The Tsuchikage entered the hospital, feeling disgruntled as a nurse noticed him. She bowed, and after a brief chat, she started leading him to the part of the hospital where they housed the men and women who suddenly appeared right on his porch in the morning hours just as he was about to fly from his house to his office.
He had almost fallen from the sky in shock!
As he entered the hall with rooms where they were accommodated, he noticed their families coming and going, spending time and worrying about their clearly mistreated friends and family members they thought they would never see again.
Onoki closed his eyes, trying to stave off his headache. This was a bothersome situation. Feeling the chakra of three councilmen, five of his ANBU not currently on duty, a few important Jonin, some influential chunin, and many clan members in the rooms around, Onoki really wanted to give the bastard who dropped this poisoned gift straight onto his porch a good kick in the ass.
The preparation for the assault on Suna's border outposts was nearly finished. He needed his ninja to have their head in the game. He needed them to focus on Suna. Not... raging at Kumo, who was going to be their ally in the upcoming conflict.
But what could he do? He was the Tsuchikage, and these were his people. And Kumo fucked with his people.
Giving several people who passed him a nod to return their respectful greetings, Onoki entered one of the rooms. Inside was his granddaughter, Kurotsuchi, and his son, Kitsuchi, both fussing over a frail-looking woman in her late twenties who vaguely resembled Kurotsuchi with long, unkempt hair.
Obori, the granddaughter of his late sister. A girl who went missing in action a few years back, presumed dead. The girl who might as well be his niece.
Onoki let his rage in him coil into a tight ball, not showing even a hint of it outwardly as he walked into the room. The occupants of the room finally noticed him and turned toward him.
"Grandpa..." Kurotsuchi tearfully croaked with a vulnerable voice full of pain as she tightly clutched Obori's hands. The older girl practically raised her after Kurotsuchi's mother died in the Third Ninja War. Obori's death hit her hard.
And yet, here she was. With eyes dead, staring into nowhere. The lights were on, but nobody was home.
Onoki shared a secret look with Kitsuchi and slightly bowed his head, hiding his darkening expression. It looked like he would need to contact Akatsuki again. He had another major job for them.
His allies clearly needed to be reminded that actions had consequences.
...
"Two hundred and sixteen. That's the final number of bloodlines carrying ninja and kunoichi that were returned to us by the unknown party." A man reported to the Kirigakure council, having a hard time keeping his composure under the oppressive, heavy, and gloomy atmosphere inside the room.
"I see." Terumi Mei coldly said, tapping her finger on the table, just as a wizened, white-haired man to her left decided to interject with a wry expression.
"Let's look at the brighter side." He tried to sound at least a little jovial, but failed miserably. "Many of our extinct clans can now be restarted."
Mei closed her eyes, "We will not force them." She said with a finality that informed everybody who would want to protest that it would not be wise to test her right now.
The white-haired man easily nodded his acquiescence, and silence returned to the room. Many of the men and women sitting around the table were heads of their respective clans. And several of their clansmen were among the people who conveniently appeared in Mei's little garden behind her house, utterly ruining it. Others were among the people who appeared in her bedroom, kitchen, or living room. And some even appeared right in the bathroom... as she was taking a shower.
Whoever was responsible for this stunt, she was grateful for them returning their people. But her virtue was now ruined. If she ever found them, and if they were a male, they'd better marry her, or she would melt them!
"From some reports, there are still some of our people imprisoned in Kumogakure." The reporting ninjas carefully continued, instantly bringing the mood in the room down even more.
Mei thoughtfully nodded, "And then there are their children."
Her eyes swept through the faces in the room. "I did not want to join this war." She softly started, "It had nothing to do with us." Leaning forward, Mei narrowed her eyes, "But this?" She mirthlessly chuckled, "If we don't respond strongly, it will send a message that we are an easy target. That Kumo could continue doing this."
Mei had no delusions. All Hidden Villages were doing these things. Well, except Kirigakure. They mostly just killed bloodline users with their previous hate-boner for them. She made her peace with it.
But over two hundred people from her village? The Civil War clearly presented Kumo with an opportunity for some bloodline shopping, and they were not shy about it.
"I am considering allying ourselves with Suna and Konoha in the upcoming conflict." Mei said, "Anybody who has something to say against it, put your arguments together. We shall speak about it during the next meeting in two days. For now, this meeting is over."
The councilmen slowly shuffled out of the room until only Mei and Ao were left inside. Ao turned toward Mei, "Was that wise? Marrying ourselves to Konoha or Suna will have its issues."
