Scarlet Justice: Full Blossom - ep. 91
"Arrivals and Departures"
[Convergence of Shadows: Epilogue]

Anko and I spend some more time gossiping and chatting, until the sun starts to dip near the horizon and changes the sky's colours. We hold onto each other for what feels like a long time, but not long enough. I eventually let her go, and transport myself back to the spot I was before. No changes, nothing extra to consider. I warm up some of the leftover food I have stored, and then do some reading before going to sleep.

Morning comes quickly enough. Wake up, stretch, a cup of hot tea. Then I dig up my hidden supplies and check them over, and start my journey back towards the Leaf at a good speed. It took us all four days to get to the summit. I can cut that down to about two with some careful running. The restrictions on travel and commerce won't be lifted in their entirety until the delegation from Mist signals their safe return, so I can take advantage of this clear space to move around in.

I was hoping that I would run into Fuu, but she must be somewhere else right now. Last I heard, she was safe and being taken care of. Hopefully the home I have for her is properly built and outfitted soon. I call Fio through our link, tell her some of what's going on, and ask to have a few things prepared for when I get home. Being my most wonderful future wife, she reports back in just a few hours, telling me that everything is ready for my arrival. There's report on everyone's well-being and status, things around the village, and the local weather.

One stop on the western edge of Fire Country to eat and take a few hours rest. Then it's time to go back on the run. By the time I reach the front gates of the Hidden Leaf, it's morning of the third day since the summit. I check in with the soldiers standing guard, who will send a report notifying all relevant parties that I've returned.

"Ma'am. Welcome back," one says with a salute.

"Thank you kindly. Be safe."

"Ma'am."

I give them an acknowledging nod before venturing into the village proper, keeping a relatively low profile. The first stop won't be home, but at a quiet little coffee stand with one of my lovelies.

"Good morning, husband."

"Morning." Shikamaru hands me a coffee, mixed just the way I like it. We start our walk down the quiet path nearby. "Your wife is way too energetic in the mornings, and unfortunately my mom loves her. She's over at our place, eating breakfast."

"Adorable, isn't she?"

"That's a word to describe her, yeah. Pleasantries aside, it's good to see you back. I got the bullet points from my old man...Gramps still has it, looks like."

"He was magnificent. You should have seen how he took control of the room...if I could be half as good when I grow up, this world will be a utopia ten times over."

"Then that means I'll be looking forward to it in a decade or two." He smiles and we tap our cups together before drinking. "So, what'd you need your friendly neighbourhood slacker for this time?"

"I want to get something looked at, as soon as possible. Break it, chip pieces off, whatever you think will work if the usual methods don't pan out." I take the black cartridge out of my pouch and hand it to Shikamaru. "Used by soldiers from the Hidden Rain. Can't give you much about the origins, but it's from someone I trust deeply."

"I'm up to my neck in this whole conspiracy with you. Nothing to worry about." He turns the cartridge in his hand a few times before taking a sip of coffee and nodding. "Light work. I can get you something by the end of today. I can get you a lot of things by the end of tomorrow. And I can find out the pay scales of the guys who made this if you give me two days on top of that."

"I'm going to be idle at least a week, far as anyone knows," I say.

"Then I can do all that and have Erika deliver it to you by hand. I can get you all the details you need."

"As my second favourite blonde in the world would say, awesome~. Thank you, hubby~."

"Hey, if this is the most complicated thing you're having me do, I'm at your service. These Akatsuki guys are a real pain in the ass for me, too. Let me know if there's anything else."

"I will. Don't let me keep you from your meeting with Choji, love. We'll talk later," I say while patting his shoulder.

"Got it, Chief. See you in a bit." He salutes with his coffee cup before heading off. I drink my coffee while walking a bit further, then do a quick check for relevant chakra signatures. Everyone seems like they are where they should be. Time to go home, then. Hopping across the rooftops takes me to our hotel, where I use the roof exit to head downstairs. I get to my room with nobody around, open the door, and slip inside.

"Good. No problems to report. Now to wait...or at least try to."

I step out of my outfit, making a note in my head to have it collected for cleaning tomorrow. It's mostly spotless thanks to its impeccable construction, but a little freshening up won't hurt since I probably won't be wearing it as often from here on. A few days in the wilderness calls for a hot, bubbly bath as a treat. Lavender seems like a lovely choice for today.

