Chapter 17- New Bounty

Obito Uchiha POV

"...say it again," he commanded the White Zetsu, his gaze fixed on the creature in utter disbelief.

"Ringo Ameyuri was defeated by Ren Uchiha."

He blinked once, then blinked again. Finally, he erupted into laughter.

"…hahaha. Yeah. That was a funny joke. You almost got me there for a moment. Now…" His laughter subsided, replaced by a stern gaze directed at the White Zetsu. "Stop playing around and tell me about what really happened."

The White Zetsu fixed its gaze on two other White Zetsu who had accompanied it to assess the situation. They stepped forward to corroborate its account.

"He's not lying." "Yeah. The boy was even flying. And launched stone bullets that went through dozens of trees. Like Woosh woosh woosh."

"The boy was even flying?" He asked, a slight headache emerging from their playful behaviour. "Zetsu. Can you please ask these White Zetsus to be serious for one moment? I know they want to be funny, but there's a time and place for it."

The half Black, half white Zetsu walked over the the Three White Zetsu and glared at them. "What really happened?"

"We're not lying to you!" "Yeah! The boy really defeated Ringo Ameyuri." "And the boy was really flying."

He held the urge to kill the three White Zestu as they continued to babble on about a 6 year old child defeating a veteran S-class kunoichi, a veteran of two shinobi wars.

Did they really thought that he was stupid enough to believe such a story.

Sure, the stories he'd heard from the other White Zetsus painted the boy as the second coming of Madara Uchiha. But even Madara wasn't capable of killing S-class shinobi in a one-on-one battle at the age of six.

"Stop lying." He growled, losingthe last bit of his patience.

"""We're not lying!""" The White Zetsus chorused together and his fists clenched with the intention to kill them.

"Wait a moment, Obito. Let them explain themselves." Zetsu said and then turned to the three White Zetsus. "Tell us about the entire fight."

Five minutes later, he sat in a grim silence with Zetsu and stared into the distance, unsure about what to make of any of this.

"A Bloodline that nullifies a significant portion of damage, accelerates healing, and grants the ability to fly." He said and then turned to face Zetsu. "Have you ever come across such a unique and powerful Bloodline?"

"Hmm… the Water body technique of Hozuki clan, and your own Kamui ability stops you from taking any physical harm.The Rinnegan enables the user to absorb Ninjutsu attacks without injury. Hashirama's bloodline grants rapid healing. As for flight, Onoki is the sole shinobi I know capable of it." Zetsu told him. "However, I'm not aware of any single bloodline that combines all these abilities at once."

The both of them fell into deep thought before he finally asked. "So this is really a new type of bloodline… one that's never been seen before in the history of the elemental nations?"

"As far as my knowledge extends, yes," Black Zetsu affirmed. "However, the mutation or creation of an entirely new bloodline is not as rare as you might think.It's just that most of them aren't really all that powerful, or their user die before he or she grows strong enough. So most of these new bloodline become extinct and go undocumented."

He took that in for a moment and then nodded. "I'm still not certain if I believe that the boy really defeated Ringo Ameyuri on his own." He said. "Should we increase the bounty on his head?"

Black Zetsu thought about it for a moment before it shook its head. "No need for us to bother. Just spread the news about his abilities to the rest of the elemental nations, and they'll take care of that part on their own. Unless you want to have the boy join us?"

He shook his head. "If the boy is really as capable as the White Zetsus says, then I'm doubt any of us would be able to control him. No, go ahead and spread the news about the boy's abilities. But be discreet about it."

Black Zetsu nodded. "I'll do just that. Now… about our next plan."

"Have you found out when Mizukage will leave for a meeting with his Daimyo."

"In a month, and as we anticipated, he'll only be accompanied by two guards. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to let slip away. The White Zetsus will handle his guards, but it's crucial that you ensure the demise of the Mizukage. We cannot afford another failure."

His fists clenched at another one of Black Zetsus' dig at his past failure to release the Kyuubi. "I'll not fail. But be sure to play your own role just as well."

"Don't worry. I'll not fail either. I've already gathered corpses of Konoha shinobi and put them in stasis for this plan."

He nodded. "Then in one month, we'll start our plan to push the shinobi world into chaos once again."

—————

Itachi Uchiha POV

She would never admit this to anyone but she derived a certain amount of joy in observing the various faces her parents made whenever they learned about Ren's new exploits.

