back in Kumogakure

Around noon the next day Samui wakes up, finding herself on top of a cliff, under a makeshift roof.

"Where am I?" She asks quietly, noticing the bandages around her stomach, along with a stinging sensation from her side.

"Oh, hey. You're finally awake. I'll go get Jiang." Hana greets the woman warmly and leaves to fetch him.

"Hey. Samui, how're you feeling?" Jiang asks the blonde woman.

"Well, I don't really remember what happened. But my side hurts." Samui informs him.

"You got hit with a kunai. Hana treated your wound after I brought you here." He answers, motioning to the brunette woman who gives Samui a wave.

"Who were those men going after you? And what are you even doing at Konoha's borders?" He asks.

"They were Otonins. We had some clashes with Otonins in the past months and I was sent to check out their military strength and who their leader is." Samui explains.

"Orochimaru. He's the leader of Otogakure." Jiang informs her.

"Hmm. Why are you here? And since when are you a Konoha nin?" Samui asks.

"We're on a mission to see why Kumo nins were on our border, guess that one's explained now. And I've been a Konoha nin for... a month I think?" He answers.

"What happened to your traveling?" Samui asks, sitting up against a rock.

"Oh, I'm still going to continue that, but once I've been where I needed to go I'm going to settle down in Konoha. I've found a lot of friends there." He answers.

"You know A also wanted you to come back right?" Samui asks disappointed.

"He never said anything... but anyways with how things went when I left, I'm not sure if I would have wanted to return." He tells her.

"Uhm, I hate to break up the reunion, but don't you think we should get Samui to her home and a hospital? I did the best I could in the field, but there is still a possibility of infection or poison." Hana says.

"Right. I guess since our mission is done, we were going to go visit Kumo anyways." Jiang agrees.

"Right. You get your friend ready for travel then while I seal up our stuff." Hana tells him, fetching her scroll and goes around their camp, sealing back the equipment.

"Alright. Come on Samui. Hey, this is bringing back memories huh?" He asks her while helping the hurt kunoichi on his back.

"Right. Yeah, guess it does." She agrees, putting her arms around his neck with a smile.

"I'm ready to go. Are you OK Samui?" Hana asks.

"Yeah. Let's go." Samui replies.

The three plus three nin dogs then make their way to Kumo.

"So, you two know each other well?" Hana asks curiously, seeing the happy smile on the Kumo girl on Jiang's back.

"Yeah, I guess. Her sensei is the Raikage's brother and the brothers took me in and trained me so we met often." Jiang answers.

"Come on, you're being shy. He saved me and my team." Samui informs the Inuzuka.

"Sounds like Jiang. He saved Konoha when we were attacked. Actually, the one attacking was Orochimaru and his Oto nins for the most part." Hana informs Samui.

"Ever the hero I see. I bet you have girls fawning over you all over the place." Samui teases him, getting met by an awkward silence.

"Oh, are you two dating?" Samui asks.

"Not really, listen that subject is difficult to explain, let's just get you to Kumo." Jiang says.

A few hours later Jiang, Samui, Hana and her dogs arrive at the Kumo gates.

"Well if you look at that. The cat boy is back. And he brought company?" Darui says, keeping guard at the gate.

"Hey Darui. Can we enter? Samui should get to the hospital and afterwards I promise Hana and I will go see A right away." Jiang says.

"Uhh, let's go. But I have to keep watch over you. Technically you're enemy ninjas afterall." Darui says, waving over a replacement while he leads them inside the village.

After the group dropped off Samui at the hospital the three head to the Raikage's office, where Hana orders her dogs to wait outside.

Before they reach the double doors to the office however a door comes flying at them, Darui dodging it with ease while Jiang catches it with one hand, stopping it before it can hit him or Hana.

"Raikage." Darui greets his leader, entering the office.

"A. Still as cooped up as ever I see." Jiang says, stepping into the room with Hana.

"J! Finally, you're back." The muscular, brown skinned man shouts excited.

"Just visiting." Jiang tells him.

"Jiang nd his Konoha companion found Samui and brought her back." Darui reports.

"It's been a while. Welcome back Jiang." A soft, female voice says out of the corner of the room.

