very odd by their standards. Children, sex, pleasure, love... these things didn''t matter to them. They were raised to not put so much importance on these.

    Sex was no longer deemed efficient or beneficial as the n tried to match the best seed with the best mother and bioengineer the children to maximize their potential.

    Love was useless and unneeded. The children didn''t even have parents since most of them were ''developed'' in aboratory, rather than normally born.

    Children were experimented on and trained until their early teens, and only the strong and most resilient survived. Then, depending on theirtent potential for growth, they were assigned rankings.<sub> </sub>

    Their entire n was segregated into ranks where every individual was led to believe in striving to aplish his own goal no matter the cost. To strive for higher ranking and more resources for their own development.

    There was no camaraderie between them. Everyone was raised to be a selfish git, only thinking of their own benefit.

    But there was also a clear subordination mentality where the top dogs were the most powerful and could order the weaker people to do anything they desired. It was the world of the survival of the fittest in the most ruthless sense.

    It wasn''t as if Kaguya wanted to be sacrificed to the God Tree. She was also raised in the usual Otsutsuki manner. But she was ordered to die. And in that situation, most low-ranked Otsutsuki would simply obey, not trying to fight their fate.

    Because, in their perspective, there was no point anyway.

    In short, the Otsutsuki n was a sick ce that created emotionally dead people. It sounded like a very advanced societal experiment made by mad scientists whopletely abandoned their conscience for scientific progress and just wanted to see how far they could push it before their little test subjects mentally crumbled.

    It was a wonder that Kaguya was so well-adjusted and even could fall in love with her previous husband after that kind of upbringing.

    Still, hearing her plotting and seeing the semnce of her past mindset in her ns made Rei feel somewhat exhausted. "Humanmon sense doesn''t work well with you, does it?" He wearily asked with a wry smile.

    "What are you talking about? I am very sensual." Kaguya furrowed her eyebrows at Rei, making him snort.

    "Right..." He shook his head in a new-found amusement. "Right, you are."

    "So... Is there anything else you want to do or can we return to cuddling under the sheets?" Kaguya expectantly asked, tightlytching onto Rei''s arm.

    Otsutsuki might not believe in sexual procreation but Kaguya sure as hell found her meaning in life in it and she would be damned if she wasted even a second of her alone time with Rei.

    Unfortunately for her, Rei indeed had a different proposition.

    "Hmm... What would you say about saying hi to your pastrade?" He hummed, making Kaguya disgruntledly frown.

    "Who?" She sullenly asked, slowly realizing that her attempt to get Rei back to bed was probably not gonna seed.

    "The one you betrayed and left dying with only his upper half of body left." Rei nonchntly said, causing Kaguya''s eyes to widen. There was only one man who fit this description!

    "Isshiki? Is he still alive!?" Kaguya eximed in rm and her grasp on Rei went rigid as her two eyes shifted into a blood-red Rinne-Sharingan and grew darker.

    Isshiki couldn''t be allowed to live. Kaguya knew what kind of man he was. Her peaceful life could be ruined if she allowed his continued existence.

    Kaguya''s expression was enough of an answer for Rei but he still asked, "So?"

    "Yes." Kaguya said in a low tone with her eyes growing stormier, "I still owe that bastard for trying to sacrifice me. How dares he survive my sneak attack? I will make him regret clinging to his pathetic life." She said, her voice dripping with hostility.

    Isshiki had to die. For her uninterrupted and abundant sex life with her beloved Rei.

 Chapter 470 Ch470. Chit-Chat

    "Here we are." Rei said right after he teleported Kaguya and himself into a certain mountain range in the Land of Earth, far away from any civilization.

    It was a fitting hideout for an apocalypse-desiring alien parasite like Isshiki.

    "Hmm... here?" Kaguya looked around with a raised eyebrow, not impressed at all. All she could see were rocks and more rocks but she felt the faint ''scent'' of familiar chakraing from the underground so she didn''t doubt Rei. Her question was mostly one of disbelief that her... ex-colleague would willingly stoop so low.

    But Isshiki always came off as an arrogant prick to her, always acting as if there was nobody smarter than him so she might be a tad bit biased.

    "Do I want to know how you found him in the first ce?" Kaguya curiously asked.

    Isshiki''s chakra was powerful. More powerful than a bijuu. The fact that she could only faintly sense it meant there were some serious concealing seals all around his hiding ce.

    If even she, an Otsutsuki who ate a Chakra Fruit, had to be right above the ce to feel Isshiki, Kaguya really wondered how Rei, a normal human, managed to locate him. It was just one more thing that brought her awe of Rei''s resourcefulness.

    "Let''s just say that having the Moon in my possession is proving very beneficial." Rei evaded the question with a teasing non-reply, making Kaguya snort.

    She decided to forego further questioning. She was fully aware that Rei was nowadays tinkering with something he called ''Chakra Technology'' and it could do quite amazing things.

    Now that he mentioned it, she faintly remembered being shown something called the Chakra Telescope when it was in its infancy...

    Where Rei got his insane ideas, Kaguya would never understand.

    Instead of trying to strain her brain by thinking about it, "Should I ring the bell and send dear Isshiki a warm wee?" Kaguya asked with a small giggle and conjured a small ball of magma above her palm.

    Rei''s eyebrow twitched when he saw it. He knew letting her and Mei in the same room could possibly spell doom but not even in his worst dreams did he foresee Kaguya making such a good impression on Mei that his little firecracker would teach his bunny some of her more... destructive moves.

    That little ball of magma? That could potentially wipe out the entirety of the Land of Earth, changing it to nothing more than and of molten ocean, if it was allowed to grow.

    A warm wee, indeed.

    "Rejected." Rei instantly denied it, making Kaguya pout but fortunately, she did cancel the magma ball above her palm. "Don''t use your abilities yet. You will alert him of our presence." He gently rubbed her head to appease her little, earning himself a small grudging nod from her alongside a reluctant smile.

    Rei knew that Kaguya was a bit nervous at meeting with her ex-''superior'' but that was exactly the reason why he wanted her to face off against him.

    Rei could have easily gathered the gang and ganged up on the poor, poor Isshiki who would have no idea what hit him.

    But Kaguya needed closure. She deserved it.

    If Rei mentioned Isshiki was alive and did nothing about it, he knew Kaguya would be jittery because of her past experiences with the man. Now that she had at least some training under her belt and could control her powers to a greater extent, Rei decided this was the moment when he could pit her against the extremely weakened Isshiki and make her beat him to death and gain some much-needed self-confidence when it came to facing off against the other Otsutsuki.

    Kaguya might have seemed haughty and arrogant towards those she hadn''t acknowledged but underneath that facade, no matter how powerful she was, she was still a person. She still had her own worries and fears.

    "Let me first prepare some seal tra-" Rei added, but he was interrupted midway by an unfamiliar voice.

    "Did you really think I wouldn''t notice my treacherous sacrifice and one bug skulking around myb?" An emotionless masculine drawl put a stop to the leisure conversation between Kaguya and Rei, making their heads snap in the direction from which it came, only tond on the boredly standing Isshiki who was observing them with a small flicker of interest in his eyes.

    Deeming his uninvited guests too speechless by his entrance, Isshiki thought he would not get an answer to his question so he continued speaking, "Nevertheless... Someone on this pathetic was able to locate my base. Consider myself impressed. How did you do it, human?"

    "Do you really think I would reveal that to you just because you asked nicely?" Rei amusedly asked, chuckling a bit.

    Pfft, as if Rei needed to have secrets from Kaguya. The only reason why he didn''t outright tell and describe to her the process of locating this ice-cold dude was that they were right above his base, duh.<sub> </sub>

    He would have to be utterly retarded to start exining his methods here.

    No matter what, thinking that his enemy could not possibly eavesdrop on them or that Isshiki wouldn''t notice their arrival would have been the height of arrogance.

    Rei trusted in his abilities but he liked to trust in the abilities of his enemies too. It saved a lot of trouble in the long run.

    Isshiki didn''t even twitch at Rei''s rudeness. He only nodded in a cid eptance, "I can always beat the answer from you, worm." He then turned towards Kaguya, "It''s a long time to s-"

    But Rei couldn''t just let Isshiki''s previous interruption be, now could he?

    "Are you sure you are rted? This guy is a total asshole." He turned his head towards Kaguya and nonchntly asked, cutting Isshiki''s sentence off.

    Finally, the man showed at least a small flicker of annoyance in his eyes.

    Rei took that as his small victory.

    Kaguya smiled in amusement at what Rei was doing, deciding to y along, "What can I say? He was from the faulty batch."

    She would never admit it out loud with how much sheined during her lessons about taunting the enemy but... it could be quite fun!

    "Faulty batch..." Isshiki unamusedly repeated. "Remind me, which one of us was the harvester and which one the worthless sacrifice?"

    Kaguya didn''t get riled up at the mention of her role in the harvesting of the Chakra Fruit. She knew that Isshiki was hoping to dig deeper than his leisure words would reveal at first nce.

    Her role as the sacrifice meant that the Otsutsuki found her worth less than a cattle. She was just something to be killed for their goals.

    That would normally instantly enrage someone but Kaguya dealt with the taunt of other Rei women on a constant basis and witnessed epic verbal battles between Mei and Ringo.

    Compared to that... being called a cattle was nothing special, really.

    Then again, she had a perfecteback for this, "Remind me, which one of us ended up missing his lower half due to that worthless sacrifice, suffering from the consequences even a thousand years after the event?" She innocently asked, and something in the air between Kaguya and Isshiki instantly changed as it grew tense.

    Kaguya could clearly see that Isshiki''s current vessel was... pathetically inappropriate.

