Red Riot - Chapter 15 - Red celebration (Patreon)

A third of Kiri’s shinobi survived the raid from Konoha after everything had been said and done. Injuries that went too long without a medic played a factor but very few people seemed annoyed at me, or Ala. Having a medic was seen as a luxury.

Jonin Wano claimed that we gave three times as good as we got, but I knew that to be propaganda.

Most people knew we hadn’t killed that many shinobi. It didn’t stop them from repeating it and adding flourishes of their own. I went from killing one Nara when they counter-ambushed us to killing five all while fending off six Akimichi.

The number grew and people continued to spout the lies, all while knowing they were lies.

At first, I thought they did this as a coping strategy. A way to build themselves up.

But then the messenger from Kirigakure arrived.

Instantly it clicked for me why everyone was playing up their contributions and that of others. I happily sang the praises of my team and Jonin Akiko. In a way, it was almost like announcing who you supported and how many people supported you in turn.

It turns out that being a medic who could open the gates when pressed made me pretty popular. I had almost as many stories about me as the Jonin-level shinobi did.

Now the lies made sense.

When the messenger nin went home, they’d have their heads filled with nothing but tales of how we’d valiantly fought back Konoha and cost them hundreds of lives.

Even if they applied some level of division to it for accuracy—there was no way the intelligence divisions were that bad at their jobs to take the bull dung we were shovelling their way at face value— it was still impressive.

Jonin Wano, ostensibly the leader of this expedition, was able to spend a lot of time with the messenger. I could see a lot of agitation from both men through my chakra sense and with how each of their chakra fluctuated back and forth, I knew there had to be some level of arguing going on.

It wasn’t until the next day that all of the higher-ranked shinobi were gathered—which I now qualified as thanks to my status as a chunin and one of the only medics left alive.

“I’ve been called back to talk with Lord Mizukage,” announced Wano without any preamble.

The rest of us perked up in hope.

Perhaps we would also be called back now? We had after all lost over half of our force.

“Jonin Akiko will be taking over running the base. Everyone is to remain here. We’re making bank from supporting Suna and any more troops that we can tie down from Konoha from other fronts is a victory. It will be up to Akiko to assign duties based on parameters that only she will be aware of. The rest of you are to follow. Any dissent and I know she will have you dead on the sand before you know it,” Wano said.

I shot Akiko a look. She was as expressionless as she could be. She was giving nothing away.

Wano pointed at five shinobi. “You five are coming with me, we’re to escort the first gold shipment to Kirigakure and inform the Mizukage about this front in more close detail.”

For a second the messenger twitched. And if I hadn’t been watching for it, I might have missed the slight scoff of disbelief. Wano twitched and the man, merely a Special Jonin, twitched in fear.

I eyed the messenger again. They sported the crest of the Hozuki clan, but it was on their sleeve rather than their heart or back which indicated subservience. Perhaps a favoured shinobi? Or maybe even a man who had married into the clan?

I’d ask about the messenger later.

Dende and Hito were very good at being aware of who was who within Kirigakure. The five shinobi coming with Wano seemed unsure of themselves. There was a furtiveness and one strode towards Wano.

“Wano, you know Lord Gengetsu is going to be pissed even with the gold we’re bringing back. This isn’t enough to get us off shit duty!”

Wano held up a hand. “I have vital intel that will change that. Trust me,” he said and I knew right away that it wasn’t intel that he actually had, but rather a prize. Something to gift to Gengetsu so as to be guaranteed to be in his good grace.

And what better prize would there be than a Byakugan?

Yes, it would be somewhat spoiled by there only being one of them, but that was still a serious score. A number of people had been lamenting the loss of the prisoner entirely, but with how Konoha reacted I knew that she had never had a chance of reaching Kiri. Not unless we captured her and departed immediately.

Then again, I wasn't sure how many wider patrols Konoha had been running. They would have had to cast a very wide net before striking at our base with any degree of certainty. They would have kept hounding us no doubt even if we’d escaped them.

Instead of winning a prize, we might face a more motivated Konoha.

I resisted the urge to run my thumb over the storage scroll, one of the few I possessed that sat hidden in my chunin vest. Within it, the matching eyeball was contained.

Wano, having placated his followers signalled for Akiko to step forward. He waved to the messenger. “The front is yours now Akiko. Good luck with it,” he said with a look that let her know he had been in her position once.

Akiko scowled at the man, sighed and stepped forward as the seven shinobi departed. A number of the leftover shinobi watched them go longingly.

“Alright! Since I’m in charge I’m going to be making sure this is a tightly run front! I want to control the flow of information as best I can! We’re going to keep patrolling the desert and also making sure that we keep in contact with Suna. They’re paying us to bolster their forces and with there being more shipments of gold we need to make sure we deliver on the services! Hotaru, Chitose! Both of you will be collecting data on patrols and leading the team out on a semi-permanent basis. I want our group as familiar with our soon-to-be stretch as the Suna nin are with their own slice of this shit hole they call home!”

