V.1-C.62│Not Quite Over Yet II│

Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist is the hidden village of the Land of Water. As the village of one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Kiri has a Kage as its leader known as the Mizukage.

Befitting its name, the village is surrounded by a thick mist, with several mountains in the background, making it difficult to find by foreigners. Kirigakure's architecture is composed of several cylindrical buildings, with the Mizukage's office being the widest and largest. Most of the buildings have vegetation growing on their roofs.

The standard attire for Kiri shinobi revolves around a pinstriped material which the shinobi wear as bracers and greaves which merge into their sandals. Underneath this, they wear a full-black shirt and pants over which they wear the villages' standard grey flak jacket.

Some also wear waist-guards. Many Kiri ninja use Water Release techniques. Due to the village's high number of missing-nin, Kiri has a subdivision of Anbu known as hunter-nin that are specifically tasked with eliminating these defectors.

Kirigakure's society was split into a form of caste system since the founding of the village.

The highest ranking civilians were those whose family lineage originally stemmed from within Kirigakure, the second caste was for members of families who were allied with Kirigakure on the battlefields in the past while the last and lowest caste consisted of members of the families who were defeated on said battlefields and annexed into the village.

From the early days on, the members of the third caste were handled with caution and had to complete the most perilous and dangerous missions for the village, thus keeping them occupied and preventing them from revolting.

Over time, the village became infamously known as the 'Village of the Bloody Mist' for a cruel reason. In the Kirigakure Academy, students wishing to graduate, only members of the lowest caste, had to fight to the death, and only those who survived could advance to the ranks of the ninja.

Madara Uchiha thought of this place as the perfect grounds with which he could control and manipulate into the ways that he would like.

He has been secretly trying to manipulate events within Kiri, and has been successfully doing so and the only reason that Mei or Obito was not ever considered shinobi to be placed on bounty was exactly because of Madara.

Without him saving their asses, they would not be as safe as they are. Even then, Madara also knows that Obito seems to have reached the rank of jonin within Konohagakure, meaning that he was powerful enough for a lot of things to come.

Madara may have also found out that Obito has awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan and has grown aware of his abilities that seem to be related to some sort of space-time ninjutsu.

A powerful successor to his legacy, if he does say so himself, but he is still weak, and Madara despises weakness. Sure, the boy could contend with others and be strong enough to protect himself with his Mangekyo Sharingan's abilities, but that meant that he would only be able to run from, instead of being able to defeat his opponents.

Then there are those around him, all of those... females. It made Madara wonder about whether or not his grandson was doing it purposely, or was just that dense as to not see the interest of those women.

Recently he has even heard that he managed to beat Tsunade Senju, the granddaughter of Hashirama. Even more strangely was the fact that she proposed marriage to him, and Madara didn't know how to feel surrounding something like that.

Then there are his current plans to do with the whole Kirigakure situation, and what he should do with the Three Tails.

If Obito hadn't awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan, Madara was more then willing to manipulate things so that he may. Though now, he doesn't need to do so, but because he does despise weakness, and if Madara could guess correctly, it seemed like the boy was starting to develop a whole group of women to be his own.

It wasn't exactly uncommon as well, considering the current Fire Daimyo has a few concubines himself. Even further back in history, stuff like this was even more acceptable to society in general, and it wasn't like it still wouldn't be accepted today as well.

Though, it would require that Obito have a position that would allow him to officially have multiple lovers, and Madara considered himself a good grandfather for having set a few things up in place so that he may have it.

He has set things up so that in the event that he does accomplish his goals, he could spare the lives of his grandsons lovers and himself. In doing so, they could repopulate the earth for all he cares, as his job in wanting peace would be done at that point.

The very first thing that Madara had to do was start building Obito up so that he may overtake and get the position of the Uchiha clans leadership. That Fugaku Uchiha was someone that Madara would want to use himself.

Instead, he would rather Obito take over the position for now, thus allowing him some more wiggle room for his lovers that weren't lovers just yet.

Madara found himself acting like bloody cupid, but he would never admit to doing something as silly as that.

No, instead he would also find ways to further his plans, whilst making sure that Obito would be set up enough to take over for him.

Having taken a gander at his potential lovers, Madara did notice most have potential and considered whether or not it is a good idea to place the Three Tails into one of them. The one he was most looking to placing within is Rin Nohara.

She could be considered the weakest out of them all, and due to this, Madara wanted to give her a helping hand. Of course, he would still need to take back the Tailed Beasts in the end for his plan, but he has his methods and ways of ensuring that they live.

If anything, he could bring Rin Nohara back to life if everything goes to shit. After all, such power would not be beyond him at that point, and no doubt having the Three Tails within Rin would motivate Obito to work harder than he is now.

He is talented, yes, and he was hard working, but Madara wanted him to grow more and more. If Obito is to overtake him, then Obito would need to train harder than he has himself and that might require some slight manipulation on his part.

The Curse of Hatred was not just a Curse of Hatred as most would think of it, and Madara would caution that it was more than that. Though, he is also aware of how it has affected him and his plans, but it hasn't gotten in the way of the things he wishes to achieve.

If anything, it has only helped him.

Thus, he wants to utilize this, Obito's feelings or emotions for those he cares about, to make him stronger, faster.

