forgottentears6: LOL, how funny would it be if Tsuna dropped out the first round? I don't know if ratings would go up or fall down.

TotalAmuto: Naturally, Tsuna is slow. It's a characteristic of his that never seems to change no matter what. HOW THE HELL AM I GONNA WRITE A FIGHT SCEEEEENE?

Chocolate and caramel: Glad you liked the little imaginary dialogue~ I do think that's what actually happened. And yes, Iemitsu and Nana are still alive. And I'm not that great a fan of Kyoko, so...

Unknown Variable: Uh, no no no. At least... maybe? I'm not sure~ (annoyingly dangling the spoiler carrot). Maybe he did and maybe he didn't. And yes, good job Giotto, you just secured your grandson. And... what is with you and ByakuranxSkyArcobaleno? What?

Taira-keimei: I do not read French and therefore I do not know. It's still annoying how they just never have only one translation of the names.

Kanojo wa Rinko: Oops. I forgot about that. I just meant to put down green and then find out his real eye color and correct it later. What is his real eye color? And I don't think I can write 50k per month. That's difficult for me who is now approaching college deadlines. X(

cael05: Huh, I wonder what happened to it? It's okay though. Just keep reviewing~ And I'm doing my best with the canon details. And I hope the mystery stays interesting enough for the readers.

Oh man, oh man, oh man, Hibari's return has strengthened me enough to write two chapters this week. Oh man, oh man, oh man. HIBARIIIIII~!

Oh, Dio, Tsuna thought despairingly. Do you hate me?

It was the only explanation Tsuna could come up with. Frozen stiff on the balcony from shock, he stared at the Varia's mansion and wondered what sort of monsters lurked within. If you hate me, could you send me a less fatal sign?

"Dame-Tsuna," came the ever familiar (and increasingly annoying) voice, "why are you sitting there like that? Are you constipated?"

"NO!" Tsuna said indignantly. "I'm just - huh? Weren't you with Dino-san and the rest?"

"Dame-Tsuna, that was over an hour ago. We said everything we wanted to say. So I'm guessing that you heard about the 'condition' from Giotto?"

"Yes," Tsuna turned pale at the thought again. "Wait, did you know about it?"

"I had my suspicions when I saw Lussuria in Hareta," Reborn admitted. "It was only a suspicion though. I didn't know if it was accurate."

"Then what should we do?" Tsuna asked, feeling exhausted.

"I think that we should go consort with Fuuta."

"Fuuta?" Tsuna blinked. "Who is Fuuta?"

Mukuro chuckled triumphantly from his perch on the roof of a Catholic church. His companion, a girl with red hair and wide blue eyes, glanced at him. "What is it, Mukuro-chan?"

"Kufufu, it's nothing, M.M. I've gathered some interesting information is all," Mukuro said, laying his head down on the red clay shingles. "It surprises me, how far Humano corruption can go."

"Mukuro-chan is also very corrupted," M.M. said flirtatiously. Mukuro glanced at her and his lips curled in to a smirk.

"It can't be helped," he said, tilting his head up to look at the fake sky. "I've been reborn within this world six times after all. My mind is a little more, ah, extreme than other people's."

"What should we do now, Mukuro-chan?"

"Wait," Mukuro yawned and closed his eyes to sleep. "All we can do for now is wait for that white fox to make his move..."

"GYAHH! HUGE!" shrieked Enma's voice, followed by an extremely loud thud.

"Again?" Byakuran stuck his head around a bookshelf. "What did you drop this time?"

"I'm sorry," Enma mumbled from the floor. He was spread-eagle on the floor, with an enormous book sitting on top of him. "But can you get this thing off me?"

"Oh, I forgot I had that," Byakuran hummed with pleasure. "I acquired that with much difficulty," he managed to lift the book up enough to let Enma wiggle out from beneath.

"What is it?" Enma asked, dusting himself off. The book had no title or picture on the cover. There was nothing hinting to what contents it might hold within.

