Chapter 37: Ending the Conflict

" Hell yeah, this place is awesome!" Sora exclaimed. " Large mansion, posh furniture, expensive décor, luxurious looking living space. I like this place!"

" Looks like another way to fix Sora up is to throw her into a luxury mansion," Ryouta replied.

" You don't really have to do this, Takeshi. I appreciate the gesture, but I don't think I warrant such hospitality," Hiroshi replied.

All of them travelled to the Cloud village where Takeshi and Sougo lived. Takeshi had invited them to stay there until they were fit enough to go back home, and he decided that the best way to house them at his place. Hiroshi was a little dubious as to how he might be able to take care of 7 foreign shinobis, but it did occur to him that he was someone of some standing the last time he met. The luxurious mansion in front of him was testament to that.

" What's wrong with staying here?" Sora and Mayuri replied at once.

" Yeah, what's wrong with staying here?" Suzumi and Hibiki replied moments later.

" Ugh!" Hiroshi groaned.

" While I am doing this mostly because of your prior services, do know that it's not because of it that I am insisting on this. Formalities aside, right now, considering the situation, all of you do not have permits to be here, and are illegal. It does not help that on your journey here, you have alerted at least 4 minor shinobi countries, including the Blood-nins and the Steel-nins, who do not hold you all in high regard. While both our villages are fairly civil with one another, if authorities do get wind of your presence, we are to deport you to our neighbours, who have issued bounties on your heads for trespassing illegally, due to our policies with them. Officially, your village as declared whoever who has passed through the Steel-nin borders as illegals, and the Steel-nins can do as they please with you all if they do find you," Takeshi replied. " I am keeping you here because it is safer."

" You are avoiding attention. It did strike me as odd that you took the cavern entrance to your village," Ryouta replied.

" I use it occasionally when we need to ship people quietly inside," Takeshi replied.

" You sure are one heck of a maverick. Does your Raikage know about your activities?" Makoto asked.

" The Raikage has given me free reign on such matters at hand. Of course, I have to admit, I overstep my boundaries on several occasions, but I am still a loyal shinobi of my country," Takeshi replied. " So, I'm afraid you cannot stay anywhere else in this village, since you will need to stay here to keep yourself safe. I'll explain things in further detail when we are fed and well rested."

" Hell yes!" Sora exclaimed, pumping her hands in victory.

" I see your companions brook no disagreement," Takeshi laconically answered. " I hope you are not feeling too cold. The mountains can be chilling at times."

" Chilling? Ain't not match for the freezing desert," Hibiki replied. " We are fine. No need to fuss over us so much."

" Hiroshi!" a female vice exclaimed.

All of them looked upwards where the voice came from. A young girl was waving her hands excitedly at him. She had a wild crop of purple hair, and similar dark red eyes like Takeshi. With one swift motion, she bounded out of the window where she stuck her head out from, landing directly on Hiroshi's head. Despite standing on top of him, he couldn't feel her weight pressing down on him, or even the sensation of her sandals on top of his head.

" Aiko? It's been a while. How have you been?" Hiroshi replied.

" Good, better than before," Aiko answered, hopping off Hiroshi's head, not before going up to Sougo and giving him a peck on his cheek. " Hello, good to see you back. You too, brother."

Sougo started going really red in the face. " Aiko, can you not do this in public?" Sougo demanded.

" What's wrong, virgin boy? Can't stand a bit of affection?" Sora teased him.

" Hmph!" Sougo mused, puffing his cheeks. His rather cute demeanor was quite different from the deadly movements he displayed earlier.

ooo

" I do hope that you none of you are too injured to be barred from eating anything," Takeshi replied as all of them moved towards the dining area. The dining hall contained quite a sizable dining table craved from what looked like expensive marble. A few servants entered the room, and they brought along several trays of mouth-watering foods.

There was a massive selection of sashimi and sushi, along with a variety of seafood tempura that came along with soba and udon noodles, with all of the ingredients looking very expensive. Both Mayuri and Sora's eyes were practically sparkling at the sight of the display before them, which must have been luxurious compared to the simple rations Hiroshi had prepared before.

