As the duo reached the outskirts of the village, the rain obscuring their trail, they set down from the trees to a clearing. Once they landed, Sasuke grabbed mei off his shoulders and propped her against a tree. Quickly negi set to work, applying the sealing ink to her bicep. Once he finished, Sasuke spoke up.
"Wake her up negi." sasuke demanded softly.
"Right." negi confirmed moving forward and with a quick, "kai!" Mei's tenketsu returned to life if only for a moment. This moment however allowed the kage level shinobi to awaken, though the tenketsu quickly shut off again.
"You!" mei snarled, "if you've touched me-" mei began but was quickly interrupted by negi,
"We've not touched you in that way. But make no mistake, we will do whatever it takes to make you play ball with us. Understood?" Negi threatened, his intent to scare her clearly successful. Mei quickly reevaluated her current situation and the fear of his very real threat made her shiver.
"When I get out of this I'll make your life a living hell!" Mei yelled, defiant till the end in the face of danger.
"Unless you want to become shuriken target practice, you will do as we say when we say it." sasuke threatened darkly.
"And if I just pretend to go along with your demands?" Mei questioned smugly.
"I've given you the caged bird seal. You will die instantly the moment I perform the hand sign." Negi responded. She stiffened and looked down towards where she felt freshly applied ink, the green seal glowing on her left arm bicep. However she pressed on, even with the threat clear, her marale only lingered for a moment.
"And if I refuse to do your bidding anyway? It sounds to me like you need me. If I die, you have nothing that I apparently offer. Even now I only sit here because of your mercy. You need me." Mei responded with a sudden confidence invading her person.
"We may need you for the plan we have in mind, but your loved ones? No, you will obey for their sake." Negi said with a knowing smirk gracing his lips.
"Ha, an empty threat? I did not think Konoha would grow so desperate as to bluff. You don't have anything on me. My background is airtight! It had to be to go against a tyrant." Mei proclaired, amused.
"Chojuro, was it?" Mei's face suddenly went pale, "ah there's the reaction i was waiting for." negi said mockingly.
"How did you get that name?!" Mei questioned urgently, her voice suddenly panicked.
"Who's chojuro?" Sasuke asked. Negi, of course, took that as an opportunity to doxx the young man.
"A young, prospective for the seven swordsman, Chojuro shares a familial bond with mei terumi despite having no relation. Indeed it's quite touching. The young jounin, has since proved time and again to be a great asset to the village, and by extension the rebellion. He will likely become a swordsman of the mist soon, yes?", he asked mei rhetorically, "it would be a shame if fate deemed him to die, right before his chance." Negi threatened sinisterly. Mei was having a full blown panic attack as negi continued spilling highly sensitive and well kept secrets like a pinata at a children's birthday party.
"How? How did you-" mei asked wearily, before being cut off by negi,
"Oh surely the great and powerful leader of the rebellion would have figured it out by now? Tayuya uzumaki has betrayed you!" negi revealed, reveling in her ignorance.
"You lie! The uzumaki are a steadfast honest clan, they would ne-" Mei defended again only to be cut off once again by negi,
"Oh come now. You didn't think it odd, how in 4 months an uzumaki would so readily trust a foreign shinobi with her heritage? How she led you to that warehouse where two jonin of konoha just happened to lie in wait? Or that she pestered you for your time, to learn valuable information, and gain your trust? You must be a bigger fool than I thought." negi said, as he beat in the message that mei had been thoroughly had.
"You touch one hair on conjuros head and i will-" Mei was cut off for the third time, her irritation growing along with the interruptions.
"You'll do what?" Sasuke cut in, "A caged bird seal on your arm, your precious person on a knife's edge, you have nothing against us! You've lost." sasuke announced, his impatience to continue with the plan clear in his tone.
"In the end, it was kiri's fate to lose to konoha. The weak will stay weak and the strong will thrive. We are the strong, and you, you have always been fated to kneel before us." negi spouted smugly.
"I don't know when and I don't know how, but I will make you pay for this!" Mei yelled.
"In that case, we will simply crush you again." sasuke said, "now report back to the camp. Tayuya will relay our orders to you. Tell no one of what's happened here. If they ask, you were simply killing some wannabe assassin sent by the mizukage." Sasuke ordered.
"My tenketsu are still blocked." Mei growled.
"Kai!" negi shouted, feeling returning to her arms and her chakra flowing through her once more, mei began to stand, as the 2 shinobi shunshined away in a flurry of leaves. Suddenly 7 shinobi landed around mei, quickly she changed into a defensive position. However before she could register who her opponents were, they suddenly kneeled before her.
"Mizukage-sama,"The 7 referred to her with reverence, "what happened?" Mangetsu asked. With a dangerous glint in her eye, mei said solemnly,
"I was simply chasing down a would-be assassin sent by the mizukage. I am alright." mei parroted. This, however, caught zabuza's attention, 'She's lying.'. Raiga, however, soon forgot what he saw, content that Mei was alive and safe.
"Im am glad you're safe, mei-sama." Raiga chirped all too happily.
"Lets head back to camp." mei ordered.
"Hai, mizukage-sama!" The 7 shouted in unison.