    There was no way he could exert his full power in that state. Not without using the life energy of his vessel, shortening his life, and destroying said vessel in the process.

    This just gave into perspective the fact that Rei was able to make Kaguya an appropriate vessel for her power when he freed her. When even an Otsutsuki couldn''t replicate that feat despite trying for a thousand years, that was a real testament to Rei''s genius.

    And another thing to rub in Isshiki''s face.

    "Then again, in just a few months my genius husband was fully capable of creating a proper and strong body for me when I was freed from my seal. The fact, you couldn''t manage to do the same even after millennia of effort gotta mean something, Isshiki." Kaguya giggled, knowing that if there was something that could potentially piss off the usually emotionless and efficient freak, it was to bepared with a human, someone he considered less than an ant, and having been found wanting.

    Rei watched from beside Kaguya as her verbal taunting did a damn good job at riling their would-be opponent. He stayed quiet and let her handle it. She knew the dude better so...

    The results were definitely worth his inaction too. Isshiki waspletely distracted for long enough.

    ''Ehehe, surprise iing, motherfucker.'' Rei inwardly thought.

    Isshiki took a deep breath to slightly calm himself, but his irritation didn''t abate. His mood for words ceased and his hands now itched to pull some intestines out. "Enough chit-chat. It''s time for you to die." He coldly whispered.

 Chapter 471 Ch471. Slow Beggining Of The Battle.

    "Time out!" Rei shouted, putting his hands in the T sign.

    Surprisingly, this worked and both Kaguya and Isshiki who were ring at each other stopped and turned toward him. The first with curiosity while thetter with slightly hostile irritation at being interrupted yet again.

    No matter, Isshiki did stop for a second but it was apparent he was just a moment from attacking. That''s why Rei quickly said his piece, "Just give me an answer to onest question, will you? I am interested in the opinion of someone who spent his life pursuing knowledge."

    Fortunately, Rei''s wording seemed to intrigue Isshiki who stopped himself from pouncing and gave him a pondering hum.

    Rei inwardly smirked. He knew best about the researcher''s pride. The best way to get the desired reaction from a person simr to you was to do what you think would work against you, after all.

    "I guess I can entertain you this onest time before you die. Ask. What would you like to know?" Isshiki stated, his tone conveying a slight interest.

    "Mhm." Rei nodded in faux gratitude. He then opened his mouth and paused for a second and gave Isshiki a meaningful look before he uttered his question, "How stupid do you have to be to give your opponent time to prepare a trap while you are leisurely chatting like some third-rate viin?"

    Isshiki barely got enough time to process Rei''s rude words before he saw the space around him crack, separating a massive circr piece of everything around him, with Rei and Kaguya included. Isshiki then started to feel nauseous as the space twisted and he, alongside everything around him, was literally spatially ripped from its ce and thrown somewhere... else.

    When Isshiki finally shook off the shock and looked around, he found himself in an unknown ce... when his ears suddenly caught Kaguya''s voice, making him realize that his enemies were still in front of him as they got teleported too.

    Which... was weird, in his opinion.

    "Your dimension?" Kaguya curiously asked Rei, tilting her head.

    "Yeah," Rei nodded, "I am not happy with wrecking it but... it''s much better than destroying my or my moon." He shrugged.

    Plus, he had made extensive preparations inside of his dimension for this eventuality. Er... to be truthful, he made them in case Kaguya became hostile when he finally released her but she didn''t need to know that. He had a fight with an ultra dangerous godly being in mind when he was devising these precautions so they should hold for Isshiki too anyway.

    Granted, Rei was pissed that his house in the middle of this small dimension would most likely be sted to smithereens once Isshiki and Kaguya got serious but houses could be easily rebuilt, unlikes or countries.

    "I don''t understand. Is this it? Your attempt at surviving me?" Isshiki raised his eyebrow with a deadpan look decorating his face before he sighed as if he considered the situation too troublesome, "If you think that teleporting me somewhere will increase your chances at victory," He slowly raised his hand, "then you are woefully ignorant."

    He dramatically clenched the fingers of his outstretched hand into a fist...

    An awkward moment passed through the surroundings as nothing happened, much to Isshiki''s inward bewilderment. He nkly blinked and tilted his head as he looked at his hand in iprehension.

    Rei couldn''t bear it anymore and started chuckling. The look of utter confusion on the dude was pure gold!

    "My abilities..." Isshiki whispered and raised his head towards Rei. Narrowing his eyes, he threateningly asked, "What did you do!?"

    "W-who i-is the ign-ignorant one n-now, h-heh?" Instead of getting his answers, Isshiki''s questioning just sent Rei into another fit of chuckling.

    Isshiki didn''t even have the time to get mad at Rei''s behavior because Kaguya, in the true ninja style, recognized her opportunity to strike and Isshiki only barely managed to raise his arms in front of his chest before Kaguya''s bone bullet hit them, aiming straight at his heart.

    Isshiki was pushed back, creating a small trench with his feet but he was still immensely physically powerful and managed to withstand the momentum behind the bone bullet. His heels dug into the ground as he braced himself and cracks spread all around him from the sheer force he exerted onto the ground before he swept his arms out, pushing the bone bullet away from his arms and sending out a small shockwave.

    The ce where the bone bullet impacted his arms was releasing a slight smoke as Kaguya''s ability to disintegrate anything that touched her bones battled with Isshiki''s immensely powerful physique, finding its match.

    Kaguya scowled when she saw this, expecting to quickly end him and return home with Rei for some nice cuddles but apparently, Isshiki''s thousand years of research was not for naught as he withstood her ultimate killer move despite being hit by it.<sub> </sub>

    Isshiki was however too mentally preupied to even notice that he had just evaded a certain death. With a small frown on his face, he wondered what was going on while ignoring the sting in his arms as his biologically-enhanced body battled Kaguya''s chakra.

    There were supposed to be weapons withdrawn from his inventory space and thrown at Kaguya but the same as his attempt to teleport away, it didn''t work!

    ''Anti-space seals?'' Isshiki thought and nced around but he couldn''t see any, making him disgruntled.

    During this exchange, Rei finally stopped chuckling and straightened out, giving Kaguya a grateful look before he turned away from Isshiki and started quickly walking forward.

    The reason why Kaguya didn''t ferociously attack Isshiki when she had the chance was that Rei was still on the battlefield without much protection. She couldn''t go all out with him there! Even if she knew that he had his tricks capable of immobilizing and restricting even her... as he demonstrated in some of their spars... she still couldn''t help but worry about his safety.

    So, she dutifully stayed near him in case Isshiki realized it was Rei''s existence that anchored the space restricting the function of this dimension, and preventing him from using literally half of his most dangerous abilities.

    Though... it didn''t seem that Isshiki would realize that anytime soon if the stressful way he was looking around for any hidden seals was any indication.

    ''Rei''s techniques are just way too strange.'' Kaguya thought with a measure of pride mixed with exasperation. She knew of many techniques of various Otsutsuki but Rei seemed to think out of the box so much that it baffled even her.

    Imbuing a property into his dimension... now that was on the level of her dimension creation. An unbelievable ability for a human.

    Neither Rei nor Kaguya was in any hurry to stop Isshiki from looking around the dimension filled to the brim with nothing but nature-energy-enhanced trees and vines.

    Rei used this time to calmly get into the most protected ce in his whole dimension. A small plot ofnd where all the defensive seals and measures in the dimension converged. This little haven of his would survive even if the two godly beings sted the dimension into smithereens.

    Now that he was protected, he observed Isshiki who was not able to locate the source of his space-rted problems, much to Rei''s amusement.

    Rei knew the man was definitely relieved they hadn''t attacked him for whatever reason, but this was fine. That was a normal arrogance for beings that could withstand even a bijuudama with their pure physical resilience.

    If it was anyone else, Rei would have sneered at the inattentiveness but Isshiki?

    This dude was thest boss of his. And in a simr manner to thest bosses in games, he wrongly assumed he was the most dangerous being around.

    Chuckling once again, Rei gave Kagyua a thumbs-up, signaling that he was ready and she could start.

    Kaguya widely grinned and turned towards the distracted Isshiki, causing him to momentarily freeze as her chakra burst forth, spreading a nket of heavy pressure all over the dimension.

    Isshiki robotically turned towards Kaguya, realizing he would not get more time to leisurely locate and destroy the cause of the space interference, and prepared himself to face Kaguya.

    "Doesn''t matter. Even if my space-rted abilities are unusable, I can still beat you to death with my powerful body." He coldly stated, looking at Kaguya in contempt.

    He didn''t spend centuries enhancing his vessel for naught. There was no being in thisnd that cou-

    "I''d like to see that." Kaguya whispered, giving Isshiki an excited smile while her two pupil-lessvender eyes morphed into Rinne-Sharingan, and Isshiki, alongside a great chunk of the forest around him, was sted back as Kaguya''s localized Shinra Tensei hit him like a truck.

    Kaguya only smirked, seeing the massive hole in the forest she created with but a thought, and disappeared from her spot, running after Isshiki.

    If she couldn''t have sex, then she would at the very least make the reason for that suffer!

 Chapter 472 Ch472. Kaguya Vs Isshiki 1

    Author Note - NEW STORY!

    Hello, guys. I started posting a new story on webnovel.

    The name is,

    Thomas Prest: A Simple Magician

    Check it out.

    ---

    Kaguya appeared high in the sky above Isshiki just as hended in a crouch on the ground, tanking the insane force of Kaguya''s previous attack, making the ground under him crack for several hundreds of meters.

