"Ugh."Letting out a groan as she opened her eyes, she noticed an unfamiliar ceiling. 'What happened?' Sitting up, she felt sore and stings of pain all across her body. Taking a better look around, she recognized the room after fully waking herself up. 'This is Rei's room.' Rei had decided it would be best if Fuyumi and the others recovered in his room then on their own separately.
Thinking back, it didn't take long for Fuyumi to remember what happened as she spotted both Ren and Seiki still sleeping. "Thank god there ok." Thinking back on what happened before they collapsed, things had gotten pretty bad. Knowing where they were, she didn't really understand her situation.
Suddenly she heard the door of the room open as someone came walking in. "Oh, one of you is awake?" Walking into the room with bandages in hand Haku spotted Fuyumi and smiled. "Your name is Fuyumi, right?" Fuyumi was on guard as she looked at Haku since she was unconscious during the entire incident.
"Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you guys. Rei dealt with all the ones who attacked you, and I'm on your side." Hearing Haku say that Fuyumi lowered her guard slightly but was still on edge. "Where- Where is he?" Seeing Rei wasn't there, Fuyumi asked Haku as he placed the bandages on the table near the room's centre.
"You three were out for a while, so he planned on dealing with the person who sent the attackers. However, it looks like you all recovered a lot faster than we expected. Guess that's just a perk of not having human bodies." Seeing Haku already knew about that, Fuyumi sighed to herself and completely dropped her guard.
She was in no condition to fight anyway. As she slipped out of the bed while not waking up Seiki or Ren, she asked Haku a question. "Have you been taking care of us all this time?" Haku nodded with a smile as he sat down in a chair next to the table. "Well Rei was the one who healed you three, but I've been taking care of changing your bandages. You can call me Haku by the way."
"Oh well on behalf of them and me thank you." Fuyumi sat down on a chair opposite of Haku as she thanked her. Fuyumi's face turned a little grim as she looked down. "I honestly didn't think we were going to make it… There were so many of them coming in wave after wave to the point- We just started to drop."
Relating to Fuyumi, Haku had memories of his own past surrounded by a violent mob flash in his mind. "You guys must have gone through a lot." Shaking off the thought, Haku continued to talk with Fuyumi. "Well… Originally we lived with our families in our village. Back then, Seiki and Ren were my best friends."
Looking at the two of them sleeping, Fuyumi continued. "But then he came. He killed everyone in the village even…" Fuyumi got slightly teary-eyed as she brushed her face with her hands. "Anyway, despite everything, those two were there for me no matter how bad it got. The experiments hurt, but we each came back alive as the others began to die off."
"Rei is probably the only reason we're still alive. That's why, despite everything, we try our best to make sure he's happy and make ourselves useful." Haku replied in kind, contrasting their situations. "From what I've seen I'm sure he'll appreciate it, and I'm sure he'll be even happier knowing your fine when he gets back."
"Ya thanks for talking with me even though I kinda dragged it on for a bit. I haven't spoken to another girl in a long time, so it's nice." Fuyumi seemed a bit shy around Haku as his face froze for a moment. "Uh… Actually, I'm a boy." Hearing that Fuyumi's brain looked like it stopped working for a moment.
"What!" Fuyumi's voice broke through the silence as she forgot to lower her voice. Catching herself, it was too late as she suddenly heard loud growls. "Fuyumi shut up. I'm trying to sleep!" Speaking out of pure instinct, Fuyumi heard Seiki, which caused her to retort. "Oh, please like your one to talk."
The shyness from before was gone as Fuyumi acted like how any normal sibling would. It was a calming scene as Haku just smiled and chuckled. Yawning Ren stretched as he sat up from the bed. "First thing I have to listen to when I wake up is you two acting like idiots." Both Seiki and Fuyumi looked at Ren with skeptical eyes. "You don't have the right to say anything."
On the other hand, compared to such a light scene, the thing's in the Leaf had gotten heavy after Rei's moment. "Lady Tsunade, we were unable to find him. It seems he has already made his way outside of our search perimeter." A Jonin in Tsunade's office gave the bad news as Tsunade lowered her head and waved him away.
Other than Jonnin, each Team who had encountered Rei was here including Guys. "I thought I would be able to stop him." Kakashi stepped in front of his team and apologized to Tsunade as she sighed to herself. "It's fine, Kakashi. I was more worried than anything that he would end up killing one of you."
"Lady Tsunade." Taking a step forward, Ino spoke out. "Hmm?" Tsunade looked Ino showing she could speak. "If you don't mind me asking what's going to happen now?" Standing up from her seat Tsunade glanced out of the window behind her. "If you mean what will happen to Rei that's to be decided." Ino wanted to say more but took a step back and joined her group.
"Right now, I am meeting with the Village Elders. I want to thank all of you for helping us in this situation. For now, focus your efforts on dealing with the damage. I'll brief you all again later." Everyone listened to Tsunade and left her office flowing into the hallway. Asuma and Kurenai's teams left first with Kakashi and Guys meeting up.
"You guys in that fire for a long time, are you ok?" Seeing no immediate injures Sakura looked relieved as Lee gave off a glimmering smile. "Of course! Guy Sensei motivated us the entire time showing that the flames of youth would just burn hotter after such an encounter!" Guy put his hands on Lee's shoulder while staring at Kakashi.
"Indeed! Speaking of wishes, we all have the training to do! If we ever go up against him again, I want us to be one hundred and ten percent ready!" Both Sakura and Kakashi laughed awkwardly, seeing how hyper Lee and Guy were as Neji and Tenten just followed them silently as they left.
