บท 62: 3.24

To read up to 15 chapters ahead: https://www.patréon.com/SlyOW

-------------

I appeared in a familiar room, as it was exactly where I had left. Looking down at the bed, it was covered in blood. My blood.

Readjusting the bag filled with precious gems on my shoulder, I walked to the door, behind which I heard whispering.

Kicking the door open, I made the Ame Orphans flinch as they looked at me with wide eyes. Their eyes switched between me and the room behind, their mouths wide opened in shock.

Narrowing my eyes at Nagato with a grin, I said, "See? I told you not to push me in my grave so quickly, brat."

The three continued gasping, before they suddenly rushed at me, surprising me as they took me into a hug.

Did I really have that big of an impact on them? Well, I guess I shouldn't forget they still weren't adults.

Especially Yahiko, who is only 15.

Patting their backs, I muttered, "Alright, I'm fine. You can let go now. Aren't you supposed to be the mighty victor?"

They let go, and Nagato looked at me with suspicious eyes as he said, "You keep saying you don't have the powers of the Rinnegan, but how did you heal so thoroughly then? I don't know any Jutsu in the world that can heal this well."

I ruffled his hair, chuckling, "It's just a technique from home."

Nagato rolled his eyes, when I noticed someone else approaching.

It was Mifune, and he was holding my bloodied armor, as well as my broken sword. But as he saw me, he froze, his eyes also going wide as he looked at me like he saw a ghost.

Grinning, I walked past the Ame Orphans, and asked, "What's up with the face? Here for someone's funeral?"

Mifune opened his mouth to say something, before closing his eyes, shaking his head.

"Everyone has their secrets. I am glad you could make a recovery young friend. It would have been a shame for a flame such as yours to be put out so early."

I clasped my hands, bowing slightly as I said, "I am honored by your thoughts."

I approached him, and grabbed the armor and the broken sword. Unfortunately, as I held them, I felt the enchantments had disappeared. They felt different than they used to through the Force.

I threw them at Nagato, who scrambled to catch everything, and dismissed him, "Here. Throw them away or turn them into symbols of liberation, they are useless to me."

Nagato looked a little confused, but suddenly, Konan, who was behind me, exclaimed, "Are these rubies? And diamonds? Amethysts? Wait, is your bag filled with precious gems?"

I looked over my shoulder, feeling a little frustrated at the mention of the bag. I was still annoyed by the same storage problems as before, as the bag could only carry so much.

But what was even more frustrating was that I had found a solution. Or Johnathan had. There exists a charm/enchantment in Harry Potter known as the extension charm that allows to drastically increase the space within a bag. Hermione Granger has one.

Unfortunately, the thing costs 1000 Points. In other words, it was far too expensive for me right now.

I patted the bottom of the bag, explaining, "I reverse summoned back to my land, where I got healed, and also brought these. I come from a special place you see, where these," I once again patted the bag, "aren't as rare or expensive."

Rubbing his hands together, Yahiko asked, "So if you made the trip a few times you could…"

Looking at his greedy expression, I snorted and stopped him right away, "Passage into my land is regulated, and complicated. I can't tell you too much about it, but time doesn't move the same way there as it does here. I can't just hop in and out. Because of the injuries I had to heal, I won't be able to get back there for more than a year. And when I'm gone, I might be gone for days or decades for all I know."

The jolly mood quickly disappeared, and Mifune, who was still there, commented thoughtfully, "You must come from a peculiar place, mister Alexander."

"Just Alexander is just fine."

Still behind me, Konan was eyeing the bag as she asked, "Why did you bring this back?"

"For personal expenses, and the Akatsuki. We're going to need quite a lot of money to help the country stand back up."

They looked touched as I said that, and seeing this, I decided to tease them a little as I added, sounding unsure this time, "Although, I haven't been officially accepted in the Akatsuki…"

Yahiko's eyes turned comically large as he exclaimed, "Of course you are! But not because of the gems of course!"

I smiled, and said, "Good. Then-"

I stopped speaking, however, as I saw someone running over, holding something I did not expect to see. A shotgun. Or rather, Chris' shotgun.

How was it still here? Hadn't it been destroyed with his death?

After all, Thomas, Chris' human creation, had completely disappeared from God's Dimension upon our return, and so did his house. I naturally assumed that whatever Chris had bought from God had disappeared with him.

The member of the Akatsuki looked stunned as he saw me, seems like I am a little famous now. He quickly gathered himself though and said, "Sir, your friend… I don't know if you were told. He died in the battle. We did manage to get his weapon back from Konoha's men, fortunately. We thought it should come to you."

I smiled sadly, taking the weapon from him as I said, "I figured he did… Thank you for bringing this back."

Inwardly, however, I was feeling curious. Had Danzo managed to steal the weapon, I wonder whether he would have been able to do anything with it. Of course it was powerful, there's no denying that, but the only real danger it could have posed would have been if they managed to somehow reverse engineer it and mass produce it.

Was it a normal weapon, they very well might have been able to do it, but since this was a weapon enhanced by God to have unlimited ammo, I'm not so sure he would have been able to do anything.

The Shinobi bowed slightly to me, before turning to Yahiko, reporting, "We have finished cleaning the battlefield. We have also received word of several delegations being sent from the Five Great Hidden Villages."

I looked at the Ame Orphans in surprise, asking, "How long have I been out?"

Yahiko replied, thoughtfully, "About three hours," he looked back at the Shinobi, and said, "Thank you for your hard work. You should go rest."

The Shinobi grinned, pumping his fist onto his chest as he replied, "After years of effort, we have finally delivered our home from Hanzo. How could I find any sleep?"

Yahiko, Nagato and Konan all smiled at this, and nodded as the Shinobi walked away. Mifune, who was still here, looked a little more solemn however as he warned, "The villages' men will surely be sent here to congratulate you, but they surely will want you to take a side. You should be careful."

The happy expressions of the Ame Orphans quickly faded away, except for Yahiko who said, "Actually, that might be the opportunity we were waiting for."

We all looked at him, curious about what he meant.

Yahiko explained, "We are going to have delegations from each of the warring countries. Moreover, if their aim really is to seek for an alliance, they should be rather influential. Besides, the war has been slowing down recently, so this could be the opportunity to end the war."

He looked at Mifune, and added, "Besides, with you here, it would only add to our credibility."