    He didn''t even get the reprieve to take a breath before Kaguya threw another Shinra Tensei at him, making him buckle up, his knees straining against the weight that could be likened to trying to lift the sky itself.

    The ground under Isshiki''s feet dented, creating arge crater with a radius of hundreds of meters, crushing everything growing on the surface inside its zone of impact into mush, whether it was trees or vines.

    Kaguya''s second Shinra Tensei instantly erased the cracks caused by Isshiki tanking the first one, whereas even the outside of the impact zone was not spared. From the edge of this new crater, more cracks appeared, the ground separating into pieces as if it was pie being divided by an invisible knife.

    This residual force that escaped the impact zone was powerful enough to make the cracks span for kilometers, some of them going up the trees, cracking the bark and some of the trees closer to the crater were even split in half.

    Rei watched with a wry smile how much damage could one proper attack of Kaguya cause. It had to be said, these trees were not normal. They were much tougher andrger than anything in the Elemental Nations. Cracking one could be likened to cracking a bonafide mountain and yet, there was an entire sea of cracked trees in his field of view now.

    Isshiki, however, did manage to tank the blow with his body.

    But then came the third Shinra Tensei. Decimating the surroundings some more and causing dust to fly in the air... and then the fourth came and for good measure, Kaguya added the fifth one right on top of the previous two.

    Rei observed with a twitching eyebrow as his dimension was akin to being hammered down, the entire ce shaking at its core with every single Shinra Tensei of Kaguya.

    His house in the middle of the dimension was already decimated just by the residual earthquake and Rei inwardly sighed. ''Screw repairing it. I will just transform this dimension into a battle arena. I am sure Mei would love to fight Kaguya with her Jutsu restriction being lifted.''

    Thanks to the abundant Nature Energy, thend and trees would repair themselves and regrow extremely quickly so even if it was destroyed on a regr basis, it wouldn''t matter. Maybe it would even be beneficial for the dimension if a strong chakra residue, especially Kaguya''s, was fed to it so often.

    Kaguya cheerfullyughed, extremely happy that she could finally just let go and mindlessly use her full power against somebody that is not Rei. This was actually very fun!

    Sparring against Rei was annoying. Even if she used her full power, his damned sealing arts had her restricted to hell in ten seconds t. It didn''t matter he was several magnitudes weaker than her when he could just wrap her in so many restrictive seals that her power level dropped even beyond him.

    Kaguya''s palm was pointing towards the ground where Isshiki was as she was about to joyfully send another Shinra Tensei at him because she felt like it, but abruptly, despite the dust cloud covering him, Kaguya''s eyes could clearly see him whip a...

    Kaguya jerked her body to the side, a ck roding out of her sleeve as she quickly grasped it and pushed it in front of him into a guarding stance just as a massive ck rod of the size of a tree trunk, created and erged by Isshiki, almost rammed into her... well, whole body, really.

    She barely managed to block it, in disbelief at how stupidly fast the rod was as she was slightly pushed back by the sheer momentum and weight behind the impact. Something so big had no right to be so fast!

    Kaguya''s eyes narrowed in contemtion, ''I see. Erging objects and making them selectively ignore some disadvantages of their size. That''s Isshiki''s power.''

    Before his attack, she had seen Isshiki create a normal-sized rod and hurl it at her with all of his physical strength behind the throw, causing it to gain insane speed. Only thanks to her Rinne-Sharringan''s slowed perception did Kaguya have a brief split of a second to realize the rod was erged mid-flight. The tip of the ck rod was bigger than her body so it would really p her out of the sky like a fly if it hit her.

    Kaguya pushed a bit more strength into her arm with her own small ck rod and she swatted the massive tree-trunk-like rod of Isshiki to the side...

    Instantly having to sidestep to the right, deflecting another, smaller than normal, ck rod aimed at her heart.

    Isshiki used Kaguya''s momentary distraction from having to deal with the two ck rods he hurled at her and leaped forward, straight at Kaguya.

    Kaguya''s ck rod was still in the deflecting motion, away from her body and it was obvious she would be unable to use it for blocking or counter-attacking in time as Isshiki''s fist neared her chest.<sub> </sub>

    Just as he nned, Isshiki''s attack was pulled off sessfully and he inwardly smirked as he saw he had a free path to Kaguya''s chest... but in the next split of a second, Kaguya moved her free hand and Isshiki inwardly scoffed.

    It was he who spent millennia on body enhancement! There was no way she could...!

    Isshiki''s punch was barely caught by Kaguya''s left hand an inch from her chest as her fingers wrapped around his fist as her body was once again slightly pushed back, making her cough a bit of blood due to the resounding shockwave from the meeting of their hands that hit her unprotected chest point-nk.

    As the shockwave spread, it made the trees in the distance violently creak and furiously shake all the while it created a new deep crater under them despite them being high in the sky.

    The bones in Kaguya''s hand instantly shifted the second Isshiki''s hand met hers, tearing themselves free from her skin and ripping into Isshiki''s arm, creatingrge smoking gashes in his forearm as they tried to disintegrate his body.

    Her fingernails ckened and sharpened as she viciously dug her fingers into his, intending to sever at least some of them.

    Isshiki had only a second before his arm started to be shredded by Kaguya''s bones and he instantly yanked it back, kicking the air under him to create a distance between them, ripping chunks of his flesh out of his arm in the process because of the sharp Kaguya''s bones. Only now he felt the invasive energy injected into his arm by Kaguya''s bones and it spooked him out at how much of his chakra it took to counter.

    His body might have been too strong to be directly disintegrated but it still cost a lot of chakra to counter it! He instantly realized the melee fight was disadvantageous for him because Kaguya could just oust him thanks to this ability of hers.

    Kaguya smirked at Isshiki. She had forcefully closed her hand just as he was pulling away, and now she opened it, making a show of dropping several of his fingers she managed to rip out at that moment.

    While that was going on, the bones sticking out of Kaguya''s hand, wrist, and forearm, started to slowly sheath themselves back into her flesh, leaving only unmarred white skin when they were done.

    Kaguya opted to do this little provoking show instead of pursuing and pressing Isshiki with a follow-up attack because she needed a moment to heal her inward injuries too.

    That friggin shockwave produced by the force of his blow was damn powerful and her left hand was creaking and painfully stinging as she moved it despite it having full bone coating under her skin just as she blocked Isshiki''s blow.

    ''I was careless.'' Kaguya inwardly frowned, in contrast to her outward calm and provoking smirk. ''If thatnded on my chest, he could cause severe damage.'' She realized with dissatisfaction while already growing her bone armor under the skin of her whole body, especially her chest.

    Sure, a blow like that would not cause her defeat but healing a shredded heart and lungs would be troublesome...

    Not to mention how utterly humiliating it would have been, having her breasts be blown to smithereens right in front of Rei and having to regrow them. Her womanly pride would have taken a massive hit!

    Isshiki frowned as he saw his fingers falling through the air, but he didn''t dare to follow them with his eyes, keeping them fixed on Kaguya.

    His hand missed several fingers and his forearm sported massive deep gashes but it was of no consequence. Kaguya''s bones couldn''t fully prate his tough body. The gashes were only surface wounds that didn''t manage to reach bones and his fingers could be ripped out only because they were fundamentally weakerpared to other parts of his body due to their smaller size.

    It didn''t matter anyway. Isshiki pushed his chakra into his injured hand, blowing away Kaguya''s residual chakra and then he added some more of his chakra and his arm and fingers started healing and regrowing at a visible pace. Two secondster, his arm and hand were as good as new.

    What did make Isshiki frown deepen, however, was Kaguya''s slow transformation that was happening right in front of his eyes.

    Her armoring herself up did have several outward signs. Bony horns sprouted from the sides of her head, curving themselves into an intricate shape. The fingernails on her other hand also ckened, elongated and sharpened, giving Isshiki an ufortable feeling as Kaguya''s disintegration ability was highly concentrated in her fingernails now. Her skin became even whiter, if that was even possible, and with his special eye, Isshiki could clearly see Kaguya''s chakra seeping from the bones underneath her skin into the said skin, hardening it to an insane degree.

    If before Isshiki was reluctant to go into melee against her because of her disintegration ability, now he was downright afraid to approach her at all. She was a moving and fully armored fortress of deadly bones capable of sprouting from any ce on her body, reinforced by hardened skin, adding even more defense on top of her bone armor.

    Yet, her outward appearance deceptively barely changed.

    Isshiki pursed his lips in distaste, ''This might be harder than I initially thought.''

    But he regretted that thought a secondter when around Kaguya, two moving ck globs appeared, twisting and squirming before they hardened into two small balls reminiscent of the ck rods.

    When Isshiki''s eyesnded on these, they widened as he recognized the Truth-Seeking Balls of Hagoromo Otsutsuki and he could practically see how much of her chakra was in these two inconspicuous balls of doom rotating around Kaguya.

    "Well, then. Since you almost managed tond a proper hit on me, I guess I should take you just a teensy little bit more seriously, don''t you think?" Kaguya teasingly asked with a smile, letting Isshiki see that even her teeth became noticeably sharper.

 Chapter 473 Ch473. The Monsters That Could Destroy The World

    Isshiki, feeling apprehensive about the change in Kaguya, realized he will have to up his game to stand a chance. He didn''t want to do that but he had no choice. Not when facing... that.

    Kaguya''s eyebrow rose when she noticed an abrupt change in Isshiki. It was outwardly indiscernible but there was not much that could fool her Rinne-Sharingan. She could clearly see Isshiki''s life force condense, granting his body a crazy power boost... but the lifespan of his vessel was instantly reduced to two years tops.

