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

15. 449 - 478

In Naruto: Reborn With Talent #Chapter 449 Ch449. A Helping Hand - Read In Naruto: Reborn With Talent Chapter 449 Ch449. A Helping Hand Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

"The invasion went smoothly. Our puppeteers set up a poison cloud around the perimeter of Iwa before our Battle Fan specialists used their Jutsus to quickly spread it all over Iwagakure just as planned. With the chakra weakening poison in the air, our troops managed to overwhelm Iwa forces in under two hours." Rika reported without being prompted as she led Rei and Konan inside.

No doubt, it was an overwhelming victory for Suna, one that brought a lot of satisfaction to Pakura's subordinates. Many of them fought in the Third Ninja War and their primary enemy was Iwa. This was a way to get back at them.

But...

Rei didn't care about that!

"That's fine but I think you should report that to Pakura once she returns from Konoha." He wryly smiled, "I am more interested if you managed to capture Onoki's granddaughter."

To give Rika credit, she faltered only for a brief split of a second before she regained her bearings and nodded. "The bitch killed over fifty of our ninjas before we finally subdued her. I have no idea why Lady Pakura wanted her alive." She indignantly huffed.

And due to that reaction, Rei decided to keep his involvement in that order secret from Rika...

Rei, Konan, and Rika entered the temporary command center, which was basically just a trashed and remade office of Onoki, and Rei's eyes instantly landed on a form of exhausted and bloody girl tied to a chair with ninja wire while silently glaring at everyone who was quietly worked in the room.

Not that she could talk with a gag in her mouth.

Rei glanced at Riku and raised an eyebrow at that, only getting vague and uncaring, "She just wouldn't shut up.", and a shrug in reply.

Rei noted that Kurotsuchi had definitely seen better days. Her right arm was broken at the elbow while her left one sported many cuts and gashes. Both of her arms were painfully twisted behind the chair's backrest and tied together by a wire in a way that brought the woman constant suffering.

Her legs and the rest of her body were no better, for that matter.

Her clothes were scraps at this point, her modesty barely covered since nobody bothered to get her new clothes after she was captured, and her previous battling reduced her own torn wreck.

Despite most of her body being barely covered, Kurotsuchi wasn't very attractive right now. Her body was littered with deep purple and black bruises, sporting several nasty cuts that would definitely scar if nothing was done about them.

While ninjas didn't mind scars, Kurotsuchi's current form was way past fashionable and started to enter the territory of distasteful even for them.

Rei sighed and shook his head, fully aware that Suna had enough medics present to spare one for the Iwa girl. But they were most likely delaying it as much as possible out of sheer spite.

Not that he could scold Riku for that. Having her medics tend to her injured people first wasn't exactly a bad decision.

Rei ignored the questioning looks of the jonins seated all over the room who were dealing with reports and directly approached Kurotsuchi, un-gagging her and smirking when she tried to bite his fingers the first chance she got... and not in a playful way.

It was a child's play to evade her bite and Rei amusedly watched the unwilling irritation in Kurotsuchi's half-resigned and narrowed eyes as her jaw clicked together with enough strength it made her try and fail to repress her groan from pain as her upper and lower teeth smashed together.

"I am the only person in the room who doesn't wish you to violently die, girl. While your resistance is admirable, you should be way smarter about showing it so openly." Rei lightly chided, causing Kurotsuchi to look at him as if he grew a second head while her expression became sour at his nonchalance.

Rei didn't wait for her answer and quickly put his hand on her bruised cheek, making Kurotsuchi hiss from pain... before her eyes went slightly wide as she felt healing chakra start to mend her face.

It took Kurotsuchi a moment to understand what was going on and her expression was shifting through various emotions, the woman too tired to even try hiding it. In the end, however, resigned gratitude seemed to win as she leaned her head more into Rei's palm, enjoying the comfort of his healing chakra while staring at his eyes as if judging his intentions.

Rei let her do whatever she was doing, not rushing her as he was too curious about what she would do. Much to his disappointment, there was no more biting play. Sadge.

A few seconds passed, and Kurotsuchi hesitantly opened her mouth...

"What do ya want?" She quietly asked with a tinge of reluctance in her tone, much to the bewilderment of the other occupants of the room that watched the interaction between her and Rei with rising interest.

The girl was like a rabid animal before she was gagged, screaming and cussing at everyone present, so much so that even the jonins found it hard to ignore her and focus on their work. Hence, the gag.

Seeing the same spitting mad bitch so... subdued, made their jaws almost drop to the floor.

When Rei saw that, he almost rolled his eyes at them. Of course, she was more agreeable to speak with him. Wasn't it obvious? No matter how messed up her body was or how tomboyish she was, she was a woman!

And if Rei learned something about the unexplainable creatures called women, it was that they valued their faces a lot. Many would deny it, saying appearance did not matter but they would be lying.

The second he started to heal Kurotsuchi's face, he knew there was a seventy percent chance she would chill the fuck out and stop her temper tantrum due to the sheer shock.

And while Rei was a bit downtrodden that the girl didn't persist with her fiery resistance and fell for this small trick, it worked better than a bitchslap... something the idiots around definitely tried considering how bruised her cheek was.

'Sure, ya twats. Try shutting a kunoichi down by further messing up her face.' Rei barely pushed down the desire to facepalm.

While that would have worked against genins or chunins, Jonins were made up of different stuff. And Iwa jonins were known to be stubborn to the point of stupid. They were known to rather die than be captured so Kurotsuchi acting out was quite normal.

"I have an offer for you." Rei disarmingly smiled... a gesture that was very hard to dismiss, considering he was currently healing her.

But Kurotsuchi didn't fall for it and a spark of anger once again slightly reignited in her coal-like eyes. "Do you really think I would help you? After thi- aw! Wha av yu doving!?"

When her voice rose, Rei promptly grabbed her cheek and started to play with it, stretching and squeezing it, which might have made Kurotsuchi indignant but the spiteful kind of anger gave way to a more childish one without her even noticing how much that gesture calmed her down.

"And who knows..." Rei nonchalantly continued as if her earlier outburst didn't happen. "If you are a good girl, maybe, just maybe I will make sure your grandfather's life is spared. He is currently battling Pakura's apprentice and just between us..." Rei leaned closer and said as if he was sharing a secret with her, "I don't think he is enjoying it."

"My grandpa will win!" Kurotsuchi rebuked with confidence and was about to continue her tirade, but Rei cut her off.

"Even if he wins," Rei strongly interrupted, "he would still need to face the completely fresh Kazekage. I think his back will give out sooner though." He shrugged.

The room descended into silence for a moment, everybody too interested in how the situation would unfold to interrupt as Kurotsuchi was considering her options.

"What... kind of help?" In the end, Kurotsuchi reluctantly asked, subconsciously looking down as she gritted her teeth.

Rei inwardly smirked. He knew the girl had a lot of trust in her grandfather but she was aware he was just a human too. And therefore, she was unable to persist in her blind trust once the threat to his life was directly pointed out to her.

"It's quite simple." Rei kindly smiled, much like a devil would when offering someone on their last leg a helping hand, "I want you to officially swear yourself as my personal kunoichi."

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Kurotsuchi reeled back when she heard what Rei wanted from her and even the Suna ninjas in the room couldn't help but stare in shock at his audacity.

"You want me to be your slave!?" Kurotsuchi exclaimed in horror, her expression full of unwillingness and disgust.

Unlike Temari who was ten when Pakura took her as her own, Kurotsuchi was in the middle of her teenage years and her understanding of the world was much, much deeper. Temari might have known of the old concept under which ninjas served their lords but she did not fully understand what it all entailed when she swore herself to Pakura. Kurotsuchi, however, was different and had a clear picture of what was asked of her.

"Now, now. Don't let your imagination run wild, girl." Rei chided her as if she was a kid, "You are what? Fourteen? And a total tomboy on top of that." He gestured towards Konan with his head, "I have much better options if I want to bed somebody so that's not it."

"I am sixteen, you bastard!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed, glaring at Rei for his unspoken insinuation that she is not attractive enough for him.

Rei inwardly grinned. There went her fright. The best way to misdirect the attention of people with a fiery temper was simply to trigger said temper.

Outwardly, however, Rei only sagely nodded, "Mhm, it's hard to know with such a modest chest. Puberty doesn't treat you well, does it?" He offhandedly remarked, causing Kurotsuchi to try to stomp on his foot.

When Rei casually relocated his foot, making her miss, she scowled at him.

Rei just raised his eyebrow at her, "I wonder which perverted idiot did tie your thighs to the chair instead of your ankles." He smirked

"The one with the stupid yellow bandana." Kurotsuchi defiantly smirked back.

Konan who was looking at their interaction from a bit further away couldn't help but shake her head. The Iwa girl was lapping Rei's manipulation up, not even noticing what was happening.

Even Riku was impressed at seeing Lady Pakura's husband in action. His body language and actions... they were all appealing to Kurotsuchi's temper and defiant personality.

His last question coupled with his body language, for example, made it easy to foster a small spark of 'camaraderie' between them. Kurotsuchi might not have noticed but she was far too relaxed for somebody who was being 'interrogated' and 'negotiated' with.

'Not that the girl realizes what is happening.' Riku inwardly sighed, 'That man... he is good at dealing with children, isn't he?' She chuckled in disbelief.

"Is that so?" Rei lazily turned towards the man who suddenly found the entire room staring at him, making him quite uncomfortable. A few seconds of silence passed and the man started to slightly fidget under Rei's stare. He, like everybody in the room, had no idea who Rei was but the way Lady Riku deferred to him made it plainly obvious that he should not be offended.

When Rei thought the man was sufficiently nervous, he deadpanned at him, "Admit it, you just wanted to touch her thighs. Isn't that right, you pedophile?"

The uncomfortable silence became instantly awkward, the ninjas around were completely flabbergasted at the nonchalant accusation.

The silence was suddenly broken by Kurotsuchi who erupted with laughter. Deep down, everybody, even her, knew it was ridiculous since she was a bruised mess... but the nonchalant attitude of Rei made her feel oddly light-hearted.

Rei chuckled and gave the bandana-wearing spluttering man a reassuring smile to show him he was not really serious before he turned back towards Kurotsuchi.

"So? Is the prospect of being my slave still so frightening?" Rei leaned closer to her and cheekily asked.

"No... Yes..." Kurotsuchi grimaced, inwardly waring with her own feelings. The man was kinda cool and didn't seem the bad sort but she still had her pride! "I mean-" The same pride that was being offended the second she realized she actually considered agreeing. Kurotsuchi scowled and gave Rei a glare, "Fuck you."

"Hmm~, cheeky." Rei mused, "So that's how you feel about me? I am flattered."

Hearing him, Kurotsuchi's eyes widened, realizing how her words could have been taken, causing her to show a mortified expression

"Fuck me." Kurotsuchi uttered at Rei's 'misunderstanding', once again not thinking about her word choice.

Rei's lips quirked upward at how easy she was making it for him. "Maybe once you get a little bit older, little girl." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"That's not-!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed in aggravation before she decided she had enough and scowled, "You know what? Fuck you, bastard! I am not playing word games with you!"

"No, I guess you are too smart to not notice what is going on." Rei remarked before he paused, inwardly rolling his eyes in amusement.

Kurotsuchi's expression almost became pleased at the praise but that's when Rei once again started speaking, his still completely nonchalant but his words...

"You are currently tied to a chair while the good people around us are deciding your worth. You can be anything from executed in a show of power and what happens to those too defiant for their own good, to becoming a breeding sow, chained like an animal in a cell, and taken out once a year to be impregnated to provide Suna with a new generation of ninjas capable of using the Lava Release."

Rei's words were chilling to Kurotsuchi, making her feel as if a bucket of cold water was poured over her head when she was so bluntly told the facts.

Of course, Rei knew Pakura couldn't care less about the girl's genes. The practice of kidnapping women and breeding them for bloodlines was discontinued in Suna the second she became the Kazekage.

But Kurotsuchi didn't know that.

The girl was raised in Iwa and while Kumo was known for these practices, the militaristic Iwa was not that far behind. It was just less known since Iwa actually cared for their image. This made Rei's words believable to the girl who for the first time started thinking beyond the current moment.

Frankly, Rei just spoke bullshit and made the cute impressionable tomboy come to her own dark and gloomy conclusions.

Worked like a charm ninety-five percent of the time. Rei recommended.

"Oh, and we should not forget about your grandfather who is currently fighting for his life against Kazekage and her apprentice who is also an S-ranked ninja. I wonder how long he will last. Who knows? Maybe he is already dead, hm?" Rei casually added, ignoring the slowly rising despair in Kurotsuchi's distressed eyes that begged him to stop speaking.

Rei then turned towards Riku, "What about her father? Dead?"

The amused puppet mistress shook her head, "In a cell, still barely alive but... literally disarmed." She answered, adding a bit of dark humor to the ending.

Rei turned back and looked straight at Kurotsuchi and his tone for the first time became serious, "You lost. You should realize that. You have a choice now. You can choose your pride and perish with it, dragging your family to the grave with you. Or, you can become mine and while your family would lose Iwagakure, they will survive this clusterfuck. So, let me ask you for the last time, girl. Will you become my slave or not?"

Kurotsuchi was so wide-eyed her thoughts became a jumbled mess as the reality hit her like a truck and she was unable to form a coherent reply. Her desire to send Rei to hell battled with what she knew she had to do to survive, making her stressed and angry and frustrated and...

Eventually, her head dropped, as a choked sob resounded throughout the deadly silent room. Tears started falling into Kurotsuchi's lap and it was obvious she was trying very hard to stifle her sobs, only managing to reduce them to sniffles.

For a moment, her sniffles were the only noise that filled the room, Rei all too happy to let her stew in her emotions for a bit and think her situation through.

It made it that much sweeter to know her final decision would be fully her own, and the girl would be less likely to betray him because of that fact.

It didn't take long for him to finally hear the expected reply.

"Yes... Master."

Kurotsuchi eventually declared her resignation in a tearful voice full of sorrow and pain, and Rei's eyes narrowed in satisfaction.

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After getting the resigned confirmation from Kurotsuchi, Rei decided to stop being an asshole and gently put his hand on her hair, ruffling it a bit.

"Good girl." He kindly said and started to properly heal her. His healing Jutsu was nowhere near Tsunade's, but when living with the foremost expert in the field, one learns a thing or two.

Fortunately for Kurotsuchi's continued well-being, Konan helped too.

After the still morose girl was all patched up, she calmed down enough to appreciate in silent wonder as her broken arm and bruised body were mended in a matter of minutes.

While it was still astonishing even for the Suna ninjas, since Pakura became the Kazekage, a lot of improvements were slowly introduced to the village, one of which was better medical techniques. Rei had no idea what kind of bullshit reason Pakura gave her people for having those techniques, but he knew she didn't hold out on them. That's why the sight of advanced healing didn't shake them as much as it did Kurotsuchi.

For the girl, this was a very shocking sight. The medical field was nowhere near as advanced as Rei thought in his past life while reading Naruto. In fact, it was Tsunade and Orochimaru that were the freaks of their generation when it came to medical techniques.

Most of their techniques were self-made. Hell, most of the 'modern' healing procedures were either invented or improved by Tsunade herself. Her title of the best med-nin in the world was not just lip service.

The woman was a legend in the ninja world for a reason...

For other medics, broken bones were still very bothersome and while their mending could have been accelerated, the hospitals existed for a reason. If every injury could be shrugged off with just a few minutes of a healing technique, they would have been redundant.

And while Tsunade started researching methods how to accelerate the process tremendously, and was successful for the most part as a bit of it was already applied in the hospitals all over Rei's villages, not many 'average' medics had the necessary chakra potency and quality to pull it off the same way Tsunade could so she had to dumb it down for them. It was still a work in progress.

Now that Kurotsuchi was in a good condition, Rei freed her from the wire that bound her to the chair, all the while not letting down his guard. As much as he would love to believe the girl knew what was best for her, she was still a teenager.

Kunoichi or not, hormones affected everyone the same.

Rei could not be sure something flipped in her head, causing her to try a foolish thing like escaping a room full of experienced jonins or starting a fight. Hence, he stayed vigilant.

Thankfully, Kurotsuchi was still in too much shock to think about things like these, and Rei's visit to Iwa went without any unforeseen incident. He and Konan didn't dilly-dally in Iwa, leaving the situation there in the capable hands of Riku as they ushered the bewildered Kurotsuchi out of the room, and using a teleportation technique back to Konoha the second the door closed behind them.

They arrived in the exact same place where Rei and Konan previously disappeared from the village. In the middle of a street.

'Hiraishin!?' Kurotsuchi mentally freaked out, mistaking the technique.

It didn't last, however. When her eyes took in the surroundings, her thoughts were diverted by the sight of Iwa ninjas' bodies strewn around the street, causing her to grimace in sadness as she distractedly followed Rei.

It was obvious the invasion did not go as her grandfather planned. If it did, the friggin Konoha ninjas would not have been leisurely laughing and joking among each other, as if it was just another usual Monday at work, while they were clearing up the bodies of Kumo, Iwa, and Sound ninjas.

Two hours passed since Rei and Konan left Konoha and the battle was pretty much over by now. From what their chakra senses were telling them, there were some stubborn stragglers that still needed to be dealt with, but the overwhelming majority of the enemy troops were already either killed or had surrendered.

Eventually, Rei, Konan, and the disheartened Kurotsuchi reached the arena, and Rei led them to where he could feel Pakura still leisurely sitting, She was still in the same spot as when they left, much to Rei's amused surprise.

Well, he could feel the showdown between Temari and Onoki was still not concluded so it was only natural that Pakura would pay attention to it so no mishap happened to Temari. After all, Onoki was a highly dangerous ninja despite his old age. One good hit and Temari could be in danger.

This fight was supposed to be a training exercise for the girl and while a bit of danger was healthy for her awareness, by now every woman of Rei adopted his distaste for putting their proteges at unnecessary life-threatening risks.

It sure worked for those who survived them. Pakura was taught that way and she became a legend in Suna during the Third Ninja War. But there were a lot of those that failed at the surviving part.

In Rei's opinion, doing that was just a waste of talent. Nobody was the same but everybody could be taught and trained to become strong. While some didn't have the predisposition to be great fighters, that didn't mean they could not become competent in the field if a good teaching method was implemented. The necessary approach differed from person to person. Trying to force one kind of approach on everybody just caused a lot of unnecessary casualties.

"They are still at it?" Rei asked as he entered the room where Pakura sat, announcing his presence with the question.

"Yeah. The old geezer is tenacious as hell." Pakura quipped, not even turning to look at Rei. She could sense him the second he teleported back to Konoha so she was aware of him when he entered the room too. "But I gotta say, I am proud of my girl. I was a bit worried when she underestimated him at the start but thankfully, she learned her lesson and took the fight seriously since then."

When Kurotsuchi realized who the person sitting in front of her was, her eyes went wide. Rei told her that her grandfather fought against the Kazekage's apprentice but Kurotsuchi inwardly doubted that. An apprentice would not be strong enough to fight her grandpa!

She naturally thought it was actually the Kazekage herself who battled Onoki but here she saw the woman leisurely lounging in a comfortable chair, while...

Kurotsuchi's eyes slowly moved towards the arena, discovering a sight she would have never thought possible.

In the arena, a girl not much older than her was facing her ancient grandpa on even footing, pushing him back even. Kurotsuchi's jaw dropped to the floor at that. She found it hard to believe this was possible. She fought against her grandfather a lot in her training but not once did she manage to erase his leisure smile.

Yet, Onoki right now was completely focused, his expression grave and full of tiredness. That shook Kurotsuchi's confidence like nothing else.

It was with great apprehension that Kurotsuchi realized the Kazekage really had not made a move yet.

At that moment, Kurotsuchi felt relief flood her as she realized that her decision was correct. For, there was no way her grandfather would have survived this situation without the deal she made with her new master.

Nowâ she had a different problem.

How the hell was she supposed to explain it to her grandpa in a way that won't send him into a fit of rage? Logic didn't work on her family!

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Rei didn't instantly intervene and interrupt the match between Temari and Onoki. He wanted to see Temari's full prowess and what better time to witness it than a fight against a Kage-level opponent where she is forced to give her all?

Instead, he gestured to Konan to get comfortable and sat on a chair next to Pakura, causing Kurotsuchi to awkwardly stand in her spot and uncomprehendingly stare between them and the fight where her grandfather was having a hard time.

She opened her mouth, about to remind her new master he was supposed to stop the fight, but one look from Konan shut her up really fast, making her huff and flop into a chair a bit away from the trio as she crossed her arms under her chest and scowled.

"Mah~, don't be so childish, Kuro-chan." Rei quipped, "Don't worry, I will make sure your granddaddy will survive the fight but I want to see the fight so bear with me for a little bit, ok?

Kurotsuchi did not reply nor even turn towards him but he saw her shoulders sag a bit and that was an answer enough for him. Smiling to himself, Rei turned back towards the ongoing battle.

He could plainly see the fight evolved to a whole new level since he left two hours ago. Temari was no longer using her battle fan nor any wind Jutsus, deeming them useless against Onoki who could easily dodge any of them except ones with the widest area of effect. Instead of these, Temari was fully focused on her Magnet Release and Gravity manipulation.

Onoki, on the other hand, started to use more of his Earth Manipulation, not using his bloodline willy-nilly as he did at the start. Now when he used it, it had some serious juice and aimed to destroy a lot more than just make a small hole in whatever it hit.

Down in the arena, an intense exchange of numerous small flying objects made of Iron Sand, something Rei knew Temari was working on but her control over it wasn't quite there yet the last time he saw her practice with it, rushing at Onoki. From what Rei could tell, these objects would have never reached that kind of speed with just Magnet Release.

The biggest problem with Sand Manipulation techniques was their speed. In the higher leagues, the user had to rely on trapping their opponent because chakra could enhance the speed of whatever was manipulated only so far.

Temari, however, was also using Gravity Manipulation in tandem with it, lowering the weight of these objects to featherlight, causing their speed to become three to four times higher.

Onoki was having a hard time dodging the unceasing hail of projectiles and acted accordingly. His skin was almost black, hardened to the highest degree with Earth chakra, and he also started hovering closer to the ground in order to have quick access to Earth Walls.

But despite spamming numerous Earth Walls to stop the projectiles, their sheer number usually punched through the walls. It did slow them down, however, and gave Onoki the necessary time to dodge the hell out of their way.

Yet, Rei could see a few gashes on Onoki already, telling him that not everything was cleanly dodged.

Temari wasn't stupid. The second she saw her approach was not working, she slightly adjusted her strategy, trying to get past Onoki's defenses, but Onoki was experienced enough to understand this and counter it.

That's why the fight turned into a tactical tug of war, both combatants waiting until the other made a mistake.

It came sooner than Rei would have thought. Just five minutes into his watching, Onoki managed to sneak in a small localized earthquake under Temari's feet. It wasn't anything grand, just a small shake, but it was enough to briefly disrupt her focus, slowing down her projectiles and giving Onoki the much-needed few seconds for a counterattack.

Temari barely managed to regain her balance, only for her eyes to widen as she noticed a massive white beam heading directly towards her. She didn't have enough time to dodge it and felt deja-vu about what happened earlier.

This was why she didn't let up on her offensive. Onoki's bloodline was far too destructive and far too fast! She didn't allow him to use it without being prepared to evade it. Yet, this momentary lapse in focus cost her dearly.

Temari knew there was only one thing she could do to save herself from being disintegrated. Only one Jutsu of hers had the necessary properties to block such a powerful Dust Release point-blank. But she was reluctant. The attack was not yet controllable enough...

'Ah, to hell with it!' Temari inwardly snarled, knowing she didn't have a choice anyway. Between possibly being ripped to shreds by her own attack and being definitely disintegrated, the choice with even a slight chance of survival seemed better to her.

Focusing in front of herself, Temari molded her earth chakra in a very complicated manner. It took barely a split of a second for a small, barely visible dot to appear, seemingly sucking in the air around itself as it started to quickly grow, reaching the size of a ping-pong ball...

It didn't manage to grow more as Onoki's Dust Release beam smashed directly into it.

Temari nor Onoki didn't manage to even register what happened before a shockwave hit them, sending them flying back like a ragdoll in the opposite directions before they both hit the wall of the arena behind them, punching right through it with their bodies.

Rei, Konan, and Pakura only watched with astonishment the shockwave impacted the ground and the walls all around, horribly cracking them. The only reason the spectator spots were not affected was that the barrier that safeguarded them during the matches still worked. The force behind the shockwave was comparable to a high-level A-ranked Jutsu and considering it came to be just by a clash of two techniques, it was incredible enough.

"Grandpa!" Kurotsuchi abruptly stood up and screamed in worry.

With a sigh, Rei stood up, recognizing that this was the moment where all fun ended and the fight should not be allowed to go on anymore lest the combatants get too desperate for their own continued well-being.

As the dust started to settle in, both Onoki and Temari started to slowly crawl out of the rubble, wobbly standing up, trying to stop the ringing in their ears and catch their breath again. Their bones were creaking and their muscles hurt, their bodies moved by their sheer will, running on fumes as they powered through the pain.

Temari's teal eyes met with Onoki's gaze, making her snarl and take a threatening step forward before she swayed on her feet, causing the old midget to dryly chuckle... before he winced from the sting the action caused him.

He didn't try to recklessly move. Instead, he stayed on all four on the ground, enjoying the few seconds of reprieve and using them to regather his strength since his opponent was also out of it and it would take time for her to get back on her feet, so to speak.

But as they both started to feel better and resolved themselves for the continuation, Rei landed in the middle of the cracked ground of the arena, blasting both Temari and Onoki with the pressure of his chakra, making them sway and barely keep standing on their feet.

"I think that's enough for the both of you." Rei casually stated.

He didn't put all that much effort into that pressure since he didn't want to hurt them but it was so sudden that the still mostly disoriented fighters were greatly affected.

Their bodies locked up, tensing from the threat... and that was the mistake. At that moment, the two lost control of their bodies, even if only for a brief split of a second. Since they were already using mostly willpower to force themselves to move, losing their focus was enough for the exhaustion of their bodies to hit them like a proverbial truck, causing them to collapse.

As both Onoki and Temari flopped down onto the ground, unable to move, they knew there was no getting up from this one.

"Dammit, my back hurts." Onoki grumbled with a grimace, "And here I thought I would outlive the old monkey bastard."

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"Dammit, my back hurt." Onoki grumbled with a grimace, "And here I thought I would outlive the old monkey bastard."

"Eh, you have better chances than him." Rei quipped, knowing that Tsunade could hold a grudge like no one and the mentioned poor son of a bitch was partly responsible for the demise of her clan.

And if the two special chakra signatures around her were any indication, Tsunade was going for a mental breakdown kind of revenge as far as Sarutobi was concerned...