Somewhere in the elemental nations
Thunder struck down in the plains, the grass waving in the wind as a shockwave spread from the point of impact. 3 figures were left where the lightning struck. All wore white robes, had white skin, and white hair. Brown horns extended in different shapes and directions from 2 of their heads. White horns extended from the forehead of the one in the middle, going straight up, his hair spiky and wild with red markings painted down, from under his eyes down towards his chin. Each of them had snow white eyes.
"This planet looks like a good spot to do it." the one on the left said, his hair done up in a ponytail, 4 brown horns extending from the back of his head, out towards his face.
"Yes, we should report back to her majesty. This will definitely work." The middle one said, a smile gracing his features.
"There are multiple chakra sources, from all around. The people here are strong, they'll make good soil for the tree." The one on the right said, 2 thick horns extending from the top of his neck towards the sides of his cheekbones. A white mask covered his face.
"Before we leave, how about we go meet the locals?" The middle one said.
"Very well. I'll send a report back to her majesty. You two can go have fun." the pineapple head said. He disappeared in a blink. The other two dashing at simply maddening speeds, out towards the nearest village.
The moon
Two figures stood on the moon's surface looking down towards the planet they had found.
"So this is it? Looks like it'll be fun." A grin passed over the figures' features as he stared out at the planet from his view on the planet's moon. He had messy blond hair, and 2 brown horns sticking out the sides of his hair. The pineapple headed one standing beside him, his head bowed in reverence.
"Yes your majesty. The queen has been informed as well." Pineapple said.
"Good." he said, barely containing a laugh in his excitement.
Back in Kirigakure
Back inside the church negi, sasuke, and tayuya regrouped to plan their next move.
"The rebellion leader is ours. Tayuya, you must return to the camp and get any and all information on the mizukage. We need weaknesses, his abilities and strengths, and any knowledge on who he's close to." Negi ordered. Tayuya nodded and ran off towards the camp.
"This is going well. Kiri will be ours within the month." Sasuke commented.
"This nation is weak, it is their fate to be crushed under the heels of the strong." Negi said, arrogance positively flowing from his words.
"Let's set up camp here and wait for uzumaki to return. We still have 2 weeks of rations with us. Let's make the best of them while we're here. The rebellion has been making plans against the mizukage for months. I doubt this will be quick, or easy for that matter." sasuke said, taking stock of their situation.
"Sasuke, this country, though it may be weak, I think it is our duty as the strong to protect the civilians who will no doubt be ruined by our meddling. Once we've destroyed this country, we should lead the citizens into fire country, so that they may have peaceful lives." negi said, a strange gleam in his eyes.
"Why do you care? They're just citizens. We are here to destroy this country, not herd the sheep after the fence breaks. Why should we care if the wolves come to prey on them? As you say the weak are fated to kneel to the strong." sasuke waved off his concerns.
"And the strong should protect the weak. They're innocent in all this. Our fight is with kirigakure, not its citizens. We are obligated to help them once we've seen this through." negi reasoned.
"If you want to help these people, that's on you. I am a proud uchiha! I will do as I please." sasuke proudly spoke.
"Even the hyuuga are not so blinded by pride to believe they are above duty." negi disagreed.
"Whatever, I'm gonna get some sleep." Sasuke said.
"This talk isn't finished, Sasuke." Negi warned.
Rebel camp
Tayuya walked through the camp to Mei's tent. The camp was really just a bunch of tents set up along the port. An earth wall was created to keep prying eyes out, with patrols to ensure the mizukage did not try to ambush the rebel forces in the night. Shinobi ran drills and trained throughout the camp, wielding swords and ninja wire. Mei's tent was located in the center, a large red tent, with a blue tarp above and large opening flaps. Mei sat inside at a table, fur carpet, from wolf carcasses lined the floor and the table was of mistwood. Chojuro stood beside mei, determined to not let him out of sight. Tayuya walked inside, Mei immediately raising her head to see who her visitor was, her eyes narrowing at tayuya.
"Uzumaki." Mei said the name with venom on her lips.
"I want all the information you have on the mizukage. Age, height, weight, skills and abilities, specializations, weaknesses. Anything and everything, I don't care if you have a report on what he ate for breakfast this morning, give it to me." tayuya demanded.
"How dare you order mei-san around like that?! Who do you think you are?!" chojuro demanded.
"It's fine, chojuro." Mei said glaring at tayuya. "Bold to go after the mizukage. So you seek to control the war? Not a bad strategy, however foolish your endeavors will be." fishing a seal from her desk drawer, she reached it towards tayuya, gesturing her to take it, "take that down to records and information. Show them the seal and they'll give you any information you ask for." Mei finished, returning to her work without so much as a second glance as Tayuya left with the seal in hand. Chojuro, having watched the interaction with no small amount of confusion, went to ask mei but before he could speak, mei interrupted him.
"Keep it from your mind, chojuro. We have more important duties." Mei said, smiling at him. A strange look in her eye, one that he couldn't place.
"Yes mei-san." Chojuro nodded, but could not stop the wave of thoughts of the conversation from entering his mind. 'Who was she talking about and why did that girl seem to have something on mei-san?'.