Now it's a while later, and I've almost drifted away. Lavender was indeed the correct choice, and the hot water is doing many good things to my muscles. Very soothing. I hear the room door open faintly, and poke my tongue out casually to see who it might not be. Nothing to worry about on that end.

"Is that who I think it is in the bath?"

"It certainly is, love. Wait a moment for me, won't you?"

"Sure can!"

I ease myself out of the tub and let my bound hair down. Don't feel like getting dressed quite yet, so drying off and a nice robe will do. I should find out where the hotel gets these made, they're incredibly comfortable. More than a few have probably gone missing, if I know anything about vacationers.

"Ah. Sorry to keep you waiting," I say to Fio. She sits up on our bed. "Bit of a long trip, and I wanted to relax after getting home."

"I know the feeling. So I promise not to be upset, as long as you do something for me."

"What is it?"

"I want a kiss or ten from my favourite girl in the whole universe!"

"That's easily done. Anything for my Fio, hmhm."

She jumps up and into me, before we kiss tenderly. It feels soft, almost...reflective, I think. A wonderful feeling, no less than all of the other times. I did miss doing this every morning...

"Thank you. Maybe it's a bit silly, or something...I just needed that," she says after we separate.

"There's nothing silly about it. I knew what you meant, and I felt it too. We're always connected in so many ways, but nothing compares to moments like this. I'd rather you by my side than not, you know?"

"I sure do. I'll remember that for next time, and work on not feeling so silly about it."

"Good girl." I rub her head and kiss her again as she blushes. "I don't want you feeling ashamed for desiring your mistress, or her warmth."

"Yes, ma'am."

"With that settled, I'm going to need your help more than you need mine."

"Really?" she asks eagerly. "What do I need to do?"

"Keep me out of trouble. And silent, preferably," I say with a crooked smile. "You know better than anyone how I get, and I need to stay out of whatever business is happening right now. The Summit was a success beyond what we were imagining, but things are still tense. Things should be left to our elders and senpais. Which is why I came back around this time, instead of with the others."

"What happened? Oh, that's if you can tell me."

"Because it's you," I say as we sit on the bed together, "I can tell you a lot of things. Especially since you're as good with your security as anyone around these parts."

"Yep!"

"On top of that, I've reassigned Anko to another mission with Itachi. It will be more general in scope. But she did something wonderful for us in finding clues that we can use to break things wide open, hopefully."

"Oh, that's what you wanted me to fetch Shika for."

"Yes. A piece of equipment that we might be able to track to the Hidden Rain. If it's the case, then it will be our next target for investigation. We might even find the origins of that man, Pain."

"Wow..."

"I could have viable results in a day, but I'm giving him a week to have Erika deliver the reports to us. In the meantime, I need to act...relatively normal, and wait for any reports from the old man and my senpais in ANBU. Hence you keeping me occupied."

"I gotcha. Alright, I can whip up an itinerary for us later tonight, after dinner. Let's see if Ino is still in, she can get a reservation for a nice place. I'm thinking sushi!" Fio picks me up and sets me into bed properly, taking my bathrobe away gently. "In the meantime, you should get some more rest."

"Mm. The coffee from earlier gave me a small buzz, so..."

"Alright. In that case..." She runs over to one of the shelves and scans it for a book. "Ah, here we go! This one." She skips over and puts the book in my hands. "Try it out, it's about samurai and stuff. Kinda dense, so I think it'll get your eyes closing pretty quick. Then you can dream about being a shogun!"

I giggle. "Thank you, Fio. You're always so thoughtful."

"I do my best! Enjoy your sleep while I scheme with the girlies!"

"I will, love." We have another kiss before she skips over to one of the couches, sitting down and putting the phone in her lap. As I open the book, I see that it is indeed thick with words on each page. I go through one chapter carefully enough, drawn into the book's premise...

"..."

And because Fio knows me so well, my eyes glaze over as chapter two begins. I let the book rest against my chest, and my eyes close.

I did have a dream, inspired by some events of the book. Curiously, my companions were the Walker family...Joshua, Maria, Jonah, Cadence, and Aria. The events escape me, though...

