The outcome of the tournament was pretty obvious in hindsight. After all, it was the first time someone like Xanxus had ever competed, and he outclassed the rest of them so badly it wasn't even funny.

The second he was in the maze, he shifted into Tenebrae and basically walked to the center. And he didn't fly either, which was the only restriction they had placed on him.

Idiots didn't even consider he was simply so tall that he could see over the damn hedges just fine without flying. And the spells they cast to insure no one cheated that way ignored his antics, because all four feet were firmly on the ground!

Rather than pick up the goblet like an idiot, Xanxus used his tail to knock it onto the Acromantula nearby. The fact that the overgrown spider promptly disappeared only proved he had been smart not to touch the damn thing.

Xanxus was not particularly impressed at all with this entire farce and was glad that it was over.

At least he got a Cloud out of this bullshit, and a new minion to give his grandma.

A short while later...

The first thing Xanxus did upon returning to Italy?

Dump Luna on Daniela.

"I'm back, Nonna, and I come bearing a new enabler when I'm not available."

Once Daniela got over hugging the stuffing out of him, she gave him a glare.

"Now we won't be having a repeat of what happened during that fake coup, will we?"

"In my defense, the asshole didn't even give me a chance to tell him I already knew I was adopted long before he took me in," said Xanxus. "He just yelled about how I wasn't going to inherit, before putting me in a block of ice."

Daniela's eyes were dark and not for the faint of heart.

"Now, where is this little cutie you've apparently picked to act as my accomplice?" demanded Daniela.

Xanxus opens the door to reveal a dreamy eyed Luna Lovegood, and Daniela squeals. She can already tell the girl is a Rainy-Mist, with possible Cloud secondary which has all sorts of fun applications if used correctly.

Luna certainly doesn't mind the massive bear hug from an exuberant Daniela.

"You and I are going to have sooo much fun together," said Daniela with gleaming eyes.

"Can we go looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, auntie?" asked Luna innocently.

"Of course!" said Daniela. "Wait, are you from the same Lovegood family that writes the Quibbler?"

"My father is the editor for the English edition."

Daniela squeals.

"I love reading that! The off-the-wall comments and little barbs you hide underneath your articles are a hoot to read!"

Luna beamed at her.

"You know while I was bored out of my damn mind in that school, I learned something interesting," said Xanxus darkly.

"And what's that?"

"Vongola isn't the actual surname of the family. It's more of a title for whoever wears the rings."

Daniela stared at him, a dawning suspicion coming to her.

"Then what's the real surname of the Secundo?"

Xanxus' smirk was positively evil.

"Black. Apparently the reason why Daemon was able to convince him to turn against Giotto was because they were third cousins and he didn't like the 'soft' approach that Giotto was taking after his wife was killed. So he talked his cousin into taking over since Giotto was his fifth cousin once removed...so technically there is a blood relation between them," said Xanxus.

"Why do I have a deep sense of foreboding right now?"

"Let me put it this way... Giotto never removed himself from the Potter family tree, and Ricardo merely changed his surname in the mundane side of things, never the magical one. So technically the Vongola falls under the purview of the head of the Potter or the Black family, depending on which branch is in charge, since the cousins merely made a branch of those families rather than make a new one," said Xanxus.

Daniela paled, finally realizing what her grandson meant.

Then again, Timoteo had brought this on himself with his rash actions.

"You're going to forcibly remove him from power, since we're still technically Blacks," said Daniela.

"I'd need more than what he did to me before I could legally do it...but somehow I have the feeling this isn't the first monumental screw up he's made. If I find more evidence that he's done something against the family, then I can have him cast out and we can start searching for someone who can take care of the family properly. It's not your fault Nonna...he brought this on himself and he should have stepped down years ago when Enrico was old enough to take over. You at least knew when it was time to step down... he's clearly planning to hold onto power for as long as possible."

As much as she wanted to deny it, she had the worst feeling her grandson wasn't exaggerating. Enrico had been more than old enough to take over, yet her son refused to hand over the reigns which made her grandson reckless in trying to prove himself. In a way, Enrico's death was on Timoteo's head for not stepping down.

"Is it really that bad?"

"There's always side effects from practicing less than savory magicks. The Blacks, for example, have practiced blood magic for so long it's been ingrained in our very souls. Sometimes it drives people off the deep end in a quest for power. Case in point, Bellatrix Lestrange. There's always a chance that the magic has caused something to go wrong with his Flames, and that the rings themselves are just making it worse."

Daniela thought back to her son's primary weapon. She should have suspected something wrong when he chose a scepter as a weapon.

"In the meantime... I have to do some overdue house cleaning."

Ottabio was a dead man.

Blaise waltzed in, found Ottabio and without much preamble shot the man point blank in the face before he even said a word.

"Listen up fuckers! This here is your new Cloud Officer! Now I am going to be doing a bit of spring cleaning to make sure we're up to standards," said Xanxus.

"How do we know you're not some fucking Mist illusion?" demanded one particularly stupid Storm.

"Ushishishi... the peasant has a death wish," sneered Belphegor. His knives were already out and his bloodlust was already up.

"Easy, brat. At least he has a fucking brain to question a possible infiltrator," said Xanxus, patting Belphegor on the head. Which made the prince pout slightly, because it meant the boss wouldn't approve of the man being killed in a very messy fashion...yet.

