[Hiruzen Sarutobi]

Seeing those he sent come back with a letter and a look of victory on the faces of everyone was good news to Hiruzen. Although, Anko's was a bit worrying. They simply handed him the letter and Shisui said it was filled with good news. Hiruzen knew he should believe the man. But there was just a slight feeling of anything significant. The last time Hiruzen felt dread was during the Kyuubi Attack and seeing the Kyuubi teleport away. That was probably the most he had ever been worried. Hiruzen still cursed Minato for leaving him with the eternal pains of paperwork.

So, Hiruzen didn't want to open the letter yet. He was thinking about how open Mei Terumi may be to outside help. Kiri Kunoichi tended to be prideful. Or Ex-Kiri Kunoichi in her case... And the words of Kushimaru Kuriarare, Kiri's most savage swordsman helped confirm Mei Terumi was one prideful woman. Hiruzen's fear of redheads after Kushina may still be lingering. Hiruzen knew all of his shinobi well enough. He knew their grins and cheers of a mission done successfully meant that everything had gone according to plan. But there was still just that nagging feeling that something might have gone wrong. Something would go wrong and the letter would crush his hopes for peace for another ten years.

But it was a feeling he had to push back.

And he did. There was no use dwelling on what ifs. If the rebellion didn't want Konohagakure's assistance then they would not get it. So, Hiruzen opened the letter and took a quick glance at it. His hopes were not dashed as his eyes picked out nothing he didn't want to see. It was good news.

"Dear, Hokage,"

"Your offer is very much appreciated. After much consideration, I have decided to do what is best for my people and take you up on your offer for aid against Yagura. To iron out details I would like to meet with you to discuss this in person. In a neutral place like the land of Waves. This letter will hopefully reach you within the next six weeks as this is the only time I am free for a while due to Yagura's forces beginning to move once again."

"Sincerely, Mei Terumi,"

Hiruzen nodded to himself as he finished the letter. The request was forward and whilst most would have reservations about meeting a potentially hostile leader of a rebellion Hiruzen knew he'd be okay. He would take Jiraya and Shisui with him as support in case things were to go awry. But Hiruzen had a feeling things wouldn't be going as poorly as most would envision things to go.

Ultimately this would hopefully end well and Danzo wouldn't do anything stupid whilst he was gone. Hiruzen cared for his old friend deeply but he could be rather rash. Especially now with the Uchiha situation. He'd been getting especially antsy over the last few weeks and about Shisui especially. That was partially the reason for this mission.

Hiruzen began drafting up a response letter the second he was done thinking.

"Hello, Mei Terumi,"

"Your letter has been received and Konoha is happy that you took up our offer. I do agree that we should meet in person to iron out the details. Message by letter isn't safe. The Land of Waves would be a perfect meeting spot as it is close to both of our countries and would make travel time less of a pain. I propose that we meet up in three weeks as to give both of us time to prepare and for you to receive the letter."

"Sincerely, The Hokage,"

Hiruzen signed the letter before he looked up at the only other person in the room. Shisui Uchiha. Hiruzen was now accustomed to the change in his Anbu. Seeing the man still here wasn't a surprise. "Crow, Go get your Squad and deliver this letter."

"Okie Dokie Hokage-sama. We'll be back in a jiffy as always. Do make sure to keep me updated on my clan though when I get back!" Shisui waved before being gone in an instant. Hiruzen hoped the man would be right. His being gone for anything longer than a week was starting to drive the Uchiha crazy.

'Perhaps I can have a meeting with Fugaku soon? It may be time to have another conversation... This time without Danzo.' Hiruzen mused.

It was time to get things done. If the worse came to worse Jiraya could always take Naruto out of Konoha so the Uchiha couldn't get to him in case they decided to play that game. Shisui would also be out of the game or on his side. And so would Itachi. But that left Fugaku who Hiruzen had his suspicions about.

Hiruzen hoped things wouldn't get messy but they easily could.

*Knock*

Hiruzen glanced at the door as one very recognizable knock was heard. 'Danzo...' What would his old friend like to see him about now? Hiruzen glanced around and he saw no root agents. He formed a half ram seal and was joined by Cat shortly who hid within the next second. "You can come in."

The door slowly opened and in walked the old decrepit figure of Danzo Shimura. "Hello, old friend. I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?" Hiruzen saw the man's lone eye scan the room and see the mountain of paperwork on his desk.