Akiko barked out orders for most of the assembled nin or dismissed them. When she spotted me she paused. “Matsu… shit, you’re the highest-ranking medic we have now, aren’t you?” She ran a hand over her scar. “Fuck me that’s a joke. Wano ran off with two of the others. Fuck and double fuck!” Akiko said before clicking her tongue.

She shot me a look and then glared at everyone who was still around. “You all didn’t hear that just now!” She said with a growl. I mentally noted that when she was stressed she cussed more. Being in charge hadn’t been something she apparently wanted, damn any prestige she might earn herself

She straightened herself out and shook her head. “Matsu! Do a count of supplies, and see we’ll see if there are any shinobi that want to become medics.”

“Sir?” I said carefully, knowing that I needed to tread carefully with the angry woman. At the same time, I needed to make sure the dregs didn’t get sent my way.

Akiko cocked her brow in question. “Yes?”

“They will need to be as skilled with chakra control as possible. Medical jutsu are extremely precise and require a certain… patience.”

“How skilled?” she said.

I raised a senbon and made it walk itself around and then over the tips of my fingers without moving said fingers at all. I did it purely through controlling and flexing my chakra.

Akiko gained a thoughtful look before nodding. “I’ll see if there are any genjutsu specialists that want to test themselves in new ways.”

With my piece said I retreated.

So, I was going to be the chief medic to roughly a hundred to a hundred and fifty shinobi?

Joy.

I rubbed my chin and sighed. Ala, as a Genin wasn’t going to be much use to me as the second more skilled medic I had available to me. I could already tell that the next few days were going to suck.

I departed for what we’d set up as the medical wing and collected Ala for some busy work. Before I got started I showed her a chakra control drill I had come up with which she could practise causing her to boggle.

“You did this every time you were in the medical wing?” she said.

I chuckled and waved her off, not letting her know that I did something much harder these days. I turned most of my attention towards inventorying the medical supplies.

Surprisingly we’d actually gained quite a lot thanks to the messenger delivering a handful of storage scrolls each contained bandages, medicines and antidotes for the desert.

Antidotes, some of which I didn’t know a thing about. Ala shrugged when I pointed this issue out to her. “Not like anyone can blame you for being bad at it. Your lesson on this was rather cut short,” she said in an offhand manner.

I glanced up from the needle and thread I’d been packing away to stare at her. “That was dark,” I said with a chuckle.

Ala paused and spluttered as she realised that she’d been quite literal in truth. Due to stealing the eye from Chunin En, I’d in turn doomed him to execution from Wano.

A trio of chakra signatures approached and I perked up from the inventorying to watch a trio of kunoichi enter the cavern we had.

“So, you’re the wonder kid?” said the lead kunoichi. I sighed and let my head fall to my chin. She’d said but a few words and I knew already that she was going to be trouble.

The woman smirked and I felt her chakra shift and something slip into mine. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue litt—”

I flexed my chakra and swept it over her and her cronies. “I am a forgiving person by nature. So I’m going to assume you’re just falling back on habits that you can’t help,” I said firmly.

“Hoooo?” said the woman with a tilt of her head. “Think I’m going to just bend over and let you order me about 'cause you got a lot of chakra? You’ll find that it don’t matter how big you are little boy, it’s how you use it!” she said with a leer.

“I was raised in the red light district,” I said with a snort. “I know a thing or two, trust me. But enough flexing. You obviously have Jonin Akiko’s backing, just as I do. Let’s not fuck around and piss her off. Do you know anything about iryoninjutsu?”

She blinked at my disregarding her posturing. She nodded slowly and another genjutsu shot into my coils which I crushed out of habit.

I hummed. “If you're going to keep testing me, I don’t mind. It’ll be just like the academy for me. Just cut that shit out when we’re working or practising medical jutsu.”

I waved her to a chair. “What’s your names and ranks?” I asked.

Yayoi, Mari, and Maiko were their names. It turned out they were all Genin.

Older than Ala, but they had survived the Konoha assault so they mustn’t be without skill. Or at the very least, they’d been lucky, which was somewhat a skill in and of itself.

I gave them another look over and frowned. Actually, these ‘old’ girls could only be sixteen or seventeen at most.

They must not have advanced very quickly.

I rubbed my chin in thought. “We’ll need to start getting the patrols to capture some bugs or rats for you to practise with,” I said aloud.

The girls all blinked at this. “Eh? What for?”

I drew a kunai and slit my forearm without batting an eye. Then I flooded my arm with the healing palm jutsu directly into the cut. Before their eyes, the wound closed at a visible rate.

“Sweet buddha!” said one of the girls. “We’ll learn that?”

I smiled. “If you do as you’re told, yes. This is but one of the applications of the Healing Palm jutsu. You need to start with animals first though, because there are ways to mess up the yin-yang alignment resulting in growths or doing nothing if you’re not precise enough. You have some grounding in this being genjutsu specialists… of some degree,” I said, deciding to not comment on their being Genin still.

If they were all Akiko could spare, then this was who I had to work with.