Rei walked towards Temari, sitting down next to her and pulling her head into his lap with a small but proud smile, "You did great." He gently caressed her cheek.

Temari tried to smile back but it only prompted her to release a pained groan as her body hurt like hell.

"Admittedly, the result is not great but it's the effort that matters." Rei chuckled, flicking Temari's forehead when he saw her slightly pout at his words, getting yet another pained and whining groan from her.

Satisfied with her little 'punishment' for losing her focus during the fight, Rei started to heal her, spreading a comfortable and relaxing feeling all over her body, causing her to subconsciously turn over and snuggle her cheek into his thighs.

The sweet atmosphere between them was abruptly interrupted when they heard a shrill, "Grandpa!", making Temari's half-lidded eyes shoot open in wariness, her body involuntarily tensing.

On the other side of the arena, Onoki had the exact same reaction as Temari for all the different reasons.

'Kurotsuchi!? What is she doing here!' He thought, cold sweat washing over him.

He instantly tried to stand up and tell her to run, his brain no longer thinking logically as it entered a protective mode... but as he finally stood up and swayed on his feet due to exertion, Kurotsuchi reached him and shoved him back onto the ground, making him hiss from the abrupt pain in his back.

"What are you doing, old man!? You are hurt! Don't stand up!" Kurotsuchi admonished.

At that moment, Rei chuckled and Temari's wariness disappeared. Kurotsuchi just caused more damage to Onoki in one moment than what Temari managed to do in minutes of intense fighting.

Witnessing that was… hilariously humiliating for Temari.

"Kurotsuchi..." Onoki groaned, "What are you doing here?"

"I am saving your ass!" Kurotsuchi huffed as she kneeled beside him, trying to imitate Rei as she shoved Onoki's head into her lap... banging the back of his head on her bony thighs, making her grandfather hiss from the sudden blow.

When he instinctively tried to stand up, Kurotsuchi took him by the shoulders and forcefully pushed him back, making his back painfully crack enough that his body involuntarily bent with his chest sticking out, which made his eyes go wide and flooded them with a pain-filled look.

The poor Onoki couldn't even speak from the abrupt spike of pain.

Not that Kurotsuchi noticed what her actions did. Her expression was full of worry and resolve to make him feel better.

"Now relax!" She forcefully ordered, putting her hand on his forehead and pushing the back of his head once again onto her thighs, using a bit too much force so his head banged against her bones again.

If Rei didn't know she wasn't doing it on purpose, he would think she wanted to kill or cripple the old man.

'Damn. At this rate, I will have to save him from her.' Rei deadpanned.

Pakura and Konan, who had just arrived at the scene and now stood behind Rei's back, put their hands on his shoulders in a show of support. They could feel his exasperation but the spectacle in front of them was far too amusing for them to intervene.

Realizing there was nobody other than him who would step in before more harm could come to the old midget, Rei sighed and spoke to Onoki and Kurotsuchi, "Onoki, just listen to your granddaughter and relax. We have no intentions to attack you right now."

Onoki's gaze was redirected towards Rei, causing his pupils to constrict a bit when he saw and realized the dynamics between him and the three women around him. They all felt pretty powerful to Onoki and that just made him that much more uneasy.

"And who are you?" Onoki rasped in a tired yet cautious voice.

He had never seen the man who was so tenderly tending to Temari and that made him wary. With his information network, he should have been aware of all the major players in the world.

The man clearly had a close bond with all three women, of which one was Kazekage so that made him Iwagakure's enemy by default.

"Me?" Rei raised an eyebrow at him, feeling a bit mischievous. "I am Rei from Yozora." He quipped and shrugged, enjoying how Onoki became speechless at that admission.

Onoki choked when he heard that.

This was the bastard who invaded his village all those years ago and caused the rampage of one of their jinchuuriki!?

Onoki wanted to stand up and send a Dust Release Beam up the bastard's ass! But since his situation did not allow that, he was at least about to spew a string of very colorful curses at the bastard when Rei spoke again.

"Just earlier I visited your village and Suna's forces had already taken it over." Rei leisurely said and raised his head to look at Pakura as he reassuringly squeezed her hand, "Good for you, your plan worked flawlessly."

That stopped the last of Onoki's silent painful whining almost instantly, making him forget about the surging pain coursing through his body as his mind focused on the outrageous news he had just heard.

Onoki's heart skipped a beat and his throat went dry, his mind in chaos as the possibility of this being the truth sneaked into his thoughts. He couldn't help but turn once again towards Kurotsuchi with an unasked question in his eyes...

"Oh, her?" Rei noticed Onoki's gaze and decided to offhandedly elaborate, "She entered my service to save yours and your son's life. You are lucky to have such a diligent and loyal granddaughter."

"What?" Onoki breathlessly whispered and looked at Kurotsuchi, desperately looking for denial of this news. Iwagakure was supposed to be totally safe right now. He only took barely thirty percent of the village's forces with him to Konoha. There was no way anybody could...

But Kurotsuchi just curtly nodded, her eyes tearing up a bit.

Onoki's eyes suddenly widened as he grabbed at his chest and started silently gasping for air, thrashing around for a second before his eyes rolled in and his body went abruptly limp in Kurotsuchi's arms.

"Huh?" Kurotsuchi blinked before her brain registered what was going on and she immediately checked his pulse, using what she knew of first aid to try and help him all the while she handled him so roughly Rei didn't doubt Onoki had just gained several new bruises.

Realizing what was going on, Kurotsuchi frantically looked at Rei with a look of urgency, worriedly shrieking, "M-Master! I think my grandpa just had a heart attack! Please, save him!"

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With a sigh, Rei carefully relocated Temari's head out of his lap before he stood up and walked toward the frantic Kurotsuchi who was holding Onoki's unmoving body.

He kneeled beside them and put his hand on Onoki's chest...

Onoki's eyes suddenly opened wide, his heart getting shocked to work again as electricity coursed through his body, wildly shaking him and making him spasm in Kurotsuchi's lap in an abrupt excruciating pain.

At that moment, he wished he stayed dead.

Rei used quite a brutal voltage but... eh, the old man was a Kage. He could take it.

Ten seconds of uncontrollable shaking later, Rei happily withdrew his hand from Onoki's chest with a satisfied smile, causing the old man to quickly gasp for breath.

Rei glanced at Kurotsuchi, receiving a thankful subdued nod from her before she worriedly looked back at Onoki who was finally slowly regaining his wits after being shocked back to the land of the living.

Seeing his granddaughter, Onoki smiled at her, "Ah, Kurotsuchi. I just had the most ridiculous dream where Iwa was taken over and you..." He suddenly stopped, owlishly blinking at the grimacing girl as a realization hit him. "It wasn't a dream, was it?"

Kurotsuchi apologetically smiled and mutely nodded...

Onoki's eyes once again rolled back and his body went limp in her lap.

Rei's smile froze and the corners of his lips started to twitch as he heard the soft giggling of Temari, Pakura, and Konan behind his back. They were apparently having great fun at his expense.

"Alright. We can do this all day, old man. I have time." Rei muttered under his nose as his eyebrows twitched and his lips morphed into a vindictive smile. Raising his hand, lightning chakra crackled in between his fingers...

Needless to say, Onoki got another ten-second body shake free of cost and once again woke up with a painful gasp and wide eyes.

"Will I have to wake you up again?" Rei asked with a twitching left eye, staring Onoki directly into his eyes.

Onoki understood the underlying threat in his words and with a tearful expression he slightly shook his head, "No, no more."

"Good." Rei nodded with a huff and turned around, walking back towards the three chuckling women.

...

It took ages for Kurotsuchi to explain to Onoki what happened in Iwagakure during his absence, and once he understood the gist of it, he stubbornly glared at Pakura through the rest of the explanation.

Thankfully, despite Pakura's smug grin, the former Tsuchikage could control his impulses enough to not start a fight he had no way of finishing.

Rei could see a smidge of grudging respect directed at Pakura in his gaze, though.

To be honest, Pakura was now the very first Kage who managed to conquer another major hidden village. An achievement that will write her name into the history for a very, very long time no doubt.

Only when the conversation reached the point where Kurotsuchi swore herself to Rei as his personal kunoichi did Onoki's glare swap targets, becoming even more heated as he willed Rei's death with his eyes.

Rei decided that giving the man an eye smile was a good way to lower the tension.

Alas, despite it always working for one unnamed masked ninja, Rei was no Kakashi and his eye smile worked exactly as Kakashi intended when he first invented the thing. It just pissed Onoki even more.

Only the recent memory of being brought to life by being shocked half-to-death stopped Onoki from trying to strangle Rei. Yozora or not, Onoki didn't know him. Unlike Pakura, Rei did not have an iron-clad reputation in the Elemental Nations. Somebody as strong as Onoki did not see a reason to fear an unknown like him.

It was exactly due to this kind of misguided courage that Onoki tried to argue Kurotsuchi's new life situation.

"You already took Iwa from me. Why do you need Kurotsuchi also?" Onoki gritted his teeth and clenched his fists to control his increasing temper.

Rei could have answered this in numerous ways, many of which would be ridiculing and would have served only to fan the flames between them but that would have been counterproductive.

He didn't take Kurotsuchi in because he liked her or something as asinine as wanting her to join his 'harem'. He had enough to do with his time with his current count of women vying for his attention. There was no need to add another to the equation.

He had different plans for Kurotsuchi.

Rei also knew Onoki was stubborn to a fault and he would never accept a half-hearted misdirecting explanation. Not when his granddaughter was involved. Despite his current weak position and battered body, the man still had balls of steel, considering the fighting spirit Rei saw in his eyes.

Killing Onoki would have screwed things up with Kurotsuchi so...

Rei sighed, "I will be honest with you. I want to make Iwa a satellite of Suna and after some training, Kurotsuchi will be put in charge of it."

Hearing that Kurotsuchi's head snapped toward Rei with disbelief written on her face. The second Iwa fell, she thought her dream of leading her village was a moot point. But her master now wanted her to do just that!?

In her teenage naivety, this only increased her subconscious loyalty toward Rei.

The idea sounded ridiculous. Anybody with positive intelligence would instantly say it was stupid because Kurotsuchi will definitely eventually try to rebel.

But Rei had secret weapons. Strict Pakura and no-nonsense Konan.

These two would teach the girl the ropes and Rei had no doubt self-interest would eventually win Kurotsuchi over to his side. And if not? The plan could always be adjusted accordingly.

"Once she is deemed loyal enough, you mean?" Onoki raised his eyebrow and sneered, but there was a barely visible relief in his eyes, and his body slightly relaxed.

Fortunately, Kurotsuchi was not in his field of vision right now or he would probably have another heart attack if he saw her giddy expression due to the news.

"Of course." Rei nodded, "There will also be various fail saves implemented to make sure she won't try to do something shady. You were a Kage. You must have an idea of how these things go." He tiredly sighed. To be honest, this topic was very uncomfortable for Rei.

But... it had to be said.

"We can't leave Iwa as it is now. The village is full of trained killers raised with the idea of the will of rock or whatever bullshit you spout in your corner of the world." Rei dryly remarked, causing Kurotsuchi to frown at his words but Onoki's lips just twitched upwards.

He was a Tsuchikage. He knew it was just propaganda. And yet, it wasn't. It was something that gave the loyal ninjas to push beyond their limits. It was their belief and source of strength.

"If Suna tried to occupy Iwa as it is, they would have lost control of it in five years tops." Rei continued. "The only way is to screen every ninja and slaughter those too loyal for their own good."

Onoki's expression turned grim. He was aware of these problems and he hoped the people in front of him forgot about them.

Even though he came to invade Konoha, he never thought of occupying it or taking it over. Controlling a village full of trained ninjas loyal to it was an exercise in futility.

Onoki was about to open his mouth to try persuading Rei from massacring Iwa's loyal ninjas when Rei spoke again, clearly waiting for this moment, "Or we could simply put in leadership somebody Iwa troops will trust and slowly make them used to the idea of being subordinated to Suna. Propaganda and belief conversion take time, ya know?" He playfully stated and enjoyed the sour expression of Onoki.

Frankly, Rei couldn't fault the old midget. He was talking about destroying the lifetime of his effort but... what could Onoki do? He could only frown and silently seethe while it was going on.

Once the innovations and reforms hit Iwa, most of the people will voluntarily stay under Suna if only because their living standards will drastically improve and their salaries increase.

"You want to destroy my legacy by using my family member." Onoki mumbled.

Rei didn't reply to Onoki's sentence. He could keep trying to persuade him that it was better for the world if the ninja villages united like this but for someone like Onoki, someone who spent his lifetime trying to make Iwa great and other villages weak, it wouldn't have mattered.

Just the idea was a direct offense against everything Onoki had ever fought for.

Kurotsuchi could only helplessly stare between the nonchalant Rei and the sullen Onoki, not knowing what to do to improve the mood, completely lost.

Onoki might have seemed resigned but he was a ninja. Rei knew the midget was already plotting how to use his plan to his advantage to take his village back from its 'oppressors'.

Unfortunately for him, Rei wouldn't let that happen. He finally got Iwa into his grasp... no way was he letting it go. The first chance he got, he intended to put a lot of surveillance seals around it, and give access to them to the loyal Suna ninjas overseeing the village.

No coup was gonna happen. Not on his watch.

After all, nobody said Onoki would be just let free to attempt one after thisâ

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Talking to Onoki was like arguing with a stubborn rock.

Onoki wanted to find a way to get some kind of leeway for Iwa, not taking no for an answer and being a persistent annoying little dipshit who just wouldn't shut up.

As time passed, even the extremely patient Rei was slowly getting fed up whereas Pakura and Konan held themselves back from introducing him to a world of pain only by ignoring him.

Fortunately for Onoki's continued existence, Rei felt Tsunade and the three other chakra signatures with her to finally move towards them.

When they arrived Rei could see a satisfied Tsunade, who was almost glowing from smugness, two disgruntled and huffy reanimated Senju brothers, and... a pig?

Rei winced when he realized the identity of the pig just as Onoki burst into rambunctious laughter and exclaimed, "Old Monkey! I like the remake of your facade!"

That earned him a mild glare from the man with a heavily swollen and bruised purple head that could barely walk and resembled one big angry pimple.

Sarutobi did not have any bone in his body broken but every muscle was damaged or bruised in some manner. Let's just say the Senju brothers were not amused about his part in their clan's demise.

Rei watched as Sarutobi angrily wobbled towards the only person in the room he could probably defeat in his current situation, and even that was because Onoki was too exhausted and injured himself, and he couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for the former Third Hokage.

The extensive physical injuries aside, the biggest damage was the mental scars the beatdown had inflicted on the man. Sure, Sarutobi was showing a strong facade despite being one pain-filled swollen pimple but being trashed by two people he respected most in his life, his two mentors, must not have been pleasant.

From how pleased Tsunade looked with herself and how her eyes sparkled with self-satisfaction, she knew that as well.

Sarutobi came close to Onoki and spoke... or at least he tried but his swollen and bruised cheeks, lips, and tongue were making conversation quite difficult.

"W'y abe yo' hebe!?" He furiously let out, hating that this old man saw him in his current state.

"What? You gotta first learn to speak well enough to be understood if you want an answer!" Onoki laughed, relieving his stress by mocking Sarutobi.

The previous discussion with Rei was getting nowhere and he was really upset because his attempts did not move the young man at all. Sarutobi came just in time to be his stress relief.

"I 'oud 'ike tah she yo' talgi'g bith inguwies 'ike 'ine!" Sarutobi quickly let out in anger at being mocked by his oldest rival, and instantly regretted it as he felt a spike of pain come from his mouth, causing him to groan as his eyes became tearful.

"Aww. Is the poor monkey baby inguwed?" Onoki said in a baby voice and pettily grinned, making Sarutobi incensed.

"Shad up, shit flinger! Yo'..."

Deciding he had heard enough of juvenile arguing, Rei twitched his fingers and a barrier formed around the two ancient ninjas, saving the others from having to hear their petty squabbles.

The two men were too hurt to start physically fighting and they at least seemed to understand that so there was no need to watch over them as if they were little kids.

Rei barely managed to cast the barrier and he already had to brace himself as Tsunade impacted him, embracing him in a warm and tight hug as she cutely rubbed her face on his chest.

"Home, sweet home." She giddily whispered as Rei relaxed and wryly smiled, circling his arms around her small frame, also embracing her.

"Hooh~, so you are the husband of our little princess." A male voice interrupted their reunion...

But the room was instantly washed in potent killing intent coming from Tsunade as she disgruntledly half-turned around, her arms not letting go of Rei as she made Hashirama backtrack with her glare before she with huff turned her head back and snuggled into Rei's chest again.

The Senju brothers got the hint. They just awkwardly but quietly stood around, not knowing what to do, for the next ten minutes while Tsunade was recharging her Rei energy.

Only after she had enough did she finally pull away from Rei and motioned to the stupefied Senju brothers that they could start their 'interrogation'.

But she forgot they too were Senjus and they were vindictive like her.

From the Hashirama's tone, Rei had expected a proper shovel talk but instead, much to his amusement, all he got was the man animatedly talking about his princess cute little Tsuna while Tobirama also quipped from time to time about his little niece.

Deciding to roll with it and be happy he didn't have to deal with bothersome unrealistic threats, Rei listened to them, and surprisingly, he was learning a lot of blackmail material.

The more the two brothers talked, the more embarrassed Tsunade got, cutely blushing next to Rei from shame. She tried to glare them to silence again but Rei's arm around her shoulders gave the two reanimated corpses enough confidence Tsunade would not make them into real corpses anytime soon.

Throughout the conversation, Rei's lips were progressively curving upwards, giving Tsunade meaningful glances, enjoying but ignoring her betrayed and pitiful, pleading gaze. This family reunion was a surprisingly pleasant one!

Their fun time was, however, cut short when Ringo showed up with a busty blonde following behind her, and a bit further, A and his secretary, Mabui, also reluctantly trailed behind her.

"Done too?" Rei amusedly asked, happy that Ringo seemed satisfied with her 'revenge' and that A actually survived it.

"Yes, and I even gained a new apprentice!" Ringo widely smiled as she pushed Samui a bit forward, giving Konan, Pakura, and Tsunade a smug look.

The three women looked at each other and shook their heads in exasperation, opting to not comment and let Ringo have this moment.

Unfortunately for Ringo, Mei didn't get the memo. She burst through the door, ruining the mood for Ringo and making her eyebrow twitch.

"I have arrived!" Mei gushed out before taking the hand of her 'captive' and dragging the awkward-looking B into the room.

"Oi, your timing sucks, Mist-brain." Ringo snarked, crossing her arms under her chest and instantly getting Mei's attention with her remark.

"Oh? What's going on?" Mei tilted her head, a mocking smile appearing on her lips as her eyes caught Samui in Ringo's hands, "Don't have any curves to show off so you are showing off somebody else's body?" She puffed out her chest at that.

The air between them instantly grew tense as Ringo frowned.

"Don't push your luck, child." Ringo said, walking towards Mei.

Mei also walked forward and when they reached each other and Ringo had to slightly look up to meet her eyes, she smirked, "You should grow up first if you want to keep calling me that." Mei smirked.

"No," Ringo chuckled, "I will only stop when you mentally grow up. So that ain't happening. Kid."

"Are you implying I am stupid, bitch?" Mei's eyes narrowed...

On the other side of the room, A, B, Mabui, and Samui walked closer to Rei and his group, not even being surprised at the appearance of the two deceased Hokages... after all, they had seen quite a few ridiculous things in the recent hours so what's one more?

"Shouldn't you stop them?" A gave Rei a glance, not wanting the two monsters to start really fighting. These two didn't exactly seem the type to mind collateral damage.

Rei chuckled and shook his head, inwardly knowing Rei and Ringo were more responsible than A thought. He patted the man's shoulder in reassurance...

'Wh-!?' A's eyes suddenly widened as he felt his remaining chakra reserves getting restricted to genin level.

Before he could even exclaim in shock, Rei was already in the middle of Onoki and Sarutobi, his hands on their shoulders, and the same thing happened, the two old Kages freezing in their spots as they felt their chakra being locked down to a genin level as a seal slithered through their clothes, anchoring itself on their skin and spreading through their bodies... before it vanished from view.

When they gave Rei shocked looks, he just pleasantly smiled at them with amusement dancing in his eyes, "What? Did you think you could invade one of our villages and face no consequences?"

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The three Kages dealt with, Rei turned towards Mei and Ringo... and sighed as he saw them butting heads and making menacing faces at each other while exchanging childish insults as if they were kids.

He wryly smiled, noting that Kurotsuchi and the Kumo ninjas were on the edge, scared shitless that the fight between the two redheads would escalate and techniques would start flying around. Both of them were known SS-ranks so it was understandable.

Still, seeing someone like B, a man over two meters tall and composed of a massive amount of bulging steel-like muscles, trying to subtly increase the distance between himself and the two petite arguing women all the while his eyes shined with deep worry was a bit funny for Rei.

Rei knew there was no danger in letting Mei and Ringo have a go at each other. This was their usual behavior and despite everything, they never came to blows. He had no idea if they liked insulting each other but at least they had the common decency to keep their fights strictly verbal when not on the training grounds.

Surprisingly enough, the hotheaded woman and the childish woman were both quite responsible with their powers.

Shaking his head in fond exasperation, Rei turned toward Konan and asked, "What does the operation in Kumo look like?"

"Wait! What operation in Kumo!?" A instantly exclaimed in bewilderment, starting to get angry as his imagination started to run free.

The other three Kumo ninjas in the room also seemed uncomfortable at the sudden shift in the topic but they recognized their position and stayed silent.

Only Samui seemed more or less 'cool' with whatever. Poor girl... Rei noticed she was in a deep inner conflict right now.

He had no idea what it was about but he could come to a few conclusions considering Ringo introduced her as her new apprentice while walking inside the room alongside A and Mabui.

'Oh, well, not my problem.' Rei shrugged these thoughts off.

"Well, of course, we hit Iwagakure and Kumogakure both. Isn't that obvious?" Rei innocently tilted his head, looking straight at A who both paled and became redder from rage at the same time.

"You-!" A spoke through gritted teeth but he was instantly cut off.

"The Swordsmen of the Kiri are making a right mess of Kumo but they did not yet succeed in conquering it." Konan interrupted, reporting what was going on.

That... was expected. Rei liked to think he was a realist even though he occasionally had his own bouts of unrealistic insanity.

The situations in Iwa and Kumo were different.

Iwa was besieged by the force of an entire hidden village and it was a proper invasion.

Kumo was attacked by a handful of individuals and while each of them was strong, they were facing an entire village. There was no way to conquer the village in a straightforward manner for them. They had to use hit and run tactics and make it into a hide and seek chase all around Kumo. That was the only way to win for them.

Funnily enough, the resistance of his village made A visibly proud... until Konan decided to continue, instantly crushing his smugness.

"They have caused enough damage to the infrastructure and forces of the village that taking over the remnants with the incoming Kiri army should be a child's play." She uttered in a flat tone, but the mirth in her eyes was unmistakable for anyone who knew her.

Now that dashed all of A's hopes, making him horrified.

"Ah, that's good. We have their Kage and remaining jinchuuriki safely tucked in here so I guess there won't be any unexpected turn of events, right?" Rei sweetly said, looking straight at B and daring him to try something with his gaze.

The eight-tailed jinchuuriki was the only strong enough unrestrained Kumo ninja in the room but as uncomfortable and indignant as he looked, he clearly knew well how futile it would have been and just resignedly slumped his shoulders.

"Yes. How nice of them to deliver themselves to our footsteps." Tsunade giggled, making A clench his hands into fists while he quietly quivered from barely restrained anger.

It wasn't only his village that was at risk. He already exchanged Samui for Mabui's and his life so it wouldn't do to ruin her albeit unwilling but nevertheless noble sacrifice with his temper tantrum.

If Samui heard his thoughts, she would have outwardly frowned... and inwardly sneered at the audacity of the man.

"What about the casualties?" Rei continued asking about the attack on Kumo. Since Ringo was preoccupied with Mei, at least someone had to care about Kiri ninjas.

Though, Rei could see Ringo was listening to Konan's reports with one ear as she continued arguing with Mei so she probably cared more than she let on.

Being the Mizukage definitely changed her a bit and Rei was happy for her.

"The Kiri Swordsmen had suffered two casualties so far and three of them are too injured to continue fighting." Konan briefly glanced at Ringo, "One of these is Zabuza." She informed the redhead who briefly stiffened and gave a barely audible nod, not even bothering to turn toward Konan as she continued glaring at Mei.

Seeing that Ringo received the information, Konan turned towards A, "The casualties on the Kumo side are around four hundred bodies currently." She flatly said, not caring one way or the other.

A was clearly conflicted about the information but in the end, he just gave Konan a small but heavy nod of appreciation. Blaming the messenger would do him no good anyway.

That was when Samui decided to worriedly step toward Konan and uneasily asked with a measure of desperation, "What about my brother?"

"And your brother is?" Konan dryly asked and raised her eyebrow at the girl, her gaze loitering a bit lowerâ and a small frown appearing on her lips.

Did the busty blonde think she is some kind of omniscient entity? How was she supposed to know about the brother of some unimportant two-bit Kumo jonin with tits that even a cow would be embarrassed about?

"A-Atsui. He... he is my only family." Samui lost her usual cool for a moment and stuttered a bit. It was obvious the woman was disturbed a lot by the possibility that her brother...

She clutched her hands, unable to even think about it. They might bicker a lot among themselves but Samui loved her brother.

"Mhm." Konan noncommittally hummed, not looking in Samui's direction and staying silent for a few seconds, making Samui more and more nervous.

Samui had no idea if Konan was ignoring her or searching for the information because the woman was just standing in her place, her mind seemingly elsewhere. Fortunately, Konan blinked before Samui's fragile patience could run out.

"Your brother is fine. His left arm, right collar bone, and both legs are broken and he is bedridden in a medical tent but he is alive." Konan informed, making Samui sag in relief.

"Konan, send the Swordsmen an order from their Mizukage to not attack the medical tents." Rei piped in, knowing well such tactics were entirely possible to happen.

Both Onoki and A watched in disbelief that Ringo didn't even twitch when Rei ordered her ninjas for her. Their eyes drifted from the man to the woman who was too busy butting heads with Mei, and back... unable to comprehend the dynamics in this group.

'Who the heck is this guy?' They thought, realizing that despite being in his presence for quite a bit of time already, they had no clear idea about his identity.

Onoki knew him as the Rei of Yozora and A recognized him as Rei of Downpour but neither of those should give him such ironclad authority over Ringo.

The Mizukage seemed to act as if she was his subordinate and that both spooked and baffled the two Kages.