"No you were not. I was just about to get started though." Hiruzen elected to not beat around the bush. "What brings you to my office today old friend?" Hiruzen saw a small twitch of his old friends eye. A thing most would miss. But not him.

"Not beating around the bush today I see. Good. You know I cannot stand pleasantries." Danzo commented. "Well matters involving the Uchiha are starting to go to a boiling point and I would like to propose a solution."

'Ooh boy...'

[Mei Terumi]

"Yagura's prison is up and running," Urahara reported. " The structure is finished and some of his shinobi were bringing in prisoners. Said prisoners were being treated well compared to normal. Yagura wants something from them and I don't know what. But it scares me for some reason." Mei noticed the almost haunted look in his eyes. "Yagura would never treat a bloodline user well unless he wanted something from them... He has to be planning something big with them."

Mei looked at the full report from the pseudo swordsman of the mist. The man's usual cheerful demeanor wasn't here today. None of the usual flair and jokes she was used to seeing from his mission reports were there. 'He must be dead serious... I'll trust his intuition.' "This is more troubling than I thought it would be. We may need to demolish it entirely instead of just doing the usual prison break."

Ao, who was standing beside her, nodded and looked at the report himself. "Whatever the scheming bastard is planning won't be good for us. But this might be a trap. He knows we know he treats his prisoners worse than dirt. This might just be for show to lure us into a false sense of security before whomever we send is ambushed."

'That is a possibility...' Mei mulled over all the possible things she thought Yagura could be doing. Most likely it was to lure them into a false sense of security. But her gut was telling her otherwise. "It is possible that Yagura is trying to lure us into a false sense of security after so many victories. But-" Mei looked at the two people in the room with her. Both had survived a lot over the last decade or so with her. They knew anything could happen. "-Yagura may be doing Human experimentation on those prisoners." Mei saw the raised eyebrows from the men in the room. "He doesn't want them to be to roughed up until he uses them for any experiments he may want to run. That is my current theory at least."

"That sounds ridiculous," Ao said before clearing his throat. "Yagura is sick enough in the head to do that for sure but he's already lacking the resources in the science department that he used to have. Unless he's paying neutral scientists to help him. But Kirigakure isn't doing so good financially at the moment."

Those are valid points Ao." Mei acknowledged. "But Yagura isn't exactly the type of man to care about those things. He would push his men harder if need be or just kill the scientists in the end. Yagura is a vile man and he would do that. If Human Experimentation is up his alley then I wouldn't exactly be surprised if he killed the scientists he hires." Mei looked to Urahara then, "What do you think Urahara?"

This could be one of the biggest missions in the entire history of the rebellion. Because of that, Mei knew she needed to get the opinion of her best jonin before making a choice. She was confident that Yagura was at least doing something horrible with those prisoners. But, it wouldn't hurt to get the opinions of the best she had.

Urahara hummed and after a minute, nodded. "Human Experimentation wouldn't be completely out of the question. He is sick enough in the head to do such a thing. Most of the Kinjutsu that are known to exist are derived from human experimentation. He may be looking to make a Kinjutsu powerful enough to turn the tides in his favor again." Urahara then looked up. "Knowing that bastard he's probably even hired that one dude that used to go around in the land of water and offer his help in whatever science they were doing. Unethical stuff mainly."

Ao looked at the two for a second before sighing. "I suppose it would be a very likely option. It would be wise to send a few people to try and destroy the place and free any captives that remain." Ao relented.

"Before we do that though I would like you to get the swordsman and Kanao for me real quick. I would like to get their opinion on this before we do anything." Mei ordered and Ao nodded and was gone within the second. Mei then looked at Urahara.

"Is there anything you need me to do boss-lady?" Urahara stood straight as an arrow.

Mei nodded. "You will be one of the five people going on the mission. This mission is too important to screw up and so someone of your level of stealth is required. But since this may be the most important mission we have ever done I would like you to take the Shibuki blade with you."

Urahara's jaw slightly opened. "Why though? I thought you found a user for it."

Mei nodded. "I found a candidate for it. But they aren't ready yet. So I'd like you to take it since you can use it. Not to mention that it would be perfect for bringing the prison down. Of course if you'd like then you could just keep it sealed away and only use it when you need to destroy the prison."

"Okay," Urahara said," I'll do that then."

