In Naruto: Reborn With Talent

by Little Merger

A soul was transmigrated into Narutoverse but was refused to be given any sort of insta-OP power, instead, he could choose from three talents. Follow him and his loved ones on their journey to become strong as they pave their own path through the battle-filled world of Naruto. Will they be villains? For some, surely. Will they be heroes? For others, maybe. But anything they do is d

11. 321

In Naruto: Reborn With Talent #Chapter 321 - Ch321. Assassination Attempts - Read In Naruto: Reborn With Talent Chapter 321 - Ch321. Assassination Attempts Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Chapter 321 - Ch321. Assassination Attempts

Kakashi leisurely stood on the side of the bridge, enjoying his book while also making sure his senses of hearing and smell were sharply monitoring the surroundings. This was thankfully shaping up to be one of these boring and slow days where nothing happened and Kakashi was glad for that. He understood and accepted that as a ninja, strife was inevitable but every day without a fight was a win in Kakashi's books.

Zabuza looked a bit annoyed as he sat on the opposite side of the bridge, focusing on maintaining the mist around it. There was no mist on the bridge but the area surrounding it was utterly shrouded in white cloudy substance. It took quite a bit of concentration on Zabuza's side to keep it from spilling onto the bridge but this was the best defense against any ranged assassins. It would block sight for obvious reasons and chakra sensing because the mist was full of chakra, hence, a chakra sensor would see only a big gathering of chakra unless he crossed the mist, which would instantly alert Zabuza.

Naruto was helping with the construction of the bridge alongside his clones henged as workers while Hinata was silently cheering him on. At first, she occasionally turned her Byakugan on and off to scout the surroundings but that brought her quite the headache because of the chakra-infused mist. Now she didn't even bother. Zabuza and Kakashi were very focused and Hinata doubted anyone could sneak close to the bridge without them noticing no matter if she occasionally used her Byakugan or not. Zabuza's mist wasn't the only precaution either. Naruto also had a few clones stationed around, henged as inanimate objects. Somehow, they could still see just fine despite being a rock or a twig.

Sasuke was near Kakashi, practicing Uchiha taijutsu katas while also training with his Sharingan. He was definitely not wasting his time just lazing around like Hinata and Kakashi, and he was not paid for helping with the construction so there was no way he would do that like the dork Naruto.

Kakashi supposed he should have reprimanded Sasuke for not paying attention during the bodyguard mission but he simply couldn't be bothered.

It was around lunch when Kakashi suddenly saw Sasuke's eyes widen and just like that, the Uchiha disappeared only for Tazuna to appear in his spot.

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'Wh-, Kawarimi!' Kakashi's head whipped towards the place where Tazuna stood just a split second ago. He was just in time to see Sasuke bending back, barely avoiding a massive long golden arrow, having it only tear a bit of flesh from his shoulder rather than skewer the right side of his chest.

Sasuke was for the first time in his life glad he was still a kid. Only his small stature compared to Tazuna allowed him to dodge the sneak attack. Gasping for breath, Sasuke's head tilted to the right and his sight instantly fell upon the huge golden arrow struck in the bridge, just an inch from his cheek. Sasuke gulped as he realized his quest for revenge against Itachi and restoration of the Uchiha clan almost came to an end if the arrow was aimed a bit to the side.

"Naruto! Evacuate the workers!" Kakashi shouted and Naruto instantly got to his assigned task. Fortunately, the bridge workers kept their calm and let themselves be led away, surrounded by Naruto's clones for protection.

The two jonins quickly understood their peaceful day was over and somebody was attacking. Zabuza's mist seemed ineffective and that could only mean the enemy had some way to bypass it. As such, Zabuza instantly dissipated the mist, cursing a second later when he realized the attacker stayed a foot away from the mist on the opposite side, not entering it and therefore not alerting Zabuza of his presence.

'But how could he locate Zabuza through the mist! It can't be hearing or smell. The distance is too great for that and my mist would interfere.' Zabuza disgruntledly mused. Something felt amiss to him.

It was then that a big gray ethereal worm-like creature phased through the floor of the bridge, rushing towards the frightened Zabuza who was retreating with the other workers. Only quick interference of Naruto's clones that grabbed the men, lunged them onto their shoulders and jumped out of the way saved them from the creature reaching them. The creatures didn't stop though and a game of cat and mouse started, creating mayhem and panic among the civilian workers. It just became that much harder to do their job for the ninjas.

Hinata's mind instantly comprehended that there must be an enemy who somehow managed to sneak under the bridge. She activated her Byakugan and rushed towards the side of the bridge. Flooding the kunai with her lightning chakra, she made it sharp enough that when she threw it into the ground, it sank handle deep into the stone. Hinata somersaulted over the railing while holding a thin wire fastened on the handle of the kunai. Only channeling chakra into her hands protected them from being cut as she flew through the air, using the length of the wire to propel herself under the bridge.

There was a red-haired woman, using Tree Walking exercise to stick upside down on the ceiling of the underside of the bridge while three humanoid monsters encircled her, one of which was the source of the grey worm.

Thanks to her Byakugan, Hinata still saw the mayhem the worm was causing on the bridge and understood dispatching the creature was extremely important. Needless to say, Hinata sprang forward, running on the ceiling, intending to engage the redhead woman and her apparitions.

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Kakashi and Zabuza wanted to go and confront the archer. Leaving him be was not an option with how accurate he was despite the mist. Now that the mist was gone, letting him shoot more would be suicidal. It was a lifesaver that Naruto's clones henged as inanimate objects were somehow managing to distract him so far, preventing him from interfering.

But their intention to go and deal with the archer was stopped when Raiga appeared on the edge of the bridge, his arms crossed under his chest and dissatisfied scowl marring his face. Kakashi was glad the man didn't sneak attack during the chaos. That would definitely result in losing a member of the team.

Unfortunately, the two jonins now had to deal with Raiga. The choice between a dangerous archer and S-rank lightning-using swordsman was a no-brainer. If they went for the archer, Raiga would slaughter everybody on the bridge. Worse yet, they had no chance of facing Raiga unless they ganged upon him.

Grimacing under his mask, Kakashi shouted towards Sasuke, "Sasuke! Go and deal with the archer! He can't be allowed to shoot!" He didn't like giving Sasuke this task. He wasn't really convinced Sasuke could pull it off but letting the archer do whatever he wanted would definitely decide the battle.

The original Naruto was hiding among the retreating workers, leading them away from the bridge. They were almost at the entrance leading towards the Land of Waves when Naruto's chakra senses started tingling.

Naruto realized he didn't have enough time to completely negate the attack. His hands instantly blurred into a cross-shaped hand seal. "Multi-Shadow Clone Technique!" He shouted, creating hundreds of cannon fodder between the ground and the workers who were being lifted into the air by the growing pile of orange-clad bodies under them.

Every clone of Naruto used their chakra sensing to shift the workers to a position that would hopefully save them from death but they had only a split of a second before massive crystal-like light-purple spikes grew from the ground, skewering everything in their path and popping a huge amount of shadow clones out of existence.

No bridge worker died from the attack and Naruto knew it was due to sheer dumb luck and the fact the target was Tazuna. Another batch of clones grabbed the workers one by one, none too gently, not paying attention if they had broken bones, cut off limbs, or whatever injuries. Then, the clones rushed with their respective workers towards the village, each of them in a different direction to make it harder for the attacker to give chase.

Naruto knew the actual target was Tazuna and didn't think the attacker would go and chase after ordinary workers but it was better to take a precaution than later regret not doing anything.

As for Tazuna... Naruto couldn't lead him to the town. That would endanger the civilians living there. He just saw his hidden opponent attempt to kill tens of men in order to get to Tazuna. As such, Naruto decided to make his stand near the entrance of the bridge just as he finally located his hidden enemy with his chakra sensing.

One of the clones who was about to pass through the entrance of the bridge, carrying a middle-aged man suddenly glowed orange, causing the man to widen his eyes before a sudden explosion deafened the world. From the dust that rose due to the explosion, a shadow jumped out, revealing a blue-haired woman in green kimono as she slid on the ground, a thin crystal-like armor covering her body with multiple cracks scattered all around it due to the explosion. The woman was however unharmed, making Naruto inwardly curse. The explosion was supposed to hurt even jonin and he just realized these crystals would be extremely hard to deal with.

"To think none of our three plans worked." The woman grumbled, watching Naruto's clones in front of her like a hawk. "You are quite good."

Naruto could only wryly smile at the praise.. After all, it was just pure luck that saved the day in this particular situation.

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Chapter 322 - Ch322. Hinata Vs Tayuya

Hinata dashed straight at the monstrous humanoid who was the source of the grey worm, intending to knock it out with one hit. Unfortunately for her, she was spotted far too soon by Tayuya, its summoner.

Tayuya didn't let it show though. Her back was turned to Hinata and it stayed that way. The only thing she did was bring her flute to her mouth, not something an inexperienced ninja would suspect being in any way a threat.

Hinata was almost upon the hulking figure, her palm razing its way through the air towards it while chakra gathered around it. Her goal was almost in her grasp... but suddenly Hinata's eyes widened when the second hulking figure, one holding a massive club, moved to intercept her. It was fast. Too fast for its apparent frame.

Hinata found herself facing a decision. She could strike the figure in front of her and get struck by the club or evade backward.

'Maybe I could deliver the palm strike and go instantly into Kaiten?' Hinata mused as her brain worked overtime to create a valid strategy.

It was then that her ears registered a vibrant sound of music as her opponent started playing her flute. Hinata's very first thought was that it was an instrument that would help the woman with controlling the massive figures but when she saw her chakra's erratic flow...

'Genjutsu!?' Hinata inwardly freaked out and instantly flared her chakra out of several tenketsu, just to be sure.

While it didn't take even a split of a second for Hinata to realize she was caught in a genjutsu and then breaking out of it... in fact, she broke out of it so fast, she didn't even get to see what effect the genjutsu had... her body still stopped advancing and that made Hinata's decision for her.

Realizing she no longer had time to strike and then use Kaiten to avoid the club, Hinata's only option was to forgo the attack and step back, evading the club by a small margin thanks to the precise vision granted to her by the Byakugan and her natural nimbleness.

As the club crashed into the ceiling on which they all stood, Hinata used the situation to her advantage and swapped her Hyuuga fighting style into the Snake Taijutsu Style taught to her by Anko. Her hand instantly grabbed the club and the girl hurled her body above it, snapping her feet towards the humanoid monster holding the club. Her foot smashed into the monster's head with her whole momentum behind the kick, snapping said head back and sending the figure flying. A moment later, the monstrous humanoid poofed into a copious amount of smoke.

'Summon, huh?' Hinata fell to the ground into a crouch briefly pondering if she should use her momentum against the ground as a springboard and try to take out the grey-worm producer nearby when a soft melody entered her ears again.

Tayuya was incredibly shocked when the little girl managed to break out of her genjutsu in under a second. It made her turn around and pay more attention to her own fight. She completely stopped trying her distraction tactics above the bridge and recalled the grey worm back. Her opponent clearly needed her full attention.

Nobody, not even other members of the Sound Four, could manage such a feat! There was a reason why she was one of the four most elite ninjas of the Sound village. Her techniques were special, unexpectable, and the synergy between her genjutsu and summons enabled her to take down most jonins. To think a genin would not only break one of her genjutsu quicker than it would take a jonin to even notice something was wrong... What the fuck was Konoha feeding its kids nowadays!

Tayuya didn't even manage to get out of her first shock when the small girl suddenly completely changed her body movements and the next thing Tayuya knew was that one of her summons was forcefully sent back into its home realm. That shook Tayuya out of her reverie pretty quickly.

She noticed Hinata's eyes calculatingly flicker towards her Doki who was the source of her best weapon, the ethereal grey worms.

'Oh, no, you bitch. No way am I letting you go for it!' Tayuya thought and started playing her flute again, this time choosing a more vicious and immediate genjutsu.

It clearly worked as Hinata flinched and obviously abandoned her plan to press her attack as she retreated back, creating some distance between them.

Hinata inwardly groaned. The last genjutsu took her even less time to dispel than the first one since she expected it but even for that split of a second, she felt a massive surge of pain. It was all mental and her body was completely fine but this only proved her opponent had a way to affect her. That wasn't a very reassuring thought.

'At least it is not four versus one now.' Hinata mused, her mood souring despite the fake cheer she tried to summon, 'Right... it's three versus one. Not a big improvement.' She forcefully calmed herself and focused on her Byakugan.

Sidestepping to the right, Hinata evaded just in time to make the gray worm that emerged from the ceiling under her feet. Her opponent clearly liked to use the phasing ability of these worms to attack but Hinata had an advantage of see-through vision. She was also incredibly disinterested in what would happen should the worm actually land a hit on her. She saw it was composed mostly of spiritual energy and whatever its purpose was, it would not be good for her continuous health.

Tayuya narrowed her eyes when the girl evaded her sneak attack. 'So that is the ability of the fabled Byakugan? It will be almost impossible to hit the girl with those freaky eyes stalking my every move. Dammit. Just my luck...' She disgruntledly cursed in her mind, already forming a plan to resolve this lavender-eyed problem of hers.

"Doki! Go and smash her brain out of her skull!" She shouted.

Hinata noticed one of the humanoid monsters rushing forward with the intention of engaging her. This surprised her while making her quite happy as she ran at it, hoping to even the numbers. She was vastly outnumbered and dealing with the summons was her best bet. She was a Hyuuga and her chakra strikes were powerful enough to send the summons on their way with just one well-aimed hit.

The problem was getting the opportunity to land such a hit with all the dangerous distractions along the way. Whether it was the grey worms or the sound-based genjutsu, if they affected her during an unfortunate moment, it could spell disaster for her.

Hinata wanted to summon Shadow Clones so much but it would be for naught. The sound-based genjutsu would disrupt their chakra flow, dispelling them. It would have been just a waste of chakra.

She and the Doki were almost upon each other when Hinata registered the sound of a flute, flaring her chakra even before a genjutsu could affect her. It still brought her a brief surge of pain and gave the Doki a chance to attack.

This Doki had its upper body naked and on his forearms were strapped claw-shaped devices. It almost managed to hit Hinata with one of them. Only thanks to her inhumanly-trained flexibility was she able to bend backward, go into a bridge position before flipping herself back through the air.

Apparently, Tayuya counted on it and used that particular moment to throw a kunai at Hinata.

Hinata noticed too late. She was mid-air and couldn't dodge the kunai. It was also too close and too fast for her to whip out her own kunai and parry it. There was only one thing she could do.

"Kaiten!"

She spun mid-air, releasing a surge of chakra to the surroundings as a blue spinning ball appeared around her, deflecting the kunai. To be honest, Hinata wasn't happy with being forced to use such a chakra-heavy technique to deflect a normal kunai.

As she was spinning, she suddenly noticed the half-naked Doki figure that almost landed an attack on her opening its mouth, and another grey worm emerged out of it, snapping into her direction. It was honestly disgusting.

Hinata didn't panic. It might be too close for her to evade and she couldn't simply stop Kaiten mid-way. That said, she was mid-Kaiten so the energy-based worm should be easily repelle-

"Got you, bitch!" Tayuya suddenly screamed excitedly.

Before Hinata could comprehend the reason for her opponent's excitement, the grey worm, much to her horror, went right through her Kaiten, passing through her body as if it was intangible.

Hinata got out of her shock and ended her Kaiten, seeing as it was useless against the worm, and jumped back, getting the worm out of her body.

She was... fine? There was no wound or even any injury...

And then vertigo hit her, making her sway on her feet as incredible tiredness spread through her body. Hinata quickly understood that a massive chunk of her stamina was just consumed.

'Well... at least now I know what the worms do.' She thought while wincing at how much weaker her body felt while she started breathing hard. She was a taijutsu-based fighter. Someone who could bypass her best defensive jutsu and sap her stamina was a nightmare to deal with.

Tayuya clicked her tongue. The small girl still managed to stand up after her attack landed? Really? How was that supposed to be genin-level!? Most genins would be unconscious from the grey worm going straight through their heart, the major chakra point in the body. Tayuya depended on genjutsu, which apparently barely worked against the girl. She also mostly used the grey worms' ability to phase through obstacles to land a hit with them. Someone who could see through things was a nightmare to deal with for her fighting style.

'Isn't this bitch my natural enemy?' Both women wryly thought, warily staring at each other as they realized this fight would be a lot more troublesome than they first suspected.

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Chapter 323 - Ch323. Sasuke Vs Kidomaru 1

Sasuke heard Kakashi's order and grimaced as the wound on his shoulder tingled with nervosity. He wanted him to fight the archer who almost killed him!?

'Well... okay, then.' Sasuke thought, trying to muster eagerness for a battle but somewhat failing when images of his head popping like a balloon due to a well-aimed golden arrow emerged in his mind.

Sasuke ran towards the railing, grabbed it, and somersaulted over it, letting his body into a free fall as he pumped it full of chakra. When he finally hit the water surface, a large splash was sent all around while Sasuke's body was at most slightly rattled as opposed to being turned into a broken mess as would happen if he didn't enhance his body. Crouching down, Sasuke sprang forward like a rocket, running straight in the direction of the archer while his Sharingan was in full blaze, hoping to notice any arrow flying at him soon enough that he will be able to dodge.

Yet, even after five seconds of running on the water, no arrow was shot at him and he was almost upon his opponent. Seeing that Naruto's clones that were previously morphed into inanimate objects and strewn around the surroundings were distracting the archer long enough for Sasuke to close in was relieving for the Uchiha. It wasn't as if Naruto was allowed to spread around his traps so, with Naruto's current strength, these clones should be easily dispatched by any competent Jonin in under three seconds. The fact the archer did not have them dealt with already which allowed Sasuke to approach unhindered lessened Sasuke's nerves a lot when he started thinking that maybe his opponent is not all that skilled fighter.

Kidomaru finally popped the last orange nuisance and with the corner of his eye noticed the Uchiha brat closing in. 'Great...' He inwardly groaned, 'Just my luck to get Uchiha as an opponent.'

"Oi, Uchiha! Sto-" Kidomaru was about to try to stop this clash but Sasuke wasn't listening and dashed at him, throwing a punch Kidomaru promptly caught with his lowermost left hand.

"Oi! Time ou-"

Before Kidomaru could take a proper hold on Sasuke's fist, Sasuke jumped into the air and twisted his body, snapping a high kick aimed at Kidomaru's throat. Needless to say, Kidomaru blocked it with the forearm of his middle right arm, scowling in annoyance.

"Uchiha! Listen to me dammi-"

Sasuke used the momentum of his foot clashing with Kidomaru's forearm to spin mid-air on said forearm, making Kidomaru wince which almost prevented him from blocking the follow-up kick aimed at his head. He only barely managed to intercept it with the palm of his uppermost left hand, pushing forward, intending to unbalance Sasuke.

Sasuke however used that to his advantage and pushed against, more like kicked, really, Kidomaru's palm with his foot, launching himself away from the six-armed man. As he was flying through the air, he again twisted his body, intending to land on his feet rather than his head... but he also used this twist to sneak-throw a kunai at Kidomaru's chest.

Kidomaru's eyes widened for a moment. This was actually a pretty good combo and most chunin would fall for it! Not everybody was awesome and had six arms, after all!

The kunai hit Kidomaru's chest... only to shock Sasuke who just landed on the ground a few feet away when the sharp pointy steel uselessly bounced away from Kidomaru with a metallic clang.

"Armor, huh?" Sasuke frowned. Ninjas seldom wore armor as it got in the way too much so he didn't suspect his opponent to wear one either. "Next time I shall aim at the throat."

"Oi, oi, oi, Uchiha brat! It's rude to throw kicks and punches at people when they are talking to you! Nobody taught you manners, huuuuh?" Kidomaru shouted with a tick mark pulsing on his forehead, his lowermost arms crossing on his chest. "Honestly... what do they teach Konoha's brats these days." He disgruntledly muttered.

He couldn't hurt the Uchiha, dammit!

He was already in deep shit because the damn red-eyed bastard had suicidal tendencies! His arrow almost took the brat's head clean off when he swapped places with Tazuna. Try to explain to Orochimaru that the target of his latest obsession was almost killed by you because he jumped into the way of your attack. That shit ain't fun!

Kidomaru already inwardly wept when he imagined the punishment he would certainly be awarded when they came back from the mission. Not only that but now the Uchiha decided to engage him? Was the brat trying to kill him with a borrowed knife!?

'Shit. I can't even rough the brat up! Lord Orochimaru would be most displeased if the Uchiha didn't attend the Chunin Exams. For fucks sake! Why me? Tayuya that bitch! She always got the most luck. I can already imagine her laughing at my misfortune!' Kidomaru inwardly cursed. 'May she choke on Sakon's dick!'

"Look," Kidomaru tiredly sighed, irritably scratching the back of his head with his uppermost right hand, "I don't really want to fight you. Can we call this a day?"

Sasuke blinked at the six-armed man, giving him an Uchiha trademark look reserved for idiots before scoffing, "I won't let you interfere with the other fights."

"Aaaand that's what I was afraid of." Kidomaru mumbled, his eyebrow twitching.

If it was up to Kidomaru, they would just kidnap the Uchiha right here and now. The opportunity was ripe and there was no horde of Konoha ninja just waiting to save their precious boy-wonder. Every Konoha ninja in range was preoccupied. It would have been so easy too. But no! He had no idea why Lord Orochimaru was so hellbent on getting the Uchiha during the Chunin Exams. The singular event when the defenses of Konoha will be dialed up to their maximum setting and the Konoha's ninja force will be fully alert.

"Look, kid. My Lord would be very displeased if I hurt the last Uchiha. Could we... I don't know? Maybe just stand here and pretend to have an argument?" Kidomaru lamely proposed, instantly regretting it when his ears heard how it sounded.

Sasuke lifted his eyebrow at that, "So you are holding back because of this so-called Lord of yours?" He asked, condescendingly smirking.

Kidomaru's eye twitched as he decided he really didn't like this brat. "Yes." He simply said, not trusting to stop himself from adding some special Tayuya-approved words to that statement just to spite the Konoha brat.

"And I assume if you hurt me there would be consequences for you. That's why you stay on the defense." Sasuke's smirk widened the more Kidomaru's expression turned ugly.

"Yes." Kidomaru barely croaked out, hoping, for all that is holy in Orochiland, that the bastard is not intending to do what he suspected would happen next. This brat might one day be his superior if Orochimaru got his way. Kidomaru really didn't want to...

Alas... Sasuke sprang forward, dashing at Kidomaru whose expression twisted in an ugly scowl as he mentally cursed eight Uchiha generations back for raising arrogant pieces of...

Sasuke suddenly dropped low to the ground and aimed a sweeping kick at Kidomaru's ankle since his upper body was protected six times over. Kidomaru jumped, avoiding the sweeping kick, his instincts urging him to return it with a skull-crushing kick to Sasuke's head. He only barely resisted actually throwing one.

Sasuke pushed against the ground with his hands, propelling himself slightly up and to the side in order to evade any possible retaliation while his free leg snapped towards Kidomaru's knee while he was mid-air. Sasuke's kick hit its mark but the Uchiha didn't rejoice. Instead, he was forced to wince as if his foot impacted something extremely hard.

Knowing his combo was forced to a sudden stop by this, Sasuke jerkily spun mid-air yet again, just enough that his hands would reach the ground before he flipped himself back, creating a small distance between himself and Kidomaru.

'This will require a lot more cunning and explosives, won't it?' Sasuke bitterly lamented.

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Chapter 324 - Ch324. Struggle Against Raiga

Kakashi and Zabuza stared at Raiga who stood in front of him while his body language screamed irritation and annoyance to the whole world.

"Thank you for not participating in the assassination." Kakashi suddenly spoke.

He fought against Raiga and knew well that Tazuna would be long dead if Raiga decided to sneak attack him in his lightning mode. Kakashi obviously had a few counter-measures prepared but he was not hundred percent certain they would work.

Raiga grunted in acknowledgment, "It's the fault of Gato and those conceited Sound bitches." He disgruntledly said with a dark dissatisfied look, "If it was up to me, I would have tried assassinating Tazuna the first day he started working on the bridge again. You would have been much more vigilant but also much less prepared."

Kakashi had to admit, Raiga had a point. Deep inside, he wouldn't really mind such an outcome either. He didn't delude himself into thinking they could protect Tazuna if Raiga was dead set on sneakily assassinating him. Anko could probably fight him on equal footing, maybe even slightly overwhelm him, but she definitely was not fast enough to save Tazuna if Raiga got a lucky shot in.

If Tazuna died, Kakashi's team would have failed a mission but they would be alive and well. Kakashi felt a bit ashamed for desiring such an outcome but... it was only natural.

"But no!" Raiga continued with loud exasperation, "The midget suddenly decided that killing Tazuna is not enough. Now he wants all the ninja protecting Tazuna also dead. Worst of all, he wants to do it in an overbearing display of strength to, ahem... 'Show the bastards they should have never messed with the mighty Gato!', or something like that." He mockingly tried to imitate Gato. "I had to wait days for the Sound ninjas to arrive and then they started acting as if they were some hot shit on sale."

"The midget is probably acting out to overcompensate for his height." Zabuza snorted in sympathy. He was a missing ninja for a time. He knew exactly what Raiga was going through. S-rank or not, he had to play nice if he wanted to earn money in a way that didn't include the death of his client and robbing him blind. Alas, having honor was not a very good quality for a missing ninja.

Raiga waved his hand in a 'so-so' gesture before speaking, "I only stayed because I have unfinished business with the Copycat." He jerked his head in Kakashi's direction. "But since you are here, Zabuza, I'll gladly witness how much stronger you got, brat." His lips stretched into a condescending grin as he slowly unsheathed his blades.

"Huh? No threats of brutally murdering me and taking my sword?" Zabuza asked in confusion as he briefly wondered if the man in front of him was really a former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

Raiga just shook his head as if he just heard something absurd. Even if he killed Zabuza, he would not be taking Kubikiribocho for himself. He was too afraid of Mizukage deciding to personally hunt him down for that. He would not risk such a thing.

"Enough talking." Raiga's body was abruptly enveloped with a thin but concentrated coating of lightning chakra. "Your partner received enough time to finish his preparations." His eyes flickered towards Kakashi who slightly tensed.

Raiga stepped back and spun the Kiba blade in his right hand, making its tip aim at the ground before he swiftly intensified the lightning aura around the blade, plunging it to the ground as if it was just butter.

Kakashi grit his teeth as he felt the connection with his shadow clone, who was under Raiga, waiting for the best opportunity to strike, disappear.

'I was right.' Kakashi bitterly thought with a small frown under his mask, 'He can somehow sense his surroundings to an incredible degree! No matter...'

Raiga suddenly widened his eyes, not having enough time to move even with his lightning aura when a massive explosion engulfed him, sending sharp jagged pieces of bricks from underneath him straight at his lower body.

Kakashi smirked. His clone was destroyed but not before it planted the special and extremely potent explosive tag he prepared for this fight. He and Zabuza instantly sprang forward, intending to press this advantage of theirs, hoping Raiga would be injured enough to tip the clash in their favor.

When they were halfway the distance to their target, Raiga suddenly pulsed his chakra, creating a small shockwave that dispersed the dust in the air from the explosion, showing he was completely unscathed.

Unlike Raikage's Lightning Armor, Raiga's Lightning Release: Full Body Activation didn't possess extreme defensive capabilities but it was still made of a dense lightning aura coating his body, hence, an explosion and shrapnel were not enough to penetrate through it.

Unfortunately, neither Kakashi nor Zabuza could use large-scale destructive Jutsu because it would wreck the bridge. As much as they didn't like it, they had to try and engage Raiga in close-quarter combat.

The first to reach Raiga was Zabuza, swinging the Kubikiribocho in a downward arc while putting as much of his strength and weight behind it as he could manage.

Raiga furrowed his eyebrows, remembering that the wielders of Kubikiribocho were always exceptionally gifted strength-wise. He didn't go for a full block, and instead tilted the Kiba blade he raised into a blocking position slightly downward.

Kubikiribocho and Kiba blade clashed, sending a mix of blue and orange sparks into the air as chakra metal ground against chakra metal. Raiga's arm buckled under the weight of Zabuza's strike. His initial assumption was totally correct and Zabuza's strength was massive.

'He must have trained a lot in the last few years.' Raiga idly thought as he tilted the tip of the blocking Kiba blade a bit more towards the ground, slowly letting the Kubikiribocho slide alongside it to the side, mitigating most of the force from Zabuza's strike.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Raiga suddenly heard from behind Zabuza, making him show a surprised expression. He expected Kakashi to team up with Zabuza for the initial strike. That's why he blocked Zabuza's slash with only one of his blades. He needed the second prepared to deal with whatever attack the Copycat pulled out of his ass! He however didn't expect that...

Smoke engulfed both Zabuza and a split second later Raiga as Kakashi used his summoning just a few feet behind Zabuza, using his hulking frame as cover.

"There are eight new chakra signatures." Ranmaru quietly whispered to Raiga from his backpack. "They feel like dogs and are trying to encircle us!"

Raiga's expression shifted back to indifference but his tone contained a hint of irritation. "Tell me when they are about to attack." He mumbled under his nose in a low enough voice that Zabuza had no chance of hearing it.

Kakashi didn't want to waste the smoke from the Summoning Technique. The second his ninja dogs were in positions, all surrounding Raiga from every side, he pulsed his chakra in a special pattern that was established as an order to attack.

Zabuza, knowing what to expect since he and Kakashi discussed possible strategies a lot, put more chakra into his arms, trying to pin Raiga down, maybe even force him to use the second Kiba blade as support against his strength.

As Kakashi's dogs neared their target, Kakashi couldn't help but feel a bad premonition while he was in the middle of doing hand seals necessary to call forth Chidori. He was about finished with them too, when he senses a flicker of lightning chakra originating from Raiga's position, causing him to widen his eyes in alarm. He stopped kneading his chakra for Chidori and instead quickly pulsed his chakra for retreat order but he was far too late.

Out of nowhere, a lightning strike descended straight at Kiba blade blocking Zabuza's Kubikiribocho, causing Zabuza to feel as if a horse kicked him in the chest, all air forcefully left his lungs. Zabuza recognized this technique and knew it was not over yet. He instantly forfeited the clash of blades and jumped slightly back, in the hope to avoid most of the follow-up while putting the blade of Kubikiribocho in front of himself as a makeshift shield.

At this time, Kakashi's dogs were just a few feet from Raiga... but then a surge of concentrated lightning chakra in the shape of a dome spread outwardly from Raiga's position, frying everything in its path. One after another, the dogs burst in smoke, unsummoning themselves because of the extensive burns they suffered.

Zabuza was a bit luckier as he managed to mitigate most of the damage thanks to Kubikiribocho. When the initial surge of Raiga's technique smashed against his sword, it gave Zabuza enough momentum to propel him out of its range. He evaded the worst of it and only suffered small burns.

Kakashi watched the smoke disperse with the burst of the lightning dome, feeling his connection to his summons to disappear one after another in quick succession while Zabuza landed next to him, sliding a bit on the ground to stop his momentum, wincing as his hand was slightly burned.

"We underestimated him." Kakashi darkly muttered as the realization struck him. Raiga was not only a swordsman. Being the Kiba wielder meant also being the foremost expert on lightning techniques in Kirigakure.

"Yeah. We should never have assumed he would rely only on swordsmanship." Zabuza gruffly admitted, miffed at himself for forgetting this fact. In his defense, it was over a decade since Kirigakure actually possessed the Kiba blades. 'Maybe I will be really forced to use that..' He grimaced.

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Chapter 325 - Ch325. Naruto Vs Guren

"I won't let you hurt the old man!" Naruto foolishly exclaimed, pointing at Guren with gusto.

"Heh?" Guren smirked and put her hand on her hip, "You won't let me, you say?"

Before Naruto could again proclaim his answer to the whole world, Guren disappeared from her spot, using the talk as a small momentary distraction.

Naruto noticed too late that Guren was rushing towards him at jonin-level speeds. He could only take a subconscious step back from apprehension as his eyes widened...

Just as Guren reached him, Naruto was almost out of his funk, his hands shooting into the classical cross-shaped seal...

Two things happened at once.