    Naturally, if Isshiki had an appropriate vessel, like his own body, this technique could probably be sustained indefinitely. It was what made the Otsutsuki so dangerous, after all. They had bodies and chakra reserves strong enough that they could spam moves that would kill even S-rank humans after a single usage.

    In fact, what Isshiki was doing was not all that different from Might Guy''s fully opened Eight Inner Gates. It was simply a different, superior approach to a simr concept.

    There was no new round of taunting after power-ups. Bothbatants understood that taunting only worked when one had the upper hand and right now, neither knew the prowess of the other''s boosted form so instead of spending brain cells on boasting, both Isshiki, and Kaguya carefully and patiently observed the other. Whoever attacked first would be at a small disadvantage.

    Isshiki, however, quickly realized he was at a disadvantage anyway. The longer he gave Kaguya to analyze him, the more information about him would her Rinne-Sharingan gather and that wasn''t a favorable situation for him.

    There was only one way to nullify this advantage of hers. Attack.

    Kaguya barely managed to shift one of her Truth-Seeking Balls into a shield to block the shockwave full of pressurized air thrown in her direction by Isshiki''s punch. In retaliation, she shaped the other Truth-Seeking Ball into a spear and shot it at Isshiki...

    The winds furiously picked up, the air pushed away and uncontrobly mixed by the shockwave rushing through it. The ground was not spared the catastrophe either as it heavily shook when Kaguya''s spear hit where Isshiki stood just a second ago. Trees in the distance started falling down, uprooted by the shockwave and the massive cracks in the underground created by the impact of Kaguya''s Truth-Seeking Spear.

    The whole dimension was quivering under the massive pressure of Kaguya''s and Isshiki''s chakras and the fight between them was yet to start in earnest.

    Kaguya spread her arms in front of her, her palms facing forward and balls of ck and red chakra started to gather in front of them...

    In a matter of milliseconds, a house-sized bijuudama was formed, instead of the usual purple coloration gaining more celestial white due to the influence of Kaguya''s denser chakra.

    Isshiki widened his eyes and instantly started to gather the life force around his palm, not having enough time because Kaguya was simply too fast. The bijuudama took barely one breath of time to reach him, but he was barely in time. His hand met the surface of the ball, his life force circting in the exact manner needed to deflect it instead of shing with it.

    In front of Kaguya''s impressed gaze, Isshiki pped the bijuudama away, making it fly far away behind the horizon before a massive explosion urred, a hot angry orange mushroom cloud rising in the distance, making the ground slightly shake some more.

    Both Kaguya and Isshiki subconsciously braced themselves, knowing these light quakes were just the silence before the storm...

    Kaguya from her position high in the sky could clearly see how something akin to an invisible force was mowing down the nature-chakra-enhanced trees as if they were just grass, slowly rushing towards them.

    Then five silent secondster, the shockwave reached them and Kaguya stood her ground, not budging even an inch from her position in the sky while her hair and clothes wildly iled in the wind.

    Isshiki''s body was buckling, his feet digging into the ground as the shockwave swept over him, trying to force him to move while destroying everything around like some kind of invisible tsunami.

    The shockwave passed and the world quieted down once again, both Kaguya and Isshiki uncaring, as if the country destroying force they had just resisted was nothing impressive.

    And it really wasn''t... as Kaguya was already charging another bijuudama while Isshiki sprang forth, leaping in her direction.

    ...

    Rei watched with fascination as the two Otsutsukis wrought destruction and destion upon his realm, wincing every time another patch of his forest disappeared.

    Kaguya''s bijuudama could be likened to nuclear sts, erasing everything they hit and then some more with the resounding shockwave.

    Kaguya''s Shinra Tensei was no better, ttening everything in its path.

    Isshiki shrugged whatever was thrown at him by the virtue of his physical might alone...

    And thend in Rei''s dimension was slowly crumbling apart.

    Rei was safe in his space protected by seals from which he observed the epic battle. No attack of theirs could reach him since he made sure to spatially separate his hideout from his dimension much like Obito liked to do with his body in battle. In a way, Rei still was and was not present in the space of his dimension.

    The only way to reach him was by using Spatial Abilities and while both Kaguya and Isshiki had a shitload of those, the space lock on Rei''s dimension was so tight that neither of them could use even their basic space-rted abilities.

    As such, Rei was safe by default.

    Not because he was strong enough. But because he was smart enough to set up countermeasures that left them no way of hurting him.

    Thanks to that, Kaguya couldpletely let loose, not fearing injuring Rei at all.

    And Sage was she letting loose!<sub> </sub>

    The trees in Rei''s dimension were a hundred times bigger than the trees in Amazon Forest and the forest in Rei''s dimension was twenty times as big as Amazon Forest. As his dimension slowly grew, so did the forest due to the overabundance of the nature energy and somewhere along the road, it became as big as an entire continent, full of massive overbearing forest.

    And yet, with another flick of Kaguya''s wrist, a full one-tenth of the forest was ttened as the gravitational pressure descended upon it. A Shinra Tensei so strong it could erase an entire country... and Kaguya was not even winded as she threw another one of those at Isshiki who tanked it point-nk, barely faltering before once again sending a punch in her direction, sending enough force at her through the air that a city would be destroyed if itnded in the middle of it.

    The surroundings were drowned in the deafening symphony of booming explosions, roaring earthquakes, and whistling rushing pressurized winds, Rei''s dimension resembling more apocalypse with the previously lush and green ground now starting to resemble molten rock and fires from the explosions spreading far and wide while smoke reached the heavens in uncountable ces all over his dimension.

    Rei could only observe with a wry grimace, fully understanding why Kaguya gained the moniker of ''Goddess'' all those years ago. She could destroy the world thrice over and call it a warm-up exercise. It was not something a person could believe without seeing it firsthand.

    The pressure in the air was starting to grow heavier and heavier with every sh of the two Otsutsuki as their chakra filled it.

    Isshiki was not as destructive as Kaguya but his resilience was not any less impressive. The man had a physique strong enough to swat bijuu like flies. A physique so strong that even Might Guy would shed manly tears of un-youthful jealousy upon seeing it.

    But because of his limitations and focus on the body rather than techniques, his destructiveness suffered a great deal. In fact, Kaguya was the reason why 90% of Rei''s dimension was erased of all semnce of life after but ten minutes of the fight.

    Area three times the size of Elemental Nations was destroyed in ten minutes by her...

    As yet another decimating st of force swept through the dimension upon the sh of Kaguya''s Shinra Tensei and Isshiki''s punch, Rei''s determination to never let any other Otsutsuki find his... or even his sr system... became stronger.

    He didn''t want nor need a n of bustersing to his world!

    Yes... he could fight Kaguya. He could beat Kaguya. In fact, he won all their spars so far.

    But in all of those, he never once let her get going. This was the first time he witnessed her true prowess because he always restricted her with his seals before she could start throwing dangerous techniques around. Fuinjutsu was simply that broken. Even though Rei was a lot weaker than Kaguya, he could still restrict and seal her abilities enough to defeat her.

    ording to Kaguya, the Otsutsuki had a semnce of fuinjutsu but the way it was used in the Elemental Nations, the branch of Fuinjutsu created by Hagoromo Otsutsuki and passed down in the Uzumaki n, was practically made to seal stronger beings.

    That was the whole point of the craft, after all.

    But sealing even one Otsutsuki was taxing as hell. The fight in front of Rei was a prime example.

    The entire energy of Rei''s dimension had to be focused on keeping the spatial lock going so the two monsters would not breach it.

    Isshiki''s main hard-hitting abilities were partially of the spatial nature and so were Kaguya''s. All that decimation and the two were still under heavy restrictions and it was just mind-boggling how ridiculously powerful their race was.

    Isshiki could not utilize his ''inventory''-like bullshit nor summon his sealing cubes and Kaguya''s Rinne-Sharingan was mostly useless since she could not use her special eye ability and create dimensions due to the spatial lock.

    Or rather, she could create them but transporting herself and her opponent into them would be impossible right now so the whole ability of her red eyes of doom became totally obsolete.

    That''s why she was spamming Shinra Tensei as if possessed.

    ? Kaguya''s dimensions were simply broken beyond belief and Rei believed it was Isshiki''s fortune that the spatial lock was in ce. Sure, it was to prevent him from fleeing but...

    The capability to create apletely new dimension on the fly notwithstanding, Kaguya was basically ''The God'' in her own dimension. Her Rinne-Sharingan ability let her dictate literally everything in her dimension and the whole dimension just bent over for her desires. As the dimension creator, she had supreme control of everything that originated from it.

    It was why Rei was not awed at the prowess of his little rabbit as he watched her wreak havoc all over his realm. This... was nothingpared to what she could do with her Rinne-Sharingan special ability.

    This was the reason why Rei would rather cloak and hide his than try to prepare for the Otsutsuki invasion. He had no idea what other busted abilities the other Otsutsukis had and from the little he knew, Kaguya was simply special but that didn''t mean he would drop his caution.

    Kaguya was all nice and cuddly, so much so that it was entirely too easy to forget she was an entity capable of creating new worlds.

    The Elemental Nation was not ready for this. ''He'' was not ready for this. For all the power Rei umted throughout his life, it was not enough to face a head-on invasion of the Otsutsukis. He could not depend on some stupid plot armor to give him the exact means necessary to win over the n of world destroyers via some illogical twist of fate.

    Rei knew he could develop the chakra practice of the Elemental Nations to heights capable ofbating the Otsutsuki. For example, he had the Uzumaki n. The n full of seal masters who with the right training could go toe to toe with these monsters even if they were fundamentally weaker.

