Reborn
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Chapter 3
Blueness that was vibrant instead of dismal. Clouds of white rather than gray, a completely different scene from the mists of the Water Country, the country that’s life comes from the blood infused within its mists and water.
The Fire Country was warm and inviting, centered in the continent. The heart of the country was Konoha, the village that started the unification of clans and shinobi. The unification that gave dangerous power to the schisms that existed beyond the shinobi.
The Great Nations, and the lesser nations were all to be unified under the daimyou of a country, where shinobi agreed to fight under them, they unified with other clans and they unified against the enemies of whom the fought for. The Land of Fire and Konoha were the start.
The beauty of Konoha showed a stark contrast to the beauty of Kiri. As Isabella approached the gates, she smelled the air that blew in the wind passing her by. The moist aroma of Kirigakure, painted with blood was absent, though she couldn’t say she enjoyed the new air around her. So misleadingly clean of death she thought, hiding the darkness that Konoha truly possessed, just like all shinobi villages. However she was not preoccupied with the smell so much as her intentions for coming.
“Izuna-sama, you called for me?” A long brown haired man with a tan entered the high office of the Hokage. The garb of the Hokage was worn by a man with long spiky black hair and dark eyes. The brown haired shinobi entered the room to see, not only the Hokage, but a short haired shinobi baring the attire of a Konoha shinobi and a unique forehead protector. “Yamato-sensei, what are you doing here?”
“Ahh, Hashirama, it’s been a while hasn’t it. I’ve been hearing good things about you from Izuna-sama and the other higher ups. You’ve really made a name for yourself.”
“Well that’s all thanks to you sensei,” Hashirama said with a grin.
“You’re too modest Hashirama, you’ve shown initiative as a shinobi that cannot be taught. You’re praise was brought about by your own actions. However, that’s not why I called you here.”
“Then what can I do for you Hokage-sama?”
“An ambassador from Kirigakure has arrived and I wanted you to go and meet them and escort them here.”
“Wouldn’t it just be easier to have him escorted by the guards on site?”
“Not this one, she requires a special escort…for safety reasons.” Izuna’s tone was rather worrisome.
“She?” Hashirama said, “Wait, don’t tell me it’s…”
“Isabella Uchiha, yes and since you two are on rather close terms I feel you’re the perfect person to make sure she doesn’t get side track and end up doing something detrimental to the wellbeing of Konoha.” Izuna said with an uneasy smile.
“Yes, even as an ambassador on a mission of nonaggression, Isabella is just, well…”
“No need to explain Yamato-sensei, I’ve spent enough time with Isabella to know how easily she gets bored and what her notion of entertainment is,” Hashirama shook his head as he began to exit the room. “I’ll bring her back here with the village in one piece.”
As Hashirama traveled towards the main gates of Konoha from the Kage manor, he couldn’t help but have a smile on his face, eager to see his old friend and mentor. He traveled quickly to make it to the rendezvous only to find a disturbing sight of two Konoha shinobi on the ground shuffling like mad men as if they were searching for something. All the while, Isabella was sitting on the top of the desk of the guard post, kicking her legs back and forth and staring up in the sky with a dazed look of tedium on her face. Without stirring her focus from the sky, Isabella took out a kunai from her back pocket and began to twirl it on her finger, catching it every few spins. Hashirama looked a little more closely and saw a white tag with kanji markings on it and he widened his eyes.
“Isabella-sensei!!” Hashirama called to her with in a friendly yet frantic voice.
Isabella simply shifted her eyes towards Hashirama, and changed turned her stare of boredom into a devilish grin as she placed the kunai back in her pocket. “Hashirama-kun, so they sent you to pick me up huh?”
Hashirama walked towards Isabella and the two shinobi and scratched his head as he looked at the shinobi on the ground. They frequently bumped into each other in their dazed hypnotized state. “It’s so good to see you sensei…what uhh, have you been up to?”
