Hiya, how are you all? You're probably surprised by how "fast" this update has come, but hey, sometimes the stars do the align the right way :D

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out now and I'm especially grateful for my trusted beta NightsBlackRose13 who took a lot of time to look and agonize over it, but also for enbi and tokibun for smoothing over thigns that were rocky and giving me valuable feedback. Thank you all, truly.

Don't forget to have a look at my tumblr (link on my profile) to stay updated on chapter progress, tumblr-only-bonus-content like drabbles and take outs as well as the possibilty to ask the questions that have always interested - the probability of me answering is exceedingly high.

Now, on with it!

Chapter 26: Shape The World You Live In

"Hey hey, Etsuko-chan! Tell us, what's Konoha like?"

Yahiko's voice is bright and boisterous as he marches up to walk next to me, with Konan and Nagato trailing after him like little ducklings. Apparently, he's decided that I'm the go-to person for questions of all kinds when Jiraiya isn't immediately nearby and I – strangely, I don't mind.

Maybe I just really like the older sister role, even though technically, I'm younger than him.

"It depends," I reply. "What do you want to know?"

He doesn't waste any time and launches straight into the thick of it. "What are the people like? Do you have really tall buildings, too? And how's the weather? I hope it doesn't rain too much. I hate rain. It reminds me of people crying."

I bet it does.

"We're … just people, I guess," I reply, admittedly in a very lame fashion. It's still the truth, though, so I guess it'll do. "Our buildings are ordinary, not too tall, and definitely not as tall as in Amegakure. It rains occasionally but not permanently."

Yahiko's eyes go big. "You've been to Ame?"

Oh god, I'm so stupid. Why do I always become so stupid when I get comfortable?

… When did I get comfortable around Yahiko?

"Someone told me once that the buildings there touch the sky," I say with as much of a straight face as I can muster. "Or is that not true?"

"Nah, it's totally true!" Yahiko looks at me like I've asked something very silly. "The tallest houses in the whole world are all there."

"And Hanzo lives in the very tallest of them," Konan adds quietly.

Well, not as quiet as Nagato, who doesn't talk at all.

It's been like that ever since they came back with us to camp – which was only yesterday, to be fair. But still, the contrast to Yahiko, who never shuts up, is frankly astonishing. I'm half convinced that the latter fact is one of the reasons that Jiraiya was so fast in deciding to return to Konoha with them which led to the addition of not only me to the party of wounded scheduled to return, but also the Ame trio and Jiraiya himself. The other reasons are probably made up by the realization that

1. a war camp is no place for untrained children and

2. the Rinnegan is something that would be welcomed with open arms back in Konoha.

I'm pretty sure that, had he discovered Nagato's eyes as late as in canon, he would have decided to up and leave with them to god knows where again.

Also, I like to believe that Yahiko and me bonding so fast moved him to decide in favor of bringing them back to Konoha, too, even if it was only a drop in the pond.

Either way: objectively speaking, this outcome is pretty game changing for the entirety of Narutoverse. So much potential for things to go right, so early on.

And endless potential for things to go wrong, too.

It serves to remind me that from now on, I have to be careful with every step I take, even more so than before. Just because I initiated a change process, there's no guarantee that it is going to contribute to any kind of overall improvement in the world I live in.

The uncertainty of life has never been so frustrating. Or frightening, for that matter.

Yahiko is still blathering away, blissfully unaware that I've been spacing out on him, when Jiraiya joins us.

"Ok brats," he announces, "the great Jiraiya is back! What have you been talking about?"

"What we can do to get Hanzo to listen to us," Yahiko promptly answers. He sounds so upbeat and earnest. "Because if he listens, he can make the war stop and then all the people can live in a better world. But he only talks to the strongest people, so we have to become strong first! You'll help us do that, right?" His gaze is full of expectation as it lands on Jiraiya.

Oh Yahiko. I admire your innocence. I wish for you to keep it as long as possible.

"Nah, I'm not sure, yet," Jiraiya says with exaggerated doubt on his face. "Y'all look rather mangy, it's gonna be tough getting you into fighting shape."

A collective outcry of dismay erupts from the trio and I have to turn away to hide my grin. If they only knew that the fact alone that Jiraiya was taking them to Konoha was practically the same as a declaration of him becoming their legal guardian. Jiraiya is as much the troll as Nawaki always makes him out to be.

