Ch47. Joining 1

Rei and Konan were coming back from a mission. They were in the countryside, in the northern part of the Mizu no Kuni as they ate lunch in a tavern in a small town.

"I am never doing an escort mission again." Konan huffed and crossed her arms. "That pig ogled my ass the entire time!"

"I concur. I wanted to wring his neck at least fifty times." Rei agreed with a twitching eyebrow. "At least he didn't have guts to try anything."

"If he did," Konan snorted derisively. "noble or not, a friend of the Daimyo or not, his head would fly!"

As they conversed about the pig of a client they had to escort, a hooded figure in a small black cloak sat opposite them. They could see it was a woman and Rei took a peek at her chin, mouth, and nose that could be seen from under the hood. He quickly understood the woman is beautiful from these features alone.

"We need to talk." The hooded woman said.

It was not an order. Both Rei and Konan recognized it for what it was. The woman was pleading, almost begging them to hear her out. Rei looked at Konan and smiled when he saw her nod. They both felt a slight familiarity with the woman and didn't know why. He turned to the fidgeting woman and spoke.

"Follow us."

Rei rented a room for a day and they entered it. Konan quickly made papers with Rei's silencing and anti-spy seals stuck to each wall.

They sat on the bed and watched as the woman stood in front of them somewhat insecurely, quivering. Her shaky hands reached upwards, taking hold of the edge of her hood and she ever so slowly started pulling it down.

Konan just looked in confusion as Rei's jaw dropped the second the forehead of the woman was revealed.

"I am..." The fidgety woman quietly mumbled while her eyes tried to look anywhere but Rei and Konan.

"Tsunade Senju." Rei finished for her, half in disbelief.

Tsunade nodded silently, biting her lower lip. Rei never thought he would see Tsunade Senju act all insecure. Konan tensed but Rei put a hand on her shoulder.

"So why did you need to talk with us?" Rei asked calmly.

Tsunade opened her mouth and her eyes for the first time, landed on Rei, making her freeze. She stayed like that with her mouth open and wide-eyes, gazing at him intently while her body trembled.

Rei had some really bad premonition and activated his nature sensing and recoiled at what he felt.

He and Konan were the picture of calmness but Tsunade? The Nature energy was pushing, tugging, and forcefully pulling her towards them. Her chakra was invisibly leaking from her body, its tendrils trying to reach Rei and Konan. Rei saw why she would be trembling, fighting to even keep standing. He cursed.

"Konan, follow." He instantly ordered Konan and in a burst of raiton chakra, appeared near the still bewildered Tsunade.

Tsunade couldn't fight even if she wanted to. She was at the end of her strength. Half-dead and she wondered how it was even possible she could keep her eyes open, much less stand. When Rei swept her from her feet, bending her over his shoulder, she couldn't even protest as a jolt of pleasure sprang through her spine at his touch.

Konan tilted her head but listened and in less than a minute, Rei and Konan sped up away from the town, Rei carrying Tsunade on his shoulder.

They arrived near the cliff, in front of them only a high jagged wall of rock, Tsunade already unconscious.

"Let's create a cave." Rei said and Konan nodded.

Both Rei and Konan put their hands on the wall of rock and said.

"Doton: Hidden Cave."

The wall of rocks gave way and a big half-circular entrance appeared in front of them. They entered and the Jutsu completed its second function, sealing the entrance off as Rei created small balls of fire all around to produce light.

That Jutsu was a very useful thing to have in a repertoire. Earth was everywhere and making an underground cave or one inside a mountain as a headquarters was always a useful skill to have.

Rei removed any and all Jutsu affecting Tsunade and saw her revert to a very old woman. She was shriveled and wrinkled. Her body was just skin and bones, making him wince.

"It's even worse than I thought. We need to enter our dimension." He gravely told Konan.

Konan raised her eyebrows at Rei thinking of dragging that woman, Tsunade, into their dimension but she followed with a pout. Rei took out a storage seal and unsealed a square paper of the size of a half of the floor of the room in their apartment. Rei lifted Tsunade's body and carried her into the middle of the key seal on the paper as Konan followed. A chakra engulfed them and with a puff of smoke, they disappeared.

...