Her father took a deep breath, attempting to compose himself, and cast a stern gaze upon Ren. "So… let me get this right. You fought and defeated a S-class kunoichi. On your very first mission outside of Konoha."

Ren casually nodded in response, prompting her father to take another deep breath to steady himself.

"And instead of killing her, you decided to capture her so that you can…" Her father paused at this and then uttered the next few words with immense difficulty. "…have her as your maid."

Ren gave another nonchalant nod at her father's words and she held back a smile as she subtly observed her parent's expressions.

Her father appeared to be grappling with a multitude of emotions and thoughts, while her mother seemed to have surrendered entirely, gazing into the distance with a vacant look.

Following a prolonged silence, her father finally spoke up. "We Uchiha are not like the Hyuuga. We do not have maids Ren."

'Really? Is that really the best you can do father?' She thought with great amusement.

"I know that. And I wasn't really serious when I said that I want to make her my maid." Ren said seriously but then he paused and then let out a chuckle. "Okay, who am I kidding. I totally planned to make her my maid. I've even thought up of the dress I'll have her wear."

"Ren." Her father said softly but something in his voice made Ren stop talking immediately. "Please take this seriously."

Ren looked like he was refraining from rolling his eyes but he nodded nonetheless.

"Now… can you please explain, and be serious this time. Why do you want to bring an S-class Kunoichi to Konoha. To our Uchiha compound?"

"Well… technically, she's not here yet."

"Ren." Her father said sternly and Ren raised up his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay. I'll be serious now." Ren said and then paused before staring into the distance. A silence ensued into the room and after a long moment, Ren started speaking. "One of the main reasons why I spared her life and decided to bring her here is because I believe that she can be a very useful asset. Not just to me but to the clan and the village as a whole."

"And what are your other reasons?" Father asked.

Here, Ren hesitated for a bit. He stared at all of them for a moment and then took a deep breath before he started speaking. "Okay, this might sound crazy but I don't want to lie to you guys either. The other important reason is that I want want to marry her and have children with her." Ren said seriously and she gaped at him in shock while her mother choked on her spit and her father stared at him with open eyes.

"Excuse me!?" She exclaimed, feeling a slight burn on her chest for some unexplainable reason. It wasn't as if Ren hadn't mentioned this before, but she had assumed he was joking.

"What?" Ren asked, looking at her in confusion.

She held the urge to punch his face in and settled for narrowing her eyes at him. "Why do you want to marry her?"

"She's hot… and powerful." Ren replied, amusement colouring his voice.

"She's old!" She almost shouted but then paused to compose herself. Then she pointed at her mother. "She's even older than mother."

"Hey!" Her mother protested and went ignored.

"What of it?" Ren asked.

"You can't marry someone so much older than you."

"Why not? Nobles do it all the time."

"Ren." Her mother started speaking this time. Gently. "You might not be aware of this. But women stop giving birth to children after a certain age in their life. And Ringo... how old is she."

"I would say... about 36 years old." Her father replied after some mental calculations.

"Okay, so she still has time. But that time would be greatly diminished by the time you grow old enough to marry her." Her mother said.

"Believe me. I know that." Ren said "And that is not a problem for me."

Her parents stared at Ren in confusion before something occurred to her. "Another one of your bloodline's hidden abilities?" She asked and Ren nodded.

"Something like that."

"But… aren't you too young to be worrying about marriage at such a young age, let alone having children?" Mother asked and Ren gave a nod.

"I am. But if I want a harem of S-class kunoichi then I have to start working on it as soon as possible."

"Excuse me?" "A harem?" "What?"

"Well… it won't be a large harem. I'll only have a few S-class kunoichis as my wives. But yes, that's my plan for the future." Ren explained with a serious look on his face.

She got up from her seat and everyone in the room turned to look at her.

"I'm going out to get some fresh air." She said and quickly left before any of them can argue against her decision.

—————

Ren Uchiha POV

He really, really wanted to go after Itachi and talk things out with her. Mainly because she was one of those few S-class Kunoichis that he wanted to marry in the future. But also because she was his best friend.

However, there was another matter he needed to discuss with Fugaku and Mikoto before that.

"You… I never took you to be ambitious, boy. But I was wrong." Fugaku said, shaking his head. "A harem of S-class kunoichi. I don't think I've heard of a more ambitious plan in my entire life."

…he wasn't sure if that was a praise or not. But at least Fugaku wasn't reacting too negatively to this news.