“When we have downtime you’ll be working on this, or your other jutsu,” I said crossing my arms.

The girls all scowled. “Thought this was an easy gig?”

“It is, until it’s not,” I said. “Remember, the last chief medic died for messing up,” I said deciding to use En’s death for my benefit. “You need to be growing your chakra pool, or skills in some manner. Right now you can’t practise the healing palm jutsu without a lot of practise. But there are other methods you can do.” I tossed them each a clipboard.

“Inventory those boxes over there, and while doing it, keep small pieces of paper on your forehead, back of your legs, hands and lower back at once,” I said.

“Eh? The fuck? As if we need to do that much!” said Yayoi firmly.

I chuckled. “That’s just step one,” I said lifting my shirt to reveal that I had several, if not tens of pieces of paper under my shirt stuck to my skin by chakra.

The kunoichi’s eyes widened as my body was revealed along with the rather intricate patterns I was making the paper weave itself around. Their eyes darted to other points around my body and I grinned. Now they were using their heads, and not just running through their usual habits.

They quickly started to realise that I had a lot of small pieces of paper hidden about my body and some were even rising off my body with strings carrying them to new spots. All of it was an intricate dance that force my chakra to work as I demanded it.

I hadn’t been able to do this when I’d first arrived, but I’d made a lot of use of the all the hurry up and wait that had become part of my life to always be working my chakra control in some manner. Chunin En had delighted in trying to get me to sit on my hands metaphorically. I’d simply gone along with it. All the while practising my chakra control, pushing it higher than ever.

“Fucking hell!” said Maiko, her eyes tracking the pattern of moving paper.

I lowered my shirt and winked. “Know how to use it, neh? I’ve shown you mine ladies, I hope you don’t mind reciprocating,” I said with a teasing lilt. As the girls blinked in surprise I cut in. “With jutsu of course,” I said.

“Feh! Of course, you’re just looking for that. Young boys are all the same when they’re young. You just want cool jutsu,” said Mari.

I shrugged, not at all ashamed. I turned away from them and pointed towards the boxes. The genjutsu I’d laced into them activated then. They all stiffened as they saw my lips not move, while my voice shepherd in their ears, reminding them to get to work.

They got to it and I nodded to myself. That had gone better than I’d hoped.

I eyed them all and started adjusting my plans for this front. I hadn’t been expecting to gain my own trainees. This would be a wonderful testbed for a few ideas I had.

With plans spiralling about in my mind, I returned to counting bandages, all the while, my chakra roiled and twirled about me, even as I kept my attention shifting. I had a lot of irons in the fire right now, but that was the only way to advance.

Or at least, the only way I had found. It couldn’t be a single step, but rather multiple small steps, each carrying me a little further.

I gave the girls, who I was already dubbing the troublesome trio in my head, another look over. Hopefully, they’d be open to some trading of jutsu. If not, well they’d at least keep me on my toes.

I crushed another genjutsu probe and the hidden underlay Mari tried to slip into my coils.

I’d just have to be patient with them.

                                         _____________________________________

“This sucks! Konoha has practically fled the field! How am I supposed to make a name for myself if I can’t kill anyone?” snarled the man I was treating.

“That is true,” I said neutrally, my tone little more than a gap filler to actually make it a conversation. The man wasn’t really paying attention to me, he was more than happy to ogle the ladies.

Each of them was staring at him, or rather his wound as it knit back together. He must have thought it was his lucky day.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if we got to rumble with Suna to show them their place, but boss bitch is keeping me clear of them!” said the man.

“Is that so?” I said as I closed his wound. I tapped on another small scratch. “Mind if Mari has a go at this one?” I said, tapping the tiny nick on his thigh.

I could practically see his mind throw itself into the gutter as he leered at Mari. Mari rolled her eyes and stepped up. “Hopefully this won’t hurt too much,” she said with a sadistic smile.

That punctured through the haze of lust the man had as he looked up and realised it wasn’t a friendly smile. “Why would it hur—” he said before Mari squeezed the cut together to make it just that much easier for her to knit the flesh back together. It wasn’t the way I’d been taught, and it added stress to the injury site, but it did help her make it slightly easier for herself.

“Heeeeeck! The fuck you doing?” snarled the man as he raised a fist to punch Mari in the head.

Ala, who’d been waiting for a chance stepped in and caught the hit. Her hand glowed as she put her other on his chest. The man blinked dumbly and struggled for a few moments before slowly succumbing to the coma jutsu. “Fuck are you doing to me…” he said.

By the time a minute passed, he was pushing out z’s and the girls were tittering.

I clapped my hands. “Yes yes, he’s an idiot, see to his wounds and then get him laid up in a cot. He most likely won’t remember how he got here. Yayoi, you can wake him up when Mari’s done, she looks like she’s doing a good enough job,” I said turning to my next patient. “Maiko, Ala, follow me,” I said as I led the genin on to the next patient.

This one wasn’t feeling too chatty and he watched us like we were snakes waiting for him to drop his guard. Ala and Maiko healed his training injuries without a hitch and he darted away.