" Mind your manners and stop drooling," Makoto told Mayuri.

" Well, dig in," Takeshi replied.

" Don't mind if I do," Sora replied, helping herself and wolfing down the food as fast as she could eat it.

" You are going to need extra servings to keep her sated," Hiroshi replied.

" Is that so? My chefs will get some more to keep her satisfied then," Takeshi replied.

" It wasn't a suggestion to let her feed off you," Hiroshi replied.

" Well, there is no stopping her," Ryouta replied. " It's good that Takeshi here is very hospitable. Not sure what you did for him, but I guess this is some damn good payback."

" No need to be modest and hold back, Hiroshi. My brother likes entertaining guests, part of his work. Feasts like these are kinda a norm here," Aiko replied, not before turning to Sougo, who looked about as hesitant as Hiroshi. " And you too. I'm not sure what you are so uncomfortable about. It's not like you've never eaten here before."

" …Well, it's usually you and me only," Sougo mumbled.

" Tee hee hee…do you want me to dress up in a kimono and serve you sake?" Aiko teased him.

" I'm not old enough to drink," Sougo commented.

" That didn't stop you from…"

" Shh!"

" Huh? Is this part of the evening's entertainment?" Sora mused, her mouth full of food.

" Maybe…" Makoto replied, laughing slightly. " Is she joining us?"

All of them looked at a kunoichi standing at the entrance of the dining hall. She had a face mask on which was in the shape of a skull, so only her light blue eyes were visible on her face. She had tied her dark red hair in a long ponytail, her hair long enough to rival Mayuri's. She was dressed in standard Cloud-nin attire, along with extra bandages around her hands and legs. Her entire outfit was red in colour, almost matching with her hair.

" Oh, Kagura," Hiroshi noted.

" You seem to know a lot of people here," Sora replied suspiciously.

" Yeah, I'm having an affair with her. Besides the fact that I rarely go on overseas missions and it takes a few days at top speed to get here, there has been no problem between us," Hiroshi replied sarcastically.

" It's good to see you again," Kagura noted, although she was looking at Takeshi for some form of confirmation. " …Are they…?"

" Yes, they are. What is it?" Takeshi asked.

Kagura moved next to Takeshi, kneeling down to whisper something into his ear. Takeshi nodded when she was done passing her message to him, and he was slightly immersed in thought.

" Well, that certainly is problematic. Anyway, it would a good idea if you could stay for the night," Takeshi replied.

Kagura looked at his guests, and then nodded her head. " Certainly. I'll be upstairs if you need me," Kagura replied, and without warning, she disappeared without any trace.

" What was that about?" Hiroshi asked.

" Interesting that you should ask. I suppose I can tell you about it," Takeshi replied.

" …I think Hiroshi was actually being rhetoric," Ryouta replied.

" Rhetoric or not, I need to inform you about it, since it does pertain to you in a way. However, whatever we discuss here should be limited to this room only. Is that acceptable?" Takeshi asked.

" I really don't want to hear state secrets," Hibiki groaned.

" …All of you assassinated Hagane Juuzou, did you not?" Takeshi asked in an almost bored manner.

" Yes, we did," Ryouta answered.

" Ryouta! ?" Sora exclaimed.

" There is no point in hiding. 7 illegal shinobis in a foreign land, and the main administrative building in the Blood village now in utter ruins and their leader dead. I mean, it only takes an idiot to not know how to connect the dots," Ryouta answered. " Besides, I think Takeshi here doesn't particularly mind what we did."

" Indeed. I'm sure this organization has been plaguing your village as well, in fact more than ours. We've been carrying out missions in order to deal with his organization Juuzou has been spearheading, and it has pained us to no end. Starting a war with the Blood village would be too costly in the long run, and an assassination attempt was too difficult to carry out with their spies being at too close proximity within our village borders," Takeshi replied. " I must thank all of you for this service."

" Think nothing about it. We wanted to kill that bastard as badly as you do," Hibiki replied.

" I know, but the organization is far from destroyed," Takeshi answered.

Everyone looked at Takeshi, with perplexed and surprised looks.