[Yagura Karatachi]

It's a beautiful day outside. The birds are singing, flowers are blooming, on days like this Yagura almost wants to just retire and live out the rest of his life on some remote island.

But it's also days like these that make Yagura's urge to kill all the cheaters greater. Ideally, the days would be like these all the time when all the cheaters were gone and he saved the world. It made Yagura just want to go turn into the Sanbi and go on a spree of cleansing.

Yagura knew that even though he wanted to do these things, he couldn't. He had to follow his plan for the perfect future. He had to take the power of the Rokubi back first and he needed to clean his country up before he could go wage war on the cheaters of the world and the cheater sympathizers. And for that to happen and for his plans to come to fruition, he needed to find a Yuki.

'Ironic in a way.' Yagura thought. He needed a cheater to kickstart the events that'd allow him to kill the other cheaters of the world. It wasn't ideal and he'd have liked to do it on his own power but Yagura was okay with it. It would let him at least show those cheaters what it's like to deal with someone who actually worked for their powers. Literally.

"How is your search for the Akatsuki going Lumiere?" Yagura briefly stopped meditating to ask his Anbu the question. At this point, Yagura knew he didn't need them anymore. But they could become a threat later on... It'd be good to cover his bases now.

"No information has been found yet Yagura-sama." Lumiere's reply came a second after he asked. Yagura expected it though.

"I see," Yagura responded. "Focus on finding a Yuki then. But do not completely shift focus... I will have team Aki help you though so you can focus your efforts on finding the Yuki." Yagura then stood up and glanced back at the window inside of his temporary office. He hadn't left since it was finished yesterday. The paperwork was truly terrible. It gave room for few breaks... Maybe deciding to give around 100 Jonin and Chunin who had enough chakra a temporary cheat wasn't a good idea.

At least the paperwork would end soon... hopefully.

"Okay Yagura-sama. Shall I leave now?" Lumiere asked.

Yagura nodded. "Yes, please. I would like some alone time. Paperwork won't do itself, unfortunately." Lumiere nodded and shunshined away. Yagura then stood up and went back to his chair. There wasn't much paperwork left. 'I should just burn this...' A stray thought Yagura pushed to the back of his head. He would like to have a record of who had what cheat.

Of course the last 20 or so were his best jonin and Rei who opted to get boil release. The rest of his jonin were getting other cheats. Most of them were going to be stationed at the prison so when he got permanent Ice release he'd be protected if rebel scum just so happen to break into the prison.

Yagura really hoped that wouldn't be the case though. He would rather have his most equipped Jonin stay that way. Maybe the bloodline scum will try to break their allies free though. Yagura knows it is unfortunately likely.

The vermin that he was trying to exterminate always wanted to help their own. They would probably at some point try to break in. Of course they'd fail since he himself was at the prison. Unless they somehow were a Kage level shinobi and were also a jinchurriki.

But Yagura knew he was probably the first Jinchurriki to be at the level of a kage without the power of his Bijuu(Killer Bee not counting). There were only Nine Bijuu as well and most of them were either not strong or likely children.

So he would be safe and sound.

"Soon everything will be going in my favor once again. Soon Utakata and Pakura will be dead and I will be the strongest man in the world." A small smile set itself on Yagura's face as he realized he was done with his paperwork.

What a beautiful day.

With a chuckle, Yagura stood up. He left his office and took a smell of the air. The smell of death was strong. But it was one he loved. It meant that bloodline scum were dying and their cheats were going to be used for the good of humanity. All thanks to him.

He'd be the savior of the world.

Yagura then took another step and saw a few prisoners right away. A new batch. They looked like they hadn't been mishandled. Good. Don't want any accidental damage to the chakra system.

"Hello, you four. I'm happy to say your lives will end soon." Yagura watched the four gulp.

Their fear brought a smile to his face.

[Kukui Tanku]

I looked into the sky. It had been my off day. I had no idea what to do. So I just decided to lay down all day since everyone I knew was busy. Even Urahara wasn't just getting drunk! He was actually doing something. So was Ameyuri. So I was left alone and forced to not train for the first time in a month.

It felt strange to not have my body be aching around this time. I almost missed the pain... It at least told me I was getting stronger. Better. Faster. It also helped keep the nightmares away... I was too tired to actually dream. It was not going to be a good night. I knew that. So I was just trying to enjoy my day.