Maiko scratched her cheek. “Should we be scaring them like this?”

I snorted. “I have a crew of young kunoichi within a base of men and women that are stuck on base duty. I know how idle hands will seek out mischief given the chance. If they think you’re easy options and the medical wing is ‘fun’ to spend time in, they will hurt themselves and give us more work. By teaching them to avoid us they will be more careful in training and in the field. We’re not so bad that it isn’t worth coming to us, but patients should never want to linger here,” I said authoritatively.

“Well said,” called a voice from the side, making me repress a twitch of annoyance.

With Jonin Akiko taking over for Wano, a change in leadership style was to be expected. Akiko liked to drop in and inspect everyone working. It was her method of keeping people honest and I’d heard a number of stories of her popping up like this from others. She seemed to delight in catching me off guard however as I had made it my goal to detect her.

Something she must have worked out, as she appeared around me more than others, dropping into the medical area regularly enough to make the troublesome trio work hard.

Jonin Akiko smirked at me and looked over Maiko’s work. “Nicely done, and you raised some interesting points before Matsu, idle hands, and making sure the medical area is not ‘fun’ to be around.” She nodded at me and I straightened my spine like a dog that had just been complimented.

Her lips twitched, letting me know she enjoyed getting what must have seemed an honest reaction out of me.

“You’ve got a good head on your shoulders there. Do you think these girls can hold down the needs of the base for a few hours? I have a rendezvous to meet up with the Kazekage for the next shipment.”

“It’s been a month already?” I said, scratching my chin.

Wano had collected a deposit on the way out of the Land of Wind, and now it was Akiko’s turn. I scratched my head. “Is the Kazekage going to care that Wano isn’t here to collect the payment?”

Akiko nodded her head, her scarred lips twitching once more. “Yes, there will be a few sticking points but I have most of the pertinent details. I am also expecting some more shinobi in the next few weeks so we have more wiggle room.”

“Can I ask who else is coming?” I said, deciding to test my luck.

Akiko snorted. “Other people that can think, or hold their own,” she said before turning. “Be ready to move by sunset,” and with that said, she marched away only to vanish into the wall.

I stared at the wall in not a little annoyance. I swept my chakra coils and glared harder. It hadn’t been a genjutsu, so therefore she either had a hidden ladder, or she’d just used the hiding like a mole jutsu without seals or chakra leakage.

Annoying. That was one of the jutsu I wanted for its versatility.

“Ooooohhh! Little boss is getting toyed with by big boss!” teased Yayoi.

I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head. “Just for that, I might leave Dende in charge,” I said stalking off myself to learn what the actual time of day was. I’d been in the caverns long enough to know it was roughly daytime right now. So, if I had enough time, I planned to get a damned nap before departing for whatever mission Akiko had in mind.

The last run across the desert where she’d almost killed Suzi’s throat for holding us back was lodged in my mind, and if she decided she wanted speed, I’d need to be at my best.

                                             ________________________________

The meeting with the Kazekage, interestingly enough, occurred practically right out the front of Sunagakure. By Shinobi standards that is.

We were still a good few kilometres away. more than close enough to observe Suna.

Around the Village, hardened earth walls rose with a number of guards watching as we stood on the expansive flat. We’d gotten here just as the sun started to rise and Akiko had happily set up a tent and a number of teacups.

“Matsu, boil the water with an open flame, don’t try to hide any of your preparations from the walls,” she commanded from her spot atop a rather nice-looking cushion.

Across from her other cushions were set out with a wide circle where others could sit facing each other but a line cut through the middle forming a natural divide. It was just off to the side of this central point, where Akiko and the Kazekage would be able to observe each other unobstructed.

I set out the tea set, inspecting it critically.

“Not exactly up to your standards?” Akiko prodded verbally, a lilt of amusement in her tone.

I huffed at her. “It will make do for now,” I said as I rinsed out the teapot and the cups with some water and a chakra control exercise that mimicked a much weaker Rasengan in scouring them.

When I was done the teacups shone wonderfully and I felt I’d done as much as I could to serve the best tea possible. I went about boiling the water and setting out the tea leaves. My training in the Okiya making all of this a routine performance for me.

Akiko seemed to be enjoying herself as she cupped her chin and settled in to wait. When I had everything ready, but made no move to make the tea as yet, Akiko hummed.

“Make the tea, I’ll have it.”

I shifted. “It would be… a breach of etiquette to serve up tea when…” I tilted my head, the guest didn’t really fit with how we’d come to him, but the host wasn’t correct either. “The other party,” I said weakly.

Akiko considered this as the other shinobi bristled. “It’s just tea!” snapped one.

I huffed and drew myself up. “It is an international method of gauging sophistication,” I said, channelling the Madam of the Okiya as best I could.

It made a few of their scowls fade into thoughtful frowns, others just scoffed, not seeing how true my words were.

Akiko waved a hand. “We’ll wait,” she said.

In the end, we sat in our tent, waiting for Suna’s response for another hour. The sun had just started to rise enough to make the sands shimmer with heat when the Kazekage and an entourage of other shinobi appeared at the gate suddenly.

