Common Knowledge

The next day, Ryuu woke up with a pounding headache.

'I looked around and all I saw was a damaged house, I put my hand out because the sun was too bright.'

"Here." Kakashi gave him a bottle of water and an ice pack.

"Thanks."

'Kakashi was holding an ice pack on his head too, everyone was holding ice packs to their heads and bodies.'

"Did I do this?" Kakashi nodded.

"Sorry about that, I must've done it again yesterday."

"Yup." Kakashi helped him up.

Mei walked in.

"This has happened before?" Ryuu slowly nodded.

"I was celebrating my elder brother's birthday once, he thought it would be nice for me to have a taste of what he was drinking, that's all, I didn't see a problem then and so I took a small glass and I… Didn't remember what happened next, until the next morning I woke up without a house and the village was almost in ruins.

Luckily, Obito was there to evacuate everyone there, but it took nearly all our great shinobi to stop me."

Mei facepalmed.

"You weren't kidding when you said you shouldn't drink." Ryuu nodded.

Ryuu unsealed a small white pill and chugged water with it.

"I'll fix this mess, don't worry about it."

"Yeah, you better," Mangetsu said.

Mangetsu was sitting in the corner of the room while Suigetsu held an ice pack to his head.

"Big brother, you shouldn't move that much, Ryuu will beat you to a pulp again if you do." Mangetsu frowned and glared at Suigetsu.

"What? I'm just being realistic."

"I miss when you thought he was a wannabe." Mangetsu sourly stated.

Ryuu smiled.

"Well, after you fix this house, meet Yagura in his office." Ryuu nodded.

"Kakashi, Obito." They looked at Ryuu.

"When we get home, please don't tell anyone that I drank again."

"By anyone, you mean Ichika?"

Ryuu dropped his head depressingly.

"Who's Ichika?" Mei asked as she popped into their conversation.

"His girlfriend." They both replied.

"Huh?!" Ryuu's eyes widened, and he looked at Kakashi and Obito.

Kakashi facepalmed.

"Ryuu, literally everyone knows that you two are seeing each other, we've known for quite a while now."

"What? But how?!"

"Tsunade-sama." They said.

Ryuu facepalmed.

'That meddling hag! And I paid her to keep quiet. What a drag.'

After a while, Ryuu saw fit to fix the house.

"Mangetsu, Suigetsu, and Kisame, get out of the house." They all nodded and got out, Kakashi and Obito followed them.

"Wood style: four pillar home!"

Ryuu remade the entire house, he made it resemble the way it was originally.

"Now I see why you're 1st on the bingo book," Mangetsu stated.

"Mangetsu, this is likely our last time meeting for a while, I hope we can continue being friends. Despite everything else, I had a great time last night. Who knew Kirigakure would be so fun?"

"Yeah, it's been great having you here too, you're not so bad either." Ryuu shook Mangetsu's hand.

"Suigetsu, I'm going to give you a task, you think you can handle it?" Suigetsu confidently nodded.

"Of course I can, I'm not a brat."

Ryuu whispered something in Suigetsu's ear.

"Hahaha! That's a deal!" Suigetsu excitedly said.

"What did you tell him?" Mangetsu asked.

"Nothing you need to be worried about.

It's a secret." Ryuu winked.

"Last but not least, Kisame Hoshigaki, what can I say that I haven't already?"

"You ruined my reputation, ever since that day, people were calling me a coward, they said I should have died for and with my comrades.

I kept on saying it wasn't my fault that you spared me, but at some point… I stopped caring what they said, but I swore I'd fight you again, but I just don't hate you enough to ruin my reputation again."

Ryuu nodded.

"If I were you, I would've killed everyone instead of leaving survivors."

"OK..."

'Man, Kisame can really hold a grudge.

That's strange coming from me...'

Ryuu waved them off before teleporting to the Mizukage's office with Kakashi and Obito.

Ryuu had teleported just outside the door, Ao was standing guard.

He observed Ryuu and the others.

"I'm guessing you met Mangetsu Hōzuki." Ryuu's eyes widened, but he nodded.

"Enter, he's expecting you.

Only you." Ryuu nodded.

Ryuu entered the room.

"Ah, Ryuu, I hope you enjoyed your night here." Ryuu nodded.

"I did. However, I forgot most of it, you know." Yagura smiled.

"I see…" He replied.

"They have notified me that the Hokage seeks an alliance with us.

I'm glad we could come to terms, now all we have to do is wait for the Daimyo to agree."

"Yes, the Daimyo agreeing will solidify the agreement between both lands, Konoha and Kirigakure will unite." Yagura nodded.

"However, something bothers me…" Ryuu hesitated to speak his mind.

"What bothers you?"

"I just want to know why you want this alliance?"

"Why do I want the alliance?" Ryuu nodded.

"I mean, what's the purpose of it? Not many know this, but the reason Kumogakure and Konohagakure were in an alliance in the first place was that the Raikage of that time feared me.

As soon as there were reports about my death, he didn't even waste a second before betraying Konoha." Yagura nodded.

"I see… You want to know if Kirigakure would do that too?" Ryuu nodded.

"As I explained earlier, Kirigakure is in a tough place right now.

