For the Empire!

Late in the afternoon, when the village was the most alive it could be., Two men on horse back, came riding into the village. It was oddly cold as the two arrived on the village. The seemed different, in many ways that a normal person would, or even a ninja. They wore suits of armor and carried many weapons with them. Also, their horses were rare, and also armored. The screamed in the village, as the arrived, trying to wake people up. They laughed as people grouped around them to see what was going on. The two pulled out weapons and began smiling and pointing them at people. "I am Glinat a messenger of the great Celestial Empire. The Empire will smash this village to the ground. Surrender now, so you can die an almost painless death!" Gilant yelled out as many people around them arrived.

Leon groaned as he crawled out of the last of the tunnels that were the only signs of the entrance to the room Riku had thrown Leon in eons ago. Something about solitary confinement or what not tha Leon desperately needed. A room full of books, little to no light, and minimal air flow. Leon shook his head, it was time to go find that bloody instructor and do... something. Leon wasnt sure what yet, since even after that isolation training, he was still significantly weaker than Riku.

Brushing the dirt off his white shirt, Leon grimaced as he looked down. Bastard didnt even bring him any clean clothes this month. Actually... Leon looked down thoughtfully as he tried to remember the last time he had taken a legit shower instead of bathing in the pool of water that was connected to one of the tunnels the lead to his isolation room.

Shaking his head, Leon shrugged and pulled off his shirt, using the bits and pieces he could find that werent totally brown to wipe some of the dirt off his face and looked up to get his surroundings. Leon sighed in relief as he realized he was right outside Kumogakure. That was always good, he hoped Reborn was somewhere nearby so he could take his place as the Eleventh. The bloody bastard of an instructor didnt tell him nearly enough about the Vongola at all, making it all very mysterious and, in general, a pain in the ass.

Yawning as he continued down the stretch of road to Kumogakure, Leon picked his head up as he heard shouting. Funny... Leon didnt remember Kumogakure havign any town criers. As he looked closely to the group, he noticed armor and large weapons standing nearby. Those werent normal ninja... or ninja at all he realized. Sighing, he walked closer and listened.

"I am Glinat a messenger of the great Celestial Empire. The Empire will smash this village to the ground. Surrender now, so you can die an almost painless death!"

Leon slammed his head into the palm of his hand and sighed. This was NOT the way he wanted to start the new day off. Grumbling about some piece of crap with an oversized ego, Leon pushed his way to the front of the crowd and looked at the missionary in the eye.

"Tell your Emperor.... Wait, you know what? Ill tell him myself." With that Leon turned his back to the missionary and his men and walked away muttering. "Pieces of crap trying to take over the world, who do they..." The rest of Leons ramble was cut off as the missionary and his men exploded behind him, seemingly to spontaneously combust.

Leon sighed again as he entered the access tunnel and jumped on the bullet train, speeding its way into Kumogakure. This was the most annoying part of the trip; Leon, half naked, surrounded by a group of oogling teens and incognito guards. Leon shook his head, really? If they wanted to be incognito, they would need to learn how to hide their chakra better. Even with Leons destructive chakra blocking most of the sensing, even he could still tell them apart.

Jumping off the train, Leon looked around, spotting a giant afro standing near the registration booth.

"Kaisen, get your ass over here!" Leon shouted, growling slightly in the direction of the "incognito guards".

It wasn't particularlly a beautiful day, the smoky grey sky didn't hail anything positive but it was better than the late snowfall from the mountains and the ever so depressing rain. Both of which he really didn't want to go outside for. He was use to the snow of the mountains but he never enjoyed it. The people who knew him thought he did but the unpleasant experience of living there didn't necessary made him immune to such force of nature.

It was better than the month before and in honesty that was fine. It had to escape the constant training, the paperwork, his secretary (all female thanks to the previous Raikage) giving him more paperwork and the process just continued to repeat. He decided today to take a slight break from it all. The assistants didn't protest and the secretaries were happy for him to take a break. It meant for them to go in a group and go shopping all day. Kaisen had no problem with them shopping, he just hoped they didn't spend all there money all at once.