I could detect some of the Suna nin, but I could feel a hint of the Kazekage’s chakra as he got closer to us. With his hat of office lowered and his veil raised I had no chance at seeing anything physical. I did however note that the sands stirred unnaturally around him as he moved.

If I hadn’t known about the gold trick Suna. This had to be the third Kazekage, notable for his building on the studies that the Second Kazekage had done with regards to the Shukaku, or One-Tailed Beast and how it controlled Sand.

Where the Second Kazekage had studied and developed the Puppeteers, the third had developed the Iron Sand technique and in doing so, been named one of the strongest Kazekage in living memory.

Around him, five others marched, two of whom I surprisingly knew thanks to my knowledge of canon.

The honoured siblings marched in lockstep, one to the left, and the other to the right of the Kazekage. Chiyo had eyes that were like daggers stabbing out at everything they looked upon, whereas, at her side, Ebizo strode forward with a calm serenity.

He had a slight lean as he walked indicating that he was conscious of his sister.

I suppose I would be as well if my loved one’s children were killed only months earlier.

The other three shinobi wore half veils like Baki would in future with the other half pinned up to let them peer out. I had to wonder if there was a practical application with the desert winds to those before I dropped it as idle speculation.

When the contingent of Suna shinobi reached us we all stood and bowed in greeting.

“The ocean meets the desert,” intoned Akiko formally.

“And the sands absorb the water,” said the Kazekage. He tilted his head and considered Akiko. “Jonin Wano?”

“He has been recalled, Lord Mizukage was very interested in the developments of this front. Konoha has been much more active than anticipated.”

“They have indeed, I hope you weren’t too inconvenienced?” he said.

“The matter has been resolved now,” said Akiko. Konoha seems to think they have gotten the best of us, but we are still here and meeting the particulars of the agreement,” said Akiko.

“Hmmmm, so you have been, even if your forces have been notably reduced you are still remaining active and staying where we needed you,” said the Kazekage. A small frown deepened the scars of Akiko’s face as she registered the ‘needed’ you comment.

The Kazekage nodded and swept a hand towards the cushions.

I felt a ripple of chakra pass over each cushion and a moment later the Kazekage inclined his head.

The Suna delegation sat as one.

Chiyo huffed. “This is what passes as hospitality in Kiri?” she said openly eyeing me and the teapot I had set out.

I inclined my head, my smile now one of the gentlemen welcoming a tired lady into his parlour. “I should hope that this is what passes as hospitality everywhere,” I said, my words a light rebuke.

“Today we have tea leaves from the—” I rattled off the tea leaves history, the cut and timing of them for best flavour.

Akiko, despite having assigned me this task seemed momentarily stumped that I was taking it this seriously.

I quickly had the tea boiled to the exact temperature, steeped and then poured into the cups I’d cleaned earlier. I laid out the drinks carefully but with an efficiency that belied how many times the Madam had demanded I practise this skill. She’d been insistent that any child raised under her roof would be capable of serving tea to the highest-ranked officials in the world.

She’d be delighted to learn I’d served tea to the Kazekage.

She’d then no doubt drill me on the exact style I’d chosen.

Today I went for functional grace. It wasn’t a proper tea ceremony but that would have been overly formal in this situation and I didn’t have the proper utensils or attire for it.

The Kazekage inclined his head. “I must say, I rather like this change from Wano’s style of negotiations,” he said before sweeping off his hat and veil to reveal a rather handsome-looking man with black hair.

“Thank you for the tea, I have witnessed the passion of your art and the skill you have made it,” he said surprising me with the formal response.

“You honour this one,” I said with a low bow.

Akiko coughed and I flexed my whisper genjutsu to give her the response.

“We are pleased that in this we are united on principle,” she said politely.

The Kazekage’s lips twitched having no doubt caught the trick. He raised his glass and drank from it. He then shut his eyes and allowed the flavours to play out over his tongue. “Ah, wonderfully done,” he said with a nod.

He smiled at Akiko. “You may call me Lord Reto, Kazekage of Sunagakure” he said.

“I am Akiko, Jonin of Kirigakure,” she said before taking a sip of her own cup.

The others joined in and a round of murmurs broke through as everyone took a moment to relax and enjoy the tea.

Chiyo, as I was starting to expect, sniffed in annoyance. “Should I leave a tip for you or ask about your going rates to have you entertain me? I wasn’t aware Kiri brought boy toys with them to war,” she said.

I smiled once again. “The nature of my upbringing is certainly colourful,” I said agreeing with her point that I was raised in the Red Light district. I considered how to play this,” I let amusement play across my face. “I shall accept the tip.” then I leaned forward. “How do you control a puppet’s limbs with your chakra strings/ Is it a branching bundle or do you twitch single points of the string in controlled bursts?” I asked.

Chiyo blinked, stunned that I had the audacity to ask such a thing.

I sat back. “Ah, I apologise, it was perhaps asking too much, forgive my youth, I forget myself.”