"It's a ranking book," Byakuran said cheerfully. "A very old edition. I sto - er, borrowed it from a faraway place," he flipped through the book. "Ooh, the marshmallow lover ranking!"

... Was he about to say 'stole'? Enma wondered, sweat-dropping.

"Fuuta is Oozora's Royal Scholar," Reborn explained as they once more walked through the hallways towards two huge double doors made of dark cherry wood. "He's one of the smartest people in the world because he knows everything that there is to know."

"Wooow, he must be old," Tsuna remarked. "Oh, but Scholar Byakuran... Byakuran-sensei is very young. How old is this guy?"

"Young," Reborn confirmed. "Pretty young for the job, but he was the best for the job and so he because our Scholar at a very young age. I believe this Byakuran-sensei of yours was appointed at age twenty-one?"

"Yes, he is the youngest ever chosen for the job."

"Then I think you're in for a surprise."

"Eh?"

Reborn pushed the double doors open to reveal an enormous library. Tsuna looked around admiringly. The room was round with three floors, shaped like an egg, with curved shelves lining the walls. There were windows in between each shelf, and at the wider end of the egg, there was a big stained glass window. Tsuna studied the design. Vongola Giotto was standing in the center with his right hand up, showing the Sky Ring on his middle finger. On either side of him were three Guardian Angels each. G., Asari Ugetsu, and a green-haired man Tsuna didn't know were on Giotto's right, with a dark-haired man, a platinum blond-haired man, and a dark indigo-haired man on the left. He assumed that two of them were the Alaude and Daemon Spade he had heard about from Basil. Each of them was wearing their Vongola Ring. In this image, all of them had wings of seven colors respectively. Again, Tsuna realized, almost everyone he had met up here didn't have wings; Dino, Basil, Asari, G., and Giotto. None of them had wings. What had happened to them?

"Excuse me," came a soft, timid voice. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Tsuna jumped and whirled around to see... no one. Eh? Dèjá vu...

"Down here."

Tsuna looked down to see an extraordinarily adorable little boy who looked to be about nine. He had a gentle, girly face with pale brown hair and wore a simple outfit consisting of a pair of jeans and a black sweater a size too big for him. He also wore a long scarf striped with red and beige. Overall, he was a pretty cute kid, and Tsuna smiled at him because the kid felt like a nice, normal boy. "Hi, are you a library assistant here?"

"Nooo," the boy said, tilting his head curiously. "Who are you?"

"Ah, my name is Kozato Tsunayoshi," Tsuna introduced himself. He bent down to talk to the boy face to face. "It's very nice to meet you. What's your name?"

"Eh? Kozato Tsunayoshi...?" the boy stared at Tsuna then looked past him towards the stained glass window, at the image of Giotto. "Ahhh!" he suddenly gasped. "It's Tsuna-nii!"

"What?" the Prince blinked. Then he let out a squeak of surprise when the boy suddenly tackled him around the middle.

"Yay! Yay! Tsuna-nii's come home!" he cheered. Tsuna sputtered in surprise for a bit before Reborn's voice cut through the air.

"What are you doing, Fuuta?"

"WHAT? This guy is Fuuta?" Tsuna shrieked, jabbing a finger at the small boy.

"Ah, yes, we've never met formally, have we?" Fuuta gave him a winning smile. "My name is Fuuta de la Stella, but you can call me Fuuta. It's nice to meet you, Tsuna-nii!"

"But you're a kid! Why are you the scholar?"

"Hmm?" Fuuta blinked innocently. "That's because my 'rankings' are 100% accurate!"

"Rankings...?"

"I'll explain," Reborn said. "Fuuta has the ability to rank anything. From the most powerful people on earth to the most bought Valentines Day items, he can tell what ranking it has from just looking at it. That's why Fuuta is extremely valuable, and he knows almost everything about anything he sees."

"Ehehe, it's nothing special," Fuuta rubbed his head cutely and blushed. "I just ask the Ranking Planet for the statistics."

