Ch. 25 PT 2

A group teleport and everyone appears in front of a massive estate, surrounded by trees just outside of the village. The estate that the daimyo of the land of fire had built for when he visits the village. Large walls surround the estate that has the 'fire' kanji written on the sign above the gatepost. Two swordsmen in black uniforms that have 'destroyer of hollows' on their backs. Upon noticing the group appear the two swordsmen's faces light up. "Commander Yoriichi? Is that really you?"

"Alive and in the flesh," he answers with a bright smile. "What's up you guys!"

"Welcome back! We're so glad you're awake!"

"Master Kojiro is expecting your arrival in the dining hall. Please go inside," They open the gates for them practically sobbing with joy for Yoriichi's recovery, they bow respectfully on either side.

"Welcome, I shall escort you all to the dining hall." A butler greets them at the door and leads them through the building.

"Did this place get bigger? Ehh it's been five years makes sense if the Daimyo felt the need to upgrade," Yo thinks aloud walking down the decadent halls of the lush estate. The four he brought with him marvel over all the expensive and rare items that line the walls. There is art, weapons, treasures, and more as expected of the daimyo. Entering the dining hall they come to aa great room with a long table covered from end to end with gourmet dishes of all kinds (thanks to Yo's previous influence there are a few modern dishes mixed in there).

"Good morning everyone, and welcome!" Kojiro says from the head of the table as they come in.

"Whoa, I see you went all out today." Yo says looking at the spread. "This stuff looks delicious."

"This is the reunion of the peach tree brothers. And I figured we would have extra company as well, so why not?" Kojiro notes all of the younger people here joining them.

"Took you kids long enough to get here," Shisui calls out sitting beside Kojiro. "It'd have been such a waste if we let all this go cold."

"Don't look at me, some people just aren't morning people," Yo laughs taking a seat. 'So who is this disciple of his?' He thinks looking at the person sitting next to him, Shisui had successfully managed to shock Yoriichi again. 'No way, don't tell me he found HIM?!?' Sitting quietly next to Shisui was another white haired child, with a red dot above each eyebrow, and red marks behind pale green eyes. One of the premiere talent monsters who were taken from this world too soon…

"Meet Kimimaro of the Kaguya clan," Shisui introduces the boy. Looking at Yo's surprised expression and knows that he knows that Kimimaro was quite the find. Yo wondered if Shisui knew just how talented Kimimaro actually is. To slay a kage level ninja by fifteen, he is not to be taken lightly. Also, there is his talent disease that must be dealt with, though among the kings present within his sword Yo felt confident his life wasn't in danger this time. Whether was he naturally sick or it was something Orochimaru's experimentation did to him Yo would wait and see.

"Hello." Kimimaro introduces himself with a polite head nod, to which he received a warm reception from everyone. Benimaru, Naruto, Sasuke and Toneri all go over to him and introduce themselves as well. They all seem to hit it off pretty well, though Kimimaro and Toneri do a lot less talking at first.

"You kiddos play nice with each other, the people around you are going to be some of the most trustworthy allies you'll ever have in this life." Shisui says to them.

"Right!" Yo adds in between bites of a roll he grabbed on his way to a seat near the other peach tree brothers. "Why put your back against a wall, when you can be back-to-back with someone you know won't let you down?"

"If you can hold true to each other, no obstacle will be too much for the five of you to overcome." Kojiro continues. "Anyways, we've waited long enough. Let's eat."

"Thanks for the food!" The eight of them manage to put most of the food away conversing merrily while they ate. After their hearty meal the peach tree trio had business to talk so they dismissed the others to explore the estate. Eventually their games took them outside and they ended up deep in the expansive flower garden in the back, particularly by the roses where Benimaru picks a bright red rose and twirls it in his hand thinking deeply.

"What's wrong Beni?" Sasuke asks noticing he'd gone quiet.

"I've been thinking…about what they said earlier. If the five of us work together, we can most assuredly rise to the top of this world."

"What? You didn't believe them before?" Naruto asks with a sour face like Beni said something stupid. "We can definitely do that!" The others seemed to share his sentiments.

"Make no mistake I know the summit is easily within our reach, you are all fortunate to have my help." Benimaru says confidently.

"What are you trying to say you're the leader now? You're not the boss of me," Naruto barks thinking Benimaru is trying to smooth talk his way into some position of authority. "And my mom teaches me jutsu not you!" The others looked like they had something to say about answering to Benimaru as well, but he stopped them before they could start.

"Calm down you idiot, that is not what I was talking about, BUT since you brought up the idea of a leader we can fight for it." Benimaru says knowing how much more powerful he is than them. It's not like he'd steer them wrong, and he got elected successor of the sect in his past life too.

"Bring it!" Naruto shouts getting carried away and forgetting their massive skill gap.

'Darn it Naruto, now he's going to push his weight around because he already knows a lot of strong jutsu…' Sasuke thinks back to what he just saw him do, but a swordsman can't be intimidated. "You're on!"

"I agree, if we are to defer to someone among us it should be the strongest." Kimimaro says with full confidence in his own abilities. They look at Toneri to see what his opinion is.

"…umm I don't really want to fight you guys, or tell you what to do either." Toneri more or less bows out. "We're all friends right?"

"Very well you can sit out fifth brother Toneri, the rest of us will fight for the chain of command." Benimaru declares and no one else objects. "Now as I was saying. Once we reach the summit, you do realize what awaits us?"

"Those three," it dons on Sasuke first. To be the greatest swordsman in the world he would have to surpass Yo, Kojiro, and Shisui.