There was a lot of bad blood between their villages. He had a Byakugan eye, and their village had killed Sunagakure's hero from the Third War. Those were things that would be very hard to forget or forgive.
'Marrying?' Mei's expression darkened, "Ao. Shut up, or I will kill you."
Ao gave her a helpless 'What did I do' expression, but he was somewhat used to Mei's eccentric death threats by now. He still had no idea what was triggering them, though. Seriously, if she didn't do something with whatever issue she had, he feared she would become a grumpy cat-lady with no marriage prospects.
Shaking her head, Mei continued speaking, blissfully unaware of Ao's thoughts. "Coveting and stealing bloodlines is normal in our world. You know that better than most." She briefly glanced at his eyepatch. "But... I don't have much of a choice. The clans joined our side in the civil war to feel safe. How can they feel safe after the word of this last incident spreads? Instead of fearing being killed, will they fear being captured by Kumo ninjas?"
"Whoever did this knew exactly how to force our hand." Ao helplessly sighed. He would love to give Mei some good advice, but he had none. Their village had just finished with a civil war and its aftermath. Their tentative peace was very fragile.
And this smashed it to pieces. The clans wanted blood even though the village was not in a state for another war. That left Mei just one option. She would have to seek an alliance.
How very convenient that there was just one eligible choice for them, no?
"Indeed. And here I hoped we could stay neutral. But it seems I was too naive." Mei whispered as she looked out of the window at the mist-covered village with a weary, downcast gaze.
Another war. Oh, how she hated war.
...
"Tsunade-sama, just one last matter for today."
"Yeah, yeah, get on with it, Shizune." Tsunade grumbled, picking up her bottle of sake, lamenting not having something stronger at hand. Ever since somebody dropped several supposedly dead or missing ninja and kunoichi into the T&I resting area, the council meetings have become even more headache-inducing than before.
Tsunade would oh, so love to blame that irritating blonde Yamanaka girl who had seemed to make politely aggravating her in any way she could into her personal hobby, but it happened when Ino was giving her a face-to-face report about some unimportant nonsense, and she was not a clone. Tsunade checked. Four times.
She still thought Ino and Hinata had to do something with it. If something outrageous happened in the village, blaming it on those two was just a safe bet.
Hah! And they say she didn't know how to gamble.
The only exception was if it was a prank. Then, Naruto was at fault. Even if the prank was done by somebody else, it still applied. Naruto was at fault, somehow. Tsunade just knew it.
"Inoichi Yamanaka wanted to ask if he could accommodate the Uzumaki who were among the prisoners in the Senju clan grounds."
Tsunade owlishly blinked, "There were Uzumaki?"
She might have missed that in the report. To be fair, she was swamped with work, and she mostly just skimmed over the unimportant reports. She had more pressing issues to care about than two or three dozen people dropped into the T&I out of nowhere.
That's what subordinates were for. If something important happened, Shizune would inform her, like she was doing now.
"Yes..." Shizune nervously answered, trying to avoid Tsunade's gaze.
Scrunching her eyebrows, Tsunade snorted. "Eh, sure. Why not? I guess it is my duty to look after them." She gruffly said before taking a sip from her sake, but Shizune knew her long enough to hear the wistful undertone in her voice.
It made her only more nervous. But she steeled her nerves and let out a deep breath. "And also..." She suddenly found the view outside the window very interesting. "There were three Senju?"
Expecting Tsunae to smash her desk in fury, Shizune pre-emptively flinched, but to her shock, Tsunade grew eerily quiet instead. She hummed and gently put the sake bottle on the table before resting her chin on her joined hands.
"Anyone I would know?" She asked.
"I... don't think so?" Shizune uneasily answered.
"I see." Tsunade simply nodded, and her lips settled into an easy smile. One that sent chills down Shizune's spine. "Ne, Shizune, you remember that book about the worst poisons I managed to create, right?"
"The one you sealed with a blood seal and never shared with anyone because of how much destruction they could cause?" Shizune warily asked, just to be sure, having a really bad feeling about this as her throat went dry.
"Right, right. That one!" Tsunade cheerfully pointed out. "Be dear and bring it here. We might need it in the upcoming war." She glanced at the sake bottle, but felt no urge to pick it up right now.
She had more important things to do than drinking. Like wondering how to surpass Minato's killing record with a poisoned mist. Once upon a time, Tsunade swore to never use poison on a mass scale.
But from her experience, promises were meant to be eventually broken.