Chapter 85

I could feel the woman in my grasp shivering. Including sparkle face, I had wanted to take over them to find out about the control seal that was used on Aoi. But seeing how neither of them even tried to fight back, not like they could anyways, nor try to escape using seals, it did not matter to me anymore. There was a chance whoever did it was long gone by now. I began to squeeze as the woman struggled, trying to pry my grip off her face. Cracking sounds were heard as muffled sounds escaped her throat with her trying to scream but the vice grip covering her mouth prevented her from doing that. A crack sound, along with my hand entering her skull with blood splattering and dripping ended her struggles as her body went limp with the occasional twitching.

I did not let go but continued to stare at the twitching body I held in my hand, letting my mind wander a little bit. The screams of sparkly face finally brought me out of my thoughts. He just saw his bodyguard get her skull mushed with one hand; Things were not too promising for him. He was trying to crawl away but his broken limbs were making it difficult to get far.

"I walked in front of him and asked, "So, wanna tell me who did that to my sis?". His entire body shaking as he began to blabber, "We never saw his face. My uncle was the one who contacted him. He came in and did his thing before leaving. He offered to do it for free every month. It was all my uncle's idea! I swear!" He looked to one of the headless old men I had decapitated. Tsk! I may have been rash in ending their lives so soon. I assumed with him looking all leader-like, he was the one to interrogate. What an error on my part.

Kouki looked at me and I nodded. He walked to sparkle face, and with a quick slash his head was off. He had a satisfied look on his face afterwards; Guess he did not like sparkle face as a brother-in-law. "Move up a tree." I ordered Kouki. "Water release: Corrosive wave" I spat out a large volume of water which not only washed most of the blood, but ate the bodies as well. 'I love that I created the jutsu.'

After a thorough round of checks to make sure no one escaped or hid, it was finally time to leave. We were only moving at a slow pace, practically walking, but the atmosphere was quiet making it slightly awkward for me. Suddenly, Kouki stopped moving as an arm came out of his shadow as it pushed the rest of the body out of it. 'That is definitely something to see at night' I thought to myself; The whole process looked like it came out of a horror movie.

Aoi surprisingly did not look to be in a daze. She stood there with her head down fearing to look up. I chuckled at her behavior and hugged her. I don't know what happened, and quite frankly, I did not care. I was only glad she was safe. After hugging her and letting her cry her heart out, for which reason I did not know, she finally calmed down. "You actually let your guard down and allowed the enemy to get hold of you. What's worse, you were actually about to get married without mother. I am definitely telling when we get back home. I'm sure mother would triple your training." Both Aoi and Kouki shuddered at the thought. Kouki knew very well that he would definitely be implicated in the matter regardless of what he had to say, which would be nothing, per usual.

We sprinted the way home with Kouki filling Aoi in on what happened to sparkle face. Aoi just happily looked at me and her brother smiling but did not say anything as we continued to sprint home.

That was weird. Maybe I should have paid much more attention to all of that. The control seal seemed complicated but extremely unstable. From the short study, it looked like it would fade over time which was confirmed by sparkle face. One month. I had no interest in a seal like that. To me, it was a flawed seal, but if I needed to create a counter seal, I needed to see the base of seal; The seal on which the intricate control seal was built on.

After I came out of my thoughts, I had one of them send us home with the shadow teleportation. It was not as fast as the Fourth or Second Hokage's, but it was extremely convenient. We were finally home, my place, and who was in the kitchen preparing lunch? Mother. I immediately stood in front of the Aoi and Kouki defensively, "You are not taking them away." She rolled her eyes at me with a chuckle. It felt like she was underestimating me.

Both went to wash down while I talked to my mother; I had not seen her for a while. Turned out she was a few months pregnant. I was going to have another sibling. That was quick; How long had it been since we returned from my training? Not that it mattered. I was happy. Our family was growing and It was no wonder she stole Aoi and Kouki from my place. She probably needed the help, or not. Maybe I was still thinking with the mentality of earth, but I did not know how pregnant ninjas were during the time of their pregnancy; If they even needed help at all during that time.

"Ok. You can have Kouki. I'll keep Aoi." I compromised. Coincidentally, Kouki who had arrived with his sister managed to hear me trading him off and got depressed. His sister by his side was consoling him.

"What the hell are you talking about, brat?! I'm taking both of them away" So that was her plan? She intended to play that card. Well done playing to your situation. But I was not going to give up Aoi just like that. Who else was going to make me those delicious meals?

"Ok, I'll compromise. You can have Kouki to do the heavy liftings in the house. Aoi will only come over to help only in the mornings. For the rest of the day, she will be here." I was such a good person. Compromising like that.

"No. I get them both!" The stubborn woman was not backing down. She needed to understand that even if I had transmigrated or whatever, her blood runs in this body and I was just as stubborn as her. There was absolutely no way I was about to back down as well.

Just as I was about to counter again, Aoi finally stepped in. Kouki had been relegated to the depressed corner, hugging his knees and drawing circles on the floor. Poor boy; I felt bad about throwing him away like that. "Calm down both of you. Sakura-nee, considering mother's condition, I think it would be best if I helped her out more." After a while, I had convinced them to called me sister. I had to admit; it felt good. But she totally just betrayed me.

"…"

(I have to be honest; I did not really like the previous arc but it is essential for the future. Think of it as a filler arc.)