Frustrations.

"What happened to it Megumi?" Tsunade asked as she leaned herself on the wall and peeked her head from behind the door into the room Megumi was working in.

"Didn't find it. There were no fishes that were attracted to it."

"What?"

"Yeah. I don't know why, but no fishes come so close to the area. You sure the bodies were not in some storage seal on that guy we captured?"

"No. There was no such thing on his body when we interrogated him." Tsunade responded by shaking her head and a little despondent.

"Any other ideas about where the bodies might've gone away to?"

".....no not really." Tsunade said, still hanging on the door frame, so Megumi looked back at her.

"What happened?" Megumi asked with some confusion, since Tsunade was looking a little inconsolable.

"....I was just wondering Megumi…why can't I meet the spirit? Is it because of something I did?"

"....ehh….I mean you wouldn't be able to see it if it was out of your control. So of course it is because of something you did." Megumi said, scratching his cheeks and trying to be as vague as possible.

"Hmm....can you…."

"Think about it this way….what would you want when you're going to die? What sort of person would you want to be by your side when the only other option is death. Really think about it." Megumi replied and went back to performing final tests on his rather large bamboo box that he'd built with Kizashi the day prior.

Tsunade cast a glance over at Megumi and then looked at the Odachi tied to her waist, and then with a frustratingly confused look on her face walked back with it to the backyard.

Settling among the grass, Tsunade pulled the blade out of its sheath and held it flat with both her hands. Passing her spiritual energy over the blade and then through it, leaving it there for a while and then pulling it back.

'There is still the same tiny amount of my spiritual energy missing.'

"What do you want from me!!" Tsunade asked in an irritated voice as she looked at the Odachi in her hands.

'What sort of person would I want to be with when I'm dying?'

'A nice person?'

'Someone that wouldn't betray me in such a difficult situation?'

Tsunade just stared at the sword as if she expected something to happen when she thought about that, but nothing happened.

"Argg!! I don't know!! Why is this so hard!! I know how to use the Odachi so perfectly already!! Maybe Megumi made some mistake while making it?"

"It wouldn't hurt to ask him to look at it and see if he made a mistake, would it? Right?"

"I'll ask him to do it when he's free." Tsunade decided and began walking back into the white castle.

...

Kakashi looked at the new stiff paper in front of him that had once again teleported right on top of the book he was reading.

Knowing what it was, Kakashi thought back to his dilemma over the last day or so.

'Should I have reported it?'

'Why didn't I?'

'Because of how childish it was?'

'Hmm…..let's see where this goes today.'

As he waited, words began to form on the paper like before while Kakashi just stared at it and became eager to see what was going to happen this time.

'Hello again, my dear friend.'

'I see you've made preparations to capture me just in case, but I should remind you that you cannot really do anything about it.'

'I'd like to applaud your thinking, though.'

'I'm sure it wasn't easy to decide to spend all your day in the forest with sealing tags set up all around in the trees with some in your hand and drawn in the book too.'

Kakashi's eyes twitched a little at the detailed analysis. It was almost as if he was being spied on and had all his moves tracked since the very beginning.

A little tingle chilled Kakashi's spine when he thought perhaps the person on the other end never left, but then he pushed the thought away. 'No way. I would've found out.'

'So? What's your answer, son of white fang?'

'.....edge. The fun is here on the edge.'

'Oh! A great answer for a man that was raised in battles. I wonder though, why then have you not lived on the edge?'

Kakashi felt his hairs rise up when he read those words.

'I mean, wouldn't living on the edge be throwing yourself into battles against Kirigakure ninja after they forced Rin-'

Before the remaining words completely appeared, Kakashi activated all the seals in the book and sealed away the paper that had appeared on top of it and shut the book and sealed it into a paper seal he was holding underneath it.

With a soft *sigh* Kakashi looked at the paper seal in his hands and debated how he should present it to the Hokage when all of a sudden a new paper appeared in his vision, this time hanging in the air like it was frozen there.

This time with a face on it.

(ಠ ∩ಠ)

And then the words that accompanied below it, 'As you can see, I am very angry with you.'

'As punishment, I will add a penalty to you.'

Kakashi didn't realize what the penalty was, but it worried him a little.

'So the next time I contact you. Make sure you have an answer about why you won't live on the edge anymore.'

'Hmpf. Just 'cause I feel a little more angry at you now. I'm going to double the punishment.'

After those emotionally charged words, the paper like last time vanished from in front of him as Kakashi patiently waited for the punishment to arrive, but even after a few minutes, nothing did.

'Hmm…? Maybe it was just an empty threat?'

'I guess so….'

Kakashi thought as he began rushing towards the village to go have some ramen at Tekuchi's store so that he needn't stay hungry anymore.

What he didn't know what the paper that had stuck onto the back of his Konoha flack jacket.

Written on it were the words, 'Buck toothed Kakashi.' With Kakashi's bucktoothed face from the anime sketched onto it.

...

"Megi! It did get worse somehow!!!"

"What happened?"

"The store! It got worse!!!"

"Oh…."

"She started spreading rumors about me, like how I supposedly don't do any work and then force my mom to do all the extra work and things like that!"

"....well you gotta deal with it in some way…"

"Mom's not firing her because she somehow makes everyone do their work properly! She only has a problem with me!" Sakura exclaimed, placing her hands on her waist and standing in an angry pose.

"And do you know what!?"

"What?"

"Somehow people believe her!!!!"

"Well…rumors tend to work like that."

".....then help me get back at her!"

Megumi gave a close eyed stare to Sakura and shook his head in disappointment and pushed her aside while he went out of the door to go and have dinner with everyone.