Tayuya grabbed all the documents she needed and sealed them in a scroll. Quickly leaving the camp, she returned to sasuke and negi. Arriving at the rundown church turned base of operations for the 3, tayuya walked in as the 2 were eating breakfast. 'Ration bars.' tayuya noted with no small amount of disgust for the bland, nutrient packed, rocks.
"I've got all the information the rebellion had on the mizukage." Tayuya informed as she entered the church. The pair looked up at her as she finished.
"Good, with this we can plan our next move on the mizukage." negi responded hopefully.
"Alright let's comb through them, there's a lot of notes here." sasuke noted as tayuya dropped the pages of notes out of her scroll.
Name: Yagura karatachi
Age: 13
Status: mizukage, and jinchuriki of the mythical 3 tails beast
Abilities: Perfect Jinchuriki, water-release, wind-release
Appearance: gray hair, pink eyes
"A jinchuriki?" Negi said in shock. Sasuke and even tayuya, amazed by the revelation.
"So the tailed beasts are real." Sasuke added. Tayuya herself was quite taken aback by the information.
"I had heard legends of them, but I never thought they were real. And to think this kid has one sealed inside him!" tayuya said in wonder.
"9 in total, I've heard rumors that 2 had been found, but to think one of them had been sealed away." Sasuke said in further shock.
"Regardless of his ability to summon the demon's power, we need to defeat him. I say we have the leader of the rebellion grant us a parley with the boy." negi planned. "Tayuya can you make it happen?" negi asked eager to face a jinchuriki, the first one in a hundred years no less.
"Yeah but I can't promise he won't have guards." tayuya responded.
"It won't matter, Terume will help us defeat him. She has no choice." Sasuke added.
"Alright, I'll do my best." tayuya added and then quickly left to return to the rebel camp.
Rebel camp
Tayuya once again, confidently marched into Mei's tent, an order on her lips. However before she could get the words out a sword embedded itself into her thigh, tayuya screaming out in pain. 2 of the seven swordsmen, zabuza and raiga, behind her, and Mei infront of her a dark grin on her features. Mei walked forward grabbing Tayuya by the hair and slamming her against the desk.
"What was it you were about to order of me, little girl?" mei demanded. Gripping the sword in her leg she twisted it, tayuya yelling out in pain. Quickly biting down on another scream, tayuya suddenly yelled,
"The caged bird seal! If they find out about this-"tayuya began before another twist of the knife ended her sentence short,
"Aaaahhh" tayuya wailed, tears in her eyes.
"They're not going to find out about this." Mei threatened quietly. "You fools come into my village, make demands of me in my camp?!"
"Wait, wait! This next order-" That earned her another twist of the sword, the blade pushing deeper into her thigh. A scream bit down by tayuya, "-was to parley with the mizukage, they want you to help them kill him!" tayuya screamed out as fast as humanly possible. Mei pulled the sword out, throwing tayuya to the floor.
"Well that is interesting," Mei said with a smile on her face. Suddenly a man with black hair, dark skin, and an eyepatch over his right eye. In his left eye he held a stolen sharingan passed down to him from the third ninja war. He wore the standard anbu uniform, without the mask, and wore the jounin vest instead of the gray metal chestplate.
"Seal master, you may go ahead. Raiga, your sword." she said, handing off one of the kiba blades to raiga. "Zabuza, if you could be a dear remove this girl's shirt, it's getting in the way." tayuya backed away as zabuza approached, placing his kubikiribocho on the wall, he moved towards the girl attempting to crawl away. Grabbing her shirt he ripped it off in one clean pull.
"No!" tayuya screamed as it ripped off her. Feeling exposed in the room full of people, in particular 4 men, she did her best to cover her chest, having not worn a bra since her chest was rather small. With her back exposed the seal master approached ink at the ready.
"You may proceed. Thank you zabuza.`` Mei thanked as the seal master did his best to apply the seal to her back, her squirming making it difficult.
"Stop moving, you're only making things more difficult." Mei yelled. After a few more moments the seal master rose up from the ground with his sealing tools with him, "its finished then?" Mei asked and received a nod in response.
"Very good." throwing a cloth down at the bare girl, "put this on and cover yourself up. You will return to those two and inform them all has gone well. Then you will report back to me with their responses. Tell them I'm going to schedule their parley and I'm willing to help. If they catch so much as a whiff that something has gone wrong that seal will activate and you and hopefully they will be blown to kingdom come." tayuya's eyes holding nothing but fear as she learned she was currently carrying a bomb attached to her back. "Now off with you. We wouldn't want to keep them waiting." tayuya quickly ran out of the camp.
"Hahaha, look at her run! I wish I could have seen what went down in there." kushimaru said as he watched the red head run towards the village.
"Yeah too bad you're too much of an idiot to have gotten an invite.'' Jinpachi replied.
"You didn't get invited either!" kushimaru yelled back.
An.) and that's it. As we slowly approach the end of this arc we'll see alot of plot twists along the way. And I'm sensing some certain snake themed shenanigans in the coming fight. Anyway that's all i'll say for now. Hope you enjoyed peace.