Rubbing the back of his head, Kakashi spoke to his team. "Well, it looks as if they're doing fine." Sakura nodded as she noticed both Naruto and Sasuke looking at Kakashi. "Kakashi Sensei I think we should continue with our training." Naruto had a slightly serious expression on his face along with Sasuke.
"You two seem a bit different, what's up." Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he responded to Kakashi. "That encounter shows we clearly aren't strong enough. If he ever comes to the village again to do something worse, we can't stop him." Sasuke looked like he took Rei's appearance personally as Kakashi looked at the two of them.
Team Kakashi began to speak to one another while leaving the Hokage building. As they did so, Tsunade made her way to the Leef council room. She was clearly in a state of distress as she halted at the door. Taking a moment for herself, she opened it and walked inside. Waiting for her were the two elders Koharu and Homura.
"Sit Tsunade." Koharu took the lead as she told Tsunade to sit in which she did. Sitting in her respective seat around the table in the centre of the room, Tsunade bit her lip. "We had given you our support, and in return, you gave us a promise. The Daimyo said Rei was a threat yet we let him go due to you."
Tsunade lowered her head as she replied. "I understand that I take full responsibility. However, at this time, It seems I've realized it too late. We don't know how, but if we are to believe Rei's words, he has successfully gathered and gone through the requirements to set up a country.: The two elder's listened to Tsunade silently she continued.
"If he's telling the truth, then we have to compare reason and action. He did kill Danzo but only after I exiled him, removing him as a citizen of the leaf. That only leave's property damage and citizen endangerment. Which I personally don't think is worth waging war over." Suddenly Tsunade heard one of the elder's slam their hand onto the table.
"Tsunade! Even now it seems you are quite adamant of defending this boy! He has broken our laws and has disrespected the Leaf despite our understanding. And no matter how you try to politicize the situation, this is unforgivable. As hot-headed as you are, I expected you to be a woman of action when appointed Hokage!"
Homura raised her voice and began ranting at Tsunade only stopping as Koharu put his hand up and stopped her. "Please Homura." Taking a deep breath, Homura leaned back in her chair, staring at Tsunade. "Now then Tsunade why don't you tell us exactly why you're so reluctant to declare action on Rei?"
"Casualties." Tsunade only said one word as both Koharu and Homura seemed confused. "I value the lives of our people more than anything. My father cared for this village, and so do I. Fighting just to hold up some notion of disrespect is not worth risking the lives of our Ninja. And especially if we have a chance to simply leave it be. On top of all that, I would rather not be the Hokage who lost the lives of thousands to kill a single boy."
Hearing Tsunade's point, the elders went silent for a moment. Tsunade wasn't one to check herself or actions very often. But this one time she decided to think about it logically just because of what she had seen. "We'll keep our focus on dealing with the Akatsuki. Let the other nations sort Rei out, and for now, we'll remain neutral to the situation."
Tsunade told it more as an order than anything, but the two elders looked at one another and agreed. "Very well Tsunade I just hope this issue dies down without too many issues." Standing up from their seats, the elders left the room first, leaving Tsunade to herself. Placing her hands on her face, she leaned against the table sighing to herself. "Dammit…"
In the next few days the news about what happened spread through the village. And slowly to neighbouring towns and cities. Alongside that time frame, Rei had mostly recovered his Reiryoku and had made it home. Walking up to the front gate Rei actually was surprised to see now one is in the front yard.
"Come…"
"Sei…"
Hearing the sound of voices, Rei took his time walking to the training area in the backyard. Once he got there, the voice became a lot more clear as he saw everyone excluding Zabuza and Seiki on the sidelines. "You rely too much on your sword's ability. Reading up on your guy's fighting style Hakuda I have to admit I was expecting better."
Rei heard Zabuza's voice as he spoke to Seiki who was fighting with Zabuza hand to hand. "Well looks like you all were having fun while I was risking my neck." Walking into the backyard, everyone turned and spotted Rei. "Rei your back!" Fuyumi like always was the first to run over and almost smother Rei while hugging him. "
"Yup and surprisingly not injured." Patting her on the head, Rei watched as Zabuza and Seiki ended their session early, and everyone came walking over to him. "So I can assume the whole Danzo issue is..." Shisui watched as Rei nodded his head. "Dealt with and that basically closes up my bad guy list."
Everyone seemed a lot more relaxed hearing that which Rei could understand. "In any case, I have some good news. When you get the chance, come to the meeting room. And Fuyumi you can let go of me now I need to go take a bath." Peeling her off of him, Rei broke away from everyone and got himself cleaned up.
While his body was mostly, self-maintained baths were still good for relieving stress. And on top of that, his clothes actually were really worn out. Taking a good half an hour to relieve stress and relax, Rei made himself new clothes along with the white jacket bearing his clan's symbol. "Alright time to make this happen."
Eventually, e got to the meeting room where he had previously met up with Shisui and the others. Opening the double doors leading to the room, everyone was already in their respective seats. Fuyumi, Seiki and Ren all sat around Rei's chair while Zabuza and Shisui sat opposite to one another.
Haku, for some reason, just felt more comfortable standing up behind Zabuza quietly. Everyone was in a fairly good mood as Rei took his seat in the centre chair. "Well, it's been hectic and very messy, to say the least. But I think it's time I think I should officially say that by the end of this week this place officially deemed the 'Soul Society' will be open to the souls of the world."
This is the start of a new Volume so yay! It will mostly be focused on Character Building on not just the three kids but the others too.
Adding onto that it will focus on the progress of the Soul Society when it opened to Souls. Oh and finally they get a break cause the last 40+ chapters have been one big issue after another.