'Ranking Planet'?

Before Tsuna could ask what the heck a ranking planet was, Fuuta's scarf began to float by itself in the air, like a long, wriggly snake. Fuuta himself had a glazed over look as if he was staring at something that wasn't really there. Tsuna stepped back in surprise only to realize that he was also treading air. Books levitated next to him. "Tsuna-nii's sprinting ability is ranked 86,202 out of 86,202 people. Running ability is ranked 85,900 out of 86,202 people. Stamina is ranked 86,182 out of 86,202 people," he said in a dreamy voice as if he was a million miles away. "Overall ability is last place."

"EHHHH? WHY IS EVERYTHING FLOATING?"

More like, why am I so pathetic?

Fuuta's eyes refocused and suddenly Tsuna landed painfully on the floor. He winced as a couple of hardbacks dropped on to his head. "Sorry about that, Tsuna-nii," he said, suitably embarrassed. "Whenever I start to rank something, the things around me float because the energy I put out distorts the gravitational fields around me."

"Uh," Tsuna said, "okay."

Fuuta smiled winningly. "It's okay though, Tsuna-nii! You're heart is very big! You're rated number one for the least ambition and inability to turn down requests! You're a nice person so I don't have to be afraid of you!"

"Eh..." Tsuna got depression lines*. "Th-Thanks..."

"You're a loser!"

"Shut up, Reborn! I knew that already!"

Just outside the library, a man stood with his legs crossed and leaning against the wall, arms folded. He was a handsome man, with icy-green blue eyes and platinum-blonde hair and alabaster skin. He wore a gray trench coat with matching trousers and black leather shoes. His expression was stern and cold.

"Seems that the next successor hasn't lived up to his title," he muttered.

A voice spoke next to his ear. "Nufufufu, I'm sure that there's more to him than meets the eye, my dear Alaude."

"Don't call me that," the man named Alaude looked irritated. "You're annoying, Daemon Spade."

"Nufufu..." Daemon glanced towards the library doors. He was yet another handsome man with dark indigo hair and dark blue eyes. His hair was cut like a pineapple. "But I agree with you. The new successor is far too weak to be the new leader of the Vongola," he smirked. "I should make sure he never comes back again..."

"Don't," Alaude admonished him. "Giotto will never forgive you. At the very most, he'll throw you out of the Vongola altogether."

"Hm, true," Daemon said, a little disappointed, then a mischievous smile lit up his face. "Nufu~ Are you worried about me?"

"If you keep spewing inappropriate nonsense, I'm telling Elena."

"Urk!" Daemon immediately backed off. "You tattletale..."

"Whatever works," Alaude said, walking off. "Have fun eavesdropping."

"You were the one originally..." Daemon gave up. He sighed. "I wonder if I'm the pathetic one," he muttered, brushing his bangs from his forehead. "Why am I afraid? It's impossible to tattle to a dead woman..."

Huffy, he turned in to an indigo mist that slowly faded away, leaving behind an empty hallway ringing with silence.

"So, Tsuna-nii, what did you want to see me for?" Fuuta asked curiously. He and Tsuna were now seated next to the stained glass window, on the window seat. Fuuta had managed to pull out a huge book out of nowhere and was now busily writing down the rankings for Tsuna.

"I have no idea," Tsuna turned to Reborn. "What did we come here for?"

"Hmmm," Reborn said. He was now sitting on Tsuna's lap and making himself comfortable. "Fuuta, we're going to each of the regions to overthrow the Varia. Could you give us a ranking of what order to go in?"

"Oh, that's easy enough!" Fuuta said cheerfully. Tsuna yelped as things around him began to float, then he himself was lifted in to the air.

"Not again!" he yelled.

"Settle down, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn, who was still somehow in Tsuna's lap, said. "It'll be over soon."

Tsuna calmed himself down as Fuuta began to speak in that dreamy tone of his. "The best region order to travel to is... Arashi, Ame, Kaminari, Hareta, Kumo, Kiri."