Naruto cast the Shadow Clones which means he was distracted for a split of a second. This allowed Guren to... run past Naruto, straight at Tazuna. Only then did the original Naruto realize he had been had! His opponent was clearly not an honorable ninja!

Guren inwardly snorted, knowing she had already won. There was no way for the blonde moron to reach Tazuna in time to save him and the two clones guarding the old man were no threat at all. Just mere annoyances.

Her mission was clear. Help Gato retain his power over the Land of Waves and make him indebted to the Sound Village. While there was no immediate benefit, Lord Orochimaru surmised being owed a favor by someone like Gato would help with the invasion of Konoha in one way or another. Rich backers were always in demand, after all, and if Sound helped you with underhanded schemes once... well, let's just say expecting to not pay the price and then some was foolish.

Guren reached Tazuna guarded by two Naruto clones and with three hand signs, created two crystal spikes in her hands in an instant, surprising both clones that already steeled themselves to try and buy time for the original. Unfortunately for them, Guren accelerated even further, and before they could even blink, not to mention actually adjust to her new speed, one of them found itself speared through the chest while the other was swiftly decapitated, both poofing out of existence with smoke.

Tazuna fell onto his bum, shaking like a leaf while Guren, half-covered with smoke, menacingly loomed over him, giving him a cold look while holding the two crystal spikes.

At that moment, Tazuna knew he was a goner.

Guren raised her right hand and with a quick swipe, she slit Tazuna's throat with the tip of her crystal spike, her lips stretching into a victorious smile. Even if her group was somehow defeated, forcing them to retreat, with the death of the bridge builder, their mission was as good as completed.

Her smile however froze when Tazuna burst into smoke, revealing it was just another shadow clone. Guren instantly spun around, fiercely looking at the original Naruto who widely grinned. "Got you! Mehehahaha!" He mockingly laughed, pointing at her in the same way he liked to point at Iruka after a successful prank.

"You...!" Guren grit her teeth while her mind worked overtime, trying to come up with Tazuna's whereabouts. Her eyes widened as she realized Tazuna couldn't use Henge. That would mean... "You used the distraction of my previous attack and the retreat of other bridge workers to get Tazuna away unnoticed." Guren's body relaxed but her eyes continued to glare at the grinning prankster.

This was bad. Tazuna was just a civilian and by now, he could be anywhere in the city. There was no way to pinpoint his location through chakra sensing and if he is hidden well, it would be a pain in the ass to locate him. The most viable option would be to reduce the entire city to rubble but... there was no guarantee the bridge builder is actually IN the city. He could just as well be hidden outside of it.

'Not to mention, the Konoha ninjas won't simply let us look for him without intervention. We will first have to defeat them which will give more time to Tazuna to hide and make us a bit tired.' Guren clicked her tongue. The situation didn't look all that favorable for them.

"But... aren't you forgetting something?" Guren sweetly asked, rolling her shoulders.

Naruto was confused. He was quite sure his plan worked. Did he overlook something? No, no, no. That couldn't be. "Stop bluffing." He flatly deadpanned at the blue-haired woman, making her eyebrow twitch.

"My target is gone. That means I will have to satisfy myself by killing you." Guren smirked and her body tensed.

Naruto knew what would follow. He fought against Anko often enough. Guren disappeared in a burst of speed but Naruto was prepared!

Kunai made of crystal abruptly lodged in Naruto's eye socket, its tip exiting from the back of his head, as Guren appeared in front of him with a small disdainful sneer that hid well her own distaste at killing a child.

Guren inwardly sighed, her eyes flickering towards the entrance to the village as she started to contemplate how to locate Tazuna.

She let her guard down so much, she only noticed the chakra surge from the 'corpse' in front of her at the last moment.

Suddenly, a booming explosion shook the ground, sending Guren's body barreling through the air before it hit the ground and started bouncing from it due to the massive kinetic energy that affected it.

Guren only managed to create a crystalline spike and plunge it to the ground in an attempt to stop herself when she was already a few tens of meters away from her initial spot.

'What the fuck was that?' She dizzily thought, her ears ringing and head throbbing. She just ate an explosion point-blank and only thanks to her incredible reflexes did she manage to create a thin covering of crystal armor on her skin. She was uninjured but her body hurt as if she was smashed by a bijuu.

Guren didn't have much time to gather her bearings. Three more Naruto's emerged from the ground near her and proceeded to rush at her. She was still mostly out of it but as jonin, she wasn't as vulnerable as it would seem.

Only two of the three clones managed to evade the thin crystal needles Guren created in the air and hurled at them. Unfortunately for Guren, there was no more room for an additional attack. She hurriedly stood up, slightly swaying on her feet as the crystal spike in her hand transformed into a kunai. She was forced into defence but she wasn't worried her crystal armor should protect her.

The Naruto clones were almost upon her and Guren lowered her body a bit, bracing herself for the upcoming clash. This, however, prevented her from reacting when the clones abruptly changed their directions. Instead of dashing straight at her, they went a bit to the side, one to the left while the other to the right, sliding on the ground to halt when they were right next to her on both sides.

Guren's eyes widened, getting a bad premonition from the wide grins on the clones...

And then she felt deja vu as a familiar surge of chakra emitted from them.

'Fu-' Guren thought as two massive explosions reverberated through the surroundings of the bridge.

A few moments passed and another Naruto slowly and cautiously emerged from the ground a few hundred feet away. "Did I get her?" He quietly asked himself, staring at the smoke-covered place where his clones exploded themselves. The shockwaves from two explosions crashing against each other while her body was in the middle of them should be enough to tear the woman apart inside out. This was Naruto's tactics against jonins. No way would he fight them head-on!

Naruto was about to relax when his senses screamed at him to dodge...

A foot impacted his face with enough force to bust his nose and crack his left cheekbone as he was sent barreling backward through the air.

Guren landed on her feet, instantly having to support herself by grabbing her knees as she heaved and gasped for air. Her body was screaming at her to stop and her head felt as if it was repeatedly smashed into a wall.

She managed to Kawarimi with a crystal clone she had nearby exactly for these kinds of emergencies and only got hit by the initial wave of both the explosions and the subsequent shockwaves. At most, she had nasty bruises all over her body as the crystal armor protected her from both burns and being ripped apart. She could continue to fight. She was used to pain. It was still surprising the genin could do this much to her. She almost fainted from the pain when she didn't expect it and it first hit her!

'I have underestimated the brat too much.' Guren grit her teeth, trying to alleviate some of the pain she felt as she inwardly swore to return it tenfold to the annoying blonde nuisance. 'No more holding back!'

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Chapter 326 - Ch326. Naruto In Pinch 1

Author Note:

I see that many are complaining in comments that this arc is too long. Well, sorry for that guys but it is already finished so nothing I can do about it on that front. Anyway, Let's see... if you don't like this arc, you should probably stop reading till the end of this month? Maybe three weeks?

That's about it.

To be honest, I did have fun writing this arc.

But I fully acknowledge that it might not be as interesting for some and the non-presence of MC can be a huge source of irritation. Yeaaah, I basically screwed up in that way.

--

Guren didn't like killing. Especially killing children. But it was what Lord Orochimaru wanted of her so she gritted her teeth and did her best to fulfill his expectations. The most she could do was to make sure to give painless and quick death to the children she had to dispose of. That's why she held back against Naruto at first. In her eyes, he was a child. An overconfident foolish genin who learned a dangerous technique. Not really a threat.

But this kid showed cunning and enough capability to plan that he could catch even her in a trap. Because she held back, she was almost injured and that simply wouldn't do. Guren knew Lord Orochimaru would be disappointed if he knew about her current situation.

As such, she once again gritted her teeth... and decided to hold nothing back as she attempted to slaughter the blonde annoyance. In her eyes, Naruto ceased to be just an unwitty naive kid.

It took Naruto a few moments to recover from the heavy kick to the head. He shakily stood up, his head still spinning and his cheek intensively stinging. He could feel his cheekbone was cracked and the pain made him involuntarily tear up. But Naruto could also feel the damage already slowly mending itself and knew he had to focus on his enemy.

Guren didn't give him a chance to fully recollect himself though. He didn't get even three seconds of a reprieve since he stood up and Guren was already near him, her hands blurring in hand seals.

Feeling his danger instincts screaming at him, Naruto tried to focus, which was hard with a throbbing head, but, in the end, he managed to notice Guren's intended attack in time and put his all into his chakra senses since it was obvious she would be using ninjutsu.

"Crystalline Bloom!" Guren exclaimed and Naruto could instantly sense chakra gathering under him.

His eyes widened before he hurriedly shifted his body to the side, not having enough time to properly evade before large crystal spikes 'bloomed' from the ground. Naruto barely managed to evade most of it, getting only a nasty large gash on his side rather than being skewered from his groin up to his head.

Sweat rolled down Naruto's forehead as he gasped in pain before forcefully closing his mouth and trying to breathe through the pain while a bit of fear crept up into his eyes. It was times like this that he couldn't help but profusely thank for the brutality Anko called training that helped him refine his chakra sensing enough to predict enemy ninjutsu.

Naruto forced his body to jump back, distancing himself from the crystal construct that struck him. He had no idea if Guren could use it for an additional attack so it was better to get the hell away from it.

Naruto landed on the ground, instantly swaying as his injury flared up with more pain because of the impact of his jump. He wasn't given the time to overcome it though. His chakra sensing instantly alerted him to numerous crystal senbon flying straight at him and Naruto did his best to somehow scramble out of the way.

That didn't help him much as he was still hit by many of them but instead of hitting a vital place, because he moved the senbon now embedded themselves in relatively unimportant spots.

Naruto almost let out a relieved breath... until the chakra in the senbons flared, causing dread to fill his eyes while he started pumping his chakra towards the places where these senbons struck him.

Not unlike the crystal spikes, these senbons also 'bloomed', creating small bur razor-sharp crystal shards inside Naruto's body, tearing junks of flesh from him and scrapping numerous bones. Naruto screamed and fell to his knees as he became a literal pincushion of small crystal spikes. The only reason why he survived was that he protected his vital organs with his chakra.

'Now I understand why Anko-nee was always so brutal with us.' Naruto winced and dryly chuckled. His body screamed in unholy pain but... it wasn't the worst he had in his life. Anko could do much worse with much less.

Naruto pushed himself back onto his feet through sheer willpower while ignoring as his pain-receptors flared... he only barely managed to put his arms in front of his head before Guren's kick impacted his forearms with enough force to crack them and send him uncontrollably rolling on the ground.

'I have no choice.' Naruto realized as his body was bouncing against the hard bricks of the bridge. He didn't want to use it but the woman was too strong. He could fight chunins without a problem but he had no chance to even start fighting back now. 'Thinking I could manage just because I initially surprised her was a bad idea.' Naruto inwardly scolded himself.

Guren wanted to do another follow-up attack on the rolling boy. She could still feel he was alive and the sooner she ended this, the better. She was almost about to jump at him again when something changed. The body of her opponent suddenly flared with a red chakra cloak, going straight for three tails.

'Jinchuuriki!?' Guren's eyes widened while she inwardly cursed and started to strengthen the crystal armor on her body.

The now feral boy in front of her slowly stood up, her crystal needles and the shards created by them shattered into dust from the sheer intensity of the chakra cloak around the boy. Guren winced at that. She would have to pack much more chakra into her crystal constructs if she wanted to make them capable of getting through the dense chakra of the bijuu cloak. The worst part... she could see the gash on his side and numerous holes in his body healing at a visible pace, fast enough that Guren would be hard-pressed to intervene even if she discarded her caution.

Naruto wasn't rampaging. He retained the clarity of his mind thanks to the training he underwent with Anko. As such, the moment he was healed enough to move, he disappeared in a burst of speed and appeared in front of Guren, punching her in the midsection.

His hand went right through her stomach, and for a second Naruto thought he got her good... before the Guren in front of him shattered into pieces of crystal that quickly dispersed into the air.

Realizing he fell for a trap, Naruto felt a chakra spike behind him and was about to turn when he suddenly felt a piercing pain from his thigh. Looking down, he noticed a sturdier-than-normal crystal spike going right through the middle of his thigh, only barely missing the bone.

Naruto's pupils dilated. This attack was not aimed to injure him but to pin him down! He quickly flared his chakra, pushing the air around him away which created a small shockwave.

This saved him as it redirected the follow-up attack. Another crystal spike, instead of skewering him through the middle of his back, veered off its course and went through his right hip before splinting into multiple razor-sharp shards, not unlike the previous senbons, just at a much larger scale.

Fortunately for Naruto, most of the spike was outside of his body when that happened so only his right side was totally shredded, causing him to look like some half-human, half-crystal-shard creature. If the attack went through his upper stomach as intended, Naruto would most likely miss his upper body completely.

Howling in pain, Naruto brutally tore himself away from the massive crystal shard, leaving chunks of his flesh on its spikes and blood started oozing out of his massive open right side. His organs stayed in their place only because his chakra kept them there. Otherwise, they would be already spilled on the ground.

Naruto was openly crying from the pain, but his head was still clear. The wound was closing quite quickly so that was no concern. But he knew his opponent would not just wait for him to heal.

Guren inwardly clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. Her attack failed but it did manage to injure the brat. She sneaked behind him, intending to use his distraction from the pain to deliver a fatal blow. Kyuubi chakra or not, a blade through the brain should still kill him... no?

Unfortunately for her, Naruto was trained to withstand massive amounts of pain due to his sadistic 'sister'. He wasn't as distracted as Guren hoped and the second she got behind him, Naruto spun on his heel, surprising Guren enough to make her reaction speed lag a bit. She only got out of her reverie when Naruto's fist smashed against her chest, creating multiple web-like cracks in her crystal armor and sending her flying through the air with the velocity of a cannonball.

Naruto grinned victoriously, knowing his punch in this form was almost on par with Anko when she was half-serious. That was still enough to liquefy everything in the chest of his opponent.

His grin froze and his expectations were betrayed when Guren slowly stood up, taking a deep breath and shook herself out of the daze before looking at Naruto with a conflicted gaze.

"If I didn't have my crystal armor, that would have killed me." She respectfully nodded at Naruto. "You are indeed an impressive young man. I am just sorry I have to end your journey here."

Naruto realized she was utterly unscathed. Her armor absorbed all the force behind his attack.

'Isn't she basically unbeatable for me!?' He mentally screamed, wondering if he would have to go further than three tails and shuddering with knowledge of what it would do to his body. Not to mention, he couldn't control it yet. 'No... not yet.. I am the prankster king of Konoha! I will find a way!' He desperately thought.

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Chapter 327 - Ch327. Naruto In Pinch 2

The fight between Naruto and Guren continued, becoming only more and more crazed as time went on.

Naruto lost count on how many times he evaded certain death by the slightest margin. Once Guren realized he had an immense healing factor, she started aiming at spots that would be a one-hit kill even for him. Naruto managed to dodge but it usually ended with one of his limbs being separated from his body, his guts spilling out, or similar debilitating injuries. By now, Naruto was not even feeling the pain, his brain too used to it.

Guren, on the other hand, was becoming more and more fed up. She also lost count of how many times she missed the killing blow. During the exchange, Naruto managed to land a hit quite a few times, whether with a physical blow or a Jutsu, but unfortunately for him, her armor prevented any damage from reaching her body. It was obvious the kid had no Jutsu in his arsenal that could harm her.

That said, Guren was also getting nervous and frustrated. She couldn't just stand in her spot and take hits. She had to dodge and keep out of Naruto's attacking range. She was doing hit and run tactics for the entirety of the fight and it took a toll on her mind.

While Naruto could not pierce her armor with a single blow, he was still a jinchuuriki using three tails of his bijuu's power. One strike could crack her armor enough to make the second strike count. She still had to be very careful in this fight.

Guren has lost count of how many times she has repaired her crystal armor by now. Only her depleting chakra reserves were an indicator she was not as unscathed as she outwardly appeared. It was obvious that while she could go on for two more hours with this pace, at this rate, the young jinchuuriki would outlast her unless she landed a killing blow.

The fight was one bloody stalemate full of gore, one combatant desperately trying to stay alive while the other desperately trying to kill him in one strike as nothing else would work.

"Haaa~." Guren took a deep breath and straightened up, looking at the gasping Naruto in apathy. "You are the most irritating brat I had the displeasure to fight against."

She had to admit, there was a bit of admiration for the boy growing inside of her. For the last thirty minutes, he was on the very edge between life and death, yet, he didn't make even a single mistake. Just one would have been enough for her and his head would sport a new addition of a crystal spike going through it. As much as this feat impressed her, Guren was also annoyed to the extreme. She had to relax her body and mind for a second because the frustration was slowly gnawing at her efficiency and she almost made a few mistakes in the last five minutes of their fight. That's why she spoke.

"T-Than-ks." Naruto half-gasped, half-hissed in between his labored breathing. He didn't dare to answer with more than one word lest his focus slips. He couldn't afford that.

His carefulness paid off when he felt a surge of chakra from behind, causing him to throw his body forward, only barely noticing a crystal clone with two crystal spikes growing out of its forearms, skewering the air in the place where his body was just a second earlier.

Naruto wasn't able to pay more attention to the clone. He felt another chakra surge... again from behind him, realizing he dodged towards where the real Guren stood. Diverting his momentum by forcefully pushing himself to the side, he evaded a crystal spike hurled at him by the real Guren that instantly bloomed into a razor-sharp crystal shard made of multiple crystal spikes.

Rolling on the ground, Naruto flipped his body into the air with just enough force to get himself back onto his feet...

And he had to quickly duck again as a katana made of crystal passed just an inch above his head. His downward momentum was cleverly used to spin his body towards his attacker as Naruto delivered a punch to her guts, shattering her into multiple small crystal shards. From experience, Naruto knew what would follow. That's why he jumped back, barely a second before these crystal shards exploded with a multitude of crystal shrapnel.

Despite his efforts, his body was still blanketed with this shrapnel and he only managed to cover his face with his arms at the very last moment.

One surge of his chakra later, the splinters embedded in his body were crushed to dust and his wounds started healing.

Naruto inwardly cursed as Guren certainly didn't let this opportunity go unanswered. He had to lean back in order to evade a downward ax kick but the follow-up punch got him good in his gut, causing his feet to lift from the ground as he was forced to hunch over Guren's fist while the air was driven out of his lungs as he thanked his luck that it wasn't one of her crystal clones because that would mean his stomach would have sported a new hole by now.

Since it was Guren herself, he had a split of a second before she created a crystal gauntlet with spikes around her hand.

This split of a second was fruitfully used by Naruto as he lashed out with his fist, smashing it into Guren's shoulder without really aiming. His desperate attempt succeeded and Guren was launched backward... brutally ripping the half-formed crystal spikes covered in blood and Naruto's intestines out of his gut.

Naruto fell to the ground onto all four as he coughed up blood. He could afford a very brief moment of reprieve. Guren was sent flying and rolling on the ground which meant he had around four seconds before her crystal clone reached him.

Calculations, plans, strategies were formed and discarded in Naruto's brain at a pace that would have surprised even Nara. All in order to survive.

Exactly three and half-second later, Naruto raised his head, looking straight at the crystal clone next to him that was swinging crystal kunai at his neck. He let the chakra he was building up for the past two seconds spike to the max, creating a shockwave that was sufficient to crack said crystal clone. With this crack, the clone was weakened enough to shatter and disperse into the air before it could fully deliver its strike. Naruto still got a small and very shallow wound on his neck but it barely reached past his skin.

Naruto felt like shit but more importantly, he felt the chakra of around twenty senbon-like crystal projectiles flying at him. The real Guren clearly already shrugged off his attack. Deciding that jumping into the air would be too risky, Naruto gritted his teeth and smashed his fist into the ground in front of him. The floor of the bridge rose, creating a wall in front of Naruto that intercepted the crystal projectiles before they exploded into more crystal shrapnel which was also stopped by the wall.

Naruto really didn't want to use the bridge this way. He tried to evade damaging it as much as possible but... he no longer had the leeway to mind Tazuna's efforts and feelings. His life was more important.

He hardly finished getting himself back on his feet when Guren appeared in front of him with a burst of speed, her hand cocked back in preparation for a punch. Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized he had a huge problem.

There were three new chakra signatures. One to his right, one to his left, and one behind him. He quickly realized Guren took out the big guns and created three more crystal clones. Something which must have affected her chakra reserves quite a lot.

Naruto was presented with a choice. Getting rid of the clones and making himself vulnerable to Guren's punch to the face or blocking Guren's punch while letting the clones skewer or slash him into pieces. It wasn't really a hard choice.

A second passed and another shockwave spread out of Naruto's body as he wildly flared the bijuu chakra. It wasn't as strong as the previous shockwave but it managed to destroy the clones before they delivered their attacks. The real Guren, however, wasn't even slowed down by this kind of shockwave as her fist barreled through the air towards Naruto's face.

The world slowed down for Naruto while his breath hitched and his eyes widened as he realized his gamble didn't pay off as he hoped. Around Guren's fist, a crystal covering started to form. He knew what that meant. Worse yet, he had no chance to evade it! Her fist would collide with his face and promptly form a spike of crystal through his head!

Naruto tried to lean his head to the side, aiming to get his brain out of the way and letting Guren's spike go through his mouth and cheek rather than anything important. His life flashed in front of his eyes as Guren's fist approached, a victorious gleam passing through her eyes.

Naruto was not the only one who tried to make the most of the situation. Guren also tried to adjust the position of her punch to ensure her spike would go through Naruto's brain. It was a battle of wills and wits and Naruto's life and death depended on the next moment.

Guren's fist came close to Naruto's face... Ten inches, five inches, one inch...

Naruto prepared for an impact and planned to jerk his head to the side the second it came...

Guren prepared to twist her fist the second it impacted Naruto's head, intending to ram the crystal spike that was starting to form straight through Naruto's brain...

Both had expressions of utmost concentration and refused to give in.

And then...

The world froze alongside both Naruto's and Guren's minds.

Naruto realized first what happened and his eyes relaxed while his body slumped down before he fell onto his bum and released a long and strained sigh of utmost relief and happiness.

Guren blankly stared at her wrist that was now tightly held by an unknown hand, the scene of her fist just an inch from the brat's face replaying in her mind. She forced her head to robotically turn towards the bastard that stopped her attack... only to realize it is actually a bitch!

"The most amazing and sexiest but unfortunately unavailable Anko Mitarashi has just arrived!"

Anko loudly exclaimed with a big shit-eating grin, enjoying the looks of pure frustration on both Naruto and his blue-haired would-be killer.

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Chapter 328 - Ch328. Anko Has Arrived! 1

Before Guren could recollect her wits, Anko used the fact she was gripping her wrist and jerked her forward, unbalancing her. Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem for an experienced kunoichi but Guren was quite distraught and the move worked, making her stumble forward.

Before anyone could react, Anko's free hand snapped forward, smashing into Guren's midsection. The force behind the blow was massive but so controlled, Guren wasn't sent flying because it washed through her in a manner that only affected the organs in her stomach before leaving her body through her lower back. This caused the woman to bend over Anko's fist and release a silent scream of pain.

Her intestines instantly liquefied and a resounding snap announced to the world that her spine broke too. Both Anko and Guren knew better though. The part of Guren's spine located on her lower back broke in seven different places, completely paralyzing her.

To be honest, Anko thought Guren should be glad she controlled the force behind her punch enough to go around her spine, otherwise, it would have liquified too. Alas, after seeing Guren's abilities, Anko deemed her too precious to just kill. Capturing her and sending her to the Village on the Other Side through Lady Tsunade would earn her more benefits.

If Guren decided to cooperate and join the Other-sided village... that was not Anko's problem. She knew well that everybody had their price. It was only the question if the Other-sided village had the means to find out and afford Guren's. And if not, well, Some research material that would help Lady Tsunade in her hobby of bloodline-recreation was always welcomed.

That was also why Anko quite admired the administration of the Village on the Other Side. Their ninjas would be hard-pressed to betray them... not because they knew of all the precautions against betrayal the village had but... because the benefits the village provided could simply not be found anywhere else.

Guren slowly slid off Anko's fist, falling down onto the ground like a marionette whose strings were cut while Naruto watched with wide disbelieving eyes at the spectacle.

"That easy?" He grimaced, looking as if he was constipated.

Anko grinned, "After surviving Lady Tsunade's boot camp, dealing with scrubs like this should pose no problem to your awesome sister!" She proudly proclaimed to the world without any shame, putting her hands on her hips and straightening her back while raising her nose high into the sky.

Naruto could only groan, not in the mood for Anko's boasting. "Why were you so late?" He petulantly asked while starting to slowly cancel the chakra cloak around him, trying to make the transition as gentle as possible for his body.

"I had to deal with a lot of thugs all around the town. Killing them was easy but finding them took time." Anko's eyes softened, "I had faith in your ability to survive, you know?" ... 'Plus getting his stuffing beaten out of him in a serious life-threatening battle was good training for him. When sparring against me, he knows there is no danger of him dying no matter how much I hurt him. This will be good for his growth. No pain, no gain, as they say. It was definitely a delight to watch too' She inwardly snickered. 'Not that he has to know about that particular part.'

Naruto smiled, taking his well-earned praise. Unfortunately for him, this was also the moment when his chakra cloak fully dissipated, causing him to feel as if a bijuu smashed him. The strain on his body was enough to make him slump onto the ground and disable him from any kind of movement. At most, Naruto could move his lips and eyes and even that was kinda hard for the exhausted boy.

Recognizing that the after-effects from the bijuu cloak started to kick in, Anko created a shadow clone that proceeded to unceremoniously put Naruto on her shoulder, not minding his painful wincing or silent protests. The boy was hurt badly during his fight and while the chakra cloak healed him, now that its effects were gone, Naruto's body felt all the trauma it was forced to go through. It was overly sensitive and even the slightest of motions brought extreme pains to the boy.

"Oh, man up! I can't leave your helpless self here, in the middle of the battlefield." The real Anko rolled her eyes. She didn't know Raiga Kurosuki but the man was fast. As such, Anko decided it would be better not to leave any sort of temptation lying around. Who knows if the man would have used Naruto as hostage once he found himself in deep shit.

Anko's clone then approached the paralyzed Guren and gently took her body into a princess carry, ignoring the intense and pain-filled glare the woman was giving her. She couldn't just uncaringly slump her over her shoulder. All that held Guren's lower and upper body together were her abdominal muscles, which were a mangled mess.

"Get well, kiddos!" Anko exclaimed, playfully swatting Naruto's butt with a massive grin, causing the blonde to spasm and thrash from the intense pain that surged through his body. He felt that swat all the way on the skin of his scalp! It hurt like a bitch!

Aware that Naruto was silently cursing her in his head, Anko was satisfied and sent the clone off on its way.

"Now then, she looked around, where to next." Anko mused to herself but her question was answered a moment later when she winced from memories of her clone that just popped out of existence. Hinata's location was found.

Anko approached the edge of the bridge and slowly walked on its side, heading towards the place where Hinata faced her opponent.

Anko didn't instantly reveal her presence though. She first observed for a minute, briefly wincing in pain every time she heard the melody of the flute. The genjutsu wasn't very effective against her. After all, it was Anko who taught Hinata how to properly counter them and after Lady Tsunade's training, this pain was nothing special, but it was still akin to an annoying sting. Especially so, because Anko could and did turn her pain receptors off after the redhead's Jutsu first hit her. But it was to no effect. The pain caused by this genjutsu was more mental than physical...

Hinata was faring well. The girl had no wounds on her body. She nimbly and gracefully evaded every attack of her opponent but Anko could see the small tremors in Hinata's body. The girl was obviously gritting her teeth hard to resist the accumulated pain and it was putting a lot of strain on her mind.

It only made the fact she was not yet hit despite facing three opponents that much more admirable.

Hinata's opponent... Anko almost blanched when she noticed the marks of activated Cursed Seal spread on the redhead's body. That at least explained whose flunkies were these ninjas. If it was her past self, she would no doubt already jump at the redhead, screaming like a monkey while trying to kill her in a blind rage full of hate. Alas, that part of Anko was beaten out of her by Lady Tsunade. Instead, Anko carefully analyzed the situation.

The redhead wasn't hurt either as Hinata didn't manage to get past the two hulking humanoid summons. The girl was trying to mask it with all the vulgar things she screamed at Hinata but she was subtly using her speech to cover her gasping for air. Clearly, she was utterly exhausted.

'So that is why she already used the seal, huh? Somebody is running on fumes!' Anko proudly thought.

Based on Guren's prowess, if the bluenette was the leader, the redhead as her subordinate should be at the low-to-mid Jonin level. The fact Hinata could fight her to stalemate and even force her to activate the seal... Anko was immensely proud! The girl desired a cookie and Anko would make sure she would get one.

But, 'The fighting style of the redhead... I gotta capture her too.' Anko unwillingly thought, a bit of dissatisfaction welling up in her heart.

On one hand, the girl probably had a lot of information on Orochimaru and would no doubt be a great asset with her ability to weaponize sound-waves without any sort of device, on the other hand, Anko felt this need to beat her up the second she saw the activated Cursed Seal. Obligation or personal satisfaction... that was the question.

And Anko had a hard time deciding which to choose.

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Chapter 329 - Ch329. Anko Has Arrived! 2

The battle between Hinata and her opponent intensified, and Tayuya decided to activate the second stage of her Cursed Seal, causing her skin to darken and horns to grow from her head.

Anko's eyes widened at the sight. 'Orochimaru improved the Cursed Seal to this degree!?' Her jaw slightly dropped. It was ridiculous. The redhead became twice as strong as before while Nature Energy was being sucked into her body.

It wasn't Sage Mode, that much Anko could tell. It was some kind of inferior bastardization of the real thing but it still provided a substantial boost to the user.

'Then again... I doubt Orochimaru is generous enough to not incorporate some nasty hidden features.' Anko wryly thought while rubbing her 'Rei-remastered' former Cursed Seal, remembering the piece of his soul that Rei pulled out of its original version.

But Anko didn't have time to reminisce about the time when her time changed for the better. It was time to intervene in the fight since Hinata, as good as she was hiding it, was becoming too tired to continue without getting hurt. And in this kind of fight, where both fighters are in a stalemate, one wound would most likely decide the winner.

Anko hid behind the corner and quietly used the Summoning Jutsu while trying to make as little smoke as possible, calling forth a yellow-ish snake.

"Pochi!" Anko grinned, causing the snake to disgruntledly hiss at her.

"Why did you call me, bitch?" Pochi grumbled. He disliked Anko since he was old enough to understand he was stuck with the name 'Pochi' because his parent had the bright idea to let Anko name him.

"I need you to dig yourself a hole in the ground-"

"Fuck you." Pochi hissed out but Anko simply ignored him.

"-and sneak attack the dark-skinned redhead when she is about to play her flute. Make sure to snatch it from her since it is her primary weapon. Can you do that for me?" She asked with a small gentle smile. As rude as he was, Pochi was always her favorite tsundere.

"... Fine." Pochi petulantly averted his gaze. Anko was still his summoner so he supposed he was duty-bound to help her with her insignificant problems.

Pochi submerged into the bridge, using his Earth Release. This was the reason why Anko chose him among all of her many summons. Pochi was born with an incredible innate talent for Earth Manipulation which made him into an incredibly good and undetectable ambusher.

"Time to do my part, I guess..." Anko sighed.

Not far from the place where Anko was hidden, the battle between Hinata and Tayuya was starting to enter its deciding moments. Tayuya entered the second stage of her Cursed Seal, getting a boost in both potency and volume of her chakra which made her genjutsu that much more impactful.

Hinata barely dodged the claws of one of Tayuya's summons, flinging a kunai at Tayuya who leisurely sidestepped it.

Tayuya's second summon, the one looking like a mummy, suddenly rushed at Hinata who was still mid-air, and threw a punch at her. Hinata managed to start Kaiten, countering the force in the punch, sending it back at the summon, and toppling him to the ground. She was however forced to stop her Kaiten and twist her body mid-air because a Grey Worm was almost upon her and she had no intention to let herself be hit by it again.

Hinata landed on the ground in a crouch, and her eyes widened as her Byakugan noticed the smirking Tayuya taking a deep breath, about to start playing her flute.

