Kapitel 84: Ch84. Mei's graduation
Rei, Konan, and Tsunade in her disguise were sitting in the VIP lounge in the Kiri arena. The Kiri arena was a place where the chunin exams were usually held but its more important function was to execute traitors. The nuke-nin were usually killed on spot but in rare cases, they were caught alive and then proceeded to be interrogated only to end up in the arena and fight to the death. It didn't matter how many rounds they won, they continued to fight until their eventual death. This arena was also a place where Kiri shinobi could enter to hone their skills or try new techniques on 'moving' targets without any repercussions. And today, a yearly event was taking place. It was time for the academy graduation exam... which was basically just a bloody spectacle of kids killing each other. Despite that, the arena was full of spectators, mostly civilians seeking some bloody entertainment.
Rei could also see many prominent jonin from Kiri who were looking for a good seedling. After all, if they took a disciple, they couldn't be forced to take another so everyone wanted to take a peek at what is offered in this batch and if there is somebody promising. Contrary to the cheer of civilians, these shinobi were mostly bored since seeing kid's brawl wasn't really entertaining for them.
The graduation was one versus one deathmatch. The matches were said to be random... meaning they were pre-selected beforehand and just for show, there was an actual electronic board for choosing names like in Naruto's chunin exam. The proctors knew well who is likely to pass and who to fail. They watched the kids for years by now and as experienced chunins, could take their guess. That meant every match had a favorite. There were also a lot of other factors... like if somebody wanted to take a specific child under his care, the child would get an easier opponent and so on. Rei didn't really care nor did he try to manipulate Mei's match though. He knew Mei would win but her opponent would end up dead due to their own luck and not Rei's manipulation. He could do at least as much as leave it to 'fate'.
"This is really barbaric." Tsunade said disgruntled. Despite living in Kiri for years, she never once saw the graduation exam but now that she was present for it, she really thought it was too much.
"Yeah... and stupid too." Konan added. Kiri was killing off 50% of their ninja candidates. Not to mention those killed by their actual teachers for whatever reason. In the end, not even 35% of academy graduates would survive long enough to be really counted as a ninja of Kiri. For Konan, it was no wonder Kiri had so little ninja. All it would take is to give the children better guidance and not kill them off... but it seemed the higher-ups of Kiri were too stupid to realize that.
Rei wisely kept silent. Speaking up right now would start a debate he was not really willing to partake in at the moment. In his opinion, every village was utterly retarded in these practices. Kiri had this exam. Konoha had another one that also cut the graduates to a really small number. The difference was that the rest who didn't manage to graduate, could either drop-out and forever close the option to become a ninja or after three failures, the kid would be entering the genin corps where the entire training would be up to him... these were the so-called cannon fodder. Suna was the same and also had their own means of how to differentiate between 'elite' and others. He wasn't about to think about Iwa... as their cannon fodder was mostly made up of slaves. Kumo was the only village that was kid-friendly when it came to these practices. They took enormous effort to nurture their younger generations and most kids already left the academy knowing their elemental affinity and basics of kenjutsu. At times like these, Rei was really happy he made the spy network out of the Biri-Biri traders. These 'unimportant' details were exactly what helped most when one didn't really expect it.
The event was about to start and the kids lined up in the arena. There were thirty of them in total but this was quite misleading as every class had a different day of graduation so the final number of kids graduating this year was around 240. Which meant at least 120 would die. It was a big number but a few years back, Kiri started to 'recruit' kids from orphanages all over the country to have enough genin for the war. There were still 2 years until the start of the war and Rei was sure the Mizukage was thinking he had at least five more years to train these new recruits... alas, the truth was far from that.
"Ah! It's Mei!" Tsunade said and a smile lit up on her face as she said the ten years old redhead down in the arena. "I trained her so well! She is not afraid at all!" She cooed like an overprotective parent. "Just look at her bored eyes!"
Konan rolled her eyes at the almost bouncing Tsunade, but her lips also twisted into a slight smile. "It was me who gave her mental conditioning." She quipped, getting a stink-eye from Tsunade.
Rei just embraced the two girls and shushed them. "It's starting. Don't argue now."
Down in the arena, Mei was despondently watching her former classmates. For her, they were utterly unimportant and it was times like these she was really glad for Konan's teachings. While her bigger sister taught her how to recognize indoctrination, she also didn't cover the fact she was making her more loyal to Rei. Mei didn't really care though.
