V.1-C.31│Return I│

Their journey was now over, and all that was left to do is return to their respective villages and give their own reports to their superiors.

That is if they weren't all busy having to get back to the harbor town that had originally been the place that they had managed to meet up with Takeshi, and his subsequent pointing of directions and information given that helped them.

"Thank you for taking care of that menace. I don't know how I could repay you." Takeshi said, as if he was relieved that he wouldn't have to deal with the plight known as Gato.

"It is no problem. We originally had come here to take care of the problem even without your prompt." Kushina answered for their group.

"No, I have to thank you in some way. Just know, that I, Takeshi, would be willing to serve you in whatever venture you do in the future!" Takeshi bowed as he said this, seemingly overcome by emotion.

"No-no! There is no need for that..." Kushina seemed to discuss with things some more with Takeshi and his wife, as it seemed like Takeshi had finally caught on to the fact that Kushina was an Uzumaki.

A proper Uzumaki that used to be the protectors of this land, and with her and the four other genin with her helping him, it seemed like Takeshi wanted tp pledge loyalty to Kushina.

On the other hand, the four genin were sitting around and waiting for Kushina to finish up. That is when the girl known as Shizuka had made herself known. "Obito!" Shizuka called as she headed towards Obito, going in for a hug.

"Woah!" Obito was not expecting that, even if he has eyes that allowed him to see this, he thought he was imagining it.

"Obito!" Shizuka seemed immediately attached to him, not willing to let go, and it just so happened that her friend, Kaiza had come along to see this incident as well.

"Well, and who is this, Obito?" Rin's eye twitched as she asked this, annoyed for some reason.

"Eh? Oh! This is Shizuka. She is Sir Takeshi's daughter." Obito replied as he seemed to put little effort in making said girl leave him.

On the other hand, the boy named Kaiza upon seeing this seemed a little disheartened at the level of emotion Shizuka had for Obito. "S-Shizuka...?" Kaiza said this to get her attention, but Shizuka seemed wholly taken by Obito.

"Really now...?" Rin was still annoyed as she asked this, while Kurenai seemed a little bit mad as well. Mei on the other hand seemed to not care at all, but given by the way she looked at this situation every now and then, she had some level of interest.

Whatever interest that may be would still be left to be seen.

"Yeah." Obito smiled as he replied, before pushing Shizuka off of himself as Kaiza had now made himself known.

"You!" Kaiza called out, his black hair and dark eyes filled some level of anger. He already had another rival, having been a travelling fisherman like his father, then he meet the girl called Shizuka.

He immediately feel in love with her, however, it seemed that Shizuka liked someone else within the town here. Then her affections now seemed to have changed from said other boy, and onto Obito instead.

"Me?" Before anything could go any further, Kushina arrived to break things up.

"Ok! Let's go!" Kushina said, before hopping off, having already arranged a boat to take them back to the Land of Fire.

"Well... It looks like I have to go now! Bye!" Obito escaped the situation himself, not wanting to be caught up in whatever strange atmosphere that was going on.

The atmosphere would only slightly change though as instead of feeling like his life was threatened, it instead had calmed down and only felt like someone's or multiple someone's eyes were piercing him.

Rin, Kurenai and even Mei were all looking at Obito like he was a fool. He is, but that is besides the point.

'My back feels so strange...' He thought to himself as he followed after Kushina, with the three girls also following behind him, leaving a heartbroken Shizuka, whom had also given that boy, Kaiza, a case of broken heart syndrome.

[]

When she was young, Konan's family was killed during the Second Shinobi World War, and she was left to fend for herself. Some time later, Yahiko found her, and the two worked together to survive. Not long after that, Konan went for a walk and found a young, dying Nagato and his dog, Chibi.

She rescued him and brought him back to their hideout. Gradually the three became best friends. They eventually encountered the Sannin, who gave them some food. Konan impressed them by making an elaborate flower out of the paper wrappers left behind as a sign of gratitude.

Where the one known as Orochimaru suggested to kill them so they would not have to suffer the horrors of war, another called Jiraiya instead opted to stay and teach the three how to look after themselves.

During their time with Jiraiya, he made a defense system composed of four planks, each with one red and one white side, attached to a part of a wall of the hideout they shared at the time with a string and a nail, each one above one of their names, which he called 'Hop-In' planks.

The purpose of the planks were that when they were in the hideout, they turn their planks to the red side and they leave, they flip their plank to the white side, so when a plank's on the red side and the person's not in the hideout.

It means they could have been captured by the enemy and when a plank's on the white side and it appears that the person's in the hideout.

It could mean that an enemy has transformed into said person and has infiltrated the hideout, along with a trapdoor hidden among the floorboards leading to a hidden room and emergency escape route he left just in case.

After Jiraiya was confident they could take care of themselves, he told Konan that she will be very beautiful when she grows up and to come see him when she turns eighteen. With that said, he left for Konoha and the three continued to bring peace to their land.

Over time, the three formed Akatsuki and became renowned for their strength and effectiveness, with news of their actions even reaching Konoha. When their group became too big, they were forced to find another hideout, and leave their current one.

When they were about to leave, two Iwa ninja attacked the hideout but Yahiko noticed in time and they used the escape route to escape. Through out their time together, Konan became close with Yahiko.

Though, she may have or may have not held some level of affection for the boy, he was someone that was also considered a bit... dense at many times.

Konan had short, straight blue hair with a bun, amber eyes with lavender eye shadow, and a white labret piercing.

Konan's eyelashes are shown to be a diagonal line at the bottom corner of her eyes, but in the anime, they are shown to be distinctive lines. She has worn a large light blue paper flower clipped on her bun since she was a child. Her facial expression was usually neutral.