"Ren… child, where did you even get the idea to get a harem?" Mikoto asked, looking more serious than Fugaku.

…now how to explain to her that he had a Waifu Catalog that gave him points of immense value whenever he captured a Waifu. And the more powerful that waifu, the points he'll get.

Moreover, the only method of capturing them was by making them fall for him and then having them confess their love to him.

"By reading Jiriaya-san's books." He said in the end.

There was another long silence in the room before Mikoto got up from her seat as well.

"I'm going to go and have a talk with your Sensei."

"Wait! There is something I need to talk with the two of you before that." He said before Mikoto could leave the room.

Mikoto paused and shared a look with Fugaku before she came back and sat in front of him once again. "And what did you want to talk about?"

He halted, taking a deep breath in anticipation of the inevitable argument that would follow his next words. Yet, this was crucial. "I… I thank you, both of you, for taking me into your home and raising me like your own son for the past few years. But I believe it's now time for me to depart and establish my own home."

—————

Ringo Ameyuri POV

Darkness.

Complete and utter darkness covered her world.

No, light, no sound, no smell reached her in this sensory depravation cell.

Her sense of time failed her in this place. She couldn't tell if she's been here for seconds or hours.

But she was still aware that she has been in this place for almost two weeks, if only because of the amount of time she was being given food and water.

That, and her daily interrogation and mind reading sessions with that Yamanaka guy. All done in complete darkness.

Having her mind violated was not a good feeling. But it was certainly better than being splattered in the forest ground by a 6-year-old boy. Or that's what she told her at least.

She was still unsure if these people will actually allow her to leave, or if they'll just put a kunai in her brain and then feed her body to the dogs.

…and then, out of nowhere, there was light.

She promptly shut her eyes, overwhelmed by the searing pain caused by the sudden bombardment of lights after two weeks of darkness.

After her eyes acclimated to the light, she cautiously opened them and noticed the Fuinjutsu seals on the walls glowing brightly.

And then the heavy metal door of the cell screeched open and in walked the Yellow Butcher of Konoha, the Toad Sannin, her Yamanaka mind reader and a few other important looking people.

"Ringo Ameryuri." The Yellow Butcher said in a surprisingly gentle voice as he came to stand in front of her.

"Hokage of Konohagakure." She replied, determined to not show any weakness despite knowing how dangerous the man was and how weak her current position was.

"Since you've been so cooperative with us, I'll get straight to point. How would you like to become a citizen of Konoha?"

She raised an eyebrow as she caught onto his words. Not a 'shinobi' of Konoha but a 'citizen'. Well… it wasn't like she expected them to take her into their shinobi force without keeping an eye on her for some time at least.

"Do I have any other choice?" She asked sarcastically.

The Yellow Butcher's tight lipped smile was the only answer she received.

She took a step toward the Yellow Butcher and relished in the way the guards behind him tensed, their hands going toward the handle of their swords.

She maintained a prolonged stare-off with the Hokage as the silence and tension in the room escalated. The atmosphere became increasingly taut until, at last, she broke the silence. "Very well then. I accept your offer."

—————

It took about half a day for her to learn about the rules of Konoha, agree to those rules, learn about the restrictions, agree to those restrictions and finally fill up the paperwork that officially registered her as a civilian of Konoha.

Then, she met the little monster, as well as the Uchiha clan leader who escorted her to the Uchiha compound, where she faced the suspicious eyes of every Uchiha clan member who had gathered to catch a glimpse of her.

And finally, she was here.

"...it's not bad," she declared her verdict while gazing at the expansive house perched on a hill, overlooking a lake.

...oh, who was she fooling? This house was incredible, a thousand times superior to the garish apartment she used to own in Kiri. The added bonus of having three training grounds attached to the property only sweetened the deal. However, she had no intention of giving the satisfaction to the brat, not after all the trouble he had caused her.

"Not bad?" The brat looked annoyed at her words. "Bitch, it's fabulous and you know it. Besides, do you have any idea how much it cost me to buy this property and build this house?"

…oh? She wasn't aware that the brat had to buy this property and build this house. She had been under the impression that it was just given to him by the clan head, or something.

"Why don't you tell me?"

"38 million ryo for the land. And about 5 million for the raw materials I used to build the house."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at his words. "You build this house?"

