The Tsuchikage entered the hospital, feeling disgruntled as a nurse noticed him. She bowed, and after a brief chat, she started leading him to the part of the hospital where they housed the n and won who suddenly appeared right on his porch in the morning hours just as he was about to fly from his house to his office.
He had almost fallen from the sky in shock!
As he entered the hall with rooms where they were accommodated, he noticed their families coming and going, spending ti and worrying about their clearly mistreated friends and family mbers they thought they would never see again.
Onoki closed his eyes, trying to stave off his headache. This was a botherso situation. Feeling the chakra of three counciln, five of his ANBU not currently on duty, a few important Jonin, so influential chunin, and many clan mbers in the rooms around, Onoki really wanted to give the bastard who dropped this poisoned gift straight onto his porch a good kick in the ass.
The preparation for the assault on Suna's border outposts was nearly finished. He needed his ninja to have their head in the ga. He needed them to focus on Suna. Not... raging at Kumo, who was going to be their ally in the upcoming conflict.
But what could he do? He was the Tsuchikage, and these were his people. And Kumo fucked with his people.
Giving several people who passed him a nod to return their respectful greetings, Onoki entered one of the rooms. Inside was his granddaughter, Kurotsuchi, and his son, Kitsuchi, both fussing over a frail-looking woman in her late twenties who vaguely resembled Kurotsuchi with long, unkempt hair.
Obori, the granddaughter of his late sister. A girl who went missing in action a few years back, presud dead. The girl who might as well be his niece.
Onoki let his rage in him coil into a tight ball, not showing even a hint of it outwardly as he walked into the room. The occupants of the room finally noticed him and turned toward him.
"Grandpa..." Kurotsuchi tearfully croaked with a vulnerable voice full of pain as she tightly clutched Obori's hands. The older girl practically raised her after Kurotsuchi's mother died in the Third Ninja War. Obori's death hit her hard.
And yet, here she was. With eyes dead, staring into nowhere. The lights were on, but nobody was ho.
Onoki shared a secret look with Kitsuchi and slightly bowed his head, hiding his darkening expression. It looked like he would need to contact Akatsuki again. He had another major job for them.
His allies clearly needed to be reminded that actions had consequences.
...
"Two hundred and sixteen. That's the final number of bloodlines carrying ninja and kunoichi that were returned to us by the unknown party." A man reported to the Kirigakure council, having a hard ti keeping his composure under the oppressive, heavy, and gloomy atmosphere inside the room.
"I see." Terumi i coldly said, tapping her finger on the table, just as a wizened, white-haired man to her left decided to interject with a wry expression.
"Let's look at the brighter side." He tried to sound at least a little jovial, but failed miserably. "Many of our extinct clans can now be restarted."
i closed her eyes, "We will not force them." She said with a finality that inford everybody who would want to protest that it would not be wise to test her right now.
The white-haired man easily nodded his acquiescence, and silence returned to the room. Many of the n and won sitting around the table were heads of their respective clans. And several of their clansn were among the people who conveniently appeared in i's little garden behind her house, utterly ruining it. Others were among the people who appeared in her bedroom, kitchen, or living room. And so even appeared right in the bathroom... as she was taking a shower.
Whoever was responsible for this stunt, she was grateful for them returning their people. But her virtue was now ruined. If she ever found them, and if they were a male, they'd better marry her, or she would lt them!
"From so reports, there are still so of our people imprisoned in Kumogakure." The reporting ninjas carefully continued, instantly bringing the mood in the room down even more.
i thoughtfully nodded, "And then there are their children."
Her eyes swept through the faces in the room. "I did not want to join this war." She softly started, "It had nothing to do with us." Leaning forward, i narrowed her eyes, "But this?" She mirthlessly chuckled, "If we don't respond strongly, it will send a ssage that we are an easy target. That Kumo could continue doing this."
i had no delusions. All Hidden Villages were doing these things. Well, except Kirigakure. They mostly just killed bloodline users with their previous hate-boner for them. She made her peace with it.
But over two hundred people from her village? The Civil War clearly presented Kumo with an opportunity for so bloodline shopping, and they were not shy about it.
"I am considering allying ourselves with Suna and Konoha in the upcoming conflict." i said, "Anybody who has sothing to say against it, put your argunts together. We shall speak about it during the next eting in two days. For now, this eting is over."
The counciln slowly shuffled out of the room until only i and Ao were left inside. Ao turned toward i, "Was that wise? Marrying ourselves to Konoha or Suna will have its issues."