A could understand it a bit as Ringo was Rei's former apprentice but still! Her deference to him was too much.

"Thank you." Samui said to Rei in relief, showing him a small grateful smile.

"Don't mention it." Rei nonchalantly quipped, glancing at Ringo, "It's the least your mentor could do for you."

At that moment, an uncomfortable thought sneaked into Samui's mind, and refused to leave.

Maybe... just maybe becoming Ringo's apprentice was not all that bad. Maybe, with how things progressed, she actually got the better deal?

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"Rei, what about my request?" Tsunade suddenly asked, causing every conversation in the room to stop and look at Rei... making him feel quite uncomfortable.

Now, how was he supposed to tell her he had forgotten about it?

An awkward silence spread throughout the room and several people raised their eyebrows after a moment, but Rei was too preoccupied trying to figure out a way out...

Suddenly, Rei visibly brightened up, opening his mouth and many people in the room, even the losers who lost their villages, were extremely curious about what he would say, only to deadpan when he self-righteously and cheerfully exclaimed, "I had forgotten!"

Tobirama instantly looked at Hashirama who sheepishly chuckled, knowing that when dealing with an Uzumaki woman you should never be so cheerful about these things! They both were expecting the poor guy to get the beatdown of the century but...

Rei approached Tsunade who had a sullen look and gently caressed her cheek while gently asking as he put his forehead on hers, "Will you forgive me?"

Tsunade meekly nodded, smiling shyly at Rei. "That's a dirty trick and you know it." She whispered, embarrassedly pouting a bit as she felt the pulse of soothing chakra enter her system through Rei's hand on her cheek.

Rei cheekily grinned, "But you love every second of it." He pecked her lips, making her quietly hum in appreciation as their hands joined and they stared into each other's eyes with a lovey-dovey atmosphere spreading around them.

Needless to say, both Tobirama and Hashirama's jaws dropped to the floor in disbelief.

"Tobirama... are you seeing the same thing as me?" Hashirama asked, rubbing his eyes.

Maybe something in the Edo Tensei technique made him hallucinate?

"Possibly." Tobirama shortly nodded but didn't confirm anything.

Who knew if Orochimaru didn't mess something up and made them hallucinate?

"Should we ask for tutelage?" Hashirama unsurely glanced at Tobirama.

"Definitely." Tobirama once again nodded.

Umu... in hindsight, who cared if this was a hallucination? He wanted to learn that!

"But we are already dead." Hashirama sheepishly reminded Tobirama.

Would they even need such a skill in the afterlife? He wouldn't know. He couldn't remember anything after his death, after all.

Tobirama turned towards Hashirama with a serious expression adorning his face, "If there is even a minuscule chance of meeting Mito in the afterlife, I'd rather know this technique when explaining how our clan perished." He glanced at Sarutobi.

Hiruzen noticed it, and worse yet, he heard the last bits of their talk and he drastically paled, going from angry purple-black to Orochimaru-approved skin complexion in seconds.

Suddenly, even he started to rapidly gain interest in this technique.

It took a few moments of poking and weakly shoving each other as they exchanged meaningful looks but Hashirama eventually lost in their brotherly exchange and stepped forward, sheepishly walking towards the lovey-dovey couple.

"Uhm." He weakly tried but instantly stopped as he saw Tsunade glaring at him from the corner of her eyes.

"One more word grandfather and I will make sure you will need a second funeral." She slightly turned her head towards him and half-growled.

'But I didn't say anything yet?' Hashirama sweatdropped but... "Yes, dear." He answered on instinct, trained from decades of marriage with Mito.

Turning back, Hashirama walked back to Tobirama and mournfully said, "Apparently, there is no trick. Just pure love." He apologetically smiled.

"..." Tobirama silently deadpanned at him before flatly saying. "I heard her."

"Mhm." Hashirama firmly nodded, no shame visible on his face as if he wasn't just caught in a white lie. "Your turn, then."

"She is your granddaughter!" Tobirama urged, trying to wordlessly persuade Hashirama that she will listen to him the most.

"She is your grandniece!" Hashirama disagreed and stubbornly stared back at his brother.

"And she can hear you!" Tsunade exclaimed, making them stiffly straighten their backs at her tone while inwardly cursing that she inherited Mito's trademark annoyed voice.

Rei was extremely amused by the shenanigans of his in-laws and Tsunade but as a man, he decided to earn himself a few brownie points from his already deceased extended family and cupped Tsunade's cheek, gently turning her face back towards him.

Her seething look slowly and reluctantly turned into a slightly embarrassed pout as Rei in silence admired her beautiful eyes for a moment.

Only when he saw she was in a good enough mood to listen, he spoke again, "Since I forgot about the promise, how about I make it right?" He coaxingly asked.

To be honest, the promise was nothing hard. He could have fulfilled it on the spot right now. Hell, he could have volunteered himself and it would have been just a slight inconvenience.

But it was a matter of principle. He forgot a promise and that would usually make every woman angry.

"What do you have in mind?" Tsunade mumbled.

Pakura, Ringo, Mei, and Konan almost rolled their eyes at their byplay. This was an old scene for them. Only Rei could instantly tame Tsunade's erupting temper. The blonde woman loved him too much to stay angry and he definitely took advantage of that at times to calm her down.

Still... They loved him because of how fair and caring he tried to be to all of them.

For the other people in the room, this was totally new.

Temari had a hard time believing how jealous she was feeling, trying not to glare at Tsunade's back. She stopped only when Pakura put her hand on her shoulder and shook her head in exasperation, knowing the girl will eventually get used to this the more of these sweet moments she will have with Rei.

Onoki and A averted their gazes, disturbed by the sight of the old woman flirting with someone as 'young' as Rei.

Sarutobi, however, gaped. He taught Tsunade throughout her entire youth and he had always tried to help her find a respectable young man from Konoha that would understand the Will of Fire. Tsunade had never reacted. Not once did she show interest in anyone so seeing her so lovey-dovey with this foreigner... Sarutobi almost had a heart attack.

Unlike his brother A, Killer Bee was grinning from ear to ear as he watched the happenings from behind his notebook that was covering half of his face while he was scribbling into it alongside mumbling and occasionally giggling to himself. He was on the verge of making a new hit. He could feel it!

Kurotsuchi, Mabui, and Samui all blushed but couldn't help throwing glances at the couple. While Mabui was open about her interest, Kurotsuchi and Samui kept their cool and stubbornly refused to show open interest, unlike Mabui who was quietly ah'ing and oh'ing to herself.

It was then that Rei gestured with his head towards Samui, "Why not try out the prowess of Ringo's new apprentice and do your little experiment at the same time?" He nonchalantly said.

Samui's mind froze when she heard him, making her eyes snap completely towards them as unease filled them.

Experiment?

Nope, nope, nope. Not cool! Not interested!

Not when it is something for these bat-shit crazy people!

Alas...

"If she does good, we might even give Kumogakure to her to govern." Rei said to Tsunade as if Samui was not there, and grinned in satisfaction when from the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Samui suddenly seemed much less reluctant after his last admission.

Oh, she still seemed unwilling but her cold eyes gained a pondering gleam.

Rei turned towards the second busty blonde in the room and asked, "What do you say?"

Samui was at loss about what to say. Her usually cool expression wavered as she glanced at A, before looking down at her own hands and tightly clutching them.

What did she really desire? She had never asked this herself. She mostly wanted to survive but now that she was offered more... Did she dare to go for it?

She raised her eyes back towards Rei, "I..."

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"I..."

It was hard for Samui to decide what she should do. The lingering loyalty to the Raikage was making her hesitate a lot. One doesn't get raised with a particular mindset and then can throw it away at a moment's notice.

Only the fact she was utterly pissed at A made her ignore some of her urges born of ingrained loyalty.

"What do you want me to do?" In the end, she coolly asked with determination shining in her eyes.

More reasons for denying it flashed through her mind than reasons for accepting. She didn't desire the power of a leadership position. In fact, Samui was pretty content in her current rank and with her current responsibilities.

But she knew that was all gonna change now that she was under Ringo's 'tutelage' anyway.

She had no idea what changes would come to Kumo but as a conquered village, Samui did not imagine a very good outcome.

The problem was... even if she disregarded her inner voice screaming at her to do her best for her village... she still had acquaintances and friends there. Her hotheaded brother was part of Kumo too. And Samui did not want the 'choice' that was forced upon her to affect him.

She was aware that if a relative deserted, the entire family would be under heavy scrutiny, suffering from passive harassment like inability to move up in ranks due to suspicion. It's how the system worked. Just one more way to prevent those with family to desert the village in the face of a suicide mission or the like.

And while Samui had no idea if this rule would persist despite A's dethroning, if she became the Raikage, she would be able to make sure her brother and friends were safe.

It was not a grand reason.

Nor was it a proper one.

But it was a reason that made her choose this path.

Rei chuckled at Samui's determination. She acted as if he was going to ask her to do some grand task or something...

"You will fight one of Tsunade's... hmm, how to call it? Experiment? Nah. One of Tsunade's current patients. Yeah, that sounds about right." Rei mused aloud, making the uninformed spectators confused.

Sarutobi, however, looked at Tsunade with shock and disgust, "I had no idea you could have fallen so low to imitate Orochimaru." He said in deep disappointment.

Naturally, that made the three Senjus in the room cringe and look at him in accusatory disbelief, their gazes reminding Sarutobi he was not in any position to judge anybody when it came to morals.

Tsunade didn't care for Sarutobi's accusations and just mentally gave her 'patient' a heads-up before she activated a teleportation seal on her...

And in the room, a silver-eyed woman with pale blonde hair dropping down her shoulders appeared. She wore light armor and on her back was a big Claymore sword.

Ringo raised her eyebrow at Tsunade, "Teresa is already fit enough to fight? It's been only a week at best since you started treating her..."

Ringo was a bit unhappy that she was not informed of this. Claymores were swordswomen like her and the prospect of fighting the 'strongest' Claymore was mouthwatering to Ringo.

"Who do you think I am?" Tsunade rolled her eyes at the redhead, "She is well enough to face off against a jonin, not a brute like you." She scoffed.

Despite her temperamental nature, Tsunade took the well-being of her patients very seriously. As if she would allow Ringo to spar with Teresa anytime soon! The only person who can abuse her patients is her!

Teresa ignored the conversation about her and the looks she was getting from the people around and her eyes sparkled when she noticed Rei.

She walked toward him, and excitedly exclaimed, "Are you going to play with me again?"

Rei chuckled and shook his head, much to Teresa's disappointment. She was like a child and during the past week, she spent most of her time with Rei since Tsunade dumped her care onto him because of how busy she was with the Chunin Exams.

Caring for a woman who remembered almost nothing was a bit similar to caring about a curious child. Fortunately for Rei, after training both Ringo and Mei..., especially Mei... he knew how to handle overly excitable and curious children.

He had used her state to create several 'games', which were basically rehabilitation training in disguise, becoming Teresa's new favorite person for playing with her.

Honestly, during the course of the week, some of her memories returned and she started settling back down into her old personality a bit, but it was still a work in progress and the woman had her bouts of childishness here and there.

"No, Teresa. I-" Rei started patting the woman's head, only to notice a few people in the room give him weird looks, causing him to stop talking and frown.

He thought about what was the problem only to notice the position he was currently in...

He was giving head pats to a seemingly impressionable beautiful woman that acted like a child.

A realization suddenly hit him and he scowled while turning toward those ingrates as he exclaimed in exasperated outrage, "It's not like that!"

"We understand." Tobirama wisely nodded, trying to assure Rei, "Your fetishes are safe with us."

"Un." Hashirama resolutely nodded too. "To each their own, grandson-in-law. As long as your wives don't mind..."

'My granddaughter is in the service of a pervert.' Onoki thought, shooting horrified looks at Rei.

"Tsunade? A little help here?" Rei turned to the most capable person to explain the situation, only to find her grinning at him. The second he saw her expression, Rei knew he fucked up.

"Should I tell them how you motivated her with candy?" Tsunade playfully asked, causing Rei to groan as the intensity of the accusatory looks he was receiving doubled.

Well, of course, he was motivating her with candy! She had the mentality of a child due to her memory loss! What else was he supposed to use!

Rei gave Tsunade a half-hearted glare, but the woman was not quite done yet.

"Or perhaps mention about how you slept with her at night?" Tsunade 'innocently' asked.

He also told her a story about Claymores before sleep to jump-start her memory. That one doesn't count!

Also...

"That's not what happened and you know it, Tsunade Senju. I distinctly remember you being in the bed too." Rei gruffly said, crossing his arms on his chest as he gave her a pointed look.

But Tsunade had the best answer for that already prepared.

"Oh, yeah, I do remember. That was kinky." She dreamily sighed, dragging Rei's reputation down even more as the imagination of those around ran wild.

Rei realized she was doing this on purpose, and not just to slightly tease him. He deeply sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"What did I do to deserve this?" He tiredly asked.

To which Tsunade just shrugged, "You forgot a promise."

"Ah." Rei wryly smiled, having no rebuke for that.

To be honest, Rei didn't mind this small revenge of hers. He didn't care what most of the people in the room thought about him. His wives and Temari knew Tsunade enough to realize what she was doing and if Hashirama and Tobirama took this banter seriously, he would know. With their personality, it would be impossible for them to not have an outburst.

Suddenly, Rei felt his sleeve being pulled and he turned to the right, coming face to face with Teresa who tilted her head, "So... a game?"

Rei chuckled and pointed at Samui, "She will play with you."

Of course, that only earned him a disbelieving look from the cool blonde. When she heard she would have to fight somebody, she didn't expect it to be a woman who acted as if she was a child!

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Samui had no idea how she got into this kind of situation but right now, she stood in the decimated Konoha arena, standing opposite Teresa who was happily swinging her massive Claymore with one arm, causing a wry smile to appear on Samui's face as she readied herself for the fight.

"Why am I doing this again?" A grumpy voice grumbled next to Samui, making her even more upset.

Fighting Teresa was one thing. The thought that the fight will be two versus one was another. It was simply rubbing Samui the wrong way.

Kurotsuchi huffily stood with her arms crossed on her chest as she glared at Teresa. Unlike Samui who was given a choice, she had to participate because Rei ordered her.

'To not make it too easy on Teresa.' He said.

Pfft, as if some malnourished airhead could defeat her! Even in one-on-one Kurotsuchi doubted she would lose so having to double-tag the thin blonde made her feel distasteful.

When she complained about this to Rei, he only laughed out loud at her and asked her if she was a samurai or a ninja. the bastard!

Ninjas could have honor too!

But Kurotsuchi quickly realized she would not get out of this fight so she decided to show Rei it was a bad idea by beating Teresa black and blue by herself. Who cared about some Kumo bitch with tits larger than the faces of past Hokages on the Hokage monument anyway?

Just as the match was about to start, "Let's work together." Samui said, deciding not to underestimate Teresa. If her new teacher's lover said the girl could handle her and Kurotsuchi, Samui was not about to disregard that warning. It was better to keep a cold head and consider the possibilities...

"Pfft. Bullshit." Kurotsuchi hot-headedly exclaimed, glaring at Teresa while her body language showed she had no inclination of working together with Samui at all.

Unfortunately, Samui didn't get more time to persuade her. She had spent the pre-fight preparation time observing her opponent rather than trying to reason with Kurotsuchi and only now did she realize it might have been a mistake.

A gong reverberated through the arena, signaling the start of the match and Kurotsuchi instantly jumped into the air, her hands weaving seals before they quickly relocated toward her mouth as she exclaimed, "Lava Release: Volcanic Flow!"

From her mouth, she spat a large amount of lava, enough to flood the entire bottom of the arena in it. The lava impacted the ground in waves, advancing like Tsunami toward Teresa who simply turned around and ran towards a wall.

By the time the lava covered the entire surface of the arena, creating a small lake of itself, Teresa was horizontally perched in the middle of the arena's wall. While she could not use chakra because of her half-Yoma status, Rei spent a lot of time teaching her how to use rudimentary ninja techniques with her yoki.

Samui was on the wall on the other side of the arena, staring with obvious annoyance at the back of Kurotsuchi's head.

The bitch almost buried her in lava there!

Samui was right next to Kurotsuchi so she was way closer to the initial impact zone than Teresa. She almost didn't have enough time to react. It made her wonder if Kurotsuchi wanted to really get Teresa out of commission or if the attack was meant to get herself out of the way.

But Kurotsuchi was not done yet.

Spinning in mid-air, she made her back face the ground while her front was turned towards the sky as she slowly started to fall down. Her hands once again started to weave hand signs, making both Teresa and Samui widen their eyes as they realized what the crazy bitch wanted to do...

"Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique!"

Kurotsuchi spat a huge amount of quicklime into the air above the arena... and gravity did the rest as the quicklime started falling down, making a shadow befall its whole premises.

There was enough quicklime to cover the whole arena so both Samui and Teresa were sandwiched between the ground covered in liquid lava and the falling quicklime from the sky, giving them no safe spot inside of the arena.

Kurotsuchi used the terrain to her utmost advantage and with a mocking laugh, she used the Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique to burrow herself inside her lava just as she landed on the ground. This way, she will evade the quicklime and be prepared to spring forth and continue her offensive the second her attack impacts her opponents...er, opponent.

Samui's eyes grew dull and her expression darkened as she watched the incoming heavy and thick quicklime that was gaining falling momentum the closer it got to the ground.

Who would have thought the Iwa bitch would possess brains sufficient to make a strategy like this?

Frowning, Samui unsheathed her sword and fed it lightning chakra as she prepared to slash her way through the quicklime. She... refused to go down so easily.

On the other side of the arena, Teresa happily smiled, squeezing the hilt of her Claymore, causing the blade to be covered by crimson yoki full of malevolence as her silver eyes shined and curiously roamed over the falling substance above her head. Suddenly, her gaze stopped on a particular place and her head tilted a bit, her smile turning serene.

"So that's the weak spot." She slightly nodded to herself and crouched down.

With one mighty leap, Teresa closed the distance between her and the falling quicklime... her sword blurring in insanely swift movements as the quicklime in the weak spot was obliterated to fine powder by hundreds of slashes just enough for a petite person like her to pass through, and Teresa's leap continued unimpeded.

The quicklime landed on the lava, mixing with it and creating a hissing sound as the two together started to harden, quickly creating new ground just before Teresa's body reached it and landed in a crouch before nonchalantly standing up as if she just didn't evade an attack that would have been certain death to most chunins.

By now, Teresa's expression lost all traces of childishness and only serenity with a calm smile was left as her battle instincts finally kicked in. This was almost instinctual to her even though she barely recollected her past. She did not try to do this. It just felt right.

With interest barely shining through her silvery eyes, Teresa watched as Samui also landed opposite her, the blade in her hands crackling with lightning and her clothes covered in a bit of quicklime... which obviously made the Kumo woman very annoyed if the way her eye was twitching was anything to go by.

Samui suddenly spun on her heel and raised her sword... and for anybody facing her in a fight that would have been a cue to tense and raise their guard, but Teresa just leaned back and leisurely watched, sensing that there was no danger directed at her.

Samui disappeared from her spot in a lightning shunshin, instantly appearing in a different place in the arena as she stuck her blade into it up to its hilt, channeling a lot of electricity through it so the blade went through the hardened quicklime and lava as if they were butter.

Her actions made sense only when a moment later, Kurotsuchi jumped out of the ground just a few inches away from the spot where Samui buried her sword, snarling and glaring at the expressionless Kumo woman.

Kurotsuchi didn't get cut. She only got a few hundred volts through her body because of that cow's lightning release and it hurt like a bitch.

"What are you doing, you Kumo cow!? I am not your opponent!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed as she slid on the ground, getting a bit of distance between herself and Samui.

"Then why the fuck did you try to kill me, you Iwa dumbass? Did all that lava melt your brain?" Samui coldly sneered, her tone remaining flat but her words were quite spicy.

"Oh, you are on." Kurotsuchi growled and took out two kunais before rushing at Samui.

The two women started fighting with their weapons, throwing small Jutsus at each other with the aim to disable and outright cripple the other... all the while Teresa just dumbly stood in her spot, blinking in confusion as she watched the two women having fun.

Without her.

'Weren't they supposed to play with me? Why are they ignoring me now?' Teresa inwardly pouted, the only sign on her serene expression of her worsening mood was her silvery eyes gaining a golden hue as they narrowed and malevolent intent started leaking all around, freezing both Samui and Kurotsuchi in their places as they shakily turned toward Teresa who was still donning her serene smile. But now it seemed a bit too sweet to be real.

'They are bad girls and bad girls gotta be punished.' Teresa nodded to herself with a small blush, remembering as Rei spanked her when she didn't behave herself...

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As Samui and Kurotsuchi bickered among themselves while exchanging blows with their weapons, suddenly an arcing slash of crimson malevolent yoki flew in between them, almost hitting them both.

The two women abruptly hissed as the heat from the slash scorched the surface skin of their hands because of how close to them it was when it passed through, making them reflexively pull them back as they jumped away from the spot, increasing the distance between them and warily turning towards Teresa who was the source of the slash.

"Stop ignoring me!" Teresa melodiously said but for a keen listener, a pout could be heard in her undertone.

Samui and Kurotsuchi exchanged a brief glance, both seeing how freaked out the other was while cradling their hurt hand.

The damage wasn't excessive and as jonins, the girls were used to being in pain but it was still restricting and distracting. Damaged hands were a big problem for ninjas who usually fought with weapons and needed to weave hand signs.

The inwardly sullen Teresa couldn't give a shit about their worries, though.

The only prior indication Samui and Kurotsuchi got was Teresa briefly tightening her hold on her Claymore before she abruptly rushed straight at them.

Fortunately, she didn't use shunshin or something like that so while Teresa's speed was still up there with other jonins enhanced by their chakra, Samui and Kurotsuchi had ample time to react. They decided to fight together... for now, and closed the distance between them so they can have each other's back.

As Teresa finally arrived close enough, her first slash was blocked by Samui's sword, making Samui's feet slide a few inches back on the ground from the sheer strength behind Teresa's swing.

Kurotsuchi was about to capitalize and her hands blurred together...

Only for Tereasa's sword to disappear in the middle of its clash and tug of strength with Samui's blade, making Samui utterly stupefied as Teresa spun on her heel and almost bisected Kurotsuchi who just barely evaded her second swing by jumping back, her hands stopped in the middle of weaving the necessary hand signs for her Jutsu.

Teresa was not done yet, continuing her spin, her sword rushed through the air, and soon enough, Samui had to quickly turn to her left and quickly position her sword to once again block Teresa's Claymore. This time, however, Teresa's sword had enough momentum behind it that Samui was sent flying back and then rolling a few times before she finally managed to regain control and flip herself back onto her feet, sliding to a halt.

Samui's eyes were wide with a smidge of fear as she stared at the deceivingly thin and obviously malnourished woman that blew her away with a sword swing. Gulping, Samui pushed some of her lightning chakra into her blade.

At first, she didn't want to go seriously against Teresa. The woman looked like she would keel over soon. Pale, thin, slightly sunken cheeks, unnatural pale hair that seemingly lost its coloration...

But apparently, she had no other choice.

While Samui was dealing with her troubles, Teresa no longer paid her much attention. The second she sent the Kumo woman flying, Teresa turned on her heel and gave chase to Kurotsuchi.

Unlike Samui, Kurotsuchi showed herself capable of using a large area of effect and ranged techniques, and Teresa's instincts screamed at her to not let her, as Rei called it, 'free-cast'.

Seeing Teresa rushing at her, Kurotsuchi snarled and inwardly cursed Samui for her inability to occupy the blond menace for a while longer as she turned around, running away while employing the very limits of her speed. She didn't intend to only run but Kurotsuchi knew she had nothing on Teresa in close combat. She wasn't a taijutsu or bukijutsu expert. She was a ninjutsu fighter and Teresa clearly knew how to interrupt her attempts to use her techniques.

While running, Kurotsuchi tried to weave some hand signs to make the chase harder for Teresa. Kurotsuchi thought playing for time was the best course of action right now. She needed the Kumo cow to make herself useful for once and distract the freakish blonde in order for Kurotsuchi to be able to use her techniques.

A second passed and Kurotsuchi was in the middle of weaving the hand signs for her technique when her instincts warned her, and she ducked her head... only for beads of sweat to appear on her forehead as she frightfully realized Teresa's Claymore had just passed through the spot where her neck was a moment ago.

'How did she catch up with me!?' Kurotsuchi freaked out, kicking the ground under her and using her chakra to leap as far away as possible.

Kurotsuchi was using her chakra to enhance her speed so even if Teresa could match her speed, she should have been unable to catch up!

Unfortunately for Kurotsuchi, Teresa's base speed could match jonin... and while Yoki was shit at complicated techniques like ninjutsu, it had much greater properties for body enhancement.

Teresa didn't chase Kurotsuchi anymore. Her eyes followed the black-haired girl, letting her know that she still had her attention, but instead of rushing at her, Teresa just tilted her head when Kurotsuchi landed several feet away from her.

"What are you doing? You are supposed to fight me, no? Don't run away." Teresa evenly said, genuinely confused.

Rei, Konan, Mei, and Tsunade had never tried to get away from her like this. They just... faced her head-on. So it was a bit weird to her that her new playmate is trying to run.

That made Kurotsuchi pissed, but she could do nothing about it except glare at Teresa. Her eyes suddenly gleamed...

But Teresa took a step to the left, cleanly evading a downward slash from Samui's blade aiming to bisect her as electricity arced behind it.

Teresa looked at the flabbergasted Samui from the corner of her eyes... but then she hopped a bit back, dodging a stone spike that sprang up from the ground beneath her courtesy of Kurotsuchi who clicked her tongue when she realized she missed.

Samui used that time to regain her wits and followed up with her attack, swinging her sword at Teresa. Left, right, stab, feint, stab, left, feint, center, downward slash... Teresa always evaded by the slightest margin to avoid not only the sword but also the lightning chakra coursing from it.

As this was happening, Kurotsuchi was trying to support Samui, throwing Rock Bullets, creating Rock Spikes, and making the terrain uneven in places where she predicted Teresa would dodge.

Slowly but surely, Samui's and Kurotsuchi's teamplay was becoming better and better... but the two women were not happy.

In fact, they were growing frustrated. Despite Kurotsuchi's best efforts, Teresa never... not friggin once!... fell for her traps.

Every time she created a Rock Spike, Teresa would just change the direction of her sidestep or evade it as if she expected it long before the ground beneath her moved.

Every time Kurotsuchi shifted the terrain, Teresa wasn't surprised at all, adjusting instantly despite not even having an entire second for it. Again, as if she freaking knew Kurotsuchi was doing it.

And the Earth Bullets? These weren't even a minor inconvenience to the woman!