    But for that he needed time. Two decades was not enough time to get a civilization up to snuff with a n that was power-leveling by destroying other worlds for who-knows-how-many millennia.

    If despite all Rei''s efforts to hide, the Otsutsuki still show up? He will just ept his defeat and go to a different world with his family through Kaguya''s Rinne-Sharingan abilities. Or maybe he would relocate all the ninja viges to a world created by Kaguya where she was the supreme authority. There were many solutions and paths he could take in that case. But until then, he was not giving up on his world, his vige, or his aplishments.

    Not just yet.

 Chapter 474 Ch474. Spiritual Seal

    In thest six hours of their fight, Kaguya gradually stopped haphazardly throwing big moves at him and their battle entered a more up and personal stage where Isshiki definitely held an advantage over Kaguya in the physical aspect.

    Unlike her, he was experienced in hand-to-handbat techniques, and now that he was aware of her disintegration bones, he took great care to avoid it.

    But Kaguya had her own strengths.

    For the n-th time, Isshiki tried tond a punch on Kaguya, only for a massive gravitational force to smash into him, staggering him and interrupting his attack, giving Kaguya enough time to get out of his range.

    Isshiki inwardly cursed. This fight was beyond annoying for him. He was clearly physically stronger in all aspects except for physical endurance because of her bone armor. But he could notnd a hit on her.

    Creating a ck rod, Isshiki pressed on and tried to follow up with his offensive, only for Kaguya to whip out her own ck rod and sh with his, sending a shockwave throughout the surroundings.

    They exchanged a quick flurry of attacks and parries before they finally took a distance from each other again when seeing it go nowhere.

    "Aiming at my arms and legs? You won''t be able to kill me like this." Isshiki expressionlessly said but inwardly he was slowly regaining his confidence. With most of his spatial abilities locked, he purposefully held back from using his second-best ability.

    He didn''t try to erge or minimize the objects and weapons around him during their sh, waiting for the best chance to strike a fatal blow.

    "I don''t need to kill you for you to die." Kaguya answered and chuckled at her logic but in this case, it was the truth.

    Isshiki instantly understood that she knew and his expression grew grave.

    Seeing his expression, Kaguya involuntarily chuckled again. Isshiki always thought her stupid. It was how she could get close enough to him to ambush him all those years ago. He was a very paranoid individual. There was no way she could have ambushed him like that if he considered her even a slight threat.

    s, he didn''t. He had always seen her as weak and dumb and that was his undoing.

    "Did you really think I wouldn''t notice?" Kaguya raised an eyebrow at Isshiki, not knowing if she should be amused or insulted. "The more I injure you, the more you are forced to heal, the quicker will the life force of your current vessel deteriorate. In the end, you will die anyway. It''s just a question of time."

    Isshiki narrowed his eyes, "I won''t die." He tly said.

    It could be taken as a useless bravado and Isshiki probably wanted Kaguya to take it as such. After all, the truth was often the most unbelievable thing, but unfortunately for him, Rei made sure to share some intel about him. Intel even Kaguya was not aware of, despite their long-time co-operation.

    "Ah, you mean the little technique that allowed you to survive my ambush all those years ago, huh? Kama, or whatever is its name?" Kaguya smugly asked, and this time, Isshiki''s worry really showed on his face.

    Kama was something he kept hidden at all costs. It was his way to be reborn and he never shared its real purpose with anyone so he had no idea how Kaguya could know about it.

    While he was inwardly freaking out, Kaguya decided to mock him further. It was hard to get the ever-logical Isshiki out of his pace so she enjoyed having the upper hand for the moment.

    "Well, how convenient that my partner had deployed spiritual restricting seals all over the ce, no?" She innocently stated, knowing full well it would sound like a death sentence to Isshiki''s ears.

    Kama sounded like a mysterious and overpowered technique. The ability to cheat death and be reborn in a previously marked vessel after being killed... It was really special.

    But just like Kaguya''s Rinne-Sharringan''s special ability could be for the most part made obsolete by Rei''s simple spatial lock, her beloved''s sealing arts had a perfect answer for Isshiki''s technique too.<sub> </sub>

    Apparently, Rei''s research into the more spiritual aspect was not just a coincidence, and the fact he could grant Kaguya her meeting with her long-deceased foolish son was not the actual final goal, but rather just a nice side-effect.

    Kama''s description made it out to be some kind of wondrous ability where the user died in one ce and could be reborn in a different vessel in another but nothing that seemed magical at first nce in this world was actually so simple.

    Kama could make Isshiki''s clone from his DNA but for his rebirth, his new vessel needed also his old soul. Upon his death, the Kama mark would drag his soul into the new vessel and the forceful takeover would be initiated.

    But... what if Isshiki was trapped in a separate dimension and his soul was unable to leave it upon his death?

    No. There would be no rebirth for him this time. Not on Rei''s watch.

    Hearing Kaguya talking about spiritual seals, Isshiki for the first time felt a cold sweat drench him as panic seeped into his usually calm mind.

    He was fully aware of what this barrier would mean for him! His technique was not magic that somehow teleported his soul to a new vessel. Such a thing was impossible!

    If he died inside a spiritual seal, his soul would not be able to get out and that was maybe even scarier than death itself to him. Death was something he feared but it was unknown. One can fear the unknown only so much.

    Being aware that after his demise woulde imprisonment and most likely him finding himself on the wrong side of the experimentation table... that made Isshiki feel a deep fear.

    As his mind tried to find a solution to his predicament, he almost instantly remembered the man who apanied Kaguya. The same man who first teleported them into this dimension and then disappeared.

    Isshiki didn''t put much importance on the man. It was just a human andpared to him, Kaguya seemed like the bigger threat. Isshiki didn''t have the leisure to spare on some worthless ant.

    He only now realized what a massive mistake that was.

    The man was obviously a seal master and this ''partner'' Kaguya was speaking about.

    ''I need to find and kill him or I will really be finished here!'' Isshiki thought in dismay, and at that moment, his mind was made up.

    Not bothering to pay more attention to Kaguya than strictly necessary, Isshiki spun on his heel and ran away from her under her baffled gaze. He had more important things to do than fight with her. Namely, he had one human that needed killing.

    Kaguya watched Isshiki''s retreating back with a mix of bewilderment, disbelief, and amusement. It didn''t take a genius to realize what he wanted to do but...

    ''The idiot clearly didn''t realize I am not the most dangerous person in this dimension.'' She chuckled and shook her head.

    For a moment, she considered attacking him since being ignored like this rubbed her the wrong way but then she remembered all the humiliation she suffered under Rei''s seals and decided that Isshiki needed to be brought down a peg or ten.

    No matter what she would have done to him couldpare to how helpless Rei would make him feel with his seals.

    With a smirk, she just watched the ignorant Isshiki willingly run to his own demise.

 Chapter 475 Ch475. Fighting Smarter, Not Harder

    From his safe observation spot, Rei noticed that Isshiki suddenly changed his mind about fighting Kaguya and started running in his direction. This made him incredulously raise his eyebrow at the sudden twist but it also made him feel inwardly annoyed.

    Rei had many observation seals all around the dimension that worked simrly to Hiruzen''s spying crystal ball so he was really sitting on a small couch he had stuffed in a storage scroll while eating popcorn as he watched the fight..

    And just when he was enjoying some peace and quiet, enjoying a good show... because seeing Kaguya and Isshiki fight was like a scene from a bonafide apocalyptic movie... the Otsutsuki dude simply had to ruin all the fun for him.

    Still, Rei was toozy to deign Isshiki''s mad charge at him with a proper reaction and he just kept leisurely lounging on hisfy couch.

    Naturally, inwardly he was prepared to instantly take action in the abysmal off-chance that Isshiki had some hidden ace up his sleeve but outwardly, Rei looked like a couch potato watching a boring movie, probably making Isshiki even more pissed as he cocked his fist back and was about to send a punch at him.

    A loud ng could be heard all over the surroundings as Isshiki''s advance was stopped by some invisible barrier just three meters in front of Rei. Hepletely didn''t notice it and crashed into it face-first, getting rebounded back by his own momentum without the barrier even budging.

    Rei amusedly chuckled, the sight reminding him too much of those careless kids in supermarkets that run into a closed ss door and fall on their ass because they are too distracted with their new toy.

    Isshiki instantly stood up, shaking off the impact and narrowed his eyes. He still could not see the wall between them but now he knew it was there. Gripping his fist hard, Isshiki started to madly punch in front of him, desperately hitting the wall as if possessed.

    Rei appraisingly watched as the Otsutsuki tried to get to him, relishing in his growing frustration and despair. Seeing that previously arrogant face finally realize just how screwed he was... it was simply priceless.

    Rei wasn''t in any hurry to stop Isshiki either. The man was willingly letting Rei test his anti-Otsutsuki sealing arts so why would Reiin?

    At least he didn''t need to hear the constantining and whining of Kaguya when he managed to rope her into this kind of activity.

    The angry snarl of Isshiki was music to the earspared to that.

    Unfortunately for Isshiki, he didn''t have a snowball chance in hell to breach Rei''s protections. Rei might appear to be ''there'', but he was really not.

    Simrly to Obito''s Kamui or Madara''s Limbo techniques, Rei was in a different pocket space. This pocket space was simply close enough to his dimension that he was visually present but he was not really there.

    Isshiki tried to move around the barrier and find a weak spot too but it was useless.

    What he was hitting was not a barrier at all. It was the edge of the dimension itself. It was the ce in which the pocket space where Rei was hiding and his dimension were meeting. The ''rift'' between them was held open by Rei''s seals since it was unnatural for the dimensions to be open and only Rei''s seals were keeping it open.