Reborn wrote it down on a piece of scrap paper with Leon as his pencil. "Alright, got it."

Tempesta, Pioggia, Fulmine, Sole, Nuvolo, then Nebbia, huh... Tsuna thought. I hope I can make this journey...

"Wait, there's more," Fuuta said. "That's the best order for each region, but the best order of recruiting allies is... Kumo, Ame, Arashi, Hareta, Kaminari, Kiri."

"Oh," Reborn tapped his chin with the Leon-pencil. "Hmmm, having that guy first would be our best choice... but what is Kumo's current danger ranking?"

"Danger ranking?" Tsuna asked, confused. Fuuta furrowed his eyebrow in concentration.

"Kumo is ranked the number one safest place to live," Fuuta finally said. "But it is also ranked the number one most dangerous place to visit."

Ehhhhh? How does that make sense? Does everyone from Kumo hate foreigners or something?

"That's actually a pretty close guess," Reborn said.

"STOP READING MY MIND!"

"Reborn ranks number four out of 86,202 people for best mind-reading..."

"THERE'S A RANKING FOR THAT?"

"Well, anyway, let's go with the first order," Reborn said briskly. He tucked the piece of paper somewhere inside his fedora and let Leon turn back in to his original form. "It's probably the easiest."

"Y-Yeah! Easy is good," Tsuna nodded vigorously.

Reborn stared at him.

"What is it?"

Reborn sighed. "Pathetic people just like it easy..."

"HOW MUCH MORE ARE YOU GOING TO TRAMPLE ON MY PRIDE?"

"Giotto!"

"G."

The Emperor took one look at his right-hand man and chuckled. "Okay, now what is it?"

"I still don't trust that damn baby!" G. said hotly. "You know what Reborn did! He doesn't... he shouldn't..."

While G. struggled with his anger, Giotto sighed softly and placed a hand on his arm. "I know," Giotto said gently. "I know how you feel. And I know that Reborn has yet to repay for his wrongs. Which is why," he added, a small, grim smile on his face. "I gave Reborn his own condition for the peace treaty."

"You did?" G. said in surprise. "What was the condition?"

"'Gather the scattered Seven Sages and recreate the Arcobaleno Realm,'" Giotto answered. "That was my condition."

G. sucked in a breath. "That's... quite difficult."

"It shouldn't be," Giotto replied indifferently. "And besides, it's only right."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, isn't it appropriate," Giotto's eyes tone turned cold, his eyes like chips of ice, "for him to fix what he helped destroy?"

Fuuta de la Stella: Also known as 'Le Petite Prince Fuuta'. He is a soft-spoken, well-mannered boy who was originally an orphan before being taken in by Giotto. Because of his ability to accurately rank anything he sees, he is considered extremely valuable by all noble families. He has been kidnapped approximately ten times as a child until Giotto appointed him Royal Scholar to increase the security around him. He seems to love Tsuna like a brother even though they've never met before...

Depression Lines: Well, you know, those are the lines that a person has on their face/head to show that they're depressed and feel like curling up in a corner. Think Depression Bullet.

Alaude: The Kumo no Shugotenshi and the youngest out of all the Guardians. He is stern, cold, but not completely unapproachable. He will ally himself with anyone who matches up with his ideals; namely Giotto. He doesn't seem to respect the Emperor, but he listens to him nonetheless. The reason he is so unfriendly is because he claims that he is 'not like them'. What he means by this statement is currently unknown. He is one of the people who was most upset over the destruction of Arcobaleno, but that reason is also unknown...

Daemon Spade: The Kiri no Shugotenshi who has an obsessive dedication to the Vongola. He had a lover, Elena, who was killed in a struggle between the Vongola and the Estraneo Family. Since then, he always seems to flirt with whomever is nearby, but the merest mention of Elena makes him stop. Alaude, who apparently hates him with a passion, uses her name quite frequently. He is always thinking of what is best for the Vongola, but his motivations are not always pure...