Heck, Kurotsuchi was forced to stop using those when Teresa started to giggle as she began to lead the unassuming Samui, using her body as a shield from them.

That earned Kurotsuchi a few quick glares from Samui who was sent tumbling to the ground when her back was painfully impacted by a Rock Bullet.

Fortunately for them, Teresa didn't take the advantage presented to her and just laughed at them in these instances.

Which only made Samui's and Kurotsuchi's pride that much more hurt since the thin woman was no longer even using her sword to attack properly.

It was getting ridiculous.

Not even the best chakra sensors could simply use their sensing abilities to evade Jutsus like this so neither Kurotsuchi nor Samui suspected Teresa of actually sensing their attacks. They thought it was her experience or quick reaction speed, and that's why their attempts at hitting her were futile.

They simply didn't even come close to the right approach in fighting her.

All the people who spent time training, aka playing, with Teresa in the week before the Chunin Exam could only wryly smile at Kurotsuchi's and Samui's attempts, and pity the girls.

Tsunade the chief among them as she knew how frustrating fighting that girl could be. Of course, she had never used her full power since she didn't want to make Teresa into a pancake but she still used S-rank speed, and yet... the malnourished girl whose bones could be seen through her skin actually fucking made even her curse like a sailor at how ridiculously hard it was to land a glancing blow on her!

Just by predicting attacks through sensing the energy movements. It was a frightening skill in which Teresa was inhumanly proficient.

Tsunade surmised that nothing short of catching Teresa off-guard with above Kage-level speed or destroying a large area with insanely powerful ninjutsu could put her down for good.

As for winning against her in a fight where she is focused?

Fat chance average jonins like Samui and Kurotsuchi could do that.

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In Naruto: Reborn With Talent #Chapter 461 Ch461. A Small Drama - Read In Naruto: Reborn With Talent Chapter 461 Ch461. A Small Drama Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Rei watched as Teresa was toying with Kurotsuchi and Samui, having quite a lot of fun witnessing their struggles. When he proposed to them to fight Teresa, he had already expected something like this to occur.

Unfortunately for them, Rei wanted to kill two flies with one hit. This way, he fulfilled the promise to Tsunade while testing their level, flaws, and preferences in combat so he would know how to train them.

The least they could do for their bright future was to suffer a bit, no?

He let the three girls play for an entire hour before he decided he had enough data to make a proper training schedule for Samui and Kurotsuchi. By now, both of them were wheezing and panting in exhaustion, and Rei decided this was a passable show for them of what to expect during his training sessions.

Throwing a kunai in front of Teresa who was leisurely walking toward the two exhausted kunoichis with a small smile on her face and her hand on the hilt of her Claymore, Rei attracted her attention before gesturing that the match is finished.

Teresa looked at Samui and Kurotsuchi with a mild discontent, unnerving them for a moment before she finally spoke, "You two are boring!"

Her piece said, Teresa was satisfied and walked out of the arena.

Both kunoichis could only depressingly watch as their opponent disregarded them. In their respective villages, they were in no way on the top but this kind of disregard was felt for the first time by them.

Yes, Kurotsuchi fought against her grandfather at times in the guise of training but he never so mockingly toyed with her.

Unknown to them, this moment of frustration would motivate them throughout the hell that awaited them.

...

Evening came and Rei's group relocated to the Senju Mansion.

Surprisingly enough, Kumo was still resisting the Kiri Swordsmen but it mattered not. Kiri army was already encamped around the village, the mountain mist superbly helping them with staying hidden.

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Tomorrow morning, their attack will commence and Kumo will fall. There was no need to intervene and Rei was happy about that. He didn't feel like helping with it at all.

A decade of nurturing subordinates... In Rei's opinion, it should better start to pay dividends!

He didn't train and teach people for so long in order to have to end everything by himself. He finally had entire armies under his command so he had to use it and sit back, enjoying the peace while others fought for him.

His hard work finally bore fruits.

The only Kage that was with them in the Senju Mansion was Onoki and that was because of Kurotsuchi's request. Sarutobi, A, B, and Mabui were given to the tender care of Morino Ibiki since Rei didn't want to hear their complaints about his actions against Kumo.

Even Sarutobi tried to use his 'disappointed grandfather' routine on Rei when he saw it had no effect on Tsunade. Alas, when he looked more like an angry pimple than an old man, it was more cringe than effective.

Tsunade had no intention of having them tortured and Ibiki was just supposed to put them into VIP cells in the most guarded area in Konoha's prison but they didn't know that at the time. When the man showed up to take them away... even Sarutobi looked a bit frightened.

Needless to say, with their chakra restricted to genin level, there was nothing much they could do.

Thanks to getting rid of the annoyances, Rei's evening was peaceful as he sat in his comfortable armchair with his family sitting around him and Tsunade comfortably seated on his lap, cuddling to celebrate their easy victory.

Maybe it was too soon but there was no longer anything in the Elemental Nations that could stand in their way unless some unexpected hidden force revealed itself or Madara was somehow brought back.

But there was no way that could happen, no?

Konan's information network would reveal any such hidden force and Rei made sure to destroy any way for Madara to resurrect.

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The only pair of Rinnegan eyes was destroyed and Kabuto was just a little whelp who was barely jonin level. There was no way he could learn Edo Tensei. Especially since he was already arrested during the invasion.

He was the reason why Anko was still in her hobby job at the Torture and Interrogation Department. The poor bastard. But Anko's tender care was totally deserved in this case.

Since Tsunade became the Hokage, she made sure that Kabuto would be unable to do anything too nasty but before that...

Let's just say that once upon a time, he was one of the trainers for the orphans taken to ROOT. It wasn't like his medical proficiency fell from the sky. He also needed some... guinea pigs to train and his intimate knowledge of the human body was definitely not acquired by practicing on fish.

Unfortunately for Rei, his expectations were betrayed and Anko actually didn't intend to spend her night having fun with her new toys in the TI. His peaceful evening was ruined when she appeared at the door, glaring at Tsunade and clenching her fists.

"You promised that Orochimaru is mine!" Anko petulantly screamed, making the whole room speechless and dissipating the merry mood in the air.

Tears streamed down Anko's cheeks as she stomped her way to Tsunade and started weakly hitting her while wailing like a child. Tsunade was too stunned to react and even after she recollected herself, she didn't just slap Anko away. Anko grew on her and Rei knew she regarded the crazy woman as sort of an adopted daughter.

Speaking of Rei...

The poor man on whom Tsunade was seated could do nothing more than inwardly groan as this was happening. Not only did he feel every impact of Anko's fist, no matter how weak it was, as Tsunade shifted her weight on his lap, but his ears also protested due to Anko's harpy-like shrieks and incessant cussing.

Sure, he understood that Anko was angry, but... His peaceful evening!

Noticing that Rei was on the verge of lashing out, Tsunade quickly caught Anko's wrists, stopping her temper tantrum as she stood up and dragged the unruly girl towards the empty spots on the couch where she sat down, forcing Anko to also sit on the spot next to her.

Rei had a lot of patience for his girls, but Anko was not one of them. As patient as he was, there were a few triggers that would make even him annoyed. Having his quiet and peaceful evening disrupted after a hard day was one of the bigger ones. Rei worked a lot, whether on seals, plotting, or governing his village and forces, so he utterly hated having to deal with more drama during his free time.

He didn't mind witnessing it. He may even like that. But he totally hated it if he was involved in any way. That's why Tsunade decided to relocate from his lap to the couch, swapping Rei's position from participant to a silent observer.

"Don't be silly, Anko." Tsunade coaxed, looking at the sorrowful and tearful girl who was sullenly pouting. Wiping her tears, Tsunade continued, "I will resurrect him for you once per week so you can have your fun. How about that?"

That got Anko's attention, "You can resurrect him?" She hopefully asked.

"Mhm." Tsunade nodded with a small smile, "So, deal?"

"Yesh." Anko sniffed, a smile returning to her face.

The drama dealt with, Rei relaxed again and Tsunade looked back toward Rei, about to relocate to his lap again, only to find out that Mei took the opportunity to take her place, causing her to indignantly huff.

In response, Mei just stuck her tongue out at her.

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A new day came and Rei was up among the first among the residents of the Senju Mansion. He made himself breakfast and sat down on the porch with the platter in his lap, enjoying his sandwich, the morning breeze caressing his skin, and the chirping of the birds.

It was a nice peaceful morning and...

'God, I feel like an old man.' Rei inwardly chuckled. 'But... It isn't so bad.' He contently added, staring at the sunrise on the horizon.

Unfortunately for Rei, his cool protagonist moment was interrupted... once again like every single before it... by the reanimation of Tobirama Senju joining him on the porch.

"You are up early.: Tobirama awkwardly tried to start a conversation.

Rei inwardly sighed, knowing there was no way for his moment of peace to return even if he chased Tobirama away. Looking at the man, Rei donned a helpless smile and resigned himself to his fate. "Hm? Why would you think so?"

Tobirama was damn glad he could not blush as he tonelessly spoke, "Considering the... noises coming from Tsunade's room yesterday until late midnight, I thought I wouldn't see either of you until lunch."

As reanimated corpses, Tobirama and Hashirama didn't need to sleep or eat. Hence, they had decided to look around the village for a bit during the night and maybe help with a bit of rebuilding.

No doubt, there will be many shocked civilians to see their ruined houses rebuilt with the wood release this morning. Ninjas will also rejoice at not going to be forced into too many compulsory D-rank missions for the village since Tobirama used his shadow clones to take care of some rubble and clean up.

And because Tobirama was using clones but Hashirama had to be present to finish his work, Tobirama was back in the Senju Mansion sooner.

"Fortunately for you, it was me and not Hashirama who noticed otherwise your nightly activities would have been promptly and rudely interrupted." Tobirama flatly remarked.

Rei gave him a long stare at that. He wondered if Tobirama was going to say something about the fact Tsunade was not the only loud female voice coming from that room yesterday but the Second Hokage seemed to selectively forget about that.

Rei chuckled to himself, "Eh, you are quite cool for an old virgin."

"I am not a virgin!" Tobirama instantly rebuked, affronted at the accusation.

His rebuke was a tad bit too fast to convince Rei but he didn't want to aggravate him further so he only nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders, "Ok."

"I am really not!" Tobirama exasperatedly exclaimed.

"Sure." Rei once again easily agreed with him and Tobirama could only grumble under his nose at that.

An awkward silence spread between them, and Rei didn't rush to interrupt it. Tobirama approached him so the man definitely had some aim. He would start talking when he is ready.

And Rei was right. Tobirama could not keep quiet for much longer. After throwing a few glances in Rei's way, Tobirama's curiosity won over his silent embarrassment and he got to the point.

"Tell me, what exactly are you trying to accomplish with this world conquest of yours?" The Second Hokage asked in a serious tone.

Tobirama recognized that Hashirama should have united all ninjas under his banner. Even if by force. That's why seeing somebody actually do what his stupid brother should have done was intriguing for him.

He wanted to know Rei's reasons.

After all, what could motivate someone to accomplish this?

"Ah, so that's what is bothering you." Rei nodded in understanding. "I want to make the Great Chakra Revolution into a possibility."

"The... what?" Tobirama furrowed his eyebrows and Rei laughed a bit. He simply pulled that out of his ass, imitating the Industrial Revolution's name of his previous world. It was natural these words would mean nothing to the Second Hokage.

Smiling at managing to baffle the man, Rei continued, changing the angle of his explanation, "Do you think being ruled by mundane men like Daimyos are qualified to lead superpowered individuals like ninjas?"

"So you will try to overthrow the Daimyos next." Tobirama stated, a bit disgruntled. He wasn't sure he liked that course of action.

"Not really." Rei hummed, "I won't have to move a finger now that every big ninja village is in my grasp. This old-fashioned feudal system will disappear by itself in time." He admitted.

Tobirama broodily tilted his head and stayed silent for a moment as he crossed his arms on his chest. He tried to think about why that would be the case but he just didn't get it.

When he noticed, Rei didn't blame him. The man was an old ninja and set in his ways.

Rei decided to explain it to him as if he was five, "In a world with super-powered individuals and mundane people, the super-powered individuals will always inevitably take the reins. The survival of the fittest is still a thing, no matter how the weak shriek about equality and whatnot." He paused for a second to let his words sink in.

"The ninjas should have overthrown Daimyos long ago but they were far too preoccupied with fighting among themselves and far too scattered all over the world, grouped only in small groups. They didn't have the numbers and time to threaten the Daimyos and when this or that clan started to be threatening with its growth, the nobles simply made some problem to pit it against the clan's enemies." Rei gave a meaningful look to Tobirama who looked as if he bit into a sour lemon as he understood what Rei tried to say.

That was exactly what was happening between Uchihas and Senjus. Their rivalry has been going strong since ever but time heals all wounds. The only way for the hatred between the clans to last was if someone was fanning the flames.

And from Tobirama's expression, he understood this point and started to put two and two together.

There was a saying in the Warring States period. Only the Senju clan can match up against the Uchiha clan. That's why whenever one faction hired Uchihas, the other hired Senjus and vice versa.Tobirama knew the possibility that some of their clashes might not have been necessary at all. But no ninja would ever accept that. It was the same thing as saying the death of his companions was meaningless.

"Hashirama changed that." Rei continued, "He made ninjas group up into a larger force led by one leader. He completely changed the rules of the game and the Daimyos of the major nations realized that if they wanted to have a fighting chance, they too would have to accept the formation of a hidden ninja village. They were forced to accept and even nurture the biggest threat to their rule. Care to guess how they kept the ninja villages in line now that they couldn't just hire them to wage a war against each other?" He chuckled, blatantly putting the answer into Tobirama's mouth.

Tobirama tried to find a good counter argument. He really did. But even to his ears anything he thought up sounded weak. Maybe if it was Hashirama, he could come up with some naive bullshit with all his heart that would have worked only if one completely forgot that politics existed, but Tobirama could not be so carefree.

"The ninja wars." He glumly replied, glaring into the space.

"Yes. No ninja village would just say 'Yes, Sir!' when ordered to start a war. They decided for themselves when to go to war and the Daimyos knew it. They don't have as much influence over the ninja villages as one would think. They are just figure heads when it comes to ninja matters. Yes, they are theoretically above Kages in hierarchy butâ not really. They compensate for that by being good at politics and business so through them, they can somewhat keep ninjas in check. They can also make various conflicts, and continue doing what they were always doing best. They fan the flames of hatred. This time not between the clans but on a larger scale, between the villages. All to keep the status quo in the world." Rei carefreely said.

"I still don't understand why would the unification lead to the abolishment of the Feudal System." Tobirama disgruntledly remarked.

"That's quite simple. Now that ninjas don't have to fight with each other, they can focus on developing chakra in both personal and technological ways. Humans only need proper conditions to rapidly advance. In a few decades without war, without worrying about war, and without having to spend all the time on preparing for eventual war, our society will advance by leaps and bounds in our ways. That's what I call the Great Chakra Revolution. And with this advance, the old system will become ineffective." Rei tried to portray the situation to the man who was so old he was practically already a dead man walking.

He only hoped Tobirama would get it since you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

"With the ninja villages under one banner, the Daimyos will be unable to do anything." Especially since Rei owned the two richest trading companies in the world. "They will realize this soon enough and the only way to survive for them would be to adapt. And when humans adapt to their surroundings, that's where the biggest changes happen. They will not necessarily lose their influence or wealth, but they will sure as hell lose their iron grip over their nations."

Rei's old world went through various political regimes and not every revolution had to be bloody. And with superpowered people on one side, and the wealthy but completely mundane rulers on the other, it was obvious which of those will be forced to adapt to the ways of the other.

Just as Rei thought Tobirama would be satisfied with his answer, the Senju surprised him with his sudden insight.

"I have no idea if things will go according to your imagination but you didn't answer my original question. I'll applaud you for the attempt to redirect the topic and admit that you might believe in your reasoning to a degree but I'd still like to know the real reason. Why are you doing all this?" Tobirama tried to stare a hole through Rei with his gaze.

Rei silently groaned and wondered why must these old geezers all be so damn perceptive.

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"Have you ever heard the story of the Rabbit Goddess, the mother of chakra?" Rei asked something completely outside of their topic, causing Tobirama to frown in dissatisfaction.

Nevertheless, the Second Hokage played along.

"No?" He gave Rei a weird look, not having any idea what some story had to do with Rei's motivation to conquer the world.

"Hmm..." Rei thoughtfully hummed, "what about the story of her son, the Sage of the Six Paths?"

"I..." Tobirama was about to instantly say yes since this legend was quite well known, but when he registered Rei's full question his weirded-out look only intensified, "the Sage had a mother?"

'No shit Sherlock.' Rei rolled his eyes and playfully snarked, "Well, he certainly didn't fall from a tree."

"Er... yeah, I heard that one." Tobirama grumpily answered, trying hard to not let his embarrassment show in his voice. Of course, the Sage had a mother. Everyone did. Tobirama wanted to facepalm at the stupidity of his question.

Rei just nodded. He recognized the best opportunity to tease the old guy but this was supposed to be at least somewhat serious discussion so he used all his willpower to refrain from quipping a joking remark about the Senju clan's common sense.

It was a hard-fought mental battle but Rei eventually won against his baser instincts and spoke in an easy-going tone, "Forget whatever bullshit you heard." He took a bite out of his sandwich, letting silence spread between him and Tobirama.

Tobirama's expression turned annoyed as he watched Rei chew his sandwich while birds chirped all around. The husband of his grandniece was either playing with him or he really tried to get to the point but damn if he wasn't taking his sweet time.

Either way, Tobirama wanted to strangle him right about now.

Eh... Rei really tried to be nice but some people are just too short-tempered.

It took several seconds for Rei to finish his bite but when he was done, he gave his sandwich one last longing look before he sighed and pointed at the sky, "Somewhere up there, is a powerful clan named Otsutsuki. They can travel through dimensions," Rei had no idea how to explain the universe to Tobirama so he said the next best thing, "and harness the power of worlds."

That might have been an extremely oversimplified explanation of what the Otsutsuki clan did but it served its purpose.

"So they are basically stealing it." Tobirama frowned, applying his ninja common sense to what Rei told him and nailing it on the first try.

"I knew you would catch up." Rei snickered, taking another bite out of his sandwich, much to Tobirama's growing ire.

It probably wouldn't have been so annoying if he could eat but here he was. His conversation partner once again cut himself off at the important part and let him wait while he could only watch the smug prick enjoy his food.

Tobirama's inner desires upgraded from wanting to strangle Rei to wanting to drown him.

Rei continued once again only when he finished his bite and sighed in satisfaction, making Tobirama's eyebrow twitch.

"Kaguya, the Sage of the Six Paths' mother, deserted her clan, backstabbed the man who was sent here with her, and then brought chakra to this world." Rei summed up the few hours long storytelling into one sentence.

He wasn't about to explain the whole crap about the Chakra Fruit, Kaguya's motivations to betray her clan or her attempt at being a cheap villain. Tobirama didn't need to know such details and Rei was too lazy to bother.

Of course, Tobirama instantly noticed, "You are leaving quite a lot of the story out, aren't you?" He asked in an annoyed tone but he already knew there was nothing he could do about it. Rei was in complete control over what he revealed and what he did not.

Rei only smiled, continuing without bothering to answer the question or give Tobirama said details, "As you probably expect, Kaguya's clan was not amused by her actions."

Tobirama's expression gave a great impression of, 'Well, duh.' before he groaned and rhetorically asked, "They will come here, won't they?"

Honestly, it sounded like some third-rate plot from a fantasy story and Tobirama didn't like it but if Rei was not just screwing with him for his own amusement, then this was a damn massive problem.

"Mhm." Rei nonchalantly nodded, taking another bite out of his sandwich.

Unfortunately, Tobirama no longer reacted in a funny manner so Rei's fun was cut short, making him inwardly pout.

"How strong are they?" Tobirama asked. He needed to know that to start planning and preparing...

"Bijuus wouldn't stand a chance against even one of them." Rei said with amusement palpable in his tone. But if one listened deeper, there could be found exasperation and helpless irritation too.

In Rei's opinion, cohabiting with nine city-smashing 'monsters' was one thing. Having an entire clan of continent-busting psychos about to unleash unholy hell on your planet was quite another.

"Sage damnit!" Tobirama abruptly cursed and rubbed his forehead.

Rei looked up in surprise, staring at Tobirama in disbelief. He did not expect such an outburst from the usually calm and collected man.

"No wonder you are trying to unify the ninja world." Tobirama muttered under his nose.

Rei heard him and shrugged. He didn't answer because Tobirama was a bit misinformed.

Rei didn't need to unify the ninja world. He didn't need this planet to survive. He could simply relocate everyone he cared about into his dimension and the problem would have been solved for him. But he wanted to see how far the ninja world would go if given optimal conditions for progress.

"Can we win?" Tobirama asked, pulling Rei out of his thoughts.

"Win? No." Rei amusedly shook his head.

He wouldn't depend on canon knowledge for this one. If the Otsutsukis were any smart, they would have sent an army to this planet once their initial probe failed. It would have taken a massively stupid decision for the Elemental Nation to get a fighting chance.

Before Tobirama could comment, Rei continued. "Hide until we are strong enough? Definitely."

As someone who fought his entire life, Tobirama understood that hiding was not an option and he felt it was his duty to tell Rei how stupid that plan is.

"Peace creates weak men. Weak men create war. War creates strong men. And strong men create peace. The last thing the Elemental Nation needs right now is complacency and weak men." Tobirama said, disagreeing with Rei.

Rei, however, just chuckled, "There are still enough enemies on this planet the ninjas can unite to fight."

Tobirama's eyebrows furrowed...

"The Elemental Nations are not the only continent." Rei continued explaining, knowing that ninjas while developed in certain areas were totally backward in others, "With a good enough enemy far away and a drive to improve, our kind can get strong enough in a few centuries of progress. I am already working on a way to prevent the Otsutsuki clan from finding us too."

After all, there were four more continents and at least one of them had two species that didn't hold humanity in the highest regard. There was no shortage of potential enemies.

Tobirama slowly nodded in understanding. He didn't have any knowledge about this but he also realized he had no way of finding out so he accepted Rei's answer at face value. That, however, begot the most important question of all.

Accepting things at face value was one thing but...

"How do you know about this?" Tobirama suspiciously asked.

This husband of his grandniece was far too well informed if the things he told him were true.

Rei wasn't offended by Tobirama's suspicion. He would have been embarrassed for the guy if he just believed him straight away. That said, Rei wasn't about to try to prove himself.

Lazily shrugging, Rei spoke, "Mhm, Kaguya might or might not be one of my wives."

Tobirama didn't even realize it when his jaw dropped as his brain tried to compute the crazy statement.

Before his mind could finish dealing with the information overload, Rei slowly stood up and patted his thighs, "Speaking of which, today I gotta go and spend some time with her lest she decides to wage a war on this continent due to being grumpy. Hmm, I should bake some cookies for her." He mused out loud as he entered the house, leaving one totally flabbergasted Senju to stand on the porch and stare into nowhere.

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Rei arrived at his mansion in the Village on the Other Side, holding a basket of cookies.

As he walked through his mansion, his eyebrows started to furrow more and more with every empty previously sweets-filled cupboard he encountered.

'Damn. I don't know if I should be happy she will never go fat thanks to her chakra or be upset that because of that, she will have no compulsion to stop these eating habits of hers.' Rei helplessly shook his head, heading to the kitchen where he could distinctly feel the upset chakra signature of Kaguya.

Arriving in the kitchen, Rei instantly saw exhausted Kin sitting on the floor with her back leaning on the kitchen cupboards, her head in her hands, sluggishly muttering pleas to let her rest, while the humming Riful was continuing baking cookies like a dutiful housewife while occasionally creepily giggling to herself, her eyes sporting a kind of craze that made Rei want to avoid her at all cost.

Rei didn't even want to know what kind of nightmarish night they had to have behind themselves to be affected like this.

Turning his head towards the kitchen table, he found it full of empty platters as frustrated Kaguya nibbled on a charcoal-like cookie, clearly too deep in her thoughts to care.

And that scared Rei more than seeing the half-dead Kin and newly-insane Riful.

Kaguya and deep thinking usually produced something very, very convoluted and bothersome so he knew he had to put a stop to that asap.

Fortunately, he came prepared.

Rei approached the table and when he was five meters away from it, Kaguya's eyes suddenly moved, zeroing in on the basket with cookies in his hands as her nose cutely sniffed the air a bit.

Rei chuckled and Kaguya blinked a few times, coming back to reality. Her eyes widened when she noticed Rei... and before Rei could react, he had one clingy rabbit lady hanging around his torso, rubbing her face on his chest.

Rei helplessly sighed, letting Kaguya have her moment, knowing he might owe it to her for leaving her behind.

Eventually, Kaguya leaned her head back, her white eyes staring at Rei's face with accusation behind them while she was visibly pouting, "Why did you leave me at home? I could have helped." She sullenly exclaimed.

'That's exactly what I was afraid of.' Rei inwardly deadpanned.

Before the Chunin Exams finals started, he ordered Kaguya to stay and guard their home. He didn't want her to join any of the invasions. Kaguya was getting better but she had Mei's level of common sense and Ringo's level of self-control at times.

That was a dangerous combination and Rei didn't want to hear that she leveled some poor village because she got pissed off and miscalculated her attack.

He didn't have these worries when he sent her to fight against Riful. That island held nothing Rei was interested in so even if Kaguya smashed some towns to smithereens, he would hardly care. But the hidden villages were different.

Sighing, Rei put his hand on the top of Kaguya's head and started to caress her hair, causing her to narrow her eyes at him.

"I won't be appeased so easily!" Kaguya huffed, but contrary to her words, her body slightly relaxed against Rei's.

Rei smirked, "Hmm... I think you are lying." He smugly said, making Kaguya gnash her teeth at him but there was no hostility behind the gesture.

Rei chuckled at her cuteness and continued rubbing her head, "We both know you are a glutton for food and sex, my dear little rabbit." He cheekily stated, causing Kaguya's face to erupt with a blush. Before she could rebuke him, he continued, "I am bringing you your favorite food and intend to spend the entirety of today with you in the bed. Would that be enough to appease you, my Princess?"

Kaguya's slight glare instantly shifted into a look of delight, all past transgressions were forgotten and forgiven as she heard about the prospects of enjoying her favorite food and favorite activity all in one day.

"Oh, yes." She delightfully mewled with a big excited smile before she pushed herself on her tiptoes and pecked Rei on the lips.

She then turned around, catching the amused Rei's hand, and dragged him toward the table. When they reached it and Rei put the basket down, Kaguya pointed at her chair, "Sit!" She ordered with an adorably serious expression.

