Ch175. First Council Meeting

"I hereby announce the beginning of the very first council meeting of our 'Other' village." Rei quipped, finding humor in making it sound so unimportant it was almost casual. Not that it would be anything but since this supposed first council meeting was happening in the kitchen of Rei's mansion while his group ate breakfast. It just so happened, he had every important person present so... why not?

On Rei's right side sat Konan clad in light-blue kimono, sleepily munching on a sandwich. She, during these last two years, shed every responsibility of hers to the Biri-Biri firm and hand-picked plus trained people to take care of them. Right now, she was completely free and so one nice sunny day a few days ago, she kicked Pakura from her post of Rei's secretary and delegated herself to the position. There was really nothing anybody could do about it, really. Even Rei could only whistle and look away.

Konan also acted as the head of the Intelligence department with all the spying paper clones she had all over the Elemental Nations in the offices of important people. When the village became more populated, Konan was expected to pick some apprentices and teach them some of her self-made Jutsu good for spycraft.

On Rei's left side sat still a bit sullen Pakura, eating her own breakfast. After Konan took over her duties as Rei's secretary, it meant Pakura didn't spend that much time with Rei because of her work. That was a very enlightening experience for Pakura as she found herself searching for various reasons to spend time with Rei. It was then Pakura really understood she loved Rei since any excuse of the type 'we work together, it's only natural we have a good relationship' became a moot point. Since then, Pakura decided to move into Rei's mansion.

Yet another thing Rei had no say in. Not that he didn't welcome Pakura with open arms though.

Pakura was the Jonin Commander of the village and now that she lost her duties as Rei's secretary and held only this position, she found herself with quite a lot of free time and as such, she decided to spend it with Rei. Just like that, because Pakura had no idea how to spend time with somebody other than work and training, Pakura's training to become stronger began.

Next to Konan was Kaya Uzumaki who with droopy eyes supported her cheek with her hand, trying to fully wake up. Kaya was the Head of the Uzumaki clan and the Sealing Corps. It was meant to be a temporary thing until they found an Uzumaki with royal blood but Rei knew better. It was not like anybody protested her being the clan head either. Since Rei delegated her to the position, the members of the Uzumaki clan respected the decision of the man who saved them. Alas, in the past years, Kaya showed her competence and ability to lead the clan, becoming very popular among her clansmen. The second it became apparent Kaya's daughter Karin held one of the Uzumaki bloodline Jutsu's, the deal was sealed and Kaya suddenly found herself stuck in the position even if she didn't really want it that much. Yesterday, she came to talk with Rei about sales of a new seal and it was very late when they finished so she spent the night in the mansion.

Rei could only sigh in exasperation and hope she would get married soon. After all, Kaya's home might be countries away but for them, it was only a single portal away so he clearly understood the meaning of her stay... not that he would take her up on her quiet invitation. He had enough problems with four horny girls who demanded his attention and Pakura who was slowly also starting to become one of them thanks to Konan's oh-so-helpful guidance.

On Pakura's other side, sat Chizuru Kaguya, the head of the Kaguya clan and also the Commander of the Stealth Forces which was basically the ANBU of the village. What was she doing in Rei's mansion though? Well... Rei would also like to know. The Kaguya clan had an entire compound in the village, after all!

Unlike what Rei imagined, Chizuru became Tsunade's training partner and they liked to think of uses for Shikotsumyaku which more often than not made them forget the time so Chizuru was prone to spend the night in one of the guest rooms.

Next to Kaya was Mei slowly munching on cereals, completely disinterested with whatever was going to be discussed. Fortunately for her, she was just an odd wheel in this meeting since she refused any position. Not like Rei would give the brat one unless she persuaded him she could be responsible. Honestly, he really had no idea how her canon counterpart could be the Mizukage. She was just so childish at times...

Next to Chizuru, Tsunade was reading reports from the Biri-Biri company. She was the head of the company as well as the head of the Medic Corps of the village.

Next to Mei was Ringo who refused any position despite being the first pick for the head of the Stealth Corps. She instead focused on her forging and Rei had to admit, his village would be so over-geared it was funny. Every village had some kind of special weapons but the supply was really low. That meant only up to ten ninjas could be geared with those at any given time. But thanks to Ringo's new hobby, Rei could already see that his new village would have no such problem. Ringo was creating one amazing weapon after another, weaving seals into them with the help of the Sealing Corps. So far, the weapons she made that were only slightly worse than the Seven Swords of Kirigakure already numbered in hundreds. Rei had no desire to force a position on her when she was basically making his new village overpowered just by focusing on her hobby. He only made it clear he expected her to train a few apprentices in her tracking and assassination techniques. After all, she still was the best tracker possibly in the whole world.