"You would go against your master?" Kimimaro asks thinking Beni sounds awfully untrustworthy.

Benimaru gives him an offended look "Make no mistake I would never betray my master nor my brother, but I do intend to surpass him. They are here to help us reach our full potential, but that doesn't mean they will just idly allow us to grow stronger than them. The peach tree brothers are but youths themselves, they have no reason to step aside before they have even reached their prime."

"He's right, we don't have to be enemies, but we are competing with them too." Naruto says. "They aren't just gonna hold our hands forever."

"So are we going to swear some sort of oath too?" Toneri asks, they already had the feast.

"Precisely," Benimaru grins pulling out a bottle of sake and five cups he took from the house. He pours a cup for everyone "We may not all know each other the best but I know for certain the five of us will rise to the summit of this world. That road will be arduous, but together we can surely overcome. We will fight side by side, and shoulder each other's burdens. When one of us is in need the others will come to their aid full force, we support each other to the best of our abilities, and we sharpen each other as iorn. From this day til our last, we are brothers!" They all raise their cups in a toast and drink, everyone is taken aback by the strong taste and burning in their chest.

"Gross!" Sasuke nearly vomits.

"It burns!" Naruto is beating his chest.

"I don't think alcohol is for me," Toneri says.

"This is really good." Benimaru says pouring another cup. That was actually his first drink in both lives.

"I'll have another as well," Kimimaro holds his cup out as well.

"We need a cool name for our group too," Sasuke suggests after regaining his composure.

"Like what?" Toneri asks.

"How about the rose quintet?" The five of them all turn to see the suggestion come from Yo who along with Kojiro and Shisui had just showed up, of course their students were all stunned that they appeared so suddenly. Were they there long? Do they know about the sake. "Since you are conspiring in the rose garden and all," he chuckles.

Shisui hands over a roll of money to Yoriichi, "wow you really called it. They were conspiring in the garden…" It is just as Yo predicted.

"That's why I don't bet on anything with Yo unless it is about a sword. His knowledge of people and their natures is uncanny to say the least." Kojiro says.

"Umm thanks?" Yo answers. "Anyways so we heard you guys want to surpass us? You really think that's possible?"

"Not only is that possible, it is going to happen." Benimaru responds. The others look a little nervous, those three are three of their masters, after all.

"Oh, so you've all steeled your resolves to fight this uphill battle? Is that right?" Kojiro asks with a straight face. "Did you hear that? Shisui? Yo?"

"Loud and clear Kojiro," Shisui responds. "I hope they know what this means."

"Heheheh," An evil sounding cackle escapes from the sadistic smile forming on Yo's face. "The audacity of you brats. Setting your sights on the last hurdle so soon? You know we have no intention of relinquishing the lead over to you runts, so come with all of your might and then some more. Claw your way up to us so we can crush you at your fullest potentials! We accept your challenge!" Yo bears down on the area with his spiritual pressure causing the very ground to tremble and crack, branches snap, the porcelain pottery and garden walls begin to crack and chip under the weight of it all. The boys themselves were all finding it hard to even breathe. The panicked looks in most of their eyes show they feel they may have bitten off more than they could chew. Kojiro and Shisui watch their reactions.

Benimaru, however, remained undeterred, he said what he said and meant it. Once they were older and more developed that gap would surely start to close. Plus, there were more people in his group. "You guys aren't scared are you? Will you stand with me?"

"Psssh scared?! Who do you think we are!" Naruto exclaims. "Us five are going to be the greatest hero, swordsman, hokage and whatever they want to be in history! Believe it!" His feigned confidence was enough to inspire the three disciples.

"Yeah!" Sasuke works up with the courage to stand with them. "I vowed to be the greatest swordsman in the world, even if it's you guys, I have to beat everyone!"

"I promised Hamura-sama I would give it my all!" Toneri says. "W-we can do this!"

"…Mmmh," Kimimaro gives in to peer pressure and remains with them.

The five of them look determined to stand tall in the face of overwhelming power. "Ungrateful brats…I'm proud of you!" Yoriichi exclaims as the pressure subsides and his smile goes from crazy to proud. "I'm not saying disloyalty is ok because as your teachers and seniors, you do have to listen to us or we'll break your legs. However, the summit has no room for timidity. Be strong and daring, let the egos we know you're suppressing go wild. Only then can you hope to see the sights we see."

"We most assuredly will." Benimaru declares.

'He does have some good leadership qualities to rally them together already. Beni is going to have a powerful team in the future…It'll be easy make him king for sure.' Yo thinks looking at the group. "Awww Beni wants to be like his big brubber," Yo says in a baby like voice, mocking Beni while ruffling his hair. "You had to make your own group of sworn brothers too? Aren't I enough brother for you?"

"It has nothing to do with you Yo!" Beni denies pushing Yo away. While it was a good idea, he definitely stole it from Yo.

"Hahaha sure it didn't!" Yo laughs. "Next thing you'll be telling me you can see the future too!"

"I wouldn't do that!" Beni starts to get embarrassed he can't say for sure he wouldn't now.

"You stole the oath Beni?" Sasuke asks.

"I thought that speech was from the heart…it's not as touching now." Toneri signs

"…" Kimimaro just gives him a disappointed stare.

"That was from the heart! I just- it's not like Yo's the first person ever to have sworn brothers!" A flustered Benimaru shouts.

"No way he's literally steaming!" Shisui is holding his side laughing.

"Run Yo! He's going to blow his top!" Naruto laughs with Shisui.

"Hey don't burn down my garden!" Kojiro shouts.