Trying to resist his urge to smile, Rei obeyed and sat down... only to have Kaguya's posterior instantly perched on his thighs as she got comfortable on his lap and leaned her back into his chest.

The woman was definitely aware of what she was doing if the way she slightly rubbed her bottom against Rei's thighs was any indication. And when his lower member reacted and stood at attention...

Kaguya's ears perked up as she tried to let him 'innocently' join the fun.

Rei, blushing slightly, put an abrupt stop to that when he put his arms around Kaguya, pulling her into an embrace so tight that she couldn't move. Rei's chin rested on Kaguya's shoulder and his mouth was near her reddened ear as he whispered, "You eat first. I'll partake in you later."

"Mhmm~." Kaguya quietly moaned, shuddering in Rei's hold.

Rei had to take a deep breath to calm himself a bit as Kaguya slacked a bit against his body. This perverted rabbit could get herself off so easily it made even him hot and bothered despite his experiences.

Wryly smiling, Rei closed his eyes and tried to put his mind at ease. It wasn't easy. Especially with Kaguya releasing her pheromones in large quantities. She definitely knew how to utilize her chakra for these kinds of stuff when she wanted. Yet, she was too lazy to properly train in taijutsu.

His attempt was ruined a few seconds later when he felt Kaguya's lips start to tenderly trail all over his neck, planting a needy kiss after kiss on it until she reached Rei's ear.

"This Princess demands attention." She purred and licked his earlobe.

Rei couldn't help but chuckle, partly due to being ticklish and partly due to the way he felt about this. He slightly regretted his oversight of letting the two alone in a room but he also found it amusing when Mei introduced Kaguya to that kind of roleplay. 'The unruly princess getting tamed by her new Master' as Mei called it, was Kaguya's favorite.

Honestly, even Rei grew embarrassed as heck during that. He didn't have any exceptional fetishes but... sigh. What would a man not do for the happiness of his girl?

Taking a cookie into his hand, Rei stuffed it into Kaguya's mouth before she could continue with her kisses, making her blink in surprise... but nevertheless, she instinctively started nibbling on the cookie.

"Then I will make sure this Princess learns how to obey her man." Rei huskily growled, but then he did a complete turn in attitude. His tone turned flippant, "And you man said to eat your cookies. I still have something serious to talk to you about."

Kaguya pouted. It was a massive downer in her mood for her advances to be stopped like this. She may have desired to be taken on the kitchen table but outright telling that to Rei was too embarrassing for her.

'Stupid Rei.' She thought in frustration, violently munching on the cookie in her hands to relieve said frustration.

Silence spread between the two, the only sounds that occasionally resounded in the room were Kaguya's hums of appreciation as her good mood started to return faster with every cookie she ate.

Seeing that she was back to her usual cheerful self, Rei decided it was time to ask the question that bothered him.

Sighing to himself, he decided to just get it out. Tapping Kaguya's shoulder and getting her attention, Rei uncertainly started, "Kaguya... tomorrow," Because he was in no way sacrificing his day with Kaguya in bed for this. He was too hot and bothered to let her escape his grasp today. "would you like to talk to Hagoromo?"

When Kaguya heard what Rei said, her eyes grew wide and conflict brewed inside of them. She was so shocked that her cookie fell from her mouth.

"You... can do that?" She quietly asked in a low tone, her eyes tearful but also very resentful.

Rei mutely nodded, letting her think about it by herself.

Kaguya weakly smiled with uncertainty visible in her expression, "I'd... like that. I think." She clutched her hands into fists. She had no idea what she thought about this but... at the very least she wanted to scream herself hoarse at her stupid dead son.

Biting her lower lip, Kaguya's intense stare full of determination turned to Rei, "Now, ravish me. No more excuses!" She firmly stated, showing she would not take no for an answer.

Rei helplessly shook his head, waiting until she was about to open her mouth again before he abruptly shifted her into a Princess carry, "Speaking out of turn, are we?" He quipped, his eyes narrowed with mirth.

The giggling Kaguya barely managed to grab the basket with cookies from the table as Rei carried her to the bedroom.

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After enjoying the night together, Rei and Kaguya woke up in the late afternoon and it took them two more hours, shower included, to finally get to their breakfast slash lunch.

Kin and Riful were with them too, Riful contently sitting opposite Kaguya and swinging her feet back and forth as they didn't reach the ground due to her childish body.

Kin, on the other hand, approached the sitting Rei, making him look at her in a deadpan as she dramatically fell to her knees next to his chair, "Thank you for saving me from the death from exhaustion, Master!" She exclaimed with a tearful expression, her lips quivering.

Rei was briefly stunned and... weirded out but before Kin could get closer and hug his thigh while 'coincidentally' rubbing her hands on some more intimate part of his, he chuckled and abruptly poked her forehead with two of his fingers, putting into it enough strength to make her body fall over and causing the bewildered Kin to end up lying on her back on the floor as she stared at the ceiling with wide eyes.

"A weak attempt, Kin. Don't forget that I know where you came from and how you were raised." Rei hummed before turning back to his food, having a hard time believing Kin actually did try to seduce him in such a half-assed way.

Sure, the former Oto kunoichi was still just a kid and obviously not trained in the art of seduction but that was just... sad.

'She must really hate cooking for Kaguya if she resorted to something like this.' Rei amusedly thought.

Kin sullenly pouted, "I meant what I said." She insisted only for Kaguya to rebuke her.

"Stop lying on the ground and make yourself useful by eating your lunch, girl." Kaguya disgruntledly said, giving Kin an unamused stare with her narrowed eyes.

That prompted Kin to instantly stand up at attention before she obeyed Kaguya's words as if she had months-long training under the woman instead of just being her cook for the last several days.

Rei looked straight at Kin who was seating herself down on her chair opposite him and raised his eyebrow... only for her to bow her head down in shame.

He could understand. Kaguya could be... difficult to handle even for him. For someone as powerless as Kin, this might have been the worst punishment she could have received.

Just imagining having Kaguya breathing down his back as he cooked and demanding him to make cookies faster while he could do nothing about it was making him shudder at the nightmarish notion.

'I will have to swap her out soon lest she goes crazy.' Rei mused.

Seeing that Kaguya didn't stop staring at Kin in discontent and it was making the girl really uncomfortable, Rei decided to intervene. Of course, only after he had his share of amusement due to Kin's discomfort.

"Stop wishing you could combust the girl with your eyes, Kaguya." Rei admonished his rabbit-girl, ruffling her hair a bit, much to her hidden delight but outward huff of irritation.

"She is a calculating bitch who wouldn't mind climbing on the table and spreading her legs for you if she saw you wanted her. You gotta be strict with these kinds of sluts." Kaguya muttered, making things really awkward in the room.

Kin's face went beet red and Rei let out a dry laugh while Riful was blissfully ignoring the happenings and just munched on her food.

Unfortunately for Kin, Rei would not be defending her from that accusation. In their world, strength mattered and if nothing else, this experience of being Kaguya's maidservant should be very valuable, motivating her to reach greater heights.

Unlike Tayuya who had a similar ability to Kin, the girl's progress was abysmal. She lacked Tayuya's drive. Kin was mostly a follower, a pawn, a cannon fodder. And she was fine with that. She didn't strive to improve herself at all. It was no wonder Orochimaru was fine with sacrificing her for the Reanimation Jutsu. With this kind of attitude, she would have never grown past low-chunin rank anyway.

Of course, Rei didn't expect Kin to become S-rank in a week. She didn't have Tayuya's advantages, skills, or chakra levels. Hell, she didn't have what it takes to be S-rank, period.

But he did expect her to show at least some effort to improve, which she didn't and that earned her this little apprenticeship under Kaguya to remind her that power mattered. Kaguya had a very special way of motivating people. She was a miracle worker when it came to that.

A few days under her and Kin wanted nothing else than to leave this hell.

Frankly, Rei was happy for the lucky addition of Riful. The female Abyssal One could cook quite well and loved serving someone as strong as Kaguya. She was honestly god-sent.

At the end of the day, Rei only wanted the best for Kin. He wouldn't mind her being just an ordinary servant with rudimentary ninja training if that's what the girl really desired. But he could clearly see she wanted more.

The way Kin looked at Rei's other wives with jealousy and desire in her eyes...

The girl wanted to be powerful but her mentality belonged to someone who never tried to attain her desires. Rei didn't mind helping her a bit even if it meant mentally scarring her in the short term.

"Heh~, this is actually delicious. Your cooking is getting better and better, Riful." Rei suddenly praised the food.

"Thank you. I will become the best cook for Lady Kaguya!" Riful enthusiastically exclaimed, her eyes narrowing in happiness.

It was quite weird but oddly endearing to see this murderous human-eating monster find such a simple joy in serving Kaguya simply because she was strong.

Throwing Riful a playful look, Rei jokingly teased, "I hope you didn't add some special ingredient of your liking, though."

Riful didn't get the joke...

"Don't worry. The only plate with mashed human intestines is mine." She said in a matter-of-fact manner and happy-go-lucky tone, causing Kaguya to raise her eyebrow at that admission while Kin went promptly green, her fork stopping just an inch short of entering her mouth as the girl now eyed her food warily.

"Too much information." Rei sheepishly chuckled, suddenly losing his appetite.

After that, the only two who didn't care and were stuffing their cheeks were Riful and Kaguya while Kin was doing her best not to throw up and earn herself the punishment for spoiling Kaguya's appetite.

She had seen many messed up things in her service for Orochimaru but the image of having human meat mixed in her food made her stomach turn anyway.

The lunch lasted ten more minutes... because it simply took that long for Kaguya to completely finish every dish on the table, finishing even Rei's and Kin's unfinished portions, only leaving the Riful's food untouched. She really loved to eat a lot and Rei couldn't bring himself to stop her.

It wasn't as if she could grow fat anyway so he let her enjoy herself.

"Well, then, now that we are fed and watered," When all the food was finished, Rei turned to the side, looking at Kaguya with a small mirthful smile on his lips, "Ready to scream yourself hoarse at your dead son?"

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Kaguya did want to meet with Hagoromo. Ever since she was released from her seal and learned that Hagoromo's spirit was still hounding the world, she wanted to tell him off.

Unfortunately for her, despite all her strength, she simply could not reach the plane of existence where he currently resided.

It wasn't a question of power. Kaguya had enough power to create basic dimensions at a whim.

It was a problem with access. She had no idea how to access that plane.

Some things... one simply can't just power through no matter how much energy he has at his disposal.

Of course, during one of their intimate moments when they were cuddling in a bed after an incredible night, she did inform Rei about this wish of hers and the problems she was facing.

Honestly, she thought he had already forgotten about that since he never brought it up again and Kaguya did not expect him to solve all her problems for her.

And yet, here she was. Sitting in the middle of a sealing formation spanning an entire room that should let her spiritual form access the plane of existence where Hagoromo's spirit was hiding and observing the world.

She finally could verbally spank that misbehaving boy of hers!

The seals flashed with chakra and Kaguya felt as if she blinked despite not doing so, and the world in front of her eyes shifted.

Looking around, Kaguya found herself in a depressing edgy room that was mostly empty. She was sitting opposite Hagoromo and when she saw his jaw on the floor and his eyes wide due to her sudden and unexpected arrival, Kaguya giggled into her palm.

But her eyes were not smiling at all...

...

Contrary to the popular belief, Hagoromo was not observing the Elemental Nations twenty-four-seven nor did he know everything that was going on. He was just a man, no God as the people liked to believe. And like any other man, he was not all-seeing. He had only one pair of eyes.

Yes, his eyes could see much further away than anyone else's, even going beyond the realm he was in right now, but he had his limit. He could observe only one place at a time and there were simply too many things going on at the same time in the world.

On top of that, not all of his time was spent staring at the Elemental Nations. Yes, he was bored out of his mind but even he needed a break from time to time. He liked to take week-long breaks to just... meditate and let his mind go blissfully blank.

No plots, no worries, no problems, just basking in the quietness of his mind.

If not for his inner peace, he would have gone mad a long, long time ago in this realm.

That said, as of late, the world was starting to near another breaking point, another crucible that would test if the world would be destroyed or not. Plots of those hiding in the dark were reaching their conclusion and Hagoromo could already tell there would be a war starting in just a few short years.

A war unlike anything seen before in the Elemental Nations.

Hagoromo could do nothing but watch, but he was at the very least fully capable of following the actions of Black Zetsu and the fake Madara. He watched them in worry, praying somebody would stop their madness.

Yet, it was obvious this calamity would not be stopped before it was unleashed onto the world. Just like any other before it.

Over the years, Hagoromo lost a lot of his initial faith in humanity. He watched the reincarnations of his sons fight over, and over, and... over again in an unceasing foolish battle that had no end goal. They fought and fought, usually for the stupidest of reasons, and more often than not, this led to the death of both of them, only feeding the circle of hatred.

Hagormo could withstand a lot but even he was getting tired, weary of it all.

And then, Madara and Hashirama came, uniting together to forge a better future.

Hagoromo was overjoyed at the reincarnation of his sons finally finding a way to reconnect, become friends, and work together towards a brighter future...

But his joy didn't last long and Madara fell to the ploys of the Black Zetsu, causing Hagoromo to grit his teeth at the damage his 'third brother' was causing in the world. If he had any idea that his blasted mother made another last vain attempt at freedom just before she was sealed, he would have turned every rock in the Elemental Nations to find his 'third brother' and permanently deal with him.

Alas... he had no idea and the result was the Elemental Nations being plunged into deep, centuries-long darkness.

The last attempt at the freedom of his mother pretty much screwed the generations of ninshu users to come, going so far as to corrupt his own two sons and goad Indra to both fight against Asura and create the abominable ninjutsu the people of nowadays used to kill each other.

And now, history was repeating and the board was set once more. this time, just with much higher stakes going on behind the scenes.

Two new reincarnations of his sons were born, both having their own circumstances. With the Rinnegan created by Madara, Black Zetsu and his pawns were preparing to start their ultimate plan, and the somewhat peaceful era was going to be interrupted the second the first bijuu was captured.

But that was not all...

Some time ago, Hagoromo did feel someone penetrate the realm he was trapped in and stare at him right through the boundary. The second it happened, Hagoromo stiffened like a deer being watched by a wolf, sweat drenching his back...

And then the feeling was suddenly gone as fast as it came.

Hagoromo scrambled to peek back, to find who was powerful enough to do that. His mind whirling in panic with numerous possibilities and all of them so dangerous to his beloved world that he felt afraid for it like only once before.

Yet, he couldn't find anyone. No, he... couldn't 'see' anyone. His senses were telling him there was someone but his eyes simply refused to reveal it.

Hagoromo's mind flashed to the time when his mother taught him how to use his eyes and how she could conceal herself on instinct purely because her Rinnegan was much, much more powerful than his own.

But he quickly shook that thought away. That was nigh impossible.

His mother was safely locked in the Moon.

There was no way for her to get free so of course, it had to be some other Otsutsuki. That was good. That meant his world still had a fighting chance. They could still gather their heroes and win.

As long as it was not his dear mother, the world was not yet done for.

Hagoromo knew best the level of power his mother held. Two people on his level could not put a scratch on the woman for months. And it was ever so painfully obvious she had no idea how to use her abilities to fight at the time.

But during their fight, she was slowly but surely getting better, grasping her abilities more and more, and that's why Hagoromo became desperate, opting to seal her away. For he knew if they fought for another week, neither he nor Hamura would be able to reach Kaguya anymore.

Hagoromo's worries only intensified when he felt the same kind of stare on him from time to time. It usually ceased as fast as it came, but sometimes, he was left squirming for a few minutes under the scrutinizing and slightly hostile gaze.

But no matter what he did, he couldn't find the culprit. And he did try almost everything he could.

Was it any surprise his no-longer-beating heart almost stilled all over again when Kaguya Otsutsuki of all people appeared in front of him?

'Not her, anyone but her!' Hagoromo repeated in his mind while his jaw dropped and his eyes widened in horror.

Yet, his mother only sweetly smiled at him... but her purple pupil-less eyes betrayed the arctic coldness of her heart and Hagoromo felt as if he was shrinking under her gaze.

The resentment she felt towards him was palpable in the air and the tension between them was only increasing by the second, making him inwardly freak out in panic...

When suddenly, it was as if a great burden was lifted from his shoulder, letting him take a deep breath.

But his new-found relaxation didn't last long as he realized Kaguya was not using any sort of technique or even her chakra to pressurize him. It was all simply her presence and...

'She learned how to control some of her power!?' Hagoromo looked at her, the horror in his eyes increasing. Abruptly, the spark in his eyes turned to apathy and... resignation. 'The world is doomed.'

There was simply nothing more he could do. The monster his mother was had won.

But instead of getting instantly slaughtered as he thought, Kaguya only smirked at him.

"Well, hello there, Hagoromo. How is watching your beloved humans slaughter each other treating you, my least favorite son?" She calmly drawled as she slowly looked around. "Seeing you trapped here by your lonesome self, unable to find eternal peace... I guess serves you right, you prick." She nodded to herself in satisfaction.

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"How?" Hagoromo asked in a heavy tone.

He... knew he had lost but he simply wanted to know how this happened and how it could evade his sight. He should have been notified the second the Kaguya's seal broke. But as he checked his connection to the fuinjutsu on the Moon, it was still there.

So... how?

"How what?" Kaguya calmly asked and raised her eyebrow at Hagoromo. "You gotta be more precise, son. This is why I liked Hamura more. He was always faster on the uptake." She casually insulted Hagoromo.

It was just a pity that Hamura also liked to overthink things and that meant he was prone to his opinion being easily swayed if one knew how to go about it.

Hagoromo ignored the insult. It inwardly surprised him that his mother was so passive-aggressive with him. Never before did his mother insult either him or Hamura but... Apparently, things changed.

When he looked into Kaguya's eyes, it pained him to see that the small flicker of affection that was always there whenever she looked at him or Hamura, was gone now.

No matter how... mad... Kaguya was, Hagoromo knew his mother loved him and his brother dearly. Yet now, these feelings were either perfectly hidden or gone. For some reason, that made him feel ashamed more than seeing his grand plans for the world crumble under human selfishness.

But now was not the time for pointless sentiment.

Recollecting his bearings, Hagoromo calmly elaborated. "How did you get out of the seal without me noticing, mother?"

Frankly speaking, Hagoromo left a failsafe in the seal in case it was broken. This failsafe would allow him to bestow his chakra to worthy individuals in hopes to fix the seal.

This was the last and only way for him to interfere in the world.

Yet, it was something he prayed would never come to pass. He was alright with being unable to interfere in any way if it meant his mother would stay locked in the seal.

But now... the seal was intact and he could not even use his failsafe because of that!

How the hell did she manage to do this!?

Kaguya let out a small laugh at Hagoromo's reaction. He was so cute, trying to be all calm, yet, it was as always his eyes that betrayed his panic. Just like when he was a kid and was stealing cookies from the kitchen. Nothing really changed since then in that regard.

"I had the help of the best Seal Master in the world." She truthfully stated with a fond smile on her lips.

Hagoromo was too distracted to notice. Of course, he instantly knew who his mother meant. He did pay attention to the ongoing events, after all.

"Yotsuba Rei. He let you out?" He asked in bewilderment and... disappointment.

Hagoromo was eagerly observing Rei's progress. The man reminded him a bit of himself, to be honest. A man stronger than others simply because he refused to be bound by their common sense and explored the energy available to him further than others, teaching his apprentices, creating a proper village, caring about his lovers and the people under him...

Rei was striving for improvement but he was not sacrificing human lives in the process. In fact, he tried to make them better. That was a very rare thing in the ninja world.

Hagoromo could respect that.

That's why hearing it was his favorite person in the current Elemental Nation that let his mother out made Hagoromo very disappointed. He felt as if his favorite hero in the story just betrayed his expectations. He was... seething.

Hearing the disappointment and silent anger in Hagoromo's tone when he mentioned Rei, Kaguya had just found the way how to... as Tsunade would say... verbally fuck with her target.

"Is that the tone you should use when talking about your new stepdaddy?" Kaguya narrowed her eyes, dropping an unexpected bomb on Hagoromo who suddenly felt like a child who was just scolded by his mother for being mischievous.

Sage.exe had a hard time loading the verbal nuke that was dropped on him.

"What?" Hagoromo blankly asked, his mind refusing to let him properly think.

"Your new stepfather, boy. Show him some proper respect or else..." Kaguya coldly ordered, "You might be over a thousand years old but that doesn't mean I can't bend you over my knee and spank you like the misbehaving child you are."

In fact, Hagoromo's current situation would make that extremely easy for Kaguya. The boy had no idea yet, but she was already planning to visit him on a regular basis to regale him with the tales of his stepfather's heroics both in and out of the bedroom.

She thought about it for a very long time... trying to find out the best punishment for Hagoromo.

Yet, Kaguya knew there was not much that could or would shake her son as he was now.

Physical pain would not work. He didn't have a physical body anymore so he would not even feel it if she tried to torture him without using spiritual attacks.

A spiritual attack, however, was out of the question as she didn't want to erase him from existence. That would have been too easy and fast.

Thankfully, Kaguya had incredible advisors and during one of the girl nights Rei's wives had two times per month, Kaguya got kinda drunk on Rei's special wine and told her problem to Ringo and Tsunade. The two of the both worst and best people to ask when one wanted to torture someone else.

In the end, Kaguya's answer was easy.

Emotional damage.

Hagoromo's spirit was trapped in his separate realm and Kaguya had now easy access to him without him being able to stop her in any way. She had all the time in the world to punish him for locking her away.

"Right..." Hagoromo trailed off, his mind still in great turmoil. "My new... stepfather." He grimaced at that thought. He didn't know his father but he was very interested in him when he was a kid and his mother eventually told him about the man.

And it influenced his entire life.

His father was a man who wanted only the best for his people. That was the kind of man Hagoromo wanted to become. That was the reason why he eventually decided to stop all the suffering his mother was causing and devote his life to repent for her mistakes by helping out the people with his special abilities.

It was irrational but getting to know that his mother had a new man... for some irrational reason, that irked Hagoromo more than her release from the seal, and his expression visibly soured as he thought about it.

When Kaguya saw it, she instantly knew the upcoming centuries would be very fun for her.

Taking a deep breath, Hagoromo decided to focus on what was really important. The family talk could be postponed to... preferably never. The poor naive boy had no idea about his inevitable future...

"What are you planning to do now that you are free?" He asked in a serious tone.

He needed to know. His mother was a disaster but since she wanted to... be intimate with a human, maybe she wouldn't try to destroy the world again?

Hagoromo was very hopeful...

"Mhm." Kaguya thoughtfully hummed, "Maybe I will make a few tens of siblings for you in the upcoming century?" She giggled, "I love the bedroom activities. Your father was never good at that but my new husband... mhmmm~." She released a needy moan, causing Hagoromo to blush like a maiden.

"Be serious, mother!" He ashamedly exclaimed in outrage, not liking the sleazy expression his mother showed at all.

"What? I am serious. Fucking like rabbits is my new favorite hobby, son." Kaguya playfully quipped, making Hagoromo even more mortified.

"Mom!" The situation was so ridiculous that Hagoromo even forgot their current hostile relationship and whinily complained.

"You want me to be serious?" Kaguya teasingly asked, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

"Yes!" Hagoromo firmly said in an exasperated tone, his cheeks slightly flushed.

He loved that his mother seemed to be interested in something else than world domination but he utterly hated that this new interest of hers was to fuck with some random dude that couldn't measure up to Hagoromo's father.

"As you wish, boy. Let's talk seriously now." Kaguya spoke and the air between her and Hagoromo suddenly tensed as heavy pressure full of malicious intent descended on Hagoromo, forcing him to lean forward as his eyes went wide.

Staring at his scowling mother and remembering the conflict they had between them, Hagoromo realized that no, he didn't really want her to be serious...

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"You sealed me. How dare you seal your own mother!?" Kaguya spoke in a low tone, staring a hole into Hagoromo, "Especially in a seal that would make a lesser being go crazy in the first year!" Her tone rose as she sneered.

Being sealed... she could handle that. But the seal Hagoromo used was the epitome of brutality. Any maternal love she could have had for him evaporated in the first decade of being sealed in there.

"I had no other choice, mother. You were corrupted!" Hagoromo exclaimed, trying to justify his actions. "You would have wiped humanity if you were allowed to continue and I couldn't let that happen, could I?"

In a way, Hagoromo was right. What he did save humanity from his mother.

Unfortunately for him, Kaguya was not looking at it from the same angle he was. Hagoromo didn't understand she didn't care about being sealed. Honestly, she was even slightly happy about that as it allowed her to meet Rei. All that suffering... it was worth it!

But no, Kaguya was not mad at being sealed but at how Hagoromo handled the entire situation. With his resources at the time, he could have done so many other things than just trying to recklessly play a hero.

"No other choice? No choice you say!?" Kaguya seethed, too agitated to stay calm. Her son just didn't get it, did he? He still tried to be the hero shouldering the fate of humanity and it made her so angry! "Pray tell, what the hell do you mean by that? You, the one who basically created fuinjutsu arts from scratch. You, who was able to remake Moon into prison for me. You, a bonafide Demi-God with chakra reserves to match, and with all the years you had by my side couldn't do something a 'lowly' human managed to accomplish in a few months. Do you really want me to believe that? Stop making pathetic excuses, Hagoromo."

Hagoromo furrowed his eyebrows at that, not understanding what his mother meant, "What do you mean?"

Kaguya scoffed. Seems she had to spell it for him to make him finally open those divine eyes of hers and take a proper look. How... disappointing.

"Do you feel the corruption still influencing me?" She dryly asked in a disappointed tone. When Hagoromo's face showed a massive surprise as he finally took a proper look at her, Kaguya inwardly sighed in indignation. Her son was a hypocritical moron. Just like his father. Heaven... What did she do to deserve this?

"Of course, you don't." She condescendingly sniffed, "The man who freed me from the seal also made sure the corruption no longer affected me. He did that almost effortlessly. In. A. Few. Months!" She emphasized, "A human managed to do something in a few months that you, a Demi-God couldn't in the years you opposed and fought against me?"

Kaguya's tone was almost amused. It was a ridiculous notion. As strong as Rei was, he was not yet on the level of Hagoromo. Kaguya sure as hell planned to help him reach and surpass her son in the future even if she had to sacrifice her own chakra reserves in the process but she would not cover her eyes from reality.

Her lover still needed a bit of effort to reach Hagoromo's prowess.

And yet, he had already surpassed her son in every way that mattered. He created artificial bijuu, he created his own dimension, he reverse-engineered Hagoromo's biggest fuinjutsu work, her moon seal, he cracked a way to integrate chakra and nature energy... and much more.

Kaguya couldn't have been prouder of her man. Of her human. The human that already surpassed a Demi-God with his feats and claimed her heart.