    But the kicker was that despite this the dimension being ''open'', the spatial edge was nigh imprable, hence why Rei used it as a defensive means.

    To reach Rei with his attacks, Isshiki would need something capable of breaching space itself. Technique or ability... but physical strength was not good enough.

    The guy could be capable of busting a country with a punch or destroying a chunk of moon but he would still be unable to breach space.

    The simplestparison was the water walking technique. It didn''t matter how many times one punched the tree, he would not be able to walk on it. To walk on it, one had to use specific techniques to get the desired results.

    Rei had fun watching Isshiki in his berserk state, putting his all into punching and kicking the edge of the dimension, yet, not causing it to even slightly budge.<sub> </sub>

    He was not strong enough to fight the Otsutsukis but fortunately for him, he didn''t need to be. The fights on this level were not solely decided by brawn. It was just that nobody gave the Otsutsuki the memo yet.

    An hourter and when Isshiki''s rampage was starting to get old, Rei decided he had enough data and Isshiki was no longer needed.

    Isshiki punched the barrier like usual, even trying to use his shrinking abilities in tandem to try if it would work... but unlike before, ink-like symbols started quickly spreading up his arm from where his fist was in contact with the ''barrier''.

    ? Isshiki panicked a bit, his state of mind no longer at its best, but he still managed to pull back, only letting a small strand of symbols crawl up his arm.

    With a swift and decisive sh, Isshiki quickly separated his arm from his body, deciding to regrow the entire limb rather than risk letting the seal spread all the way onto his body... but he was a second toote.

    One symbol.

    That''s all that managed to get onto Isshiki''s body, and he quickly found a small pressure descending on him, causing him to widen his eyes.

    The pressure was nothing extraordinary and even a genin could probably shrug it off but it was there and Isshiki felt it. It was like an annoying fly buzzing around to his senses.

    Thinking he could just st it away with a burst of his powerful chakra, Isshiki red his chakra... and when Kaguya saw it from her ce a bit away from where she was observing him, she facepalmed.

    ''That... was his first andst mistake.'' She dryly thought, giving Isshiki''s back a deadpan look.

    She would have known. After all, she fell for the same friggin'' trick!

    Instead of the weakened seal being sted away with a powerful surge of the chakra, the seal started quickly feeding on Isshiki''s chakra, and the more he red it, the more the pressure on him increased.

    "What the hell is this!?" Isshiki frantically eximed, iling his arms as if trying to shake off the ever-increasing pressure.

    From the weight capable of restraining genin it quickly grew, shooting past Jonin-level restrictions all the way to Kage level and then some...

    Soon enough, when the pressure stopped growing, Isshiki was panting but he still stood upright despite the strain the seal put on his body and Rei nodded in satisfaction.

    This was the limit of his seal. It didn''t exactly squash Isshiki like a bug but... for now it sufficed.

    Rei whipped out a small notebook and started writing his ideas for improvement, giving Isshiki a few seconds to get a breather.

    When he was finished with his notes, Rei raised his head and looked at Isshiki, giving him a pleasant smile as he finally decided to answer, "That, my dear ignorant guinea pig, is one of the many, many seals I need you to try for me. Now then, shall we continue?"

    Isshiki was a very driven scientist with a penchant for unconventional experiments himself. He could recognize a fellow enthusiast and his pupils constricted as he instantly knew he was in for a very long and ruthless afternoon that will definitely not end well for him.

 Chapter 476 Ch476. The Happenings During Reis Absence

    "What are you going to do with that?" Kaguya asked Rei who was holding a slightly shining green gem in his hands.

    Unfortunately, Isshiki only managed tost long enough for Rei to try up to three hundred thirty-two seals before he inevitably croaked despite Rei''s attempts in theter trials to round the number up and reach three hundred thirty-three.

    After he died, Rei''s spiritual barrier caught his departing soul and sealed it in the gem Rei was holding.

    "I am going to use his soul as an energy battery." Rei contemtively said, "The sealing formation that would hide our will need an energy source and I initially wanted to hook it up onto my dimension but with Isshiki''s soul in my hands, I no longer need to do that."

    As someone more powerful than a bijuu, Isshiki''s soul was quite powerful and capable of producing a lot of energy.

    Isshiki''s Kama technique should just dissipate a few hours after Rei sealed Isshiki''s soul because the Kama marks attempts to suck Isshiki''s soul from wherever it is was naturally a chakra-heavy endeavor and with his soul sealed, the marks would use up their reserves, destroying themselves.

    At that point, Rei could release Isshiki''s soul and it would simply return to the cycle of reincarnation.

    But why would he do that?

    As a punishment for the sin of living on Rei''s for a thousand years, plotting its demise, and not paying taxes, Rei decided Isshiki would work even after his death to pay everything he owed him back.

    And from Rei''s very quick mental calctions, he decided that Isshiki''s soul was in for at least a few thousand years of forcedbor.

    But after that, Rei would be extremely d to release him, depending on his behavior. If he is a good boy and helps people out of his own volition, Rei would naturally release him sooner. Lucky him, huh?

    Not that a soul sealed in a gem could actually do anything, soˇ­ sucks to be him too.

    "Huh. That''s... harsh." Kaguya admitted but inwardly, she was quite satisfied with Isshiki''s ''punishment''. The guy did intend to sacrifice her to the God Tree, after all.

    "Harsh?" Rei snorted, "He shouldn''t havee to my with the intention to cause chaos for his own benefit here. This is my turf." He said, almost indignantly.

    "He was here before you were even born, though." Kaguya teasingly reminded him, giggling when Rei''s eyebrow twitched in irritation.

    "Unimportant semantics." Rei rolled his eyes with a nonchnt facade.

    ...

    Rei and Kaguya exited Rei''s dimension and appeared back in his mansion where his other wives were already waiting for him, making Kaguya secretly groan because she knew her alone time with him was now officially over.

    Coming in, Rei and Kaguya discovered only Tsunade and Mei lounging by the hearth in the living room and talking.

    When Rei and Kaguya walked into the living room, the two women stopped talking and turned to them.

    "Oh, hello. You took your time." Tsunade teasingly said, giving Kaguya a wolfish grin.

    "Un. It''s not nice to not share, Kagu-chan." Mei nodded in agreement, her head understanding Tsunade''s words in her own way.

    "Hello, girls. Where are Konan, Pakura, and Ringo?" Rei asked as he sat down in the armchair, ignoring Mei''s remark with trained ease.

    Kaguya too only rolled her eyes at Mei and sat on Rei''sp, making Mei pouty.

    ''Yes. Using my dimension as a ce where Kaguya and Mei can let loose and fight to their heart''s content is a great idea. I wouldn''t want the tension between them to rise without any outlet.'' Rei wryly thought as he observed the interaction between his two more selfish women.

    Still, he didn''t forget to pay attention to Tsunade too as she answered his question, "Oh, them. It was decided that Kurotsuchi''s training will be a joint project between Konan and Pakura while Ringo is tending to her new apprentice Samui."

    ''Good. I only have to get rid of Tsunade and Mei to reim my alone time with Rei.'' Kaguya instantly mused.<sub> </sub>

    "Shouldn''t you be present in your vige, Tsunade? It was just recently invaded, after all." Kaguya ''innocently'' asked, earning herself a deadpan look from Tsunade.

    "Nah. I am good." Tsunade dryly answered and Kaguya quietly clicked her tongue.

    As amused with their antics as Rei was, he had some important questions so he interrupted their bickering and asked, "Was Kumo already conquered?"

    He and Kaguya were away for an entire day and by now, the Kiri army should have arrived at Kumo even if the Kiri Swordsmen didn''t manage to make the vige surrender.

    s, Rei didn''t have any information source while they were dealing with Isshiki so he knew nothing about what went on in the world during that time.

    "Mhm. Kumo surrendered after a short siege of the Kiri army." Tsunade briefly informed.

    Rei slowly nodded at that before humming, "So the Swordsmen failed, huh? Sucks to be them."

    Not that he cared overly much. As long as Kumo was now under him, he was fine either way, no matter if the one doing the conquering was the Kiri army or the Kiri Swordsmen. But still...

    "Kinda." Mei giggled, "Ringo only sent them because of their bragging that they could conquer Kumo by themselves and don''t need anyone else. The idiots."

    "Yet, here we are. Five of them are dead, and another ten are injured." Tsunade sighed. It was her who received the injured ones and was supposed to heal them. She would naturally do her duty but she would be damned if she didn''t make the process as painful for those fools as humanly possible.

    Rei inwardly winced when he heard his two sweethearts. He knew Ringo best and... let''s just say he could imagine the punishment Ringo was going to heap on the Swordsmen for being too arrogant for their own good.

    It wasn''t good to be one of them right about now. Not at all...

    ''s, poor Samui would definitely get caught in this too.'' Rei idly thought. There was no snowball chance in hell Ringo would not use the opportunity to toughen her apprentice a bit. ''Oh, well. It will be a good character-building exercise for her.'' He shrugged, knowingly dooming Samui to a few months of training hell.

    "What about Onoki and A?" Rei asked the second most important question.

    As former Kages, there was always a possibility that they could cause a rebellion if they escaped and got back to their respective viges. Rei had already decided to leave them alive but despite Ringo''s promise to A that she would let the man go, Rei hadn''t promised anything like that.

    Unfortunately for them, these two were yet another people that came under thebel of ''Sucks to be them''.

    "Oh, theyined and raged, demanding the seals on them to be lifted but Konan dealt with them quickly by telling them nobody but you can unseal those seals." Tsunade snickered as she remembered their bbergasted expressions.

