Timeskip end.

4 MONTH LATER (7 MONTHS INTO THE TIMESKIP)

Sara was standing in front of her newly built Palace, Rōran was almost rebuilt, or at least, all the rubble was gone.

The Initiates and Acolytes were a Watcher-sent blessing, their Ninjutsu had sped up the demolition and excavation of Rōran immensely. Now there were enough residential buildings for every one in the caravan, the farms were producing foodstuff, and the reconstruction of the towers was about to start.

She had mixed feelings about the towers, they were constructed by her mother on the advice of Mukade, made for the sole purpose of spreading his puppets and control.

But Yatagarasu made the good point that just because the Ryūmyaku and the towers had been used for evil, it didn't mean they always had to be used for such purposes.

Once the towers were finished and the Ryūmyaku was unsealed, no one will be able to use Rōran as a battlefield again, even if using it made Sara feel dirty, her people always came first, now and forever.

"Your Highness." A young Initiate approached her. "The people are assembled, they are ready for your words."

Sara nodded with a grateful smile towards him. She walked up the wooden platform assembled for this very occasion.

The entire population of Rōran stood in front of her, looking at her expectantly.

"MY PEOPLE!" Her voice rang through the air. "AFTER MONTHS OF WORK, I CAN SAY WITH PRIDE THAT OUR HOME HAS BEEN REBORN!"

She had more to say, but the people in front of her drowned out any other word she might have said with their cheers.

She smiled.

***

Amikiri was standing on Shion's shoulder, in her crow form, of course.

They were in the middle of a meeting with the Daimyo, the nicest thing Amikiri could say about him was that he did not make The Land of Demons worse.

Which, from the memories of her Creator, was actually quite an accomplishment, to leave the country in the hands of the people and be content with a lavish lifestyle was apparently uncommon among rulers.

Of course, he had to break the streak of not caring about things by suddenly getting paranoid at the rise of the Order in this land.

"Are you sure that this 'Order' is not a threat?" He questioned nervously. "What about those Acolytes? They are clearly Shinobi in disguise."

Shion let out a quiet sigh, Amikiri was more resistant to his insane prattling, this was the third time he had asked the same question with different wording.

"As I said before, Lord Tashio." Shion started calmly. "While there is no doubt the Acolytes are powerful, they are clearly devoted to peace, so as long as we do not threaten them, they will not harm us."

"Are you sure?" Tashio insisted again. "They must be planning something!"

Shion resisted the urge to strangle the Daimyo.

"Yes, I'm sure." She responded as politely as she could manage. "But, tell me, Lord Tashio, why exactly do you mistrust the Order this much? They have not harmed a single person in The Land of Demons."

Tashio hesitated for a second before answering. "Well... Lord Katsu approached me recently with his concerns about their growth..."

Amikiri misliked this whole situation, Wave was much better run than this. Was all of this really started because another noble disliked that the common folk were flocking to a religion?

"Lord Tashio," Shion interrupted Amikiri's thoughts. "The last time you listened to Lord Katsu, it ended up with your marriage being nearly destroyed."

The Daimyo winced at that statement, and wisely didn't bring it up again.

"You might be looking at the wrong way, if the Order becomes more prevalent, we could get the Land of Water's famous Tekkadon easier, I heard that you have had some trouble..."

Amikiri let the conversation fade into the background again, she was only here due to the invitation Shion received mentioning the Order, but it seems Shion had this well in hand, why the child in the room was the most mature human here she did not know.

If she was very optimistic, she could even say this was a good sign, if the Land of Demons branch of the Order was big enough to make some nobles nervous, then they were clearly doing something right.

***

5 MONTHS LATER (1 YEAR INTO THE TIMESKIP)

Sasuke was walking along dark corridors of Otogakure, he had been summoned by Orochimaru himself.

He ignored the faint stench of blood in the air, it was common in Otogakure, it did not matter.

He arrived at his destination, knocking twice before being told to enter.

Orochimaru looked up from the scrolls scattered across his desk. Snakes holding some of them up for him, his arms still blackened and useless.

"Sasuke, welcome." He spoke with a pleased smile. "You have grown quite strong."

"What did you call me here for?" He questioned bluntly, he disliked interacting with Orochimaru if he could avoid it.

"How impatient." The man tutted. "I remember you went to Wave, yes?"

"Yes." Sasuke responded curtly. If Orochimaru wanted something, he should just get to the point, he was not in the mood for Orochimaru's games.

"Did you meet any of the order's members while there?" The question was innocent sounding, but Sasuke knew better.

He also knew better than to lie or dodge the question, he had learned the hard way how poor of an idea that was.

"No, I did not, besides the client's family and one encounter in the forest, I did not interact with anyone."

Orochimaru let out a soft hum.

"Ah, yes, I remember the reports, the old fool was quite shaken by the fact that little Naruto was told about his legacy, he almost called for an ANBU squad to look for that man." He muttered softly.

Sasuke ignored the revelation that apparently Naruto was related to the people the burned man mentioned, it did not matter.

"No matter, Kabuto has delivered some interesting reports to me, about The Land of Waves, some of the members of the new religion in that land have some interesting abilities." Orochimaru commented idly. "Abilities that don't use Chakra."

Sasuke had an inkling of what Orochimaru was planning.

"And since my last outpost in Wave has been out of contact for more than a year, you will be leading an expedition to Wave, capture any Order members you can find, I want to research their abilities."

And there it was, although this was the first time he was being sent out this far away, normally any 'tasks' Orochimaru sent him on did not leave the Land of Sound.

But Sasuke would never make it easy for Orochimaru.

"Why should I?" He questioned coldly.

Orochimaru simply chuckled, with a short burst of hisses, a snake slithered from under his shirt.

It opened his mouth and a scroll was partially pushed out.

"You were working on modifying your Chidori, were you not?" Orochimaru's smile was poisonous.

Sasuke scowled, of course, Orochimaru knew he was stuck, that scroll likely contained information on Lightning Shape Manipulation, he been suspicious that his learning materials did not include information on that.

Orochimaru had deliberately kept it from him.

"I knew that would get your attention." The Sannin continued to smile. "In two days, you will lead two teams into Wave, capture as many Order members as possible."

The scroll disappeared back into the snake, and then it slithered back under Orochimaru's shirt.

Sasuke turned around and walked away.

He ignored Orochimaru's laughter as he walked away, it did not matter, once he was strong enough to kill Itachi, he was going to burn this place down.