"Don't make me laugh! You never tried to help your poor mother despite knowing there was something wrong with me. You only wanted the glory of defeating me. No matter if my mind was a bit clouded at the time, I raised you, Hagoromo. Don't think you can lie to my face or hide your intentions from me, boy." Kaguya snorted, leveling a disappointed look at him which made him flinch.

Her war with her sons was not just one massive battle. They stood against each other for a few years. Both sides had enough time to scheme and make plans.

Kaguya never really went through with all the ways to eradicate her sons, though. Despite being half-insane, she did love them dearly. Her whole effort in making an army of white Zetsu was to protect them.

Killing them would completely defeat the purpose of her efforts.

But her sons were different. They genuinely wanted to stop her.

Did Hagoromo really want to make her believe in all these years, he not once thought of a way to help her clear the corruption that was plaguing her?

That was total bullshit and he knew it!

He didn't want to help her. He wanted to win against her. It was as simple as that.

Hagoromo sagged his shoulders after hearing out his mother's accusations. He... really didn't have any counterargument and felt quite embarrassed. The woman in front of him was his mother and he might not have liked it but she knew him best.

After all these years, this was the very first time he admitted the intentions he had then and his eyes became weary, "I-... I was foolish, mother." He quietly admitted, dropping his head down.

He would like to proudly argue but... the proof that his way was the wrong one was clear. One simply had to look at the Elemental Nations to realize his wish of peace was not fulfilled at all.

He sealed his own mother and estranged his brother, his two sons entered into a war that lasted beyond their graves, and the world was still in perpetual conflict.

What exactly did he accomplish that would make him proud?

"Still don't get i-, wait what?" Kaguya was about to reprimand him, expecting her boy to start making another useless excuse but his simple admittance of guilt made her stop her tirade.

Hagoromo chuckled when he noticed his mother looking at him as if he grew a second head. Wearily sighing, he decided to elaborate, "Hamura. He left me because he regretted what we did to you. He relocated to the Moon and tried to find a way to communicate with you." He donned a sour expression, "He realized that..."

But Kaguya quickly cut him off with an unimpressed face and a small glimmer of disappointment in her eyes, "You are trying to manipulate me."

"No, I-" Hagoromo's eyes widened in surprise and alarm.

How could she-!

"Foolish child." Kaguya sadly chuckled and gently shook her head in exasperation, "You were always very talented but so very slow on the uptake. Just like your father." She wryly smiled. "The second you realized that I am no longer under the influence of the chakra fruit corruption, you tried to manipulate me, knowing that I often indulged you as a child. I really did spoil you too much, did I not?" She wistfully sighed to herself.

Her sons being powerful was a matter of fact. They had her blood, and therefore a share of her abilities. Considering that she had no idea how much more powerful she could grow with proper training, they inherited a monstrous power by human standards.

The power they gained mostly for free, just by being her sons.

Maybe if she didn't give them everything they wanted and let them learn their morals from their human nannies when they were younger, the situation would have been different. Alas...

Kaguya slowly stood up and stretched, "I guess I had enough of you for the foreseeable future, son. I will come for a visit later. Until then, think about your actions and repent for you are grounded." She snickered to herself.

Hagoromo looked weirdly at his mother, "You are not going to kill me?" He asked incredulously.

This... was extremely unexpected.

"And why would I do that, Hagoromo?" Kaguya raised her eyebrow at him, "Despite everything, you are my child and I do have some lingering affection for you. And besides," She looked around the realm where he was imprisoned and snickered again at the irony, "you made your own nice inescapable prison so why should I help you to get out of it so easily? This being able to watch but not interfere is a good punishment for a meddlesome fool like you. But be a good boy and don't peek at your mommy being naughty with your stepdaddy or I will have to come here and spank you, alright?"

Kaguya playfully finished and disappeared from Hagoromo's realm, leaving only the flabbergasted and blushing Sage of the Six Path in her wake.

Hagoromo had... some long days of contemplation and meditating in front of him if he wanted to get that mental image out of his head.

Much to his horror, he realized his mother could and would visit him again. He... didn't look forward to more emotional damage like this. Not at all.

Why couldn't she just kill him?

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"How did the family reunion go? Hagoromo knows he has a new step-daddy, yet?" Rei teasingly asked with a grin as soon as Kaguya reappeared back in the seal formation.

Rei expected Kaguya to be at least a bit embarrassed about it, maybe even try to hide it from her son. Alas, his expectations were totally wrong.

Hearing his question, Kaguya betrayed his expectations when she puffed up her chest and proudly proclaimed, "Of course! It was the very first thing I informed him of! Alongside your ability to satisfy my needs in bed."

Rei's plan to make Kaguya blush backfired spectacularly and instead of her, it was now him that couldn't prevent his cheeks from slightly reddening as he speechlessly asked, "You... what?"

This was not how this kind of situation was supposed to go. Shouldn't a mother be at least a bit reluctant about telling her son that he has a new stepfather?

His imagination worked overtime and when he realized what kind of talk Hagoromo just went through with his mother... Rei actually pitied the guy. Unlike Kaguya, he held no grudge against him so, from Rei's perspective, Kaguya was being damn cruel here. A son being forced to hear all about the sexual exploits of his mother? Ew...

"Yup. We even agreed that I will visit again. My son might have unknowingly imprisoned himself but like a good mother, I at least should regularly make sure his sanity is not deteriorating." Kaguya cheerfully said, and Rei gave a silent prayer for Hagoromo's sanity.

Kaguya was not that bad when it came to her behavior. She was definitely better and more reasonable than Mei. But she could be the right bitch to anyone who earns her resentment.

Kin was the prime example of this. It wasn't as if Kaguya was overworking the girl just because she was bored. Kaguya didn't like how Kin tried to make eyes at Rei, so the girl was punished and Kaguya put her through the exact same routine as Riful.

That was why Rei didn't mind Kaguya viciously playing with Kin and acting like a total bitch to her. In a way, the ex-Oto kunoichi deserved it.

Until you earned Kaguya's ire, she was as harmless and cuddly as a slightly annoying and very clingy rabbit. Once you did earn it, though...

"We can't have his suffering abruptly end because he went insane, now, can we?" Kaguya gleefully added, wistfully sighing as she was already mentally planning what kind of conversation she should strike with Hagoromo to maximize his emotional torment.

'Yup. Exactly my point.' Rei looked dryly at her.

But he wouldn't voice his thoughts. It was not him who was trapped for a millennium in the darkness of a seal, cut off from his powers. He had no idea how that felt to Kaguya and he had no familial ties with Hagoromo.

Cleverly adopting the motto, 'Family business should stay in the family.' Rei mentally threw Hagoromo to the wolves for his own peaceful love life.

The dude deserved it anyway...

"Maybe I should really make him a sibling? Kaguya mused, muttering under her nose barely loud enough for Rei to hear, causing him to involuntarily take a step away from her, "Hmm... I really want to be a mother again and it would probably make him at least a bit jealous if I let him watch how I care for my new baby. Especially since he wouldn't be able to stop himself from watching because of his overly emotional brotherly 'love'."

Rei's eye was twitching as he heard her plotting how to emotionally torment Hagoromo while fulfilling her own desires...

And it rubbed his humane and fragile sensibilities the wrong way. Kids shouldn't be used that way! At least she really wanted to be a mother again and was not going to try getting pregnant only for emotional blackmail on her oldest son.

From all the tales about the Otsutsuki clan, Kaguya had told him, this kind of approach could be considered very odd by their standards. Children, sex, pleasure, love... these things didn't matter to them. They were raised to not put so much importance on these.

Sex was no longer deemed efficient or beneficial as the clan tried to match the best seed with the best mother and bioengineer the children to maximize their potential.

Love was useless and unneeded. The children didn't even have parents since most of them were 'developed' in a laboratory, rather than normally born.

Children were experimented on and trained until their early teens, and only the strong and most resilient survived. Then, depending on their latent potential for growth, they were assigned rankings.

Their entire clan was segregated into ranks where every individual was led to believe in striving to accomplish his own goal no matter the cost. To strive for higher ranking and more resources for their own development.

There was no camaraderie between them. Everyone was raised to be a selfish git, only thinking of their own benefit.

But there was also a clear subordination mentality where the top dogs were the most powerful and could order the weaker people to do anything they desired. It was the world of the survival of the fittest in the most ruthless sense.

It wasn't as if Kaguya wanted to be sacrificed to the God Tree. She was also raised in the usual Otsutsuki manner. But she was ordered to die. And in that situation, most low-ranked Otsutsuki would simply obey, not trying to fight their fate.

Because, in their perspective, there was no point anyway.

In short, the Otsutsuki clan was a sick place that created emotionally dead people. It sounded like a very advanced societal experiment made by mad scientists who completely abandoned their conscience for scientific progress and just wanted to see how far they could push it before their little test subjects mentally crumbled.

It was a wonder that Kaguya was so well-adjusted and even could fall in love with her previous husband after that kind of upbringing.

Still, hearing her plotting and seeing the semblance of her past mindset in her plans made Rei feel somewhat exhausted. "Human common sense doesn't work well with you, does it?" He wearily asked with a wry smile.

"What are you talking about? I am very sensual." Kaguya furrowed her eyebrows at Rei, making him snort.

"Right..." He shook his head in a new-found amusement. "Right, you are."

"So... Is there anything else you want to do or can we return to cuddling under the sheets?" Kaguya expectantly asked, tightly latching onto Rei's arm.

Otsutsuki might not believe in sexual procreation but Kaguya sure as hell found her meaning in life in it and she would be damned if she wasted even a second of her alone time with Rei.

Unfortunately for her, Rei indeed had a different proposition.

"Hmm... What would you say about saying hi to your past comrade?" He hummed, making Kaguya disgruntledly frown.

"Who?" She sullenly asked, slowly realizing that her attempt to get Rei back to bed was probably not gonna succeed.

"The one you betrayed and left dying with only his upper half of body left." Rei nonchalantly said, causing Kaguya's eyes to widen. There was only one man who fit this description!

"Isshiki? Is he still alive!?" Kaguya exclaimed in alarm and her grasp on Rei went rigid as her two eyes shifted into a blood-red Rinne-Sharingan and grew darker.

Isshiki couldn't be allowed to live. Kaguya knew what kind of man he was. Her peaceful life could be ruined if she allowed his continued existence.

Kaguya's expression was enough of an answer for Rei but he still asked, "So?"

"Yes." Kaguya said in a low tone with her eyes growing stormier, "I still owe that bastard for trying to sacrifice me. How dares he survive my sneak attack? I will make him regret clinging to his pathetic life." She said, her voice dripping with hostility.

Isshiki had to die. For her uninterrupted and abundant sex life with her beloved Rei.

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"Here we are." Rei said right after he teleported Kaguya and himself into a certain mountain range in the Land of Earth, far away from any civilization.

It was a fitting hideout for an apocalypse-desiring alien parasite like Isshiki.

"Hmm... here?" Kaguya looked around with a raised eyebrow, not impressed at all. All she could see were rocks and more rocks but she felt the faint 'scent' of familiar chakra coming from the underground so she didn't doubt Rei. Her question was mostly one of disbelief that her... ex-colleague would willingly stoop so low.

But Isshiki always came off as an arrogant prick to her, always acting as if there was nobody smarter than him so she might be a tad bit biased.

"Do I want to know how you found him in the first place?" Kaguya curiously asked.

Isshiki's chakra was powerful. More powerful than a bijuu. The fact that she could only faintly sense it meant there were some serious concealing seals all around his hiding place.

If even she, an Otsutsuki who ate a Chakra Fruit, had to be right above the place to feel Isshiki, Kaguya really wondered how Rei, a normal human, managed to locate him. It was just one more thing that brought her awe of Rei's resourcefulness.

"Let's just say that having the Moon in my possession is proving very beneficial." Rei evaded the question with a teasing non-reply, making Kaguya snort.

She decided to forego further questioning. She was fully aware that Rei was nowadays tinkering with something he called 'Chakra Technology' and it could do quite amazing things.

Now that he mentioned it, she faintly remembered being shown something called the Chakra Telescope when it was in its infancy...

Where Rei got his insane ideas, Kaguya would never understand.

Instead of trying to strain her brain by thinking about it, "Should I ring the bell and send dear Isshiki a warm welcome?" Kaguya asked with a small giggle and conjured a small ball of magma above her palm.

Rei's eyebrow twitched when he saw it. He knew letting her and Mei in the same room could possibly spell doom but not even in his worst dreams did he foresee Kaguya making such a good impression on Mei that his little firecracker would teach his bunny some of her more... destructive moves.

That little ball of magma? That could potentially wipe out the entirety of the Land of Earth, changing it to nothing more than a land of molten ocean, if it was allowed to grow.

A warm welcome, indeed.

"Rejected." Rei instantly denied it, making Kaguya pout but fortunately, she did cancel the magma ball above her palm. "Don't use your abilities yet. You will alert him of our presence." He gently rubbed her head to appease her little, earning himself a small grudging nod from her alongside a reluctant smile.

Rei knew that Kaguya was a bit nervous at meeting with her ex-'superior' but that was exactly the reason why he wanted her to face off against him.

Rei could have easily gathered the gang and ganged up on the poor, poor Isshiki who would have no idea what hit him.

But Kaguya needed closure. She deserved it.

If Rei mentioned Isshiki was alive and did nothing about it, he knew Kaguya would become jittery because of her past experiences with the man. Now that she had at least some training under her belt and could control her powers to a greater extent, Rei decided this was the moment when he could pit her against the extremely weakened Isshiki and make her beat him to death and gain some much-needed self-confidence when it came to facing off against the other Otsutsuki.

Kaguya might have seemed haughty and arrogant towards those she hadn't acknowledged but underneath that facade, no matter how powerful she was, she was still a person. She still had her own worries and fears.

"Let me first prepare some seal tra-" Rei added, but he was interrupted midway by an unfamiliar voice.

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice my treacherous sacrifice and one bug skulking around my lab?" An emotionless masculine drawl put a stop to the leisure conversation between Kaguya and Rei, making their heads snap in the direction from which it came, only to land on the boredly standing Isshiki who was observing them with a small flicker of interest in his eyes.

Deeming his uninvited guests too speechless by his entrance, Isshiki thought he would not get an answer to his question so he continued speaking, "Nevertheless... Someone on this pathetic planet was able to locate my base. Consider myself impressed. How did you do it, human?"

"Do you really think I would reveal that to you just because you asked nicely?" Rei amusedly asked, chuckling a bit.

Pfft, as if Rei needed to have secrets from Kaguya. The only reason why he didn't outright tell and describe to her the process of locating this ice-cold dude was that they were right above his base, duh.

He would have to be utterly retarded to start explaining his methods here.

No matter what, thinking that his enemy could not possibly eavesdrop on them or that Isshiki wouldn't notice their arrival would have been the height of arrogance.

Rei trusted in his abilities but he liked to trust in the abilities of his enemies too. It saved a lot of trouble in the long run.

Isshiki didn't even twitch at Rei's rudeness. He only nodded in a placid acceptance, "I can always beat the answer from you, worm." He then turned towards Kaguya, "It's a long time to s-"

But Rei couldn't just let Isshiki's previous interruption be, now could he?

"Are you sure you are related? This guy is a total asshole." He turned his head towards Kaguya and nonchalantly asked, cutting Isshiki's sentence off.

Finally, the man showed at least a small flicker of annoyance in his eyes.

Rei took that as his small victory.

Kaguya smiled in amusement at what Rei was doing, deciding to play along, "What can I say? He was from the faulty batch."

She would never admit it out loud with how much she complained during her lessons about taunting the enemy but... it could be quite fun!

"Faulty batch..." Isshiki unamusedly repeated. "Remind me, which one of us was the harvester and which one the worthless sacrifice?"

Kaguya didn't get riled up at the mention of her role in the harvesting of the Chakra Fruit. She knew that Isshiki was hoping to dig deeper than his leisure words would reveal at first glance.

Her role as the sacrifice meant that the Otsutsuki found her worth less than a cattle. She was just something to be killed for their goals.

That would normally instantly enrage someone but Kaguya dealt with the taunt of other Rei women on a constant basis and witnessed epic verbal battles between Mei and Ringo.

Compared to that... being called a cattle was nothing special, really.

Then again, she had a perfect comeback for this, "Remind me, which one of us ended up missing his lower half due to that worthless sacrifice, suffering from the consequences even a thousand years after the event?" She innocently asked, and something in the air between Kaguya and Isshiki instantly changed as it grew tense.

Kaguya could clearly see that Isshiki's current vessel was... pathetically inappropriate.

There was no way he could exert his full power in that state. Not without using the life energy of his vessel, shortening his life, and destroying said vessel in the process.

This just gave into perspective the fact that Rei was able to make Kaguya an appropriate vessel for her power when he freed her. When even an Otsutsuki couldn't replicate that feat despite trying for a thousand years, that was a real testament to Rei's genius.

And another thing to rub in Isshiki's face.

"Then again, in just a few months my genius husband was fully capable of creating a proper and strong body for me when I was freed from my seal. The fact, you couldn't manage to do the same even after millennia of effort gotta mean something, Isshiki." Kaguya giggled, knowing that if there was something that could potentially piss off the usually emotionless and efficient freak, it was to be compared with a human, someone he considered less than an ant, and having been found wanting.

Rei watched from beside Kaguya as her verbal taunting did a damn good job at riling their would-be opponent. He stayed quiet and let her handle it. She knew the dude better so...

The results were definitely worth his inaction too. Isshiki was completely distracted for long enough.

'Ehehe, surprise incoming, motherfucker.' Rei inwardly thought.

Isshiki took a deep breath to slightly calm himself, but his irritation didn't abate. His mood for words ceased and his hands now itched to pull some intestines out. "Enough chit-chat. It's time for you to die." He coldly whispered.

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"Time out!" Rei shouted, putting his hands in the T sign.

Surprisingly, this worked and both Kaguya and Isshiki who were glaring at each other stopped and turned toward him. The first with curiosity while the latter with slightly hostile irritation at being interrupted yet again.

No matter, Isshiki did stop for a second but it was apparent he was just a moment from attacking. That's why Rei quickly said his piece, "Just give me an answer to one last question, will you? I am interested in the opinion of someone who spent his life pursuing knowledge."

Fortunately, Rei's wording seemed to intrigue Isshiki who stopped himself from pouncing and gave him a pondering hum.

Rei inwardly smirked. He knew best about the researcher's pride. The best way to get the desired reaction from a person similar to you was to do what you think would work against you, after all.

"I guess I can entertain you this one last time before you die. Ask. What would you like to know?" Isshiki stated, his tone conveying a slight interest.

"Mhm." Rei nodded in faux gratitude. He then opened his mouth and paused for a second and gave Isshiki a meaningful look before he uttered his question, "How stupid do you have to be to give your opponent time to prepare a trap while you are leisurely chatting like some third-rate villain?"

Isshiki barely got enough time to process Rei's rude words before he saw the space around him crack, separating a massive circular piece of everything around him, with Rei and Kaguya included. Isshiki then started to feel nauseous as the space twisted and he, alongside everything around him, was literally spatially ripped from its place and thrown somewhere... else.

When Isshiki finally shook off the shock and looked around, he found himself in an unknown place... when his ears suddenly caught Kaguya's voice, making him realize that his enemies were still in front of him as they got teleported too.

Which... was weird, in his opinion.

"Your dimension?" Kaguya curiously asked Rei, tilting her head.

"Yeah," Rei nodded, "I am not happy with wrecking it but... it's much better than destroying my planet or my moon." He shrugged.

Plus, he had made extensive preparations inside of his dimension for this eventuality. Er... to be truthful, he made them in case Kaguya became hostile when he finally released her but she didn't need to know that. He had a fight with an ultra dangerous godly being in mind when he was devising these precautions so they should hold for Isshiki too anyway.

Granted, Rei was pissed that his house in the middle of this small dimension would most likely be blasted to smithereens once Isshiki and Kaguya got serious but houses could be easily rebuilt, unlike planets or countries.

"I don't understand. Is this it? Your attempt at surviving me?" Isshiki raised his eyebrow with a deadpan look decorating his face before he sighed as if he considered the situation too troublesome, "If you think that teleporting me somewhere will increase your chances at victory," He slowly raised his hand, "then you are woefully ignorant."

He dramatically clenched the fingers of his outstretched hand into a fist...

An awkward moment passed through the surroundings as nothing happened, much to Isshiki's inward bewilderment. He blankly blinked and tilted his head as he looked at his hand in incomprehension.

Rei couldn't bear it anymore and started chuckling. The look of utter confusion on the dude was pure gold!

"My abilities..." Isshiki whispered and raised his head towards Rei. Narrowing his eyes, he threateningly asked, "What did you do!?"

"W-who i-is the ign-ignorant one n-now, h-heh?" Instead of getting his answers, Isshiki's questioning just sent Rei into another fit of chuckling.

Isshiki didn't even have the time to get mad at Rei's behavior because Kaguya, in the true ninja style, recognized her opportunity to strike and Isshiki only barely managed to raise his arms in front of his chest before Kaguya's bone bullet hit them, aiming straight at his heart.

Isshiki was pushed back, creating a small trench with his feet but he was still immensely physically powerful and managed to withstand the momentum behind the bone bullet. His heels dug into the ground as he braced himself and cracks spread all around him from the sheer force he exerted onto the ground before he swept his arms out, pushing the bone bullet away from his arms and sending out a small shockwave.

The place where the bone bullet impacted his arms was releasing a slight smoke as Kaguya's ability to disintegrate anything that touched her bones battled with Isshiki's immensely powerful physique, finding its match.

Kaguya scowled when she saw this, expecting to quickly end him and return home with Rei for some nice cuddles but apparently, Isshiki's thousand years of research was not for naught as he withstood her ultimate killer move despite being hit by it.

Isshiki was however too mentally preoccupied to even notice that he had just evaded a certain death. With a small frown on his face, he wondered what was going on while ignoring the sting in his arms as his biologically-enhanced body battled Kaguya's chakra.

There were supposed to be weapons withdrawn from his inventory space and thrown at Kaguya but the same as his attempt to teleport away, it didn't work!

'Anti-space seals?' Isshiki thought and glanced around but he couldn't see any, making him disgruntled.

During this exchange, Rei finally stopped chuckling and straightened out, giving Kaguya a grateful look before he turned away from Isshiki and started quickly walking forward.

The reason why Kaguya didn't ferociously attack Isshiki when she had the chance was that Rei was still on the battlefield without much protection. She couldn't go all out with him there! Even if she knew that he had his tricks capable of immobilizing and restricting even her... as he demonstrated in some of their spars... she still couldn't help but worry about his safety.

So, she dutifully stayed near him in case Isshiki realized it was Rei's existence that anchored the space restricting the function of this dimension, and preventing him from using literally half of his most dangerous abilities.

Though... it didn't seem that Isshiki would realize that anytime soon if the stressful way he was looking around for any hidden seals was any indication.

'Rei's techniques are just way too strange.' Kaguya thought with a measure of pride mixed with exasperation. She knew of many techniques of various Otsutsuki but Rei seemed to think out of the box so much that it baffled even her.

Imbuing a property into his dimension... now that was on the level of her dimension creation. An unbelievable ability for a human.

Neither Rei nor Kaguya was in any hurry to stop Isshiki from looking around the dimension filled to the brim with nothing but nature-energy-enhanced trees and vines.

Rei used this time to calmly get into the most protected place in his whole dimension. A small plot of land where all the defensive seals and measures in the dimension converged. This little haven of his would survive even if the two godly beings blasted the dimension into smithereens.

Now that he was protected, he observed Isshiki who was not able to locate the source of his space-related problems, much to Rei's amusement.

Rei knew the man was definitely relieved they hadn't attacked him for whatever reason, but this was fine. That was a normal arrogance for beings that could withstand even a bijuudama with their pure physical resilience.

If it was anyone else, Rei would have sneered at the inattentiveness but Isshiki?

This dude was the last boss of his planet. And in a similar manner to the last bosses in games, he wrongly assumed he was the most dangerous being around.

Chuckling once again, Rei gave Kagyua a thumbs-up, signaling that he was ready and she could start.

Kaguya widely grinned and turned towards the distracted Isshiki, causing him to momentarily freeze as her chakra burst forth, spreading a blanket of heavy pressure all over the dimension.

Isshiki robotically turned towards Kaguya, realizing he would not get more time to leisurely locate and destroy the cause of the space interference, and prepared himself to face Kaguya.

"Doesn't matter. Even if my space-related abilities are unusable, I can still beat you to death with my powerful body." He coldly stated, looking at Kaguya in contempt.

He didn't spend centuries enhancing his vessel for naught. There was no being in this land that cou-

"I'd like to see that." Kaguya whispered, giving Isshiki an excited smile while her two pupil-less lavender eyes morphed into Rinne-Sharingan, and Isshiki, alongside a great chunk of the forest around him, was blasted back as Kaguya's localized Shinra Tensei hit him like a truck.

Kaguya only smirked, seeing the massive hole in the forest she created with but a thought, and disappeared from her spot, running after Isshiki.

If she couldn't have sex, then she would at the very least make the reason for that suffer!

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Author Note - NEW STORY!

Hello, guys. I started posting a new story on .

The name is,

Thomas Prest: A Simple Magician

Check it out.

--

Kaguya appeared high in the sky above Isshiki just as he landed in a crouch on the ground, tanking the insane force of Kaguya's previous attack, making the ground under him crack for several hundreds of meters.

He didn't even get the reprieve to take a breath before Kaguya threw another Shinra Tensei at him, making him buckle up, his knees straining against the weight that could be likened to trying to lift the sky itself.

The ground under Isshiki's feet dented, creating a large crater with a radius of hundreds of meters, crushing everything growing on the surface inside its zone of impact into mush, whether it was trees or vines.

Kaguya's second Shinra Tensei instantly erased the cracks caused by Isshiki tanking the first one, whereas even the outside of the impact zone was not spared. From the edge of this new crater, more cracks appeared, the ground separating into pieces as if it was pie being divided by an invisible knife.

This residual force that escaped the impact zone was powerful enough to make the cracks span for kilometers, some of them going up the trees, cracking the bark and some of the trees closer to the crater were even split in half.

Rei watched with a wry smile how much damage could one proper attack of Kaguya cause. It had to be said, these trees were not normal. They were much tougher and larger than anything in the Elemental Nations. Cracking one could be likened to cracking a bonafide mountain and yet, there was an entire sea of cracked trees in his field of view now.

Isshiki, however, did manage to tank the blow with his body.

But then came the third Shinra Tensei. Decimating the surroundings some more and causing dust to fly in the air... and then the fourth came and for good measure, Kaguya added the fifth one right on top of the previous two.