It's only after I look back to grin at my boys that I realize that somehow, I managed to forget.

I feel like I've been punched in the gut. My throat tightens painfully.

Regashi would have been much better at handling Yahiko's incessant questions and I'm pretty sure Nawaki would have gotten Nagato to talk a long time ago.

Shit.

My eyes are stinging.

Shit, shit, shit.

I have to fall back a bit to avoid them seeing me wiping at my face with the collar of my shirt because my Uchiha shirt only has short sleeves and who the hell thought it was a good idea to design a shirt with such a huge collar but no wipe-able sleeves –

Someone taps my arm. I hurriedly wipe away what I hope are the last traces of my suppressed crying and look up. It's Konan.

The girl is holding out a handkerchief. "You don't have one, right? You can use mine." She smiles.

Oh.

"Thank you," I say, my voice sounding breathy.

It's a square piece of white cotton cloth, the edges embroidered with a swirling blue pattern and a little flower in one corner that I can't identify.

"It's pretty," I tell her.

She beams at me. "It is, isn't it? Okaa-chan gave it to me. She said that when I'm sad, I should look at the plum blossom here and remember that the most beautiful of all flowers blooms despite the winter." She stops and inhales deeply, her smile turning dejected. "I miss her."

Without thinking about it, I take her hand. "Your mother was a very wise woman. Thank you for sharing her wisdom with me." I give her a gentle squeeze. "If you want, you can tell me more about her, I'd be happy to listen. Plum blossoms don't grow alone on a tree, right?"

Her smile brightens up again as she nods with a happy little "hmm!"

The boys would have liked her a lot.

Our hands stay linked for a while after that. And if I hold it a little tighter than necessary, well, nobody is going to blame a five-year-old for that.

)()()(

The main gate to Konoha looks unchanged from when we left, barely two weeks ago. The two door panels are of the same dusty green color, the walls of the same bleached ocher and the characters over the archway the same dark red still.

It feels crassly inappropriate.

Why is there no change at all? No acknowledgement whatsoever that of the four-man-team that set out, only one returns? Not a single sign of something missing?

I wonder if my life will ever be able to go on in the same seamless way as life here. New eyes, new team, new everything. Wouldn't that be neat.

There is a small crowd gathered just behind the gate and a couple of medics rush forward to check the wounded. I quickly back away to give them the space they need. It's probably a good moment to say goodbye to the Ame Trio and Jiraiya. I wonder how he'll react to my request to keep me updated on their progress?

"Neeeeeeee-chaaan!"

My body is moving already by the time I have consciously recognized the voice. Its owner is moving towards me, too, with short little legs running as fast as they can and wildly waving arms.

We collide halfway, with him straight up jumping into my arms and me landing on my butt.

I don't mind at all.

Obito is soft and warm in my arms and holding him immediately makes everything more bearable. The edges get just a bit duller, the burden just a bit lighter and hope just an inch nearer with him so close, so solid and real. If I hadn't been sure before that living for him was the only right choice, I would have been now at the latest.

"Nee-chan," he says again, much quieter and broken up by little hiccups.

Oh no.

"Don't cry, Obi," I tell him, dangerously close to crying myself. "Nee-chan is back and I'll work hard so everything is going to be okay."

He looks down at me with watery eyes and sorrow all over his tiny face. "You were just gone! And you didn't come back! Just … just don't go away again, ever!"

My chest feels too tight to contain all the things that I'm feeling right now.

"I can't promise that, Obito," I say, fully aware of how miserable I sound.

"Why can't you?" he asks with a small voice.

"Because Nee-chan is a shinobi. And when the Hokage asks a shinobi to leave, they have to obey. Do you remember what I told you about the Hokage? About what his task is?"

Obito nods hesitantly. "He tries to protect Konoha and its people."

"Right. So when he asks Nee-chan to leave, it's because he wants to protect Konoha." At least that's what he's supposed to do. It won't hold true if the Hokage's name ever becomes Danzou, but that's not something I can tell Obito now. "So Nee-chan can't refuse. But what Nee-chan can promise is that I'll always try to come back for you." And quite literally from death, too. "Is that enough?"

He sniffs and thinks about it for a while.

"Ok," he finally relents. "But you mustn't forget that you promised! Ever!" His lips are pressed tightly together as he watches me, eyes wide and anxiously open.