He wondered how much attention he was bringing to himself. He passed through a crowd and they seemingly didn't budge a lash to see a tall teenager with a green tint afro walking down the street. Did anyone wonder if the Raikage was out today? Hell, what was on the people's minds were the next cell phone to come out, the latest trend in fashion and of course, what club to hit on the weekend to pick up some chicks, or men depending on who they were. Kaisen could say, at the very least, that there were two rather suspicious looking shinobi following him. They were appearing ingonito but failing miserably to Kaisen. They trust me to make military moves but dont trust me to walk on the damn sidewalk

In the distant far south of his direction, he overheard a walkie talkie from one of the guards. There wasn't much reaction in his face but the guard next to him heard it and nodded. Must be some trouble brewing over. They jumped up onto the buildings and were heading towards the railway station. He turned his head quickly, the two guards following him ducked into an alleyway. He shook his head and continued his way to the railway. There was always something going on in this village and he would not be the one to be recieving the information late.


By reaching over to the station, he walked down the steps and pass through the walkway to the railways. He saw a seven lines of tracks that were going towards Kumogakure and away from it. He notice a group of guards all hovering over one part of the railways. It drew his attention and he slowly walked towards them. He lean back on a railing watching them talk softly among themselves. One of the guards notice him which all the other guards followed suit. They saw the Raikage just leaning against the railing looking at him. He pulled one of his cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket. He lit the cigarette and out came a fresh and herb like sensation that was no even close to the nicotine and tobacco that most are familar with.

One of the guards looked up the no smoking sign but Kaisen didn't pay no mind. "I'm guessing this is your train" Kaisen said. He takes a slow drag from the cigarette and lets it out slowly. They turn to see the train coming streaming in. It made a complete stop and they got into position. They were 'blending' in with the group only a few seconds before, they were mingling with themselves in a large group. When the doors open, there were a group of people that walked out. Kaisen didn't reconize anyone in front and when the pile of people moving out was done, he still didn't reconize anyone in particular. He was about to leave, turning towards the stares when he heard "Kaisen, get your ass over here!".

He paused for a second trying to figure out whose voice it was. It takes in another drag from his cigarette and he lets out another smooth breath of herb smoke out of his mouth. He turns to see one particular person he thought he wasn't going to see again.

"Well, look who the cat dragged in and took a shit on." he said walking to him. His face didn't show surprise at all "If it isn't the abonination from hell and back. Alot of people thought you were dead but someone as whiny and annoying as you wont die so easily"

He looked at the guards who were now walking to the Raikage. They held in there breathes to attack if Leon were to strike. Kaisen turn his head and said "You" he pointed to one of the guards. He appeared to be the main man who had thoroughly tried to place his incognito guards around. "I wouldn't believe you were trying to hunt down this guy in the train. There is a deeper story to it. Explain"

He stood at attention and then his face relaxed "Just a few minutes ago, there was a messenger that came into the village stating that he was a messenger from the celestial empire. We've been keeping scouts throughout the northern hemisphere, they had to snuck past us"

"Ah, the empire. I've heard of movement from the north but I didn't think they would make there move so soon. What did this messenger say? Did you interogate him"

The guards look at the leader and then they turn back to the Raikage. "Not exactly" one the guards said to his left "It seems that this person decided to...." he was tapping his chin for a moment trying to find the right words then said "make him go boom"

Kaisen raised an eyebrow "Make him go...boom. Well, that sounds like Leon down to the letter" he turns to Leon "Not surprise by your actions. I still have trouble believing you are the Vongola Leader. Your actions simply can't justify your title but you have the dying will flames of the sky" he sighed heavily "marvelous, simply marvelous" His eyes faces the guards "You go and do a sample of what's left of that man. If there is just a tiny fraction of flesh, we can do a thoroughly check on how strong our opponents can be. Take it to the lab and report back to me in two days"

"Sir!" they all said and they disappeared. Kaisen looked to Leon

"Your arrival here is most convienent" he said. "However, I can assume that this is probably when you'll recieve your title as Leader of the Vongola. But that's in the future, right now, I can assume that Konoha is dealing with the same situation as we are. I dont know how they are handling it but we can be sure that our countries will meet for a summit"

There was a long pause "I'm sorry, I believe I took your limelight. Tell me, how was your training alone in the mountains"

OOC: Plot Bump

Leon sighed and looked at Kaisen raising his eyebrow. "I was training. In the mountains. Well, technically under the mountains seen as how that bastard Riku has a very disturbing sense of Isolation training. Very disturbing sense. Id say you need to go and fill in the hole I literally crawled out of, but I do believe that was another test, and the hole probably filled in right after I got out of it." Yawning, Leon looked down and sighed again.

