Chapter 259: Ruined plans

"I... I have ruined your plans?" Tsunade exclaimed, subconsciously taking a step back. She was totally confused and utterly shocked. She only wanted to give Rei a pleasant surprise but somehow she did the exact opposite? That was too much for her distraught mind to handle as she flopped back down onto her chair.

Rei didn't give the woman even a second more for self-pity or any other undue thoughts, He stood up and approached Tsunade, giving her a tight, reassuring embrace with a comforting backrub. "Hey, I already said it is my fault. Don't worry. This just means I will have to..." Rei's eyebrows twitched, "readjust my long-term plans."

Inwardly, he was not pleased. Not at all. He knew he couldn't blame Tsunade though. He had only himself to blame. Lately, everything went far too good to be true and he might have grown a bit complacent. Naturally, everything went fine because he put in an enormous effort to actually safeguard that everything WOULD go just fine. He was never going in head-first. He always planned. He always had Konan find out the most intel she could before any self-imposed mission and then he made sure to consider as many eventual repercussions as possible. He did not play this deadly game blindly. He would like to believe he was playing it smartly and from the shadows.

Heck, people still had no clue how he looked! He made damn sure to prevent Bingo Book from posting his, Konan's, or Mei's image all these years ago by destroying any and all the villages had. There was a vague description of their looks but... well, to be honest, that was as helpful to the hunter ninjas as making Jiraiya into a godfather was for Naruto.

It took a while but Tsunade eventually relaxed her body in Rei's embrace but she was still radiating with disappointment. It was obvious she expected high praise for her effort and yet...

"Well, I think it is high time for you to divulge your so-called plans, husband." Konan calmly stated with a small but sharp smile, causing Rei to inwardly cringe while he outwardly tried to appear as indifferent as possible. "And also the reason why you kept it secret if you wouldn't mind." Konan added. "After all, I can stomach not knowing what you want to do. I have lived with you since I was a little kid. I have grown immune to your own brand of stupidity and learned to support you through it. But I won't stand for something as trivial as misinformation to cause trouble in our relationship." She evenly declared with finality.

Sighing to himself, Rei knew Konan is doing this mostly for himself, rather than because she was upset. She was one of those who never complained and always supported him no matter what he wanted to do but she was also never afraid of stating her opinion about it or even blatantly force him to do something she deemed beneficial for him as long as it had to do with his relationship with his wives. This was not even the first time she took such a firm stand on a matter pertaining to their family. Rei simply knew when he was supposed to, ahem, 'shut up and do as his wife says'.

'Well... at least I have a long night of apology sex to look forward to.' Rei wryly thought.

Yes, Konan could take a firm stand against him but after a few times of that happening, Rei understood she never enjoyed it and he always found her in his bed the following night, unusually clingy, eager to please, and her face scrunched with such an apologetic expression it almost broke his heart each time.

"Ah..." Rei awkwardly started, thinking what to say and how to justify his actions in words that would logically explain his desire to follow 'the plot' up to a certain point. "I wanted Hiruzen to be the Hokage for a few more years, you see. He was doing such a good job at keeping the village stagnant in his policy to let civilians run the matters for him. Just look at Konoha's Ninja Academy." Rei said, getting a chuckle out of most of his wives, "They slightly lower the standards almost every year since the Kyuubi attack. The clans have too many internal problems like Hyuugas or Kuramas or simply do not care about politics too much like the Nara-Shika-Cho alliance, the Aburames, and the Inuzukas. Frankly? Konoha is one crack-pot of lazy madness and it is a wonder it is still standing. There is not much value in getting it under us." He wryly stated, getting a pitiful look from Tsunade. Alas, Konan's firm and hard gaze was far more important in this situation and unfortunately for Tsunade's ego, Konan was far too good at spotting Rei's lies when she wanted so he was forced to be ruthlessly truthful.

Well, Rei was truthful... somewhat. He simply didn't say it in words he meant it in his mind. He simply wanted Hiruzen to stay Hokage until the Chunin Exams in Konoha in five years. Orochimaru crippled and Hiruzen dead was too good of a result to not aim for it. Tsunade becoming the Hokage just because the village had nobody else capable of taking over the position would have been just the proverbial cherry on the top.