From the way Akiko and the others stirred I got the impression they rather enjoyed the way I’d shut up Chiyo.

“Surpirses upon surprises,” commented Reto. “But it is not your Chunin that we are here for, and we should not linger too long at the gates with both of us being busy people Jonin Akiko, shall we discuss the agreement as it stands and how it will need to be adjusted?” he said amicably.

A ripple of unease swept through the Kiri shinobi and out of the side of my eye I could see more than a few people shifting to track their wider angles. We’d left a small contingent further out to observe us, but they wouldn’t matter worth a damn right now.

Akiko merely inclined her head. “I would be interested in hearing what changes you have to purpose,” she said.

Reto blinked pointedly. A moment passed as some realisation was reached and shown on his face. “Ah, you… don’t know do you?” he said.

Akiko narrowed her eyes. “There are many things I know and many that I do not, I’m afraid if you’re looking for something specific then you will need to be candid with me,” Akiko said demurely.

Reto huffed. “Hmmm, for the option of future… exchanges to remain in a positive fashion, I shall make you aware then.” Reto’s hat hovered up back onto his head, seemingly of its own accord. I couldn’t even feel the chakra in it. It had to be sand he was using, but damn if it wasn’t impossible to sense at my current level.

If this man wanted and was capable of such fine manipulation, he could kill us all without much effort. It was then that I noticed Chiyo’s barely contained smug look of superiority.

They’d planned this.

Behind me, I could see that every eye was now fixed on Reto.

Without saying a word, or doing anything outwardly violent, this man had asked for everyone’s attention, and been given it instantly.

Deft.

In a word it was a deft play of social power, one I noted down in hopes of one day replicating.

Reto, the Kazekage of Sunagakure drew himself up formally. “Let it be known that four days ago the Kage of the five great shinobi villages signed a formal ceasefire. The Second Shinobi War is officially over!” he proclaimed.

His words ripped through everyone and a tension that we hadn’t known existed seemed to vanish. Some people slumped. I kept my eyes on Reto. If he wanted us to lower our guards, now would be the perfect opportunity.

Reto glanced at me and nodded, noticing my focus. “I know that might fill you with some trepidation seeing as you are outside my gates now without true purpose, but I shall honour the spirit of our agreement.” He leaned forward, “With that said, I want your outposts dismantled and your troops out of the Land of Wind by the end of the week. Do we have an agreement?”

Akiko blinked, “That… I… I suspect that if what you have said is true, Lord Gengetsu will be already in the process of recalling us.” Akiko swallowed loudly. If anyone had any idea how politically dangerous this moment was, I suspected it was her. Shed’d come for one thing only to have the entire situation turned on its head.

Reto merely nodded his head and waved a hand. From behind him, a small cart filled with ingots of gold was trundled out with a donkey leading it. I suspect there might have been a joke there. The people behind Reto made faces as though this wasn’t a good deal.

I suspected they were all putting on airs in truth. Selling us something that wasn’t truly worth anything thanks to their Kazekage while pretending it was a big deal.

They might not be merchants but they knew how to bargain. Still, for us, it was a good deal, especially while gold was still so highly sought after.

Akiko nodded again. “That will certainly assist us in speeding our troops out of your land.”

Reto stood then and offered a small nod. “With that done then, I bid you good day. I hope, should we meet again—” his eyes flicked over each of our group for a moment, memorising us. His eyes lingered on me for a touch longer than the others, or perhaps that was just vanity on my part. “—I hope that that meeting is as agreeable to us, as today,” he said.

He and the others with him departed with a shunshin, a flicker of sand all that they left in their wakes. I blinked in surprise. Two of them hadn’t been able to mask it from me. I hid a smile as I memorised the jutsu as much as I could, internalising the way their chakra had moved about their coils. I had a starting point.

Akiko rose and snapped her finger. “Get this shit cleared up now and get that ass sent packing back to Suna! I’ll seal up what we can and the rest will be carried.” She stared around. “Don’t anyone think of getting clever.”

The others straightened up, saluted with a hand over their chests, and broke apart to dismantle the tent. Akiko stalked over to the gold to see to that task.

I hummed and packed up my tea set. That had certainly not been in my predictions of how this would go. I stared towards the gates of Suna.

In a way, we were lucky that Reto wasn’t a greedier man.

He didn’t really have to give us the gold or let us leave alive if he didn’t want to. Was it a power play, or something more?

I didn’t have enough knowledge to know. For now I couldn’t find it within myself to care. I simply clung to the hope that Reto hadn’t been lying, that the war truly was over.

When Akiko had things packed away to her liking she had a trio of her most trusted shinobi cart what gold couldn’t be stored into seals while we sprinted across the blazing desert.

I readjusted my evaluation of Reto.

It certainly wasn’t kind of him to leave us to run across the desert in the mid-day sun. Then again, perhaps it just wasn’t an issue for Suna nin?

I felt myself withering and straining by the time the sun reached its peak in the sky. I guzzled my water reserves and wet the cloth I’d wrap around my forehead protect to protect my neck.