And it hits me like a truck at full speed.

I cannot let it all eat away at me.

The pain, the grief, the darkness - even if I can never shake them off, never truly get rid of them, never fully cleanse myself, I will have to let go at some point. Let them rest in a corner of my heart, carefully guarded but never smothered, so I can remember and forgive. Because Okaa-chan, Otou-san, Hanako, Nawaki and Regashi deserve to be remembered, and Obito deserves to see me forgive myself.

In the end, this is the only truth that counts: if I cannot show him that he can and has to turn away from becoming Tobi, all will have been for naught.

I kiss him on his cheek.

"I won't forget. Thank you, Obi."

We get up from the ground and I take a moment to wipe off the dust first from Obito's and then from my clothes – all with one hand since he refuses to let go of the other, but that's ok. Right now, I prefer it if he doesn't let go, anyway.

Which reminds me. "Did you come here alone?"

Obito shakes his head. "Sayu came and asked Yashiro if she could bring me and Kakashi. Yashiro almost came, too! But Naoko said no, so he didn't."

Oh wow, what. Sayu coming to Yashiro's house must have been a sight for the ages. And he even wanted to come, too? That's straight-up sentimental.

"So where are Sayu and Kakashi?"

Obito points at the crowd that has grown considerably smaller with the medics gone. There, in the first row, I can indeed see Sayu and Kakashi sitting on her arms. When our eyes meet, he turns to say something to her and in return, she sets him on the ground. He wastes no time in moving over to where Obito and I are still standing, with Sayu following at a slower pace.

He goes in for a hug and buries his face into my shirt for a few heartbeats before he looks up at me. "Etsuko-nee, you're finally back."

"Yeah," I say as I put my free hand on top of his head. "I'm sorry it took so long."

Sayu joins us soon after. Kakashi makes place as she crouches down and hugs me, too.

To think that for a moment, I was almost ready to leave all these people behind.

"You must be tired," Sayu says, gently rubbing my back. "Let's bring you and Obito home."

I nod into her shoulder and she lets go to stand up again.

I look back to the group I came with, in case anyone was still there, and realize that the Ame kids are. The three are standing closely together, clutching at each other's hands tightly and staring at me. Or more precisely, at the little group I've gathered around myself.

Shoot. I'm not proud to admit that I've totally forgotten about them for a moment.

"Wait," I tell Sayu, "I first want to introduce you to someone. Come with me?"

I hurry over to the trio still holding Obito's hand since he still refuses to let go, absently wondering where the hell Jiraiya is, but well. If I have to start being responsible with my life, I might as well begin with something simple as being there for three kids stranded in a strange country.

"Konan-chan, Yahiko-kun, Nagato-kun, these are my little brothers Obito and Kakashi," I announce once I've planted myself in their immediate field of view. "Obito, Kakashi, these are our new friends, Konan, Yahiko and Nagato. Say hello to them."

Obito, reliable as always, gives them a big, sunny smile. "Hiyah, Konan-chan, Yahiko-kun and Nagato-kun!"

Kakashi takes hold of my other hand. "Hello. It's good that you are Etsuko-nee's friends. She doesn't have many."

Ahem.

Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Kashi-chan.

But it's nice of you to hold my hand through it.

"Err, yes, on with the show! This," I point at Sayu with a shake of my head, "is Kakashi's Kaa-chan, Sayu-san. Sayu, my new friends."

Sayu looks like she's trying really hard to keep a straight face. "Hello, it's nice to meet all of you. Any friends of Etsuko's are more than welcome into our little family."

See Kakashi, that's how you do it.

"You are Etsuko's mom?" Yahiko blurts out.

Sayu smiles warmly. "Only if she wants me to be."

Yahiko scrunches up his nose. "I don't get it. Kakashi-chan is her brother, you are Kakashi-chan's mother, but you are not Etsuko's?"

I'm just about to open my mouth and correct a few assumptions when a very quiet voice beats me to it.

"I think I do."

Nagato doesn't look up from his feet while he speaks. "We're kind of like brothers, too, aren't we, Yahiko? And Konan is like our sister. Our parents are not the same, but that's not what matters, is it?" Here, he does lift his head. There's a shy smile on his lips as he first looks at his friends and then at Kakashi, Obito and me.

Obito beams right back. "You can be our brothers and sister, too! Can't they, Nee-chan?"