“They told me I had to wait for somebody to come pick me up since I couldn’t go by myself and they said they couldn’t take me,” Isabella said, referring to the men on the ground.
“I see and so they’re crawling on the ground because…”
“I got bored, so they graciously…involuntarily volunteered to entertain me. I was waiting here for almost 20 minutes,” Isabella said with a pout, “You know it’s really rude to keep a lady waiting, I taught you several things but maybe I should’ve made room for a course of etiquette.”
“My apologies, but uhh, could you just…” Hashirama turned back to the two shinobi and Isabella rolled her eyes as she made the ram seal and dispelled the genjutsu that intoxicated the two shinobi. They awoke from their daze, quickly feeling their head as if they were checking to see if it was still attached to their body.
“Well come on then, I need to talk to Izuna.” Isabella pushed Hashirama as they began to walk.
“Still as abrasive as ever senpai, though it is to be expected.”
“More rudeness, saying that to a woman. It seems your little bit of popularity has put you beside yourself.”
“You mean I have a reputation even amongst Kiri?”
“Like I said, don’t get a big head,”
“You seem like you’re in a really good mood today sensei.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You’re talking more than usual. Is it that you’re happy you get to see me and the others?”
“The others and I, and I could care less, Orochimaru told me I had to come here to discuss some developments, way above your pay grade to know about.”
“Come now, don’t be like that, when was the last time, you saw Izuna or Yamato-sensei? Are you honestly saying you’re not the least bit excited to see them?”
Isabella shifted her eyes and shot Hashirama a glare with the message shut up attached to it. Hashirama complied though he still smiled realizing the denial she was in.
“Yo,” a masked shinobi said approaching Hashirama and Isabella. The shinobi’s mask came up just past his nose and his headband was tilted, concealing his left eye.
“Hey Kakashi, how’s it been?”
“Satisfactory,” he said closing his eye and smiling under his mask, “I see we have a guest today, long time no see Isabella-san.”
“Hey Kakashi,” Isabella said with little to no care for his presence as she played with her hair.
“Well, it appears that you two are busy so I’ll just be on my way.” Kakashi continued about his business, as did Hashirama and Isabella.
The two eventually made it to Izuna’s office and they entered, finding both Izuna and Yamato patiently waiting for them.
“Ah, Bella-chan, long time no see,” Izuna said.
“I hope we didn’t make you wait too long,” Yamato said.
“You did, but I’ll punish you later.”
“I’ll just take my leave now,” Hashirama said, beginning to excuse himself.
“Oh no, Hashirama, you need to be here too,” Izuna said.
Hashirama didn’t say anything but he was surprised at the request for him to stay. He stood at attention beside Isabella.
“Our intelligence results about the actions of Akatskui have progressed very little since our last communication. Nothing more than a few sightings of isolated members. No incidents of concern. However they’ve continued to elude us in regards to their ware bouts.”
“Well it seems like more neutral news than good and bad news, but nevertheless, they’re idle for now, which gives us time to prepare,” Yamato said.
“The Mizukage and I are still for the plan and Kirigakure has made attempts to strengthen relations with the other Great Nations in an attempt to persuade them into joining the effort.”
“Very good, Konoha has done the same. I presume we can account for Kumogakure most definitely cooperating with the standing alliance between you and them?” Yamato asks.
Isabella grins, “Nice try woody, but the relationship between Kiri and Kumo is still none of your business. All I’ll say about our relationship towards any of the other Great Nations is that Kiri has taken measures to try and assure the temporary collaboration for a common cause.”
“Oh Isabella, you overanalyze things too much,” Yamato said with an uneasy smile.
“Anyhow, if we can trust Kiri to get the cooperation of the other nations, can Kiri trust us to organize the division?”
“Sure, why not,” Isabella turned to Hashirama, “this must be where you come in, honestly I would’ve thought they’d pick Kakashi for the job.”
Hashirama stood perplexed looking at Isabella and then turned to his superiors. “What is she talking about Izuna-sama?”
“She’s talking about your next mission.”