Now that she was looking at the nervous kids with shining eyes, just waiting to lay their lives down for a village that couldn't be bothered to give two fucks for them... she could only pity them and be horrified at the idea she could have been one of these gullible children. The older she was, the more disgusting the idea of helping Kiri became for her. The people stopped beating her when Rei 'subtly' indicated he would be very 'displeased' if it continued but they still glared at her and generally avoided her. She was not close to anyone in the class so this little test wasn't really that big of a deal for her. But she knew she had to take it seriously as her family wanted to see if she had the resolve to kill on her own... not like she had any choice in the matter and Mei knew well why this was important. She would shortly start doing missions with Rei and they needed to know she was ready for them.
The Mizukage gave a speech about them being the future of Kirigakure or whatever and the matches started. Mei watched the kids around her quickly become disillusioned when the first match concluded. They knew this was a match to the death but Mei doubted the kids had a clear idea of what that actually meant. When the kunai sunk into the skull of Miki, a girl from her class, every classmate of hers went instantly rigid, watching her unmoving body hit the ground. The matches continued despite all protests and finally, after two hours of utter boredom, it was time for Mei's match.
She stepped inside of the arena and the spectators became instantly quiet, reminding her that she wasn't the most loved person in the village. Only the supporting look on her family's face made her smile to herself and confidently walk towards the center where her opponent and the referee were waiting. Her opponent was... she forgot his name. Scratching her cheek, she played it cool by bowing slightly in a show of respect before the referee started the match.
Her opponent instantly sprang forward to attack her but for Mei, he was moving extremely slow. She didn't see any reason to prolong this battle and as he was at arm's length away from her, she sidestepped to the right, just enough to evade his dash. The boy couldn't stop himself anymore and as he was passing by the spot she was previously at, he ran right into a kunai Mei was holding in her hand. Match over.
The arena was again engulfed in even deeper silence when Mei won so effortlessly but she didn't care and just walked away, towards the waiting area where her former classmates looked at her as if she was some kind of monster. Every match up till now lasted at least five minutes but hers didn't take even five seconds. For them, she was quite frightening.
All around the arena, many jonin gained an interested light in their eyes at the spectacle and the Mizukage was deadpanning at Rei because of how much trouble this would bring him. Many of his jonin would want Mei and will most likely try to 'challenge' Rei for her... And he would have to prevent just that. Great!
"Yes... I trained her so well!" Tsunade smiled proudly, fully knowing Mei was aware enough to know just how big of a shitstorm her quick win would cause to the Mizukage.
"Damn right." Konan added, also proud of Mei as she hid her smirk while giving the Mizukage a side-glance, enjoying his dejected look and speechless expression. "Somebody gonna pull all-nighter." She giggled.
Rei just snorted and gave the man an eye-smile and V sign. Needless to say, the Mizukage was not the happiest camper right now.
Kapitel 85: Ch85. Planning
When Mei came home after her graduation exam, she was greeted by Rei, Konan, and Tsunade with a big 'Congratulations'. It made her happy because she didn't expect them to throw a party for her graduation. This outcome was expected and she was leagues above the current graduates so she took her passing as a foregone outcome and yet... Her family decided to celebrate it. Mei's cheeks blushed as she meekly walked inside the living room, sitting next to Rei who instantly patted her head.
"Good job." He told her and Mei could feel her body being hugged by Rei. She smiled and reassured him.
"I am fine." She said. "I had enough time to prepare myself for killing."
Rei looked knowingly at her form when he heard her telling him that. She had lowered head and slightly narrowed eyes and he knew it would bother her for a while but she had people who made it their 'mission' to make her feel better about it. That was, after all, the purpose of this party. He wasn't about to give her 'birds 'n bees talk, the shinobi version' and fuss about her 'first' kill. He would however make sure she had a great time and got any worries she could have out of her mind.
"Okay." He told her and with the corner of his eye could see Konan bringing a cake to the room. "I think it's time for a cake then! I made your favorite strawberry-flavored one."
Mei's eyes shined at the sight and she quickly turned towards Rei and hugged his waist. "Thank you!" Rei and the girls laughed at Mei's happy expression, and the celebration continued.
...
The celebration was over and Mei was fast asleep but Rei, Konan, and Tsunade had a meeting in the living room after tidying it up. They sat around the table with a cup of hot chocolate, talking about their future. After Tsunade encountered Jiraiya, she instantly told every detail she managed to glean from him to Rei who decided to start making use of his spy network. He got an incredible amount of information.
"Iwa's recruiting from slaves is intense," Rei said. "They already have around twenty thousand strong force of canon fodder. Apparently, they plan to bring down the Third Raikage and... us."
"Us?" Tsunade asked, furrowing her brows.
"The Downpour." Konan told her. "They will probably use the war, again make someone request us for a mission and then ambush us with ten thousand..." She turned to Rei. "right?"