"Mabui." He says, shocked to see her there and freezes up for a moment.

"Raikage-sama. It's an honor to meet you." Hana greets the Kumo leader respectfully.

"Hmm Konoha. What are you doing bringing a Konoha nin with you?" A asks surprised.

"Well..." Jiang smirks, presenting his hitae ate, which hangs from his sash around his waist.

"Really? And I was hoping B'd have a lariat partner in the future." A says.

"Anyways, we were on a mission to find out why Kumo nin's have been spotted on Konoha soil, but Samui cleared that up, she traveled to Oto over Konoha for her mission." Jiang answers.

"I see. Thanks for bringing her here. So, are you going to stay?" A asks.

"I was hoping to stick around a few days. There was a favor I actually asked of Darui, but he hadn't responded yet." Jiang answers.

"Well, it's fine with me. I don't think you will cause problems and you..." A says.

"My name's Hana Inuzuka." Hana answers.

"OK. Well as a friend of Jiang's I'm trusting you won't cause any trouble either." A says.

"Of course not Raikage. Jiang only wanted to visit some friends and I'm content with getting to see your beautiful village." Hana replies.

"Haha. I like her J." A tells Jiang, patting his back.

"Oh, I see you have taken my advice and worked on your Taijutsu. Though you still have those small muscles." The Raikage says.

"Nit everyone wants to be confused for a bodybuilder A." Jiang tells him.

"Well, with that attitude you wouldn't have fit in in Kumogakure anyways." A tells him laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see you around A. By the way where is B?" Jiang says.

"Composing somewhere. Haven't seen my brother in two weeks." A answers.

"Well OK. Darui are you coming? I want to talk to you." Jiang says.

"It's fine. I don't need you here." A tells the shinobi.

"Fine. Hah come on then. Let's get you settled in a hotel and on the way you can tell me what this is about." Darui says, leaving with Jiang and Hana.

"He didn't seem happy to see me." Mabui says sadly.

"Me neither, so don't worry about it too much. Plus you knew he'd be going to move on." A tells his secretary.

"I guess." Mabui agrees quietly.

"So you want me to help you seal chakra into your weapon and your arm." Darui asks, while leading the two nins and Hana's dogs to one of Kumo's hotels.

"Yeah. Can you help me?" Jiang asks.

"Well, if A allows it I can give you the seal array for my black lightning. How to use that for your purposes you'll have to figure out yourself." Darui tells him with a shrugs.

"Thanks. That's all I'm asking." Jiang thanks the man, patting his shoulder.

"We're here. Enjoy your stay you two and Jiang. Don't throw half the village into chaos again?" Darui requests.

"I'll do my best." Jiang laughs.

He and Hana then check into a hotel room and sleep the rest of the day until next morning.

"So, are you going to show me around?" Hana asks Jiang excited when they exit the hotel around 10am.

"Sure, why not. I'll need to wait a couple days for Darui's answer anyways." He says, stepping into the streets in front of the hotel.

"Well look at that. Samui was right. To think you were going to show your face around here again." Karui says, sitting on a bench near the hotel with Samui and Omoi.

"Karui, Omoi. Nice to see you too. This is Hana Inuzuka. Hana these are Samui's teammates." Jiang introduces them.

"Nice to meet you." Hana greets them with a nod.

"So, out of the hospital already?" Jiang asks, looking at Samui.

"Yes. Hana-san did a good job stitching me up and as thanks I'd like to treat you two to breakfast." Samui replies.

"Thanks, that's not necessary though." Hana thanks the team.

"I insist." Samui says, taking Hana's arm and pulls her along.

"So, ia she your girlfriend?" Omoi asks Jiang.

"No." He answers, looking at his lollipop sucking friend curiously.

The group then shares a breakfast and some light conversation, before Jiang gets called away by Darui and Samui promises that she and her team will keep Hana company.

"Darui told me about your request. And I will grant it, on one condition." A says.

"What's that?" Jiang asks.

"I want you to consider marrying a girl from Kumogakure." A says.

"Why?" Jiang asks.

"Because I want there to be a strong bond between you and Kumo, even if you stay a Konoha nin." A tells him.