"Ok, Kaisen. I need clothes, I need food, I need a long hot shower. Can we start with the food? Preferably steak? Please? Riku is a very sadistic piece of crap. Dangling steak over a fire and tying me up... I havent had a non charred steak in months. And while I eat, you can tell me what you know about this Empire. And if you know a lot will it give me more opportunities to get used to this power?" As Leon said this he looked down at his hand and clenched it. It hadnt been very long since he learned he could do what he had done to the messenger. It was actually completely unpredictable and uncontrollable without some sort of guidance tool. Last time Leon had tried to combust something on purpose, he blew up a rock wall behind him, almost causing a cave in. That was a fun mess to try and crawl out of, seen as how the Sadistic One Who Shall Not Be Named made him prevent the cave in and continue to train in the same cave. That wasnt fun either by a long shot.

Jumping out of his memories, Leon motioned to Kaisen and began heading off to where he remembered the best steak place in all of Kumo was. Screw money, he was gonna put it on the bastards tab.

Kaisen lets out the smoke from his cigarette, pushing out the herb-like smoke away from Leon's face. He didn't know how this guy had a magnetic personality and he didn't know why he would want to respect the guy but for some reason, the guy was going to be one crazy leader. He didn't know whether it was the fact that him and Leon were the same age and that they are considered youngest in the Vongola, he didn't know whether it was because of his insanity was like the yang while Kaisen calmness was the yin. He didn't necessarily know it but he had respect for the guy, he didn't want to blow smoke in his face.

"I can get you all of that stuff" Kaisen said. He wondered also who this Riku is. He heard a person by that name but couldn't put a face to it. Should he ask who he was? He could, he doubt it would be a reasonable answer from Leon seeing that he has a bit of teacher/student resentment against him but he felt that he would meet this Riku somewhere in the near future.

He saw that Leon had broke away from there huddle and saw the little motion that he should follow. Kaisen followed him, he was going to escort him back to the mansion, feed him and put some warm clothes on his back, he suddenly had an image. In this image, he saw his assistant laying down lyrics out of his new "Enlightening" hip hop, which wasn't bad unless you understood underground hip hop and understood what he was saying due to the fact that he was talking very fast at times. Then he would see Leon, battered, bruised, clothes are apart from being shreds and then make a very condenscending remark.

The condenscending remark would lead to another placid and probably random remark from the oh so insane Leon, who would either try to kill his assistant after that or try to take out the mansion AND take out his assistant.

....After thinking about this scenario, he didn't think that bringing him right away to the mansion was the swellest of ideas. He decided to follow Leon. He flicked the cigarette out on the ground and proceeded forward.


The had already been seated in the steakhouse. Leon, obviously hungry, well close to starving, asked for about seven steaks and have a steak ready if he asked for another one. "And make sure they are rare" he kept on replying. The chef obviously knew what rare meant but to Leon had continued to make remarks how he wanted it rare and how he was putting it on his sensei tab. The chef had no idea who this man was, he kept on repeating and for a moment, he saw the gleam in Leon's eye that was saying that it didn't matter, put it on his tab. The chef looked at Kaisen, who didn't want anything, and it appeared they had a mental conversation with each other.

When the steaks came for Leon, Leon began to chow down, he didn't even use the knife and fork given to him, he took it into his hands and bite down on it, the blood ran down the sides of his mouth and he smiled with pleasure as he chewed and swallowed his first few bites. He was groaning loudly at first, the people around them turned there heads to see that the Raikage was siting with some deranged kid eating steak with his hands. Kaisen waited, knowing that Leon wouldn't had listen during his first intital steaks he was enjoying. He didn't have to wait long though, Leon was almost finished with his third one and he was beginning to slow down. He looked at him, ready to hear everything about this empire.

Kaisen lean backed in the booth they were in. He wanted to pull out another one of his customizable cigarettes but decided against it. For one, it was a non-smoking resturants, they passed a levy not too long ago for resturants to be smoke free and he wasn't in the mood for one. He wanted to smoke it for the sake of smoking it. He spoke softly, he didn't want the news to spread. He sat away from people, he heard conversations only seven booths away so the sounds would muffle what they could hear and besides, being the rain guardian, he could easily make Leon hear it. "Out of recent reports from black ops" he began with "There has been severe activity along the edges of the northern continent, just above earth country"

"I dont know if you've been farther up north towards the northen continent but the continent itself is pretty damn big, probably a little bigger than the shinobi continents. Up in the north continents, there were several major governments and empires that reign. Two of which had democratic governments, another had a monarchy system and then there were three major empires. The Underbounds, The Surrogates and The Celestials. The Celestial empire is the one major empire that has pretty much dominant in this region, over a century or so, the Celestials have gain a huge dominance over the northern continents. While the governments and two empires tried to fight off the celestials, they were serverly outnumbered"