There was a lot of bad blood between their villages. He had a Byakugan eye, and their village had killed Sunagakure's hero from the Third War. Those were things that would be very hard to forget or forgive.
'Marrying?' i's expression darkened, "Ao. Shut up, or I will kill you."
Ao gave her a helpless 'What did I do' expression, but he was sowhat used to i's eccentric death threats by now. He still had no idea what was triggering them, though. Seriously, if she didn't do sothing with whatever issue she had, he feared she would beco a grumpy cat-lady with no marriage prospects.
Shaking her head, i continued speaking, blissfully unaware of Ao's thoughts. "Coveting and stealing bloodlines is normal in our world. You know that better than most." She briefly glanced at his eyepatch. "But... I don't have much of a choice. The clans joined our side in the civil war to feel safe. How can they feel safe after the word of this last incident spreads? Instead of fearing being killed, will they fear being captured by Kumo ninjas?"
"Whoever did this knew exactly how to force our hand." Ao helplessly sighed. He would love to give i so good advice, but he had none. Their village had just finished with a civil war and its aftermath. Their tentative peace was very fragile.
And this smashed it to pieces. The clans wanted blood even though the village was not in a state for another war. That left i just one option. She would have to seek an alliance.
How very convenient that there was just one eligible choice for them, no?
"Indeed. And here I hoped we could stay neutral. But it seems I was too naive." i whispered as she looked out of the window at the mist-covered village with a weary, downcast gaze.
Another war. Oh, how she hated war.
...
"Tsunade-sama, just one last matter for today."
"Yeah, yeah, get on with it, Shizune." Tsunade grumbled, picking up her bottle of sake, lanting not having sothing stronger at hand. Ever since sobody dropped several supposedly dead or missing ninja and kunoichi into the T&I resting area, the council etings have beco even more headache-inducing than before.
Tsunade would oh, so love to bla that irritating blonde Yamanaka girl who had seed to make politely aggravating her in any way she could into her personal hobby, but it happened when Ino was giving her a face-to-face report about so unimportant nonsense, and she was not a clone. Tsunade checked. Four tis.
She still thought Ino and Hinata had to do sothing with it. If sothing outrageous happened in the village, blaming it on those two was just a safe bet.
Hah! And they say she didn't know how to gamble.
The only exception was if it was a prank. Then, Naruto was at fault. Even if the prank was done by sobody else, it still applied. Naruto was at fault, sohow. Tsunade just knew it.
"Inoichi Yamanaka wanted to ask if he could accommodate the Uzumaki who were among the prisoners in the Senju clan grounds."
Tsunade owlishly blinked, "There were Uzumaki?"
She might have missed that in the report. To be fair, she was swamped with work, and she mostly just skimd over the unimportant reports. She had more pressing issues to care about than two or three dozen people dropped into the T&I out of nowhere.
That's what subordinates were for. If sothing important happened, Shizune would inform her, like she was doing now.
"Yes..." Shizune nervously answered, trying to avoid Tsunade's gaze.
Scrunching her eyebrows, Tsunade snorted. "Eh, sure. Why not? I guess it is my duty to look after them." She gruffly said before taking a sip from her sake, but Shizune knew her long enough to hear the wistful undertone in her voice.
It made her only more nervous. But she steeled her nerves and let out a deep breath. "And also..." She suddenly found the view outside the window very interesting. "There were three Senju?"
Expecting Tsunae to smash her desk in fury, Shizune pre-emptively flinched, but to her shock, Tsunade grew eerily quiet instead. She humd and gently put the sake bottle on the table before resting her chin on her joined hands.
"Anyone I would know?" She asked.
"I... don't think so?" Shizune uneasily answered.
"I see." Tsunade simply nodded, and her lips settled into an easy smile. One that sent chills down Shizune's spine. "Ne, Shizune, you rember that book about the worst poisons I managed to create, right?"
"The one you sealed with a blood seal and never shared with anyone because of how much destruction they could cause?" Shizune warily asked, just to be sure, having a really bad feeling about this as her throat went dry.
"Right, right. That one!" Tsunade cheerfully pointed out. "Be dear and bring it here. We might need it in the upcoming war." She glanced at the sake bottle, but felt no urge to pick it up right now.
She had more important things to do than drinking. Like wondering how to surpass Minato's killing record with a poisoned mist. Once upon a ti, Tsunade swore to never use poison on a mass scale.
But from her experience, promises were ant to be eventually broken.
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