'I am trapped!' That's when Hinata realized her position. Grey Worm above her, turning its head towards her, the clawed summon with the bare torso in front of her, already starting his next attack, and the mummy summon to her right, releasing the second Grey Worm that was on this way to attack her... if Tayuya managed to pin her down for two seconds with pain, there was a high chance Hinata would not be able to avoid the following attacks.

Tayuya inwardly cheered and Hinata braced herself...

Both girls were utterly flabbergasted when in the next moment both summons were blown away into the air by a shockwave so strong it took them a second to realize how much damage was caused to them before they poofed away.

Tayuya suddenly found herself trapped as a yellow snake tightly coiled around her body, locking her in place. Worst of all, it snatched her flute from her hands as she was about to play. It was the moment when her hold on her flute was the weakest as she had to use her fingers to cover holes on her flute to produce certain sounds, meaning she couldn't muster any sort of resistance when the snake's jaws suddenly pulled the flute out of her fingers. Not even her enhanced physical prowess from the second stage of her Cursed Seal was any help and Tayuya realized she was fucked.

Hinata suddenly realized Anko was crouching in front of her with a proud smile. It was obvious the woman saved her from the defeat and Hinata was very grateful for that.

"Well, look at that! You did well, girl!" Anko praised, ruffling Hinata's hair. "Leave the rest to me."

Hinata tiredly nodded and weakly smiled before she let go of her intense focus, passing out. Withstanding the momentary intense pains caused by Tayuya's genjutsu while fighting the summons was way above her paygrade. She only stayed conscious because of her mental fortitude. Any ordinary genin would have fainted from the pain long ago.

"Ah, well..." Anko stood up, seallessly creating a shadow clone that started tending to Hinata, using a spiritual healing technique that would alleviate the mental pain of the girl. The original Anko didn't want to think about it. Such advanced stuff always brought her headaches. Better leave it to clones.

"What to do with you." Anko gave Tayuya an appraising look, threateningly narrowing her eyes and subconsciously licking her lips in a way that made the redhead shudder before she even realized it.

Tayuya was slowly coming out of her shock, realizing the situation she found herself in. Her summons were all taken out and she didn't have her flute. 'Welp, I am fucked, ain't I?' She fearfully thought. The fact it was Orochimaru's disciple, the snake summon was a dead give-away, who was supposed to hate everything even remotely connected to the guy in front of her, made Tayuya quite clear about the fate that is awaiting her at Anko's hands.

"Just kill me already." Tayuya resignedly grumbled, scowling at Anko. It took a supreme effort to not add 'bitch' to her sentence. Anything that would most likely earn her torture was to be avoided in her current situation though. She tried to wiggle out of the snake coiled around her but it was just a futile effort.

"Oh? So eager to die?" Anko teased, slowly walking closer to the restrained redhead. Pochi suddenly jerked his head, throwing the flute at her and when Anko expertly caught it, any hope of escape... escaped Tayuya.

"Not really." Tayuya sighed, "It doesn't matter. The mission is a bust. Even if I return, at worst I will be punished in a way that would make me beg for death-" Tayuya knew well about the many ways ninjas, and especially kunoichi, could be punished in Sound. She was not eager to be on the receiving side. That was the whole point of becoming one of the strongest ninjas of the village. "- or at best, I would be killed outright in a painless and quick way."

"Why work for Orochimaru, then?" Anko furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what kind of masochists her former mentor was gathering.

"I can't! Anyone who has the Cursed Seal can be killed any time Lord Orochimaru desires." Tayuya irritably answered in a low, complaining tone. She didn't like the weirded-out and careful look Anko was throwing at her. 'I am not a masochist, dammit!' She inwardly screamed.

'So Orochimaru implemented a kill switch into his Cursed Seal? Huh, who would have thought he retained enough mental clarity to do something smart like that.' Anko amusedly hummed before widely grinning at Tayuya who suddenly got a bad premonition.

"If I manage to disable the kill-switch in the Cursed Seal... would you be willing to change sides?" Anko asked, her grin only widening. "The Senju Household could use a maid."

And Tayuya had to resist the loud instinctual 'Fuck you!' that wanted to exit her throat.

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Chapter 330 - Ch330. Sasuke Vs Kidomaru 2

Sasuke kicked towards Kidomaru's face. His foot was naturally blocked as he expected. He fought the six-armed creep for a few minutes now and gained quite the knack for predicting his movements with his Sharingan. Using the forearm with which Kidomaru blocked his kick, Sasuke propelled his body towards the ground, twisting his body mid-air to land on his feet into a crouch before he used the momentum to spring himself back at Kidomaru.

Sasuke would never use this tactic against somebody who fought back. It would have been too dangerous to get to such close proximity even against a jonin who has only two arms, not to mention one who has six and can expertly control them. Unfortunately for Kidomaru, he wasn't intent on fighting back and Sasuke deemed going up and personal safe enough.

Sasuke's fist razed its path through the air, heading towards Kimmaro's chin while Sasuke's Sharingan lazily spun, analyzing every twitch in Kidomaru's muscles in order to come up with the best strategy.

As expected, Kidomaru again lazily blocked Sasuke's punch... and was promptly surprised when Sasuke used the sudden stop in his momentum to flip his lower body higher than his upper body and sent a strong kick at Kidomaru's chest.

As surprised as Kidomaru was, he was still a jonin and had five more arms at the ready. Sasuke didn't get more than a slight widening of his eyes as a reaction before his kick was blocked... again.

Kidomaru gave Sasuke an amused look, knowing the kid's combo ended there because he simply lacked the necessary momentum to continue. What he didn't expect, however, was Sasuke whipping out kunai and throwing it at Kidomaru point-blank while his body was slowly starting to fall towards the ground.

As he casually leaned his head to the left, letting the kunai harmlessly pass by his cheek by an inch, Kidomaru had to admit the kid deserved a bit of praise. He even used his body's descent to cover his action of taking out the kunai, making his opponent notice at the last possible moment! Unfortunately for him, Kidomaru had the best eyes out of the Sound Four, and noticing things was his specialty.

That's why, when he noticed Sasuke's slight smirk, he got confused. At least, until Sasuke in front of him disappeared in a burst of smoke, from which immediately a kunai quickly emerged with a great velocity. Kidomaru was utterly unable to react due to its incredible suddenness and the kunai hit his throat... before uselessly bouncing from his golden armor. Sweat rolled down Kidomaru's forehead as he realized he would have been a goner if he didn't have a thin layer of his armor on his skin.

He didn't get time to ponder about it as not even a split of a second later, he felt the air currents behind him shift, causing him to hurriedly turn around with his arms defensively in front of his face.

The first thing Kidomaru noticed after turning around were two excited red eyes with three tomoes madly spinning in them. The second was Sasuke's foot getting through his hastily raised defense, pushing through all of his arms. And then Sasuke's foot smashed into Kidomaru's face with his entire weight behind it.

Kidomaru's body lifted from the ground as he was head-first sent flying back from the impact before he hit the ground, which shook him out of his shock. He bounced from it, using it to flip himself back onto his feet, holding his bleeding nose with one of his hands, staring at Sasuke in bewilderment.

"Wha wa dat!" Kidomaru exclaimed through his nosebleed. He was naturally not much injured. His face couldn't have a thick enough layer of his armor covering his skin to prevent all the damage but it did mitigate most of it. He was more surprised that Sasuke devised a way to get through his defenses than hurt.

Before Sasuke could even start contemplating if he should answer, Kidomaru got another shock of a lifetime when a kunai smashed into the right side of his neck with such power, he choked and bent his head to the right. Needless to say, this scared him shitless.

A split second later, Kidomaru was already turning around, brandishing his arms in an attempt to hit whoever sneak attacked him. The attacker, however, just jumped back, evading Kidomaru's reckless flailing of his hands.

'Anko?' Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows at the scene, marveling at the masterful use of distraction he provided to sneak in a killing blow. Just a pity Kidomaru's armor stopped the kunai from doing anything more than going skin-deep and drawing a bit of blood while also giving him neck cramps because of how much brutal strength Anko used in that swing. 'She would sooner break his neck than slice it...' Sasuke sweat-dropped, 'As expected from Lady Tsunade's apprentice.' And his lips twitched.

Kidomaru found himself subconsciously shivering. He knew best how close he came to death. 'That could have either broken my neck or slit my throat!' He fearfully gulped, not daring to let Anko leave his sight while reinforcing the armor all over his body. That was not the main problem, however. Kidomaru might not be a chakra sensor but he was the most observant member of the Sound Four and the woman managed to sneak up on him, only letting him notice because the kunai already impacted his throat.

Sasuke was at this point half-forgotten by the six-armed man. The boy posed almost no threat compared to the woman who almost killed him without him even realizing how.

"Heh, so you are the last member of the Sound Team? Well, the crystal user is already defeated and the redhead decided to side with us after some... gentle... persuasion." Anko smiled like sunshine, "In short, you are already fucked, spider-boy."

Kidomaru would obviously not believe an enemy. He mentally contacted his spider summon on the bridge that allowed him to target Tazuna through the heavy mist with pinpoint accuracy... and found out the woman told him the truth!

"Ah... I knew Tayuya was a bitch but to think she is also stupid enough to betray us... Screw this shit, I'm out." Kidomaru wryly whispered before he quickly threw a smoke bomb under himself and started running away. Fighting a woman that managed to incapacitate Guren in one punch? That was way above his pay grade even if the supposed attack was a sneak attack.

Sasuke wanted to pursue the six-armed man but Anko's hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks and making him give her a pondering look. He had no idea why Anko didn't pursue the man. She was definitely faster and stronger than him. She could permanently take him out of the picture with ease. When his Sharingan eyes landed on form now that she was so close, they widened, "You are just a clone!" He exclaimed in surprise. Partially at the fact that he didn't notice from the start despite possessing fully matured Sharingan, and partially at how ridiculous it was, for Kidomaru to run from a clone.

"But the six-armed creep didn't know that." Anko snickered. "Deception is ninja's biggest weapon. Remember that, Sasuke-chan." She condescendingly patted his head, making him click his tongue in annoyance.

"You used the sneak attack to paint an illusion of your superiority. Neat." Sasuke nodded in understanding, a bit awed at how easily she screwed with Kidomaru's head.

A shadow clone would pop upon being hit. Even if Anko was an S-rank ninja, her Shadow Clone would be utterly outmatched against a jonin of Kidomaru's caliber. Not because it didn't have the necessary firepower or experience to deal with him but because each hit was fatal for it.

"Well, it's not like retreating was a bad move on his part. He failed the mission but won the battle. It's not a total loss for him." Anko leisurely shrugged, taking Sasuke's hand into hers while starting to heal his busted knuckles.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, not understanding how Kidomaru supposedly won the battle.

"His master must be immensely interested in you since he was afraid to hurt you. If that sorry excuse for a failed experiment was serious, you would be defeated in under a few minutes. With this fight, he measured your combat capabilities so it is not like he is returning with empty hands." Anko explained.

"Heh, then it's probably good I held back." Sasuke proudly said, a bit of arrogance seeping into his tone which was instantly smacked out of him with a prompt swat to the back of his head.

"I know, you did quite well while using only taijutsu." Anko's clone hummed with mirth dancing in her eyes as the young Uchiha glared at her and rubbed the back of his head.

"You want to say you watched the entire fight without helping me!?" Sasuke exclaimed in bewilderment, quite miffed. The whole battle he was waiting for reinforcements, aware he couldn't possibly win against Kidomaru as he was now... and yet, said reinforcements were just watching and enjoying his struggle? How was that fair!?

"Meh, was a good experience for you even if your opponent didn't fight back. And you can't say I didn't interfere. I attacked the second I saw you were out of taijutsu options." Anko's clone rolled her eyes at her butthurt disciple.

"Good lot that did... you barely injured him." Sasuke petulantly muttered, childishly averting his gaze. He knew this was unfair to the clone but he didn't really care for the small details right now.

"Such a bloodthirsty kid. Must run in the family." Anko sighed, mockingly shaking her head, knowing it made Sasuke even more irritated.

Alas, the Uchiha brat long ago had his temper and outward hatred of all things Itachi beaten out of him by Anko. He didn't dare to do anything but grit his teeth when he understood Anko's reference. That said, Sasuke was well aware Anko did not mention it only to tease him but also to make sure he got his emotions under wraps so others wouldn't be able to use them against him.

"Cheh, no fun. I honestly thought you would flip with so much adrenaline still coursing through your blood." Anko pouted when Sasuke stayed relatively calm, making him nervously sweat-drop. "Anyway, Sasuke... you say I let that creep go but... aren't you forgetting something?"

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the clone in confusion, noticing how she playfully smiled while playing with the kunai she used to attack Kidomaru.

Seeing that he is still confused, Anko scoffed and knuckled Sasuke's head in irritation. "Not even knowing your teacher's specialty! Why the heck did I take you under my wing again?" She grumbled, "I am one of the very few poison specialists in Konoha, ya brat. Just because you don't care for the finer things in life doesn't mean you should completely disregard them."

Sasuke's eyes suddenly snapped back at the kunai in Anko's other hand and widened. She might not have managed to get through Kidomaru's armor enough to seriously injure him but the tip of the kunai was slightly bloody.

"Heh," Anko noticed the widening of Sasuke's eyes and smirked, "Yeah, the failed experiment will be glad if he gets to his master in time for his funeral. He has at best twenty-four hours. Tick-tock, hehehe." Anko gleefully cackled.

She wasn't about to tell Sasuke that Kidomaru would have to keep his second stage of the Cursed Seal activated if he wanted to get even those twenty-four hours. Which was basically an impossible feat.

'The spider-boy is fucked, he just doesn't feel it yet.' Anko inwardly snickered. 'I wonder how long will he last until he succumbs to the excruciating pain. He should be starting feeling the start of a dull ache in a few minutes that will only get worse as the time goes on. Ah~... a pity I will never know.' She thought with a bit of disappointment.

'In hindsight, this poison might be a good way to train the brats' pain tolerance. Just gotta administer the antidote before they actually kick the bucket.' Now that cheered her up...

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Chapter 331 - Ch331. Zabuza's Mission

Kakashi and Zabuza breathed hard, their bodies and clothes sporting multiple cuts that were thankfully not life-threatening or incapacitating. Facing off against Raiga was like fighting a bit downgraded version of Raikage, one that used swords to boot. It was definitely not a pleasant experience and the only thing that saved Kakashi and Zabuza was their experience and teamwork. Despite that, the two looked as if they went through a blender.

"Oi, Hatake, you still fine?" Zabuza worriedly asked between his slowly calming breaths. He was clearly in a better physical form than Kakashi, which was understandable since the Copycat was mainly a ninjutsu-based fighter while Zabuza was a swordsman with a big-ass heavy sword.

"I can still go on. Just make sure you don't slow me down." Kakashi quipped while trying to refrain from wheezing. Unfortunately for Kakashi, he had to rely heavily on his Sharingan in this fight and his chakra reserves were becoming quite low.

Zabuza snorted at that. 'As if! You are the one who is almost keeling over!' He rebuked in his mind but played along and outwardly provocatively smirked. Zabuza knew Kakashi was just trying to hype himself up to keep going. 'But... Should I just use...' Zabuza bitterly shook his head, 'No. I can still go on. My pride won't allow me to just give up! This is why I trained so much! A chance to face down another swordsman who reached strength far beyond mine and push my own limits! I won't give up! Not yet!' A new, determined fire was lit in Zabuza's eyes as he tightly gripped the Kubikiribocho.

Zabuza felt powerless standing in front of Raiga. He could barely keep up with his speed by using all of his experience to predict where will the man strike next and even then he was relegated into the ass-saving duty on the side-lines while Kakashi took the brunt of the fight due to his spiny red-eye of wonder that allowed him to somewhat keep up with Raiga.

But Zabuza was used to this feeling of helplessness. He felt it every time the current Mizukage decided to have a go at her versus all Kiri Swordsmen. Considering this usually happened whenever Ringo deemed a sword she created good enough to go against the famed Kiri swords, and that because of this, the former Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were now unofficially Fifteen Swordsmen of the Mist... Zabuza basically fought with his fellow swordsmen against someone who eclipsed their capabilities despite them working together and their opponent not even properly trying. Needless to say, this pushed the man's teamwork ability and experience of fighting against a superior foe to new heights.

That was also the only reason why Kakashi was still breathing. In the past ten minutes, Zabuza saved his ass thirty-seven times. He counted.

"I think you had enough time to rest." Raiga's voice suddenly pulled both Kakashi and Zabuza back into reality.

Only his instincts allowed Kakashi to bend back, evading the horizontal slash that passed an inch above his chest. Raiga's offense was far from over though. He abruptly raised his second sword in a burst of speed, before slashing at Kakashi in a downward swing, intending to bisect him.

With his Sharingan, Kakashi saw the movements but his mind and body had a hard time reacting. Especially since he was forced to assume a quite awkward position to evade the previous slash. Luckily for him, at that moment the tip of Zabuza's Kubikiribocho passed near Kakashi's neck in an upward slash, missing it by less than an inch before intercepting Raiga's downward strike a bit above Kakashi's head.

Zabuza yet again managed to save him.

Or, at least, such thought passed through Kakashi's mind before he noticed the gathering of lightning chakra in the clouds above them and his eyes widened as he realized Raiga was about to use a Lightning Jutsu.

Kakashi quickly crouched to get his head away from the place where the two dangerous swords were locked and his hands blurred in the hand seals needed for his sole original Jutsu before his hand coated in lightning snapped upward.

Lightning Strike suddenly descended from the heavens, hitting the place where Zabuza and Raiga's swords crossed and the struggle for dominance intensified as Raiga boosted his downward slash with the immense power of lightning smashing into his Kiba blade while Kakashi's Chidori put the much-needed counter-lightning behind Zabuza's Kubikiribocho.

The surroundings lit up with cracking and blinding blue lightning flying all around the bridge while intense screeching and chirping deafened the world.

Despite their efforts, Zabuza and Kakashi were blown back by the sheer force of Raiga's attack, landing on their backs a few feet away and rolling on the ground. Not only was Raiga slashing downward, giving him an advantage but his lightning Jutsu was more concentrated than Kakashi's Chidori. They didn't stand much chance of withstanding the attack.

It was the Chidori, however, that saved the two battered jonins from worse injuries. Both of them were quite bruised and slightly burned but considering the intensity of Raiga's Lightning Jutsu that hit them point-blank, they were barely harmed.

Kakashi and Zabuza quickly stood back up onto their feet, prepared to block, evade, or assist the other at a moment's notice... only to be surprised that Raiga didn't press his advantage and attack them when they were disoriented because of the previous blow.

"Heh, you are playing with them. That's not nice." The answer to Kakashi's and Zabuza's confusion appeared a second later when Anko's voice resounded from behind them, making them stiffen. They were so focused on the opponent in front of them, they kinda ignored everything else. When their minds finally caught up and realized it was just Anko, they relaxed in relief, hoping her appearance would give them the necessary advantage to defeat Raiga.

As for Anko... she looked at the battered forms of Kakashi and Zabuza and inwardly clicked her tongue, 'They will be useless.' Her mind tried to assess the situation. 'They are not injured too much but their bodies are exhausted, hence, more prone to a fatal mistake. Making them get the fuck out of the way would be more beneficial than teaming up with them.' She realized, a bit miffed.

The problem was, Anko knew she could not match Raiga's speed. Oh, that didn't mean she had no chance to defeat him. She was simply power-oriented while he was speed-oriented. Alas, her going against him would result in the total destruction of the bridge as she would not be able to hold back. Worse yet, she really wouldn't be able to prevent him from running away or bypassing her to target Zabuza or Kakashi.

While Anko was assessing the situation, Raiga was observing Anko as Ranmaru in his backpack was frantically whispering into his ear, warning him about her strong chakra. She was the reason why he went 'easy' on Kakashi and Zabuza. Raiga knew the Konoha team had someone strong enough to match him so killing these two jonins would have been a waste. Making them tired and therefore a burden for this newcomer was a much better strategy.

Seeing the wary look Raiga was throwing at her, Anko sighed, a wry smile appearing on her face. She could either completely disregard the purpose of their mission and engage Raiga or she could risk showing that she knows more than she should be capable of. 'Ah, to hell with it!' Her decision was made.

"Zabuza... I think now it is the time to stop screwing with your mission because of your stupid pride and do your goddamn job." Anko ordered, making the swordsman stiffen and give her a cautious look. "Please," She rolled her eyes at his sudden wariness, "You have no way of defeating Raiga. It is obvious the Mizukage did not send you here as combat reinforcements. I don't have to be a genius to understand that." She reasoned, trying to divert Zabuza's attention by easily lying through her teeth.

She knew exactly why he was sent here the second he appeared but Zabuza nor Kakashi didn't need to know that. Now she only had to make him use his 'secret weapon' or rather, force the prideful buffoon to fulfill his initial mission.

Seeing Zabuza about to open his mouth, most likely in protest if his stormy look was any indication, "I know you have your pride as a swordsman but we are in a pinch here. Don't make me punch you." Anko rebuked before he could start talking.

Zabuza gruffly grunted and petulantly stuck his hand into his ninja pouch. "Fine." He ground out as he took out a scroll. He then opened it, crouched down, and unrolled it on the ground in front of him, not taking his eyes away from Raiga who wanted to intervene but Anko was too close to Zabuza for Raiga to risk doing anything. "I wanted to measure the difference in our skill a lot more but it appears the fun ends here." Zabuza dryly chuckled and gave Anko a stink eye.

Then again, Hatake was barely standing so maybe it was high time to do his duty. Zabuza knew he would be getting punished the second he returned to the village for purposely delaying the accomplishment of his mission. He was totally fine with that. In exchange, he managed to fight Raiga. If Hatake actually kicked the bucket, though, his punishment would be much, much worse and that made Zabuza involuntarily shiver.

'Ah, well... this is no longer my responsibility.' Zabuza weaved a few hand seals and slammed his hand onto the scroll as he shouted, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

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Chapter 332 - Ch332. Summoning Scroll

A massive amount of smoke burst into existence above the scroll and everyone tensely waited with bated breath what exactly was Zabuza trying to summon that he was utterly confident it could help him deal with Raiga. Even Raiga waited, wondering when did Zabuza gain a summon, and found the situation extremely amusing. Only Anko was carefreely grinning like a loon, already knowing what would happen and that she could just chill.

The smoke slowly started to dissipate and the tense atmosphere intensified... only to utterly collapse when nothing appeared after the smoke was completely gone.

Raiga tilted his head, making a silent question to Ranmaru on his back since he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Ranmaru, however, also just shook his head, signaling that he also didn't sense anything but the brief fluctuation of chakra from the summoning technique. Raiga's eyebrow twitched as he gave the sheepish Zabuza a deadpan look.

"You know..." Raiga started in a drawl, "I expected something more... how do I put it? I knew there was a reason why you went for the most muscle-brained of the Seven Swords Zabuza but even I didn't expect a jonin could mess up such an easy Jutsu." He slowly spoke with a hint of disbelief and mockery in his voice, "I must say, you surpassed my wildest expectations."

Zabuza, who was blankly staring at the scroll and wondering where he went wrong, heard Raiga mocking him and flushed red from embarrassment. But Zabuza wouldn't be Zabuza if he didn't instantly glare at Raiga and attempt to play his embarrassment off as anger.

"Shut up! I did everything as instructed! I don't know why this piece of junk doesn't work!" He growled, willing to burn both the scroll and Ragia with his heated gaze.

Next to Zabuza, Kakashi tiredly rubbed his face, 'I am too tired for this shit. Does this mean we have to fight more or not? Can't somebody finally decide and tell me?' His eyes were involuntarily closing and it was only his will that kept him awake.

Kakashi then noticed that Anko's grin was still present on her face despite the apparent failure of the summoning and his shoulders slumped as his body relaxed. 'Whatever. Anko is already here. She can deal with the rest.'

"Whatever." Raiga scoffed at Zabuza, now sure the Jutsu really failed and this was not some elaborate ambush. He had the utmost trust in Ranmaru's abilities and when even after three minutes of scanning the surroundings the kid could not find anything amiss, then that meant there was nothing amiss to be found. Raising his swords to a ready position, Raiga grinned at Anko, "Let's see what you are made of, girly!"

With that, the lightning crackled around Raiga's body before he disappeared in a burst of speed, dashing straight at Anko who he perceived as the sole remaining threat. He was excited too because the woman's chakra was potent and Raiga was itching for a challenge that would push his limits further.

As for Anko... she continued condescendingly grinning at the quickly approaching Raiga without a care in the world, her hands in her pockets. She looked like a casual observer who had immense fun watching the show rather than someone about to fight. Her body was completely relaxed and unprepared for a fight while her chakra was calm and unbothered.

Raiga was confused and with a mild disappointment thought he had her...

Kakashi's Sharingan eye widened in horror as he powerlessly watched Raiga's sword nearing Anko's face, heading straight towards her eyes while she didn't even start preparing to evade. He wanted to jump and tackle her out of the way but his body was too exhausted and he knew he would not make it. He could only watch with growing despair as his comrade, even though one he didn't particularly like, was about to get killed.

Raiga's blade was getting closer and closer to Anko whose eyes sparkled in amusement. 'Crazy bitch!' Raiga thought, worried that this was some kind of trap but he couldn't really stop his attack at the last moment and both Ranmaru and his own senses were telling him there was no trap awaiting him. He simply couldn't comprehend the situation...

As he was about to strike her, his instincts suddenly flared, screaming at him 'DANGER'. Raiga knew that his instincts were one thing that would never betray him and listened, instantly halted his attack, and froze in his position, unable to move, causing the slightly trembling tip of his blade to stop an inch from the grinning Anko's eye.

Anko looked straight into Raiga's frightened quivering eyes and her grin widened even more as she slowly raised her hand and with her pointing finger smugly pushed the tip of Raiga's blade to the side with silent amusement still written in her eyes.

The rigid Raiga looked down and confirmed that yes, the thing he felt cutting into his neck was indeed a blade and the wetness he feels is his blood.

'If I didn't stop thanks to my instincts, I would have split my neck on the sword due to my speed!' He shuddered and leaned a bit back to separate his neck from the blade before gulping. The cut was shallow but in his current position, there was nothing he could do about this sudden attacker!

His right arm was outstretched forward in a strike towards Anko while his left was prepared for both the follow-up attack and defense position, holding his left Kiba blade in front of his chest.

The problem was, this sudden attacker appeared out of nowhere behind him and managed to sneak a blade around Raiga's waistline, under his left armpit, and position it across the left part of his chest, going all the way very closely towards his neck.

Raiga couldn't jump back because that's where his attacker stood. He couldn't use his Blades for defense because he simply wouldn't make it. He had a sword on his neck while his blades were nowhere near his body. He would be dead sooner than he could even start the pulling motion to return his blades closer to his body. The blade was going under his left armpit which was the biggest obstacle. It would take some serious maneuvers to get his left arm out of this entanglement without having it cut off.

This would not have been enough to mentally shake Raiga. The thing that hit him the hardest was the instant dispersion of his Lightning Cloak the second the blade touched him. As his body instinctually trembled from being so close to death, Raiga idly wondered if the blade was some special anti-lightning tool created to counter the Raikage or something.

He was beaten and he knew it. He would not give up though. If sacrificing his left arm was to be the cost for preserving his life, then so be it.

Before he attempted his last-ditch effort, Raiga leaned his head to the side, trying to get a good look at the motherfucker who almost killed him...

He couldn't see much with the corner of his eye but he did notice blood-like crimson locks belonging to a woman of small stature, causing a chill to go down his spine. This was his worst nightmare.

'The Mizukage!?' Raiga mentally freaked out and his breath hitched. Any plan to resist was instantly abolished in his mind. He knew there was no point. He would not make it. Even if he tried to sacrifice his left arm, he doubted Ringo would be unable to take his arm and then kill him before he blinked.

Quite a lot of Raiga's discouragement came from his instinctual fear of Ringo caused by his fight against her when she attacked the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist during the Third Ninja War. He had no idea about her true power but for Raiga, this was the one enemy he was too afraid to oppose.

He could laugh in the face of S-rank ninjas, he fended off the infamous bounty hunter Kakuzu who thought he was hot shit, only to get a lightning slash going through the middle of his chest before running off like a bitch. To this day, Raiga had no idea what made Kakuzu so scared nor how the dude survived having his heart and chest cleaved in half but that didn't matter. Kakuzu never showed up again in front of him.

Raiga showed middle finger to Itachi Uchiha when the boy came to recruit him for Akatsuki and managed to send him running with his tail tucked between his legs when Raiga's ability to fight with his eyes closed and his lightning cloak completely nullified the brat's illusions and Sharingan.

He was not even afraid to face off against the Raikage, confident that his swordsmanship technique and admittedly slightly inferior speed when using his Lightning Release: Full Body Activation could get him through the battle and give him a decent shot at winning against the brainless brute.

But facing Ringo Ameyuri was different. Raiga subconsciously forfeited before he could even try to resist. That was the extent of his fear... of the trauma Ringo inflicted upon him during their last clash.

"How?" He croaked out in dread as his heart wildly hammered in his chest.

"You should be more careful where you are standing, Raiga." Ringo's soft tone entered Raiga's ears, causing his fearful eyes to widen.

Looking down, an abrupt realization hit Raiga, making him dizzy. 'The summoning scroll! I am standing right above the ending part of the unrolled scroll! That's why the Konoha bitch was so calm! She knew!'

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Chapter 333 - Ch333. I Shall Make This Extremely Easy For You

"Did you really think I would have given someone a way to forcefully summon me? Do you think I am really so stupid?" Ringo amusedly asked. Even she was surprised at how stupid that question sounded when she said it out loud. "As if I would have given away something that would enable others to ambush me at their leisure at any given moment. Especially to someone as muscle-brained as Zabuza." She scoffed and rolled her eyes while Zabuza could just avert his eyes in embarrassment but couldn't really say anything in his defense as he indeed tended to lose things he didn't care about. That was why he was never used as a messenger. Ever.

Ringo discreetly looked around and saw the white-haired jonin stare at the scroll as if he saw a ghost, probably thinking that Kirigakure re-developed Hiraishin or something. With a heavy sigh, she decided to give a small explanation despite her instincts screaming at her not to. After all, what kind of ninja screams his attack out loud and gives an explanation on how his secret skills work?

In this instance, however, Ringo decided to prevent the trouble for Tsunade, fully aware that if the Konoha council heard something like, 'The Kiri has a variant of Hiraishin!', they would freak out which would then spoil Tsunade's week, possibly even the entire month. Normally, Ringo would not care even though Tsunade was a sort of motherly figure for her, but she was well aware that if her inaction here caused trouble for Tsunade, Tsunade would repay it with interest.

Her forging time and special Rei time were on the line so screw her instincts!

"The scroll is only a beacon that sends me Zabuza's coordinates and opens a passage for me. I can then use said passage in the following three minutes whenever I want." Ringo indifferently revealed.

Needless to say, she lied with a straight face. Once the passage was open, she could use it anytime in the following hour unless the scroll was completely destroyed. On top of that, quite a number of the seals on the scroll were actually a remote viewing function that lets her monitor what is happening around the scroll after it is activated.

But there was no reason for her to reveal that particular tidbit.

Ringo had to stop her urge to smile when the white-haired jonin relaxed after hearing how the scroll worked. She also didn't miss how intently he listened to her explanation. No doubt he would be reporting it to his higher-ups the second he returned to his village.

'I will have to prepare my own council for some pesky complaints from these insignificant moaning bitches.' Ringo inwardly groaned. Unfortunately, Tsunade and Pakura were concocting a little plan for their villages and dragged Kiri into it so she now had to pay attention to diplomatic issues. Diplomacy... such an unpleasant word. 'Well, let's see... I will have to instruct my council to say fuck you more politely than usual. Un, that's one problem solved.'

Obviously, Ringo wouldn't pay much attention to the future complaints of the Konoha Council. Not even Tsunade, their very ruler, cared about their unceasing babbling. Why should Ringo be any different?

Returning her attention to Raiga who was still frozen stiff in front of her, Ringo had to admit she felt great knowing her mere presence was the reason why this S-rank ninja was so tense and trembling in his boots.