" Are you shitting me?" Sora snapped at him.

" Since the demise of Juuzou, the organisation's activities have been more hectic and frequent. Juuzou is a mere puppethead. While he did fund and set up this organization, he was still a leader of his village for the most part. He has a second in command, and she is currently running the organization as of now," Takeshi replied.

" She?" Mayuri asked.

" Fumino Naoto. Officially, she is Juuzou's mistress, but she mostly does the work behind the organization. So, while assassinating Juuzou managed to shake the organization, it is still running, now perhaps without any 'official' funding by Juuzou," Takeshi replied. " Nothing has changed yet. Fumino Naoto needs to be taken down before the 'Hagane' will truly be finished."

" Shit…does this mean we need to find this bitch?" Sora mused.

" I have good news, and bad news, in that regard," Takeshi answered. " Good news: We have located Fumino Naoto. Bad news: We cannot act against her."

" Why not?" Suzumi asked.

" The organisation's spies are still active, especially in our village. The moment they catch wind of me, or any of our officers mobilizing a force, Naoto will immediately go into hiding, and trust me, when she goes into hiding, she literally disappears from the face of the earth. Our advantage is now we know her location, only problem is we don't want to scare her off. This might be our best chance, considering now that she will be busy trying to handle the organization in Juuzou's absence, which will be problematic for her, no doubt," Takeshi answered.

Sora suddenly broke into a broad grin. " I see. You cannot mobilize your troops, but since we are here, you can mobilize us," Sora replied. " …Is that the reason why you sneaked us into your house secretly?"

" Yes, part of it. I saw it as a chance. You are the only outside force available, and conveniently placed in my area. It would be correct to say I am using you, but I suppose with the situation, I doubt the Leaf or the Sand village would say no," Takeshi replied.

" Heh, you read my mind. We've come this far now, we may as well see it to the end, or I will never live it down. What do you guys think?" Ryouta asked.

" I want a piece of that bitch!" Sora replied, slamming her fists together.

" …I have no personal objections," Hiroshi answered.

" What about the rest of you?" Makoto asked.

" Hell yes!" Hibiki replied, grinning madly.

" Of course, let's do this," Mayuri replied smugly.

" I, too, do not have any problems…" Suzumi replied, her voice trailing off slightly. Hiroshi wondered if she was about to add 'and Aya too', but stopped when she realize it might not be quite normal to explain it to Takeshi and the rest of them.

" You seem to get into a lot of dangerous situations when we meet, Hiroshi," Aiko replied.

" Apparently…I think it's more likely that danger comes to find me. I'd like to avoid problems, you know, I'm not that adventurous," Hiroshi answered non-chalantly. " However, there is a slight problem with the plan. We have mostly recovered since the attack, but not all of us are in perfect fighting condition, heading off to fight in such conditions won't be favourable to us, and we might not recover in time before our target moves."

" That's easily fixed. Why'd you think my brother asked Kagura to stick around?" Aiko replied.

" …Does she have some sort of healing power?" Sora asked.

" Kagura has a bloodline ability that allows her to send out waves at specific wavelengths. When these waves hit us, they affect our cells in our body at a cellular level, increasing hormone output and release of specific enzymes that greatly speed up our healing and regenerative rates of our body beyond the normal range. Just take a break overnight, and you should be fine tomorrow," Sougo answered.

" I find that a bit too incredible to believe," Mayuri replied.

" Well, just take a break. I need to go settle some matters now, so if you will excuse me," Takeshi replied, getting up. " Aiko, can you see to it that their rooms are prepared?"

" Sure," Aiko answered. With that, Takeshi was gone in a flash.

" Well, I sure am stuffed," Sora replied, leaning back casually, picking her teeth with her fingers. " That certainly was a good meal."

" And you sure have no table manners," Hibiki snorted, taking up the same position as Sora and picked his teeth as well.

" You have no say in the matter, Hibiki," Makoto replied, sighing.

" I have a query for Sora," Sougo asked all of a sudden.

" What you want, kid?" Sora asked.

" Can we spar?" he asked.