    "But it was only after Tsuna-chan got annoyed and had beaten them up that they finally shut up." Mei cheerfully finished for Tsunade, throwing her under the bus and earning herself a betrayed stink-eye from the best and most violent medic in the world.

    Beating up important prisoners of war, especially after they were promised good treatment was just a poor form.

    Of course, Rei would close his eyes a bit and ignore this incident. He loved Tsunade too much to reprimand her for beating up some unimportantining bastards.

    Seeing that there was no iing reprimand from Rei, Tsunade grinned, "Anyway, they are both in the Vige Hidden on the Other Side, awaiting you to deal with them, with their chakra still restricted to genin level."

    "Good." Rei nonchntly said but inwardly he sighed when he heard that. He was secretly hoping these two would have been already sorted out when he came back from visiting Kaguya.

    Then again, that''s what having so many subordinates was for and Rei was already thinking to whom he would delegate this ''glorious'' babysitting duty.

    Because obviously, neither A nor Onoki were leaving his vige anytime soon, duh.

    Leaning back into his armchair, Rei finally let out a relieved breath full of satisfaction and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

    ''At least everything more or less went ording to the n. It seems I have won the Game of Thrones Naruto-version.''

 Chapter 477 Ch477. Goals Reached

    A few months passed and the world as usual moved on, the events and the initial fear caused by both Iwa and Kumo being conquered wore off after nothing really changed in the lives of most people.

    Some trouble did indeed spring up in both Iwa and Kumo but neither Pakura nor Ringo were people that would tolerate being walked over by someone and after a particrly bloody response, everything calmed down once again.

    The two conquered viges didn''t really have any figure to rally behind since A, Onoki, and B still enjoyed the hospitality of the Vige on the Other Side, B even enjoying being in contact with Yagura and Yugito.

    Thest Rei heard of him, the big and tanned rapper jinchuuriki was acting as the babysitter for their newest child. trying to teach the baby the glory of Rap no Jutsu.

    With all five major ninja viges under Rei''s influence, some things did indeed change on a worldwide scale and it was starting to be obvious even to the various Daimyos.

    The hostilities between the viges ceased for the most part. There was still some infighting, especially when two teams found themselves on different sides because of a mission, but Rei could with satisfaction proim that most of ''his'' ninjas no longer went out of their way to kill the ninjas from the other viges.

    Considering their primary way to keep ninja viges in check was to pit them against each other, this change brought a lot of concern from nobles and Daimyos.

    Naturally, Rei didn''t care at all.

    He didn''t conquer the viges so they would continue being over-glorified mercenaries for whoever had the deeper pockets. Chakra had so many more uses and the fact its users were just simple superpowered mercenaries was honestly shameful, in Rei''s opinion.

    While this couldn''t be changed instantly, Rei did start a small change by setting up proper research centers in each vige that would gather bright minds. He knew best that humans, if given proper opportunities and conditions, could technologically advance by leaps and bounds.

    Fortunately, the Wind and Fire Daimyo knew this would happen sooner orter and when they noticed the drastic shift in the political scene, they were the first toe in contact with Rei through his wives.

    Much to his surprise, they didn''t demand him to bring everything back to how it was but actually deferred to him.

    It was nice to deal with smart people. With all ninja viges and the two biggest internationalpanies under Rei''s thumb, he could wipe out any Daimyo family he desired without any consequences so the Daimyos really didn''t have much ground to stand on.

    Nevertheless, Rei didn''t expect them to bow their heads to him. He would have been totally fine with ignoring them but since they came up with this themselves...

    Rei initially intended to have a very ambiguous no-touch policy when it came to governments. He was just one man and governing the entire continent would be far too much work for it to be worth it.

    That''s why he was fine with Daimyos staying in their cozy functions as long as they didn''t stick their noses into the ninja matters.

    But since three of the five major nations wanted to officiallye under him, or rather, under the Biri-Biri Company, there was not one good reason to refuse them.

    With them working for him, Rei could fully leave the matters of governance in their hands and still have influence over them so why not?

    In the end, the Land of Wind, Fire, and Water created an alliance where their respective rulers retained their territories but also formed a sort of council that would decide the big decisions.

    It was all still in the middle of formation so nothing was set in stone yet but the foundation for future peaceful cooperation was already finished.

    Instead of being ninja viges of different nations, Konoha, Kiri, and Suna simply became three different military divisions of the newly formed Elemental Alliance, eachpletely independent and with their own leader at the helm.

    Rei was satisfied with how things developed. Peace was not really his end goal. He could care less about ''world peace'' but it had to be done. Because only in peacetime could all the resources be dedicated to advancement.

    And there was no better way to create a semnce of peace than to bring everyone under one banner.

    The Lands of Earth and Lightning were not very excited by this new development but there was nothing they could do. They were outnumbered in all aspects by this new Alliance and their ninja viges were ''theirs'' only on paper.

    The pressure on the rulers of those nations was immense and when other small nations started petitioning for joining the Elemental Alliance, even thest ember of their hopes was extinguished.

    Their joining was just a question of time.

    ...<sub> </sub>

    Rei and Konan were standing in a vast expanse of rocky barrennd on the moon, the only sign of human intervention in the surroundings was the sealing circle carved into the rocky surface for several kilometers in radius.

    "We are finally finished." Konan sighed in relief, fed up with carving seal after seal, every day of the week. Honestly, at this point, she would take paperwork over this any day.

    ? Just the thought that Rei loved doing this kind of stuff was making her dizzy.

    "Mhm. It took a while." Rei nonchntly answered.

    Unlike Konan, he mostly felt satisfaction and slight weariness at the repetitive work, rather than annoyance.

    "A while? It took us months!" Konan indignantly eximed.

    When she agreed to help Rei with his new project, she didn''t think she would be spending most of her time for the next few months carving into a rock with kunai.

    Hell, they couldn''t even use Jutsus for this because apparently, this was really delicate work.

    Stupid Rei and his excuses for why she couldn''t st this all to hell...

    Rei gave the indignant Konan a gentle smile and said, "Thank you."

    It served to calm her down a bit as she couldn''t stay angry at him when he showed his gratitude. Konan huffed and looked away, but after a few moments of silence, she nced at Rei and reluctantly spoke.

    "Are you going to start it?"

    Rei blinked... and pointed at the center of the sealing formation near him.

    Konan saw the gem containing Isshiki''s soul there, already melded to the sealing formation which meant...

    "Wait, that''s it?" Konan incredulously asked, "I haven''t even felt it starting!"

    She was bbergasted. Shouldn''t a seal capable of hiding an entire be... she didn''t know. Grander, perhaps? More oppressive?

    "That''s kinda the point." Rei shrugged and put his arm around Konan, "Don''t worry. It''s working properly."

    The whole sealing formation was a bit exposed but that was unfortunately necessary. It wouldn''t have worked if it was hidden on the moon, instead of being on its surface. Rei made sure there were many seals safeguarding it and this was the best he could do anyway.

    With this sealing marvel that used all of his vast sealing knowledge, he reached his ultimate goal and the was finally hidden from the Otsutsuki.

    He could finally live in peace and have his much-deserved worry-less vacation.

    "So... what now?" Konan asked, raising her head to look Rei in the eyes.

    She was perhaps one of the very few people who knew how much effort he put into this project. Now that it was done... she was interested if he had something else nned.

    "Now?" Rei chuckled and pulled her into a loose embrace, "I guess now I can finally fulfill the desire you girls have in your hearts."

    Rei''s words came like lightning from the clear sky for Konan whose eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock.

    It took her a few moments but eventually, she managed to recollect her wits and she quietly asked, a twinge of hope in her tone, "You mean...?"

    Rei sweetly smiled at her and put his forehead against her, "Yes. I think it''s finally time to make a proper family with you."

 Chapter 478 Ch478. Epilogue

    Fifty years passed and no Otsutsuki reared his ugly head, making Rei assume his n to conceal his worked wlessly.

    Funnily enough, both Boruto and Himawari were born to Hinata and Naruto. But these two were their third and fourth child. After being trained by Anko, Hinata knew what she wanted and had the guts to take it. Naruto, the lucky bastard in more ways than one, frequently thanked the Sage for having the Uzumaki stamina.

    Honestly, in the end, Naruto didn''t be Hokage. Instead, he focused on his family.

    His dream of bing Hokage stayed just that. An unfulfilled dream. Not that Naruto cared overly much. Last Rei heard, he was happy with his life... and his big family.

    Sasuke surprisingly married Tenten, and at their wedding, Rei saw why. The girl had a quite pretty face and once she lost the mousy hairstyle, she was fairly beautiful. Plus, her serious attitude undoubtedly appealed to the Uchiha.

    s, lucky him that he didn''t need to recreate the Uchiha n. The stabby weapon mistress gave him an ultimatum quite early on in their rtionship, stating that she would not be used like some breeding sow.

    Two kids were her maximum and her words came true.

    Then again, knowing that his n partly survived the ''massacre'' seemed to take away a lot of Sasuke''s burden so he was fine with Tenten''s wishes. They were quite happy together.

    As for Sakura... she became Kurenai''s, the Sixth Hokage''s, apprentice. Bing an adult made the pinkette calm down and take her kunoichi life seriously. Fast-forward twenty years and the girl became the Seventh Hokage at the ripe age of thirty, serving in the position to this day.

    That was one thing even Rei couldn''t foretell but it somehow did happen.

    Eh, weirder things happened...

    During these past fifty years, Rei had his work cut out for him. He thought that finally preventing the Otsutsuki invasion would mean a nice peaceful and quiet life for him but s, he was totally wrong.