"I shall make this extremely easy for you, Raiga. Either you surrender and become Kirigakure's wielder of Kiba blades under my command for the rest of your life or this will be where you meet your end." Ringo dispassionately spoke in a monotone voice.

She wasn't all that interested in Raiga. Having another S-rank ninja in her village would be nice but she could always train others to reach this milestone. She didn't like Raiga much and one more S-rank didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The boy hiding in Raiga's backpack, however, was a different story altogether. His sensing prowess was incredible and once his body is repaired, he would be very useful. Sadly, Raiga and Ranmaru came as a package deal.

After hearing Ringo's offer, Raiga was silent for a moment. He was in disbelief that he even got an offer like that. He was a Kiri rogue ninja and as someone who was previously a part of Seven Swordsmen, he was well aware of what Kirigakure did with its rogue ninjas. Forgiveness? That was never an option. Once you betrayed the village, you would be a traitor for the rest of your life.

"Why?" Raiga cautiously asked. He didn't think this was some kind of cunning scheme. Ringo had him at her mercy so there was no need to plot anything. Plus, the Ringo he knew didn't have enough attention span and patience to scheme anything. "I thought you don't like me."

Ringo snorted, "I don't. When we first met, you were a massive prick and took away the Kiba blades from me." She deadpanned.

Since she put it that way, even Raiga had to admit she indeed had a reason for disliking him. Honestly... he totally forgot about that.

"But at the same time, when I first became the Mizukage, I disliked three-quarters of my council." Ringo confessed. "Alas, as time went on and we got to know each other better, things changed."

"I see... you found respect for each other." Raiga nodded, careful of the blade in front of his neck. That happened quite often in these situations. Councilmen usually didn't like each other but they had to work together for the greater good of the village.

Poor Raiga didn't know Ringo as well as he thought...

"No. Now I hate only half of it. They, however, are well aware that Kirigakure is under my dictatorship. What I say, goes, or else... If you have any problem being a good little peon, you are free to disagree, Raiga." Ringo said and despite his back being turned to her, Raiga could almost swear she sported a menacing smile on her face. It made him shudder. He suddenly found Ringo's sword pressing a bit closer to his neck before hearing Ringo's words, "Your answer?"

Raiga bitterly smiled. Die or serve. How... Kirigakure-ish. 'The village has changed... my ass!'

Frankly, being a rogue ninja wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Sure, he was free to do what he wanted but he lacked a place he could call home. He was always living in fear, and later on in annoyance, that a hunter ninja would discover him. He has been raised a Kirigakure ninja and realized it only after he defected.

One can say whatever about Kirigakure but their indoctrination of kids was top-notch if a bit brutal. That much Raiga had to admit. Even though he knew there was nothing but death awaiting him at 'home', he was still homesick.

That feeling only intensified when he met and adopted Ranmaru. The kid grew on him and he wanted to give him a proper home but it was simply not to be.

Raiga didn't have to think for a long time, "Fine... I will go with you." He mumbled, his voice laced with dissatisfaction. He wasn't unhappy with the situation though. This way, he will be able to give Ranmaru a proper home.

Ringo knew he was not dissatisfied with his choice. He was more resentful that he was strong-armed into it in this manner. Well, she honestly didn't give a shit about his feelings.

Pulling her sword away from Raiga's neck and taking a step back, Ringo released him from the deadly position. She wasn't afraid he would try to run or go back on his word. She was faster than him and the guy clearly knew it.

"Good. Your answer was just in time too." Ringo turned towards the end of the unfinished bridge, showing Raiga her unguarded back. "We have uninvited guests. I am sure you can prove your loyalty by dealing with them."

Raiga saw what she did there and inwardly cursed, 'This insane bitch testing me, isn't she?' He then noticed thugs trying to sneakily gather on the end of the bridge and sighed, realizing what Ringo meant. 'And she wants me to kill my client. Great... now even if I double-cross her and defect Kirigakure again, my rogue ninja reputation will be in tatters.' Raiga sourly chuckled before inaudibly whispering, "Well played, bi-" Ringo gave him a look that told him he was apparently not quiet enough, "-tc, ahem, I mean, Lady Mizukage... well played.." He averted his gaze, getting a pitying look full of understanding from Zabuza.

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Chapter 334 - Ch334. Gato's Arrival

Gato smugly climbed the ladder towards the top of the bridge from his ship anchored underneath it. He could already see the surprised and enraged expression of Raiga.

His plan was impeccable.

Making a deal with the Sound Village would certainly allow Gato to spread his influence far and wide. Sure, he could not doublecross them to save money but these were not some rogue ninjas nobody would miss. No. This deal was a game-changer for Gato. He could push his influence into the major nations with the Sound Village as his backer!

'To think all it would take is a bit of financial support.' Gato shook his head. He knew there would be a much bigger price in the future but he didn't really care. He had enough money and while he was indeed greedy and stingy, even he could admit that much, he didn't become one of the richest men by not knowing when to let go of temporary benefits for long-term fortune.

Gato was aware that once this plan is successful, the Sound Village would most likely want to use his new position as the hidden ruler of the Land of Waves to spread their own influence. Gato... was a businessman, however. He wanted to be the top dog, that's why he started with his profession, but he didn't care to rule over people. He liked to order his grunts around but being responsible for their actions and well-being? No, thank you. That was not for him.

Being a tyrant suited him quite well. He had it all. Power, even if only indirect one. Wealth, and yes, it was satisfying knowing most of it was taken from someone else. Women, Gato did love the resignation on the faces of his bed warmers and the fact they were unwilling and illegal slaves did not bother him at all.

Letting the Sound Village use the Land of Waves as their outpost would not bother Gato at all as long as his businesses would not be affected. Who cared about these poor bastards anyway?

Finally reaching the top of the bridge, Gato quickly but silently ordered his thugs to gather around him. It was time to give Raiga Kurosuki the surprise of a lifetime!

While the man would most definitely slaughter Gato if he didn't have allies, he would no doubt not expect the Sound ninjas to stab him in the back!

What Gato didn't expect was to see Raiga at the mercy of an unknown petite woman who held a sword under his neck but that only made Gato halt for a second before a grin again sprang up on his face.

'I knew I should have never trusted Raiga! Honestly! The man can't even complete the mission despite having reinforcements.' Gato exasperatedly thought.

It didn't matter to him that Raiga lost. The two famous jonins, Zabuza and Kakashi, seemed dead on their feet. That meant Raiga did his money's worth. Not that Gato intended to pay him. As for the two women... Gato spared them a cursory leer before disregarding them. Oh, he would certainly order his men to capture them but he didn't deem them a threat.

That's why when the redheaded woman let Raiga go and turned towards Gato, her ice-cold eyes looking straight at him and making him involuntary shudder, Gato didn't care that it seemed the rogue ninja betrayed him. He was confident in his preparations and allies.

"Heh, scum as always, eh, Gato." Raiga sneered looking at the gathering of bloodthirsty thugs, making Gato widely grin at the naive fool.

"If you did your job well, I wouldn't have needed to take things into my own hands. You have only yourself to blame." Gato confidently exclaimed, pushing his nose up to stare at Raiga who was at least three times as tall as the midget.

"I see..." Raiga lowered his head and tightly clutched the Kiba blades. Betrayal was a common sight in the life of a rogue ninja but that didn't mean Raiga liked the feeling of being betrayed.

"Sakon, Jiroubou, take care of the fool!" Gato shouted, pointing at Raiga.

Sakon and Jiroubou appeared among the gathered thugs, looking quite irritated at their role of nanny for the short stuff. Alas, Orochimaru ordered them to keep the wealthy midget happy and safe so he can pay them for their efforts.

Keeping him safe was easy. There was no one with enough balls to oppose Gato in the Land of Waves. Keeping him happy, however... Sakon could only sigh in exasperation.

'Sakon, persuade that woman... Sakon, show him the error of their ways... Sakon, can't you use your ability to make me taller? Sakon, Sakon, Sakon... for fuck's sake, one of these days, I am going to gut the short piece of shit!' Sakon ground his teeth.

'Calm down, brother. His usefulness will run out eventually. Your time will come.' Ukon, who was hidden in Sakon's body, mentally responded, getting an annoyed grunt of reluctant agreement from Sakon.

As for Jiroubou... as long as he was fed and watered, he didn't care much. He knew he was on the bodyguard duty because of his strong defensive Earth Jutsus. He also knew his intelligence would prevent Gato from giving him complicated tasks. That was perfectly fine for him. Sakon could have them. Hehe...

He may not be the smartest but he surely knew how to make use of it to get less work and more food. All it took was to offhandedly lie that the more he ate the stronger his Earth Jutsu became and he received an all-you-can-eat buffet from Gato.

Frankly, Jiroubou didn't dislike his current job. Not at all.

When Raiga saw the two Sound ninjas, he raised his eyebrow at them, 'Wasn't there supposed to be only three sound ninjas? Where did these two come from?' Outwardly, however, he amusedly spoke, intending to provoke his opponents, "Hooh~? That's it? A fatso and freak?"

Jiroubou's eyebrow twitched and his lips curled into a sneer. He understood the insult. Nevertheless, he turned towards Sakon and smirked, "He called you fat."

The high-pitched whiny sound of repressed irritation was so worth it!

"Whatever..." Sakon eventually muttered, his expression scrunched in a grimace. "Let's just deal with them so you can go back to gorging yourself to an early death."

"As if you and your brother didn't have your pick of women under Gato..." Jiroubou scoffed with an eye roll in his last retort before he turned around and focused on Raiga when they arrived in the space in-between the gatherings of Gato's thugs and the spot where the two women and two exhausted jonins stood, intent on watching the spectacle.

Zabuza was quite amused at the carefree attitude of these two while Kakashi looked at them as if they were idiots. Ringo didn't care enough so she just indifferently wondered how much time would she waste here and Anko... well, she had an inkling the two had no idea how strong Raiga was and probably thought their allies were still in the game.

'Poor bastards.' She snickered.

Raiga looked at the two cocky brats... because fifteen-year-old shits didn't deserve to be called adults... and inwardly sighed. 'Such confidence and arrogance. To think I was once like them.' He wryly grimaced, remembering his own past self before his ass came in contact with Ringo's boot.

Unknown to the three combatants, just as their clash was about to commence, they thought the exact same thing.

'Well, let's just get this over with.. I will finish this in a jiffy.'

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Chapter 335 - Ch335. Various Ends

Sakon and Jiroubou rushed at Raiga with their low-jonin speed, surmising that after dealing with two Konoha A-rank jonins, he must be tired enough for them to take him on. Despite not being the strongest in the Sound Village, both Sakon and Jiroubou were a part of the Sound Four, Orochimaru's elite squad.

While individually their strength wasn't all that great, barely scraping low-to-mid jonin levels, they were trained to be the strongest when fighting together. It wasn't a problem for the Sound Four to take down even high A-rank rogue ninjas with their superb teamwork and individual fighting styles that covered each others' weaknesses.

Yes, they really thought the two of them were more than enough for one tired S-rank ninja. Plus... there was always Ukon hiding inside of Sakon, ready to react at a moment's notice if necessary and spring up a trap. The second Sakon or Ukon manages to meld with their opponent's body it is game over.

Seeing the eager expressions on his two quickly approaching opponents, Raiga grimaced and prepared his blades. He didn't particularly like that he was all but ordered to end these skilled but cocky teens. Since he took Ranmaru in, he grew somewhat soft. The fact Kakashi was still breathing after their two encounters was irrefutable proof of that.

The two teens were almost upon Raiga when he suddenly released an intense surge of lightning chakra and the world halted for them.

On the sidelines, Kakashi humorlessly chuckled when his Sharingan failed to spot when Raiga struck due to the sudden burst of his speed. 'The bastard was holding back?' He thought sourly as his pride stung, yet, he was also grateful towards Raiga for taking it easy on them.

A split second passed since Raiga disappeared and reappeared right in-between and slightly behind the two stunned Sound ninjas who stood frozen in their spots. Blood was quickly evaporating from Raiga's Kiba blades due to the intense electric energy coursing through them and a charred line slowly appeared on both Sakon and Jiroubou.

Sakon's upper and lower body was diagonally separated at the waist. His eyes were wide in disbelief as his upper body slid down his lower, both cuts already burned shut so no guts nor blood started gushing out. He realized he did not feel his legs a moment later before he started screaming bloody murder.

Jiroubou had more luck. His bulky stature and Earth nature prevented Raiga's blades from cleaving him in two like happened to Sakon. Instead, He only had a burnt gash going through his gut that didn't reach the spine. If it wasn't burnt shut, it would be a debilitating injury but since Raiga's lightning sealed the wound shut, Jiroubou could still fight. He survived worse injuries under Orochimaru.

Nevertheless, he slowly fell onto his knees from the pain and stifled a moan of pure agony as his body needed a brief break.

Raiga turned around in order to face his opponents and raised one of his blades towards the sky… "Lightning Release: Final Descent." And impassively intoned the name of his Jutsu.

Ukon who was hiding inside of the screaming Sakon suddenly widened his eyes, realizing he was somehow found out. It pained him to see his brother in such a pitiful state but there was still a chance for an unexpected ambush since Ukon didn't show himself for the entire battle, however brief it was.

Now that he was discovered, he understood that his chances to surprise Raiga were nill so when he saw the S-rank ninja charging a lightning Jutsu aimed right at the screaming Sakon... brother or not, Ukon quickly jumped out of Sakon's body, separating from him and creating a distance between them just as a resounding boom deafened the surrounding, drowning Sakon's screams as lightning strike descended right on top of him.

Jiroubou also managed to only widen his eyes as his breath hitched while he desperately pushed himself on his feet... alas, he was too late and far too close to Sakon. When the lightning struck, Jiroubou was brutally flung to the side like yesterday's trash, his body tearing apart in various places.

The lightning Justu was accompanied by a brief blue flash that managed to blind most of the spectators and when they finally managed to refocus on the battle, all they could see was the gaping Ukon with Raiga behind him as the young man's body split into two parts, a vertical burnt cut going from the top of his head all the way towards his groin and slowly fell down in the opposite directions.

Unfortunately for the three Sound ninjas, they horrendously overestimated their own strength and terribly underestimated their enemy. It was true that Raiga was physically and mentally tired. It was also true that he had just a bit more than half of his chakra left in his reserves after fighting Kakashi and Zabuza. But he was still an S-rank ninja and that meant something. He was qualitatively on a different level than some low-jonin upstarts even if he was exhausted.

The second he activated his Lightning Release: Full Body Activation, it was over. Raiga didn't give them even a chance to activate their Cursed Seals.

Turning towards Gato's group, Raiga could see the businessman gaping at the gruesome death of the sound ninjas and failing to believe his own eyes. He expected them to effortlessly win! Flinching as he realized the ex-Kiri Swordsman was staring right at him, Gato's pupils dilated. He understood the precarious situation he found himself in.

"Wa-" Gato started speaking, trying to make an offer now that he lost his most capable bodyguards to the man he ordered to be killed. He didn't manage to even utter the first word from his sentence, however, as Raiga again disappeared in a burst of lightning chakra and before Gato's brain could even comprehend what happened, he, with horrified realization, found a tip of the Kiba blade sticking out of his chest.

Unlike his handling of the sound ninjas, Raiga held no pity for Gato. He ruthlessly raised his Kiba blade upward, forcefully lifting the midget's body as blood leaked from his wound. There was no lightning coating on the blade, hence the wound was not seared shut either.

Gato helplessly dangled his feet above the ground, trying to plead for help but no words could leave his mouth as he started choking on blood. His eyes begged the thugs around to do something but they were too shocked at the brutality and ease at which Raiga appeared in their midst without them even noticing.

"It is nice of you to willingly come to your own funeral, Gato." Raiga grinned and let his lightning chakra slowly seep into the Kiba blade sticking through Gato's body. Since the output was low and the process slow.

The blade was not hot enough to instantly burn a wound shut. It was still scorching hot and steam started to rise from the chest wound. Horror appeared on Gato's face before he started screaming. The blood rushing up his neck prevented him from doing that and most of his wails sounded more like wet gurgles while his body shook as electricity coursed through it, painfully contracting his muscles, tearing some of them in the process.

It was painfully obvious Raiga was torturing Gato in his last moments and the sadistic but satisfied grin on his face clearly indicated the man enjoyed every second of it.

A minute of pain-filled wailing later, Gato's body helplessly slumped forward, unable to bear the strain of so much lightning chakra coursing through it.

The supposedly richest businessman in the world was dead.

"Now then," Raiga flickered his blade to the side, uncaringly throwing Gato's body away, and turned towards the scared hired thugs who were shaking in their boots, "I think it is high time to end this farce."

A massacre ensued.

Chapter 336 - Ch336. Prisoners

Kakashi and Anko sat opposite Ringo, Zabuza, and Raiga at the table in Tazuna's house, awkwardly staring at each other. Kakashi and Zabuza were from time to time worriedly glancing at Raiga who completely and effortlessly ignored them while Anko and Ringo were telepathically communicating, throwing jokes about the fidgeting males around the table at each other and competing who would say a better, or rather more vulgar, one.

Since Tsunade first introduced Anko as her apprentice to Rei and his other wives, Ringo and Anko hit it off thanks to their similar personalities.

Separated from both groups sat awkward Tayuya who had no idea how to act in her current situation and next to her was tied up Guren with gag in her mouth making her able to only silently glare at both Konoha and Kiri groups.

On the other side of the table, the three genins from Team Seven quietly observed the situation while next to them, Haku elegantly enjoyed a rice ball, not even a little bothered by the suffocating atmosphere.

Tazuna's dining room was quite full.

"Are you sure this is fine?" Kakashi had finally had enough and nervously asked Anko. While he was de-facto the leader of Team Seven on the paper, anyone who saw how the team worked knew that even though Kakashi led the genins, Anko was the one who called the most important decision like this one.

Kakashi didn't really like the outcome of this mission. He knew well there was nothing he or even Anko could do with how the situation ensued. With the Mizukage present, neither of them could do anything rash. No matter that he didn't like how the Mizukage basically took ownership of Raiga which meant that Kirigakure just gained an extremely strong S-rank ninja.

But going as far as giving them both of their prisoners who were defeated by Anko... now that Kakashi thought to be a bit unfair.

Anko heard his question and just rolled her eyes, "Yeah. It is safer this way."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows at her vague answer. "You defeated them so it is only fair that Konoha should get them."

Personally, Kakashi couldn't care less about the fate of the two sound kunoichis but he knew what would happen if he didn't even try. The Konoha council won't call chunin Anko to answer their questions. They will call him, the team leader, and jonin instructor. And they will scream their throats raw at him once they find out his team relinquished their jonin-level prisoners to Kirigakure.

'For the love of Sage, what did I do in my past life to suffer being on this team?' Kakashi inwardly cried and bemoaned his fate.

"Kakashi..." Anko sighed, "While we are strong, I don't want to risk being ambushed by the Sound ninjas. It wouldn't be a bother for you and me but what about our students?" She reasoned. "It's not well known but the Sound Village is led by Orochimaru and these two," She casually pointed at the two quiet women, the redhead resigned and the gagged bluenette glaring at Anko, trying to combust her with her gaze, "are one of his best. He might torture them, he might mark them like cattle, he might even experiment on them, but Orochimaru is not an idiot. He knows there is a difference between losing an unimportant pawn and losing a bishop he cultivated for years. The crystal user alone is worth a lot."

Kakashi had to admit she had a point. The bloodline of the crystal user will most likely be the biggest reason why the council will scream at him. He could easily picture Orochimaru wanting to save her once he hears she was captured.

As for Anko's real reason why she tried to pawn them to Ringo...

Frankly, if she dragged these two to Konoha and gave them to Tsunade or if Ringo took them... their final destination would not change at all. Anko didn't see a reason to bother with them and would rather dump them on Ringo's shoulders. Then again, she couldn't just tell that to Kakashi, could she?

"Like it or not, if we took them with us to Konoha, there would be a high chance their comrades would ambush us and try to free them. The Mizukage not only has two S-rank and two jonin-level ninjas in her party, but she is also heading in a completely opposite direction from us. Leaving them with her is safer." Anko said, knowing she was laying it on a bit thick when she saw how Kakashi's gaze started to soften, she knew she had him.

Before Kakashi could verbally react, however, Ringo snorted, "Right... The woman whose dream is to kill Orochimaru is giving away the perfect bait for the man. Yeah, nope... pick another one. Anko, you suck at lying with a straight face." She deadpanned with a teasing tone lacing her voice.

"Oh, come on!" Anko indignantly exclaimed and pointed at Kakashi next to her while staring straight into Ringo's eyes, "I am not that bad! The cyclops would totally believe it if you didn't say that!"

Ringo lifted her eyebrows in surprise and turned towards Kakashi, "You would?" She asked in a bewildered tone.

Kakashi suddenly found himself between a rock and hard place. What was he supposed to say to that!? If he confirmed it, he would come out as a naive idiot and if he denied it he would paint himself as an easily fooled moron!

All eyes in the room abruptly shifted towards him and Kakashi could feel a cold sweat forming under his multi-layered face-covers. There was only one way to get out of this predicament!

"Well, it's Anko. One never knows when it comes to her." Kakashi cooly shrugged in the most casual way he could muster at the moment and gave Ringo his best eye smile. "By the way, Lady Mizukage, I wonder why Zabuza was our reinforcements instead of somebody from Konoha. Could you enlighten me? I intended to ask Lady Tsunade but since you are already here..." He trailed off.

Ringo's lips twitched upward, "Indeed," She turned towards the shocked Anko who couldn't believe the way Kakashi flipped the situation around. "It's Anko." Ringo amusedly shook her head, "As for your question-" She looked towards the annoyed Anko.

"I sent a message to Lady Tsunade who is a friend of Lady Ringo. Lady Tsunade knew Ringo was interested in Raiga and the Kiba blades so she sent her a message." Anko said.

"And Zabuza was the closest guy so I sent him his orders alongside the summoning scroll the second I heard Raiga was involved. The Kiba blades were out of Kirigakure for way too long. There is really nothing much else to it." Ringo said before giving Raiga a meaningful look, making him petulantly avert his eyes. "Don't worry about being reprimanded for the prisoners either. Tsunade is reasonable when she wants to be."

'That's unsurprisingly not reassuring at all.' Kakashi inwardly deadpanned.

"What the hag said." Anko quipped before yelping as Ringo kicked her in the shin under the table.

"Hey!" Anko took that as a personal challenge and soon enough, the two women started a childish kick-a-shin war while the whole room full of trained killers stared at them in bewilderment.

'These are S-rank kunoichi?' Zabuza thought in disbelief as his jaw hung a bit low from watching the spectacle.

'And I swore lifelong loyalty to this woman.' Raiga hung his head low as he watched the Mizukage acting like a total brat.

'Let's pretend we don't know her.' The genins of team seven thought at the same time with blank stares aimed at the grinning Anko, unknowingly showing off their superb teamwork.

Kakashi was somewhat used to Anko's antics but even he was flabbergasted. This was the Mizukage they were dealing with! The strongest and most respected ninja of her village! And Anko was kicking her... with her chakra enhanced strength no less...

'I am too young for this shit.' Kakashi tiredly sighed.

As for stopping them? Well, he quite liked his ability to breathe so getting in-between the two women was a big no-no.

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Chapter 337 - Ch337. Inevitable

As Kakashi watched the hilarious scene of Anko and Ringo childishly brawling with their feet under the table while they provocatively stared at each other, he couldn't help but feel surreal.

'To think Lady Tsunade was a friend of the Fifth Mizukage...' Kakashi shook his head in silent bemusement, 'Just how many secrets does the Senju Princess have?'

The second Tsunade became the Daimyo, the village started going through a massive overhaul. Every jonin noticed a stark improvement. It was nothing short of miraculous and cemented her position as their leader in the hearts of Konoha's ninjas.

But that didn't mean the most experienced jonins were stupid. They noticed Tsunade pulling otherworldly concepts, never-heard-of-before teaching methods, and outrageous but efficient reforms out of her proverbial posterior. Tsunade was an enigma for them to this day, nobody knowing what kind of trick she will pull out of her sleeve next.

'Well, not like such a thing is impossible.' Kakashi hummed to himself, enjoying the antics of the two S-rank kunoichis. 'With how much Lady Tsunade traveled, she was bound to meet some interesting people. The world is really unpredictable.' He chuckled, his mind trailing off to the person he admired the most.

The man who put forth a massive sacrifice. Who took his duty as the most important thing. The man who was the role model of the current ninjas! The one and only gallant Jiraiya-sama who took it upon himself to traverse the world in search of interesting 'situations', meeting all sorts of interesting 'people', so he could then relay his important findings to his devoted fans. Truly, a man cut above others!

As Kakashi thought about this topic and started outwardly quietly giggling to himself, inwardly his mind simply refused to settle down. There was something nagging at him. Something he couldn't really grasp...

That was also when the 'battle' between the two kunoichis intensified.

"Ei! I had enough of you." Ringo calmly spoke, standing up from her seat quick enough that nobody could react, and reached towards Anko... and flicked her forehead, causing her head to snap back, leaving behind a nice red spot in the middle of the Snake Mistress' forehead.

"Auu~, Ringoooo~!" Anko whinily drawled while petulantly pouting, her lips quivering in an attempt to garner pity, "That was mean!"

Seeing how the two women interacted with each other, how buddy-buddy they were, how calm and relaxed their body language was in the presence of the other... Something finally clicked in Kakashi's head, causing his eyes to go wide in horror.

Kakashi desperately hoped he was wrong but as he went through the happenings of their recent mission, every piece fit perfectly into the puzzle.

He slowly turned towards Anko who lifted her eyebrow at him... it wasn't as if she didn't pay attention to what was going on around her just because she was having a mock-fight with Ringo... and gave her the biggest desperate pleading look with his lone eye he could possibly manage.

"Anko... please tell me Konoha is not going to form a treaty with Kirigakure." Kakashi begged.

This display! This friendliness! He finally understood what seemed off to him. Lady Tsunade might be a friend of Mizukage but what about Anko? When did the woman who, as far as Kakashi knew, stayed inside of Konoha for the past few years, manage to become so friendly with the Mizukage? When did the two even meet?

It was very fishy.

The attitude of the two women and this trail of thoughts gave birth to crazy speculation. One that sent chills crawling up Kakashi's spine.

"No, of course not, Kakashi." Anko rolled her eyes, making the white-haired jonin release a relieved sigh. If Konoha signed a treaty with Kiri... it would be tantamount to setting fire to a gunpowder keg.

The hidden villages didn't sign alliances and treaties often. Even the treaty between Sunagakure and Konohagakure was shaky at best. In fact, if Suna betrayed Konoha, no other hidden village would bat an eyelash. Not because they were basically enemies but because it was expected.

On the other hand, the hidden villages avoided allying with other major hidden villages because such an action symbolized a threat to their enemies who would also start to ally themselves with other villages...

Simply put, it was a surefire way to lead to a ninja war with how paranoid hidden villages were. The only reason why Suna and Konoha could have a treaty between them without Iwa freaking out was that Suna was extremely weak. They could defend well thanks to the environment around their village but... they didn't have the necessary numbers, required funding, and skilled powerhouses to invade.

'Phew. That gave me a fright.' Kakashi mentally chuckled, 'What did I think? Of course, there would be no treaty between our villages. Even if Kirigakure was weakened by its recent civil war,' Which it wasn't and Kakashi knew that very well. 'Iwa and Kumo would not take kindly to Konoha pacting with Kirigakure. Lady Tsunade would not be so reckle-'

"Konoha and Kirigakure are going to enter a three-way alliance alongside Sunagakure." Ringo casually revealed, making Kakashi freeze in his spot and the jaws of the other occupants of the room to drop to the ground.

'Just as I thou-, wait what!?' Kakashi's eyes bulged out as he abruptly stood up and shouted without even realizing it, "You can't! It will be the start of a new ninja war!"

Everybody looked at him in surprise except for Anko and Ringo. Zabuza didn't care for politics so this conclusion was a new thing for him. The genins of team seven stared at Kakashi, not expecting the lazy and casual jonin to burst out like this. It only showed them how serious the situation was. Raiga suddenly understood what would happen in the future and why Ringo decided to give him this chance instead of outright killing him. As for the prisoners... even they were speechless.

Ringo just raised an eyebrow at Kakashi who finally realized he just screamed at Mizukage before awkwardly sitting down with a muted, "Sorry."

"And you think we are not aware of how the hornet's nest will be disturbed after that?" Ringo clicked her tongue. "Do you think Sunagakure is the same as it was five years ago? Or that Kirigakure stagnated under my watch? No, Hatake. I am genuinely surprised that Iwa and Kumo did not yet demand the dissolution of the treaty between Konoha and Suna with how much stronger Suna became in recent years." She calmly spoke, explaining the situation.

"The only reason for that is that they have no clue about it." Anko quipped in. As Tsunade's apprentice, Anko was privy to a lot of information. The kind that would cause a lesser man nightmares and worries.

"Yes." Ringo nodded, "It doesn't matter if we form an alliance or not. Once Iwa and Kumo get wind of exactly how much improvement our reforms have caused for our villages, they will inevitably join together to fight us if only to drag us back to their level. These past few years were very strenuous. getting rid of every spy in the village was a lot of work but I am not delusional. The truth will eventually come out and it will cause a war."

Frankly, it wasn't strenuous for Ringo. With Rei's seals, taking care of spies and infiltrators was as easy as setting up a detection barrier around the village. Kinda the same thing, but improved, Konoha had around theirs but never used under Hiruzen's watch.

"Lady Tsunade didn't introduce too many reforms since her rule started." Anko looked around the room, especially at her three students, and decided now was as good time as any to reveal a few unimportant village secrets, "But that frankly doesn't matter. Lady Tsunade wants to start improving Konoha on a large scale but she can't because she knows Iwa and Kumo would notice it. Konoha has too many merchants, too many civilians calling it home."

While Kirigakrue and Sunagakure also had civilians, Suna was in a very inhospitable place, hence not that many merchants visited. The information coming and going could be easily regulated. As for Kiri, they were always a village focusing more on the assassination. They had their ways of stopping information leakage. Ways that would be impossible to implement in Konoha's case.

"And once the war breaks out because of Iwa and Kumo's insecurities about Suna and Kiri... Konoha will be unavoidably swept in. While we did not have that many reforms, the Academy reform was enough to propel our strength back into the heyday. Basically, we are in the same situation as Kiri and Suna by default." Anko uncaringly shrugged. "So yeah, we are going to form an alliance. Better to join forces now even if it caused the war to erupt than being caught with our pants down later down the line."

After all, Iwa and Kumo were still ninja villages. They will not fight fair and square. Not after they realize that Kiri, Suna, and Konoha are stronger than them. Then again... Rei had his own plans. Plans Anko was not privy to but she was sure this upcoming shitstorm was a part of it.

Needless to say, Kakashi was shocked about the circumstances described to him by Mizukage and Lady Tsunade's apprentice. 'Is the international situation really so bad?' He gave his students a glance full of pity and inwardly swore to make their training harder. He didn't want them to die. Now on his watch!

Worse yet... Kakashi understood what they tried to tell him. The powderkeg was already burning and it was impossible to stop the explosion. The question was not 'if' but 'when'.

The status quo was disrupted and the war was inevitable.

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Chapter 338 - Ch338. Just Do It!

The depressing debate about the surprising upcoming war continued for a few minutes and the younger ninjas learned a lot of things such as how the inter-village politics in the Elemental Nations worked, what exactly kept the status quo and the balance of the world in check, and most importantly, just how easy it was to upset said balance and cause a war. It was an eye-opening discussion for the young genins.

When the debate reached its end and the people started to slowly leave the table, Anko suddenly noticed Sasuke subtly glancing at the back of the leaving Haku, his lips set in an indecisive frown before his eyes gained a strange resolve. He stood up and put his hands into his pockets, slouched a bit in his usual fashion, and donned his broody expression on his face before he slowly followed the unsuspecting Haku.

Anko's lips involuntarily stretched into a wide grin as she stood up from her seat and stealthily followed Sasuke. She instantly knew there would be entertainment!

...

Anko sat on the roof of Tazuna's home, watching as Haku practiced senbon-throwing in the backyard, patiently waiting for the fun to start when Kakashi suddenly appeared next to her and sat down in his usual depressing manner with a heavy sigh.