I wake up and yawn, closing the book properly. That was a good sleep. I wonder if being naked had anything to do with it. Certainly helped me realize how luxurious these sheets are...

"You're up! Great timing as always!"

Fio greets me with another kiss, and presents a set of underwear to me. I slip out of bed and get into them while we talk.

"Ino reserved us a few spots at the Emerald Hill Sushi House," she says. "Wants us to dress sassy in case our many admirers show up."

"I have a few things to accomplish that for us."

"Neat. Instead of purely work talk and all that, she wants to hear about the boys you got to eye up at the meeting."

"Of course she does. Lucky for her, I have a prodigious memory. And a few photos I can snag from the archives. That will be our stop before dinner. Who's coming out?"

"Um, our usual five spot, then Ruki, Yuno, and Kurenai."

"Our big sis got a night off, eh?"

"Asuma is gonna hang out with Choji and Shika tonight, so they're all gonna look after Mirai together while grilling and stuff. Everyone's accounted for, looks like!"

"Good to hear." I stroll over to the closet and look through my wardrobe. "Decided what you want to wear yet? How long do we have, by the way?"

"Yep, and about an hour before our table opens."

"Alright." Hm, I like the idea of...those pants, and that flirty blouse. That should do well to twist a few necks, hehe.

"I'm gonna hit the shower, then. See you in a bit!"

"Yes, love."

It's an interesting few days. I don't get to talk or really think too much about work, or anything from the recent trip. It's good, in a lot of ways. Fio makes sure I'm occupied like I asked. We have dinner and a movie with Hina one night, then go bowling the next with Naruto. Some soaking at one of the upscale bath houses in the village with Tsunade and Shizune, and live music another night with Erika and Ino.

Near the end of the week, we get those long awaited reports.

Each of the five shinobi villages are doing their best to honour their sides of the deal. The assurances have reached the ears of the smaller villages, and they're starting to relax a lot of the earlier requests they were making. Their willingness to collaborate and help a bit with stability is noted, but they're also content with leaving Leaf to the burden it willingly took on. The conservative hawks were predictably furious; the old man quickly calmed them down, Koharu and Homura aside. Those two were always more hawkish than the rest. Then there's Danzo to deal with...so I need to properly put that project in motion. Waiting until the final hour means it's far too late.

The samurai from Iron have arrived recently. They've been put into appropriate lodging and given liaisons to assist with their work, being directed to cooperate as much as possible with the villages they are staying in. But as per their function, they are given a degree of autonomy. This includes immunity from specific laws and restrictions. Things like this will be monitored properly, but the silent understanding is that we won't try to get in the way of the samurai if they think that something is amiss. It's the best thing for this world, and the fragile agreement currently holding it together.

Akatsuki is...in a mysterious state. The push by Leaf to weaken their influence has worked very well, with the use of our special platoons helping greatly. Doing so well, and so quickly, obviously set off some alarms, so we looked closer. Some contact with Anko revealed that the scope of operations within Fire Country has been reduced dramatically – Akatsuki was being outspent and out competed in the field, and it seems that they only had so much cash they were willing to burn as overhead. It falls in line with what Itachi told me before, that their plan for world domination involved gathering funds as quickly as possible, and as efficiently as possible. Battling Leaf economically is a non starter for the organization, as they assumed they could just undercut us easily enough, and didn't expect us to make that gambit of spending our cash in hand to get more business for later. It could have been Obito, but my guess is that Pain and Konan made the business decision as the fronts for Akatsuki, the ones closest to the situation on the ground. Hiruzen is considering the use of more political capital to further choke out Akatsuki influence in the minor nations, but that will depend on the behaviour of the major nations in the coming months.

Simply put, this has been a dominant performance against Akatsuki, one that has driven them nearly to extinction in this country.

"Indeed...this has gone much better than anticipated."

Hiruzen smokes away at his pipe, looking at the scrolls laid out on his desk. Tamaki has been lightning incense and preparing herbal teas all week to help keep the old man's stress levels down. It's her compromise for not being able to strangle all of the war hawks descending on the office with her bare hands.

"I've said it many times before, but I don't know where I would be without your brilliance, Lili."

"Thank you as always for your praise of me, Lord Hokage. But this was a team effort, as always."