“Got any more of that kid?” wheezed one of the shinobi that had been voluntold to carry the gold.

I handed him my canteen, feeling pity for the man. He tossed back the entire thing and handed me back the canteen. “Thanks kid, good work back there smoozing up to the Kazekage. Think he damn well gave us more to carry back cause of that little performance!” joked the man.

This caused a round of laughs and our spirits lifted as we continued to run.

“What’re you gonna do when we get home?” one man called.

“I’m drinking all the ale!” said one man.

“Doing my wife!” said another

“I’m looking forward to doing your wife as well!” shouted yet another.

This got a squawk of protest and a round of laughter.

I shot Akiko a look, surprised that she wasn’t cutting this line of conversation short.

She caught me looking and rolled her eyes. “He wasn’t lying, he didn’t have any need to.”

I simply nodded and listened as the other shinobi started to laugh and relax, the spectre of war and death that had loomed for so long now gone.

It was a shame that in barely ten years I knew the third shinobi war would come.

Still, that was a lot better than what I thought I might have. While there was no guarantee for anything, ten years would be a godsend for me.

I found myself dreaming of where I’d be in ten years.

Reto had looked damn good in that hat.

When we got back to the caves another messenger from Kiri was awaiting us. The man stood in the central cavern giving everyone watching him a condescending look. When Akiko stalked up to him he smiled and produced a sealed messenger scroll with a flourish.

“It is my honour to announce to you that the war is over! Kiri has secured itself a powerful position going forward that the other nations will not be able to dispute! The Mizukage in his wisdom, has procured a number of trade deals from Kumo, Konoha, and Suna! Lesser nations have fallen and we! We have emerged stronger than ever before! The Mizukage bids you to return home where you will be celebrated and rewarded handsomely for your services!”

The man rolled back the scroll and smiled.

I felt the other shoe drop to the ground as I relaxed. It wasn’t a lie.

The next day saw every remaining shinobi of Kiri sprinting away from the caverns. Explosives going off behind us to deny Suna or anyone else the easy access of the caves we’d created.

We made it to the ships by the end of the day, the sun not slowing us down as we hit the water and shot straight up and onto the waiting ships.

The sailors squawked worse than the gulls that had been flying around the ship. But that might have had something to do with the wave of kunai and shuriken that knocked the sea birds out of the sky. They were caught plucked and shoved in front of the ship’s cooks with silent demands.

Before ten minutes were up most people had some form of actual meat in their bellies as others dove into the water to snap up fish.

“Fresh food!” roared Dende as he devoured his bird.

I bit into a fish on a stick and groaned with delight. There was something about going long periods of time without fresh or good food that just made even basic food when you had the chance, so much better than it should be.

Hito slid up to me and offered me a shaker. “Oi! I pinched the chef’s spice rack! Try some of this!” he said pouring something onto my fish.

I gobbled it down only for my lips to burn and my tongue to ignite. Through tears, I glared at Hito even as he offered the insanely hot spices to Suzi and Ala.

“You’re an asshole!” I rasped, drinking deeply from my canteen. “You got any more?”

He roared with laughter as the ships got underway.

Akiko allowed a few hours of poor behaviour before she made an example of the worst offenders. “We’re not fucking back in Kiri yet you shitheads!” she roared as she dragged two people who’d been having sex out from behind a sheet in the crew’s quarters. “You’ll keep some level of discipline! I want a rotating patrol! Konoha might have signed a deal but that’s worth shit if they catch us with our pants down!” She glared at everyone daring them to defy her on this.

“If three Kiri vessels sink without anyone to get word away, do you think anyone will shed a tear? Get your heads out of your asses!” She started pointing at people, giving them the unenviable task of patrolling the waters around the ships or staying on watch.

I stepped slightly in front of my friends and took the proverbial kunai for them. They’d found something to drink and I decided to let them enjoy themselves.

Also, if someone did try anything, they’d be worse than useless on guard duty.

Akiko nodded as I passed her only to stiffen as I whispered. “Tell me when you want that scar fixed, I think I can handle it now,” I said.

For the rest of the voyage home, she would watch me carefully, a finger tracing the lines of her scar that claimed most of her face.

On the last day, she approached me. She nodded once and then dragged me into a cabin.

“Do it,” she said tightly.

I laid my hands on her only for her to grab my wrists. “No, don’t knock me out, if it is going to hurt, let it hurt,” she said staring me in the eyes.

I clicked my teeth. “Pain isn’t going to be the sensation if I’m right about this.”

“I want to feel it, to know that it’s changing.”

That was actually a good idea to help with any dysmorphia she might have. If it just changed she might have more issues, but if she felt it? I nodded and she released my hands.

I focussed and swept my chakra into the skin, probing at the damage, feeling the way the skin had folded and crinkled in on itself. “Fire jutsu?” I asked.

“Water jutsu, boiling water jutsu,” she corrected.

“Ah,” I said. That might explain the flat bits in her cheekbones. It had burned her while also pulverising part of her face. I used the other side as my reference and began to tease the muscle, bone and skin to how I thought it should be.