Anko inwardly clicked her tongue and thanked her foresight for spreading pre-made silencing seals around herself; otherwise Haku or the stalker-kun would definitely notice her with how much noise the distraught jonin was generating.

The two watched Haku's practice in silence for a few minutes before...

"Aren't you even a little worried about our genins?" Kakashi suddenly asked, his tone somewhat reproaching. He didn't like how casually Anko talked about the upcoming war as if it didn't matter. Kakashi lived through one already and didn't want his genins to go through the same experience. Yet, Anko seemed carefree as always. It really irked him somewhat fiercely.

Anko slightly turned her head towards her displeased co-teacher and scoffed, "I trained them for years. I know exactly where they stand ability-wise. They will be fine."

"You don't know that. War is unpredictable. Anything could happen." Kakashi argued in a calm tone but the struggle in his sole uncovered eye was plainly visible for Anko.

"And what exactly do you expect me to do about it?" Anko asked, thoroughly amused by Kakashi's attitude, realizing why he came to talk to her.

He was not here to do something about it. He simply wanted to complain, rave and rake about the unfairness of the world, and most importantly, he wanted someone who would listen to his worries. Anko found it distasteful that he chose her but considering his next best bet was Zabuza, it was somehow understandable if a bit annoying.

Hearing Anko's question, all righteous anger suddenly left Kakashi, making him humorlessly chuckle. What did he expect her to do, indeed...

Anko was the apprentice of Lady Tsunade and to say a small part of him didn't want her to talk to the ruler of Konoha and persuade her to stop the war would be a massive lie. But Kakashi had to acknowledge that even if Anko by some miracle decided to indulge his wish, and then if by some higher power Lady Tsunade decided to listen to Anko, it wouldn't matter anyway.

"Nothing." He released a pent-up sigh and helplessly shook his head. "I expect nothing from you."

"Mhm." Anko nodded in satisfaction, "Good. At least you won't be disappointed." She offhandedly added as she turned back, continuing her stalking of the stalker.

A vein popped up on Kakashi's forehead and his lips twitched when he heard the casual dismissal Anko gave him. Nevertheless, he noticed how his melancholy was instantly converted into irritation and had to admit Anko had a talent for alleviating the mood by being annoying.

"Haah~. What did I expect..." Kakashi mumbled under his nose with a reluctant smile.

Unfortunately for him, that's when his cute little Uchiha genin finally got enough courage to act and Anko no longer paid attention to what the cyclops had to say.

"Shush!" She brutally silenced him by bonking him on the head, earning herself a light-hearted glare.

As he glared at Anko, Kakashi noticed she was too focused on something in the backyard and curiously turned his gaze towards it, only for his jaw to drop when he noticed the fidgeting Sasuke freaking Uchiha, the broody emo-edgelord himself, approaching Haku with an utterly insecure expression.

"Ah, young love... isn't it precious?" Kakashi was pulled out of his shock as Anko dreamily sighed with the biggest shit-eating grin plastered on her face while she took out a camera from a storage tag.

He realized what would shortly happen and could only offer Sasuke a pitiful glance. 'This woman is too evil. I am sorry Sasuke, your teacher is incapable of saving you!'

Contrary to his thoughts, he also got comfortable in his spot and under his facemask sported a wide teasing grin that only got bigger the closer Sasuke got to Haku.

...

Sasuke approached Haku, grateful for the chilly air that prevented his hands from sweating too much as he nervously admired the beauty in front of him. Gulping down, he gathered enough courage and decided that as Uchiha, it was ungraceful to hesitate. This might be his last chance to speak to Haku and he will not miss it!

Haku noticed Sasuke... in fact, Haku knew Sasuke was standing there, observing... and truth to be told, it was creepy as heck.

When Sasuke finally decided to leave his hiding place, Haku sighed in relief, thinking that the Uchiha finally decided to speak out what was his problem.

"Hi." Sasuke nervously greeted.

"Good evening, Uchiha-san." Haku slowly nodded and with a curious head-tilt. "What can I do for you?"

"Er... I wanted to... you know," Sasuke fidgeted, "I mean... this is might be the last time we see each other since we are from different villages and..." He paused, embarrassedly looking for proper words.

"Yes?" Haku asked, not really getting what the boy wanted. This was getting too weird.

'Ei! Just do it!' Sasuke mentally encouraged himself. 'What is the worst that could happen!'

"What I want to say is..." Sasuke took a deep breath. "Haku-san, I fell in love with you!" He loudly exclaimed, his cheeks turning deep crimson from embarrassment. His eyes, however, held a firm resolve.

A deafening silence suddenly engulfed the backyard of Tazuna's house, making Sasuke that much more nervous when he didn't receive a reply straight away.

"I... I am sorry Uchiha-san. I don't swing that way." Haku awkwardly stated in a flabbergasted voice that still held a polite undertone.

"You... you are lesbian?" Sasuke frowned.

"Uchiha-san, I am a boy." Haku evenly said, trying to hide how mortified he felt at the moment.

Sasuke's brain froze and his mouth slightly opened in half-formed retort...before he registered what Haku told him and that the not-female had a dead-serious expression.

"I am sorry but I think we should forget about this conversation ever happening." Before Sasuke could even fully comprehend what happened, Haku decided it was the best time to take his leave, far away from the gender-confused Uchiha who creeped him out.

Sasuke found himself standing alone in the Tazuna's backyard in shocked silence, the events replaying in his head again and again as shame filled his body and disgust seeped into his mind. Suddenly, Sasuke deeply regretted looking at Haku's posterior with Sharingan, etching it forever into his mind.

That was one thing that will forever haunt him.

The young Uchiha was thanking Sage nobody saw him in what he dubbed the most shameful moment of his life... when he registered stifled laughter coming from above, making him snap his gaze towards it with a deer in the headlight's expression on his face.

Right there, on the roof, were both Anko and Kakashi, having blast at Sasuke's expense, Kakashi trying to repress his chuckles while Anko was failing hard at stifling hers and holding... 'Is that a camera?' Sasuke paled and almost blacked out as he realized what that meant for his future.

Noticing that Sasuke was looking at them as if he saw a ghost, Anko gave the boy a sweet smile, "I must say when I followed you, I didn't expect to get such quality blackmail. Way to go, lover boy!" She choked on her chortles.

"Fuck you!" Sasuke angrily growled, narrowing his eyes at her but knowing it was in vain. The most he could do was swallow his shame.

"Oh~, naughty! We should be careful. We wouldn't want to make Haku-chan jealous, would we, now?" Anko teasingly quipped, her eyes full of mirth. Sasuke wanted to curse at her again but she started speaking again, "Huh, who would have thought you swung both ways. I guess there is still hope for the Uchiha clan."

At that, even Kakashi no longer managed to keep his face blank and burst into wheezing laughter.

Needless to say, Sasuke Uchiha was not a happy camper.

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Chapter 339 - Ch339. Tayuya And Guren 1

"Will you stop glaring at me already, bitch? It's been two weeks! Give it a break." Tayuya irritably muttered, giving a stink eye to Guren who just scoffed but continued her glare-session with passion.

The only reason why Tayuya had the courage to say these things was that Guren was stuffed full of restricting seals and could barely show the prowess of a high genin in her current state. Not that Tayuya was in a different situation. She also had a lot of restriction seals on her but the fact they both were at high genin level gave her a measure of courage.

That, and the piled-up irritation.

The bridge in the Land of Waves was finished and that meant both the Konoha and Kiri teams decided it was high time to go back home. It was decided that Tayuya and Guren would go with the Mizukage... which made Guren even more irritating than ever... and that was the end of any sort of plotting of escape for them.

If they went with the Konoha team, there would still be a small chance to get away or that Lord Orochimaru would try to rescue them...

But even if he did, with Ringo Ameyuri present, it wouldn't really matter. In fact, Tayuya deeply believed Orochimaru would avoid that particular woman like a plague.

This was fine by Tayuya. In fact, she was happy about it. After all, she did decide to betray the Sound Village and surrendered in the spur of a moment. Her life would not be nice if she was captured by the Sound ninjas.

Guren, though, still held onto her loyalty to Orochimaru.

After they left the Land of Waves, it took three days for them to reach the Village Hidden in the Mist. Unlike Tayuya expected, their accommodations were not a damp cell with occasional entertainment through torture. Instead, they were left alone with nobody bothering them... as if they were not all that important.

Which... Tayuya had to begrudgingly admit... they probably were not.

Alas, any sort of non-torture treatment was welcomed by her. She was a captured enemy kunoichi and those usually didn't have a nice ending. Considering that Iwa and Kiri had a reputation for being extremely cruel to their prisoners... Being ignored was nice.

The only annoying thing was that she had to share her cell with Guren and that she was utterly unsure what the future had in store for her.

That made for a few sleepless nights...

A week and a half slowly passed in this anxiety, and their captors finally found time for them. Tayuya expected many things but to be knocked out was not one of them.

When he woke up, she didn't expect to find herself on a very comfortable sofa in a lavish room, a room that wouldn't be amiss in Daimyo's palace. Tayuya was momentarily awed... at least until she heard the grumpy Guren's growl and spotted the woman glaring at her. Again.

"Haa~," Tayuya sighed. "I know you are angry I surrendered but I had no other choice! The enemy was simply far too strong. Can you blame me?" She helplessly asked, knowing it wouldn't really help.

"Yes, I can!" Guren heatedly answered.

"Figures, bitch." Tayuya mumbled, deciding that trying to persuade Guren was pointless.

"How can you betray Lord Orochimaru! He basically raised you! Gave you home!" Guren hissed, with every word making Tayuya angrier. "He trained you an-"

"Will you shut the fuck up finally!?" Tayuya loudly exclaimed, "Raised me? Gave me home? Are you nuts, you spoiled bint? I don't have some extremely rare Bloodline Ability like you!" She snarled, "I was never raised to be one of Orochimaru's top fighters from the start. I was experimented on and forced to kill people in fighting pits since I was just a little girl! What do you think my life was like in there!? I had to be smart and use everything in my arsenal to survive, to get stronger! The only reason why I survived long enough to become one of the Sound Four was that I used my brain and had talent for genjutsu! You can take that emotional extortion and shove it!"

Guren stared in shock at the heavily breathing Tayuya who, for the first time in the past two weeks, returned her the glare full of hate. Only now did Guren remember what the other three from the Sound Four liked to call Tayuya a slut in jest and how fiercely and angrily she responded every time. Guren always thought it was just a joke among them, especially since Tayuya had such foul language. But now that she was looking at the rage-filled look of the girl who was notoriously known in the Sound Village for being so sadistic and stuck-up she castrated anyone who tried to flirt with her...

An awkward silence spread between the two women who refused to look at each other. Frankly, Tayuya wanted nothing more than to leap at Guren and rip her hair off. The only reason why she didn't do it was that she knew it was pointless. There was no benefit in such a thing other than making her feel a bit better. Especially since they were still 'prisoners' and for all she knew, they might be observed right about now.

Well, that was also a small part of the reason why Tayuya revealed that information about her. She hated her weak past self. The one who suffered in the dark damp cells of Orochimaru's fighting pits. But if it helped her to earn even a bit of sympathy from her captors, then she would damn well use it!

And under Orochimaru, Tayuya quickly learned when to suppress her own wants and desires for the 'bigger picture' anyway. To set her own personal feelings to the side in order to reach her desired goal. She was doing it for as long as she could remember.

Tayuya didn't really want to escape. Not if a better life awaited her here. Even if it was just slightly better than her life under Orochimaru, she would take it. That said, she didn't survive so long by being naive. She made sure to look for escape routes from the room the second she woke up, and she was also certain Guren did the same.

In the end, if it came to fighting for her life, Tayuya would do her best to survive or take with her many of the would-be attackers. Having Guren's support would be indispensable at that time. Getting into a fight with the irritating woman was simply not in Tayuya's best interest.

"I am sorry." Guren quietly apologized, making Tayuya give her a weird look. She certainly did not expect that.

"Meh, doesn't matter." Tayuya grumpily nodded and rolled her eyes. In her mind, the only words she had for Guren were, 'Fuck you!', but if she could make Guren feel bad with a different response, she didn't mind bitting into her tongue. "I know your life was not smooth sailing either." She offered an olive branch despite inwardly sneering at these words. Compared to her, Guren was living like a fucking princess if one took into account Orochimaru's child-raising standards.

"Yeah..." Guren weakly nodded and the room fell again into an awkward silence.

Hands abruptly grasped the left shoulders of the two girls and slightly squeezed in what would be a reassuring manner if it didn't come out of nowhere and scare the living daylights out of them from how suddenly it happened.

Somebody appeared behind the sofa they were sitting on and they didn't notice! Their carefully honed instincts didn't alert them! Even if their chakra was suppressed, their trained instincts were not! They were still on par with S and A-rank ninja respectively!

A chill instantly went up to their spines as the realization they could be easily killed without them even noticing settled in their heads. They prepared for a fight, even if it would be a futile effort before...

"Heeh~, I see you got quite comfortable under our roof." An amused man's voice resounded from behind them, "Good to know at least one of you has a good head on her shoulders." The man removed his hand from Guren's shoulder but kept it on Tayuya's in a reassuring manner, causing her to slightly relax her guard.

'So they really left us alone in an empty room to observe our reactions and see what we would do.' She happily thought, 'Letting out my past and showing my discontent with Orochimaru in front of Guren was definitely worth it!'

Something must have shown on Tayuya's schooled face because...

"Not that it matters anyway." The man suddenly added before chuckling, making Tayuya mentally face fault because she just knew she was the reason for his apparent amusement.

'Fucking strong people... All of them are sadistic assholes!'

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Chapter 340 - Ch340. Tayuya And Guren 2

Rei let go of Tayuya's shoulder and walked around the sofa before unceremoniously flopping onto the armchair opposite to it. He reached forward and tapped the edge of the table in-between him and the girls, causing small puffs of smoke to erupt and quickly dissipate as various foods appeared on the table.

"Go on," Rei smiled when he noticed the hungry and salivating looks the girls were throwing at the food, "Dig in. It was prepared for you."

Tayuya and Guren wanted to do nothing more than to obey this order but their upbringing stopped them from jumping at the deliciously smelling food. They looked at each other, wary of any drug or poison that might be present in the food...

Rei noticed their gazes and sighed. He leaned forward and started filling his plate, lifting his eyebrow at the two women who widened their eyes in bewilderment. "What? Do you think we poisoned the food? Bah! As if we needed to do that." He rolled his eyes.

The two girls slightly flushed as they realized it was the truth and started slowly filling up their own plates while being still very cautious.

Rei inwardly smiled at the sight and waited until both girls took a bite before starting to speak again, "Well, I definitely did not poison the food. No clue about the chef though. She likes putting aphrodisiacs in the food." He carelessly shrugged, causing both Tayuya and Guren to do a spit-take. "Meh. My poison immunity is bound to save me."

Two unamused glares landed on him but Rei just returned a happily clueless eye-smile to them, now realizing why Kakashi liked to do this. It was fun.

Rei partook in the food without a care in the world while the two disgruntled kunoichis watched, unsure if they should risk it and also dig in. They were quite hungry though. Kirigakure's cells did not have good room service. The sight of various delicacies in front of them was really, really tempting.

'Agh, fuck it!' In the end, it was Tayuya who broke first and started eating. Aphrodisiacs or not, she decided it doesn't matter.

Guren watched in bewilderment as the younger kunoichi ate with gusto what their 'host' clearly proclaimed a probably drugged food.

Tayuya noticed and furrowed her eyebrows, "What?" She asked with a full mouth. "If they want to forcefully fuck us, they don't need to drug our food. We are at his mercy." She offhandedly pointed at Rei who was content watching the drama with a small amused smile stretching on his lips.

Guren's stomach rumbled and she had to gulp down her saliva. She was also quite hungry. Deciding that Tayuya had a point, she also started slowly eating.

That's when Tayuya smirked, "Plus, I don't have a Bloodline. If they are going to breed someone it will be you, Miss Crystal." She mirthfully added, causing Guren, who had her cheeks stuffed, to grimace. Needless to say, her appetite was dealt a critical hit.

"You are quite the crass individual, aren't you, pinky?" Rei jovially intervened, not wanting the two women to start bickering again.

"Haa!? Who is pinky, you bas-t-ard?" Tayuya burst out on instinct, only to realize what she did at the end of her sentence, causing her voice to hitch. She looked at Rei with a deer in headlights expression. 'Shit! I got too relaxed and forgot to take care what I say!' Tayuya inwardly panicked.

Rei clearly saw her plight and decided to alleviate her worries, "Such a pity. You are quite the beauty, you know? To think your mouth would be so dirty... I don't dig it.'' He mournfully stated with a sad head shake, causing Tayuya's irritation to rise while she also flushed a deep red.

Even Guren forgot herself and cracked a smile at that, earning herself a punch to her shoulder from the embarrassed Tayuya when she noticed.

"But you are correct. It is Miss Crystal we would breed." Rei seriously said in a matter-of-fact tone, causing Guren's head to snap in his direction.

Guren suddenly started to feel weaker than usual and her head slightly spun. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized she was drugged. She desperately tried to fight whatever was in her body by increasing the circulation of her chakra while staring in fright at Rei who returned her stare in an even and emotionless manner, pressuring her with a simple look.

"If we were actually interested in such a practice." He switched back into his playful tone and shit-eating teasing grin when he deemed Guren sufficiently cowed. "Alas, your DNA and blood were already taken when you were unconscious and with time, we will be able to replicate your bloodline without any need for violating you. Who do you take us for? Oto?" Rei couldn't help but make a small scathing comment at Guren's village, causing the woman to avert her gaze with the knowledge she would not win a verbal fight about this topic.

'Hmm... psychological warfare?' Tayuya slightly narrowed her eyes in worry, hiding the gesture by leaning her head forward and letting her hair cover her face. 'He is making Guren realize the bad parts of Sound Village based on her reaction to my upbringing, huh? I will have to be extra careful around this one.' She felt quite uneasy. He totally got her with his banter earlier. She got too relaxed around him. That was so out of character for her, it shook Tayuya at her core.

Rei didn't miss this subtle gesture of Tayuya. He was certainly surprised at the girl. 'I might have said I don't dig this but... damn,' He was extremely glad for his trained poker face. It wasn't about Tayuya's personality or looks. No, Rei was attracted by something else. 'She can level-headedly analyze the situation and is keeping up with my mind games. No wonder she could fight Shikamaru. Heh, should I?' A mischievous thought suddenly entered his mind.

"Then again," He smirked and looked straight at Tayuya. She didn't like the slight widening of his smirk as his eyes landed on her, "we found out you have Uzumaki blood in your veins. Good for you, eh? Kumo would be interested."

"Geh... thanks." Tayuya snarkily replied but inwardly she was repeating 'Fuck!' as she realized why she seemed so important to Lord Orochimaru. It might not have seemed like it but Jiroubou, Kidomaru, Ukon, and Sakon all had some special biology or bloodline. Only she had no idea how she fell into the same category as them. 'And just like that, he erased any idea of escape from my mind.' Tayuya inwardly winced.

Yeah, the man might have pointed out Kumo who was known for seeking female Uzumakis for breeding purposes and their practices were quite brutal but Tayuya knew his words really meant Lord Orochimaru. Previously she thought she had no value other than her strength. Now that she was informed of her apparent Bloodline, she understood Orochimaru would hunt her down to the end of the world. The Uzumaki were rare, after all! 'So that's why I had more experiments done on me than the others in the Sound Four! They were trying to awaken a Bloodline ability in me!'

"Who is this 'we'?" Tayuya resignedly asked, deciding now was not the time for thinking about her fucked up future prospects. She had to get information about her captors and find out if she could be offered protection for servitude.

Before she would be fine if they treated her even slightly better than Orochimaru. Now? Now she wouldn't mind being treated worse than that if it meant not getting on Orochimaru's dissection table. Traitors died in Oto. But traitors with Bloodlines? Now that was a completely different can of worms.

Tayuya shuddered thinking about what suffering would Orochimaru unleash on her if she was ever captured by his people.

"Oh, right! I forgot!" Rei fakely bullshitted before exclaiming, "Welcome to the Village Hidden on the Other Side!" He waited for an outburst of surprise but when he received only silence, his brows furrowed. "Eh? No applause? You are not a funny audience, you know that? One would think Orochimaru taught you how to be proper grunts." He said in mock disapproval.

The women getting used to Rei's antics ignored his words and looked at each other in confusion.

"But... no such village exists?" Guren confusedly stated. She knew every single ninja village in the Elemental Nations and this one was not among them.

Tayuya, at whom the question was aimed, just nodded in agreement.

"Well, I did say we are a hidden village, didn't I?" Rei gave Guren a meaningful look that made her blush. "Wouldn't be much of a secret if every Dick, Prick, and Guren knew about our location and existence, now, would it?"

And just like that, her blush was gone, changed for a heated glare.

Tayuya involuntarily smiled at that. "What will happen to us now?" The mood was certainly lightened thanks to Rei's antics and she was grateful for that. It was still annoying how easily it made her drop her guard though.

"Hmm..." Rei ponderingly hummed, "It's simple, really. You can either join our village and serve, or-" He leaned forward, creating suspense.

'A threat, huh?' Tayuya thought, wondering what their fate would be if they refused.

"- you can leave." Rei finished with a shrug, making use of his leaning forward to snatch a glass of orange juice from the table.

After a moment of stupefied silence, it was the bluenette who got out of her shock first.

"You would let us go? Just like that?" Guren incredulously asked, a bit of hope seeping into her mind. She had to inform Lord Orochimaru about this village that was obviously connected to Kirigakure. If they were stupid enough to let her walk free, that is...

"Yeah, sure. Doors are there." Rei pointed behind them, causing both women to turn around.

"And if we decide to walk away... nobody will try to detain us?" Tayuya asked, not believing in such an obvious crap even for a second.

"Yup. Pinky promise, Pinky." Rei nodded, quipping a joke and getting the look from Tayuya. "Nobody will neither hinder nor aid your escape."

Guren instantly stood up and walked towards the door, not even interested in what Rei had to offer them. Even if he lied, then she had nothing to lose. If he was telling the truth, however, she wasn't about to waste any more of her time. She flung the door open only to freeze in her tracks as her jaw dropped to the floor, unable to believe her eyes.

Guren did hear the unhurried footsteps resounding behind her and only idly registered as Tayuya walked next to her with the same utterly bewildered expression of disbelief but she was in too much shock to really care.

"Oya? I failed to mention this is the village on the other side of the moon? Oh, well. Now you know." Rei's playful voice resounded from behind the two Sound kunoichis as he snickered.

Both Guren and Tayuya realized that there was no running away for them as the sight of a massive blue planet surrounded by a dark void of the universe greeted them.

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Chapter 341 - Ch341. Orochimaru

Author's Note:

Pa treon - 35 chapters ahead.

If you want to support me or read ahead:

https/www.pa /kasicair

For those that read this author note later on and are interested in joining my pa treon, don't subscribe at the end of the month. It is better to wait for a new month and then join. A few days worth of wait won't kill you :D.

--

Orochimaru looked at the dissolving six-armed body that ran through all the guards and barged into his laboratory before slumping onto the ground with a desperate and groaning, "Oroch-", and promptly died. Frankly, it was fascinating, to watch the unknown poison corrode the body, changing even bones to a goo right in front of his eyes.

Unfortunately, the two guards chasing Kidomaru entered the laboratory right when Orochimaru's momentary engrossment with the never-before-seen poison just ended and he realized the corpse indeed had six arms and he knew only one person with such physical disfiguration.

"Lord Orochimaru!" One of the two guards exclaimed and straightened, sweat suddenly started rolling down his back. They let an intruder reach Lord Orochimaru's laboratory! That was definitely not good!

"Hm, Riki-kun." Orochimaru impassively stated, looking straight at the six-armed corpse, "That... is Kidomaru, right?"

The guard, Riki, was very reluctant to answer. Something in Lord Orochimaru's casual tone told him to keep quiet. Fortunately for him, his partner was a new guy and a very eager one.

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru! That is Kidomaru-sama!" The boy eagerly said...

And Riki didn't even notice when Orochimaru lashed out but the boy's head rolled off his shoulders the second he finished speaking.

"I see..." Orochimaru nodded, his lips twitching downward as the newbie's head hit the ground with a wet thud before his body also gently swayed as gravity claimed it. Orochimaru looked at Riki who was trying his best to ignore the fresh corpse next to him while wondering if he would be next. "Take care of the corpses. I need to send somebody to scout the situation in the Land of Water."

Orochimaru was barely keeping calm. Kidomaru and the Sound Four were essential for his upcoming plan. They were one of his best! He spent a lot of time making sure they were useful. And now... Kidomaru was dead. It was a heavy blow since Orochimaru did not have anyone capable of taking his place for the barrier formation.

'I hope Guren and others got away safely.' He frowned, not understanding what could have happened. It was a B-rank assassination mission and he sent four low-to-mid A-rank ninjas and one high A-rank kunoichi. Frankly, this was supposed to be a breeze for them! He only sent such an overkill of a team for the mission to please Gato while showing the midget to not screw with him. To show him there would be no backstabbing from his side involved anytime soon or else...

That said, he did train his ninjas to retreat rather than die. Orochimaru wasn't sure Kidomaru was the only loss but he was certain that not all of his investments died. 'I have to find out what happened.' He thought as he left the laboratory, leaving the shuddering Riki behind to clean the mess.

"I have survived..." Riki let out a relieved breath, only now noticing how tense he was. He decided to take a two-minute-long pause so he could properly catch his breath.

After he at least somewhat calmed down, Riki looked at the corpse of his colleague, 'Unlucky bastard. This was his first day on guard duty.' He helplessly shook his head, 'Well, better him than me.' And shrugged.

Turning his gaze towards the humanoid goo nearby, Riki frowned. "And I have to clean this mess up. Just my luck." He grimaced.

By now, Kidomaru's corpse was but a bloody and fleshy goo in the form of a human, his liquefied innards spilling onto the ground around him by the second.

"I should start. Once it dries up, it would be a bitch to clean." Riki sighed and walked towards the closet where he knew were the necessary utensils for the job. As a guard whose patrol area was near laboratories, he was the poor sod who was usually given the task to clear the mess Lord Orochimaru made during his experiments. That's why Lord Orochimaru knew his name.

Approaching Kidomaru with a broom, ready to sweep him off the floor, Riki chuckled, "Funny. The spiderman got liquified from the inside out. And here I thought it was supposed to be spiders who did that. Hehe." With a chuckle, he put strength behind his sweep...

Orochimaru who was disgruntledly walking through the corridors of his hideout, deep in his thought, suddenly had to brace himself as a massive explosion shook the underground complex. He whipped his head towards where it came from and his eyes widened, 'Fuck! My laboratory!' He inwardly screamed and started running in the direction from where he came from.

He had everything there! His recent research result, his documents, his precious tools, his best DNA samples from various subjects and bloodlines! All of it!

He reached the hall leading to his laboratory, only to discover it had turned into a massive hole in the ground, enabling him to see the sky as if it was mocking him. The priceless fruits of his months-long effort were vaporized.

'Whoever is responsible for this... I will find you and skin you alive!' Orochimaru seethed in rage.

Unknown to Anko, her little gift did its job at Orochimaru-baiting better than she expected.

...

"Dead and captured? All except Tayuya and Guren who were captured are dead?" Orochimaru darkly asked, tightly gripping the armrest on his chair. It was already a week since Kidomaru's corpse exploded in his laboratory and the scouts finally returned.

Orochimaru was getting a little anxious when not one member of the Sound Four returned during the week. Well, now he knew why, mostly thanks to how chatty the people of Land of Waves apparently were about the happenings, and he was utterly pissed.

Konoha was protecting Tazuna?

Anko Mitarashi of all possible Konoha ninjas was a part of it? Orochimaru could almost imagine the rage of his former apprentice when she realized they were his grunts. Her expression when they activated the Cursed Seal must have been so hilarious!

At least, Orochimaru found it hilarious and felt a sadistic pleasure at imagining that situation for a brief moment before his mind reminded him it was Anko's fault that his elite subordinates were killed and captured.

'Kidomaru died of poison...' Orochimaru suddenly realized. 'Kakashi Hatake isn't all that proficient in poisons. The one responsible for decimating my laboratory should be Anko.' He reasoned. 'If I wasn't so pissed, I would be impressed.'

During the previous week, Orochimaru tried to find out what kind of poison was used. He couldn't really do any analysis since any remains of the poison were vaporized alongside Kidomaru's body but as an expert on poisons himself, Orochimaru had his theory. The only thing that could create such a blast with nothing but a dead body... It was obvious the poison used Kidomaru's chakra to make a bomb out of his body.

How such a thing was possible though... now that stumped Orochimaru.

Alas, he had bigger problems than the small fireworks in his laboratory. Kirigakure took the captured Guren and Tayuya.

The second he got to know that, Orochimaru instantly flared his chakra, activating the self-destruct function of Tayuya's Cursed Seal. That should have immediately killed her... except he felt no response.

'My seal was countered!?' He freaked out, making his breath hitch. The Cursed Seal was his masterpiece! Jiraiya had his Sennin Mode, Tsunade had her Strength of a Hundred Seal, and he had his Cursed Seal. It was his masterpiece and somebody managed to counter it!?

The Cursed Seal was not only a means to enhance his soldiers. Every piece of it contained a small part of his soul from which he could be reborn in the unlikely case he died. The grunt-enhancing function was just a small bonus in Orochimaru's mind.

Orochimaru hissed in anger, 'No. My seal is impenetrable. Not even Jiraiya can do anything about its earliest stage that doesn't contain my soul. Tayuya must be already dead.' He calmed himself and schooled his expression.

"You say that Anko Mitarashi is now S-rank kunoichi? Tsunade's apprentice?" He lifted his eyebrow. "She easily decimated my elites?"

The scout who kneeled in front of Orochimaru slowly nodded, too scared to put it into words lest Lord Orochimaru decided to relieve him of his head.

"Good job, you can go." Orochimaru indifferently stated and the scout vanished in a burst of speed, happy to be dismissed.

"Anko Mitarashi... heh." Orochimaru shook his head in disbelief. He threw away the girl because she was frankly useless. A burden. Worse yet, a burden he felt an attachment to. Now that he heard how strong she became despite the Cursed Seal that limited her growth... Orochimaru was proud. Proud enough to even forget about how her actions almost ruined three years of planning and preparing.

Almost...

"Does this mean we are abandoning the plan?" Kimiro, one of the Kaguya clan survivors whom Orochimaru promised clan restoration and revenge in exchange for his services, suddenly asked, emerging from the shadows near Orochimaru's chair.

"No... this just means I have to get creative." Orochimaru chuckled, his eyes dangerously narrowing as new plans and schemes were forming in his mind. A moment later, his expression eased and a small sly smile appeared on his face, "Heh~, Anko-chan became so strong... Maybe throwing her away was a bad decision. Hmm, looks like we need more allies."

And just like that, Orochimaru's plans for the Konoha invasion did one-eighty.

'I guess I should be grateful.. Without Anko so easily killing my elites, I would never realize the forces I amassed are not enough.' Orochimaru chuckled, 'Konoha will rue the day they forced me to remake my plans!'

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Chapter 342 - Ch342. The Family Gathering 1

"Is the crystal user still as sullen as the newfound Uzumaki is eager?" Ringo asked Rei as she longingly snuggled to his side on the couch in the living room with an expression of pure bliss.

She just returned back home to their mansion in the Village on the Other Side after a particularly long week spent solely in Kirigakure in preparation for the Chunin Exams in Konoha and the events happening during or after them. It was honestly maddening and choosing teams for the exams was actually the easiest part of it all.

Her only solace was that when her gaze fell on Pakura, who was currently using the other side of highly amused Rei as a teddy bear, the green-haired woman gave her a weak but understanding smile. Sunagakure was in full mobilization too and keeping these things secret, while a lot easier thanks to Rei's village-scale barrier seals, still needed a massive effort.