"The Celestial Empire is quite huge. With a population range from three million to five million, they have many of our countries beat. With what our black ops have found out through the recents year or so, is that they are beginning to move outward. They have begun moving there battlions further up north towards unmarked regions and towards us. It's a wonder why they aren't moving towards the western continents. It's a sea over, yes but I believe they want to hit us first before moving down southward towards the lower continent"

"The western continents don't have much chakra induced people, from what I hear and this is all I hear, is that the shinobi in that region are comparable to shinobi in very small countries like sea country and tea country. What really dominates over there are more towards heavy blades, rapiers and bastard blades but hardly any of them would be match for the empire"

He took a sip of water. He was going to be talking for awhile, that he knew "Further south, they would be dominated quickly in the southern continents. Recent reports have said that there is no government dominance in that region. They had once had an empire like the celestials but it appears that they had revolutionaries that brought upheaval. Apparently, the upheaval went full spread after the destruction of Kirigakure"

"Farther east, towards those continents, are pretty much barren lands. There are few villages, a small governement holds some order in two countries but there isn't any activity. Just a large desert, some mountains further north on that continent but other than that, it could easily be dominated"

"I believe they are attacking us first because we have alot of power as well. I dont know if you know about how there were clans before the villages and before the clans there was a rule of empires that ruled over the countries. This place has a large history in government and war. It might be the land or it might be the people" he leans in close "But the people on this continent only know war. There has been a total of eight shinobi wars, two that lasted for more than seventy years. In the history books, there has been a total of of 1,493 wars, small and otherwise, way before empries on the north and sourthern regions began to form. This is over a course of 6,000 years or so, some accounts might not even count but, it doesn't matter"

"I believe our opponent is that of a mystical sort. They believe that if they dominate this continent, it would feed upon there armies and make them almost invincible" he takes a lean back on the booth and looks out in the window seeing that sun was moving down in the sky. The sun shined into the steakhouse and for a moment he thought he saw that sun as a giant pool of blood. He turned to Leon "I don't know if it's true or not. I do know that this continent and the southern continent produce more chakra align people than those farther up north and towards the west, there isn't any accounts in the east or so. I can see through recent years that there has been a sudden influx with more children being more chakra producing but, again, that's a very hard fact to prove"

Kaisen pauses smelling the last of the steaks that Leon was eating. He was beginning to get hungry "The army is moving more towards fire country. I believe we have a small advantage because of the mountains but I doubt that'll hold us out for long. If anything, I believe we'll have to help Konoha if things are going out of hand"

Leon groaned as Kaisen explained what he knew about the Empire. More continents, massive giant scaled army, a fanatic religious belief... it was all going right down the shitter, just as Leon had expected. He sighed and continued on his fifth steak.

"Sooooo basically I need to get my shower and power nap in within the next 6 hours dont I? Kinda cuts back on training my ability here, but unless you can pull Reborn out of your ass with the little lizard thing Ive heard so much about, thats not going to happen. I need a conduit for these flames, not just small random bursts. " Wiping the blood off his chin with an already bloody napkin, he stretched and downed one of the large glasses of water that was sitting on a secondary table the waiters had put next to him.

"We need more information. We know they are fanatics, we know they have a lot of people. We dont know the army structure, what else they have in store, hell we dont even know if they army is 3 million ninjas from years of kidnapping. But I do know one thing; they are either as war based in their religion as we are, or more. An empire doesnt manage to reach that size unless they happen to take out all opposition, and quickly. Based on that, we can assume they all have battle experience, or a large majority of them do. So we can assume at least Chuunin battle experience, making this very difficult if not nigh impossible, given theres three million of them. Three million Chuunin level men is practically impossible for two hidden villages. I do know that Sunagakure was taken out about a week ago, and thats just from my sensei. Id send scouts out to inflitrate the army heading to Konoha and check them out. I highly doubt that commanders with that many troops know all their troops."

With that last final tidbit, Leon wiped his mouth again, having finished his seventh steak. Downing another glass of water, Leon stretched and waved the head chef over, whispering in his ear. He could almost see the ryo signs pop into the chef's eyes as he spoke.

"SO how about I go get that shower, and you go send a hawk to Konoha? Better to be prepared than sorry."