He steps towards Nagato and reaches out with his unoccupied hand to take the other boy's. Nagato doesn't protest.

"Sure," I answer. And if I sound a little breathless – well, nobody's pointing it out.

Sayu laughs as she seamlessly closes the circle by taking Kakashi's hand on one side and Yahiko's on the other. "Looks like I'll have to step up my parenting game. I can't wait to see Sakumo's face when he comes back and realizes what he's going to have to catch up to."

Yahiko looks flustered holding Sayu's hand, but he's not showing the slightest inclination to let go. And Kakashi's somewhat uncertain expression is immediately replaced with a bashful smile when Obito shoots him an excited grin.

I'm pretty sure that this thing did not happen in canon. Even the elasticity of time would have trouble bending this back to the way it was then. And something like this couldn't be entirely planned, not even by some supernatural entities, right?

Hey, Old Dudes.

You see this? This fit into your Grand Plan? Yes? No?

Guess what.

It's happening anyway.

)()()(

Lying on the grass, staring up at the sky like this – it feels surreal.

It's been almost a week since I've come back from war and even though it's still raging out there, there's barely anything in here, within Konoha's walls, to indicate any signs of turmoil.

It goes to show how advantageous it is not to have the fight directly at your doorstep – I imagine even Konoha would feel the impact of war if it was actually fought on Fire Country soil – and also, how strong Fire Country's economy is to sustain it so shortly after the most recent one. Having arable land in abundance and a constantly agreeable climate for crops to grow really does make a difference in a lot of ways.

Almost a week.

That's not a lot of days, objectively speaking, and it does feel like time is in a rush to get all its items to the checkout, but at the same time, said items are all just big and clunky enough to make you take a closer look at them.

Yashiro's 'welcome back' has been … spacey. I think he was glad that I'd returned more or less in one piece even if his way of showing it wasn't anything I'd describe with 'warm' or 'enthusiastic'. I did notice however that he's been leaving me a lot of space. He hasn't proposed any training sessions or lengthy discussions in his study, yet, instead letting me stay with Obito and meet the Hatake. I doubt that he doesn't know about what happened on my mission, so I assume that this is him trying to be kind. I genuinely appreciate it.

Jiraiya has found a place to stay for the Ame Trio. How he managed to pull a vacant apartment a few yards from the academy out of thin air I will never know, but it sure beats some orphanage where nobody notices if a couple of random children get sucked into Konoha's underbelly. And with "Konoha's underbelly", I mostly mean Danzou.

It's good to know that he takes this whole Rinnegan business as serious as I thought he would. I mean, it's the only logical thing to do, of course, but these days I don't think I can be blamed for getting anxious over – well, everything, really.

À propos Rinnegan, the kids are supposed to start going to the academy tomorrow, so Jiraiya has come up with a way to hide Nagato's eyes. I don't know what that plan is, yet, but learning about that is just another reason to go visit them.

I'll do just that for dinner, I think. Of course, Obito's coming, too. Also Kakashi, if he wants to and if Sayu is ok with it. For dinner itself I'm thinking fried gyouza. Mmm. Yeah, good plan. I don't even remember the last time I had that, it must've been at that one place where Hanako –

… where she took us out on that first team outing after I'd joined.

They weren't very good there. I'll have to go somewhere else to get them. Or just … don't get gyouza.

Really, yakimeshi sounds just as fine.

Congratulations on dragging yourself back into the hole.

It was a bad idea to leave Obito and Kakashi at the playground. Not for them, no, since Sayu is watching them. No.

Just … bad for me. I should try and get myself together before returning.

A shadow falls over me right as I'm about to sit up.

"You mind me joining?"

I squint to try and get the sky-blue-filter out of my field of vision and to identify whoever's talking to me. In the end, the low drawl in his voice gives him away even before the spiky pineapple ponytail.

I nod.

"Lying in the grass and looking at the sky, two of my favorite things to do," he says as he sits down next to me. I watch as he gets comfortable, plucks up a blade of grass to chew on before he puts his hands underneath his head. He goes straight to watching the sky without any further comments.

So I lie down again, too.

Silence settles between us like it belongs there, comfortable and in no rush to leave.

It's amazing how just having him next to me succeeds in slowing the whirling tornado of thoughts and emotions in my head down, down, down, until my conscious mind is ready to refocus, to hold on to something steady in the midst of all the mud of my upturned mental riverbed.