    It started slowly, all of his girls getting pregnant... and then the horror began.

    Despite being a Master in the Sealing Arts and de facto the secret ruler of the world, Rei had no way to avoid the sleepless nights and the terror of the new parenthood.

    Oh, he definitely tried to make his word easier by creating some seals but he quickly understood that freeing Kaguya was easypared to being a father and taking care of seven newborns at the same time.

    The woe was him...

    But it didn''t end there! Apparently, one child was too little for his girls and every single one of his wives wanted to continue doing her womanly duties. They wanted to have more kids and during these times, Rei fully understood why harems went out of fashion.

    He had seen hell...

    Unfortunately, he loved them too much to tell them no and he cared too much about every single one of his children to ignore them. So, the next fifty years were very busy and seemed almost unending to Rei.

    Comining aside... it wasn''t all bad. Rei was actually happy with his life and the experience of having kids.

    As long as it doesn''t repeat itself...

    Finally, all his wives reached their desired ''quota'' of kids, and then Rei instantly put an infertility seal on himself. No matter how much sex he will have in the future, no more kids for him unless he for some ridiculous andpletely unrealistic reason decided that he wanted more.

    Pfft, as if that would happen.

    The most reasonable of his women was surprisingly Mei, only wanting three kids and no more. Her pregnancies were also spread out, having at least seven years in between them so that was quite manageable for Rei too.

    Bless her heart.

    Mei was not the best mother but she tried her best. Unfortunately, that meant all three of her children got most of her... quirks. As much as Rei tried to subtly prevent it, it was impossible for him since he had other children whereas Mei could be with hers almost nonstop.

    s, Mei''s three kids ended up in the newly created Inter-Space Warfare Research Department, making one weapon of mass destruction after another and having a st.

    Truly... Mei''s three little apples didn''t fall far from the tree.

    Rei was just d the ninja civilization in these fifty years progressed enough that they could travel to space and others, resulting in this part of his family''s ability to indulge in their destructive nature without having to damage Rei''s.

    Konan also didn''t make much trouble for Rei. Only four pieces in total.

    His sweet Konan was always very understanding and wanted only the best for him. Once again, she didn''t disappoint and the number of kids she wanted was not something outrageous.

    All of her kids possessed the paper release and Rei made sure they knew their fuinjutsu but despite that, three of them ended up as civilians. Rei was saddened but as a good father should, he let them make this choice for themselves.

    These three took over the management of the ever-growing Biri-Biripany from Tsunade and their mother and Konan could finally take a permanent break from that function.

    Only Rikumi Yotsuba, Konan''s second eldest girl, followed Konan''s and Rei''s footsteps and wanted to be a strong kunoichi like her mom.

    Frankly speaking, with how the chakra technology was advancing, being a ninja didn''t have many advantages nowadays. Even civilians had at least some chakra with their pathways unlocked. Chakra was a subject even in civilian schools and one didn''t need to be a ninja to be a chakra researcher nowadays.

    It also didn''t help that most didn''t have the drive and talent necessary to be a strong ninja and frankly speaking, with the ever-growing destructibility of chakra technology, even chunins didn''t amount to much. They were just regr cannon fodder.

    Hence, if one wanted to be a strong ninja, S-rank was a must. Of course, reaching this milestone was much more manageable with the training regimen Rei put together with all of his data gathered from Kaguya, but it still required a lot of effort. Most people simply couldn''t be bothered.

    Rei and Konan made sure Rikumi was put through the wringer when they were sure her desire rang true. Rikumi was forty-two years old right now and she was already the head of one of the Other-sided vige''s departments while also definitely being in the top ten strongest ninjas worldwide.

    Since she wanted to be a kunoichi, Konan nor Rei would not allow her to not reach at least that much.

    Plus, Konan probably could see through Rei''s ns for the future and knew creating strong people who could defend their home was necessary. After all, they might not be here all the time to protect it if what she had discovered was any indication.

    Kaguya had five children with Rei. Yet, her initial desire was two.

    She had wanted two boys. But she was given three girls in between her boys, much to Rei''s amusement. Even being used of having a faulty and too feminine seed didn''t diminish it.

    There was not much to say about her children. They were all ridiculously powerful from the get-gopared to other kids.

    Kaguya also wouldn''t do the same mistake she did with Hagoromo and Hamura and this time, she took their upbringing firmly into her own hands, resulting in five ''monsters'' and the strongest protectors of Rei''s little ''empire''.<sub> </sub>

    The girls, Rukia, Remi, and Rina were incredible with sealing arts so much that even Kaguya had a bit of trouble facing them.

    The boys, Haruto and Hiroto... the names chosen by Kaguya, ugh... were the usual ''st it all with irresistible strength'' types just like their mother. They went far in their strength development, maybe even farther than Hagoromo and Hamura, but they did not stand a chance against their sisters or Rikumi.

    Despite their power, these five were massive mama and papa boys and girls, though. It was really endearing at times.

    Pakura and Temari both begot Rei six children over the years, as ifpeting with each other.

    Some went into the civilian sector, some into research, but with their Scorch and Ma Releases, Temari''s kids were godsent for mining resources and that''s where most of them ended up, making fortunes for themselves with minimal effort. Especially with the new colonization of others. The Ma Release was incredible for getting new resources from those.

    Pakura''s kids, on the other hand, were good at ss-making, pooling together, and creating the ss-making division of the Biri-Biripany.

    They even started researching different types of chakra-enhanced ss and their findings were what made the colonization of the others possible.

    Rei liked to spend time with them in theirbs since the sealing arts were heavily used in their ss-making but sadly, he didn''t do that often. This part of his family was driven and raised to be very self-reliant by their mothers, causing them to focus more on their lives and ''making the family richer and more reputable'' rather than the family life itself.

    They still attended every family gathering and celebration but... Sigh.

    Ringo bore her own seven little swordsmen of the mist, the kids iling around wooden swords before they could even walk.

    With a mother like her, it wasn''t any surprise that all seven of them were very good at handling swords but what they really excelled at was forging.

    All seven of them. The best forgers in the world.

    And Rei couldn''t be more proud of this part of his family.

    One could think of any high-end chakra technology and it would be made with special alloys developed by Ringo''s children. They were the backbone of the quick progress, putting together sealing arts, forging, and masterful Lightning Release to create new and stronger materials at a sufficiently quick pace that the swift development of the technology didn''t need to be stopped because of something trivial like insufficient materials.

    Without them, nothing of this space colonization era of theirs would have been possible. Not so soon, anyway.

    Andstly, Tsunade.

    She was hell-bent on recreating the Senju n.

    After Rei tly rejected her initial quota of hundred kids... duh... they finally found apromise in the number twelve.

    Three girls and nine boys. All good with Wood Release and many of them were in charge of the forestation of news, whereas others found their calling in construction or even medicine like their mother.

    All were strong ninjas because whether they wanted it or not, Tsunade would not let them be just civilians. Not on her watch. The Senju n was a ninja n and that was apparently that.

    Despite that, only two were really notable in the ninja circles whereas others were albeit strong... but not reputable for their exploits.

    Hana Senju Yotsuba... Rei allowed Tsunade and her kids to retain their Senju names because he knew how much it meant for Tsunade... was the youngest of the girls, yet, the one who took Tsunade''s title of the best medic in the world.

    Granted, it was mostly because Tsunade no longer made her discoveries public, opting to do research on her new and resurrectable guinea pig called Orochimaru, results of which she could hardly proudly publish.

    But it still made both her and Rei proud of Hana and her aplishments. Hana took over the hospital in the Other-sided Vige too after the overjoyed Anko retired because, ''There is finally someone who can take this damned position from my hands!'' ording to her.

    Really, that woman was much better at healing but she still preferred torture rather than what she was good at. No matter how many times Tsunade tried to ''straighten her out'', it didn''t help.

    Hashirama Senju Yotsuba was the other one.

    Rei was a bit exasperated at that. It just had to be Hashirama''s namesake who stuck out of the fold. The boy was incredible at Wood Style. More so than his siblings. He was yet another of Rei''s children who definitely ranked up in the unofficial top ten ninjas worldwide.

    But...

    Unlike Kaguya''s children or Rikumi, Hashirama''s passion was not ninja arts but instead... farming.

    He was so skilled in his Wood Style that he created a new sub-skill called nt Style and started farming with it.

    ording to him, something in the quiet and peaceful life of a farmer was incredibly calming and refreshing.

    So... yes. A person like that was in the top ten power ranking. Even his mother, Tsunade, was a tad bit exasperated at how much this boisterous and carefree son of hers acted.

    As Rei sat in his rocking chair and looked towards the horizon, he sighed.

    He... was bored.

    There was simply nothing to do for him.

    Or rather, he didn''t feel like doing anything anymore.

    Only the thoughts of his recent project brightened his mood.

    While his little empire was starting with traveling through space, Rei''s personal project was something different. He wanted to aplish inter-dimensional travel.

    There was nothing more for him in the Narutoverse and while his Otaku days were a long time over, he still desired to travel throughout other worlds.

    Once he finished his inter-dimensional teleportation seal, he intended to take his wives on this new adventure, leaving his world in the hands of his children. Rei never intended to hold onto the power for as long as he could. He aplished a lot but slowly, he was passing the world on to the future generations. Hence, his boredom.

    ''Now I only need to find a way to present the idea to my wives. Sage knows Tsunade, in particr, wouldn''t like the thought of separating from her children.'' Rei grimaced, before wistfully sighing, ''Maybe I should give it another ten years?''

    That''s what he said ten years ago...

    Ah, well, he had all the time in the world.

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