On the other side of the table, Yugito and Maki were giggling while gossiping together, not paying any attention to the old folks. Usually, Mei was with them but the girls already knew to leave Mei alone when she is upset. Yesterday, Mei planned to sneak into Rei's room but the talks with Kaya took so long she fell asleep so today she was supremely pissed despite showing neutral expression. No way was Maki nor Yugito going to talk to Mei before she approached them. They didn't want to end as Mei's stress-relieving punching bags in the name of training. No, thank you…

'Wait…' Rei discreetly narrowed his eyes. 'I will have to get some allies of male gender into the leading positions. Being the sole male in council full of women...' He shuddered, just realizing it as he gazed at the full gathering of his council members, feeling really outnumbered. Sadly for Rei, he already knew that with Konan being his secretary, the leading positions could be given only to people she approved of being worthy of his trust. It was just… 'I really lack male friends, don't I?' Depressing thoughts struck Rei.

The council meeting continued as everyone tried to wake up as they ate their breakfast. It was nothing grand. At best, they discussed the budget which was really smooth since nobody had to argue. The village was packed with money due to the Biri-Biri company and the Uzushio Trading Company acting as cash-cows for it. No way was Rei going to be dependent on the Daimyo for funds. That was simply a recipe for a disaster later down the line.

Another topic was promising kids from both the Uzumaki and Kaguya clan and Pakura also mentioned that some of the kids of the hundred-plus Kiri jonin, who fought under Ringo on the Nagori Isles, were already old enough to start their ninja training. For now, these matters were in their hands but Rei already told Pakura to make a department under her that would take care of the new blood. No way was Rei, as the leader, going to take care of such things as putting together teams. As if he was going to waste the time of his jonins with teaching brats only to produce their sub-par clones skill-wise. No... Rei already had a better system in mind but sadly, it would be feasible only when the number of ninjas in his village increases.

The meeting was finally ending a half-hour after it started. Frankly, it could be over in ten but they still ate during it and nobody really hurried. When Rei finally announced the council meeting is over, Mei spoke,

"I have a question."

The second Rei heard her tone, his lips twitched, realizing her mood and what was most likely the reason for it. This was not the first time she failed to sneak into his room. Normally, she actually manages it but is kicked out by either irritate Tsunade or Konan since these two could be damn scary after a stressful day.

Unfortunately for Mei, she was one of those who found it embarrassing to ask for a date or spending a night together. She preferred to appear uninvited and while more often than not that resulted in a threesome when Rei already had promised to spend time with another girl, sometimes Mei was simply shit out of luck, and the next day she would have this cold poker face...

"Go on..." Rei nodded, wondering what inane thing she came up with this time. Honestly, he really loved her for bringing laughter into his usually busy life.

"I would like to ask... now that we already have the village going, can't we go deal with the hideout of the Madara guy?" Mei dropped the bomb, causing all to stop what they were doing and look at her in bewilderment, neither knowing where that came from. Seeing their expressions, Mei hurriedly continued, "I mean after we got the sample of the Sanbi's chakra, I know that Konan created a clone to follow that Obito guy before we left. I thought it would be stupid to fight a man who was once praised as one of the strongest two ninjas of the strongest generation but now he would most likely already dropped the bucket, no? Konan said he has thousands of these wooden human-like things growing there so... shouldn't we go and take care of that? Nobody makes an army without intention to use it, after all."

'Aha... here we go. Her usual bullshit.' Rei brightly smiled. When she mentioned Madara, Rei had no idea what she wanted but the second she spoke of those wooden things, he got it. Considering Mei was pissed and irritated... she probably just wanted to melt something and thousands of Zetsu's most likely seemed like an appropriate target.

"No... it's not like we didn't go and kill Madara because I didn't have enough confidence to do it. He was old and his body was frankly useless at that stage. The only real threat would be his eyes if he had them in his eye-sockets." Rei rolled his eyes, remembering Madara's eyes were with Nagato. Speaking of which... he should probably account for Nagato in his plan... "But Madara's plan is really beneficial for us so sorry Mei, I can't let you relieve your frustration with his army. After all, we need him to declare war on all villages for my plan to succeed."