I used the small patch of unblemished skin on the bridge of her nose as an idea to know when I’d gotten the blood flow and colouration just right.

Throughout the entire procedure Akiko’s eyes stared into mine, her hands twitching and shivering, but she kept her face fixed in position. I was probably going overboard but it was better to be thorough.

“What’s it feel like?” I asked, curious despite knowing it wouldn’t be a good sensation.

“Like a kikaichu swarm is running aorund in my face. I can feel things shifting and twitching. There are tiny flicks of pain but then they vanish. It feels sickening,” she said.

I wiped my hand excruciatingly slowly from the top of her forehead down to her chin, the skin smoothing out like my hand was an iron. The final wrinkles and blemishes vanished as the tissue aligned properly.

I stared at her skin, checking for the tiny pores that helped with nutrients, secretion of oils, regulate temperature, and more. There were seven layers of ectodermal tissue that needed to be made to help protect the muscles, bones and ligaments in her face.

Tiny, near-invisible hair follicles were promoted to grow and as I finished this Akiko’s eyes widened. New feelings must have swept through her as tiny nerves connected themselves.

I spent longer staring at her face for tiny imperfections than I did her mangled scarred face by the end of the procedure. When I ran out of things to check, I dropped my hand and blinked.

“Oh,” I said realising for the first time what I’d done.

By manipulating her pores, and skin to precisely that of her opposite side she’d become perfectly symmetrical. She smiled then and part of her lips didn’t rise up properly giving her a wry amused look. I touched her face and noted that her nerves and muscles were fine. It must have been something she was simply used to doing. It wasn’t an issue of the lips, it was an issue of the brain supplying the commands.

I blinked. “Huh, that actually makes you look even better,” I said. The odd controlled break in symmetry merely drew the eye to her rather red lips.

She grinned her lopsided grin and whipped out a mirror. She lost herself to her own reflection.

“Fuck me,” she said in shock.

I stepped back and let her enjoy her new look. It took her a few minutes of searching her face, refamiliarising herself with how she looked. Her hands roamed her face and she giggled. Then tears bubbled out and I was pleased to see the tear ducts worked.

Her hands snapped out and dragged me into a fierce if wet hug. “Thank you,” she said. “I… If you need anything just ask… no.” She straightened up and smiled at me. “How do you want to be my apprentice? I can’t offer as much as some of the great Jonin but, I can offer you some protection.”

“That… would be much appreciated,” I said. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen when I return to Kiri, so having someone to back me up would be greatly appreciated.”

She nodded her wry smile on display. “I might be signing my death warrant, but sure. You’re a sharp kid, I think I can teach you a few tricks at least.”

I rubbed my head. “Any chance I could extend that to some friends?”

She snorted. ”Greedy brat, we’ll see,” she said, she patted me on the shoulder and led me back outside. Her appearance caused a stir in the crew and people openly gawked. A few quiet ‘Kai’ from a few people earned them a dark look from Akiko.

“This brat’s my apprentice from now on!” she said as if that was all it took. The watching shinobi shifted their focus from me to Akiko’s face, understanding dawning.

I heard someone murmur something to another person, “He can make you hot?”

People nodded and I had to wonder if this was really all it took to gain an apprentice. It hadn’t been easy on my side certainly but I’d been expecting… well a little more from Akiko.

“Land hoy! Kiri in sight!” called the kunoichi in the bird’s nest. Instantly the concern I had about the formality of this adoption vanished as everyone rushed to the front of the ship to watch Kiri grow on the horizon.

I felt a swirl of emotions twisted in my gut.

How much had changed since I’d last been here? Were my friends still alive? Had Rei been discovered and Gengetsu was waiting for me with a smile and a dagger?

I knew I’d changed, but I had to wonder, had I grown strong enough?

The calm that I’d been feeling with the announcement of the war being over started to trickle back into me.

It wasn’t right that coming home could fill me with dread. Around me other faces tightened and I had to wonder how many people suffered in the Village of Kiri.

It wasn’t right.

I stared at the approaching city, thoughts of what I could do to change that feeling washing through me.

I could for now, only hope for the best and brace for the worst.

“Gto any friends or rivals waiting for you Matsu?” Akiko said from my side.

My mind passed over all the people I’d been friends with, allies, with or rivals of.

I sighed. “Hmmm, how long do you think a Kaguya will wait before demanding a fight?”

Akiko snorted. “Don’t make any plans for tomorrow,” she said wisely.

I sighed, knowing I’d have two such battle junkies coming my way.

I was weirdly looking forward to it.

                                      __________________________________

A.N. A weird amount of this chapter just seemed to flow together, which I felt was odd. There’s a lot covered with Matsu gaining a lot in this chapter of calm.

Still, the waves are on the horizon with Matsu’s return to Kiri.

The war might be over but Kiri is not a safe place by its nature.

Next time on Red Riot! - Matsu sees how much he’s grown since the Academy after a few months on the front lines.