He shakes his head. "Not entirely. Though you're right that everyone did their part, the increased prestige of Leaf shinobi was one of the major reasons that we could progress as far as we did. The standard has been raised, and our organization has gained more visibility and trust than ever. The people of this world believe in us, more than ever. And it's thanks to your courage out on the sea, Lili."

"I suppose so."

"There is not much to suppose, my child. I also appreciate your efforts this week to keep your distance from the work that has been going on. You're trusting your peers and superiors more, which I am happy to see."

"If we're being truthful...it was a bit difficult to stay still, especially after all that happened. All of the fighting is going to get more intense from here on."

"Yes. How are they doing?" he asks, referring to Itachi and Anko.

"They're both well, and together again now. No more need for that extreme protocol, either. The Regalia will help protect them, if anything..."

"I see, I see. You've also tasked young Shikamaru with a mission, I hear."

"We might be able to discern the location of Akatsuki's secret facilities..."

"Hm." He nods and puffs out a cloud of smoke. "That would be a great boon to us...what are your intentions?"

"My intention is to confront that man and his forces, if this place is his home base. If not, then we can feed the information over to the task force, and have them take care of all the details. Otherwise, they can join in later. There's nothing else I have lined up, at least nothing concrete. But turning back to this village, I have something serious I want to get started on."

He nods and presses a button on the nearby phone. It takes a few seconds before there's a knock on the door.

"Enter," he responds.

"Lord Hokage, you called for me?" Imari stands at the entrance and bows.

"Yes. Ten minutes of space for us."

"Understood. Starting routines." She makes hand seals and presses one hand to each side of the double doors. Bowing again, she closes the door afterwards, and I can hear her doing the same thing to the other side. A click goes off in my senses as the energy around us goes into a static state. It means that disturbances and intrusions will be trivial to track for the next ten or so minutes. It also means that the room should be sealed against various types of observation or threats.

"Go ahead, Lili."

"Thank you. As you might recall...we've been moving forward on tracking Danzo and his elements. Ruling out as many suspected individuals as possible has always been our goal. We need to create a final list as soon as we can, before anything can happen. Or, heaven forbid, in case anything does happen to either of us. With Akatsuki trending downwards, and the world balanced on strings even more fragile than before, being able to shut him down is crucial."

"I agree. Though Danzo has given much for this village, and has proven himself to be an excellent tactical mind...there are things that cannot be left alone. He may still have a chance to poison Sasuke, even with all of the work that Itachi and I have done to stabilize him."

"Which is unfortunate," I say. "Sasuke has done well for himself. He shouldn't be kicked into the darkness again because of some fossilized zealot...that would be beyond unfair, I think. Danzo's elements have been weakened to some degree thanks to the operation I ran with Erika earlier, that resulted in Sai's elimination. Sai's unique nature allowed him to operate in open space, and I doubt that there are many more of those types within ROOT. But we know that they're active, and numerous."

"And possibly too far gone to save," Hiruzen finishes.

"Yes. That is my conclusion. With that said...you should have time to work on them in your own capacity, and what I want will also help with that. Properly identifying the enemy and their forms is what will allow us to win." I go into my pocket and take out a scroll. "This is the list of suspected ROOT members, based on their locations, mission type, political leanings, training schedules, and other related things. The list is ordered from confirmed subjects all the way down in terms of confidence in their membership."

I get up from my seat and hand the scroll to Hiruzen. His expression is sombre until the scroll hits his hand.

"There is likely some pruning to do, but...not as much as you would hope," I say quietly.

The weight leaves my hand and is transferred to his, in its entirety. He looks down at the scroll with a slightly stunned expression, not knowing what to say.

"How many...do you think?" he asks.

"The most pessimistic outlook is to consider every name on that list a member of the organization. It would be twenty percent in that case. One out of every five ANBU under your command."

"And...the optimistic outlook?"

I sigh. "About half the listed personnel, with a margin of one and one half percent. It would come out to a ten percent average. One of out every ten."

"I see."

"For the record...a fifth of that list is already under confirmed membership. That's four percent as is. We just need to cross check their backgrounds and medical records so that we don't have any mistakes with identities...or possible identification after the fact."

"..."

"I'm sorry. I wish it weren't...as bad as it seems. But it only makes sense, because it was someone who you placed so much faith in, for so many years."