"We'll go back to the mansion" Kaisen replied "Reborn is one of my advisors. Though I don't know whether he'll come or not, we'll have a better chance of reaching him there than trying to reach the Vongola. Contact with them has been shitty for the past few months and I can't even seem to get to anyone from the Varia" he scooted himself out of the booth and stood up

Kaisen went up to the counter. The chef obvious wanted his pay, he didn't do well with tabs even for the Raikage sake, there was no way in hell he was going to let two kids rob him of money with all that steak that Leon had consumed. Kaisen took out his wallet and gave him the amount of Ryo in full pay. The signs of money was in his eyes and the chef gave him and wonderful thank you and Kaisen escorted himself out. Leon was leaning up against the window beside the waiting for Kaisen. The door opened and Kaisen placed his hand in his pocket taking out a cigarette. Lighting it and took a inhale, he said "Lets go"

By the time Kaisen and Leon reached the mansion, you could say that the amount of commotion going on around the office area was in a state of deathcon 2. He saw two of his female assistants moving about in a sort of half graceful half frantic telling the men in black, the black ops, about the current situation. Seems they got word from Konoha but it is all in a disarray. Kaisen moved past people, blacks ops and assistants, as if he was a feather among the crowd. They did not stir when a hand had pressed on someone shoulder or someone back was touching theres, it was as if Kaisen did not exist. It wasn't the same for Leon however, he was more of a relentless one and people did notice his presence. His bumps gave people in the area to say "Watch where you are going" or "get the hell out of my way kid" were the usual response, nothing short of what Leon would expect, he wasn't the sneaky and unseen type of guy.

They both walked up the stairs and they were now in a long and stretched hallway. There were some people coming up and down the stairs. There were business offices in some of the rooms in case there was an emergency "You'll have to excuse all the chaos. The adminstration building is getting renovation at the moment, the mansion is pretty much where they stay during the day" he points down to the right of the hallway. "Down that way to your right is one of our guest room, please don't hesistate to use the shower. There'll be clothes ready for when you come out. When you are finish come to my room, I already have an idea that there will be blacks ops waiting for me"

Kaisen took his leave towards the left and walked down to his room. He could hear some voices conversing with one another, the murmurs couldn't be understood behind the door. He opened it and he saw that there were three black op captains and his main assistant. Her stare was calm enough as she pushed her glasses up on her nose. He saw she was wearing one of her skirts today. She usually wore pants to work. Bad day to wear a skirt around men today isn't it? Kaisen closed the door and walked around the men in black and sat down in his chair letting out a cool and herb smoke out of his breath

"Did you find any samples from the explosion site?" Kaisen started

The one black op in the middle, dark skinned, clean shaven bald with a goatee and glasses answered "We found some remnants of blood spread across the area. Luckily it didn't coagulate or evaporate due to the explosion. We can get a general idea as to whom we are fighting against once we get a full analysis. We'll have it ready in a few days"

"How is are miltary doing so far in building up enough strength to help Konoha and defend Kumo"

The one next to the bald black op, a woman with long black hair says "We have enough, we are not going to send all of our elite black ops to Konoha, just a few knowing that the Konoha shinobi have very powerful shionbi to defend. We'll leave the rest of our army here so that they'll defend. Do you wish to send a message to Konoha that we are coming?"

"Yes, send a messenger hawk right away. We'll need to give them the message as soon as we possibly can"

"Hai" all of the black ops said at once and disappeared. With all of them gone, it was just his assistant and Kaisen. Kaisen saw the clipboard over top of her chest. Kaisen looks up and pulls in a long drag of his cigarette before letting out a cool breath

"You look nice today. Probably wasn't expected to walk around alot. Heels must kill"

She flashed a smile "We ladies have to look good once in awhile. Is there anything you need me to do? Get you something to drink"

"No, no. What I need you to do is do two things"

"Go ahead" she said. She pulled a pen off from her earlobe and pressed down on the top of the pen pushing out the needle

"I need you to contact Reborn for me. Try to get a hold on him. Do not give him details because he'll already have a general idea. Just tell him that it is important that he comes right away"
Her pen wrote down each and every word with dexerity of years writing things down on clipboards "And the second thing"

Kaisen points to the right "Down the hall is the guest room and there is a gentlemen in there that is taking a shower. I would like for you to find some clothes for him"

She was writing then paused. She looked up with a glare from her glasses. She had a look that said 'you have to be kidding me' Kaisen looked at her then turned his head at a slight angle answering her glare "Yes, I am not kidding. Please do this, he is a very important" he cleared his throat "individual"

The glare in her eyes faded into hopeless acceptance and nodded her head "Male or Female" she asked.