Rei observed with a twitching eyebrow as his dimension was akin to being hammered down, the entire place shaking at its core with every single Shinra Tensei of Kaguya.

His house in the middle of the dimension was already decimated just by the residual earthquake and Rei inwardly sighed. 'Screw repairing it. I will just transform this dimension into a battle arena. I am sure Mei would love to fight Kaguya with her Jutsu restriction being lifted.'

Thanks to the abundant Nature Energy, the land and trees would repair themselves and regrow extremely quickly so even if it was destroyed on a regular basis, it wouldn't matter. Maybe it would even be beneficial for the dimension if a strong chakra residue, especially Kaguya's, was fed to it so often.

Kaguya cheerfully laughed, extremely happy that she could finally just let go and mindlessly use her full power against somebody that is not Rei. This was actually very fun!

Sparring against Rei was annoying. Even if she used her full power, his damned sealing arts had her restricted to hell in ten seconds flat. It didn't matter he was several magnitudes weaker than her when he could just wrap her in so many restrictive seals that her power level dropped even beyond him.

Kaguya's palm was pointing towards the ground where Isshiki was as she was about to joyfully send another Shinra Tensei at him because she felt like it, but abruptly, despite the dust cloud covering him, Kaguya's eyes could clearly see him whip a...

Kaguya jerked her body to the side, a black rod coming out of her sleeve as she quickly grasped it and pushed it in front of him into a guarding stance just as a massive black rod of the size of a tree trunk, created and enlarged by Isshiki, almost rammed into her... well, whole body, really.

She barely managed to block it, in disbelief at how stupidly fast the rod was as she was slightly pushed back by the sheer momentum and weight behind the impact. Something so big had no right to be so fast!

Kaguya's eyes narrowed in contemplation, 'I see. Enlarging objects and making them selectively ignore some disadvantages of their size. That's Isshiki's power.'

Before his attack, she had seen Isshiki create a normal-sized rod and hurl it at her with all of his physical strength behind the throw, causing it to gain insane speed. Only thanks to her Rinne-Sharringan's slowed perception did Kaguya have a brief split of a second to realize the rod was enlarged mid-flight. The tip of the black rod was bigger than her body so it would really slap her out of the sky like a fly if it hit her.

Kaguya pushed a bit more strength into her arm with her own small black rod and she swatted the massive tree-trunk-like rod of Isshiki to the side...

Instantly having to sidestep to the right, deflecting another, smaller than normal, black rod aimed at her heart.

Isshiki used Kaguya's momentary distraction from having to deal with the two black rods he hurled at her and leaped forward, straight at Kaguya.

Kaguya's black rod was still in the deflecting motion, away from her body and it was obvious she would be unable to use it for blocking or counter-attacking in time as Isshiki's fist neared her chest.

Just as he planned, Isshiki's attack was pulled off successfully and he inwardly smirked as he saw he had a free path to Kaguya's chest... but in the next split of a second, Kaguya moved her free hand and Isshiki inwardly scoffed.

It was he who spent millennia on body enhancement! There was no way she could...!

Isshiki's punch was barely caught by Kaguya's left hand an inch from her chest as her fingers wrapped around his fist as her body was once again slightly pushed back, making her cough a bit of blood due to the resounding shockwave from the meeting of their hands that hit her unprotected chest point-blank.

As the shockwave spread, it made the trees in the distance violently creak and furiously shake all the while it created a new deep crater under them despite them being high in the sky.

The bones in Kaguya's hand instantly shifted the second Isshiki's hand met hers, tearing themselves free from her skin and ripping into Isshiki's arm, creating large smoking gashes in his forearm as they tried to disintegrate his body.

Her fingernails blackened and sharpened as she viciously dug her fingers into his, intending to sever at least some of them.

Isshiki had only a second before his arm started to be shredded by Kaguya's bones and he instantly yanked it back, kicking the air under him to create a distance between them, ripping chunks of his flesh out of his arm in the process because of the sharp Kaguya's bones. Only now he felt the invasive energy injected into his arm by Kaguya's bones and it spooked him out at how much of his chakra it took to counter.

His body might have been too strong to be directly disintegrated but it still cost a lot of chakra to counter it! He instantly realized the melee fight was disadvantageous for him because Kaguya could just outlast him thanks to this ability of hers.

Kaguya smirked at Isshiki. She had forcefully closed her hand just as he was pulling away, and now she opened it, making a show of dropping several of his fingers she managed to rip out at that moment.

While that was going on, the bones sticking out of Kaguya's hand, wrist, and forearm, started to slowly sheath themselves back into her flesh, leaving only unmarred white skin when they were done.

Kaguya opted to do this little provoking show instead of pursuing and pressing Isshiki with a follow-up attack because she needed a moment to heal her inward injuries too.

That friggin shockwave produced by the force of his blow was damn powerful and her left hand was creaking and painfully stinging as she moved it despite it having full bone coating under her skin just as she blocked Isshiki's blow.

'I was careless.' Kaguya inwardly frowned, in contrast to her outward calm and provoking smirk. 'If that landed on my chest, he could cause severe damage.' She realized with dissatisfaction while already growing her bone armor under the skin of her whole body, especially her chest.

Sure, a blow like that would not cause her defeat but healing a shredded heart and lungs would be troublesome...

Not to mention how utterly humiliating it would have been, having her breasts be blown to smithereens right in front of Rei and having to regrow them. Her womanly pride would have taken a massive hit!

Isshiki frowned as he saw his fingers falling through the air, but he didn't dare to follow them with his eyes, keeping them fixed on Kaguya.

His hand missed several fingers and his forearm sported massive deep gashes but it was of no consequence. Kaguya's bones couldn't fully penetrate his tough body. The gashes were only surface wounds that didn't manage to reach bones and his fingers could be ripped out only because they were fundamentally weaker compared to other parts of his body due to their smaller size.

It didn't matter anyway. Isshiki pushed his chakra into his injured hand, blowing away Kaguya's residual chakra and then he added some more of his chakra and his arm and fingers started healing and regrowing at a visible pace. Two seconds later, his arm and hand were as good as new.

What did make Isshiki frown deepen, however, was Kaguya's slow transformation that was happening right in front of his eyes.

Her armoring herself up did have several outward signs. Bony horns sprouted from the sides of her head, curving themselves into an intricate shape. The fingernails on her other hand also blackened, elongated and sharpened, giving Isshiki an uncomfortable feeling as Kaguya's disintegration ability was highly concentrated in her fingernails now. Her skin became even whiter, if that was even possible, and with his special eye, Isshiki could clearly see Kaguya's chakra seeping from the bones underneath her skin into the said skin, hardening it to an insane degree.

If before Isshiki was reluctant to go into melee against her because of her disintegration ability, now he was downright afraid to approach her at all. She was a moving and fully armored fortress of deadly bones capable of sprouting from any place on her body, reinforced by hardened skin, adding even more defense on top of her bone armor.

Yet, her outward appearance deceptively barely changed.

Isshiki pursed his lips in distaste, 'This might be harder than I initially thought.'

But he regretted that thought a second later when around Kaguya, two moving black globs appeared, twisting and squirming before they hardened into two small balls reminiscent of the black rods.

When Isshiki's eyes landed on these, they widened as he recognized the Truth-Seeking Balls of Hagoromo Otsutsuki and he could practically see how much of her chakra was in these two inconspicuous balls of doom rotating around Kaguya.

"Well, then. Since you almost managed to land a proper hit on me, I guess I should take you just a teensy little bit more seriously, don't you think?" Kaguya teasingly asked with a smile, letting Isshiki see that even her teeth became noticeably sharper.

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Isshiki, feeling apprehensive about the change in Kaguya, realized he will have to up his game to stand a chance. He didn't want to do that but he had no choice. Not when facing... that.

Kaguya's eyebrow rose when she noticed an abrupt change in Isshiki. It was outwardly indiscernible but there was not much that could fool her Rinne-Sharingan. She could clearly see Isshiki's life force condense, granting his body a crazy power boost... but the lifespan of his vessel was instantly reduced to two years tops.

Naturally, if Isshiki had an appropriate vessel, like his own body, this technique could probably be sustained indefinitely. It was what made the Otsutsuki so dangerous, after all. They had bodies and chakra reserves strong enough that they could spam moves that would kill even S-rank humans after a single usage.

In fact, what Isshiki was doing was not all that different from Might Guy's fully opened Eight Inner Gates. It was simply a different, superior approach to a similar concept.

There was no new round of taunting after power-ups. Both combatants understood that taunting only worked when one had the upper hand and right now, neither knew the prowess of the other's boosted form so instead of spending brain cells on boasting, both Isshiki, and Kaguya carefully and patiently observed the other. Whoever attacked first would be at a small disadvantage.

Isshiki, however, quickly realized he was at a disadvantage anyway. The longer he gave Kaguya to analyze him, the more information about him would her Rinne-Sharingan gather and that wasn't a favorable situation for him.

There was only one way to nullify this advantage of hers. Attack.

Kaguya barely managed to shift one of her Truth-Seeking Balls into a shield to block the shockwave full of pressurized air thrown in her direction by Isshiki's punch. In retaliation, she shaped the other Truth-Seeking Ball into a spear and shot it at Isshiki...

The winds furiously picked up, the air pushed away and uncontrollably mixed by the shockwave rushing through it. The ground was not spared the catastrophe either as it heavily shook when Kaguya's spear hit where Isshiki stood just a second ago. Trees in the distance started falling down, uprooted by the shockwave and the massive cracks in the underground created by the impact of Kaguya's Truth-Seeking Spear.

The whole dimension was quivering under the massive pressure of Kaguya's and Isshiki's chakras and the fight between them was yet to start in earnest.

Kaguya spread her arms in front of her, her palms facing forward and balls of black and red chakra started to gather in front of them...

In a matter of milliseconds, a house-sized bijuudama was formed, instead of the usual purple coloration gaining more celestial white due to the influence of Kaguya's denser chakra.

Isshiki widened his eyes and instantly started to gather the life force around his palm, not having enough time because Kaguya was simply too fast. The bijuudama took barely one breath of time to reach him, but he was barely in time. His hand met the surface of the ball, his life force circulating in the exact manner needed to deflect it instead of clashing with it.

In front of Kaguya's impressed gaze, Isshiki slapped the bijuudama away, making it fly far away behind the horizon before a massive explosion occurred, a hot angry orange mushroom cloud rising in the distance, making the ground slightly shake some more.

Both Kaguya and Isshiki subconsciously braced themselves, knowing these light quakes were just the silence before the storm...

Kaguya from her position high in the sky could clearly see how something akin to an invisible force was mowing down the nature-chakra-enhanced trees as if they were just grass, slowly rushing towards them.

Then five silent seconds later, the shockwave reached them and Kaguya stood her ground, not budging even an inch from her position in the sky while her hair and clothes wildly flailed in the wind.

Isshiki's body was buckling, his feet digging into the ground as the shockwave swept over him, trying to force him to move while destroying everything around like some kind of invisible tsunami.

The shockwave passed and the world quieted down once again, both Kaguya and Isshiki uncaring, as if the country destroying force they had just resisted was nothing impressive.

And it really wasn't... as Kaguya was already charging another bijuudama while Isshiki sprang forth, leaping in her direction.

...

Rei watched with fascination as the two Otsutsukis wrought destruction and desolation upon his realm, wincing every time another patch of his forest disappeared.

Kaguya's bijuudama could be likened to nuclear blasts, erasing everything they hit and then some more with the resounding shockwave.

Kaguya's Shinra Tensei was no better, flattening everything in its path.

Isshiki shrugged whatever was thrown at him by the virtue of his physical might alone...

And the land in Rei's dimension was slowly crumbling apart.

Rei was safe in his space protected by seals from which he observed the epic battle. No attack of theirs could reach him since he made sure to spatially separate his hideout from his dimension much like Obito liked to do with his body in battle. In a way, Rei still was and was not present in the space of his dimension.

The only way to reach him was by using Spatial Abilities and while both Kaguya and Isshiki had a shitload of those, the space lock on Rei's dimension was so tight that neither of them could use even their basic space-related abilities.

As such, Rei was safe by default.

Not because he was strong enough. But because he was smart enough to set up countermeasures that left them no way of hurting him.

Thanks to that, Kaguya could completely let loose, not fearing injuring Rei at all.

And Sage was she letting loose!

The trees in Rei's dimension were a hundred times bigger than the trees in Amazon Forest and the forest in Rei's dimension was twenty times as big as Amazon Forest. As his dimension slowly grew, so did the forest due to the overabundance of the nature energy and somewhere along the road, it became as big as an entire continent, full of massive overbearing forest.

And yet, with another flick of Kaguya's wrist, a full one-tenth of the forest was flattened as the gravitational pressure descended upon it. A Shinra Tensei so strong it could erase an entire country... and Kaguya was not even winded as she threw another one of those at Isshiki who tanked it point-blank, barely faltering before once again sending a punch in her direction, sending enough force at her through the air that a city would be destroyed if it landed in the middle of it.

The surroundings were drowned in the deafening symphony of booming explosions, roaring earthquakes, and whistling rushing pressurized winds, Rei's dimension resembling more apocalypse with the previously lush and green ground now starting to resemble molten rock and fires from the explosions spreading far and wide while smoke reached the heavens in uncountable places all over his dimension.

Rei could only observe with a wry grimace, fully understanding why Kaguya gained the moniker of 'Goddess' all those years ago. She could destroy the world thrice over and call it a warm-up exercise. It was not something a person could believe without seeing it firsthand.

The pressure in the air was starting to grow heavier and heavier with every clash of the two Otsutsuki as their chakra filled it.

Isshiki was not as destructive as Kaguya but his resilience was not any less impressive. The man had a physique strong enough to swat bijuu like flies. A physique so strong that even Might Guy would shed manly tears of un-youthful jealousy upon seeing it.

But because of his limitations and focus on the body rather than techniques, his destructiveness suffered a great deal. In fact, Kaguya was the reason why 90% of Rei's dimension was erased of all semblance of life after but ten minutes of the fight.

Area three times the size of Elemental Nations was destroyed in ten minutes by her...

As yet another decimating blast of force swept through the dimension upon the clash of Kaguya's Shinra Tensei and Isshiki's punch, Rei's determination to never let any other Otsutsuki find his planet... or even his solar system... became stronger.

He didn't want nor need a clan of planet busters coming to his world!

Yes... he could fight Kaguya. He could beat Kaguya. In fact, he won all their spars so far.

But in all of those, he never once let her get going. This was the first time he witnessed her true prowess because he always restricted her with his seals before she could start throwing dangerous techniques around. Fuinjutsu was simply that broken. Even though Rei was a lot weaker than Kaguya, he could still restrict and seal her abilities enough to defeat her.

According to Kaguya, the Otsutsuki had a semblance of fuinjutsu but the way it was used in the Elemental Nations, the branch of Fuinjutsu created by Hagoromo Otsutsuki and passed down in the Uzumaki clan, was practically made to seal stronger beings.

That was the whole point of the craft, after all.

But sealing even one Otsutsuki was taxing as hell. The fight in front of Rei was a prime example.

The entire energy of Rei's dimension had to be focused on keeping the spatial lock going so the two monsters would not breach it.

Isshiki's main hard-hitting abilities were partially of the spatial nature and so were Kaguya's. All that decimation and the two were still under heavy restrictions and it was just mind-boggling how ridiculously powerful their race was.

Isshiki could not utilize his 'inventory'-like bullshit nor summon his sealing cubes and Kaguya's Rinne-Sharingan was mostly useless since she could not use her special eye ability and create dimensions due to the spatial lock.

Or rather, she could create them but transporting herself and her opponent into them would be impossible right now so the whole ability of her red eyes of doom became totally obsolete.

That's why she was spamming Shinra Tensei as if possessed.

Kaguya's dimensions were simply broken beyond belief and Rei believed it was Isshiki's fortune that the spatial lock was in place. Sure, it was to prevent him from fleeing but...

The capability to create a completely new dimension on the fly notwithstanding, Kaguya was basically 'The God' in her own dimension. Her Rinne-Sharingan ability let her dictate literally everything in her dimension and the whole dimension just bent over for her desires. As the dimension creator, she had supreme control of everything that originated from it.

It was why Rei was not awed at the prowess of his little rabbit as he watched her wreak havoc all over his realm. This... was nothing compared to what she could do with her Rinne-Sharingan special ability.

This was the reason why Rei would rather cloak and hide his planet than try to prepare for the Otsutsuki invasion. He had no idea what other busted abilities the other Otsutsukis had and from the little he knew, Kaguya was simply special but that didn't mean he would drop his caution.

Kaguya was all nice and cuddly, so much so that it was entirely too easy to forget she was an entity capable of creating new worlds.

The Elemental Nation was not ready for this. 'He' was not ready for this. For all the power Rei accumulated throughout his life, it was not enough to face a head-on invasion of the Otsutsukis. He could not depend on some stupid plot armor to give him the exact means necessary to win over the clan of world destroyers via some illogical twist of fate.

Rei knew he could develop the chakra practice of the Elemental Nations to heights capable of combating the Otsutsuki. For example, he had the Uzumaki clan. The clan full of seal masters who with the right training could go toe to toe with these monsters even if they were fundamentally weaker.

But for that he needed time. Two decades was not enough time to get a civilization up to snuff with a clan that was power-leveling by destroying other worlds for who-knows-how-many millennia.

If despite all Rei's efforts to hide, the Otsutsuki still show up? He will just accept his defeat and go to a different world with his family through Kaguya's Rinne-Sharingan abilities. Or maybe he would relocate all the ninja villages to a world created by Kaguya where she was the supreme authority. There were many solutions and paths he could take in that case. But until then, he was not giving up on his world, his village, or his accomplishments.

Not just yet.

In the last six hours of their fight, Kaguya gradually stopped haphazardly throwing big moves at him and their battle entered a more up and personal stage where Isshiki definitely held an advantage over Kaguya in the physical aspect.

Unlike her, he was experienced in hand-to-hand combat techniques, and now that he was aware of her disintegration bones, he took great care to avoid it.

But Kaguya had her own strengths.

For the n-th time, Isshiki tried to land a punch on Kaguya, only for a massive gravitational force to smash into him, staggering him and interrupting his attack, giving Kaguya enough time to get out of his range.

Isshiki inwardly cursed. This fight was beyond annoying for him. He was clearly physically stronger in all aspects except for physical endurance because of her bone armor. But he could not land a hit on her.

Creating a black rod, Isshiki pressed on and tried to follow up with his offensive, only for Kaguya to whip out her own black rod and clash with his, sending a shockwave throughout the surroundings.

They exchanged a quick flurry of attacks and parries before they finally took a distance from each other again when seeing it go nowhere.

"Aiming at my arms and legs? You won't be able to kill me like this." Isshiki expressionlessly said but inwardly he was slowly regaining his confidence. With most of his spatial abilities locked, he purposefully held back from using his second-best ability.

He didn't try to enlarge or minimize the objects and weapons around him during their clash, waiting for the best chance to strike a fatal blow.

"I don't need to kill you for you to die." Kaguya answered and chuckled at her logic but in this case, it was the truth.

Isshiki instantly understood that she knew and his expression grew grave.

Seeing his expression, Kaguya involuntarily chuckled again. Isshiki always thought her stupid. It was how she could get close enough to him to ambush him all those years ago. He was a very paranoid individual. There was no way she could have ambushed him like that if he considered her even a slight threat.

Alas, he didn't. He had always seen her as weak and dumb and that was his undoing.

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice?" Kaguya raised an eyebrow at Isshiki, not knowing if she should be amused or insulted. "The more I injure you, the more you are forced to heal, the quicker will the life force of your current vessel deteriorate. In the end, you will die anyway. It's just a question of time."

Isshiki narrowed his eyes, "I won't die." He flatly said.

It could be taken as a useless bravado and Isshiki probably wanted Kaguya to take it as such. After all, the truth was often the most unbelievable thing, but unfortunately for him, Rei made sure to share some intel about him. Intel even Kaguya was not aware of, despite their long-time co-operation.

"Ah, you mean the little technique that allowed you to survive my ambush all those years ago, huh? Kama, or whatever is its name?" Kaguya smugly asked, and this time, Isshiki's worry really showed on his face.

Kama was something he kept hidden at all costs. It was his way to be reborn and he never shared its real purpose with anyone so he had no idea how Kaguya could know about it.

While he was inwardly freaking out, Kaguya decided to mock him further. It was hard to get the ever-logical Isshiki out of his pace so she enjoyed having the upper hand for the moment.

"Well, how convenient that my partner had deployed spiritual restricting seals all over the place, no?" She innocently stated, knowing full well it would sound like a death sentence to Isshiki's ears.

Kama sounded like a mysterious and overpowered technique. The ability to cheat death and be reborn in a previously marked vessel after being killed... It was really special.

But just like Kaguya's Rinne-Sharringan's special ability could be for the most part made obsolete by Rei's simple spatial lock, her beloved's sealing arts had a perfect answer for Isshiki's technique too.

Apparently, Rei's research into the more spiritual aspect was not just a coincidence, and the fact he could grant Kaguya her meeting with her long-deceased foolish son was not the actual final goal, but rather just a nice side-effect.

Kama's description made it out to be some kind of wondrous ability where the user died in one place and could be reborn in a different vessel in another but nothing that seemed magical at first glance in this world was actually so simple.

Kama could make Isshiki's clone from his DNA but for his rebirth, his new vessel needed also his old soul. Upon his death, the Kama mark would drag his soul into the new vessel and the forceful takeover would be initiated.

But... what if Isshiki was trapped in a separate dimension and his soul was unable to leave it upon his death?

No. There would be no rebirth for him this time. Not on Rei's watch.

Hearing Kaguya talking about spiritual seals, Isshiki for the first time felt a cold sweat drench him as panic seeped into his usually calm mind.

He was fully aware of what this barrier would mean for him! His technique was not magic that somehow teleported his soul to a new vessel. Such a thing was impossible!

If he died inside a spiritual seal, his soul would not be able to get out and that was maybe even scarier than death itself to him. Death was something he feared but it was unknown. One can fear the unknown only so much.

Being aware that after his demise would come imprisonment and most likely him finding himself on the wrong side of the experimentation table... that made Isshiki feel a deep fear.

As his mind tried to find a solution to his predicament, he almost instantly remembered the man who accompanied Kaguya. The same man who first teleported them into this dimension and then disappeared.

Isshiki didn't put much importance on the man. It was just a human and compared to him, Kaguya seemed like the bigger threat. Isshiki didn't have the leisure to spare on some worthless ant.

He only now realized what a massive mistake that was.

The man was obviously a seal master and this 'partner' Kaguya was speaking about.

'I need to find and kill him or I will really be finished here!' Isshiki thought in dismay, and at that moment, his mind was made up.

Not bothering to pay more attention to Kaguya than strictly necessary, Isshiki spun on his heel and ran away from her under her baffled gaze. He had more important things to do than fight with her. Namely, he had one human that needed killing.

Kaguya watched Isshiki's retreating back with a mix of bewilderment, disbelief, and amusement. It didn't take a genius to realize what he wanted to do but...

'The idiot clearly didn't realize I am not the most dangerous person in this dimension.' She chuckled and shook her head.

For a moment, she considered attacking him since being ignored like this rubbed her the wrong way but then she remembered all the humiliation she suffered under Rei's seals and decided that Isshiki needed to be brought down a peg or ten.

No matter what she would have done to him could compare to how helpless Rei would make him feel with his seals.

With a smirk, she just watched the ignorant Isshiki willingly run to his own demise.

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From his safe observation spot, Rei noticed that Isshiki suddenly changed his mind about fighting Kaguya and started running in his direction. This made him incredulously raise his eyebrow at the sudden twist but it also made him feel inwardly annoyed.

Rei had many observation seals all around the dimension that worked similarly to Hiruzen's spying crystal ball so he was really sitting on a small couch he had stuffed in a storage scroll while eating popcorn as he watched the fight..

And just when he was enjoying some peace and quiet, enjoying a good show... because seeing Kaguya and Isshiki fight was like a scene from a bonafide apocalyptic movie... the Otsutsuki dude simply had to ruin all the fun for him.

Still, Rei was too lazy to deign Isshiki's mad charge at him with a proper reaction and he just kept leisurely lounging on his comfy couch.

Naturally, inwardly he was prepared to instantly take action in the abysmal off-chance that Isshiki had some hidden ace up his sleeve but outwardly, Rei looked like a couch potato watching a boring movie, probably making Isshiki even more pissed as he cocked his fist back and was about to send a punch at him.

A loud clang could be heard all over the surroundings as Isshiki's advance was stopped by some invisible barrier just three meters in front of Rei. He completely didn't notice it and crashed into it face-first, getting rebounded back by his own momentum without the barrier even budging.

Rei amusedly chuckled, the sight reminding him too much of those careless kids in supermarkets that run into a closed glass door and fall on their ass because they are too distracted with their new toy.

Isshiki instantly stood up, shaking off the impact and narrowed his eyes. He still could not see the wall between them but now he knew it was there. Gripping his fist hard, Isshiki started to madly punch in front of him, desperately hitting the wall as if possessed.

Rei appraisingly watched as the Otsutsuki tried to get to him, relishing in his growing frustration and despair. Seeing that previously arrogant face finally realize just how screwed he was... it was simply priceless.

Rei wasn't in any hurry to stop Isshiki either. The man was willingly letting Rei test his anti-Otsutsuki sealing arts so why would Rei complain?

At least he didn't need to hear the constant complaining and whining of Kaguya when he managed to rope her into this kind of activity.

The angry snarl of Isshiki was music to the ears compared to that.

Unfortunately for Isshiki, he didn't have a snowball chance in hell to breach Rei's protections. Rei might appear to be 'there', but he was really not.

Similarly to Obito's Kamui or Madara's Limbo techniques, Rei was in a different pocket space. This pocket space was simply close enough to his dimension that he was visually present but he was not really there.

Isshiki tried to move around the barrier and find a weak spot too but it was useless.

What he was hitting was not a barrier at all. It was the edge of the dimension itself. It was the place in which the pocket space where Rei was hiding and his dimension were meeting. The 'rift' between them was held open by Rei's seals since it was unnatural for the dimensions to be open and only Rei's seals were keeping it open.

But the kicker was that despite this the dimension being 'open', the spatial edge was nigh impenetrable, hence why Rei used it as a defensive means.

To reach Rei with his attacks, Isshiki would need something capable of breaching space itself. Technique or ability... but physical strength was not good enough.

The guy could be capable of busting a country with a punch or destroying a chunk of moon but he would still be unable to breach space.

The simplest comparison was the water walking technique. It didn't matter how many times one punched the tree, he would not be able to walk on it. To walk on it, one had to use specific techniques to get the desired results.