Until I finally feel confident enough to speak to him.

"It's been a while, Shikaku."

He turns his head to look at me, the blade of grass lazily swinging from one corner of his mouth to the other. "Mhm," he hums. And waits.

Ah.

A classic get-talking-tactic.

A classic because it works.

"We haven't had time to catch up at all. After all that … uh … marriage stuff, I guess."

That gets his face into a scowl. "Ugh. Don't remind me."

I chuckle. "Simpler times, eh?"

"Not sure about that. Sheesh, so troublesome."

I know he's just joking, but all that marriage jazz really feels like a thing of another life. And technically speaking, it is. I mean, I did die. Again.

And now that I think of it … I actually have no idea how that situation was resolved? Was it ever resolved?

Oh my god, Shikaku wasn't joking at all!

"You don't think they're still after us, do you?" I can barely hide the rising panic in my voice and I don't really try to anyway.

I really, really don't need this to become an issue again.

He snorts. "You make it sound like we're being chased or something. Like criminals."

I grimace. "In that matter, I might as well be in the eyes of my clan."

"Great," he drawls with a playful smirk, "so I'm gonna be married off to a criminal?"

"I hope not," I tell him sincerely. "You deserve someone perfectly ordinary." Even though that might just be the hardest kind of human to find in shinobi space.

He turns his face away to look at the sky. "Yeah, that would be best," he says, although judging by his tone, he's not getting his hopes particularly high up.

Well, it's not as if marriage is high up on the list of a twelve-year-old anyway.

We don't talk much after that, both busy thinking our own thoughts. It feels good, sharing space without having to share words. The quiet is not a burden but open ground, saturated with mutual respect and patiently waiting to be filled with true meaning.

Neither of us is surprised when, at the end, I turn my head to look at him. "Thank you."

He looks back at me with a nod. "You're welcome."

)()()(

Ever heard of the saying 'The way to a person's heart is through their stomach'?

Yep, it's proven to be true again. Obito, too, is pretty awestruck by this display of ravenous hunger. Which is kind of amazing since one of his hobbies is eating food. On the other hand, who doesn't like eating food? Yeah, silly question.

"Whaaaa! What's this? This is awesome!"

Yahiko is in the middle of stuffing his face with the food that – mostly – Sayu has bought for dinner. There's pork plus mapo tofu, pak choi in sesame oil and chilli, tamagoyaki in heart shapes and yakimeshi, all neatly packed and handed to me with a smile and the announcement that she would be picking us up before sundown.

"Don't talk while you eat and don't eat so much at once," Kakashi says, in a completely serious tone. "Kaa-chan says it's not healthy."

"Finally someone told him," Konan sighs.

Yahiko's face is scandalized as he looks at her. "Oi!"

"I did tell you, too," Nagato adds with a small smile.

Obito starts giggling and is quickly joined by Konan and Nagato, until we are all having a good laugh, Yahiko included.

I don't know why I ever thought it was difficult to get through to Nagato. I should have guessed that bringing in some food and my little brothers would do the trick. Better make some use of that momentum then.

"So, are you excited for the academy already?"

"Yeah!" Yahiko is – predictably – the one who replies. "We're going to show them how awesome we are! We'll get through it even faster than you, Etsuko-chan, and then Jiraiya will teach us as a team, you'll see!"

Eheh.

"Faster than me? Wanna bet on that?"

"Yahiko, no," Nagato interjects with a worried little frown.

Yahiko grins and puffs himself up. "Yahiko YES!"

"Alright," I say as Nagato and Konan express varying degrees of exasperation, "the bet is on. If I win, I want you three to promise me something."

"Ok, yeah, what do you want us to promise?"

I shrug. "I don't know, yet. I will think of something till then."

"That's a strange request," Konan says, looking at me thoughtfully.

Yahiko moves his hand like he's brushing something away. "Whatever. It's not like Etsuko-chan's going to ask to do something weird." He squints at me. "Right?"

I smile. "Nah, I would never dream of doing something like that."

He nods vigorously. "Yosh! Now for our wish!" He hops down from his chair and scoots over between his friends. The three of them stick their heads together and discuss in a low whisper.

Obito watches them debate with interest. He tugs at my sleeve. "Nee-chan, what are they doing?"