"Male. Sixteen years of age, skinny so no big clothes"

"Very well"

“Reborn-sama…” “Yes?” “There’s… a strange man in the village.” “What kind of strange man?” “… A Messenger of sorts. His name seems foreign as well: Glinat. He says he is from a place called the Celestial Empire. He… slipped through our defenses somehow un-noticed until now.” “Did he, now…” mused Reborn quietly. “Yes. We already have others watching him but he appears to be of no threat; however, he says his people will be coming f or us… to destroy this village. Do you think it is of importance or is just some mad man trying to instill fear?”

Reborn looked outside of the windows, down at the village below. People were already gathering in the streets in great numbers, either to the village borders or from it, he noted. So the messenger had yet to truly make it into the heart of the village. Good. “Do you know of any significant people who were there? Any of the officials or heroes?”

“… Well, no. Leon was there though, I think. All I heard was his voice. I wasn’t sure if that was him or not but… I think it was him. He called for Kaisen to come as well. They were on a train and we kept an eye on him until he got off. I do not think he is up to trouble… again.”

He nodded again at the report and supposed he ought to go see this man, Glinat, himself before seeing what Leon was up to. Things had been kind of quiet lately with the new Boss, he hadn’t really had any orders or anything from him either… Then again, knowing Leon, the man probably didn’t exist anymore. He thought to ask the messenger of that, but he knew better. “Thank you. Is there anything else…?” “No, sir.” “Very well.” As the young man left he let out a long, heavy, weary sigh.

Things were… changing to say the least. Sighing, Reborn struggled to remember what he knew of the lands to the north. They had very little problems with the Northerners, shinobi did. Few actually even knew that there were other people on the continent north of Iwa. He was sure Iwa new the most about the Northerners, that it was the reason why they were so far u p north: to keep tabs on the potential threat up north. So if the north were really start to interfere now… why hadn’t they alerted all the nations?

And then it came crawling back, decades and decades ago the villages had been ravished and nearly destroyed. Only Konoha and Kumo had really managed to survive the brunt of the blows and thrive. Suna still lived but they were few in population, especially that of ninja. Kiri… well Kiri kept to itself. No one really knew if Kiri had rebuilt itself back up all the way quite yet. And Iwa…? Iwa was even more secluded and quiet than Kiri sometimes.

The worse conclusion as to why Iwa hadn’t alerted the others was that it had either allied itself with the Northerners or… worse yet… been wiped out by them so quickly and quietly that the rest of the world didn’t know until now. The Northerners didn’t pose too much a threat, or at least that’s how most of the world leaders had thought about it in the early days as he’d been told when he was a child, but it seemed that over the years the knowledge and potential threat of the North had dwindled and not been passed on. Little wonder why most people would think Glinat was a mad man. Few even knew that North or the East or the West even existed, let alone the South. Even he didn’t know all that much to be honest and he had had decades upon decades upon decades to learn about the world and its mysteries.

He wondered then if Kaisen was aware of this… of what the Vongola were doing. He had a feeling that Tsuna and the others would likely stay out of this… Sure, they’d want to protect their world, but the new generation had come and it was their responsibility now. Tsuna and them all would mostly likely not interfere unless the threat came to them directly and even then they might operate from the shadows. What of the Varia though…? Geez it’d been awhile since he had actually talked to any of the old members. He’d been sitting around here not doing much lately. That needed to change. Soon.

He might start that with meeting Raikage Kaisen and Vongola Leader Leon though. His mind made up, he began to take the public, open path to the Raikage’s Mansion. He wanted to hear the rumors going on, the gossip. What this tendril of a threat had instilled in the ordinary people, in the ninjas. Vaguely he wondered what Konoha was facing. And he wondered yet… how had these messengers found the hidden villages? They had never truly exchanged beliefs or anything in these decades. Stragglers might move and settle down from both sides… but he didn’t think they’d know this much about the ninjas: where their military forces lied.

He took another whiff of his cigarette, he was 1/4 the way done seeing the dim embers light as Kaisen sucks in the seemingly harmful toxins filling into his lungs and letting the smoke come out of his nose. The feeling was stoic but at the same time, it gave him a bit of life. He place the cigarette on a ashtry, letting the little rise of smoke rise disappearing only a few inches into the air.

He glanced at the bookshelf that was towards his left, right next to the door. He had means to move it elsewhere in the room, perhaps by the windows towards his right. He could get a good view of the village while trying to pick a good philosophy book or perhaps a nice fiction thriller. He had time to read many books on the shelf, ranging from the mathmatics of ancient cultures, to modern science, to the latest fictional book created by a new author that seem to be popular of the time. He had a liking to the authors take on the world, simular to his own but yet hides in a satire.

