As Kahyo was still in the middle or her romantic delusions, Shiki's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"There's only one place in the fortress left, the labs." He said.
"Oh! Okay." Kahyo simply answered, her mind still filled with her previous thoughts.
Shiki's next words however, definitely earned her full attention.
"Working there, are the last few core members of Mugetsu that are currently on base. The vice leader and my first wife included." He nonchalantly informed.
Kahyo immediately froze.
'T-T-T-T-THE MAIN WIFE!?' She shouted in her mind.
Suddenly, Kahyo was more nervous than ever.
Shiki just chuckled at her plight and then calmed her.
"Don't worry, she doesn't bite, not you anyways." He said remembering how his love liked biting him when things got hot enough.
"Y-Yes my lord-" Kahyo stutteringly acknowledged, realizing the hidden meaning in Shiki's words.
A few moments later, the two entered the labs and, after a chill meeting with Orochimaru and kabuto, the former having somewhat creeped out Kahyo, the two finally went to see "Sup, Shizu-nee, Tsuna-nee!" Shiki greeted.
"Shiki! What bring you here?" Shizune asked in turn.
"Probably showing his new girl around." Tsunade said with a raised eyebrow.
"Eh?" Shizune said before fixing her stare on Kahyo that came behind Shiki.
"Is that true?" She asked.
Kahyo just wanted to bury herself on the spot but Shiki, knowing the Tsunade was just fooling around, was pretty chill about it.
"What if I said that was exactly the case?" He teasingly said.
Shizune and Kahyo both blushed. Shizune just lightly, having slowly built up resistance towards Shiki's roguish ways for kahyo on the other hand, she had no such ability and it looked like steam would start coming out of her any second now.
"Just relax Kahyo. I'm only joking." Shiki said as he patted her head.
"Oh . . ." She responded, half relieved, half disappointed by his words.
Shiki the got closer to her hear and whispered.
"Unless of course, that's exactly what you want~" He teased with a seductive tone.
Extremely flustered once more, even more than before, Kahyo didn't know what to do or even think anymore at this point.
"Did you just come here to flirt with our newest member?" Tsunade asked with a little annoyance.
"Aw! No need to get jealous beautiful." Shiki said before kissing Tsunade.
"I'm not, just irritated. But if getting jealous gives me extra benefits . . . I might have to reconsider~" Tsunade said, doing it with a sultry tone for the last part.
"Hehehe~" Shiki complicitly laughed.
Shizune was less than pleased seeing Shiki flirt with one woman after another while leaving her out to dry, something he noticed.
As such, he immediately spun around in place and took the unsatisfied Shizune into his arms, presenting her with a deep kiss.
"Better~?" He teasingly asked.
With a slight blush on her face, Shizune answered.
"Better."
Kahyo was unsure of what to do. Todays was filled with far too many unexpected things for her brain to handle all at once.
Shiki just led her to her new quarters and told her to rest, informing her that her trainer would be around tomorrow so as to inform her of her new duties and get her up to standards.
Said trainer would be Haku, as someone Kahyo already knew and a fellow Ice Style user, Shiki determined she would be the most appropriate.
With Kahyo settled in, Shiki made a very short trip to a place near Takigakure to meet with his sleeper agent.
Waiting for him, was a boy with ink black eyes and long, dark brown hair. He wore light yellow kimono jacket and light grey pants with a red scarf around his neck and a turquoise haori. His hair being tied into a low ponytail.
This was Shibuki, the current leader of Takigakure, who Shiki had met soon after Rookie Nine graduated from the academy.
At that time, Shiki had put Shibuki under genjutsu to find out some info about his village's Hero Water but the genjutsu remained within his mind even afterwards.
It allowed Shiki to remotely activate it once ore and have Shibuki come over to this location in total secrecy.
In order to be sure that his hold on the boy would not be broken, Shiki used Kotoamatsukami on him before dispelling his original genjutsu that was cruder and more easily detectable.
Shiki then made sure to leave Shibuki with orders to set up relations with Mugetsu, slowly in order to avoid suspicion but, in time, the organization's hold on the village and its country would become as absolute as the one it held over the rest of its territories.