Which was why most of the Varia straightened up the second Xanxus turned into Erebus and roared.

No Mist would be able to mimic the seamless transition between human and tiger, much less get the boss' animal side right. He didn't show it to outsiders, and it was kept an in-house secret among the Varia.

"Voi! Any other stupid questions?" demanded Squalo. He looked at the tiger and grinned. "Good to have you back boss."

Xanxus' grin was vicious.

"It's good to be home."

Mammon waited for Xanxus to settle in before floating into the office.

"I have some interesting news. It seems the Ninth recently took a trip to Japan with Iemitsu," said the Mist.

Iemitsu, as much as he loathed it, was technically family through Giotto. Which meant that his family should be protected. However Xanxus knew that braying jackass. Odds were he'd think keeping them in ignorance was 'enough'.

Besides, this meant he could corrupt any kid the moron had against him.

"Find out which city... I want to find out what sort of security measures are in place and what we're dealing with. If it's just the wife we'll leave it be, but if a kid is involved..."

"Understood Boss," said Mammon.

Xanxus was protective of kids, especially if they were blood. Just look at how he handled Belphegor!

Mammon was nothing if not efficient. And since they were tracking a potential kin member, the Japanese Ministry didn't try to stonewall them.

"Boss, there's a kid. He's barely five and they were unaware of his existence."

The fact the kid was a member of the Potter family was a big deal, considering the whole "boy-who-lived" crap.

"Do we have an address?"

"We do. We can be in Japan to assess the situation by either portkey or plane. The Japanese Ministry has made it clear that they will consider this an internal matter unless otherwise indicated."

"Portkey. Old fucker might find out we went to investigate if we take a plane," said Xanxus. "Better bring Daniela too... kid's technically a Vongola after all."

That and it meant that Iemitsu couldn't claim he was trying anything if the Eighth was also involved.

Daniela was more than happy to come...all he had to do was mention a five year old and she practically jumped at the chance.

Though she was still puking her guts out when they took the portkey.

In Japan...

Daniela took one look at Tsuna, and squealed loudly. Xanxus, however was far more concerned with Nana's overly accepting reaction to strangers showing up without any warning and claiming they were related to Iemitsu. Her complete lack of concern about the fact they might very well be lying made him suspicious. And there was something off about her...or possibly her Flames. Even he could tell she was a Latent.

"I think we might need to have them both checked by professionals," said Xanxus.

Daniela looked at him with sharp eyes.

"Her behavior is not normal. Civilians might be overly trusting, but her immediate acceptance is suspicious," said Xanxus flatly.

She blinked, before eyeing Nana with new eyes. Now that he mentioned it her behavior was far too suspicious.

It was far too easy for them to bundle up the wife and kid and take them to a magical hospital to be inspected.

Flames, while rare, were still considered a magical gift. Even if the ones who only used Flames were considered hedge-mages if they didn't show any other talents.

Xanxus wish he could feel vindicated when the medi-wizard in charge damn near stormed up to him with a very pissed off expression on his face.

"Are you the one who brought in the mother and son?"

"Kid's a member of my bloodline. I wanted to be sure he was properly protected, so I came to check in on them. Found the mother's behavior suspicious," said Xanxus gruffly.

"The mother is under a very odd compulsion magic, and the boy's magic has been crudely sealed by someone who didn't know what the hell they were doing," said the wizard, calming down at that.

"I'm sorry, did you just say sealed?" said Daniela dangerously, hoping she was wrong.

If her suspicion was correct, then she wasn't going to stand in the way of Xanxus giving Timoteo a reality check. Oh no, she'd help.

Daniela examined little Tsuna with her Flames, and her expression was livid.

"Xanxus... whatever help you need in convincing the Alliance to forcibly remove that fool, you have it," she said darkly.

"That bad?"

"The boy was active when this was applied. The damage that can do to a child with active Flames... depending on the type it can cause irreparable harm."

"And the mother?" asked Xanxus.

"I don't know what compulsion magic was used, but it's clear her will has almost entirely been overwritten. It's like she's in a strange form of Imperius and has lost complete touch with reality."

Daniela latched onto that information.

"Imperius?" she said.

"Something like a very powerful Mist compulsion laced with an overdose of Tranquility," said Xanxus.

Which meant Nana might be a Rain Latent, and she was still attempting to latch onto Iemitsu's Sky. Which was not a good thing when she was supposed to be raising a child!

Daniela held onto Tsuna protectively while the doctors gave them a basic diagnosis.

It was fairly obvious what would happen now. Xanxus would exercise his right as the head of the family to remove Tsuna and Nana from Namimori while they tried to straighten out this mess.

Either way Timoteo's time as the Vongola don was rapidly dwindling. She was not happy with her 'son' at the moment.

Tsuna, once he got over the shock of having nice relatives who kept hugging him, immediately fell in love with Erebus.

"Kitty!" he said happily, tugging on the cat's fur. He giggled when Erebus licked him on the face and made him positively drenched in tiger spit. The kid had absolutely no fear of the massive cat and happily submitted to a 'grooming' session from a purring Erebus.

Nana continued her oblivious attitude, which was yet another sign that something was very wrong with her. Normal civilian mothers were never this calm around massive tigers so close to their children!