New Core Member

Before he set out to meet the soon to be promoted kunoichi, Shiki made a point to review the information he had on her.

Kahyo, as she was called, was a kunoichi with long, curly hair and beautiful features. A member of a clan that had been conquered in times past by Kirigakure, she possessed the Ice Style kekkei genkai.

Because of it, received extremely poor treatment and discrimination from other citizens and shinobi from the Land of Water, leading to a lot of discontent and resentment.

This was a situation shared by her brother Rahyo, who faced many of the same problems due to sharing his sister's gifts.

Due to this, the pair was very easy to recruit. Having an environment were they were valued and cared for, rather than feared and hated led to them developing a very strong sense of loyalty to Mugetsu and extreme gratitude to its leader that had supposedly singled them out from the crowd.

When the brother and sister heard that kahyo was to meet with the mysterious leader himself for a specipal assignment and promotion, they were both extremely excited.

Kahyo possessed an extremely valuable Ice Style jutsu called, Ice Style: Chains of Earthen Ice that made her a very good choice as the new warden of Hozuki Castle. A position she took in the original continuity a while after the Fourth Great Ninja War.

Ice Style: Chains of Earthen Ice, either through physical contact or remotely, caused ice particles to form on a target. If used on a living creature, thee target would freeze to death unless they coated themselves with chakra and dedicate all their energy to keeping themselves warm.

Should they use their chakra to perform any jutsu, they would start to rapidly freeze once more. The usefulness of Kahyo's jutsu in neutralising shinobi was on par with the Fire Style: Heavenly Prison utilized by the current warden of the Blood Prison, Mui.

After teleporting to Mugetsu's Land of Water HQ, Shiki called for both sibling to a meeting, one which they had been anticipating for a while now.

'We're finally meeting the leader!' They both excitedly though as they moved to the meeting room with purpose and a spring in their step.

After they arrived, the immediately greeted their previously unknown leader.

""Greetings my lord!"" They both said.

"Well met." Shiki responded before continuing.

"Please be seated, the is a matter for us to talk about." He said.

""Yes my lord!"" Both siblings said as they sat down.

"The world knows me as the Reaper, perhaps you have heard of me." Shiki continued.

"The Reaper? Your reputation precedes you my lord!" Kahyo exclaimed.

"Eh?" Rahyo was confused.

"Reaper-sama's skills are legendary, he was once a member of Konoha's Anbu with a perfect mission record, known for taking out many powerful shinobi." Kahyo explained.

"And how do you know this?" Rahyo asked.

"I always keep my info up to date when it comes to important events and people. You should really make more use of Mugetsu's information network." Kahyo advised her brother.

"Oh!" He simply replied.

Then, Shiki decided to break the conversation and move onto the matters he brought the siblings here for.

"Now then, I believe both of you know I personally picked you out for recruitment due to your special abilities yes?" Shiki asked.

""We do, my lord!"" Both siblings once again replied in tandem.

"Very good! I have a mission of critical importance and Kahyo, your abilities make you uniquely suited for a certain role that needs to be filled in the aftermath of this mission." Shiki explained.

"What is that Reaper-sama?" Kahyo asked, excited to be of use to her saviour who freed her from her deplorable life before her recruitment.

"You will be informed later." Shiki replied.

"As this is a very important job, you shall be promoted straight into a core member of Mugetsu, after you receive some extra training of course." He continued.

"Me, a core member!?" Kahyo asked with shock, never had she expected such a meteoric rise, it was very sudden too.

"Indeed!" Shiki calmly affirmed.

"Thank you Reaper-sama!" Kahyo profusely thanked him.

"It's what you deserve, your loyalty has been proven after all." Shiki complimented her, much to Kahyo's delight.

"As for Raihyo, a great upheaval will soon occur in the Land of Water, centered on Kirigakure. Your chances of promotion, lay there." He advised.

"Thank you Reaper-sama:" Rahyo replied.

"Good! Needless to say, the contents of this conversation shall never leave this room." Shiki commanded.

""Yes my lord!"" Both siblings responded.

"Right then, Kahyo hold my hand, we're leaving." Shiki said as he held out his hand.