With that taken care of, Shiki made his way back to Kusagakure, teleporting there with his Flying Raijin Jutsu and then moving to the meeting place the Kusakage had arranged.
In the short period of time Shiki was a away, the kusakage had managed to convince the other elders to take Shiki's deal. The fact that many merchants and civilian officials wished to establish ties with the various organizations and companies that Mugetsu controlled, only made this easier.
There were three people in the meeting room waiting for Shiki to arrive. The Kusakage, the most senior elder of the village council, and a white haired girl, possibly in her mid to late teens.
"Welcome Reaper. Please, have a seat." The Kusakage greeted.
"Hmm, I shall." Shiki replied before sitting down.
"Have considered my offer?" He asked.
"Yes. After careful deliberation, we have decided to accept your offer." The Kusakage answered.
"Excellent. I recognize the elder but who is this girl?" Shiki then asked.
He was pretty sure who she was from the Naruto Blood Prison movie, even if she looked younger than she was then but he was not quite sure why she was at the meeting.
"She is my granddaughter and the liaison that we selected to assist you." The elder spoke.
"Elder Ryuzan is our most esteemed council member and his granddaughter Ryuzetsu is one of our most talented Kunoichi and a member of our Anbu." The Kusakage explained.
"I see. But I sense she has something of a . . . Personal, stake in this particular mission." Shiki commented.
"That's . . ." The elder was not quite sure what to say.
"It's fine elder. If we are to work together from now on, trust and clarity is a must." Ryuzetsu stoically said.
'Hmm . . . She doesn't seem awfully close with her grandfather . . .' Shiki pondered.
"A childhood friend of mine, Muku, was offered to the Box, that's my personal stake." The girl explained.
"Muku? The son of Mui, the warden?" Shiki asked, despite already knowing it.
"Yes." Ryuzetsu confirmed.
'Hehehe . . . Now this, is something I can use to bring her over to my side rather than Kusagakure.' Shiki plotted.
"Well then, come with me Ryuzetsu, we've much to discuss about our mission and future cooperation." Shiki declared.
"I will take my leave Kusakage, elder Ryuzan." He greeted before leaving the building, Ryuzetsu following behind him.
After they had left civilization behind, Shiki stopped and held out his hand to Ryuzetsu.
"Grab my hand, I'll take you to one of our safehouses so we can discuss things at length." He said.
Ryuzetsu was slightly confused at why she needed to hold his hand to go anywhere but she did it anyway. The Reaper didn't striker as someone who took useless actions, at least not yet.
The moment the Kunoichi held Shiki's hand, they both disappeared in a black flash of light.
"This was a spacetime ninjutsu." Ryuzetsu commented.
"It was." Shiki replied.
"Sit, I have a proposal for you before we begin our mission." He said.
"A proposal?" She questioned with suspicion.
"Indeed. If you choose to reject it, Mugetsu's relationship with your village will go down the foreseen path, as will our professional relationship." Shiki started.
"And if I accept?" Ryuzetsu inquired.
"Then there will be much to be gained both for your village and Mugetsu but mainly for you and me." Shiki clarified.
"Well, since I can refuse, I don't see why I shouldn't at least listen to it." Ryuzetsu shrugged.
"A fair choice." Shiki said as he pulled out a Soul Contract tag and explained its use.
After a few moments of deliberation, Ryuzetsu decided to trust him and begin their talks with the tag in place.
"So, now that all assurances and whatnot are in place, what is your so called offer?" She inquired.
"Quite simple really. I am offering you the chance to join Mugetsu, not as an associate but as a core member." Shiki said.
Ryuzetsu just eyed him with suspicion.
"And how will this benefit me and my village? In fact, how will this benefit you in particular?"
The kunoichi was not quite sure what big benefit it would bring him if she joined up. Of course, she had no idea of Shiki's philandering ways and how he had already set his sights on her. Besides, she was a skilled kunoichi with a rare kekkei genkai to boot.
Shiki then dropped the biggest bait first for shock value.
"How would you like to see Muku again?"
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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.