Spies were routed, the village's forges running all day and night long, troops organized and prepared, defense and offense restructured, assassins fully notified that orders might come any second and they will be required to don their masks, the Seven Swordsmen were having more and more sparring sessions in the last-minute rush for improvement, finances had to be sorted, budget secured, all non-vital projects put on hold and war council was put together, starting to strategize and evaluate the earliest elimination targets for assassins while making first plans for Kirigakure's offensive and fortifications, plans that will have to be no doubt adjusted once Konoha and Sunagakure really tie the proverbial knot with them.

The clan heads were also informed what would happen shortly after the Konoha Chunin Exams to deal with their own problems and make their own war preparations for the village was fully expecting the clan ninjas to pull their weight.

This all meant... paperwork.

Yeah, paperwork. That blasted thing. Ringo would never have guessed that putting the village on war footing would require so much damn paperwork.

Her reaction?

'Fuck my life...'

There was no nicer way to put it when she saw the unending stacks of paper on her table, around her table, all over her damn office...

At least this nightmarish week was finally over. Her wrist hurt more than she ever remembered. Life-long intense practice with sword and it is paperwork that made her wrist kill her with pain. That made the hardened kunoichi in Ringo quite vexed.

It was a time like this that Ringo pitied the Third Mizukage and fully understood why the man was so stressed. It was hard enough to make the village work with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine when everyone listened to commands. Ringo really didn't want to imagine the mess it would be if she had to rule over unruly clan heads with their own agendas.

That simply didn't fly during her reign, much less when the village was on the precipice of war.

A soft snort resounded from the door leading to the kitchen, causing Ringo to slightly turn her head towards it and notice a pale-skinned woman with horns leaving the kitchen, carrying two plates.

"That's putting it mildly. That crystal girl didn't speak a word since Rei made her sign the contract. It has been weeks!" Kaguya chuckled, finally reaching the armchair opposite the sofa on which Rei, Ringo, and Pakura were seated.

"True." Rei distractedly agreed, not taking off his gaze from the seals he was trying to put together. "Guren isn't happy she was left on the moon."

"As if you would let her back onto Earth. It is blatantly obvious she would try to run away and inform Orochimaru." Pakura tiredly sighed, enjoying Rei's warmth.

Ringo tried to reach for the food on the plates Kaguya brought and put on the table but before she could grab herself a bite, Kaguya quickly took both plates again into her hands and pulled them away with a mild glare aimed at the stupefied Ringo.

"And the Uzumaki half-breed fit right into this clan of redheaded bastards." Kaguya spoke, her pointed and warning look not leaving Ringo as she cradled her food in her lap. Her eyes now flickered over Ringo's red hair as a pondering frown appeared on her face.

Ringo... just rolled her eyes and returned to her snuggling with Rei while inwardly cursing white-haired stingy alien bitches with freaky eyes.

Kaguya was not fond of the Uzumaki clan. Her descendants or not, anyone who practiced seals was on her shit list except Rei because he actually offered her help. Despite that, Kaguya did not fully trust Rei until recently. Only when he pulled out his newest product, the contracting seal, did Kaguya finally get the necessary reassurance.

The Contract Seal was something that enforced terms stated on a contract. It worked on the soul rather than the body and while ninjas had sturdy souls, that didn't mean breaking it wouldn't be nasty. In fact, just the attempt to do so would be excruciatingly painful.

Rei used it on both Guren and Tayuya as the unwitting test subjects and Kaguya instantly understood what purpose the contract held.

And unsurprisingly, it was the very same day that Rei came back to her seal to 'seal' the deal. They signed a contract where Rei had to free her and she would become his.

With that, Kaguya was assured Rei would really put effort into fulfilling his part of the deal.

What this 'his' meant... neither Rei nor Kaguya specified. It could be anything from subordinate to lover and both were fine with leaving it so open... for now.

Fortunately for Kaguya, this safeguard of the contract meant Rei decided it was fine to give her more freedom. The current body of Kaguya was but a special shadow clone with a multitude of seals all over it that prevented her from instantly dispelling due to accidental light damage. That's why Kaguya had only as much chakra available to her as the clone, which meant she felt utterly powerless.

Alas, she would rather feel vulnerable but capable of eating the incredible foods found in Rei's fridge than be stuck in the seal. The occasional cuddles with Rei helped too.

But it was not all just a walk in the park. Kaguya was extremely envious of Tsunade freaking Senju who decided it was her job to goad her by visiting Rei's chambers every. Damn. Night. While being extremely loud...

Any attempt to relieve her frustrations was completely useless. In the end, it was just a large concentration of chakra.

She felt cheated...

"Tayuya is a very talented kid." Rei smiled, ignoring the slightly hostile tone of Kaguya, "In the past few weeks, she took to her studies like a fish to water. She is no longer restricted to only doing illusions through her chakra-infused sounds."

"Echolocation?" Ringo raised her eyebrow.

"Yup. It was the first thing that was taught to her." Rei nodded.

Echolocation was a quite basic 'sensing' technique Rei and Konan invented during their youth. They did not use it much, not after they surpassed a certain limit in their power and devised better ways.

The reason why Ringo was aware of it was that she had to spend two damned months practicing it to perfection when she was genin... only to find out it was mostly useless for her when she was finished.

Sometimes she just had to hate the tough love of her definitely 'not' sadistic senseis.

"And with the girl's affinity for sounds, she learned it in a day." Rei nonchalantly added, eagerly watching Ringo's reaction with the corner of his eye.

He was not left disappointed.

Ringo's face scrunched as if she ate a particularly nasty lemon.

'One day!?' She cursed Tayuya in her head. 'The bitch just earned herself a particularly high position on my shit list.' She disgruntledly decided.

Were her two months of suffering so meaningless?

"Yeah, you should have seen her." A new voice suddenly interjected as Tsunade leisurely walked in, stretching like a cat, "Rei just had to explain certain concepts to the girl and she found out how to create shockwaves via her sound all by herself." She shook her head in disbelieving amusement, "The girl has potential to reach SS-rank."

"SS-rank..." Ringo's jaw dropped.

In the Village on the Other Side, S-ranks were not rare. The village had over thirty of them. After that came SS-ranks and after them SSS-rank which was basically just Rei and his girls. To hear that the weak low-jonin level girl who loved to cuss had the natural talent to reach SS-rank was mind-boggling for Ringo.

To be fair, even Konan and Tsunade reacted in much the same way as Ringo when they first realized this fact. They just had enough time to come to terms with it.

"I can't help but find it funny. Orochimaru has no idea what a gem that girl is." Tsunade derisively snorted. "He made her train in genjutsu when she could possibly use the very same amount of chakra to blast through chakra-reinforced walls as she would for a mid-class illusion. Her shockwaves are just pure bullshit, I tell you." She disgruntledly huffed at the last part, making Ringo extremely curious about the reason for her mild agitation.

"It works on a very similar principle as her enhanced strength." Rei hinted at the reason for Tsunade's displeasure, "And our resident med-nin is still mad that a wet-behind-her-ears girl managed to recreate the effects of her super-strength through soundwaves AND can use it as a ranged attack."

Tsunade rolled her eyes as she arrived behind Rei and eagerly put her hands on his shoulders, starting to massage him. She could instantly feel the surge of his water-natured chakra entering her system and slightly shuddered.

She loved to give her beloved a proper massage. With his long working hours on seals, he always had stiff shoulders. That Rei made it his duty to make the massage as pleasurable for Tsunade as it was for him... that only made it that much sweeter for Tsunade.

"I am not mad the girl's Jutsu is a version of my super-strength that took me years of research, study of the body, and physical training to develop. Nor am I mad she figured out how to use it to a great effect in under three days." Tsunade nonchalantly said but nobody in the room believed the bullshit she just spewed. "I, however, am not sure I liked the way she looked at Rei after he introduced her to these concepts of how sound works. She looked a bit too lovestruck for my tastes."

'Scratch that. The bitch just earned herself the top position on my shit list.' Ringo's eyebrow twitched.

"You are just mildly jealous." Konan also entered the room, and with that, the gathering was finished as Mei was currently too busy being Mei. "I, for one, like the overeager vulgar girl. She is precious."

"And that is why you put her into Izumi's hands? I thought you wanted to traumatize her for life." Kaguya snickered and Konan gave her a pointed look as she flopped into an armchair near the sofa.

'Ouch. Maybe I should lower her ranking on my shit list, after all.' Ringo mentally hummed, feeling a sudden pity for the poor Tayuya.

"Izumi is not that bad." Konan exasperatedly defended with a peeved expression. She trained the girl herself! There was nothing wrong with her!

"Are we speaking of the girl who thinks using Tsukuyomi torture for mental training is a totally acceptable training method?" Pakura decided to butt in.

"You mean the girl whose idea of training our troops is having them fight against her fully formed Susanoo?" Tsunade dryly asked.

"The Uchihas literally avoid her and call her the second coming of Madara because of her sadistic nature." Ringo added her own fifty cents in deadpan.

Kaguya just munched on her cookies, each bite transmitting her utter disbelief at what she just heard Konan say.

Silence momentarily ensued in the room and Konan frowned. She still couldn't understand where the problem was. Izumi was such a gentle and clumsy girl. It wasn't as if she used different training than she put Ringo and Mei through and they turned out just fine.

"Ahem, anyway..." Rei decided to change the topic, "Let's start the meeting. You can bicker about your apprentices' questionable tendencies later on."

He liked the girl but he was not about to discuss Izumi's unreasonable training methods born from Konan's tutelage. He didn't want to be forced to admit into Konan's face that having chunins fight against fully-formed Susanoo was a bit overkill. Nor was sending their mangled bodies for a two-week-long stay at the hospital despite the incredible medical advancements the village had.

Well, at least there was not much his ninjas feared after that experience. Tsukuyomi for the win...

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Chapter 343 - Ch343. The Family Gathering 2

"We came together to discuss the Chunin Exams." Rei reminded his women and instantly noticed how the room quieted down as Pakura, Ringo, Tsunade, and Konan started looking at each other warily, measuring each other's reaction.

They each had a village under their thumb, even Konan who was sending a team from the Village on the Other Side in the guise of Uzushiogakure team, and apparently, this Chunin Exam was a prime opportunity for a gentlewomanly dick-measuring contest.

Rei wryly smiled and his eyes briefly met Kaguya's, 'They are really into it.' He suddenly heard her unbothered voice through their mental connection as she munched on a sandwich.

'Well, they have quite high stakes in the event.' Rei chuckled. He found it quite amusing. His wives, some of the strongest people in the Elemental Nations, couldn't settle their differences by fighting because it would cause too much collateral damage and so, they decided to simply use their villages' teams for the Chunin Exams.

'Bets?' Kaguya cutely tilted her head.

'Yeah, foot massages, back rubs, a coupon that could be used to force the one who issued it to do your paperwork for you. Stuff like that.' Rei shrugged, not really caring. His wives did fight sometimes but it was never serious. This betting was more to amuse themselves than an actual conflict in the house.

Rei was actually more worried his wives would succumb to Tsunade's bad gambling habit. Even now, the woman still visited a casino at least once a month and utterly squandered her monthly gambling limit.

If Rei wasn't so rich thanks to the Biri-Biri Company and the Uzushio Trading Company, he would be unable to even afford mashed potatoes with Tsunade as his wife.

'Sounds dumb.' Kaguya deadpanned. She didn't see any point in betting on such insignificant events.

'It's just a game.' Rei rolled his eyes at her. There was no real concept of gambling in her era. In fact, there were many things Kaguya simply did not understand, concepts that felt foreign to her, and sometimes even concepts she named differently after Rei explained what he meant. It was frankly an interesting clash of cultures. Rei had a perfect way to show Kaguya why this gambling was so interesting to his girls, 'Wouldn't you join if Konan's special cookies were one of the prices?'

'Oh...' Kaguya momentarily stopped eating and frowned, her lavender eyes slightly widening and gaining an interested glint for a second before they again turned into impassivity as she realized that, 'Meh, I can get them for free anyway.' She sent Rei a mental message that almost made him do a spit-take.

'What a picture-perfect freeloader.' He thought with a twitching eyebrow, not sending this to Kaguya through their connection.

Suddenly, Rei noticed he and Kaguya were the center of attention from his four wives who watched them with keen interest.

"What?" He asked, feeling quite awkward from the undue attention.

"Well... you are having a silent conversation with Kaguya as if you were a long-married couple. We are just wondering if we should start teaching her some harsh realities of our sisterhood." Konan quipped, her eyes secretly giving Kaguya a pondering look.

Rei knew that look well. He didn't even need to get a bad premonition. He instantly knew she was about to say something utterly embarrassing.

"Then again, our little stalker rabbit seems to learn well by observing." She jokingly added, hinting at all the time Kaguya used her mental connection to watch Rei's intimate moments with his girls.

Kaguya became crimson red, silently averting her eyes and staying quiet while pretending she didn't hear Konan's teasing. She only slightly huffed and focused on munching on her carrot.

'And just like that, Konan again safeguarded her dominance.' Rei thought in disbelief. With just a few words, Kaguya accepted her defeat. Rei was aware the Rabbit Goddess had yet no idea what that would mean for the future relationship dynamics but he could already predict it. He saw the same thing happen with his other wives.

What good was all that overwhelming power for Kaguya when a few words managed to cow her into, to her yet unknown, submission?

Rei exasperatedly gave Konan a meaningful look. It was far too soon for these kinds of games when it came to Kaguya.

Or... was it?

Rei had no idea. Maybe him thinking along those lines already meant that the time was just right. And wasn't that an incredible revelation for Rei? He indeed felt something for her.

'Did I really unknowingly develop an attachment to Kaguya?' Rei furrowed his brows as his eyes subtly glanced at the white-haired woman. Only now did he realize that sharing a mental connection twenty-four-seven might have had some unexpected consequences.

Understanding the meaning behind Rei's look, Konan's lips mirthfully twitched before she turned back to the other girls, "Well, since our esteemed freeloader is embarrassed enough, let's return to the original topic, shall we? I'd say my team will win the Chunin Exams quite easily. I really have to thank you, Ringo, for bringing me the Uzumaki kid."

Ringo blankly blinked, the gears in her mind slowly turning before her eyes widened as she understood what Konan meant. "Fuck you! You can't do that! That's basically cheating!" She incredulously protested.

"Wait, you are seriously making Tayuya the part of your genin team? That's ridiculous! The girl is almost low S-rank with her sound shockwaves!" Even Tsunade was exasperated.

Konan smirked, "We are ninjas. We don't play fair. So what if I am going to send Karin, Kimimaro, and Tayuya." She shamelessly said with a wide innocent smile stretched on her lips that proclaimed to the world her victory.

Ringo, Pakura, and Tsunade became instantly quiet, capable of only staring in deadpan at Konan. They had a hard time believing what the woman just uttered.

"You do realize it is going to be the Chunin Exams, don't you? It is meant for genins." Tsunade exasperatedly pointed out.

"They are still genins according to the village ranks." Konan sincerely nodded and Tsunade's eye twitched.

'Karin Uzumaki, the most talented Uzumaki of this generation who inherited not only Mind's Eye of Kagura but also Uzumaki Chains and Uzumaki healing chakra. The second she meets Uzumaki Naruto...' Tsunade couldn't help but wince at that. The boy would surely annoy the hell out of Karin with her being an Uzumaki and whatnot and while he was a beast with his jinchuuriki chakra cloak, Karin had her Uzumaki chains. 'Rest in piec-, ahem, I mean in peace, Naruto. At least Kimimaro is a level-headed one.'

"Oh don't look at me like that!" Konan exclaimed after she felt five sets of eyes boring into her, "You, Pakura, have no right to judge me for this! You might have forgotten but I am the spymaster here and I am fully aware you intend to send your apprentice as part of the main Suna team."

"You are sending Temari!? She is one of your best ANBU! How can you send her as a genin to these exams, you sand-eating bitch!?" Ringo barely refrained from shouting in hysteria. She had high stakes in their little betting competition but her sister-wives seemed to be hell-bent on cheating!

"As Konan-senpai so nicely put it... She is technically still a genin in the village ranks." Pakura smugly shrugged. "Not my problem your head is filled only with forging and swords. You should have taken an apprentice too, fish-head."

Ringo huffed and petulantly crossed her arms on her chest. 'At the time it seemed such a good idea to decline. To think it would come to bite me in the ass! How are Haku, Chojuro, and Utakata supposed to win now?'

Frankly, Utakata should be already jonin with his current skills and Haku was not far off either. Ringo thought they would be enough for a measly Chunin Exam. Now she could only pray their opponents would slip in the middle of the match and fall on their faces, knocking themselves out. Quite improbable.

Or... was it?

The gears in Ringo's head started turning, plans and schemes forming. If her sister-wives want to cheat, then so be it!

"You are planning to send all three Sabaku siblings as one team, aren't you?" Rei mirthfully asked Pakura, already knowing the answer. Now that was overkill if he ever saw one.

"Well, if I want to beat Konan at her own game, I have to do my best to cheat my way through." Pakura smirked with satisfaction and snuggled closer to Rei again. Inwardly, she was not as reassured of her own victory. Konan really pulled all stops on shamelessness in this one but Pakura liked to think her kids had a decent chance. They grew exponentially during these past years, and she would be damned if she didn't show them off.

As she looked at the depressed Ringo, Tsunade couldn't help but feel a small measure of pity for her. The redhead was never one for scheming but Tsunade didn't think this was where Ringo would bow out. Far from it. Ringo was too stubborn for that.

'I am so glad I didn't bet on Team Seven...' Tsunade felt smug about her own ingenuity.

Why bet on a team from her own village when she is fully aware of Konan's personality? She knew the bluenette would play dirty from the start. She led the Biri-Biri company alongside her for more than a decade now and as they say, old habits die hard.

For Tsunade, betting on Konan's team was an obvious choice.. She was actually highly curious if she would still lose the bet anyway, no longer really caring for victory or loss.

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Chapter 344 - Ch344. Date In Takigakure

Rei and Tsunade in her guise of the dark-skinned Nadetsu Juusen walked the streets of Takigakure, hand in hand as they enjoyed the bustling atmosphere of the streets with various stalls where merchants tried to sell their wares.

For a ninja village, Takigakure was oddly weird, yet familiar. They clearly tried to imitate Konoha's way of doing things if the number of merchants and civilians inside the village was any indication but it was also obvious they simply failed to imitate everything.

The overall strength of their ninjas, for one, was quite pitiful.

Alas, while the couple could not just turn off their instincts and NOT notice these things, they indeed did their best to ignore it and casually enjoy their time together.

"This is quite tasty, try it." Tsunade's eyes lit up as she took a bite from Takigakure's special takoyaki before gently putting the stick in front of Rei, beckoning him to try with a wide expectant look.

'She is too cute for her own good.' Rei smiled and took a bite as Tsunade turned them around and pulled him back towards the stall with the takoyaki before buying five more sticks.

"If you are hungry, we can go to a proper restaurant." He said before patting her head, making her puff out her quickly reddening cheeks like a squirrel. "You know, somewhere where we could sit down and cuddle a bit while eating." He temptingly added.

Hearing that, Tsunade deflated and embarrassedly nodded in consent. "Just give me a moment."

Seeing a pair of kids nearby, Tsunade briefly let go of Rei's hand and approached them. She didn't really need five takoyaki sticks if they were going to a restaurant. A moment later, she returned to Rei, three takoyaki sticks lighter, and gave one of the remaining two to him as she again took a hold of his arm and snuggled into his side.

"Onwards, then!" She exclaimed with a grin before starting to munch on the meat on her stick.

Rei amusedly shook his head, finding her unbothered attitude funny. Especially since they were followed and observed almost from the second they entered the village. Tsunade's persona of Nadetsu Juusen was an internationally known woman with a lot of pull, both political and economic. It was only natural the leader of Takigakure would instantly order his men to follow her and try to find out the reason for her visit so he could attempt to gain some benefits from it.

Tsunade obviously knew about their little stalkers but since she was on a date with Rei, she didn't care. If they crossed the line, however...

Both Rei and Tsunade decided to be extremely frustrating for their observers and the current leader of Takigakure, Shibuki, who probably expected Nadetsu to pay him a visit. They slowly walked through the village, buying things like plushies, make-up, clothes... just like any ordinary couple on a vacation, giving no indication that they were present for a business deal or anything similar.

Having somebody like Nadetsu visiting and being unable to even greet her properly without coming off as pushy and potentially making her disgruntled... the village leader must have been quite aggravated and nervous.

Needless to say, Tsunade enjoyed making the boy squirm in his seat quite a lot, making sure to enjoy her time with Rei to the fullest, and being extremely affectionate. That way, she not only got the most out of her date but also got the satisfaction of watching how dismayed their observers were, not knowing how to invite her for a chat with their leader without offending her.

In the end, the duo eventually ended up in a booth of one of the high-class restaurants in the village.

Tsunade sat on Rei's lap and snuggled her back into his chest much to the dismay of the poor waitress who was selected to serve their booth. Rei had his arms around her waist and leaned his head over her shoulders to read the menu in Tsunade's hand, their cheeks affectionately nuzzled together as they enjoyed the warm and quiet atmosphere.

"We... aren't really choosing, are we?" Tsunade giggled, realizing they were staring at the menu for the last twenty minutes, not moving an inch from their position.

"I suppose not." Rei tightened his hold on her. "Even with the menu in front of me, it is kinda hard to concentrate on it with such a delicacy just an eye-flicker away." Tsunade wearing a sexy loose-ish kimono was quite the problem for Rei. One that Tsunade clearly felt and enjoyed, considering the hardening of a particular part of his body on which she currently sat.

"Pervert." Tsunade teasingly whispered and subtly wiggled her butt, making Rei almost let out a moan.

"You are one to talk." He gently chided into her ear, causing a shiver to run up her spine. Rei could see she was starting to get excited from the way she bit her lower lip. Unfortunately for him, he had to cut the mood short. He was not keen on bending Tsunade over the table in front of the waitress. "But we should already order food or the girl in the corner will faint from embarrassment."

Tsunade pouted but obediently listened. They both picked their food and relayed their orders to the waitress. As she left the booth with their orders, Tsunade turned towards Rei, "Faint from embarrassment, my ass. You do realize what kind of restaurant this is, don't you? If you demanded it, she would join." She rolled her eyes.

"And then you would kill her for it." Rei chuckled, "I like to think myself not desperate enough to visit high-end restaurants to have my wicked ways with the waitresses. That's honestly below me and I have no idea why they even provide that kind of service." He shook his head. Sometimes the medieval-like mentality of his world still surprised him. "You girls are enough for me."

"Eh~, is that why you not-so-subtly intend to make Kaguya our new sister?" Tsunade teased. She didn't really mind overly much. As long as Rei didn't neglect her, it was fine by her. It really helped that Rei put more effort into keeping his girls happy than his actual work in the village.

"Well, that's not my fault. It kinda just... happened." Rei helplessly shrugged.

"I see. The same way I, Mei, Ringo, and Pakura just happened, huh?" Tsunade amusedly giggled.

"Mhm. Can't argue about that." Rei straightforwardly stated and kissed Tsunade's cheek.

"Looking for you and Konan was the best thing that happened to me in my life." Tsunade said, shuffling in Rei's lap to turn around enough to face him. Her hands clutched at Rei's shirt as she looked straight into his eyes, "I am very glad that I 'kinda just happened'." She smiled and leaned forward, planting a quick kiss on Rei's lips. "I am sure you can make that grumpy Goddess happy again."

"You know she can hear you, right?" The corner of Rei's lips twitched.

Rei would normally cut the mental connection with Kaguya but she made sure to ask for permission from Tsunade to 'eavesdrop' on them during their date because she was extremely curious about it. He had no idea why Tsunade agreed but she did.

"I do. That's why I called her grumpy. I tried to be polite to the harlot." Tsunade cutely nodded, unable to suppress her smirk, and Rei sighed as his head was filled with the impression of pouting and disgruntlement. He decided to make Tsunade feel a bit of it so he put his forehead on hers and connected her mind to the connection with Kaguya...

"She is quite butt-hurt, isn't she?" Tsunade smugly smirked when she felt Kaguya's feelings bleeding through the connection.

"You would be too, after spending a millennium in a seal." Rei tried to play it off. He didn't need Kaguya raging, huffing, and puffing in his head for the rest of the day.

"I know. I am just a bit angry that she can spend all of her time with you thanks to the mental connection." Tsunade confessed and the couple fell silent.

Rei and Tsunade stared into each other's eyes, their foreheads connected, hugging each other. There was no need for more words. The wonder of the mental connection was that it was capable of relaying feelings and emotions. While it also sent these emotions to Kaguya, right now, neither Rei nor Tsunade cared as they flooded the other with their care and love for each other.

Poor Kaguya was rendered a blushing wistful mess without either of the two lovers even noticing.

--

Author Note (and rant that is as usual longer than the chapter):

Okay, I have noticed people discussing the upper power levels in this fanfic and how it works since I forgot to explain it so I decided to enlighten you, noobs!

And don't give me hate when you disagree, please.

(Yes, I said please because I got manners and shit.)

Anyway. I said there are S-ranks, SS-ranks and SSS-ranks. No, this is not linked with any kind of self-made power level you may or may not have created. And yes, I say self-made as there is no such thing as official power level scaling in Naruto canon.

Genin, Chunin, Jonin, Sannin, ANBU, Kage are not power levels. They are titles and ranks. They don't have much to do with power level. Chunin could be jonin level but also genin level, same as jonin can be S-rank ninja since there is no higher rank than jonin in the villages.

An example would be Anko who could definitely be Jonin in canon. If Kurenai could pass the tests, then Anko could ace them too. But politics...

You get my drift yet?

Writers use genin, chunin, jonin, etc, exactly because Narutoverse doesn't have power scaling. The closest thing we got is S-rank which means stronger than your usual jonin chump. These are the real special individuals one should fear but even then... Hidan is S-rank same as Pain. So... there goes using it as any sort of power scaling.

You can't use bounties either because depending on the crime committed, a genin could have been given a bounty worth of jonin.

Also, Kage level. What does it exactly mean when somebody is Kage level? Kage is a freaking title! Sure, it is 'assumed' that Kages are stronger than other ninjas in the village but just look at Rasa! Or at the fact, Gaara became a Kage before even reaching fifteen. Or look at Danzo as Kage and then compare him to Eight Gates Gai. How am I supposed to use that as power scaling with cases like this?

Do I mean Madara level, Hiruzen level, Raikage level, or Rasa level when I say Kage? Or do I mean Terumi Mei level from canon?

It just doesn't work...

So, I have a simple system. S-rank in my story is around S-ranks in canon as are the earlier ranks. It also means that one's specialization, experience, hidden trump cards actually matter. But S-rank firepower or capability means being placed in S-rank even if one lacks experience. This will be slightly relevant later in one chapter.

Also, most Kages are S-rank.

Don't even try to argue that point. Most of Akatsuki are just S-ranks and they can definitely match Kages. Again, there is no such thing as 'Kage level'.

SS-rank in my story is Madara/Hashirama/Pain... of course, they are not on the same level but they all fall into this category.

I get the hype around Madara and Hashirama but they are not really as strong as people are making them out to be in their fanboy-driven delusions. They are definitely the pinnacle of ninjas but... they have nothing on Hagoromo, Hamura, final form Naruto and Sasuke.

(And I don't mean Six Path Madara because that is different from his original power level)

Hence, they are SS-rank but it is not as easily quantified because they all have their tricks and specializations.

As for SSS-rank where Rei and his girls are... well, they have their own bijuus they can fully use! If you need a blunt assessment, they are around the level of final form Naruto and Sasuke.

Therefore far above Madara and Hashirama.

First of all, the Madara we are seeing in the Fourth Ninja War is NOT showing his real strength. He has Edo Tensei body and with it, infinite chakra, stamina, and indestructible body in peak condition. Of course, he would perform far above his usual paygrade with that. With all the Jutsus he used, he should have been spent thrice over by the time he was resurrected for real.

You gotta consider this angle, at the very least.

Now, Kaguya is obviously much stronger than even this SSS rank. Call it me simping but... yeah, you would probably be right but I have my reasons, alright!?

You can not scale Kaguya properly according to Naruto and definitely not according to the Boruto series.

You can't just give the girl capability to create dimensions and then make her power level as low as it was in the series. Just... use some damn common sense, please.

Creating whole dimensions is definitely a Dimensional Level of power. That's like... far above planetary, no?

I can agree she is weak but not because she doesn't have the necessary power in her. She lacks control.

But okay, let's say she is not a dimensional level but planetary level to make those skeptical satisfied.

And I am not going lower because the bullshit she showed in the final fight can't be rated lower if one uses common sense. Especially not when one considers that's her untrained and control-lacking self.

Creating dimensions, reality-bending, traveling between dimensions, instant-annihilation on hit ability, do I need to go on?

In neither fight, nor the one she had with Hagoromo and Hamura or the one she had with Naruto and Sasuke, she did not get a scratch. Yes, they landed hits on her but she was never injured and she barely moved in these fights!

In the end, they had to seal her. And the word 'seal' matters. They did not 'defeat' her. They sealed her.

Which is a form of defeat but it is not as if they had beaten her in a fight. Far from it, actually.

Kaguya's problem is that she never really explored her powers, taking what she could do instinctively for granted and thinking it was the end of it. She never trained, thinking in her arrogance she was powerful enough.

I mean, even an academy student can do Kawarimi but Jonins can do it with much less chakra required and without hand seals. Because they trained!

Look at what Kaguya can do without training and then think about her trained self.

From what little of her powers she has shown during her fight against final form Naruto and Sasuke, if one takes into account what she actually does and thinks what the techniques she uses and their effects really say about her prowess... I have a hard time believing Kaguya is not the most powerful thing in the entire Narutoverse.

I don't take into account the crap called Boruto. If the Otsutsuki clan is more powerful than Kaguya then Naruto's planet is toast. There is no need for hundreds of chapters of anime. The ending is obvious. It wouldn't matter how many power-ups Boruto can get. Not when fighting against somebody capable of busting an entire planet. Because Kaguya might not have explored her powers in their entirety but the other Otsutsuki definitely would have.

But yes, this is just my own bias. Don't take it too seriously.

Back to my petulant rant about Kaguya's OPness...

Where did I end? Oh, yeah, I remember... And that is not even mentioning the fact Hagoromo was basically just a budget version of Kaguya! What he could do with Rinnegan, Kaguya would certainly be able to do better considering Hagoromo's father was just a normal human. Hagoromo and Hamura's powers came entirely from Kaguya and they were a form of a bloodline. Which was diluted in them because of the blood of their father.

Hagoromo just explored his powers, unlike Kaguya.

Well, that's my rant and yeah, I feel better now after getting it out of my system.

Have a good day!

Chapter 345 - Ch345. Meeting The Leader Of Takigakure

Rei and Tsunade finished their luxurious lunch, feeding each other in a silent, comfortable, and warm atmosphere, concluding their date for the day.

They didn't come all the way to Takigakure to eat lunch together. That would be silly considering they had entire villages under their command. Naturally, they had their own agenda in coming to Takigakure and now that they had their fun, it was time for business.

"Do be a dear and tell your leader we are ready for the meeting." Tsunade turned towards the waitress and calmly spoke, startling the girl who just realized her cover was busted.

"I... okay." The waitress nodded with a small grimace before turning towards the door and hastily walking out. Since she was found out, there was no need to deny it.

Seeing the woman leave the booth, Tsunade, still sitting on Rei's lap, expectantly looked at him, "Do we leave him waiting for us some more?" She asked with a sultry smile, leaning closer to him. "After all, these booths are so spacious for a reason."

Rei just smirked and various seals suddenly burst from underneath him, covering the entire room and preventing anyone from looking or entering inside.

"Well, I am sure an hour of waiting won't kill him." Rei said, his hands around Tsunade's waist pulling her body closer to him before Tsunade's lips landed on his in a passionate struggle.

Needless to say, he was glad that he brought the device for the automatic deployment of his advanced silencing and barrier seals with him. They were definitely going to see some use right about now.

...

The young Shibuki, the new leader of Takigakure, looked at the two people in front of him with a twitching eyebrow, biting into his inner cheek to stop himself from being... cheeky.

It was two hours ago when Taki kunoichi informed him that Nadetsu Juusen is finally ready to meet with him. So... he made sure to order some snacks to be prepared and waited. And waited. And waited some more...