Rei had fun watching Isshiki in his berserk state, putting his all into punching and kicking the edge of the dimension, yet, not causing it to even slightly budge.

He was not strong enough to fight the Otsutsukis but fortunately for him, he didn't need to be. The fights on this level were not solely decided by brawn. It was just that nobody gave the Otsutsuki the memo yet.

An hour later and when Isshiki's rampage was starting to get old, Rei decided he had enough data and Isshiki was no longer needed.

Isshiki punched the barrier like usual, even trying to use his shrinking abilities in tandem to try if it would work... but unlike before, ink-like symbols started quickly spreading up his arm from where his fist was in contact with the 'barrier'.

Isshiki panicked a bit, his state of mind no longer at its best, but he still managed to pull back, only letting a small strand of symbols crawl up his arm.

With a swift and decisive slash, Isshiki quickly separated his arm from his body, deciding to regrow the entire limb rather than risk letting the seal spread all the way onto his body... but he was a second too late.

One symbol.

That's all that managed to get onto Isshiki's body, and he quickly found a small pressure descending on him, causing him to widen his eyes.

The pressure was nothing extraordinary and even a genin could probably shrug it off but it was there and Isshiki felt it. It was like an annoying fly buzzing around to his senses.

Thinking he could just blast it away with a burst of his powerful chakra, Isshiki flared his chakra... and when Kaguya saw it from her place a bit away from where she was observing him, she facepalmed.

'That... was his first and last mistake.' She dryly thought, giving Isshiki's back a deadpan look.

She would have known. After all, she fell for the same friggin' trick!

Instead of the weakened seal being blasted away with a powerful surge of the chakra, the seal started quickly feeding on Isshiki's chakra, and the more he flared it, the more the pressure on him increased.

"What the hell is this!?" Isshiki frantically exclaimed, flailing his arms as if trying to shake off the ever-increasing pressure.

From the weight capable of restraining genin it quickly grew, shooting past Jonin-level restrictions all the way to Kage level and then some...

Soon enough, when the pressure stopped growing, Isshiki was panting but he still stood upright despite the strain the seal put on his body and Rei nodded in satisfaction.

This was the limit of his seal. It didn't exactly squash Isshiki like a bug but... for now it sufficed.

Rei whipped out a small notebook and started writing his ideas for improvement, giving Isshiki a few seconds to get a breather.

When he was finished with his notes, Rei raised his head and looked at Isshiki, giving him a pleasant smile as he finally decided to answer, "That, my dear ignorant guinea pig, is one of the many, many seals I need you to try for me. Now then, shall we continue?"

Isshiki was a very driven scientist with a penchant for unconventional experiments himself. He could recognize a fellow enthusiast and his pupils constricted as he instantly knew he was in for a very long and ruthless afternoon that will definitely not end well for him.

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"What are you going to do with that?" Kaguya asked Rei who was holding a slightly shining green gem in his hands.

Unfortunately, Isshiki only managed to last long enough for Rei to try up to three hundred thirty-two seals before he inevitably croaked despite Rei's attempts in the later trials to round the number up and reach three hundred thirty-three.

After he died, Rei's spiritual barrier caught his departing soul and sealed it in the gem Rei was holding.

"I am going to use his soul as an energy battery." Rei contemplatively said, "The sealing formation that would hide our planet will need an energy source and I initially wanted to hook it up onto my dimension but with Isshiki's soul in my hands, I no longer need to do that."

As someone more powerful than a bijuu, Isshiki's soul was quite powerful and capable of producing a lot of energy.

Isshiki's Kama technique should just dissipate a few hours after Rei sealed Isshiki's soul because the Kama marks attempts to suck Isshiki's soul from wherever it is was naturally a chakra-heavy endeavor and with his soul sealed, the marks would use up their reserves, destroying themselves.

At that point, Rei could release Isshiki's soul and it would simply return to the cycle of reincarnation.

But why would he do that?

As a punishment for the sin of living on Rei's planet for a thousand years, plotting its demise, and not paying taxes, Rei decided Isshiki would work even after his death to pay everything he owed him back.

And from Rei's very quick mental calculations, he decided that Isshiki's soul was in for at least a few thousand years of forced labor.

But after that, Rei would be extremely glad to release him, depending on his behavior. If he is a good boy and helps people out of his own volition, Rei would naturally release him sooner. Lucky him, huh?

Not that a soul sealed in a gem could actually do anything, so… sucks to be him too.

"Huh. That's... harsh." Kaguya admitted but inwardly, she was quite satisfied with Isshiki's 'punishment'. The guy did intend to sacrifice her to the God Tree, after all.

"Harsh?" Rei snorted, "He shouldn't have come to my planet with the intention to cause chaos for his own benefit here. This is my turf." He said, almost indignantly.

"He was here before you were even born, though." Kaguya teasingly reminded him, giggling when Rei's eyebrow twitched in irritation.

"Unimportant semantics." Rei rolled his eyes with a nonchalant facade.

...

Rei and Kaguya exited Rei's dimension and appeared back in his mansion where his other wives were already waiting for him, making Kaguya secretly groan because she knew her alone time with him was now officially over.

Coming in, Rei and Kaguya discovered only Tsunade and Mei lounging by the hearth in the living room and talking.

When Rei and Kaguya walked into the living room, the two women stopped talking and turned to them.

"Oh, hello. You took your time." Tsunade teasingly said, giving Kaguya a wolfish grin.

"Un. It's not nice to not share, Kagu-chan." Mei nodded in agreement, her head understanding Tsunade's words in her own way.

"Hello, girls. Where are Konan, Pakura, and Ringo?" Rei asked as he sat down in the armchair, ignoring Mei's remark with trained ease.

Kaguya too only rolled her eyes at Mei and sat on Rei's lap, making Mei pouty.

'Yes. Using my dimension as a place where Kaguya and Mei can let loose and fight to their heart's content is a great idea. I wouldn't want the tension between them to rise without any outlet.' Rei wryly thought as he observed the interaction between his two more selfish women.

Still, he didn't forget to pay attention to Tsunade too as she answered his question, "Oh, them. It was decided that Kurotsuchi's training will be a joint project between Konan and Pakura while Ringo is tending to her new apprentice Samui."

'Good. I only have to get rid of Tsunade and Mei to reclaim my alone time with Rei.' Kaguya instantly mused.

"Shouldn't you be present in your village, Tsunade? It was just recently invaded, after all." Kaguya 'innocently' asked, earning herself a deadpan look from Tsunade.

"Nah. I am good." Tsunade dryly answered and Kaguya quietly clicked her tongue.

As amused with their antics as Rei was, he had some important questions so he interrupted their bickering and asked, "Was Kumo already conquered?"

He and Kaguya were away for an entire day and by now, the Kiri army should have arrived at Kumo even if the Kiri Swordsmen didn't manage to make the village surrender.

Alas, Rei didn't have any information source while they were dealing with Isshiki so he knew nothing about what went on in the world during that time.

"Mhm. Kumo surrendered after a short siege of the Kiri army." Tsunade briefly informed.

Rei slowly nodded at that before humming, "So the Swordsmen failed, huh? Sucks to be them."

Not that he cared overly much. As long as Kumo was now under him, he was fine either way, no matter if the one doing the conquering was the Kiri army or the Kiri Swordsmen. But still...

"Kinda." Mei giggled, "Ringo only sent them because of their bragging that they could conquer Kumo by themselves and don't need anyone else. The idiots."

"Yet, here we are. Five of them are dead, and another ten are injured." Tsunade sighed. It was her who received the injured ones and was supposed to heal them. She would naturally do her duty but she would be damned if she didn't make the process as painful for those fools as humanly possible.

Rei inwardly winced when he heard his two sweethearts. He knew Ringo best and... let's just say he could imagine the punishment Ringo was going to heap on the Swordsmen for being too arrogant for their own good.

It wasn't good to be one of them right about now. Not at all...

'Alas, poor Samui would definitely get caught in this too.' Rei idly thought. There was no snowball chance in hell Ringo would not use the opportunity to toughen her apprentice a bit. 'Oh, well. It will be a good character-building exercise for her.' He shrugged, knowingly dooming Samui to a few months of training hell.

"What about Onoki and A?" Rei asked the second most important question.

As former Kages, there was always a possibility that they could cause a rebellion if they escaped and got back to their respective villages. Rei had already decided to leave them alive but despite Ringo's promise to A that she would let the man go, Rei hadn't promised anything like that.

Unfortunately for them, these two were yet another people that came under the label of 'Sucks to be them'.

"Oh, they complained and raged, demanding the seals on them to be lifted but Konan dealt with them quickly by telling them nobody but you can unseal those seals." Tsunade snickered as she remembered their flabbergasted expressions.

"But it was only after Tsuna-chan got annoyed and had beaten them up that they finally shut up." Mei cheerfully finished for Tsunade, throwing her under the bus and earning herself a betrayed stink-eye from the best and most violent medic in the world.

Beating up important prisoners of war, especially after they were promised good treatment was just a poor form.

Of course, Rei would close his eyes a bit and ignore this incident. He loved Tsunade too much to reprimand her for beating up some unimportant complaining bastards.

Seeing that there was no incoming reprimand from Rei, Tsunade grinned, "Anyway, they are both in the Village Hidden on the Other Side, awaiting you to deal with them, with their chakra still restricted to genin level."

"Good." Rei nonchalantly said but inwardly he sighed when he heard that. He was secretly hoping these two would have been already sorted out when he came back from visiting Kaguya.

Then again, that's what having so many subordinates was for and Rei was already thinking to whom he would delegate this 'glorious' babysitting duty.

Because obviously, neither A nor Onoki were leaving his village anytime soon, duh.

Leaning back into his armchair, Rei finally let out a relieved breath full of satisfaction and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

'At least everything more or less went according to the plan. It seems I have won the Game of Thrones Naruto-version.'

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A few months passed and the world as usual moved on, the events and the initial fear caused by both Iwa and Kumo being conquered wore off after nothing really changed in the lives of most people.

Some trouble did indeed spring up in both Iwa and Kumo but neither Pakura nor Ringo were people that would tolerate being walked over by someone and after a particularly bloody response, everything calmed down once again.

The two conquered villages didn't really have any figure to rally behind since A, Onoki, and B still enjoyed the hospitality of the Village on the Other Side, B even enjoying being in contact with Yagura and Yugito.

The last Rei heard of him, the big and tanned rapper jinchuuriki was acting as the babysitter for their newest child. trying to teach the baby the glory of Rap no Jutsu.

With all five major ninja villages under Rei's influence, some things did indeed change on a worldwide scale and it was starting to become obvious even to the various Daimyos.

The hostilities between the villages ceased for the most part. There was still some infighting, especially when two teams found themselves on different sides because of a mission, but Rei could with satisfaction proclaim that most of 'his' ninjas no longer went out of their way to kill the ninjas from the other villages.

Considering their primary way to keep ninja villages in check was to pit them against each other, this change brought a lot of concern from nobles and Daimyos.

Naturally, Rei didn't care at all.

He didn't conquer the villages so they would continue being over-glorified mercenaries for whoever had the deeper pockets. Chakra had so many more uses and the fact its users were just simple superpowered mercenaries was honestly shameful, in Rei's opinion.

While this couldn't be changed instantly, Rei did start a small change by setting up proper research centers in each village that would gather bright minds. He knew best that humans, if given proper opportunities and conditions, could technologically advance by leaps and bounds.

Fortunately, the Wind and Fire Daimyo knew this would happen sooner or later and when they noticed the drastic shift in the political scene, they were the first to come in contact with Rei through his wives.

Much to his surprise, they didn't demand him to bring everything back to how it was but actually deferred to him.

It was nice to deal with smart people. With all ninja villages and the two biggest international companies under Rei's thumb, he could wipe out any Daimyo family he desired without any consequences so the Daimyos really didn't have much ground to stand on.

Nevertheless, Rei didn't expect them to bow their heads to him. He would have been totally fine with ignoring them but since they came up with this themselves...

Rei initially intended to have a very ambiguous no-touch policy when it came to governments. He was just one man and governing the entire continent would be far too much work for it to be worth it.

That's why he was fine with Daimyos staying in their cozy functions as long as they didn't stick their noses into the ninja matters.

But since three of the five major nations wanted to officially come under him, or rather, under the Biri-Biri Company, there was not one good reason to refuse them.

With them working for him, Rei could fully leave the matters of governance in their hands and still have influence over them so why not?

In the end, the Land of Wind, Fire, and Water created an alliance where their respective rulers retained their territories but also formed a sort of council that would decide the big decisions.

It was all still in the middle of formation so nothing was set in stone yet but the foundation for future peaceful cooperation was already finished.

Instead of being ninja villages of different nations, Konoha, Kiri, and Suna simply became three different military divisions of the newly formed Elemental Alliance, each completely independent and with their own leader at the helm.

Rei was satisfied with how things developed. Peace was not really his end goal. He could care less about 'world peace' but it had to be done. Because only in peacetime could all the resources be dedicated to advancement.

And there was no better way to create a semblance of peace than to bring everyone under one banner.

The Lands of Earth and Lightning were not very excited by this new development but there was nothing they could do. They were outnumbered in all aspects by this new Alliance and their ninja villages were 'theirs' only on paper.

The pressure on the rulers of those nations was immense and when other small nations started petitioning for joining the Elemental Alliance, even the last ember of their hopes was extinguished.

Their joining was just a question of time.

...

Rei and Konan were standing in a vast expanse of rocky barren land on the moon, the only sign of human intervention in the surroundings was the sealing circle carved into the rocky surface for several kilometers in radius.

"We are finally finished." Konan sighed in relief, fed up with carving seal after seal, every day of the week. Honestly, at this point, she would take paperwork over this any day.

Just the thought that Rei loved doing this kind of stuff was making her dizzy.

"Mhm. It took a while." Rei nonchalantly answered.

Unlike Konan, he mostly felt satisfaction and slight weariness at the repetitive work, rather than annoyance.

"A while? It took us months!" Konan indignantly exclaimed.

When she agreed to help Rei with his new project, she didn't think she would be spending most of her time for the next few months carving into a rock with kunai.

Hell, they couldn't even use Jutsus for this because apparently, this was really delicate work.

Stupid Rei and his excuses for why she couldn't blast this all to hell...

Rei gave the indignant Konan a gentle smile and said, "Thank you."

It served to calm her down a bit as she couldn't stay angry at him when he showed his gratitude. Konan huffed and looked away, but after a few moments of silence, she glanced at Rei and reluctantly spoke.

"Are you going to start it?"

Rei blinked... and pointed at the center of the sealing formation near him.

Konan saw the gem containing Isshiki's soul there, already melded to the sealing formation which meant...

"Wait, that's it?" Konan incredulously asked, "I haven't even felt it starting!"

She was flabbergasted. Shouldn't a seal capable of hiding an entire planet be... she didn't know. Grander, perhaps? More oppressive?

"That's kinda the point." Rei shrugged and put his arm around Konan, "Don't worry. It's working properly."

The whole sealing formation was a bit exposed but that was unfortunately necessary. It wouldn't have worked if it was hidden on the moon, instead of being on its surface. Rei made sure there were many seals safeguarding it and this was the best he could do anyway.

With this sealing marvel that used all of his vast sealing knowledge, he reached his ultimate goal and the planet was finally hidden from the Otsutsuki.

He could finally live in peace and have his much-deserved worry-less vacation.

"So... what now?" Konan asked, raising her head to look Rei in the eyes.

She was perhaps one of the very few people who knew how much effort he put into this project. Now that it was done... she was interested if he had something else planned.

"Now?" Rei chuckled and pulled her into a loose embrace, "I guess now I can finally fulfill the desire you girls have in your hearts."

Rei's words came like lightning from the clear sky for Konan whose eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock.

It took her a few moments but eventually, she managed to recollect her wits and she quietly asked, a twinge of hope in her tone, "You mean...?"

Rei sweetly smiled at her and put his forehead against her, "Yes. I think it's finally time to make a proper family with you."

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Fifty years passed and no Otsutsuki reared his ugly head, making Rei assume his plan to conceal his planet worked flawlessly.

Funnily enough, both Boruto and Himawari were born to Hinata and Naruto. But these two were their third and fourth child. After being trained by Anko, Hinata knew what she wanted and had the guts to take it. Naruto, the lucky bastard in more ways than one, frequently thanked the Sage for having the Uzumaki stamina.

Honestly, in the end, Naruto didn't become Hokage. Instead, he focused on his family.

His dream of becoming Hokage stayed just that. An unfulfilled dream. Not that Naruto cared overly much. Last Rei heard, he was happy with his life... and his big family.

Sasuke surprisingly married Tenten, and at their wedding, Rei saw why. The girl had a quite pretty face and once she lost the mousy hairstyle, she was fairly beautiful. Plus, her serious attitude undoubtedly appealed to the Uchiha.

Alas, lucky him that he didn't need to recreate the Uchiha clan. The stabby weapon mistress gave him an ultimatum quite early on in their relationship, stating that she would not be used like some breeding sow.

Two kids were her maximum and her words came true.

Then again, knowing that his clan partly survived the 'massacre' seemed to take away a lot of Sasuke's burden so he was fine with Tenten's wishes. They were quite happy together.

As for Sakura... she became Kurenai's, the Sixth Hokage's, apprentice. Becoming an adult made the pinkette calm down and take her kunoichi life seriously. Fast-forward twenty years and the girl became the Seventh Hokage at the ripe age of thirty, serving in the position to this day.

That was one thing even Rei couldn't foretell but it somehow did happen.

Eh, weirder things happened...

During these past fifty years, Rei had his work cut out for him. He thought that finally preventing the Otsutsuki invasion would mean a nice peaceful and quiet life for him but alas, he was totally wrong.

It started slowly, all of his girls getting pregnant... and then the horror began.

Despite being a Master in the Sealing Arts and de facto the secret ruler of the world, Rei had no way to avoid the sleepless nights and the terror of the new parenthood.

Oh, he definitely tried to make his word easier by creating some seals but he quickly understood that freeing Kaguya was easy compared to being a father and taking care of seven newborns at the same time.

The woe was him...

But it didn't end there! Apparently, one child was too little for his girls and every single one of his wives wanted to continue doing her womanly duties. They wanted to have more kids and during these times, Rei fully understood why harems went out of fashion.

He had seen hell...

Unfortunately, he loved them too much to tell them no and he cared too much about every single one of his children to ignore them. So, the next fifty years were very busy and seemed almost unending to Rei.

Complaining aside... it wasn't all bad. Rei was actually happy with his life and the experience of having kids.

As long as it doesn't repeat itself...

Finally, all his wives reached their desired 'quota' of kids, and then Rei instantly put an infertility seal on himself. No matter how much sex he will have in the future, no more kids for him unless he for some ridiculous and completely unrealistic reason decided that he wanted more.

Pfft, as if that would happen.

The most reasonable of his women was surprisingly Mei, only wanting three kids and no more. Her pregnancies were also spread out, having at least seven years in between them so that was quite manageable for Rei too.

Bless her heart.

Mei was not the best mother but she tried her best. Unfortunately, that meant all three of her children got most of her... quirks. As much as Rei tried to subtly prevent it, it was impossible for him since he had other children whereas Mei could be with hers almost nonstop.

Alas, Mei's three kids ended up in the newly created Inter-Space Warfare Research Department, making one weapon of mass destruction after another and having a blast.

Truly... Mei's three little apples didn't fall far from the tree.

Rei was just glad the ninja civilization in these fifty years progressed enough that they could travel to space and other planets, resulting in this part of his family's ability to indulge in their destructive nature without having to damage Rei's planet.

Konan also didn't make much trouble for Rei. Only four pieces in total.

His sweet Konan was always very understanding and wanted only the best for him. Once again, she didn't disappoint and the number of kids she wanted was not something outrageous.

All of her kids possessed the paper release and Rei made sure they knew their fuinjutsu but despite that, three of them ended up as civilians. Rei was saddened but as a good father should, he let them make this choice for themselves.

These three took over the management of the ever-growing Biri-Biri company from Tsunade and their mother and Konan could finally take a permanent break from that function.

Only Rikumi Yotsuba, Konan's second eldest girl, followed Konan's and Rei's footsteps and wanted to become a strong kunoichi like her mom.

Frankly speaking, with how the chakra technology was advancing, being a ninja didn't have many advantages nowadays. Even civilians had at least some chakra with their pathways unlocked. Chakra was a subject even in civilian schools and one didn't need to be a ninja to be a chakra researcher nowadays.

It also didn't help that most didn't have the drive and talent necessary to become a strong ninja and frankly speaking, with the ever-growing destructibility of chakra technology, even chunins didn't amount to much. They were just regular cannon fodder.

Hence, if one wanted to be a strong ninja, S-rank was a must. Of course, reaching this milestone was much more manageable with the training regimen Rei put together with all of his data gathered from Kaguya, but it still required a lot of effort. Most people simply couldn't be bothered.

Rei and Konan made sure Rikumi was put through the wringer when they were sure her desire rang true. Rikumi was forty-two years old right now and she was already the head of one of the Other-sided village's departments while also definitely being in the top ten strongest ninjas worldwide.

Since she wanted to be a kunoichi, Konan nor Rei would not allow her to not reach at least that much.

Plus, Konan probably could see through Rei's plans for the future and knew creating strong people who could defend their home was necessary. After all, they might not be here all the time to protect it if what she had discovered was any indication.

Kaguya had five children with Rei. Yet, her initial desire was two.

She had wanted two boys. But she was given three girls in between her boys, much to Rei's amusement. Even being accused of having a faulty and too feminine seed didn't diminish it.

There was not much to say about her children. They were all ridiculously powerful from the get-go compared to other kids.

Kaguya also wouldn't do the same mistake she did with Hagoromo and Hamura and this time, she took their upbringing firmly into her own hands, resulting in five 'monsters' and the strongest protectors of Rei's little 'empire'.

The girls, Rukia, Remi, and Rina were incredible with sealing arts so much that even Kaguya had a bit of trouble facing them.

The boys, Haruto and Hiroto... the names chosen by Kaguya, ugh... were the usual 'blast it all with irresistible strength' types just like their mother. They went far in their strength development, maybe even farther than Hagoromo and Hamura, but they did not stand a chance against their sisters or Rikumi.

Despite their power, these five were massive mama and papa boys and girls, though. It was really endearing at times.

Pakura and Temari both begot Rei six children over the years, as if competing with each other.

Some went into the civilian sector, some into research, but with their Scorch and Magnet Releases, Temari's kids were godsent for mining resources and that's where most of them ended up, making fortunes for themselves with minimal effort. Especially with the new colonization of other planets. The Magnet Release was incredible for getting new resources from those.

Pakura's kids, on the other hand, were good at glass-making, pooling together, and creating the glass-making division of the Biri-Biri company.

They even started researching different types of chakra-enhanced glass and their findings were what made the colonization of the other planets possible.

Rei liked to spend time with them in their labs since the sealing arts were heavily used in their glass-making but sadly, he didn't do that often. This part of his family was driven and raised to be very self-reliant by their mothers, causing them to focus more on their lives and 'making the family richer and more reputable' rather than the family life itself.

They still attended every family gathering and celebration but... Sigh.

Ringo bore her own seven little swordsmen of the mist, the kids flailing around wooden swords before they could even walk.

With a mother like her, it wasn't any surprise that all seven of them were very good at handling swords but what they really excelled at was forging.

All seven of them. The best forgers in the world.

And Rei couldn't be more proud of this part of his family.

One could think of any high-end chakra technology and it would be made with special alloys developed by Ringo's children. They were the backbone of the quick progress, putting together sealing arts, forging, and masterful Lightning Release to create new and stronger materials at a sufficiently quick pace that the swift development of the technology didn't need to be stopped because of something trivial like insufficient materials.

Without them, nothing of this space colonization era of theirs would have been possible. Not so soon, anyway.

And lastly, Tsunade.

She was hell-bent on recreating the Senju clan.

After Rei flatly rejected her initial quota of hundred kids... duh... they finally found a compromise in the number twelve.

Three girls and nine boys. All good with Wood Release and many of them were in charge of the forestation of new planets, whereas others found their calling in construction or even medicine like their mother.

All were strong ninjas because whether they wanted it or not, Tsunade would not let them be just civilians. Not on her watch. The Senju clan was a ninja clan and that was apparently that.

Despite that, only two were really notable in the ninja circles whereas others were albeit strong... but not reputable for their exploits.

Hana Senju Yotsuba... Rei allowed Tsunade and her kids to retain their Senju names because he knew how much it meant for Tsunade... was the youngest of the girls, yet, the one who took Tsunade's title of the best medic in the world.

Granted, it was mostly because Tsunade no longer made her discoveries public, opting to do research on her new and resurrectable guinea pig called Orochimaru, results of which she could hardly proudly publish.

But it still made both her and Rei proud of Hana and her accomplishments. Hana took over the hospital in the Other-sided Village too after the overjoyed Anko retired because, 'There is finally someone who can take this damned position from my hands!' according to her.

Really, that woman was much better at healing but she still preferred torture rather than what she was good at. No matter how many times Tsunade tried to 'straighten her out', it didn't help.

Hashirama Senju Yotsuba was the other one.

Rei was a bit exasperated at that. It just had to be Hashirama's namesake who stuck out of the fold. The boy was incredible at Wood Style. More so than his siblings. He was yet another of Rei's children who definitely ranked up in the unofficial top ten ninjas worldwide.

But...

Unlike Kaguya's children or Rikumi, Hashirama's passion was not ninja arts but instead... farming.

He was so skilled in his Wood Style that he created a new sub-skill called Plant Style and started farming with it.

According to him, something in the quiet and peaceful life of a farmer was incredibly calming and refreshing.

So... yes. A person like that was in the top ten power ranking. Even his mother, Tsunade, was a tad bit exasperated at how much this boisterous and carefree son of hers acted.

As Rei sat in his rocking chair and looked towards the horizon, he sighed.

He... was bored.

There was simply nothing to do for him.

Or rather, he didn't feel like doing anything anymore.

Only the thoughts of his recent project brightened his mood.

While his little empire was starting with traveling through space, Rei's personal project was something different. He wanted to accomplish inter-dimensional travel.

There was nothing more for him in the Narutoverse and while his Otaku days were a long time over, he still desired to travel throughout other worlds.

Once he finished his inter-dimensional teleportation seal, he intended to take his wives on this new adventure, leaving his world in the hands of his children. Rei never intended to hold onto the power for as long as he could. He accomplished a lot but slowly, he was passing the world on to the future generations. Hence, his boredom.

'Now I only need to find a way to present the idea to my wives. Sage knows Tsunade, in particular, wouldn't like the thought of separating from her children.' Rei grimaced, before wistfully sighing, 'Maybe I should give it another ten years?'

That's what he said ten years ago...

Ah, well, he had all the time in the world.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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