In their dimension, an influx of their nature energy swirled around peacefully. The second they appeared, their bodies started to be filled to the brim with the giddy energy, making them smile. It was a very soothing feeling. The complete opposite of what Tsunade felt. The nature energy rammed into her as it recognized her as an intruder and her body started to be destroyed from the inside.

Rei quickly whipped out the sense connecting seal that caused this in the first place and placed it on Tsunade's chest. Konan understood and put her hand on it. Rei activated it and their world... shifted.

The second Rei's and Konan's soul, one, connected, joined soul clashed with Tsunade's, the reaction was very violent.

The entire dimension pulsed. Years the dimension saw no use and only made nature energy stronger, more condensed. By now the energy permeated the air and saturated the entire space. It was clearly VISIBLE even by the naked eye. The energy was thick and now, now it finally had something that it could fill.

The bodies of the three people as if opened the floodgates as the energy pushed into them, doing the exact same thing it did previously when this happened the first time. Only, purer, stronger, concentrated. This energy BELONGED to Konan and Rei. This energy was in THEIR favor. It did its best to enhance and enforce their bond.

Tsunade's soul didn't have even a shred of a chance. It couldn't hold itself together as it was continuously forcefully ripped to shreds and repatched with parts of Konan's and Rei's big patchwork soul. It slowly started merging with theirs and from Two patchwork souls that made one bigger, quickly became three. The volume... increased. And then it momentarily separated into three parts.

One, the biggest and watery blue, containing a lot of the green and a massive amount of purple parts, was Rei's soul. Anyone skilled in soul magic from some higher world would tell you that what just happened should be impossible. But when the entire dimension pressurizes the soul... many things become possible. The purple parts were calm, collected, and happy. They invitingly welcomed the green bits that danced in delight and utter joy at the merging.

Only then did Rei find out the problem. He saw a small old and dull part of his soul that was green. Green that didn't belong to him and understood. Tsunade Senju was his. She BELONGED to him. How? He had no idea. But her soul craved to join with his and it was slowly killing her.

She must have been close when the mishap happened the first time... Rei thought.

The second part was mostly bluish purple with many patches of watery blue, creating harmony and tranquility. For this soul, this state was natural and pleasant. But when the green pieces started to fill it, they were not rejected. But they were not accepted with the same enthusiasm as Rei's soul did. Konan... accepted Tsunade as her sister-wife. It was abrupt. Too abrupt but... her mind and soul were telling it was a foregone conclusion. There was nothing to do anymore so she grudgingly accepted the woman. But... Konan also sent loads of 'demands' with the parts of her soul. She wanted Tsunade to be obedient, after all. To Rei only, of course.

The last part was the forest green soul. Cracked soul. Damaged. Broken. It was leaking. The piece that joined Rei's soul long ago created a very unpleasant thing. It created a crack that slowly over time weakened Tsunade's existence. Her soul needed mending. Yes, Rei's watery blue and Konan's bluish-purple bits filled it and patched it up, closing the leaks. Tsunade's soul was finally repaired and it took any 'demand' or bond these parts of souls as fish to water.

It wasn't like she HAD to listen to these 'demands' of Konan. Nothing really bound her but the nagging feeling was there. But the connection... Tsunade's mind came to one conclusion only. It couldn't help but feel deep unexplainable affection for Rei. The same Konan felt for him after the mishap with the seal and Konan was firmly placed on the level of Nawaki in her heart. This, however, was a two-way street and Rei and Konan also accepted Tsunade.

But even if Tsunade's soul was now mended, it was still half-empty. Rei knew this would be a problem later on. But for now, Tsunade was stable and will be for years to come. That was what really mattered. She will survive.

The souls re-established themselves, creating a certain hierarchy. Rei's soul gave away most. After all, these talents were on the level of Godly and Supreme. And while the souls received only a diluted version, it was way more than what they could get in this world even from the strongest beings, Otsutsukis. Rei's soul took the lead and bound Tsunade the same way Konan was bound to it. As his 'partner'. Someone unable to betray him. Both Tsunade's and Konan's souls firmly attached to Rei's while creating a 'bridge' between each other.

And then, the tree souls banged together, creating the one big lump of green, purple, and blue. One big soul. And with the souls changed, the outwards changes started.