I could always go find someone new to bother. But I didn't want too. I was comfortable being left alone for an entire day. Just laying down and looking at the roof. It was sobering to be honest. I got time to think about how lucky I was to be here. Not just to be reincarnated but to survive.

I could have been killed by my bully who I now barely remember, I could have been killed by Kisame which would have been truly terrible, I could have at any point been caught breaking into the academy and have been flayed alive, I could have died to Kokushibo not once but twice which would not have ended well, I could have died to Jinpachi, I could have died to Zabuza, I could have died to Ameyuri's training. There was so much I could have died too.

I got lucky.

Not only that but those with me got lucky as well. My friends could have died as well against Kokushibo, Ameyuri, Ito, and Urahara against Jinpachi and Zabuza, and so on. It made me grateful for the fact nobody I cared about has died. I knew it'd happen but not when. I had hope it wouldn't be any time soon.

But there was always that feeling in the back of my head that something. Anything could go wrong and then my loved ones would be dead. It was something I didn't like to think about. But I thought about it a lot.

I sighed and closed my eyes... Maybe I should take a nap? I wanted to dream about something nice for once... Maybe I could dream of being in an anime? Or a nice place for once... Just a nice vacation from the murder and mayhem.

I then felt a kick to the side and opened my eyes. I then saw the she-devil that had been driving me half to death for almost a year now. "Get up brat." The tone in her voice left no room for argument. "Pack your shit up we're going on a mission. A big one."

'Oh fuck why do I already feel like something's gonna go wrong?' I groaned. "Last time we went on a big mission we had to kill nearly a dozen Chuunin and a few Jonin who had wind release. Please tell me this is just something easy?" The unimpressed look I got from Ameyuri told me all I needed to know. "Alright, so something that's gonna be a pain in the ass. What the fuck are we gonna do this time?"

'Something involving one of Yagura's new prisons. A big one. Supposedly something suspicious is going on and Mei-sama assume's it's human experimentation. We don't know what exactly but whatever it is won't be good for us if we let it go on any longer. " Ameyruri practically shook. "This is going to be the bloodiest mission yet."

"...Human experimentation..." I looked down. 'I'm going to fucking saw Obito in half.' I looked at Ameyuri. "I'm going to kill every last one of Yagura's men as brutally as I can manage." THey were all monsters too who deserved death. It was the least I could do.

"I like your spirit kid but not the time for that. We need to actually investigate what he's doing first." Ameyuri pat me on the head. "I understand you may not be thrilled about that but your stealthy enough. And we do need to see what Yagura is working on so we can stop him from ever completing it in the future. Once we do that you can slaughter all the weaker ones if you can."

I sighed. "Okay..." I couldn't wait for retirement already. "So when are we going?"

Ameyuri hummed. "In about five minutes. So get all the shit you're gonna need now."

I used the Shunshin that second.

[Chapter End]

A chapter done in two days? Man, I'm getting more productive by the day. Maybe soon I can get a chapter done in a day again! That'd be nice... I could get more done. Anyways, I need to go plan for the next arc soon. I don't know what's gonna exactly go on but it's probably gonna be a very short arc in-verse. Probably gonna take place in a day... It's also probably going to go back to form of being ten chapters as I kinda didn't plan things well earlier.

Anyways onto the chapter! I wrote this in a different order than the fic shows actually. Originally it was Mei, Yagura, Hiruzen, and then Kukui but I decided having Hiruzen's PoV be before Mei's would make more sense

As for the chapter itself, I think it was pretty good. Hiruzen's PoV shows how stuff is going outside of the land of water. At least partly. The Uchiha situation isn't getting better. But that's not that important. And then Mei's PoV was fun because I got to write Urahara again. Honestly, I completely forgot him this arc. So I had to put him in this chapter at least. The man is gonna be a big part of next arc.

Then Yagura's doing Yagura stuff and it kinda wasn't that important. I just had nothing else to put in the chapter. When planning i thought it was going to be different but it just was kinda Yagura being an asshole and an update on Yagura's search for a Yuki.

And then Kukui's PoV was fun to write. It started of kinda rocky tbh but then I got into a groove and started writing about Kukui dwelling on the past almost two or so years. and then hearing about the mission. And as always the joke of it's gonna go wrong is defo gonna be true. I would say it's a spoiler but lets be honest, something is going to happen.

Anyways, this chapter was fun. See Y'all next week!

- Tobi