"Fix your own damn problems! And if you need help, ask Annabelle for help! She basically lives in your store!"

"Oh! Annabelle! Great idea! Yes! I'll ask her for help!" Sakura said, almost jumping excitedly as she ran towards the bathroom to take a shower and come to the dinner table to eat with Megumi.

...

"Megumi!" Tsunade spoke across the table while everyone ate their dinner in peace after a tiring day.

"Huh? What happened nee-san?"

"Can you check my Odachi for def-" Before she could finish her sentence, Megumi teleported a spoon into her mouth and threw her pronunciation off as she almost choked on it.

Everyone stared at Megumi in a confused manner, while Sakura had her eyes open wide and almost did the same thing Megumi had done with her own spoon in her hand.

"Don't say such stupid things." Megumi said as he continued to eat under Tsunade's aggrieved gaze. "They are not 'things' Tsuna-nee. Alive people, beings, living a full life while inside those blades."

Tsunade's annoyed look only grew stronger when she pulled the spoon out of her mouth, but before she could speak, Sakura told her, "Tsunade-sensei! How about I help you out tomorrow!? Or maybe you could ask Mito-baa-san for help!"

"No, thank you." Tsunade said and shook her head and continued eating, while Caroline on the side kicked Megumi's leg from underneath the table while he just ignored her. "I'll figure it out on my own."

...

"Oh? Is it done already?" Hagoromo asked while looking at Orochimaru.

"Yes. The first prototypesss~ are ready. The lack of sss~ubjects to experiment on put a dent in my plans for the paccc~e at which I researched these, but I guess it's better late than never."

"Hmmm….." Hagoromo brushed his short beard and looked down at Kimimaro who had turned a dark shade of brown with pure white bones piercing out of his skin all over his body to reinforce it.

"You know what to do with them."

"Are you sss~ure?"

"When have I not been sure?" Hagoromo laughed as he left the room when Kimimaro started transforming back into a normal human when the sage chakra stored inside the seal had ended.

"I'll send them to Danzo, he'll be able to procure the deals better."

"Whatever."

"Are you not going to inform the leader about these?"

"No. Where we are going, it won't be necessary."

Orochimaru licked his lips with his long tongue as it flickered like a snake's while he held an eerie smile on his face as if he liked what was happening.

...

Megumi held Kaguya and placed her on top of his shoulder, where she made herself comfortable as Megumi teleported to the top of the forest trail that was currently being traversed by Konoha shinobi.

"Hmm….it should be about time…"

Megumi watched the squad of shinobi rushing along the branches of the forest, skipping across to deliver their packages from one end of the island to the other, with a jounin in the lead.

After Sakura had defeated the team of three earlier in the week, they had extracted as much information as they could about the contracted organizations in the black market that had been asked to deal with the shinobi from the Haruno store.

Megumi followed the Konoha shinobi along with Kaguya on his shoulder when he saw a soft glint from within the leaves of a particular tree.

Without having any second thoughts, Megumi felt the area around the glint and teleported behind the person responsible for it.

Before the rogue ninja could utter a word, Megumi had jabbed a special senbon that was laced with a special type of poison Shizune had created for use in fights, into the neck of the unassuming man.

"Hmm…that was easier than I thought it would be." Megumi spoke out loud while teleporting the body in front of him that had gone limp to the safe room prepared inside the castle, where Shizune was waiting on standby to interrogate any captured prisoners.

Teleporting back to the castle himself, Megumi found himself coming face to face with Sakura who looked worried about something.

"What's gotten you so worried? It's not like they can touch me even if they wanted to?"

"True. But….it's not about that. It's about why they're still sending out people when we've already foiled four of their groups."

"....well…" Megumi started but didn't continue.

"You know why?" Sakura asked with an incredulous expression.

"Well….my guess is he wants to turn the other shinobi nations on us by showing them how easily we've been thwarting their attacks while they've been struggling at the same time and are suffering casualties."

"Oh…." Sakura said, her lips already turning thinner as she squeezed them shut.

"He probably has something he'll use to gain money from them? But I don't know why he'd want the money directly, perhaps just for his future plans. But what he's most likely trying to do is trying to sow seeds of distrust and trying to break the economic alliance that is forming among the countries."

"And why do you think that?" Sakura asked her hands now folded as she looked at Megumi with a little anger.

"I have an idea but I'm not going to share it just yet." Megumi responded and tried to wrap his hands around Sakura but she pushed him away.

"Come on now, don't be so angry at things you cannot do anything about."

"I can't do anything because you won't let me do anything about it!" Sakura shouted back in a low voice.

"Hey, you really think the person who could figure out the reason for all of this wouldn't know what to do?"

"Maybe you missed out on something!? Don't you always tell knowledge is built upon the wealth of several giants that have existed before them?"

"True. But in this case it is not about knowledge, it is about action. Action can only be taken by looking at the situation right now."

"Then maybe you miss-"

"If I did miss something then that means I'm wrong anyway, and if I didn't then that means my reasoning for not telling about it to anyone should be right anyway. So it doesn't change anything in the end." Megumi said, pulling Sakura closer in spite of her incessantly trying to push him away.

"You need to calm down….how about we do something fun today?"

"Like what? I don't want to play minecraft now. You'll just turn it all into the organization's things if I do." 

"Hey! Don't think I'm going to use what you built for the two of us into something public. I was just thinking maybe we could use a game like multiplayer setting for the organization's communications."

"Really?" Sakura side-eyed him a little suspicious.

"Really. Why would I want to give away what you've specially done just for me!?" Megumi said, hugging Sakura tighter and giving a soft peck on her cheek to melt her resistance.

-------------------------

Thank you for reading!

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