"They're discussing what they want out of their bet with me," I explain. "Since Yahiko-kun included both Nagato-kun and Konan-chan, it's only fair that he doesn't make a decision on his own and asks for their opinion on it, too."

"Ah," Obito says. He thinks for a bit. Tugs at my sleeve again.

"Shouldn't he have asked them before the bet, too?"

Oooohhhh well done baby brother of mine!

"You're right. Normally, he should have. We can let this go this time because neither Konan nor Nagato have seriously protested against the bet although they could have many times by now."

"Also," Kakashi chimes in, "they're all good friends, so Yahiko knows they're ok with it."

I turn my head to look at him. "In this specific case that might be true, but being friends is not grounds to assume that you automatically know that the other person likes an idea, too. There's nothing more important than to communicate well, especially when you're close."

Obito scrunches up his nose. "What's com- commu-nate?"

I pause, trying to come up with an explanation that's easy to understand and yet conveys the importance of the subject. It's … not so easy. "It's when people tell each other what they think and feel," I begin slowly. "It's particularly important when what you think the other is thinking is not the same as what they're really thinking. Like, when you don't tell me something because you think I might get sad, but if you did, I really wouldn't."

"There's nothing I wouldn't tell you!" Obito exclaims with the conviction of a true believer.

My innocent baby brother.

I give him a kiss on his cheek. "I know, Obito."

"Etsuko-nee?" Oh, that's Kakashi. "How do I know that what the other is thinking is really something else from what I was thinking?"

Oh well, he's getting a kiss, too.

"You don't. That's why you have to ask them to find out."

Kakashi's ears always go so adorably red when he's flustered.

"Ok!" Yahiko announces from the other side of the table. "We know what we want!"

He skips over to us. He puts on a very solemn expression. "If we win the bet, we want you to stay our friend forever."

My throat goes all dry.

Oh.

I swallow.

"Alright, that sounds doable."

The beaming smiles I receive from all sides after that reaffirm what I've been becoming increasingly sure of: this was absolutely, undeniably the right thing to do.

)()()(

"Etsuko," Yahiro says before he gets up from dinner, "come find me in my study when you've finished helping Naoko. We have things to discuss."

I nod. "Understood, Yashiro-san."

What's this gonna be about? The usual, probably, so either training or my Sharingan. Maybe both. It's been a while, so this has been long coming.

"Otou-sama," Toshiro pipes up. "Will you have time to look at my goukakyuu later? I've been practicing a lot and –"

"Some other time," Yashiro cuts him off.

Toshiro looks like he's been slapped, his mouth falling shut immediately. From the corner of my eye, I can see Naoko's hands tighten around her chopsticks.

"Yashiro," she says and promptly stops. Her voice sounds strained.

"What is it?" he very nearly snaps back.

Oh shit, he's annoyed.

The tension in the air is thick enough to cut. Yashiro's whole posture radiates impatience, but what really has me taken aback is the coldness in Naoko's eyes.

I suddenly realize that I haven't looked into her eyes for a long time now.

In the end, it's still her who looks away.

"Nothing," she says, stands up and takes her used tableware to the sink.

Yashiro seems to prefer it like this and leaves the room.

I look from the shoji screen over Naoko's back to Toshiro, who's quietly seething at the table.

This … what is this.

What just happened?

"What are you staring at?" Toshiro spits out when my gaze lingers on him for too long.

I hurriedly avert my eyes and choose not to answer. He is already upset, there's no need in irritating him any further. I should just concentrate on finishing so that I can get Obito and myself out of here and think about this whole situation later.

)()()(

"The clan wants you to join the next clan meeting," Yashiro announces after I've finished my greeting bow and settled on a zabuton across from him.

Well, Naori did say that the clan would be interested in the awakening of my Mangekyou. I'm actually more surprised that they've left me alone for so long.

"When will it be?"

"Tomorrow night."

Oh. I guess this still counts as enough of an advance warning. Well.

"Wear something formal. Be ready at sundown. We'll walk from here."

I nod in acceptance.

Ever since I've come back from the war I've known that two major issues regarding me would need to be solved:

1. The question of what's going to happen to me in terms of team re-assignment etc.

2. This thing right here with my Mangekyou and the clan.

Looks like I'm finished with waiting. As long as they come one after another, I believe I can deal with them.

Let's go dabble in some clan politics, shall we?

P.S. the poll is still open!