His frustration was building up by the second and when an entire hour passed, he decided to send someone to check on the blasted woman. Contrary to his expectations, that did not help at all as they apparently could not enter the booth. HIS own ninjas were unable to enter a room in HIS village.

The security concerns this caused... Shibuki really didn't want to think about it.

Unfortunately, now that he had the woman in front of him... entire two hours after she informed him she was ready for the visit... Shibuki knew he could not be impolite to her. She was the president of one of the largest international trading companies in the world. Even the Kages of the major five hidden villages and Daimyos would mind their manners in front of her!

That didn't make the situation any less annoying for Shibuki though. Nor did the fact that Shibuki could plainly see what exactly was the reason for her two hours delay. The amused man to whom she was clinging to as she sat on his lap while almost glowing was a clear indication!

Shibuki was jeal... ahem, he was angry at being made to wait for such a reason!

Unknown to Shibuki, Tsunade made sure she was presentable but also that her clothes gave small hints any ninja worth his salt could pick that revealed what she was doing with Rei while he waited. After all, unnerving and frustrating her opponent always worked in her favor no matter the method.

This usually could not be used against civilians who were not observant enough but Shibuki was a ninja. And Tsunade knew from experience that it is those small 'hidden' details that can be the most maddening as there is no way for him to complain about it even if he wanted to.

After all, how should he bring up the topic of her being late due to having sex? In 'polite company' such topics were taboo. Any reservation Shibuki could have had, any complaint at all, had to be begrudgingly put to the side the second he realized the reason for her delay.

If he did not ignore it, he would come off as crude and uncultured, plus it could sour future relations. It was one of those damned if do and damned if don't kinds of situations and from the stiff expression on Shibuki's face, the young man clearly realized he simply had to suck it up and pretend he was not just made a fool.

"Welcome to Takigakure, Miss Juusen, and..." Shibuki greeted them with stiff politeness, pausing his gaze at Rei in a questioning manner.

"Yotsuba Rei." Rei introduced himself, not worrying about being recognized through his name. Takigakure didn't possess a good enough information gathering department to get his name from Kirigakure's records.

Shibuki nodded in acknowledgment before returning his eyes back at Tsunade, "What do I owe such a..." His lips twitched in annoyance. Yes, Nadetsu Juusen could possibly bring a lot of benefits to his village but damn if the woman was not infuriating! "pleasant visit?"

Tsunade's lips stretched into a wide but polite smile at that, "Don't worry, Lord Takikage. I am not here to bother you with company business. This visit is more of a personal matter, you see." She cheerfully said, almost eye-smiling at Shibuki whose grip on his armrest tightened.

'Translation, I am not here to make a deal that would benefit your village. I wasted your whole day for the kicks and giggles. Tehe~.' Shibuki thought as his left eye started to twitch more.

"Is that so?" Shibuki hummed, discreetly taking a deep breath to center himself. "Since you are visiting me, I assume this 'personal matter' has to do something to do with either the village or me. Am I correct?"

"Yes." Tsunade simply nodded, keeping her polite smile on her face.

'Yes what!?' Shibuki mentally grumbled. 'Would it kill her to simply tell me what she friggin wants with me!? How am I supposed to inquire about her business here if she doesn't throw me a verbal bone!?' He inwardly raged while outwardly his expression was the perfect picture of politeness, only the twitching of his fingers betraying his mental state.

'Heh, young people. So easily provoked.' Tsunade thought. She only wanted to test Shibuki since he was not the same person who led Takigakure a decade ago when she was here the last time. She wanted to get some measure on how he would react to the reason for her visit before she brought the issue up. 'Well, at least he tries to hide his own impulsiveness. Let's see the extent of his self-restraint. Will it survive his ego?'

"If you don't mind me asking... aren't you a tad bit too young to lead an entire village?" Tsunade 'curiously' asked as if she had a vested interest in the answer while intently observing Shibuki's reaction.

Hearing the question, Shibuki blinked and opened his mouth to answer only to close it a second later, utterly speechless. How was he supposed to answer that?

Rei, who observed from the sidelines, almost felt pity for the young man who was being verbally roasted by his wife. There was a reason why Tsunade was chosen as Konan's replacement in the Biri-Biri company. She was simply too vicious when she wanted to be.

In the end, Shibuki decided to just mentally shrug and humbly say, "I was chosen after my father's demise. Young or not, I can only do my best, Miss Juusen."

Rei slightly smiled at that, 'That was a good answer and an even better reaction. Neither overbearing and offended nor submissive and bootlicking. He is playing his disinterest in the benefits Tsunade could bring to Takigakure quite nicely.'

Tsunade's eyes slightly widened, 'Ho~, a humble young man, isn't he?' She noted, pleased. 'Good. That will probably make it much easier for me. I would loathe having to slaughter the entire village just because their new leader is a young arrogant moron with a massive ego. I can work with this.'

Nodding, Tsunade chuckled, "That's admirable. Forgive my straightforwardness but I just had to make sure you are worth my time." She calmly said and Rei almost did a spit-take when he heard that sentence.

THAT was something one should never say in these kinds of negotiations.

Did Tsunade care though? Not at all. Just because Shibuki was an 'admirable' young man didn't mean she would stop irritating him and probing the limits of his patience through her words. Especially since it was so much fun!

Shibuki tried to reply with a reassuring smile but it came out somewhat wry and stiff. He really didn't trust himself to give a verbal reply. He was the leader of Takigakure and what Tsunade said could be taken as, 'I had to make sure Takigakure is worth my time with someone as young as you in the lead.'

'Troublesome woman.' Shibuki inwardly groaned. The words were polite but the meaning could possibly start wars. Just imagine if she told this to Raikage or Tsuchikage with a bit different wording. They would fly instantly off their rocket.

"Anyway..." Tsunade continued, completely ignoring Shibuki's sudden awkwardness, "I am here on behalf of my dear friend. I believe Takigakure and her made a deal decade ago and I am here to finalize it." She reached into her purse and took out a card while Shibuki was furrowing his brows, trying to remember if something like that really happened.

He was drawing blanks. As the leader of Takigakure, he had to get familiar with all the long and short-term deals the village had but he had no idea what Tsunade was talking about.

Tsunade simply reached forward and put the card onto Shibuki's table, waiting for him to take it.

Seeing that, Shibuki decided to humor her. He didn't think she was here to scam Takigakure. For that, the woman in front of him had too good of a reputation. At best, this could be some misunderstanding and at worst there really will be some kind of deal.

Taking the card, Shibuki pulled it to himself and flipped it upside down to read its contents before his horrified gaze snapped back towards Tsunade with breathless urgency, only to see her softly smiling at him and looking at him in the same way a cat looks at mice in her trap.

Shibuki's pupils dilated and his hand shook as he gulped down his discomfort and looked back at the card sporting three simple words, still having a hard time believing this was really happening.

These three words... even now they brought a fearful shudder to every ninja who experienced the biggest crisis of Takigakure in recent history.

The card stated... 'Yozora was here.'

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Chapter 346 - Ch346. Agreement And Fuu

Shibuki warily eyed the calm and collected Tsunade who curiously awaited his reaction. "You..." He shifted his complicated gaze back to the card, "This..." And a tiresome sigh left his lips. "Are you here to steal our jinchuuriki?" He asked resignedly.

Frankly, Shibuki liked to think he was a realist. Even without the card that basically said there is an SS-rank individual that could level his village with the surrounding ground supporting Nadetsu Juusen, there was nothing Shibuki could do to the woman. If she was killed in Takigakure, all surrounding nations would come crashing at his village like a wave of hungry dogs. The best outcome would be to dissuade her with his words but somehow, Shibuki doubted he would be capable of doing that.

"Steal is such a bad word." Tsunade mirthfully quipped, "I came to check up on the girl. I am sure you know the deal my dear friend," She pointed at the card in Shibuki's hands, "had with Takigakure."

Hearing that, Shibuki inwardly grimaced so much it almost spilled onto his expression. 'The deal, huh? More like conditions your dear friend forced us to accept.' He bitterly thought, smart enough not to voice these thoughts out loud.

Takigakure's previous leader, Shibuki's father, indeed did promise the person supporting Nadetsu Juusen that Fuu would be given to her if the girl was mistreated. But there was no debate about what exactly 'mistreated' meant. That's why Shibuki was anxious and resigned, knowing in which direction this meeting would most likely go.

After all, people like Nadetsu Juusen didn't travel through several countries just to check on a girl she never even met. People like her sought benefits for their troubles. Shibuki was certain Nadetsu didn't come to Takigakure just to leave empty-handed.

"I see..." Shibuki's mind worked overtime to come up with a suitable excuse or a way to delay the inevitable but when after two minutes of silence Nadetsu Juusen lifted her eyebrow at him in a silent question, he could just sigh, "In that case, I will send for Fuu." With a hand gesture, one of the Taki ANBU hiding in the corner of the office quickly left.

This was his defeat.

"In the meanwhile, would you be open to discussing a business cooperation between Takigakure and the Biri-Biri Company?"

But that didn't mean he couldn't try to make this bad situation at least somewhat prosperous.

"Hmm~, good question." Tsunade chuckled and turned to Rei before cutely tilting her head, "Would I?"

'She is playing with me.' Shibuki realized, feeling indignant at how his serious question was turned into playful flirting.

"Stop messing with the kid." Rei chided as he poked the stomach of the whimsical woman on his lap, causing her to slightly yelp before pouting at him. "Just look at the poor young sod who just wants to better his village. He is so anxious it is heartbreaking. The least you could do after all this emotional bullying is to throw him a small bone for his sad effort."

Shibuki's polite smile faltered at that but he decided to keep silent. After all, the man did insult him but his words were in Takigakure's favor.

'As if it wasn't enough that the woman is insulting me in a way I can't refute. Now even her unknown partner does it.' Shibuki's left eye twitched. It would have been so much better if he suspected them of having an ulterior motive but Shibuki was mostly sure these two were mean to him simply for the sake of messing with him. It wasn't even about his young age anymore. If he was an old man, they would probably start throwing retirement jokes at him.

Tsunade exasperatedly sighed, "Rei, we are just exchanging some professional banter. This is how it is supposed to be in talks between businessmen. Just look at the boy. His indifferent facade didn't break even once! He clearly knows his shit." She playfully scolded Rei, her lips twitching, wanting to form a shit-eating grin at the hidden indignation present in Shibuki's eyes.

'Professional banter, my ass! Fuck you too, bitch!' Shibuki got the sudden urge to break his facade just to prove her wrong and scowl at her as a pulsing vein showed on his forehead. It took a long deep breath to calm down.

"But... cooperation, huh?" Seeing that her fun was over, Tsunade put her pointing finger on her chin in a pondering manner, "I am sure we could agree on something."

'Finally!' Shibuki mentally cheered as if Christmass came sooner this year. "Then, let's." Outwardly, he just calmly nodded and the discussion between the two started while Rei focused on enjoying the softness of Tsunade's body on his lap. He wasn't really interested in this minor business deal.

Fortunately for Shibuki, the second a business deal was started to be negotiated, Tsunade switched into her business mode and became fully serious.

A half-hour passed and Shibuki was delightfully pleased with the terms Tsunade offered him and his village. "Thank you for your consideration, Miss Juusen! You are very kind." He was pleased enough to forget his former irritation...

"This much is only natural." Tsunade humbly stated, "We both will benefit from the agreement."

Inwardly, however, she rolled her eyes. 'Well, the least I can do is to give the kid some leeway. I did use him as a verbal punching bag, after all. It's not like my company will lose profit from it either. Young leaders these days... Give them some crumbs from the table and they are ready to worship you.' She amusedly thought.

Tsunade knew best that villages like Takigakure did not have a lot of resources so the deal she brokered will be very beneficial for the village so she understood why Shibuki was so grateful. It's not like the major Five actually offered help to minor villages like Takigakure. In fact, they mostly hindered them in gaining the necessary resources. This deal with the Biri-Biri company was like a Sage-given gift to Shibuki. After all, not even the major five hidden villages would dare to intervene in the matters of the Biri-Biri company in fear of enraging their Daimyos.

Just as the agreement between Takigakure and the Biri-Biri company was signed, the door opened and a dark-skinned young girl with green hair walked inside the room, gathering the attention of the occupants on herself.

Rei noted that Fuu appeared quite cheerful but his trained eye revealed a different story. Her eyes showed loneliness and the way she moved screamed caution and readiness to flee at the moment's notice.

Thankfully, it was not the body language of someone who is heavily physically abused. Both he and Tsunade expected some rough handling of the girl despite the warning Tsunade delivered a decade ago. And their expectations were apparently true if the way the girl behaved was any indication... but as a jinchuuriki, she clearly didn't have it bad.

"Hello!" Fuu cheerfully waved her hand at Tsunade and Rei in a greeting before turning towards Shibuki, "You called, Shibuki-chi?"

Shibuki sighed under his nose at the antics of his resident jinchuuriki and her lack of manners. Shaking his head, he answered, "Yes. These two people came here to check up on your well-being. Fuu, Nadetsu Juusen and Rei. Rei, Fuu. Nadetsu Juusen, Fuu." He introduced them to the wide-eyed girl who looked at them with an open mouth, unable to comprehend that yes, there were people other than Shibuki concerned about her well-being.

Normal ninja would get instantly suspicious but Fuu... she only beamed at them.

Seeing that, Tsunade kindly smiled at the tense jinchuuriki who was looking at her with eyes full of excitement. "Hello, Fuu. I heard various rumors about you during my shopping spree today."

'So this meeting between us was just a formality for her.' Shibuki's cheek twitched as his eyes darkened. 'The date she had with Rei was just a way for her to scout the rumors in the village. Damn this crafty fox.'

"Is that so?" Fuu tilted her head, the excitement in her eyes dimming a bit after hearing what Tsunade said. She knew the rumors about her and none was good. It made her dejected that her next offer will probably be rejected but Fuu decided to try anyway. She cheerfully smiled, something that came naturally to her and she could by now make it actually seem real instead of fake, and spoke. "Would you be my friend?"

"I will do you one better, Fuu-chan." Tsunade smirked.

She knew the next part would utterly annoy Shibuki, if not drive him to a heart attack, and probably put Fuu into a coma of happiness. She also made sure to insert a dramatic pause and only started to speak again when Fuu curiously leaned forward with an expectant gaze and Shibuki finally broke his indifferent facade and showed a small frown. Inwardly satisfied with the reactions, Tsunade eye-smiled.

"I will adopt you!"

Chapter 347 - Ch347. Leaving Takigakure

Needless to say, neither Shibuki nor Fuu was prepared for Tsunade's statement.

The difference between the two was that while Shibuki, for the first time since Rei met the boy, dropped all pretenses and outwardly freaked out, his head snapping towards Tsunade with a wide-eyed look full of bewilderment and disbelief, Fuu seemed to totally blank out.

"What? You don't want to be adopted?" Tsunade mock-frowned at the utter lack of reaction from the jinchuuriki.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, the perpetually cheerful girl actually became quiet instead of instantly jumping at the offer.

Shibuki would have never thought he would see Fuu being silent. He, however, did note that the girl threw him a brief questioning, and much to his chagrin, almost hopeful look as if asking what to do. It was obvious from the longing in her eyes that Fuu wanted to cheerfully exclaim acceptance but Shibuki also understood that Fuu of all people knew how painful it would be if this hope of hers was betrayed.

That... and the girl probably did have at least a small measure of loyalty, if not to the village, then to him.

"Fuu... it's fine." Shibuki reluctantly assuaged the girl's worries in a weak tone. He knew he would be losing his jinchuuriki today anyway and he already gained some deals so there was no real need to make this more painful and longer than it needed to be. "They are really here to offer you a new home."

"A home where you won't be discriminated against because of being a jinchuuriki." Tsunade pipped in before Fuu could process what Shibuki told her and come up with her own doubts.

Fuu's expression scrunched and the gears in her head were visibly turning, if a bit slowly at that admission.

'Did I perhaps misread the girl? She looks similar to Naruto so I went with the reckless knuckleheaded approach but...' Tsunade was starting to worry that her blunt blurting out what was going to happen was not working as intended but...

Fuu's pondering expression suddenly eased up and a small listless smile appeared on her face, "I... is there really such a place?" She carefully asked, trying to muster up her usual facade of cheerfulness, fidgeting from nervousness.

"Yes." This time it was Rei who answered, "You will even have some people in a similar situation like you to help you get settled down in Yozora."

Tsunade's eyes slightly widened and gained a subtle calculating glint as she wondered why he revealed that while Shibuki's eyes snapped towards Rei as the revelation they had other jinchuuriki hit him like a train. His mind started quickly going through the information available to him, trying to find out which. He only managed to guess they had Nibi but Rei sounded as if there were 'people' as in multiple.

With the corner of his eyes, Rei noticed how deep in his thoughts Shibuki was and inwardly smirked, 'That should force him to investigate. And we all know that a small-time village such as Takigakure is shit at covert investigation considering their spy infestation problem. All Five Major Hidden Villages will know about this in less than a week which means Akatsuki will get the memo in under a week and a half. Let them waste their time looking into Yozora. Less possibility of them interfering in the upcoming conflict this way.' He chuckled, wondering to what extent his little ploy would work.

Well, it was just a few simple words. It certainly didn't hurt him uttering them so even if it had a minuscule effect, he won't be losing anything.

Hearing Rei's words, Fuu's face brightened. If there really were others with the same problem as she, then she really might find some friends!

"Then, I want to go with you!" She exclaimed, eyes sparkling with expectations.

...

It didn't take long for Fuu to pack her belongings, which were in no way plentiful, and after she said her goodbye to Shibuki who was practically the only person in Takigakure with some level of care for the poor girl, she was off with Rei and Tsunade.

Fuu was... perplexed.

This entire thing just happened too fast.

From getting a message to come to Shibuki's office to being offered to be adopted and then being told to pack her things because they are leaving in an hour...

She surmised her mind just didn't catch up to all the implications yet.

A part of her was on the edge, thinking this might be a trap while another part of her was berating her for being silly, that Shibuki would never allow her to leave with them if it was indeed so. A quite big part of her hoped it was all true while another, more realistic part was skeptical after all her experiences in Takigakure.

As they were walking on the road, getting further and further away from the place where she spent her entire life, the distraught Fuu decided to once again make sure this was not just a dream, "Are you really adopting me?" She asked with some difficulty.

It was a... ridiculous concept. Fuu was almost thirteen, meaning almost an adult according to the ninja rules. She didn't need to be adopted! And yet, she craved a family. This was important to her.

It wasn't the dark-skinned woman who answered her, however. "Don't worry," The man, Rei, smiled at her, causing her to duck her head a bit, "While Nadetsu doesn't intend to adopt you herself, " And that was apparently not the correct thing to say judging by how Fuu stiffened, "there are two people, jinchuurikis of two and three-tailed beasts, who are quite eager taking you in." He finished and chuckled at the deer in the headlights expression Fuu was giving him.

"They recently had a small firecracker of a daughter so you will also have a younger sister if you accept becoming a part of their family." Tsunade interjected, making Fuu double as speechless as before.

"Is it really fine?" Fuu eventually muttered in a quiet and worried tone, "I wouldn't want to be a bother."

Since it was not really a question but a small mutter under her nose, neither Rei nor Tsunade deemed it important to answer Fuu's quiet pondering. Nothing they would tell the girl now will reassure her. Only experiencing it for herself would alleviate her worries.

To be honest, they didn't really need Fuu for her combat potential or her bijuu. Having Nibi and Sanbi was good enough considering that Ichibi, Rokubi, and Kyuubi were basically under their command too. Getting Nanabi was not required.

The only reason why Tsunade and Rei went to Takigakure was indeed to have a nice date. Tsunade just remembered her threat to Takigakure as she was planning the date and it spiraled from there, resulting in the current situation.

Well, giving the pitiful girl a family could be counted as their good deed for the year so there was that.

As they walked on the road, both Rei and Tsunade suddenly stopped, causing Fuu who was caught in her thoughts to bump into Rei's back with a startled yelp.

"Come out." Tsunade lazily said, aiming her eyes at a particular tree on the side of the road. "I'd grade your hiding eight out of ten but you guys are not really that good."

Four figures appeared in front of them in the middle of the road. Both Tsunade and Rei instantly recognized them and when they saw the annoyed scowl the redheaded boy was sporting... let's just say they got this urge to mess with him.

"You are our escort?" Rei asked and got three sets of deadpan looks in return that clearly asked if he was being serious. He knew them. They knew him. The answer was obvious. Alas, his question was not aimed at the owners of these three pairs of eyes but at the clueless redhead.

"Yes. You are late." The redhead stated in a monotonous voice, causing Rei to feel almost sorry for him as he saw Tsunade's lips twitch.

Tsunade amusedly snorted before rolling her eyes and saying, "Bitch, please. We are your clients. We decide if we are late or not."

The redhead almost popped a vein.

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Chapter 348 - Ch348. Escort

The red-headed young man was clearly barely keeping himself from retorting if the massive frown and narrowed eyes plastered on his face were any indications. It was ever so obvious to Rei that he did not deal with clients often and this was just a special circumstance.

Rei lifted his eyebrow at the three companions of the man, causing them to give him an apologetic smile which made him blink in realization. 'Wait... so, he really has no idea who we are?' He shot the redhead who was glaring at 'Nadetsu' an incredulous look before his lips twitched in amusement.

"Who would have thought they would send Akasuna no Sasori as our bodyguard." Rei quipped, earning himself two male groans and one female chuckle from Sasori's companions.

His remark did its job superbly as Sasori stopped having a stare-off with Tsunade and gave Rei an appraising look. Not a moment later, however, the tension in the air as if drained and Sasori's face became blank as he donned his professional face and nodded at Rei, "Much to my misfortune, I was ordered to take these three genins," He slowly leaned his head in the direction of his three companions, "to the chunin exams in Konoha and complete this escort mission on the way." He said in an even and monotonous voice with just a small hint of displeasure.

Tsunade snorted and crossed her hands on her chest. She knew she nor Rei requested this mission. When she saw just who was blocking their path, it was obvious why Pakura seemed so pleased when she heard about their date in Takigakure and that they intend to walk to Konoha from there. 'I will have to kick her ass during one of our spars. This is blatant gloating! She is basically showing off her genin team to me, knowing I have nothing that could match it among Konoha's teams.' Tsunade understood the subtle dig for what it was.

Sasori forcefully ignored Nadetsu's snort and continued speaking, "I am Sasori, the fan-wielding girl is Temari, the boy in the catsuit is Kankuro, and the one with the sand gourd is Gaara. We will make sure nothing happens to you on your journey to Konoha."

It was really hard to stop his lips from twitching for Rei as he watched Sasori conducting himself in the best professional manner he could. It was obvious he definitely did not want to be here and wanted to be done with the mission as fast as possible.

Rei really tried. He really did. But... It was just far too good of an opportunity not to troll him.

Inclining his head at the three genins, Rei smiled, "That's good to hear. We really needed somebody to carry our shopping bags." He started in a serious tone. "You see, I and Nadetsu are planning to stop in every single town along the road for sightseeing. According to Nadetsu, she doesn't get many chances to travel so she decided to use every opportunity she can to shop around. I am sure you will keep us safe during the following days. You have my gratitude." He said in a faux grateful tone and just watched as Sasori's eyes started to slightly widen in a barely veiled horror when he heard that

Rei could almost discern the colorful curses aimed at Pakura the redhead must have been using in his head from his disgruntled eyes as he barely kept himself from spluttering in indignation while Tsunade guffawed at Sasori's misfortune, shooting Rei a mirthful look.

'I didn't know I wanted to go on a shopping spree.' Her eyes sparkled in amusement.

'Well, now you do.' Rei's eye-smile conveyed, causing her to almost burst out in laughter straight in Sasori's barely hidden sour expression.

To be honest, she was somewhat pissed at Sasori's attitude. He and his hate for being left waiting. If she knew they would be waiting for her and Rei here, she would make it her mission to stop at a teahouse before leaving Takigakure and leave them hanging for another two hours at the very least! He should be blaming Pakura for this.

Funnily enough, Sasori wanted to hurry to Konoha because he wanted to meet and thank Tsunade Senju for making the procedure to turn his puppet body back into a human one. He didn't like being delayed since he, as an accomplished medic in his own right, knew exactly how tough and impossible that feat was and how much effort it most likely took for Tsunade to create this method. He had nothing but utmost gratitude and reverence for the woman.

"I understand." Sasori ground out, his eyes glaring at Nadetsu who was the source of the upcoming impromptu shopping trip through the cities along the way. 'Stupid, arrogant, self-centered, rich bint.' He mentally added.

"Now then," Rei turned towards the three genins and asked, "How are you three?"

Realizing that Rei didn't intend to keep their relationship secret from Sasori, they instantly got less stand-offish. Gaara's tense posture relaxed, Kankuro's scowl eased almost into a grin, and Temari...

Well, Temari disappeared in a burst of shunshin and glomped Rei into a tight embrace.

'Wait. What the heck is happening!?' Sasori looked between Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari glued to their client's chest in bewilderment. Did his team know the client or something?

Rei awkwardly patted Temari's head, making her go rigid. "It's been a while. How is your wind mastery?" He asked, looking at the girl and noticing the profound blush she tried to hide by burrowing her head into his chest.

"Mm, I got better, sensei." Temari subduedly answered. "I missed you, though." She added and her hold on Rei became a bit more possessive.

Tsunade lifted an eyebrow at that. At first, she was utterly shocked that the blonde glomped on Rei. She really did not expect it. After all, she had no idea her husband had time to frolic with young girls while she was hard at work, managing a ninja village for him.

But when she noticed how panicked and utterly lost Rei looked, she instead grinned and enjoyed his dismay.

No. From what she was seeing, Tsunade realized that her husband had no frigging idea what the heck was going on or that the girl's small crush on him had grown into a not-so-small one after he deliberately distanced himself from her.

'If I remember correctly, his words were that it was creepy seeing a small girl eyeing him with starstruck expectant eyes full of determination. Looks like his plan totally backfired, though.' Tsunade inwardly chortled and patted the head of Fuu who was awkwardly standing next to her. Instead of making the fan girl's crush fade with time, the distance just increased it. If that wasn't hilarious, then Rei's helpless face as he realized this fact certainly was!

'And it also explains why Pakura is so hellbent to push the girl in Rei's path. It's basically the exact same situation as with Konan and Izumi.' Tsunade shook her head in amusement, deciding to enjoy the show.

'Sensei?' Sasori thought in confusion, trying to piece together what the heck was going on. He read Temari's file. All of it. Even the classified one that contained her ANBU career. There was nowhere mentioned she had a teacher for the Wind Element.

"You will show me how much you advanced during our trip to Konoha, then." Rei slightly calmed down and decided to just wing it.

"Sure." Temari pulled a bit away, just enough so she could look Rei in the eyes, "I made many new Jutsu. I will definitely manage to hurt you!" She exclaimed with a small blush creeping up on her cheeks.

Hearing her, Sasori's eye twitched, "Oi. We are here to protect them, not to hu-"

"You wish." Rei smirked at the girl in his arms.

"I do." Temari pouted.

'Eh?' Sasori raised his hand before speechlessly dropping it back, not knowing what to do. 'I was just... ignored?'

"You do?" Rei tilted his head, not expecting Temari's reply.

'Good, at least I am not the only one confused here.' Sasori released a small relieved sigh.

"Mm, I will get the promised date!" Temari stated, her blue eyes full of resolve. Even Tsunade lifted her eyebrow at that.

'How does harming the client get you a date?' Sasori inwardly pondered, his confusion only growing.

"O-oh? ... Oh!" Rei exclaimed as he remembered what she was talking about, "That's some really old promise you are swinging at me, 'Mari-chan." He jokingly chided.

"Promise is a promise." Temari firmly stated. but her gaze seemed quite uncertain and questioning as if she was asking a silent question...

'Promise is a promise.' An amused voice repeated in Rei's head, earning itself a mental nudge from Rei, causing it to retreat with mirthful laughter.

"I guess, I did promise." Rei nodded in acceptance of his fate. 'What did the past me think when making this promise? Hurt me and you get a date? Seriously, past me. That wasn't the brightest moment of my life.'

'I give up. Let's just accept that they know each other and that Temari trying to injure our client in some twisted attempt at flirting with him will be supremely annoying in the following days.' Sasori tiredly sighed and rubbed his forehead to prevent the arising headache.

He threw a look at Kankuro, silently informing him he was on the sister-watching duty from now on but the boy just lazily shrugged. He would try Gaara... if he wasn't certain the kid would just ignore him. The youngest was for some reason oddly fixated on protecting his extremely scary and violent sister that did not need any protection.

Sasori inwardly lamented his fate. Really, he just had to get the most handful team into his care...

'I really need a moment of peace. Just me and my puppets.' He wistfully shook his head.

"Akasuna no Sasori. We have come for your head." Two figures abruptly appeared in front of the group, shattering Sasori's heartfelt desire to pieces.

'You gotta be kidding me..' Sasori robotically turned his deadpan gaze at them and instantly noticed it was his past colleagues from Akatsuki as he got the sudden urge to scream himself hoarse at some unwitting poor sod.

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Chapter 349 - Ch349. Sasori Vs Kakuzu 1

"Akasuna no Sasori. We have come for your head."

As the two new arrivals announced their presence, Temari instantly jumped out from Rei's embrace, positioning herself in front of him and Tsunade in a defensive stance with her battle fan fully open. Kankuro and Gaara reacted similarly and now stood next to Temari, blocking easy access to their clients and prepared for a fight while Fuu who was previously hiding behind Tsunade out of shyness was now also protectively standing in front of her. It was quite cute, in Tsunade's opinion.

Sasori's reaction was much more subdued. He slowly turned towards his would-be assassins and sighed in frustration, his shoulders slumping as he became resigned to the bullshit happening around him.

'The very first time I leave Sunagakure since my defection from Akatsuki and this happens. Just my luck.' He mentally grumbled.

Naturally, he was fully aware that this happened exactly because this was the first time he left Sunagakure. This was the first opportunity for Akatsuki to show him the error of his ways without prematurely revealing their existence or having to face the entire village of ninjas.

"Hidan. Kakuzu. What an unpleasant surprise." Sasori said in a dry tone and sluggishly inclined his head, acknowledging their presence with an unbothered bored gaze that instantly pissed Hidan off.

"Oi, what do you mean, you bastard!? This is a pretty good occasion! You should be happy to be sacrificed to Jashin-sama!" He excitedly shouted, causing everyone to deadpan at him.

Even Kakuzu facepalmed at that and let out a long, suffering groan, "Excuse the moron. He is a new and not so bright addition. I am almost certain they recruited him just to make me stop killing my partners for being annoying. In fact, after a month with this idiot, I indeed started regretting killing my last partner." He dryly stated.

"I feel sorry for you." Sasori replied showing a measure of understanding. 'Not.'

While the would-be combatants were having their pre-battle banter, Rei and Tsunade made themselves comfortable, sitting down and resting their backs on a nearby tree, watching the proceedings. Frankly, neither had any idea why Kakuzu and Hidan didn't try to ambush them. From what they were seeing, however, it seemed the two were not the brightest tools in the Elemental Nations so there was that.

"Temari, Gaara, I will take on the stupid one. You two take on the stupider one while Kankuro and the green-haired little girl from Taki defend the clients." Sasori ordered.

"Understood!" The three sand genins replied and their formation instantly shifted.

Kankuro stayed in front of Rei and Tsunade but Temari and Gaara distanced themselves from them in preparation to engage the enemy.

"And why would we go along with your battle plan? It is obvious that fighting team versus team will be better for us despite your numerical advantage." Kakuzu asked in mild amusement.

Not that he thought separating would be a problem. Zetsu did his scouting and information gathering and found out Sasori was accompanying a genin team on their way to Konoha while also doing a mission in-between. The only reason why they attacked now, instead of sooner, was that the clients would make this engagement extremely disadvantageous for Sasori.

If, for some incomprehensible reason, Kakuzu and Hidan had a hard time dealing with Sasori, they could always just target the important clients and Sasori will have to focus on protecting them. Not that Kakuzu thought it would come to that. Two S-rank ninjas against one S-rank and a bunch of genins? This will be a piece of cake.