"I will...open it in a bit. Thank you for this, Lili. Even if it doesn't seem like it, I truly appreciate your work."

"It's something difficult to deal with, oyaji. I couldn't be upset with you. I don't understand in full, not just yet. But I can sense your pain."

"Thank you again. What do you intend to do, if I approve your next steps with this list? Before that...here." He pours me a cup of tea and hands me the saucer it sits on. "My apologies for wasting our limited time."

"Not a problem. Briefly," I say as I sit again, "we want to filter these checks through the normal village system so that nobody will look at us askance, nor will Danzo be able to accuse you of anything that challenges his autonomy. We will schedule medical checks with our vetted personnel, who will then send copies of the information to us upon request. It's just as one would do at any other time. Then we'll have investigations for truly suspicious things as needed. Some extra scrutiny for mission related things, observing gaps in time frames and reports...things tailored to each section and position that the suspected ROOT members are in."

"Do you think this will be effective enough?"

"It should be on its own," I say. "But I'll have my people check the already checked work for inconsistencies. It's possible that there might be spies from that faction working as regular clerks. Those are listed as well. And in the end, everything will move ahead at your discretion. You know how I am...so that's why I'm going through all of this."

"..."

"If there is a mistake we've made, or something that we can erase...you would be best equipped to fix all of it. Reassign them, talk to them about what you know. Whatever it is that can make a difference. I don't think all of those people are broken, or beyond hope. It's just..."

"What is it?"

"I said it before. You know how I am. I can't do the things that you do. Not in the same ways. And you still think of that man as a friend and comrade." I look down at the saucer in my lap. "I'm sorry to be so eager about crushing him in front of you. But I want it. Really badly. I hate how much he keeps hurting you."

"I understand, Lili. Rest assured, I will do whatever I can, with my own power. And when the time comes, I won't stand in your way."

I look up and into his eyes, seeing the same calmness and sincerity that I've become accustomed to. I feel better after seeing it. And happy that he can accept the selfish sort of love I tend to smother him with.

The stillness from earlier is starting to come undone.

"It seems our time is up, Lord Hokage."

"Unfortunate. But we were productive today, and for that I am thankful. I assume you will be off to run more errands?" he asks me. I finish my tea and return the cup and saucer to the side of his desk.

"I think it would be best to return home and rest again. You and the others would recommend it, and it keeps me out of village affairs some more. There's nothing that I immediately need to act on. Unless you have an extra assignment for me, my lord?"

"Nothing of the sort. Though, I did receive a message from our Lady Tsunade earlier. She wanted to meet with you when you could spare some time."

That there wasn't a direction attached to it means that Auntie is being cryptic again. Fortunately, I don't feel any major disturbances attached to it...so it must be something local and actionable. Fine enough.

"I can go over now. She should be at the central hospital as usual," I say. "Tell her to meet me in the main foyer. If I'm not there before five minutes pass, she needs to go back to whatever she was doing before."

"I will call her now. Take care, Lili."

"I will, sir. Please be well yourself, and thank you as always for having me present."

I give him a bow before leaving the room, which has had its seal fade away by now. Then it's straight to the central campus of Leaf Hospital, which I reach in a leisurely three minutes. Tsunade is already waiting impatiently in the main foyer, and strides over as soon as she sees me.

"Yeah, hi. Shizune is doing a coffee run and I have a dummy in the office. Not much time, so come with me."

She puts her arm around my shoulders and pulls me with her down the hall. There's what seems to be an empty room on the left, but it's not-

"Oi. Get out, this is my room now."

The two nurses grumble but do as they're told. Tsunade hands them each a fistful of money and coins before rubbing their heads roughly.

"Thanks. Don't kill yourselves getting back from break, yeah."

"Yes, ma'am." They give her a smile before closing the door behind them, which Tsunade locks right after. She flips on the lights and rolls her neck a few times.

"On the table, toots. Never can have enough cover for times like these."

"Mm? Are we having an impromptu examination, by chance?" I ask while wiggling my brows.

"Yes, an actual one. Now lie on your back and get your mind out of the gutter for five minutes. I know I'm asking a lot of you, but this is important."

I sigh and lie back on the table as told. "You are such a wet blanket."

