Chapter 203: Stirring in the Kirigakure

"Really, no rest for the wicked." Rei sighed as he recounted the past few days in his head.

He and Tsunade came home three days ago. Tsunade instantly went into his dimension to cuddle with Blondie in order to... replenish her essential dose of fluff... as she called it. Rei also decided to check up on Black, finding out the foxes were already the size of a horse. That was quite a nice growth spur considering they were 'born' only recently.

What was not nice was Pakura coming to his dimension and telling him there was an emergency. Really, he was home not even for ten minutes and there was already some screw-up for him to fix?

Fast forward to the current time, and grumbling Rei stood on a hill located in the Land of Water.

"Inconsiderate prick. Couldn't Yagura start with his genocidal urges a week later? Three freaking days of paperwork, diplomacy, and preparations. Sigh, I really need a proper vacation." Rei lamented, only to get a blank gaze from Ringo who stood to his left, and an amused giggle from Mei who was on his right side.

"You just came from a vacation." Ringo deadpanned, crossing her hands under her chest.

"That was not a vacation. That was a business trip. No matter if I spent most of it relaxing with Tsunade, official documents state it was not a vacation, therefore it was NOT a vacation." Rei defended, causing Ringo to sigh.

"Mah, forget the workaholic. She would not understand what is the use of free time even if you spelled it to her. Honestly, she would never leave her forge if not for the fact she is your wife." Mei decided to donate her two cents to the conversation.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ringo asked crossly.

"Don't give me that look. You only leave your workshop to eat with us, when you have scheduled training or sparring, and for sex with Rei. Even now, you are mostly jealous you had no alone time with Rei before we had to come here." Mei snorted.

"At least I wasn't the one keeping half of the house awake yesterday. How dumb must you be to forgot the silencing seals?" Ringo sarcastically quipped.

"Hey, I resent that. You kno..."

Mei started but Rei's hands suddenly grasped the shoulder of both Ringo and Mei, stopping their tirade. He didn't even need to say a word for the girls to understand the meaning of his gesture. The arguments between Ringo and Mei never ceased and while everybody knew they didn't put much heart into them, Rei really didn't feel like listening to the two bickering women right now.

"They are almost here." He said, causing both Mei and Ringo to straighten up and enter their professional facade.

It took a few minutes but right on the decided time, three Mist ninjas landed in front of Rei and girls, led by Ao, the leader of the resistance, himself. Because of the fact that the Third Mizukage delayed Obito from influencing Yagura, the clans had more time to prepare. Thanks to Rei who warned them what was most probably the plan of Obito and that he would most likely succeed given enough time, many clans took the threat seriously.

Frankly, if Rei was just some unknown chump, nobody would care what he was rambling about. But since he was a famous SS-rank ninja, his word was akin to gospel to them. Really, Rei couldn't help but find it incredibly amusing.

Because of the warning, the second the Third Mizukage was assassinated, the red lights started blaring in the heads of the clan heads. When Yagura finally started pulling anti-clan reforms out of his ass, the clans were prepared the best they could. Hence, the resistance was much, much stronger this time around.

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That, however, didn't mean they could just storm Kirigakure and win. Not without heavy casualties, at least. Even with the bolstered numbers and many clans intact, the resistance was still outnumbered 1 to 20. Which is why Rei was currently in the Land of Water despite dearly wishing to be able to laze around in his bed right at the moment. They wanted help and Rei, Ringo, and Mei were the poor sods who drew the shortest straws so they had to listen to their demands and possibly negotiate an agreement with them.

'I am never again playing a drawing game to decide who would deal with something like this.' Rei inwardly grumbled. 'Even my luck is clearly against me.'

"Greetings, Rei-dono. Please, follow us, our hideout is nearby." Ao said in a no-nonsense tone and turned around before starting to run.

Mei, Ringo, and Rei looked at each other before helplessly shrugging and following.

"So... why exactly did they choose you as the leader?" Ringo asked after a few minutes of silent running. She knew Ao and it was obvious the man nor his guards were not content with seeing her. For them, she was most likely a traitor. Not that Rei cared since he called as such too.

"The clans bickered who should lead and in the end, it was decided the leader was to be someone not under the influence of a particular clan." Ao unhappily grunted, showing just how much he loved his current position, "I was just the most skilled guy out of those who joined the resistance and didn't belong to a clan."

"Sucks to be you." Mei snickered, causing even the Ao's guards to join her briefly before they earned themselves a one-eyed glare from their boss. That shut them up good.

"I agree." Ao muttered and the group again fell into silence.

Rei didn't ask his questions in favor of observation. He knew Ringo only started the brief debate in order to give Rei a better picture of Ao. As if she really cared who or why led the resistance. Her questioning however gave Rei a better perspective of what to expect.

'So the clans are not as united as they would like to portray, heh... Well, naturally, they survived with more members than in canon. They were always somewhat entitled and now that nobody humbled them by culling out most of their populace, the clans would naturally bicker who is the biggest fish in the pond. Must be really annoying. No wonder they seek outside help, then.' Rei mentally summed up Ao's situation.

Rei wasn't really happy with what he heard so far. The resistance was outnumbered and the members had a hard time working together. They actually had to give the leadership to a third party to keep a semblance of order in their ranks. Many Kirigakure high-ranking ninjas were members of some clan. Meaning, despite being outnumbered, the resistance should, at the very least hypothetically, be able to win against Kirigakure. Especially if they employed guerrilla warfare which is incredibly suitable for the Mist ninjas. They could weaken the Kiri forces enough that the chances of winning a head-on assault would be greatly in their favour.

And yet, they wanted to pull Yozora into it. 'Somehow, I am starting to have a really bad feeling that they expect some hocus-pocus out of me that would resolve their current problem without any country-crippling bloodshed.' Rei started to realize what exactly the Kiri clans wanted.

This was not a desperate fight for survival for them. Not yet. They weren't reduced to a few members. Not in this timeline. Rei actually cursed when he realized a snag in his plan. This was something he overlooked.

The clans simply wanted to return to their comfortable position of power in Kirigakure. This meant Yagura had to be removed without much infighting that would weaken Kirigakure, and cause the clans having to work overtime to keep their village safe afterward. They simply wanted a fairytale outcome with a happily ever after.

'Oh, well, no matter how ridiculous this is becoming, it's not like this situation doesn't play right into my cards.' Rei mentally shrugged. Eh, he would have to adjust his plans but maybe the current situation would be even more beneficial for him. Rei discreetly looked at Ringo with the corner of his eyes, 'The question is... how pissed will she be when I enact my oh-so evil plan?'

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