"Yes. During the war, the village doesn't have much time to review every single request. Moreover, the village only takes requests from nobles and wealthy merchants, meaning high-profile people who would look extremely bad if the shinobi they requested was 'ambushed'. The village would know and most likely take their revenge but there surely is a lot of retards who would see immediate gains instead of long-term repercussions. Especially among the first sons of nobles. The important part is that the village wouldn't be able to warn or assist us. Nor would it do anything in our defense until the end of the war." Rei stated with a displeased frown. "Worse yet, rejecting a mission during wartime is really, really hard as if you try, the Mizukage will just order you to go and handle it. Money are important for the village and in wartime it is doubly so. The Iwa has it thought out pretty into detail while knowing the laws and usual behavior of Kiri higher-ups."
Tsunade groaned at that. "Kiri and their idiotic practices. In Konoha..."
"In Konoha, you have heaps of merchants pulling the economy for you." Konan snorted. "The situation is completely different so you really don't need to make the missions mandatory during wartime." Tsunade crossed her arms and reluctantly acknowledged Konan was right.
"Speaking of which," Rei started. "I want you to return to Konoha, Tsunade."
The entire room quieted down at that but Rei just smiled at the bewildered blonde before explaining. "We have the dimension and can see each other whenever and I know you would regret not helping your village during the war." Rei said and saw Tsunade was about to protest so he quickly cut her off. "Don't try to deny it. You might be fed-up with the higher-ups but the village is still your grandfather's memento. If I know one thing about the Senju clan, it's that they value their family above all else."
"But you are my family." Tsunade quietly said and lowered her head in embarrassment at being so easily seen through by Rei only to shriek when Rei pulled her to himself, laying her head on his lap, and coursed his fingers through her hair while staring into her eyes.
"I love you Tsunade." He said. "But that doesn't mean I demand you to forsake everything for me." Neither of them minded the teasing stare of Konan from behind her mug of hot chocolate as she watched them expectantly with a child-like giddiness dancing in her eyes.
Tsunade teared up but barely held her tears in as her head spun. 'No... but it's exactly what I want to do...' She thought to herself and her resolve to prioritize Rei strengthened. "Okay... but I won't fight for Konoha. I'll return to be the head of the hospital." She knew she would be given the position of the head of the hospital and that meant being in the council... hence knowing everything that would go on in the village. Tsunade had her own ideas and plans on how to help Rei and she would be damned if she let Konan outshine her! And... he was right. Deep down, she still wanted to minimize the casualties of Konoha in the upcoming war. She was raised there... indoctrinated there... it was hard to just let go.
Rei smiled and turned to Konan this time. "I think it's time for us to show ourselves during this war. I don't intend to always mind myself during a fight. Right now, we are strong enough to fight against S-ranking ninja so there is no need to hide our abilities." He informed her and the atmosphere in the room turned somber.
"Are you sure?" Konan asked. She was also fed up with always not using her paper release during fights only to keep it secret but she understood why it was needed.
Rei nodded in acknowledgment. "We will be defecting during the war." Rei dropped a bomb. "I have a sneaking suspicion it's not going to be good to be in Kiri after the war." He said and turned to Tsunade with a nod. "Root is really doing a good job."
While Konan knew what ROOT was, she tilted her head, not understanding what Rei meant but Tsunade's eyes widened. "You want to say they already work on preventing Kiri from attacking them?"
"No... not Kiri. Not yet, at least but I was informed some border outposts of Iwa were attacked by people clad in Suna shinobi attire. Funny that, since Suna has enough problems with itself since Rasa became the Kage as the Wind Daimyo utterly despises him and refuses to support the village..." Rei chuckled. "Same with Kumo and Iwa border... this time, it is Kumo's outposts attacked by 'Iwa-nin'. Peculiar how these people were always using fire Jutsu and were described as 'emotionless'." He shook his head. "I am sure there will be some kind of plot for Kiri too but Kiri is an even bigger threat than Kumo and Iwa to Konoha but on the other hand they have no confirmation that Kiri would actually really attack them so they will probably do something very covert and underhanded."
Tsunade bit her fingernail in contemplation. "I have no idea what would Danzo do but I am sure Sarutobi-sensei would go for public unrest or something."
Rei raised his eyebrows at her in surprise. 'Well, that would fit smashingly with the future situation, now, wouldn't it?' He thought in amusement. 'I am quite curious about how would they go about it though.'
"That doesn't matter. Kiri lost its value for us. There is nothing to gain for us here." Rei said and shrugged his shoulders. "So... off we will go."
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