To that end, Rei was vehemently avoiding Konoha. Sure, his actions all over the world affected Konoha in some way but overall? It was really not by much. The biggest interference to date was placing a seal on Naruto with the goal of making him smarter but that would have had a small effect on the plotline if Rei only wanted to preserve the events up till the Chuunin Exams. Even Naruto befriending Sasuke after the Uchiha massacre would have had no effect on that as far as Rei could predict.

Hiruzen would have had his village weakened by Danzo and the civilians on the council behind his back no matter what. Orochimaru would have attacked no matter what. The clans would have been too lazy or busy to even complain no matter what.

But now?

Tsunade made Shikaku friggin' Nara the Hokage! After all, who else would be lazy enough to not care where the most important symbol of his station was located for two freaking weeks straight?

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It was a total bust now.

Not only Konoha would get better after this but Tsunade was basically a Daimyo of the lands around it which meant Rei's initial intention of keeping Konoha weak was no longer an option. He simply couldn't do that to Tsunade. As such, Konoha would have to get stronger from now on. As such, Rei could no longer be assured Orochimaru would be stupid enough to attack during the Chuunin Exam. Heck, Hiruzen was no longer the Hokage so one of his reasons for the attack was gone.

Yeah... Rei had no idea how the plotline would go now. Will the attack happen? Will Orochimaru employ more allies? Iwa? Kumo? Will he try Suna again?

'Actually, with Pakura that ship sailed long ago...' Rei only now realized. 'Ah, screw it! What will happen will happen.'

"I reckon you wanted to try something with Kumo and Iwa, then?" Konan instantly grasped what he was not saying by deducing it from what was already said.

Rei gave her a small eye-roll. "Obviously. These two are the only ones I have no leverage over and they both have a too solid foundation to just quietly take over or install our Kage in them. There is no event in sight that would make such an endeavor easy anyway."

"I see..." Konan hummed, mentally going through the latest intel on both of these villages and trying to find something. "Konoha was of no concern so you had time to focus your efforts on tougher nuts to crack, so to speak." She distractedly continued.

Rei kissed Tsunade on her hair when he felt her tensing again before speaking, "Yup. Not that it matters now. Tsunade rules the village and that means I will not just stand and let her wrestle with it alone." He said, getting a grateful snuggle from the blonde.

"So... what now?" Konan asked. "Do you need something from us? Should I start causing disturbances in Kumo and Iwa? We can still think something up..."

"No." Rei harshly interjected before releasing yet another sigh. "Look. I kept my plans secret because I honestly couldn't justify giving you more responsibilities. You already have quite a bit of work. Ringo... I did persuade into accepting the position of the Mizukage but that simply doesn't count!" He exclaimed, getting a deadpan stare from Ringo. Returning an eye-roll, Rei continued, "She really only has to spend less than half an hour per day on her paperwork and even then she mostly uses shadow clones for it. Compared to the other Kages, she is totally worry-free as other people do most of her job for her. Pakura loves administration so I had no qualms about having her become the Kazekage. She knows her limits too so there is no way she would have overworked herself either. But you Konan? Or Tsunade? You both are overzealous." Konan's eyebrows twitched while Tsunade froze in Rei's arms. "I have seen it in your work for the Biri-Biri company and since then I decided to not involve you more than necessary. On top of the duties for the Biri-Biri company, Tsunade has her medical research and you, Konan, have an entire spy network spanning a whole continent to care for. I have never even dreamed of pushing another full time job on you. As for Mei..." All of them looked at the happy-go-lucky girl who munched on her cereals, ignoring the conversation in its entirety...

"Wha-?" Mei carefreely tilted her head when she noticed the stares.

"Er... Anyway," Rei decided to continue, "I think... We should just focus on slowly improving the four villages under our control without alerting Kumo or Iwa. There is really not much to do about this, I guess." He slightly grimaced. His new plans would need a bit of thinking but then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Looking back at Tsunade, Rei schooled his expression and smiled, "So... still up for that breakfast?" He asked her with a small nudge.

Tsunade raised her head, lifting her eyes to his. For a second, she held their eye connection as if looking for something in his eyes... before she smiled and nodded in agreement when she didn't find it.

"Yeah..."

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