Ch305. Izumi Uchiha

As Rei watched the proceeding battle between Yugito and Yagura in their bijuu modes, he suddenly sensed an approaching chakra signature coming towards him from the direction of the Village on the Other Side.

Rei sighed and instantly created four shadow clones, sending them to create a barrier separating the fighting bijuu and him, not wanting the approaching person to be affected by the shockwaves. He knew it was time for a report from the spy network but since Konan didn't mentally send him anything, he thought this was one of those rare peaceful days when nothing of importance happened.

Apparently, he was wrong. Sitting down on a boulder, Rei waited...

It took twenty more minutes before he could see a form of heavily breathing Izumi Uchiha jumping through the treetops towards him while clutching a file to her chest. It was honestly cute how she gave it her all to rush with the report to him.

'Such eagerness...' Rei chuckled, 'As if it mattered if I was made to wait for five or fifteen more minutes for the report. Anything extremely important would be reported by Konan through our mental connection anyway. Poor girl, she was definitely sent on this errand because she annoyed Konan with her questions again.'

Rei knew Konan liked Izumi. The girl was eager to please and desired to prove herself, putting her all in every task. Konan saw herself in the girl... although, Rei really didn't see any semblance between the two. Naturally, he wisely kept quiet about it and just nodded in agreement when his wife asked about the topic.

Unfortunately for Konan, Izumi was one of those people who needed things explained to them at least three times before they understood them. Mentoring her proved extremely aggravating for the bluenette. Then again, Izumi was also one of those geniuses that once understood something, they would start using it in unexpected ways nobody sane could think of.

'Hmm... maybe they ARE a bit similar, after all.' Rei idly pondered, remembering all the irritating paper Jutsu Konan created over the years.

Izumi finally arrived, landing close to the place where Rei sat. Her face was bright red with a small hint of exhaustion as she animatedly tried to present the file. She clearly wanted to start speaking but it was difficult through all that gasping for air.

Amusement clearly written in his face, Rei took the file Izumi tried to hand to him while offhandedly commenting, "It is always fun to see one of the village's S-rank ninjas gasp for breath like a freshly graduated genin."

Izumi was still red from head to toes but now the reason for her redness was different.

'How easy...' Rei inwardly snickered, watching the young woman with the corner of his eye.

In the past few years, Izumi became one of the cornerstones of his village. The strongest Uchiha, her clan revered her. They even offered her the clan head position again but Izumi, for some reason, rejected and continued working under Konan.

'Ah... it's her again.' Kaguya suddenly stated.

'You are still here? I thought you got all pouty on me and decided to sulk in your new bed.' Rei offhandedly teased, the corner of his lips twitching when he felt Kaguya stiffen. He realized he nailed it right on the head. Well, that didn't mean he was going to rub it in, though.

'Hmpf! I felt a familiar chakra around you so I decided to take a look. I definitely didn't want to talk to your witty ass again. You are good only in small doses, you jerk.' Kaguya mentally scoffed.

'And let me guess, today you are overdosing, right?' Rei rolled his eyes. Honestly, whatever insult she could muster, it wouldn't phase him in the slightest. After all, he could feel her enjoyment from their banter. Before Kaguya could return some witty remark of her own, Rei continued, 'Anyway, by familiar chakra signature you mean Izumi, no?'

'Yes... I definitely mean that lovestruck Uchiha girl in front of you who is cutely blundering around like a bumbling fool whenever she is in your presence. It's funny to watch.' Kaguya giggled and Rei could feel her genuinely smile. 'Honestly, from all the descendants of mine, she is the most heartwarming one.'

'That's mighty praise coming from the Rabbit Goddess herself.' Rei remarked while pretending to read the utterly boring report. Why was he even getting them? Ah right... he was the person in charge. Sucks to be him!

'Well... the girl deserves it. She did awaken Rinnegan, after all.' Kaguya proudly nodded.

And that was another thing. Tsunade went ballistic in her experiments two years ago and Izumi was a prime candidate to become the Uchiha lab rat number one. The reason for that was simple. As a part of the village hidden on the other side, the Uchiha clan had the right to refuse and they promptly executed it. Izumi, as Konan's apprentice, had no such luck and was promptly volunteered by her mentor.

Although... Konan knew Tsunade would be returning her apprentice in pristine condition. Izumi, the poor girl, however, had no idea.

Tsunade blended Senjutsu DNA into Izumi, and at the end of the experiments, Izumi awakened Rinnegan. Frankly, it was a shock even for Rei who knew about the ancestry of the two clans, not to mention Tsunade, the Uchiha clan, and others.

Apparently, it had something to do with Izumi's strong Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan... or whatever. Rei didn't really care about all that scientific crap. The girl awakened the purple freaky eyes and that was that. Needless to say, Tsunade promptly rejected any request to perform the procedure on other Uchihas. She only wanted to give Senju clan's physical prowess and potent yang chakra to the village's ninjas. Evolving Izumi's eyes was not in the plan so when it happened, the entire project was quickly scrapped by Tsunade.

'The next thing you're gonna say is that you want to adopt her, no?' Rei dryly stated, giving the clueless Uchiha girl a gentle smile, flustering her a bit.

He couldn't blame Kaguya for her fondness for Izumi. Kaguya's close family was dead so she only had distant descendants. From what Kaguya said, it was hard to care for those. With such diluted blood ties, Kaguya mostly judged familial relations through the chakra of a person. It was indeed true that chakra was special for each person, much like DNA. Kaguya could feel chakra on a whole new level of depth and the second she saw Izumi, she instantly recognized the girl awakened Rinnegan as according to Kaguya's words, it purified the girl's bloodline, making her closer to Otsutsuki.

"What a perfect vessel..." Were Kaguya's exact words.

Alas, Rei shut down THAT idea pretty quickly and Kaguya learned to not mention it again. Fortunately for Izumi, the woman then grew fond of her clumsy act around Rei, otherwise Rei had no doubt Kaguya would be plotting possession right about now.

"Oh." Rei suddenly halted, finally finding something interesting in the report, "Kumo and Iwa are naughty! I wonder how that will go." His lips widened into a smirk.

Looking back at Izumi who was curiously glancing at the file while trying to be subtle, he closed it before handing it back to her, "Go and give it to Tsunade, will you? She can handle the rest for now."

"Ri-right now?" Izumi grimaced. She just ran here from the village and now she was supposed to run back to the village? She couldn't help but curse the prick who decided these training grounds will be so far away from the village.

Unknown to her, the prick stood right in front of her.

Rei chuckled, stretching his arm before patting the young woman's head, causing her to lower it and subconsciously lean into his palm. "Well, it's two-thirty. As I know Konan, she will want a report by three p.m. since afterward she is leaving her office. You got half an hour to get back to the village..." Rei trailed off, seeing how Izumi's eyes widened in panic.

"It's already so late!?" She exclaimed, her eyes turning red before she disappeared into thin air.

"..." Rei blinked with a frozen smile on his face, looking at his outstretched hand patting air...

'You look like an idiot.' Kaguya's amused remark didn't help his internal turmoil.