He gets up from his chair and walks to the shelfcase. His hand pointing to find the book he wanted to read. His hand stopped moving and he paused. His eyes, they stared blankly at the shelf case, looking aimlessly at nothing and the colors began to meld together. He lost himself in thought that made him think Wasn't that thing, that demon looking at the books?. He was; He remembered just a month ago that thing in the suit that had a human face but eyes like coals on fire stare at him and then looked back at all the books he contain on that large library shelf. As Kaisen continued to think, he remembered that the man was just as tall at the library case, maybe a foot shorter seeing that the case was about eight feet tall.

He drew his hand back quickly as if his hand touched the top of a heated stove. The thought of remembering that persons face, it was beautiful that a man could get lost in those eyes and his face. His cheek had a slight dimple so when he smiled, it released some type of charm. His hands seem neat and so clean, delicate when he was using his hands to express something but the strength in them was noticable like a strong current in a wave.

What made Kaisen come to reality was the fact that the body was nothing more than a empty shell, inside that shell was something far sinister than this empire that he kept on talking about "They are pawns for us" he said "They put so much heart and religon into this bullshit conquering scheme they got. They believe it's there emperor that is controlling this conquest, believing that the man can lead them into eternal domination of this world and they so readily believe" he had a sick laugh, underneath the smooth and suave was something that had concoted up a disease of death and plague "They are like sheep, just like the people here, leading towards there own death...it's so funny, it could be called the best comedy in the whole entire world!"

Kaisen had a hand on his chin, rubbing the fine stubble he had. He was growing some hair on his chin finally, it didn't necessary distract him from the thought he is having but it was reassuring to know that he beginning to grow. He moves away from the bookshelf and towards his desk again "What is your move going to be Konoha? Darkness is falling over you and you are so blind not to see it. Just like the frog....just like the frog" He looks at the ashtray and saw that his cigarette was still light, the blacken herbs falling into the bottom of the tray

Leon sighed and got out of the shower, stretching and reveling at how clean her felt. Obviously he would need to go back into his old crappy, dirty, destroyed clothes, but the sheer feeling of the lack of an inch of dirt on his skin just felt so amazing. Wrapping a towel around his waist, Leon walked out of the shower and into the room, leaving the shower running.

"Awww man... I really dont wanna put on my old clothes..." Leon muttered, picking up his sad excuse of a shirt and staring at it sadly. It was one of his favorite style shirts, and Riku didnt even bother giving him new clothes. It really was pitiful at the shirt. Hearing a noise, Leon looked up to a blushing secretary, and promptly realized what he was wearing. Staring at her for a second, he realized she was holding new clothes, and if Leons eyes served him right, they were in the same style of wear his destroyed clothes were. "Orrrrr maybe I dont need to wear the old clothes. Thanks." With that Leon gave the secretary a warm smile and wink, and walked back to the shower to go turn the shower off and get dressed. The shower was kept running in order to let the dirt run down the drain and clean it up, and hopefully it worked. If not, well... Kaisens maids had a lotttt of work to do. Getting dressed, Leon stretched and walked out of the hallway heading to Kaisens study.

"KAIIIIISSSEEEENNNNNNNNNNN, Leon screamed as he jumped through the door and dove straight for the Raikage.

“KAIIIIISSSEEEENNNNNNNNNNN,” screamed out some teen who Reborn soon identified as Leon. Really… who else was that loud? … Ryohei maybe… Lugging his way upstairs he got there just as the door opened and Leon attempted to tackle Kaisen. He merely stood in the doorway, watching with mild humor. He didn’t know Leon too personally, but still, something about the boy interested him and he felt a little lighter, just like he had been with Tsuna long, long ago.

He supposed he ought to say something… or do something… but really? And then the irony of the situation hit him. He was stuck listening to young teens, following their orders as they pleased. Really… they were younger than him by not just mere years or decades, but perhaps even centuries. His smiled broadened a little more noticeably and he stepped inside, letting the door ease its way back into place. “I take it you took the liberty upon yourself to take care of this messenger who’s name is allegedly Glinat?” asked Reborn, a faint glimmer of a smile still on his face as he watched the pair.

He thought back to what he had heard just mere minutes ago on his way here from the villagers, ninja, and staff alike. The children thought it all fun and games, re-enacting bits and parts of it as they pleased. It seemed no one really ‘knew’ who had ‘destroyed’ the messenger, some did, some didn’t, most of them who did know and wasn’t involved yet chose to ignore the fact that an unruly teen had caused the bloody scene and that the messenger had perhaps committed suicide or that some divine right had declared the man was truly insane and unfit to live.