"Hmm. Then there is something you'll want to know. I'm going to marry multiple women, Konoha wants me to create a new clan and this is one of the conditions." Jiang informs him, shocking Mabui who is in the room as well.

"And you're going through with that?" A asks.

"I wasn't at first, but I was convinced otherwise, so yeah." He answers.

"Well that's great. My condition will stay the same. So, if you decide to marry a Kumo girl, I will give you the seal formular." A offers.

"Very well. I will need to talk to the Hokage about this though." Jiang says.

"OK. When can I expect you back?" A asks.

"Oh, uhm I'll only be gone a few hours. But first I'll go check on Hana. Let' meet again tomorrow morning when I give you my decision." Jiang suggests.

"Agreed. You know, if you didn't have to leave for your travels, I would have really liked to call you my little brother." A says with a grin.

"Well, if I didn't leave then that's all I would be for a long time. Now I could at least get a draw if we were to fight." Jiang tells him.

"Confident, are we?" A asks.

"Well I have gotten stronger since I left." Jiang says, giving the Raikage a wink and leaves, A jumping out of his chair and punching his door, sending it flying at Jiang's head.

"Man, you still impress me with that accuracy." Jiang grumbles, tossing the now dented door back to the Raikage who catches it like it's a ball.

"Now, where could Hana be." Jiang mumbles to himself and spends most of the rest of the day looking for Samui and her team, meeting some old friends on the way. When it's evening he finally finds them in a bar, getting drunk.

"Hey guys. Where are Samui and Hana?" Jiang asks Omoi and Karui, with Omoi almost passed out on the table while Karui is tipsy.

"Bar. I think" Karui mumbles, pointing at the bar, where behind a group of four guys he can make out Samui and Hana sitting at the bar.

"Hey guys. I think we should head home now." Jiang says, stepping through the four men, joining his two friends.

"Relax, they are having a good time with us." One of the men says cockily.

"Ohh, cat boy!" Hana says cheerfully, hugging Jiang being pretty drunk.

"Cat boy!" Samui shouts as well, flinging her arms around him as well.

"Come on, how about you spend some time with a real man?" One of the four guys asks, grabbing Samui's waist, while another one gropes Hana's ass.

"Noo. Let me hug kitty." Samui slurrs.

"I'm giving you four one chance to leave before you'll have to be dragged out on a gurney." Jiang tells the men threateningly.

"We're not afraid of some Konoha punk." Is the reply and the one holding Samui's waist wants to grope her large bosom, only for his hand to be twisted backwards, broken.

"Ahhh!" The man screams.

"Never anger kitty." Samui slurrs with a smile, Jiang handing her Hana. The three other men draw a kunai and want to kill Jiang, but Jiang is covered in his lightning cloak and stabs them with their own kunai in the leg, before knocking all of them out with a roundhouse kick to the face, sending them crashing into a few chairs.

"Come on girls. Let's get you to bed." Jiang says, putting the drunken girls over his shoulders, with them cheering happily.

"Hey, what makes you think we'll let you leave after pulling a stunt like that?" One of the Kumo nins in the bar asks angrily.

"Ugh, I really don't want to deal with more of you." Jiang says and lets down Samui, who hugs him and Jiang performs the kuchiyose jutsu one handed, calling Kai, his muscular cougar towering over everyone in the bar.

"Wait... Cat summon? You're Jiang?" Another kumo nin asks in realization.

"Let him leave everyone. He's like the Raikage's adoptive son." Another ninja warns them and the few guys ready to attack him sit back down.

"Come on Kai." Jiang says, slinging Samui back over his shoulder while he leaves, Samui playing with his long ponytail.

"Can you watch over the two for a bit? I'm going to visit Konoha in a bit." Jiang says.

"Sure." Kai answers.

"Good. Now here we are. Triplets. This is Kai, my friend. He'll protect Samui and Hana." Jiang informs the three dogs in the room, who understand to some degree and lie back down.

"Alright. I'll probably be back in an hour or so." Jiang informs Kai, hanging a copy of the summoning contract around his wide neck.