'Hmm... It is also a good thing that he is being sent to the borders of Kirigakure.' Madara had manipulated things within Kiri to make them aware of Mei's presence in Konoha, and has controlled things so that Mei, Kurenai, Obito and Rin will make their way towards the border so that Mei may reenter her society as she wants.

This would also double as a chance to make Rin the jinchuriki for the Three Tail's.

[]

"So, it's just us, huh?" Dashing through the forests of the Land of Fire, Rin, Kurenai, Obito and Mei were all making their way towards a dock with which they could help Mei get back to her village of origin and a village that she is still technically a part of.

"Yes. Don't worry, everything will go just fine..." Obito replied to Kurenai question as they dashed through the woods.

"So..." Mei started as she glanced towards Obito, adding. "How do you like my new look, Obito?"

"Huh?" Obito did see that both Kurenai and Mei had both been changed into clothing that was similar enough to their actual counterparts he knows about. "I think you look..." What could he say? 'Remember... What did Pervy Sage say when it comes to this...?' "... You look beautiful." Obito replied with a smile.

Immediately, Kurenai asked as well. "And what about me?"

"Of course! You look beautiful as well!" Obito replied, and his feelings on this matter is genuine.

Rin was a bit saddened to be left out, only because she didn't have a change of outfit, and she thought to herself. 'Maybe I should change up my looks as well...?' She believed that maybe this was a way to be complimented as such, however...

"And then there is Rin, you are beautiful as well." Obito was smart enough to not leave her out of this small compliment giving from him.

"Oh... T-Thanks..." Rin answered a little more shyly then maybe she should, alerting both Kurenai and Mei of this.

Of course, the two of them have come to a small concession between the two of them. "Yeah, I think all three of you are beautiful." Obito thought that he had done good, and his words were actually successful in making all three girls feel as if their looks were appreciated.

Though, Mei was having some rather strange thoughts on one particular matter.

Specifically to do with all the other females that happen to be around Obito, and that her distance from him would not exactly be a problem. It would've been, that is if she didn't have his promise that he would use his space-time ninjutsu to come to her.

If he was willing to do that for her, then obviously she is more than willing to do more for him as well. It was only natural, or at least it felt natural to her, and thus she was thinking about her position and the position of the other girls within his heart.

As corny as that may seem, she understands that not only her own feelings matter when it comes to forming a relationship. The emotions of the other party also matter, and because she can see and has seen the way he looks at the others along with herself, she knows that he doesn't just care deeply in THAT way for her.

He cares in THAT way for herself, Kurenai, Rin, Kushina, and Mikoto. She is unsure about the two individuals known as Tsunade Senju and Shizune, but she is sure that it would reach that point as well.

So of course she had taken such things into consideration, and decided that maybe... just maybe she could allow the formation of some sort of... harem. She wasn't disgusted by this idea, or even disagrees with the concept of the idea.

Though, she would prefer to have him to herself, just as she is sure that others would want to as well, but knows that it was unlikely a good outcome. She thought that it would be better this way, not only for him, but for the other girls as well.

For herself, she could go either way.

By the way things are going however, it would go the way where Obito shares his love with many, and it does seem that he has love enough to spare.

The travel to Kirigakure would take a few days, both because they would have to cross the sea but also because they needed to get across the Land of Fire as well.

In ways, this time spent with Obito without the supervision from Kushina was a little bit refreshing for the girls. After all, he would always go to sleep with her in her own tent when it came to time to sleep.

Going back to the same docks, the four of them would all get on board and would all start heading towards the Land of Water, and when they arrive, they would be escorted into Kirigakure.

The Village Hidden in the Mist was a place that was kind of depressive.

In addition to foreign conflicts, Kirigakure has experienced several periods of internal unrest. The Kaguya clan once waged war against Kiri to quench their lust for battle, but were slaughtered by the village's superior forces.

Those with bloodline limits were regarded with suspicion by the people of Kiri and the wider Land of Water due to their efficiency during times of war.

As such, persecution and even murder of anyone with a bloodline limits was common. In the case of the Yuki clan, it no longer exists in an organized sense and its few surviving members live in secret, fearful of their abilities being discovered.

In fact, an interesting fact to take of note was the fact that Kirigakure didn't even have a ninja registry system in place.

While on the boats, they four had gathered around to hear some more information about Mei's village and land. "So, tell us about you village." Rin said as she motioned for Mei to speak about her home village.

"It's not exactly the nicest place." Mei replied.

"Then why leave? Why go back?" Kurenai asked, genuinely curious about the reasoning behind Mei's desire to get back to Kiri.

"I wish... I wish to become the Mizukage." Mei revealed.

"What? That is a big goal..." Kurenai responded as she looked at Mei with some new level of newfound respect for her goals.

"Well, I want to become the Mizukage for more reasons than to just become the Mizukage. That level of power and that position is important because of the history behind my village and the land I'm from." Mei continued.

"That seems... good? I wonder if you will be able to do so." Rin was well ware of the culture and history of Kiri, and knew that Mei would be hard pressed in trying to become the Kage of her village.

Especially since she has bloodline limits.

"Don't worry, Mei. I think you can do this. No, I believe you can do this." Obito said in such a natural way and the three girls couldn't help but believe him and his belief.

"How can you be so sure...?" Mei found it a bit suspicious herself, as the tone Obito has seemed to indicate that it was as if it is something set in stone.

"Um... I just am." Obito smiled as he said this, and the three knew that he was someone that would not doubt himself.