"Because it is obvious you two are just that stupid." Sasori deadpanned in reply and Kakuzu started to get annoyed. He was about to retort again but apparently, he failed to take into account Hidan's short fuse.

Hidan didn't like being called stupid by a traitor and as anger took over, he charged at Sasori, shouting in anger and brandishing his scythe in a threatening manner.

"No! Stop, you moron!" Kakuzu exclaimed in surprise, only now realizing Sasori's words were not aimed at him but at Hidan.

Sasori didn't react to Hidan's charge in any way, just dispassionately looking at him as he was quickly closing the distance and Kakuzu instantly realized it was a trap.

It was too late, however. Hidan was almost upon Sasori, his rageful focus fully aimed at the young-looking redhead...

The only warning he got was subtly rising winds in the area before a massive influx of crushing winds in the form of a barely visible wind snake suddenly 'slithered' around Sasori, rushing at the incoming Hidan. The jashinist managed to only widen his eyes as the snake made of winds opened its jaw and smashed straight into his waist.

Hidan was swept from his feet due to the extreme wind pressure and the snake-like wind construct caught him in its jaws, carrying him through the air. Normally, a wind Jutsu would simply blow him back but...

Kakuzu cursed as he watched the wind snake do something that was deemed impossible for Wind Jutsus once they are released. It twisted mid-air, changing direction and pushing the struggling and bleeding Hidan away from him while creating multiple gashes all over his body. Something told Kakuzu he would not be getting time to stitch his partner up. The bigger problem, though, was that it was not Sasori who used the wind Jutsu.

In an instant, Kakuzu adjusted his mindset. What he thought to be an easy job was shaping up to be slightly more troublesome.

His first reaction was to run towards Hidan, not letting them be separated since he doubted Hidan could beat someone capable of such a strong ranged wind Jutsu. Frankly, he didn't doubt Hidan's power. He doubted his intelligence.

Hidan clearly had enough brute strength and endurance to face S-rank ninja but he was not a very bright guy. A ranked wind user who could dice and slice him from afar was the moron's natural enemy with his penchant for rushing in head-on and whatnot.

Unfortunately for Kakuzu, his instincts abruptly screamed at him, forcing him to jump back, widening the distance between him and Hidan even more as a large pyramid made of iron dust almost flattened him.

"See?" Sasori smugly asked, trying to distract Kakuzu as he inwardly focused on shaping the objects from the iron dust.

He made use of Kakuzu's short distraction and surprise when Temari revealed her Jutsu to summon his Third Kazekage puppet without being noticed.

Kakuzu couldn't answer as a cube of iron sand flew at him, making him dodge... much to his frustration, again in a direction that got him further from his partner.

The cube landed and Kakuzu managed to evade it but as he was about to go into offensive, the cube suddenly lost its shape and spikes erupted from its surface, forcing Kakuzu to hastily step back. It wasn't the end though. New spikes arose from the old spikes as the iron dust shifted, causing Kakuzu to inwardly curse as he was yet again made to back off even more.

The spikes were dangerously aimed at his chest area and Kakuzu realized the puppet bastard was fully using the intel he gathered during his time in Akatsuki. He obviously knew his biggest advantage and weakness.

The same trick wouldn't work multiple times. When the iron dust again rearranged itself to create a new set of spikes rushing at Kakuzu, he, instead of jumping back again, crouched as his hands blurred into a sequence of quick seals. All he needed was a small breathing room to shift from defense to offense.

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!" He exclaimed, creating a current of highly-pressurized winds and making it smash into the iron dust.

When he saw Kakuzu forming his hand seals, Sasori cursed and scrambled to counter it. He only barely managed to predict what technique his opponent was about to use and made his Kazekage puppet gather its iron dust, shifting it from spikes to a wall. He couldn't let it reach his genins... or worse, the clients.

Wind Release: Pressure Damage was a far too widespread Jutsu and Sasori was fully aware Kakuzu used it only because he had no regard for Hidan's well-being.

'Ah, well. Hidan should be strong enough to deal with some genin brats. I guess I will have to deal with Sasori by myself.' Kakuzu grinned as he watched his technique battle with the wall of iron dust for supremacy. His winds would eventually lose. That much he knew. But this earned him a much-needed window of opportunity.

His hands again blurred into another set of hand seals as he announced, "Lightning Release: False D-" Kakuzu's eyes widened as he noticed a tendril of iron dust coming at him from the back. Realizing his intel on the amount of iron dust Sasori could manipulate through his puppet was too outdated, Kakuzu spun on his heel, "-arkness!" And finished his technique, causing a massive and very concentrated lightning strike to intercept the incoming iron dust, unhappy that he was unable to throw it at Sasori.

Lightning Release: False Darkness was not a defensive technique but its eclectic properties electrified the iron dust, making it huddle together into a blob and causing Sasori's control to slightly slip. He was unable to continue with his surprise attack.

Fortunately for Sasori, Kakuzu's Wind Technique was finished and his iron wall managed to keep it contained. He could once again stop focusing on its form and let it crumble into a dune of iron dust, only giving it a small nudge to create a wave of iron dust rushing at Kakuzu.

Kakuzu naturally dodged it with ease but that didn't matter. Sasori's next attack was already prepared. All he had to do was to keep Kakuzu occupied and away from Hidan.

If he was attacked when alone, Sasori would be mildly worried. Attacking him when he was escorting the Suna siblings... now that was a mistake. He was one of Sunagakure's higher-ups and while he was not privy to many secrets because of his past, he at the very least knew that Temari was one of the village's best ANBU, Kankuro was his on and off student, and Gaara had his own reputation.

"If you think I will just roll over and die for you, then you have another thing coming. I plan to spend many, many years creating my artworks. Unfortunately for you, that means you will have to die here." Sasori coldly smirked as he felt a huge chakra fluctuation coming from a distance away.

Suddenly, a massive wave of sand rose towards heaven in the distance behind Sasori before falling down and leveling a good part of the forest with the ground, creating a small ocean of sand and broken trees.

Kakuzu's eyes widened at the scale of that attack in the distance and for the first time, he started to have doubts about Hidan's capability to deal with these 'genins'. 'I will have to hurry this up. There is no way I can face whatever little monster that can cause that much damage and Sasori at the same time. If I fail to kill Sasori before his brats deal with Hidan... I will have to retreat.' He sourly realized and clicked his tongue. Well, it was better to live and get scolded by the leader rather than lay down his life for this 'no-longer-so-easy' mission.

Seeing Kakuzu's brief faltering, Sasori couldn't help but feel a bit amused. 'I almost pity the fools. They thought I would be an easy target only to unknowingly attack one of Sunagakure's strongest teams. It is definitely not me who is the most dangerous person here.'

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Chapter 350 - Ch350. Temari And Gaara Vs Hidan

Temari marveled at how easily Sasori riled up the lanky scythe wielder. It was a mixture of ignoring his presence as if he was totally unimportant while trash-talking him alongside his partner. She surmised these two hadn't been working together for long since the calmer one seemed to be utterly unaware of how irritated his partner became when he started calling him annoying.

The result?

The scythe wielder was rushing at Sasori with murder in his eyes, totally disregarding his surroundings.

It would have been a sin not to make use of his distraction.

Plus... she was aware Sasori wanted her to take on the scythe wielder. His small talk with the calmer one told her that much. At first, she thought he was being awfully chatty but when he started giving subtle hints of what he wanted her to do, the reason became obvious.

Temari quickly swung her battle fan, channeling her chakra through it and using an advanced Wind manipulation to form and send at the guy a barely visible wind construct that was occasionally showing its shape via shimmering when it was not blending into the surrounding. Much like with her basic wind slashes, she didn't need to invoke the name of her Jutsu which only added the stealth effect.

The scythe wielder only noticed it when it was far too late. Her wind construct took a firm hold of him and carried him away, further into the forest.

"Let's go." She turned towards Gaara, getting an acknowledging nod in return. She could take the guy on by herself but she didn't want to undermine Sasori's authority. Unfortunately, this was not a time to show off for Rei. Moreover, if she so blatantly disobeyed orders and left Gaara behind, it wouldn't make her look good anyway.

Before they could start running after the unwillingly relocated Hidan, Rei decided to give them a small bit of advice.

"Don't let yourself be cut by him." He started, stopping Temari and Gaara in their tracks, "If you let him get a hold of your blood, make sure to prevent him from forming his ritualistic circle. And if you let him get your blood and make the circle, then you will have to prevent him from stabbing himself in a fatal place for it would kill you. Just make sure to gently remove him from the ritualistic circle before destroying it with Earth Jutsu or something." He quickly summed it up, knowing they didn't have the time for a lengthy explanation.

Hearing him, both Temari and Gaara seriously nodded, understanding that Rei's warning is not just because he is bored, and disappeared in a burst of speed, rushing towards Hidan.

They found him half a kilometer further in the forest, cursing like a sailor as the multiple cuts on his body caused by Temari's Jutsu were significantly restricting his movement.

Temari frowned at that. 'The Wind Snake should have carried him at least a kilometer away and shred him to pieces. His body must be incredibly strong if his struggle managed to drain the chakra reserves in the Jutsu so fast.' She glanced at Gaara who, judging by how his eyebrows furrowed, clearly also understood this too.

'Ranged, it is.' Their eyes met and the plan of engagement was instantly formed.

Separating, the two siblings ran in opposite directions to get into a position where they could better support each other with ranged attacks without needlessly endangering each other.

Hidan finally noticed them and his expression twisted into a scowl, "That hurt you bitch!" He screamed at Temari. "It almost made me aroused! You are quite good girly. So much pain. Ah~, so good!" His eyes briefly rolled back as a stupid grin stretched on his lips.

It was gone as quick as it arrived though and Hidan abruptly focused on Temari with sharp focus, "A pity I gotta kill ya. Maybe we could have some fun before I sacrifice you, what do ya say?" He proposed.

"No, thanks." Temari sneered in reply, her disgust apparent from her expression. She would rather die than let this creep touch her.

"Ah, whatever. Not like I need your permission. In fact, it is better that you will resist! I will just cut off your limbs and then take you. It will be glorious!" Hidan exclaimed and spun his scythe around his body, bending his knees in preparation for a mad dash straight at Temari... and leaped.

His speed was nothing to scoff at but the distance between him and Temari was considerable so both she and Gaara had enough time to counter him.

Hidan was already halfway through the distance towards his target when he suddenly felt something tightly wrap around his right leg, pulling him back. It almost caused him to trip as he was mid-dash. Only thanks to his trained reflexes did he manage to put his left foot forward, stabilizing his balance.

His dash, however, was interrupted.

Hidan looked down and saw a small tendril of sand wrapped around his right ankle, causing him to snarl as his eyes found Gaara who was now positioned straight behind him.

"You dare to stand in the way of Jashin-sama!? I will gut you, you heretical swine!" He hysterically screamed as he turned around, preparing to throw his scythe at Gaara...

A colossal amount of pressurized wind smashed into his back, causing his feet to leave the ground as it propelled him forward and broke his spine in several places.

'Heh, turning your back at me.' Temari thought with a sadistic smirk.

Hidan was uncontrollably barreling through the air, straight towards Gaara. Unfortunately for him, Gaara wasn't about to let him come closer and used the tendril of sand still binding his ankle to jerkily stop him. This made his body come to an abrupt halt and smash into the ground face-first with a bone-shattering crunch as a crater was created under him.

Frankly, it was a bit disappointing. The man was clearly physically strong and fast enough to pose a threat even to the strongest people in Sunagakure but his modus operandi was basically just run, hack, and slash, rinse and repeat. It wasn't hard to outsmart him.

Gaara and Temari thought it was over and started to slowly approach Hidan's body. Gaara was closer so he naturally arrived first...

Only for Hidan to spring up, his body somehow healed from the injuries they inflicted upon him and his eyes gleaming with madness as he brandished his scythe at the surprised Gaara who was now in his range. Hidan's scythe rushed through the air, straight at Gaara's right shoulder.

The scythe was getting closer and closer and Hidan's smile was widening and gaining more blood-lusting appearance by the second. As the blade of his scythe was about to bite into the soft flesh of his victim, his world for some reason turned black.

'That was close. I was careless.' Gaara thought in displeasure, watching as a massive amount of sand erupted from underneath him, engulfing Hidan, stopping his attack, and washing him away like a tsunami.

Even Temari had to jump upward and use her battle fan to float in the air as the veritable ocean of sand flooded a good part of the forest, breaking and flattening trees.

Temari flew towards Gaara who was standing on a floating platform made of sand, "You should be more careful." She gently admonished. Despite his power, her brother was not very experienced. She liked to coddle him which might or might not have resulted in him not getting any 'dangerous' missions since he became a genin. His combat experience amounted to occasional sparring with her or Lady Pakura.

"You are right." Gaara impassively nodded as they landed on the ground. "I didn't expect him to be capable of healing. Your Jutsu clearly snapped his spine so I thought that was it."

"Let's make sure he is incapacitated for real this time, shall we?" Temari grinned and affectionately ruffled Gaara's hair, making him frown at her in embarrassment.

"Yeah..." He mumbled, knowing that trying to make her stop was futile.

It was then that Hidan erupted from the sand close to them... but Temari already expected that. Anyone who could survive her pressurized wind would have no problem surviving Gaara's sand tsunami. Especially since he didn't harden it.

The second Hidan jumped from the sand, he was impacted with yet another Wind Jutsu resembling a tornado. It was a very brutal and powerful one. Hidan's body was suspended in the air, unable to escape as wave after wave of sharpened swirling wind landed on him like a cutting whiplash. Chunks of his body were continuously being cut off, flying all over the place due to the strong winds. A faint crimson mist started to form around him from all the blood that was brutally slashed out of his body and Hidan could only scream as his body was being dismantled.

Temari manipulated the winds with her chakra, causing the pieces of Hidan to fly all over the sandy ocean created by Gaara, making sure they are not too close to each other.

Understanding what his sister wanted, Gaara started to bury these body parts deep underground, making them sink into his sand as if it was hungry quicksand.

It didn't take long for almost all of Hidan to be completely cut apart and be buried all over the place. It was brutal, bloody, ruthless... and efficient.

Temari refused to give Hidan an opportunity to showcase his strength. It was better to dispatch him before he found out how to counter their ranged attacks.

"We are done here. He won't be shrugging off that." Temari said, doubting their opponent could get out of this even if he could heal fatal injuries.

"Ah, just one little assurance, then." Gaara said in his usual monotone and knelt down on one knee, slamming his palm into the sand, "Grand Sand Burial!" An underground shockwave spread through the ocean of sand, pressurizing and compressing it, crushing anything inside of it.

Temari chuckled, nodding her approval before she turned around, intending to return to Rei and Tsunade, only to stumble.

Gaara quickly caught her, worry apparent on his face.

"Ah... This last one was my special S-rank Jutsu. Don't worry. I just slightly overexerted myself. Nothing a good night's sleep can't fix." She reassured him. 'Maybe I can ask Rei for a massage, hehe...'

...

Temari and Gaara returned in almost no time. Rei and Tsunade were quite impressed with how easily they dispatched Hidan. Naturally, they observed the fight and the strategy the siblings used was commendable. A pincer attack by two range-oriented fighters was extremely effective against close-quarters combatants.

Especially the stupid ones.

As they came closer, Temari approached Tsunade. "Any use for this?" She asked as she dangled Hidan's severed head in front of her, holding it by his hair.

"What do you think I would need that for?" Tsunade lifted her eyebrow at the girl, amused at the hateful and somewhat aroused look of the still alive Hidan, and suspected the man would be barking one vulgarity after another while moaning if his tongue was not cut off.

"Well, Lady Pakura always says you are interested in dubious medical experiments and I think a guy capable of surviving having his head cut off would fall into that category." Temari nonchalantly shrugged.

Tsunade gave Hidan's head a deep look for a moment before she shook her head, "Nah. Not interested."

"Oh, well." Temari nodded and was about to throw Hidan's head away, intending to let Gaara bury it as the rest of his body but Rei interjected.

"Give it here." He said, taking out a scroll from his pocket.

His interest in the severed head surprised even Tsunade and he suddenly found himself under the scrutiny of five pairs of eyes. "Burying him fully is unsafe. Someone," Rei's eyes flickered towards the spot from where Zetsu was watching them, making Tsunade's eyes gain an understanding glint, "could easily dig him out and put him back together. I am taking the head with us." He explained with a small innocent smile, utterly ignoring how ruthless he sounded to Hidan.

In fact, the jashinist would have shivered in pleasure at such brutality if he still had his body. These people... judging by their ruthlessness and brutality, they definitely must have been Jashinists in their past lives!

--

Author Note:

So... yeah, you might notice that Hidan went down VERY easily.

Honestly, I have a hard time imagining Hidan being capable of putting up a fight against even Shippuden Temari. The Temari in my story is definitely a lot stronger so it is only natural that he got dismantled like a kid fighting an adult.

I mean... every Akatsuki member has techniques and smarts to get around in any kind of situation except Hidan. I always thought Hidan would be next to useless against a bonafide ranged fighter who knows what he or she is doing and won't let him get close.

Plus, it is not obvious from the story but Hidan at this stage is a newbie in Akatsuki.. He is not yet at the level he was when he fought Asuma, so there is that. (And I also didn't really want to stretch this fight to multiple chapters)

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Chapter 351 - Ch351. Not Just A Lucky Guy

Rei nodded, "Go." He said, giving Temari and Gaara an answer to their unasked question. Nodding back, the two turned around and rushed to quickly end this small distraction.

Temari was quite annoyed by these would-be assassins. She could have enjoyed her time near Rei but because these two dudes showed up, she was forced into a fight. Could anyone blame her for being extra brutal with them?

"A pity there is an observer. I haven't stretched my muscles in quite a while." Tsunade quietly complained, contently leaning on Rei who sat next to her.

"You just want it to end quickly so you can go shopping." Rei rolled his eyes.

Inwardly he agreed though. Zetsu being around was indeed annoying.

'Anything you can do about that?' He mentally asked Kaguya but got a negative impression from her. 'Well... not like I expected much.' He sighed.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Kaguya poutily asked. 'I am sealed. It's not like I could just go and tell him to stop.' She complained.

'Why not?' Rei's eyes gained a peculiar glint.

'Eh?' Kaguya let out a confused sound, 'Wha...' And before she could even ask her follow-up question, she found herself outside as Rei created a clone and infused a bit of her chakra into it to draw her consciousness out of her seal through their mental connection.

Both Kankuro and Fuu almost jumped out of their skin as a pale-skinned, horned woman just popped into existence right next to Rei and Tsunade.

"You..." Kaguya gave Rei a speechless look before rubbing her forehead in exasperation. "Fine. What exactly do you want me to do?" She resignedly asked, longingly thinking about the plate of cookies she was so abruptly taken away from.

She knew this was one of Rei's subtle schemes. His 'I just got this awesome idea so let's make it come true' act did not fool her at all. The second he spotted Zetsu nearby, this was most likely bound to happen. It wouldn't help at all for her to complain as, in the end, she would be doing this anyway. Better to just roll with it than pointlessly argue.

During her time with him, she understood at least that much. He was the guy who from the shadows controlled villages that controlled their countries from the shadows. He was the guy behind the creation of the Biri-Biri company and the Uzushio Trading Company, the two international giants that influenced many Daimyos on a day to day basis. He had influence over many things. Influence he seldom used simply because he didn't really need to.

He might have seemed like the spontaneous kind of guy and it might have seemed that he was just the lucky sort that had everything going to his benefit for an outside observer but...

That was just pure bullshit.

He was simply that good at all this subtle plotting and making people do things he wanted them to without them even noticing most of the time or him having to move a finger. Kaguya would know. She had some very minor access to his memories.

For example, Pakura. When Rei saved her all those years ago, he already knew he would one day use her to take control of Sunagakure. He had no idea how or when but it was already in his plans.

He did not save her because she had pretty eyes, after all.

As for pity... yes, he pitied the woman for being betrayed by her village after she gave her all to them but that was something that happened to many ninjas. Was he supposed to save them all just because they were poor pitiful sods stupid enough to let themselves be squeezed dry to the benefit of their villages only to be then betrayed?

'Heh, as if he was that kind.' Kaguya mentally scoffed. Rei was kind only to the people he cared about and those that could bring him some kind of benefit. He was no bastard nor pointlessly ruthless but he would not go out of his way to save others just because they suffered.

In fact, Kaguya marveled at his cavalier attitude to the suffering of others. In Rei's mind, it was simply background noise. People suffered. No biggie. Shit happens. As long as it was not 'his' people, he was totally fine with that and found no reason to intervene.

While he did not foresee himself falling in love with Pakura, that honestly just helped his plans, rather than hindering them. What Kaguya found extremely endearing was that Rei was prepared to completely discard his plans for Pakura once he started caring about her. If she was unwilling to participate in them, he would drop them in a heartbeat.

Fortunately for him, that didn't happen. Not in Pakura's case.

In Mei's case, however, that was exactly what happened so Kaguya knew Rei was not just assuring himself he would stop his schemes for his girls if it came to that. It was not just empty talk. He actually already did it. He had Konan secretly grooming Mei for the position of future Mizukage. Lessons in politics, diplomacy, and bureaucracy... In hindsight, it was obvious what they intended for the girl.

And yet, all it took for Rei to discard his designated plans for making Mei into the fifth Mizukage was him seeing how she acted and realizing she would not like it in the slightest. She was happy in the Village on the Other Side. She was happy making friends and helping Rei directly by mingling with his ninja force, training them, participating in various projects all over Rei's village, and helping it to develop with a hands-on approach. On the other hand, she absolutely hated paperwork and sitting in a chair for long periods of time.

For such a simple reason, Rei decided to make Ringo the Mizukage instead of Mei.

Sure, he might have presented the situation differently to his girls but deep down, he did it for their benefit as much as his. He just cared too much for them to simply use them. That was why Kaguya didn't mind going along with his schemes. He believed Ringo could and would make the best of her time as Mizukage despite her grumbling so he put his foot down.

And now... Ringo was the Mizukage, she had an entire village utterly devoted to her, not even she really knew why or how, and her dream of making the best swords in the world became a reality thanks to her ability to just push the advancement of forging techniques in her village. She literally had a village full of grunts she could just send on material-gathering missions. A dream come true for a person such as her.

Yes, she had to deal with being the leader of a hidden village and all it entailed but frankly, it was pretty obvious that Ringo was happy in her current position.

The same went for Tsunade. While her impromptu surprise take-over of Konoha was a shock for Rei and he had to re-evaluate a lot of his plans, he didn't dwell long on it nor did he admonish her for it. Instead, he simply adjusted his plans.

And the sheer quantity that needed adjusting was mind-boggling. In his position, Kaguya would have screamed herself hoarse at Tsunade. The woman still had no idea whatsoever just how many of Rei's schemes she totally and utterly crushed with that little revolution of hers.

As long as Tsunade was happy, he could live with a headache-inducing month-long replanning session.

That's why Kaguya trusted Rei and wasn't afraid of messing up. That's also why she would try her best though.

"Hm... Let's see. I'd really like to have an informer in Akatsuki. What do you think?" Rei jokingly asked, really not expecting Kaguya to just go and try to talk Zetsu into switching sides.

Zetsu was the driving force behind Akatsuki, after all. Obito could lie to himself that he was the guy in control but unfortunately for him, he was just a puppet of a puppet of a puppet. In fact, the guy was pretty pathetic in Rei's opinion.

"Okay." Kaguya simply shrugged and started slowly walking towards Zetsu's direction.

'Wait, what?' Rei blankly blinked at her back, his mind trying to comprehend what just happened. 'Did she take my joke seriously?'

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Chapter 352 - Ch352. Zetsu

Kaguya calmly walked in the direction of Zetsu in an even and measured, regal gait as if she was taking a stroll through the forest, completely unbothered from the fighting that was going on nearby.

One stray attack could kill her. She was aware of that. But it was not like being killed would mean she would die. Her body was just a clone with her consciousness imbued in it, after all.

Frankly, if she died, she would at least have an excuse to return to her cookies.

'On the other hand, Rei would most likely just summon me again to finish my job. Haa~, the sacrifices I make for that silly man.' Kaguya shook her head with a small happy smile stretching on her lips, not even realizing she was almost skipping.

He really wouldn't summon her back if she died since this was but a misunderstanding but she didn't need to know that...

She finally arrived at her destination and could clearly feel Zetsu being hidden in the ground a few tens of feet under her. This was only possible because Zetsu was technically still a part of her. For others, even S-rank ninjas like Sasori or Kakuzu, he was practically invisible with his concealment technique.

'Now... how to announce my presence.' Kaguya wondered, lamenting her current lack of chakra and the limitations of her clone body.

If she was in her true body, she would just Bansho Ten'in him to the surface, probably half-killing him in the process. 'Sigh. I really miss my convenient universal solution.'

Alas, while she definitely had the ability to manifest Rinnegan even in her current body as it was more spiritual in nature for her than physical, her chakra was not enough to activate it in her current body.

And that was only manifesting it. Actually using it for something... now that was utterly impossible. Her body would go out in a poof if she even started to try.

'Rei could at least give me enough chakra for the task.' She inwardly grumbled, deciding to make her displeasure clear when she returned.

Poor Rei really didn't expect her to just up and go enact this harebrained wish of his and when she did so, he was first too stunned to stop her before he became curious how it would turn out.

Attempting to convert Zetsu was honestly a stupid move at the moment. So much could go wrong with that it was not even funny.

Rei had no idea if the guy would think Kaguya was an impostor or if he would recognize her through her chakra or something. One thing was certain, however. Simply looking like Kaguya would not be enough to persuade Zetsu. The henge was a Jutsu taught in the academy for a reason, after all. And with Kaguya in her weakened state...

For all the plant-guy knew, his 'mother' was still sealed in the moon and he was given the grand quest of getting her out. Having her casually pop up in front of him... there was no telling how he would react.

Either he will have a way to ascertain it is really her or... he won't. And if he doesn't have such a method, then a shitstorm will follow.

Zetsu would get to know that somebody out there knows about his mother and he would no doubt be on a quest to exterminate them with extreme prejudice. Not that he actually could do much directly. The problem was his indirect involvement. The guy was centuries old and participated in controlling even people like Madara from the shadows. He might not be capable of hurting Rei or his girls but he was good enough to make things difficult for Rei's and his girls' villages or companies in some roundabout way.

Obito targeting Rei's companies was harmless. The guy was a mostly straightforward type. His scheming ability only went as far as Zetsu allowed. All brawn and very little brains. If he had brains, with his Mangekyou Ability, he could have won the war or forcefully gather all jinchuuriki very easily.

Zetsu was a different kind of animal altogether. He thrived in darkness and loved manipulation. A dangerous combination for a ninja world.

Yet, Rei was too curious to stop Kaguya and decided to simply observe this meeting from afar through his sensing abilities.

"Hmm... if I remember right, Zetsu should have unparalleled detection ability." Kaguya mused out loud, cutely putting her index finger on her chin in a pondering manner. "He is probably feeling my presence but ignoring it because of how little chakra I have, deeming me unimportant. That sucks." She clicked her tongue in mild irritation. "It would take a proper deep look at my chakra for him to recognize me. How to get his attention, though..."

Kaguya was a bit disgruntled. For the first time since she met Rei, she felt severely limited in what she could do. Sure, she was also in clone body when in Rei's mansion in his village but she didn't need her abilities there so she never really noticed nor cared how limiting her current state was.

It was frankly frustrating and brought a beginning of depression to her as it reminded her of the time when Hagoromo was sealing her into the Moon.

"Rei better prepare his special cookies for me after this. Reminding me of such unpleasant memories." She huffed and frowned before knitting her eyebrows together as an idea started to slowly form in her mind.

'Since Rinnegan is out, then...' Kaguya thought before smugly activating her Byakugan and focusing her intent stare at Zetsu to the point even a total amateur at detection would find it extremely annoying to the point of inability to ignore it.

She was basically broadcasting a 'here I am, look at me!' vibe through her gaze. It was the first thing Hyuuga clansmen learned not to do after they activated their Byakugan since ninjas are usually very sensitive to being observed by others.

Zetsu naturally instantly noticed and his head whipped in Kaguya's direction and his eyes landed on hers that were narrowed and portrayed a great deal of impatience. It took only a moment for Zetsu to register her appearance and his eyes widened in shock. He instantly scrambled to present himself to her, not even a shred of doubt about her identity remained in his mind. He was simply too happy to doubt the sight in front of him.

Resurfacing from the ground, Zetsu kneeled, "Mother!" He eagerly exclaimed, getting the feel for her chakra and understanding that yes, the person in front of him was real. "You are here! How is that possible?" He added in disbelief and awe in his tone, confusion clear on his face.

An indulgent and amused smile appeared on Kaguya's face at his antics and apparent loyalty. Reaching out, she subconsciously but gently ruffled his hair. Funnily enough, of all her 'children', Zetsu was the one she felt closest to. He did spend his entire life trying to free her, after all. If nothing else, she was at least grateful for that dedication.

"I am not really free, Zetsu. Not yet." She said and Zetsu's expression instantly fell. Kaguya almost cooed at that. It was as if she just told a child there will be no ice cream after lunch.

"But..." He weakly tried to protest.

"I just acquired a very reliable man willing to help me." She continued and the smile on her face involuntarily widened, "He made this," She gestured at herself, "possible. Only my consciousness can leave the seal for now but I have full trust that the day I get freed is not far off."

Zetsu eagerly nodded, "How can I help?"

He didn't think to question Kaguya or the identity of her helper. To be honest, it didn't matter to him how or why. He was created to get her out of the seal and now that she was at least partially out, it brought him immense joy and hope.

Rei who observed from afar was utterly baffled at how... naive Zetsu seemed. He expected many things but this... not in the slightest.

"Mhm." Kaguya distractedly nodded, "I will need you to continue doing whatever you are doing." She relocated her hand that was nuzzling his hair onto his forehead, earning herself a small pout from him that made her giggle before she used her chakra to imprint what she wanted from him into his mind.

Zetsu's eyes gained a newfound determination as he understood what his mother wanted him to do and that the Eye of the Moon plan was no longer necessary for her unsealing. In fact, he was surprised that she wanted him to subtly steer Akatsuki astray.

A normal human would feel at least a twinge of reluctance after putting so much effort into it. From manipulating Madara to manipulating Obito, to forming Akatsuki, to subtly manipulating Pain, to leading them towards the Eye of the Moon plan... It took Zetsu at the very least a century of continuous effort. Yet, there was nothing but joy and willingness to serve in his mind. He felt no hesitation to make all that effort completely obsolete and meaningless.

It was a clear testament that Zetsu was in fact no human and despite his humanoid appearance, he didn't feel the way humans did.

"I understand, mother. Your will will be done." Zetsu said almost reverently.

Kaguya didn't really react to his worshipful tone. She was used to being worshipped. This was nothing new for her. Frankly, the teasing Rei so often subjected her to was more perturbing for her while also making her flustered most of the time.

It was... oddly good feeling, in Kaguya's opinion.

"Make sure to not cause trouble for the Biri-Biri company, the Uzushio Trading Company, Sunagakure, Konohagakure, and Kirigakure in the upcoming months and wait for the signal to enact the plans I just mentally transferred to you." She firmly ordered.

"As you will." Zetsu nodded, staring at her, waiting if she had any more instructions for him.

Kaguya blinked and tilted her head, "Off you go, then."

And Zetsu wordlessly merged with the ground again, disappearing.

She knew he would not betray her. Zetsu was technically a part of her and he was created in such a way that made his most heartfelt wish to merge with her, becoming again a part of her. That could be done only after she got fully out of the seal and it was meant as insurance that he would not stop trying to get her out. He was her will personified and that was not just in a matter of speech but at the time of his creation, her sons just betrayed her and Kaguya didn't have much trust left in her.

While her state at that time also transferred the corruption of Juubi into Zetsu, making him quite a bad boy, Kaguya was not worried because of that. Rei already promised her he would develop a seal that could deal with the corruption in a permanent manner so when he will inevitably merge with her, ceasing to exist, he will not corrupt her.

'Heeh~, I am kinda good at this scheming thing too if I say so myself..' Kaguya happily nodded with satisfaction at the outcome as she turned around, heading back towards Rei, intending to demand her just rewards.

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