He paid careful attention to the children’s views though. Life had taught him that if you changed a child’s view enough you tended to change what they would become or could become. But most of these children who played about as the ‘god’ and the ‘messenger’ and his alleged ‘empire’ wouldn’t pose much of a threat. They came from peaceful families without ninja backgrounds and spent their days playing games and would grow up to run the family shops or be apprenticed to some other master. Perhaps a few would grow up to roam the country, settling elsewhere, but all the same, they were not fighters, not yet anyway.

He paid more attention to the ninja children though. They seemed exited by all of this. They played and re-enacted the scene too… but in a different way. Perhaps it was a sign of the future to come, but they played as if it were war and they were cutting down their enemies, becoming a great hero of the village, holding hands to their sides or chest in a mock death, raising triumphant hands in the air to show victory, smiles plastered on their face all along, even when they ‘died’. If only they knew the true ravishes of war and bloodshed…

Ninja though seemed to take it a bit more seriously. Some of the younger nins seemed worried and whispered of it to each other. Some were afraid, others were thrilled they might start getting some real action, but all were worried. It wasn’t very often that something like this happened. Sure, there were threats, but none ever this… open. The Jounin were wary and a few had started to take up guards themselves without orders, but mostly just around their families and close friends.

Still, it seemed as if it were no big threat, something that would die away in a few days. There had been considerable rumors of this ‘empire’, but no one knew if it was real, no one had ever heard of it until these strange men came, and no one had ever seen this place, so it couldn’t be real. At least that’s how logic presented it and the way everyone wanted to think. No one really wanted a war. War cost lives, it cost money, it destroyed everything and anything… and yet… it creates.

Reborn sighed just a little. He himself knew the truth of the matter. He knew there existed another land far away with far more people than the ninja nations combined. They were outnumbered… but perhaps not out skilled? Time would tell, he supposed. And it would certainly be a test of numbers and skill… as well as will.

His attention diverted to the bursting, Leon was yelling out his name “KAIIIIISSSEEEENNNNNNNNNNN,” a leap at him, a dive. Even in that split second, it was rather instinct for Kaisen, his father had taught to never be taken by surprise. His teachings were conditioned in his head. He rose a foot up so that Leon's face would meet with the bottom of his shinobi boot. Seeing Leon slide down his face, he was expectant of him to get agitated or furious. The personality of Leon was that of fury while Kaisen was the one of calm and serenity.

He lowers his foot down to the ground and takes another whiff of his cigarette "If I dodged you would've broken alot of glass behind me" he points to all the glass art that he has stored behind him, each one of them from different countries that had been given to the Raikage as gifts. Many of which was glass that had been shapen to look like animals. With the velocity at which Leon had dove it, he would've shattered all the animals. Not that Kaisen would've cared, he didn't necessary have any fondness of the animals but he didn't wouldn't want Leon to get hurt and bloody.

He grabs Leon by the shoulder and stands him up on his feet. He brushes of the lint from his new clothing that fitted him well on him. He examines him and raises a thumb "You look good man" Kaisen said "Don't ruin it with blood or get angry" When he saw the door was open, he saw Reborn standing in between the door post. His child-like appearance did not evade Kaisen's eyes. He knew what was underneath that small exterior. A murderer, a killer, the alleged and famed hitman of the Vongola family.

“I take it you took the liberty upon yourself to take care of this messenger who’s name is allegedly Glinat?” Reborn asked Leon.

Kaisen had taken another puff of his cigarette and when he heard Reborn say that, he let out a sigh that was somewhat disappointing about Leon's alleged "taking care" of the messengers "If by taken care you mean exploded into tiny pieces the size of a atom...give or take, yeah, this is the guy Reborn-san" he lets the cigarette hang at the edge of his mouth "So you got the message already and I suppose you want to know more about the activity of this large empire"

Kaisen explained again, the details were much shorter than what he told Leon. He didn't wish to explain again about all of continents and so forth. It was quite the bother if he asked him. He hadn't realize he has yet to take off his jacket. He took his arms out of his sleeve and walked towards the left side of the door where his coat rack hung "I bet you wonder why no one has been really alerted yet. Why haven't the Daimyo of the north given us any warning. Should it be a surprise after the destruction of Iwa and through civil war that it's no wonder they haven't collaspe yet. It has been already been assumed that the Earth Daimyo taken apart of his allegiance to this Empire, letting them sneak past us reaching to fire country and lightning country"

He leans himself on the desk "But I have a question. I already have an answer but I want to hear it from you. Where in the hell is the 10th generation Vongola?"