End of a Mission, Start of Another

"Hello there! How y'all doin'" Shiki greeted everyone in the room while still holding Haruna in his arms.

He gently put Haruna down and eyed both the last remaining brother of the three usurpers, as well as all the traitorous officials that made his usurpation not only possible but quite easy.

"If you're here . . . Then that must mean my two incompetent little brothers have failed their task." Ruiga said.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you want to scold them so I'll reunite all you brothers soon enough . . . In hell." Shiki retorted.

'Well, in truth, all of your souls will become fuel for my jutsu so not even in hell you'll be able to reunite." Shiki added in his mind.

"Oh? Do you think I'll fall as easily as my foolish brothers?" Ruiga asked with mocking arrogance.

"I know you're much stronger than them but . . ." Shiki started.

"But?" Ruiga inquired dismissively.

"Even if you're a slightly bigger ant that your brothers, in the end, you're still nothing but an ant." Shiki said.

"Huh!?" Ruiga retorted threateningly.

"Then let's put that theory of yours to the test." He said as he prepared to attack.

Shiki merely replied.

"Omae wa mo shindeiru . . ."

"NANI!?"

As soon as he said this, blood started coming out of all of Ruiga's orifices. His mouth, ears, eyes, even his ass and cock started leaking blood as he fell down dead as dead can be.

But that was not all. As Ruiga was mysteriously breaking down and dying, so did all the traitorous officials became afflicted with the sma symptoms before dying a painful death.

Haruna just perplexedly looked at Shiki. HIs way of being, his words had changed her. Before, such a macabre showing would terrify and disgust her perhaps but now, she could only be in awe at the power of the man who held not only her soul, but also her heart . . .

Truth be told, this was Shiki's use of his ability to refine all kinds of medicine inside his body but in an offensive capacity.

The Kodo clan of the Land of Medicine innately possessed this ability and Shiki had stolen it during his first trip the their home. As his own body was made increasingly more powerful by means of treasures, training, jutsu and nature energy, this ability evolved as well.

At this moment in time, Shiki's medicine company had already received fame and accolades throughout the whole continent and even beyond.

The medicines produced from his body were truly miraculous and without compare so even the five great nations had been forced to make business with him, even if they knew he was currently based in Konoha, or risk falling behind their rival nations.

This was Shiki's first time using it in a direct confrontation and it worked like a charm. Now that all of the traitors were dead, nearly the entire population of the Land of Vegetables were supporters of princess Haruna so she would take office without any trouble while Shiki would get yet another country under his complete control.

After Haruna officially took up the position, Mugetsu would move in and spread its technology and trading, turning this once rather poor land into a prosperous and powerful nation, unafraid of outside pressure.

Other surrounding nations would not take kindly to this and so, with a few machinations, starting a few wars with the small nations that already saw the Land of Vegetables as target, would be easy enough.

Of course, with Mugetsu's backing, the forces of the Land of Vegetables would absolutely steamroll its rival nations and take over their territory. Thus, Shiki's holdings expanded as well. He had absolutely no intention of letting Haruna follow in her father's footsteps as a ruler.

After making sure Haruna was set up perfectly and the proper channels had been set up in the Land of Vegetables for Mugetsu to properly expand in it, Shiki bestowed the enhancement procedure onto Haruna which only served to further cement her feelings of undying loyalty and adoration for him.

Beyond that though, Shiki started the preparations for his last mission before he dedicated himself to his own personal matters and Mugetsu.

This particular mission however, was to be done before it actually becomes an official mission however. It pertained to the heiress of the Kurama clan, Kurama Yakumo.

The girl was born with a powerful genjutsu based kekkei genkai that revealed itself in some members of her clan. It made her genjutsu so realistic, it could trick one's body and consciousness so thoroughly that any wounds suffered from the illusion would also manifest on their actual body.

Unfortunately, such power came at a cost and it, along with the pressure she had received from her clan's expectations and views of her, had led to the birth of an alternate personality that embodied all of Yakumo's perverted desires and impulses, it was named Id.

Due to that very fact, Yakumo was kept under tight surveillance by Konoha from several years back until this very day.

Soon, she would break out as per the original series and, if things had remained the same, Kurenai, along with the help of Naruto and a few others would save Yakumo and help her destroy Id.

Shiki however, had other plans. He had been looking for a good enough excuse for the Reaper to break relations with Konoha and become a free agent and now, this matter would do nicely.

The Reaper would kidnap Kurama Yakumo away and be deemed as a criminal nukenin by the village as a result. After that, he would train Yakumo and make her into a cold blooded killer in his service.

It should be an easy enough matter to carry out for the first part at least. As for bringing Yakumo around to his way of doing things . . . Well, Shiki had his ways . . .

First though, he needed to set up things with Tsunade and since the one in charge was currently a soul clone version, communication was both quick and easy soo soon, everything was set up for the play to start.

In the dead of night, in a secluded peak near the bustling Konoha but far enough not to be bothered, was Kurama Yakumo's designated residence where she, along with several guards, researchers and medical staff lived and studied her "condition.

In the guise of the Reaper, Shiki had far less reservations on the power he could use, now that he would break away from Konoha with that identity at least, even less so.

Using an upgraded version of the Nara Shadow Manipulation Jutsu, he took control of all shadows within the residence as they rose to silently kill everyone inside without mercy.

Only a single perimeter guard that was part of Konoha's Anbu had been purposely let go alive with the man himself only thinking he had lucked out of course.

After all, Shiki could not break away from Konoha if he did all of this perfectly and left no witnesses. With that done, he silently went to Yakumo's room and, without even waking her up, took her away as he teleported to his desert fortress using the power of his Mangekyo Sharingan.

He placed her in an enhancement chamber that could monitor her situation and help of restrain her as necessary and them used his Yominohana genjutsu to delve deep into her mind.

Shiki's plan was to let the young girl face her traumas and let them be erased in the most brutal of way by Shiki, leaving his existence and power deeply imprinted in her very core and earning himself a subordinate and maybe lover with undying loyalty and faith in his every decision.

Deep within the girl's mind, Shiki found Yakumo's consciousness and called out ot her.

"Hello Yakumo."

Her consciousness stirred and even with some confusion, she responded.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

Shiki chuckled.

"I'm known to the world as the Reaper, as for how I know your name . . . It's because I value your talent and learned more of you to prepare for our meeting today."

Despite being very confused about the current situation and the nature of the stranger before her, Yakuma was still quite happy that her talent was appreciated by someone.

Before she spoke again, Shiki once again talked.

"Why don't you look around and try to guess where we are." Shiki suggested.

Still confused, Yakumo looked around. For some reason, she hadn't noticed until now that both she and the stranger talking to her were floating in a strange space but, after some reflection, the answer of where they were came very naturally to her.

"This is my mind . . ." She whispered.

"Indeed."

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.