I believe the only way to get out of this place is to make strong allies, such as Konoha, it's not a secret that you're the strongest shinobi to ever live, and it's also not a secret that Konoha is near its peak in terms of power and multiple shinobi.

Allies like that will ease the minds of my people.

Simply knowing that they don't have to always look over their shoulder because Ryuu, the Shinobi scourge, or Kakashi Hatake, the copy ninja, are there to protect them.

That is what the alliance is all about."

Ryuu nodded.

"I'll be wherever you need me to be, just say the word, you know," Ryuu said.

"Thank you." Ryuu nodded.

"I'll be back with the documents and then, once it's all said and done, peace will be only one step ahead." Yagura nodded.

Ryuu looked at Obito and Kakashi, he put his hand on Kakashi and then teleported back to Konoha, inside the Hokage's office.

"What happened to you three? You look awful." Sakumo said.

Ryuu's head dropped depressingly.

"This mission took a toll on us."

Kakashi explained.

"On the other positive side, I trust Kirigakure will become our allies, this time, I'm sure nothing bad will happen."

Ryuu stated.

"And I trust you. You've grown a lot since those days, not just in power and size, but you've grown mentally too. You know the right qualities to look for in an ally.

Even though you made multiple mistakes on the way, it doesn't matter because you stayed on the right path." Ryuu nodded.

"Now, I'm dismissing you with a new order." Ryuu nodded and awaited his orders.

"Take a quick break, you haven't had a break in too long." Ryuu frowned.

"There's still so much I can do, I'm not tired, you know."

"This isn't up for discussion, and no training, find a hobby or something, you've been working nonstop for years now, you even sent shadow clones to complete some jonin level missions.

Everybody needs a break now and then, yours just happened to be today."

"Dad, what about the alliance?"

"You'll be back to deliver the documents.

Hand in your gear and get lost, Kakashi will handle everything from now on."

Ryuu hesitantly nodded.

"Yes, sir."

After handing in his equipment, Ryuu strolled, making stops before heading home.

'Well, now that I'm on a break, it wouldn't hurt to spend time with her…'

Ryuu entered a flower shop.

"Ryuu? It's rare to see you here, welcome."

Inoichi was at the counter while his wife was at the back.

She wore a dark teal elegant dress, which sports an aquamarine-colored gem below the collar. And she had light brown eyes without pupils and brown hair which was tied into a bun with a red ribbon in it.

"Noriko, look who it is."

Noriko walked to the counter with a smile on her face.

"Ryuu-sama? Oh, what a surprise to see you here. Are you on a mission?"

"Well, not really. I just wanted to buy someone a gift, you know." Ryuu played it off with a smile.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind us meddling in your business but…

These are for Ichika, right?"

"So it's true, everyone knows about us?" Ryuu nervously scratched his head as he said that.

"Was it supposed to be a secret?"

"Well, it was, but… nevermind that."

"Right, you came for a flower, is there any that you're looking for specifically?"

"Well…

She likes roses, so I'll take a bunch."

"Alright these are on the house, I still owe you for saving my life."

Inoichi grabbed a bouquet of red roses and gave them to Ryuu.

"Really? Thanks."

"No problem, tell Ichika I said hi."

"Will do, see you tomorrow." Ryuu waved at them and left the shop.

Ryuu walked towards the Senju compounds.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Ryuu knocked on her door and waited for her to open it.

He was finding it hard to balance the flowers and the ramen he just bought.

"I wonder what took you so long," Ichika said.

She was in the kitchen making dinner.

"Sorry, Ichika, I got a little caught up on the mission, you know," Ryuu said to her as he placed the ramen on the table.

Ryuu helped Ichika make dinner.

"So, are you going to tell me why you smell like auntie Tsunade?" Ryuu gulped.

"It's a long story, I should probably tell you when we're eating, you seem less stressed like that."

Ryuu instantly regretted saying that after he saw the side eye Ichika gave him.

"You've been drinking, haven't you?" Ryuu quickly shook his head.

"No, it was a mistake, someone drugged me!" Ryuu was quick to defend himself.

"You're lucky I'm hungry, otherwise I'd bury this knife in your handsome face."

'What?' Ryuu asked himself as he kept his smile on.

Ichika baffled Ryuu. He didn't know whether to worry or feel flattered.

"Ichika, are you on a mission tomorrow?" Ichika shook her head.

"Good, let's go on a date tomorrow."

"A date?" Ryuu nodded.

"Weren't you the one pushing for this relationship to stay private? What changed?"

"Huh? N-n-nothing, except…

Tsunade spoke about us and now everyone knows.

Even Inoichi and his wife knew."

"Oh… I see…."

"Anyway, I'm thinking, we watch a movie, and then we book a private massage in the hot springs, how does that sound?"

"I thought we'd never go on another date, you seemed so busy these past years." Ryuu smiled.

"Well, you can thank the Hokage, he ordered me to take a break, he doesn't even want me to train, you know," Ryuu said as he nervously smiled and scratched his head.

"Well, by the time this break is done, I'm expecting you to thank Hokage-sama."

Knowing what that meant, Ryuu's cheeks became as red as his hair just thinking about it.

"Well, we better leave this place. Naruto's waiting for me, and I don't want him to starve to death, you know."

"Sure."