"My lord?" Kahyo inquired with confusion and embarrassment, some delusions already forming in her still young mind.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Shiki asked.

"My apologies." Kahyo said as she blushingly took Shiki's hand, her older brother watching with a concealed grin of happiness.

"You may return to your duties Rahyo." Shiki commanded.

"By your command." He responded.

And so, Shiki teleported away in a black flash of light, with a blushing Kahyo in tow.

Right afterwards, already in Desert Fortress, Kahyo suddenly asked.

"What happened? Where are we?"

"We're at Mugetsu's secret Core Facility, the Desert Fortress." Shiki explained.

"As for how we got here, I teleported us both with my spacetime ninjutsu." He finished.

"Woah!" Kahyo was stupefied.

"First things first, we must get the enhancement procedure underway, and then you'll get the tour, we'll talk more after that's done." Shiki declared.

"Yes my lord." Kahyo answered.

Even though she was not quite sure what the enhancement procedure entailed, she seemed to be quite confident that Shiki would not harm her in any way.

With that, Shiki brought Kahyo to the enhancement chambers.

"Enter the chamber and relax, you won't feel a thing." Shiki said.

"Yes my lord." Kahyo acquiesced and entered that chamber which was then closed.

As the procedure was modified to include new upgrades and implement various advancements researched by Mugetsu, efforts were made to ensure a quick, efficient and most of all, safe process of enhancement.

In its current state, the subject was put in a medically induced coma, something which seemed to make the procedure much easier and help with the body's adaptation to the enhancements.

It took a few hours to make the full changes and make sure everything was done correctly and adaptation was seamless, after that, though, Kahyo was fully ready to go.

"So, how do you feel?" Shiki asked as the kunoichi came out of the chamber.

"I . . . I can't believe it . . ." She said in disbelief.

"I feel so much more powerful, so much better. Information of all the changes was imputed into my mind so I know everything but it's still hard to believe."

"Ha! Don't worry, you'll get to test all those upgrades in training later." Shiki explained.

"Now then, let's meet the rest of the crew, at least those who are not performing their duties off base." Shiki said as he took off his mask and cloak.

"Yes my lo-" Kahyo froze as Shiki took off his mask.

She was aware that core members knew the leader's identity but didn't thing she would be granted this honor so casually. What truly shocked her however, was how stunningly handsome and young looking her lord was.

'So . . . Beautiful . . .' She thought with a furious blush as she almost swooned.

"I'll take that look as a compliment." Shiki teased with a smug smile.

"Umh, I, uh . . ." Kahyo didn't know what to say.

"The mane is Shiki by the way, Uzumaki Shiki, now follow along, I'll introduce you to the rest." He said.

"Y-Yes my l-lord" Kahyo finally managed to get the words out as she hurriedly followed behind Shiki.

He led the kunoichi around the fortress, aweing her with its various features and introducing her to the various core members she didn't yet know.

As a high ranking fringe member that operated in the Land of Water, Kahyo had previously met two core members, Haku and Zabuza.

The latter performed a lot of missions in the area due to his familiarity with the social climate there and knowledge of the terrain. As for the former, she sometimes accompanied her father figure on his missions so Kahyo had interacted with her as well.

She had yet to meet any of the others though and was quite unsettled by the glares the females members seemed to throw at her.

"My lord?" Kahyo started.

"Yes?" Shiki replied.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not welcomed here?" The kunoichi asked.

"You mean the glares?" Shiki asked.

"Yes." Kahyo replied.

"Don't worry. They're just jealous that I'm going around with you, nothing more." Shiki explained.

"Jealous?" Kahyo asked with confusion.

"Yep. They are my lovers and are worried you'll also take a spot at my side." He clarified.

Kahyo immediately panicked. Her entire face lit up into a full blush as she panickedly thought.

'Those girls are Shiki-sama's lovers!? I'm being seen as a rival!? Does this mean I can be one of his lovers as well!?'

Clearly, Kahyo's thoughts were moving along the line the girls feared they would but alas, Shiki had no interest in stopping this line of thought.

After all, such a delicious treat. How could he bear to refuse?

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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.