Ch456. Situation in Kumogakure

The three Kages dealt with, Rei turned towards Mei and Ringo... and sighed as he saw them butting heads and making menacing faces at each other while exchanging childish insults as if they were kids.

He wryly smiled, noting that Kurotsuchi and the Kumo ninjas were on the edge, scared shitless that the fight between the two redheads would escalate and techniques would start flying around. Both of them were known SS-ranks so it was understandable.

Still, seeing someone like B, a man over two meters tall and composed of a massive amount of bulging steel-like muscles, trying to subtly increase the distance between himself and the two petite arguing women all the while his eyes shined with deep worry was a bit funny for Rei.

Rei knew there was no danger in letting Mei and Ringo have a go at each other. This was their usual behavior and despite everything, they never came to blows. He had no idea if they liked insulting each other but at least they had the common decency to keep their fights strictly verbal when not on the training grounds.

Surprisingly enough, the hotheaded woman and the childish woman were both quite responsible with their powers.

Shaking his head in fond exasperation, Rei turned toward Konan and asked, "What does the operation in Kumo look like?"

"Wait! What operation in Kumo!?" A instantly exclaimed in bewilderment, starting to get angry as his imagination started to run free.

The other three Kumo ninjas in the room also seemed uncomfortable at the sudden shift in the topic but they recognized their position and stayed silent.

Only Samui seemed more or less 'cool' with whatever. Poor girl... Rei noticed she was in a deep inner conflict right now.

He had no idea what it was about but he could come to a few conclusions considering Ringo introduced her as her new apprentice while walking inside the room alongside A and Mabui.

'Oh, well, not my problem.' Rei shrugged these thoughts off.

"Well, of course, we hit Iwagakure and Kumogakure both. Isn't that obvious?" Rei innocently tilted his head, looking straight at A who both paled and became redder from rage at the same time.

"You-!" A spoke through gritted teeth but he was instantly cut off.

"The Swordsmen of the Kiri are making a right mess of Kumo but they did not yet succeed in conquering it." Konan interrupted, reporting what was going on.

That... was expected. Rei liked to think he was a realist even though he occasionally had his own bouts of unrealistic insanity.

The situations in Iwa and Kumo were different.

Iwa was besieged by the force of an entire hidden village and it was a proper invasion.

Kumo was attacked by a handful of individuals and while each of them was strong, they were facing an entire village. There was no way to conquer the village in a straightforward manner for them. They had to use hit and run tactics and make it into a hide and seek chase all around Kumo. That was the only way to win for them.

Funnily enough, the resistance of his village made A visibly proud... until Konan decided to continue, instantly crushing his smugness.

"They have caused enough damage to the infrastructure and forces of the village that taking over the remnants with the incoming Kiri army should be a child's play." She uttered in a flat tone, but the mirth in her eyes was unmistakable for anyone who knew her.

Now that dashed all of A's hopes, making him horrified.

"Ah, that's good. We have their Kage and remaining jinchuuriki safely tucked in here so I guess there won't be any unexpected turn of events, right?" Rei sweetly said, looking straight at B and daring him to try something with his gaze.

The eight-tailed jinchuuriki was the only strong enough unrestrained Kumo ninja in the room but as uncomfortable and indignant as he looked, he clearly knew well how futile it would have been and just resignedly slumped his shoulders.

"Yes. How nice of them to deliver themselves to our footsteps." Tsunade giggled, making A clench his hands into fists while he quietly quivered from barely restrained anger.

It wasn't only his village that was at risk. He already exchanged Samui for Mabui's and his life so it wouldn't do to ruin her albeit unwilling but nevertheless noble sacrifice with his temper tantrum.

If Samui heard his thoughts, she would have outwardly frowned... and inwardly sneered at the audacity of the man.

"What about the casualties?" Rei continued asking about the attack on Kumo. Since Ringo was preoccupied with Mei, at least someone had to care about Kiri ninjas.

Though, Rei could see Ringo was listening to Konan's reports with one ear as she continued arguing with Mei so she probably cared more than she let on.

Being the Mizukage definitely changed her a bit and Rei was happy for her.

"The Kiri Swordsmen had suffered two casualties so far and three of them are too injured to continue fighting." Konan briefly glanced at Ringo, "One of these is Zabuza." She informed the redhead who briefly stiffened and gave a barely audible nod, not even bothering to turn toward Konan as she continued glaring at Mei.

Seeing that Ringo received the information, Konan turned towards A, "The casualties on the Kumo side are around four hundred bodies currently." She flatly said, not caring one way or the other.

A was clearly conflicted about the information but in the end, he just gave Konan a small but heavy nod of appreciation. Blaming the messenger would do him no good anyway.

That was when Samui decided to worriedly step toward Konan and uneasily asked with a measure of desperation, "What about my brother?"

"And your brother is?" Konan dryly asked and raised her eyebrow at the girl, her gaze loitering a bit lower… and a small frown appearing on her lips.

Did the busty blonde think she is some kind of omniscient entity? How was she supposed to know about the brother of some unimportant two-bit Kumo jonin with tits that even a cow would be embarrassed about?

"A-Atsui. He... he is my only family." Samui lost her usual cool for a moment and stuttered a bit. It was obvious the woman was disturbed a lot by the possibility that her brother...

She clutched her hands, unable to even think about it. They might bicker a lot among themselves but Samui loved her brother.

"Mhm." Konan noncommittally hummed, not looking in Samui's direction and staying silent for a few seconds, making Samui more and more nervous.

Samui had no idea if Konan was ignoring her or searching for the information because the woman was just standing in her place, her mind seemingly elsewhere. Fortunately, Konan blinked before Samui's fragile patience could run out.

"Your brother is fine. His left arm, right collar bone, and both legs are broken and he is bedridden in a medical tent but he is alive." Konan informed, making Samui sag in relief.

"Konan, send the Swordsmen an order from their Mizukage to not attack the medical tents." Rei piped in, knowing well such tactics were entirely possible to happen.

Both Onoki and A watched in disbelief that Ringo didn't even twitch when Rei ordered her ninjas for her. Their eyes drifted from the man to the woman who was too busy butting heads with Mei, and back... unable to comprehend the dynamics in this group.

'Who the heck is this guy?' They thought, realizing that despite being in his presence for quite a bit of time already, they had no clear idea about his identity.

Onoki knew him as the Rei of Yozora and A recognized him as Rei of Downpour but neither of those should give him such ironclad authority over Ringo.

The Mizukage seemed to act as if she was his subordinate and that both spooked and baffled the two Kages.

A could understand it a bit as Ringo was Rei's former apprentice but still! Her deference to him was too much.

"Thank you." Samui said to Rei in relief, showing him a small grateful smile.

"Don't mention it." Rei nonchalantly quipped, glancing at Ringo, "It's the least your mentor could do for you."

At that moment, an uncomfortable thought sneaked into Samui's mind, and refused to leave.

Maybe... just maybe becoming Ringo's apprentice was not all that bad. Maybe, with how things progressed, she actually got the better deal?