"Alright." Kai says, lying down at the foot of the bed where Jiang put Hana and Samui, covering both with a blanket while they are wrapped in each other's arms.

Jiang then summons himself to the cat plane.

Hey Neko. I'm just traveling through, could you get Tamare to summon me to Konoha?" He asks.

"Sure." The cat yawns, rubbing over its face and jumps down from his usual spot, leaving to inform the cougar of the request.

A few minutes later Jiang appears in front of Ino and her cougar parter.

"Hey." Jiang greets his girlfriend, giving her a kiss.

"Hi. What's up with summoning yourself to Konoha?" Ino asks, hugging him.

"Right. I actually have to meet with Tsunade. But come on it concerns you too." He says, leaving his apartment with Ino, who stayed over while he's there and Anko's on a mission.

A couple minutes later Jiang and Ino are standing in the Hokage office.

"So let me get this right? The Raikage wants you to marry a Komugakure kunoichi?" Tsunade asks.

"Yeah." He replies.

"And you want to agree?" Tsunade asks.

"I don't know. I mean I have some friends there I could see myself loving... but this is will affect Konoha as well probably. And I don't know what Ino's thinking about this." Jiang says, looking at the young blonde.

"Well from Konoha's standpoint a bond through marriage generally has many advantages." Tsunade tells him.

"I don't know what to tell you to be honest. I don't know the women in Kumo, but I know you and if you really do like those women, then I will support your decision." Ino tells him, pecking his cheek and hugs him.

"OK. Well, now that that's settled I'll leave. Thanks for the talk Tsunade." Jiang says, leaving with Ino, pulling her with him.

"You really are OK with this?" Jiang asks Ino once they are out of the hokage tower.

"Yes. I really am. I know from your memories that you do have someone you truly love there. And I am happy you want my agreement." Ino says, kissing him lovingly.

"There also is something else." Jiang tells her, on their way back to his apartment.

"What?" Ino asks, leaning into his shoulder.

"On the mission something happened." He tells her.

"What did you do?" She asks chuckling.

"Nothing. Really, but Hana came onto me." Jiang replies.

"She did huh?" Ino asks.

"Yeah. Apparently Anko told some stories and Hana developed a crush on me." Jiang informs her.

"Well I like Hana. I know her from back in the academy days. So if you want to go out with her too, I don't really think it makes much of a difference. You seem to be drawing in girls from all over. Our family will really be big." Ino says in a mix of amusement and worry.

"Ino if you're not OK with this, then just tell me. I love you and want you to be happy." Jiang says, wrapping her up in his arms, kissing her while carrying her in his apartment.

"I know sweetheart. And I want you to be happy too. And while I believe you when you tell me that you'd be OK with just me, I know that you'll be happier with other girls too."

"I just know that I love you and don't want you to get hurt." He says honestly.

"I know. Now believe me. I'm OK, so go and get yourself your Kumo girl." She tells him, kissing him longingly while wrapping their arms around each other.

"OK. I'll see you in a few days. Can you tell Anko when she's back from her mission?" Jiang asks.

"Yeah. No problem." Ino says with a soft smile.

"Thanks. You really are the best." Jiang tells Ino, brushing through her hair.

"I know. So you better take me out on a fancy date when you're back." Ino tells him with a smirk.

"I promise." He says, waving and disappears in a puff, appearing in his kumo hotel next to Kai, taking back his version of the summoning scroll and seals it in his arm.

"Thanks Kai. Did anything happen while I was gone?" Jiang asks, scratching the cougar's chin.

"Only that." Kai says, pointing his paw to a naked Samui clinging to an equally naked Hana who drools slightly.

"Hah, anyways thanks buddy. Here, and here's a piece for your sister too." Jiang says, handing him two pieces of meat infused with his chakra.

"Thank you master. I'll take my leave now. And don't do something you'll regret." The cougar tells him.

"Yeah yeah." Jiang sighs, lying down on the floor looking up at the ceiling.

"Who'll I have to marry though?" Jiang sighs, thinking about the only three girls he'd even consider. Samui, Mabui and Yugiito.

"Hah, it'll be a long day tomorrow." He groans, already predicting that A will be asking all of his kunoichi if they want to marry Jiang.