"Well, my Shadow Clones did most of the work. But yeah." The brat proudly declared, and she couldn't help but feel grudgingly impressed. "I've always had a dream of building my own log cabin and living in it, so I decided to take this chance to fulfil my dream."

'Brat, that's not a log cabin. That's a log mansion.' She thought.

"…it's acceptable." She said and the brat snorted at her.

"You're not fooling anyone here. I know you like the house. Stop acting already."

Well, the brat could read her well enough if nothing else. Probably had something to do with those ever-present Sharingan eyes of his.

Though… there was one thing she wanted to know about this house. And that was, "Why is it so big?"

Because it was big. From what the brat told her, it had 8 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, 2 kitchens, a sizeable dining room, a library, a gym, a Fuinjutsu office, a storage room, and a few other vacant rooms.

Not to mention an underground bunker that the brat claimed can withstand a direct attack from a Tailed Beast Bomb.

Given her upbringing, she had always held a disdain for people who lived in houses larger than necessary. Now, she wasn't sure how to feel about becoming one of those people herself.

"I want to have a big family," the young one stated plainly, and picking up on his subdued mood, she chose not to press him further. "So... fancy a tour of the house? I still need to purchase furniture for a few rooms, but apart from that, it's mostly ready."

"Might as well since I'm going to live here from now on." She replied sarcastically and the brat snorted back in reply.

"If you didn't want to end up in this position, then you shouldn't have attacked me."

"Whatever. Just give me that tour already." She said and the brat nodded.

—————

Ren Uchiha POV

"Are you still angry?" He asked as he cradled baby Naruko in his arms.

They were currently in Kushina Sensei's home, doing their D-rank mission of babysitting Naruko.

Itachi ignored him in favour of sharpening her kunai.

She didn't even need to do that. Their blacksmith kept their kunai sharp at all times. She was just doing it to ignore him.

"You know that you'll have to talk with me eventually, yes? We are a team after all, and we'll go back to doing missions once this month is over."

She ignored him.

"Itachi. You're my best friend. Can we not fight, please?"

"I'm clearly not your best friend if you don't even see it fit to tell me that you plan on leaving my home."

Frankly, it had surprised even him just how quickly he was able to finish building his home. But when you have a hundred superhuman clones working for you in complete sync, and you can create the foundation of your home with a few hand signs, things tend to go smoothly for you.

"I was going to tell you. I just… didn't know how. Can you not forgive me this one time."

Itachi glanced at him for a moment before she went back to ignoring him.

He wanted to say something more but Naruko begin squirming in his arms so he went back to gently rocking her back and forth in a soothing manner that would lull her to sleep.

With a sigh, he glanced at Rin Nohara, who occupied the other side of the room, engrossed in practicing Fuinjutsu, doing her bet to ignore the unfolding drama between him and Itachi.

He sighed again.

In hindsight, he really should have told Itachi about his future plans. She might have still been angry but she wouldn't have felt betrayed at least.

He'll keep this in mind in the future. He would need to become better at the whole social stuff if he planned to have a harem after all. Though he hoped that the Waifu Catalog will take care of most of the heavy stuff.

"I know you're angry Itachi. And you have every right to be. But when your anger has cooled down, please come and talk to me, okay?"

Itachi ignored him but he took that as a confirmation.

The next few minutes were spent in silence before the door of the room was abruptly slammed open and Jiriaya entered the room before quickly marching toward him with a worried expression.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"See for yourself. Page 18." Jiraiya said as he threw the latest edition of Bingo book at him.

He arched an eyebrow and flipped open that page, his eyes narrowing at what met his gaze.

His own image, accompanied by details about his abilities—feats he had demonstrated in his confrontation with Ringo.

At the page's bottom, where once a bounty of 5 million Ryo stood, there now loomed a bounty of 85 million Ryo.

Well… there went his anonymity.

—————

AN: So, Itachi learns about Ren's plans and feels jealous and betrayed.

Ren builds his own home. Mostly so that Itachi, Mikoto and Satsuki won't be in any danger in case Ringo decided to go rogue. Again. But also because he's a big boy now and wants his own space.

Ringo gets out of confinement after the Yamanaka ensures that it's safe enough to do so. And she gets the citizenship of Konoha.

Last but not the least, Ren gets a new bounty.

And for example, the bounties for the Sannin are 84 million for Tsunade, 79 for Orochimaru and 68 for Jiraiya. And Minato's bounty is 93 million. At least in my story.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.

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Have a nice day