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Interlude I

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Just to add to his life's complications, the akhlut did indeed follow Tsuna home. Tsuna then spent three hours in the water with an orca just far enough offshore so that said orca wasn't in danger of beaching himself.

Tsuna explained that, no, the humans around here can't be food and that it was better if he didn't treat humans as food at all anymore, because humans had scary weapons now and also would start hurting the animals in the area if they thought it was one of them attacking people.

The akhlut agreed that if Tsuna didn't want his people eaten, that was understandable. If most people were Tsuna's, obviously he could only eat the ones that were trying to hurt Tsuna. But if eating people upset Tsuna that much, he would stick to other things, unless someone did something particularly bad.

(Tsuna had the feeling that if someone actually killed him, the akhlut was going to have to split the vengeance with a whole lot of others, and most of those others were people.

Still, the 'no eating people' rule had been accepted, and Tsuna was going to call that a win. (He also wasn't going to ask what the orca-wolf had done on the ships at Mafia Land. He did not want to know.)

Also, he needed to start finding names for his mythological supporters. Now that Moeru the Hou-ou had an actual name, he felt like the others needed them, too. Well, any that didn't object, anyway. The akhlut objected, so would forever be Akhlut-san. (Naming contests soon became a thing, as the myths in question got final say on whether or not they'd answer to one, and they were picky.)

After that, things fell into a quiet, if busy, routine. Tsuna's grades steadily improved with the aid of both Reborn and Gokudera, even though he had quite a bit of time eaten up by final-decision paperwork from the Sora's relevant businesses and/or interactions. Tsuna had flung up his hands and given in when the Namimori group asked if they were allowed to conquer Tokyo, telling them to not kill if there was any way to avoid it and to bring back any and all leaders and seconds alive.

That… had been either a very good or a very bad decision, and Tsuna had yet to determine which as he eyed the group of angry (former) yakuza bosses and their 'right hands', as Gokudera would call them. Sora had, of course, relieved them of their weapons and Mukuro was lurking casually in a corner, Reborn watching from the other side of a two-way mirror.

Tsuna eyed the kneeling men and then his own too-proud group, then sighed. "Kuro-san, introductions please."

He could feel Reborn being pleased on the other side of the glass, and Tsuna had to admit managing this crazy lot was probably great 'Vongola Boss' practice. He'd given up on bothering with making simple things sound like requests, though he left his orders open-ended enough to imply refusal as an option.

(No one ever actually refused, unless it was the 'call me by name' request.)

Kuro beamed and obeyed, cheerfully introducing the dozen-odd bosses and their seconds.

Tsuna nodded, turning his eyes on the three most angry and considering. Those would have to be handled separately, as would two of their seconds. The last looked terrified of what was going on, but considering he also was subtly leaning away from his boss and shooting worried looks in that direction, there was possibility there.

"Mukuro," he said, indicating the five he'd picked out. "Please take them to the cells—make sure they are held separately. I don't want any fights."

(Reborn emanated pride.)

"Of course, darling," Mukuro purred, using his illusions to help him do so and avoiding Tsuna's name—which was probably because Tsuna hadn't introduced himself. Which, yes, had been deliberate, and Reborn really was rubbing off on him.

Tsuna waited until the illusion of Mukuro that he'd left lounging against the wall exactly where he'd been before stepping away (giving the impression that a second Mukuro had split out of his body and really weirding out most of the prisoners) gave a quick 'all clear' gesture before turning back to the now even more nervous group.

Tsuna nodded politely, "My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, and I'm the leader of the Sora. Do you know why you are here?"

Several wary head-shakes.

Kuro scowled, "Show respect to Juudaime-sama!" he snapped, sounding like a somewhat less intense Gokudera.

Tsuna raised a hand placatingly, "It's fine, Kuro-san. It is understandable that they are displeased; we did just pull a hostile takeover."

He subsided, blushing. "Of course, Juudaime-sama."

Okay, he and Gokudera were no longer allowed alone unsupervised within speaking distance of each other. Meanwhile, Tsuna had quite a few bosses to explain to.

"Sora has decided," he used the name of the group rather than the likely expected self-pronoun because he didn't have anything to do with it, "that Tokyo is disorganized and under improper handling due to infighting and too many 'bosses'. Your groups will be either absorbed or disbanded."

The rest of the situation involved polite explanations, contract signing, and passing out the 'Rules' books as well as a brief rundown on the most important of those Rules and the consequences of breaking them.

It took hours, and Reborn felt like he was glowing behind the mirror.

(Tsuna just wanted to cry.)

Extra:

Shī considered the reports coming in from Japan—now most were given willingly by the still-spreading Sora, who had their sights set on conquering Tokyo before Tsunayoshi-sama returned from Mafia Land—and then considered the state of the Triads.

Most were disorganized, and Shī was fairly sure that many operated in a way that Tsunayoshi-sama would not approve of. He'd already expressed displeasure at having children too young to understand the concept of 'death' killing, and the way he'd done so had cited reasons not only moral but practical.

Shī had been firm with the First, and while the particularly promising children—like I-pin had been—were apprenticed out and occasionally contracted, he did not approve of sending them out if they weren't capable of defending themselves. However, if Tsunayoshi hadn't pointed out that having them kill before they understood the reality of what they were doing meant, they likely would never understand the actual meaning of taking life, and would end up a danger to ally as much as enemy, Shī would likely have let the long-standing way of handling things continue. (But that was a problem with some of his subordinates, and how had he not realized why?)

As it was, the First wasn't as… dark as some of the other Triads even before Tsunayoshi had gone through all their traditions and policies and changed things where he saw need, and since they were the leading Triad, it was Shī's duty to ensure that the others followed suit.

Since they were not subordinate to the First, however, that meant he'd have to bring them to heel.

Shī smiled to himself and called in his in-country spy network heads, pulled out the war map, and started making plans. (If the Momokyokai could do it, so then could the First Triad. They'd need to rename themselves later, of course, but for now there were Triads to conquer.)

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