Konan was seen wearing an array of simple clothing.

When living with Jiraiya, she was seen wearing a karate top and skirt bottom, with a pouch she wore at the front of her outfit to carry her paper. When Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato began to make Akatsuki, Konan wore a black cloak with purple stockings and high heels, as well as a midsection guard, and an Ame forehead protector.

Konan was smart, stoic, calm, and level-headed much like her friend, Nagato. As a child, she was bright, compassionate, and relatively cheerful, in comparison to Yahiko's tough attitude and Nagato's sensitivity.

Though, she still kept those values even now, even lessened or weakened due to her current experiences and previous experiences.

As someone who grew up in war-torn times and being personally trained under Jiraiya, one of the three legendary Sannin, Konan was undoubtedly a very powerful kunoichi. Her skills were held in high regard by her friends, and has been highly praised by her former teacher, Jiraiya.

Though, she does consider herself a useful, if not prominent and needed person within her group, she didn't care too much either way whether she is strong enough.

She only really wanted or needed to protect herself and protect her friends, those that she cares about.

Konan considered her position now in relation to many things, especially to do with her friends, Nagato and Yahiko. Her closeness to Yahiko especially was something that could be considered... a crush of sorts.

Though she would never admit to something like that, and it wasn't like Yahiko was even smart enough to figure out her current feelings, she couldn't focus on that right now. Even if she liked the idea of settling down someday, maybe even having a family, it was not something that was realistic in these hard times.

Amegakure was somewhere that was struggling due to the outside presence or existence of other villages using them as a grounds for war.

Because of Amegakure's location between three of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, it has frequently served as a battleground during the various ninja wars, making most of its population war refugees. Amegakure has adopted a heavy isolationist policy because of this, leading to the village's defenses being abnormally impenetrable.

There has been some talk about the upcoming conflict that is to happen, and even if their village was isolated from the rest of the world, she has made sure to gather information as much as she can.

Herself and her friends are making a group, a group that goes by the name of the Akatsuki. Something Yahiko would become the leader of and help lead people to achieving some peace throughout.

She thought of this as admirable.

She fell in love with him while they were younger, though he seemed a little bit oblivious or he just simply was unable to know of her feelings. Maybe he likes her back, but she has grown a little... frustrated?

Though that didn't mean she would no longer be able to just have a normal, friendship based relationship with him.

It made her wonder if ever she is to have a significant other, even if it would not be Yahiko.

[]

Travelling to the last stop of her journey with these people, people that she now considered friends, allies even, Mei understood that it was time to part ways.

"And here we are. Are you sure you don't need us to come with?" Kushina asked as Mei was now facing the four of them, Team Kushina.

"I am sure." Mei didn't want them coming, especially since there was this hate for those that are Bloodline Limit holders. It was the exact reason she was sent out here in the first place, they wanted her to die still.

She wouldn't, especially not now, not when she had people that she could call her friends. Friends that are alive and well. "It would be easier to explain everything that happened if I came along, at least." Kushina tried to persuade her, probably worried about her health.

Or something like that, and for some reason, Mei was now looking towards Kushina as a sort of older sister. After all, it wasn't like they didn't have some similarities, namely their hair colors. 'Well, its a bit different, but similar enough.'

"Thank you, big sister Kushina. I know. But, I would suggest against it. Like you said, Kiri and Konoha are not on close terms right now. They may even think that I have sided with Konoha." Mei said, even revealing the possibility of her being taken in.

"Why stay then? Why not just run away?" Kurenai couldn't help but ask, as Kurenai and Mei had gotten close to each other, the same could also be said between Mei and Rin as well.

"It is not that I cannot, or don't want to, but because I will not." Mei answered with a serious face. "I... I want to change Kirigakure for the better, change the Land of Water for the better. I can't do that if I run away."

It was somewhat inspiring, leaving the group stunned by her diligence to her goal. "I will try and become the Mizukage, and then I can start making things better, internally that is."

"I still think that you should at least have some form of proof to allow those within to understand why you are reporting everything." Rin added, thinking about the danger that Mei would get herself in.

"No one will care. Not for someone like that, my instructor that wasn't a instructor. Naoki was someone whose family was destroyed by the village and land, he was someone a part of the lower caste system of my homeland. They wont care who takes his place, or what has happened to him, as long as it doesn't affect those within." Mei revealed the corruption within Kirigakure.

"That's..." Kushina started but trailed off, leaving Mei to finish for her.

"Horrible, I know." Mei seemed a little emotional here as well, since a small silence had settled between them all.

"If it is as you say..." Still, Kushina was unconvinced, that is until Obito would suggest something.

"I'll do it. I can come with you, that is." Obito said this with a smile. "My space-time technique would allow me to teleport right back to Konoha if I so desired, and all I would need to do is think about it. There is no problem at all, and I wont be in any danger."

Mei was... touched. More so than she thought she would at the gesture, and it seemed like Kushina considered this a viable option. Obito had already proven to Kushina that he was reliable enough, reliable enough to fight several chunin level threats at least, and even fight against and win against a jonin level shinobi.

"You can do it then." Kushina placed her trust in that Obito would be able to do just as he had said.

"You really don't-" Mei tried to stop the decision from being finalized, but...

"Of course. I have to protect those that are precious to me." Obito didn't realize that what he had said was something that could be taken ambiguously. "I would do it for anyone here." Obito said so easily and readily, that the three girls, and nearly full grown woman, to know that he would.

Sighing, Mei accepted with a smile on her face. So too did Rin and Kurenai seem to accept this as well, even if worried a little.