"Quit your bitching and stay still. I'm too old and too straight for you anyways," she says while taking off my sandals.

"And how would you know that?"

"Multiple decades on this godforsaken planet and choice encounters. Now shut up and let me do what I came here for."

"Alright, fine," I pout. "Then what's so important that you need to explore my immaculate body as cover?"

She snorts and checks my legs with a few firm squeezes.

"I'm not in the business of disclosing information that I get from drinking partners...but considering everything I'm in on currently, I got a feeling that I should talk to you about this directly. Our gentleman friend and I were indulging ourselves the other night. As you might know, I can hold my liquor pretty damn well. He's no slouch himself, but he gets sloshed a lot faster than I do with the same amount of booze in us. So...his lips got a little looser than usual, and it helped that he considers me a close and generally trustworthy friend. You get the picture, yeah?"

"I do," I say.

"Good. To get to the point...there were some things he said that made me realize he's going after our little runaway. Most likely wants to squeeze information on that organization out of him, since he's burned through a lot of leads on that acquaintance. The one he said he didn't know, until he did."

Jiraiya is going to go after Itachi for information on Akatsuki, because his leads on Konan have been drying up. That...is a very big, very good heads' up. Jiraiya doesn't know about our more secretive operations, and if he finds Anko there...

"That gut feeling was more than correct," I say. "I'll tell them both right away. Thank you for this, I really do owe you for it..."

"Both?" she asks.

"Since she's been reassigned from the earlier mission...my sister with the sweet tooth is currently travelling with him, in order to gather as much information as possible. I had her out doing some office work abroad."

Tsunade lifts a brow. "Seriously? I didn't know it was that deep...no wonder."

"We were keeping her off the radar as much as possible. You know many aging busybodies we have around here."

"Sure do. Well, all done. You seem as fit as ever."

"Hm. Fit enough for you, maybe?"

"Your window was twenty years ago. Try inventing time travel." She pats me on the back as I get up. "Besides, I've a got whole career now. No time for women."

"Tch. Well, I still need to make it up to you for this. Seriously."

She thinks for a moment. "There's some fancy drinks and real nice cuts of meat I want to try. Guess I can have Shizune drop the names off at the hotel. Same one, right?"

"Same one. If it's in country, you won't have to wait longer than a few days. Expedited delivery is pocket change, far as I'm concerned."

"Great. Something to take the edge off after work will be nice. Though I'm just going for it since you insisted. There's a lot of complicated shit going on right now, and I don't want any of it to fall apart. Whatever it takes...I don't want to run away again, or get so scared that I freeze up."

"I don't think there's anything to worry about. Ever since coming back to the village, you've done well by all of us. Especially where Sasuke is concerned..."

"Yeah. Stubborn little kid. But he's doing well for himself."

"Yes. By the by...I was talking to the old man. Something important should be coming your way in a little while, regarding the busybody we were talking about. If you have any questions, no hour is too late for me."

"I'll keep it in mind. Thanks."

"Of course."

She goes towards the door. "I gotta get back to work, so I'll leave you to find your way out. Just one thing before I go."

"What is it?"

Her hand grips the handle before relaxing and sliding off. "Whatever you're about to do next...I have a feeling it'll be something real dangerous, and real stupid to boot. And since I know I can't stop you...I want you to be careful. Make sure you come back to us."

"I promise."

"What..." She spins around, looking upset. "I didn't ask you to do anything that fucking stupid. Don't make-"

"I said what I fucking said. I promise. And you don't get to make me take it back," I reply.

"Fuck's sake! You..." She grumbles and shakes her head, turning again to open the door. "You really are a stubborn bitch, Lili."

"I wouldn't be my charming self otherwise," I say with a smile.

She turns her head and smiles back. "You're right. And that would be a crying shame." Tsunade waves over her shoulder and disappears from sight.

The relief she showed me was enough. Not just the old man...but the weight on her shoulders, too. I want to get rid of it all, by creating a new world for all of us. One where we can finally escape the vicious cycle that took so much already.

And for that...we will need to put in all the work we can.

"Finding my way out won't be a problem. Let's see if we can get a hold of Anko-nee on the other plane."

I focus on my left arm, and the world quickly vanishes from sight.