- Many hours later -
"Cheers!"
A Kiri rebel raised his cup of sake, this being the 49th person who raised his cup at Kakashi.
Kakashi, already having consumed a lot of sake, raised his little cup in the air in response before downing the liquid.
"Maa, you all should celebrate among yourselves too."
Kakashi said, relieved when the drunken ninja began cheering each other instead of him each time.
"They can be a bit much."
Mei chuckled as she slid into the seat next to Kakashi, handing him a flask of water after taking a sip.
"Showing me it's not poisoned?"
Kakashi asked, amused, taking the flask and downing it.
Mei shrugged.
"Maybe it's not fast-acting."
"No, it's just water."
Kakashi said with confidence, having not felt any malicious intent from her.
Mei raised a brow.
"I'll not ask how, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested."
Mei said while tracing her index finger over the wood in front of her, eyes never leaving his.
'This woman is dangerous.'
"Let's just say I can feel intent and leave it at that."
"Interesting ability."
Mei replied before briefly glancing down.
"How is the shirt?"
Kakashi briefly thought about drinking more alcohol.
"Form-fitting."
'Apt choice of words.'
Mei let her eyes briefly trace down the sleeveless black compression shirt.
"We don't really have much."
Mei lied smoothly, having picked out the shirt herself, not that she'd say that.
"It works just fine, thank you for the shirt."
Mei chuckled softly, a light chuckle that could turn the heads of men and women alike.
"No need to thank me for something so trivial, though you're welcome."
The two sat in comfortable silence, drinking water now that no one was raising their cups to Kakashi; even the most oblivious knew not to mess with whatever was going on at the moment.
While sitting there, Kakashi pulled up his rewards list, remembering a soft chime when he sent a tailed beast bomb into the Kamui dimension.
Taking a sip, Kakashi choked on his water when he read over the reason for the reward. Mei's hand hovered, wondering if he had drunk a stronger sake.
Kakashi's body shook, trying not to laugh.
*Force Obito to use Izanagi
Reward: Knowledge of Seven Heavenly Breaths
Mei wasn't sure what to do, settling on lightly patting his back.
Kakashi coughed softly and gave her a nod.
"Went down the wrong pipe."
Kakashi gave a lame excuse as he tried not to imagine Obito just relaxing in his Kamui dimension when a chakra nuke spawned out of nowhere.
Kakashi quickly took another sip of water. before a person swung by and filled his cup. A few rebel genin were running around, playing the roles of waiters and waitresses.
'Seven Heavenly Breaths. That's the breathing technique from filler.'
Kakashi thought in satisfaction. Lately, he had been thinking about learning more of the eight inner gates, but the technique didn't really fit him, and this breathing technique could be used in conjunction with other abilities. Just imagining this technique with Haki and Sage mode made Kakashi excited to see if he could pull it off eventually.
"You seem to be in a good mood."
Mei observed, having watched the subtle signs in his dark eyes.
"It's a lively atmosphere."
Kakashi replied, chuckling at some of the positions the passed-out ninja were in.
"Yeah, it's great to see them let loose like this. We haven't had a cause for celebration in years. I can ignore how improper they're being for this one night."
"How magnanimous of you."
Kakashi chuckled playfully.
"I know, I'm quite the forgiving leader."
Mei played along.
"Humble too."
Mei rolled her eyes softly.
"Clearly."
The two shared a brief laugh.
"So, how were the political talks with Jiraiya?"
Mei nearly snorted at the question.
"They were productive, though he seemed more interested in other topics. He kept taking notes."
Kakashi blinked, thinking that over for a bit.
"I have a feeling I don't want to know."
"Well, it involves you, so you probably wouldn't want to."
Mei teased, ignoring the nervous 'What did he say' look from Kakashi.
Kakashi quickly changes the subject.
"When do you think you'll become Mizukage?"
Mei swirled the water in her cup idly.
"It shouldn't take long for word to spread, within the week, I'd say, probably sooner. If I'm even picked."
"Who else would even be eligible? You're the leader of the winning side of a civil war and have Kage-level strength with two kekkei genkai. I don't think, no offense, your village has many other options to pick from."
Kakashi replied simply, waving away her concerns.
"No offense taken, that helped my confidence if anything. Thanks for that."
Mei took a sip.
"This Akatsuki, how do you see all this going?"
"War…"
Kakashi sighed
"A war that makes this one look like a light skirmish in comparison. Their goals involve every elemental nation's tailed beast, but we have time to prepare."
"Because the three-tails is dead?"
Kakashi looked around before subtly motioning her to follow, then stood and silently moved away from the crowd alongside her.
Using his observation, Kakashi actively monitored the entire land of Water.
"About that… Yagura isn't dead."
Kakashi raised a hand before she could reply.
"Those words were his, but after I helped free him and the three-tails from the genjutsu, we came up with a plan to fake their deaths. Right now, they should be far away from here, disguised and safe. But officially, to the world, and more importantly, the Akatsuki, will wait for the three-tails to 'revive' before starting their plans. This gives you time to encourage your ninja to improve; to anyone looking, it'd merely look like a nation recovering from the civil war. If you ever think you can tell someone this, I'd advise you not to. The Akatsuki had a member who could sneak into any village without being caught."
Mei sighed in part relief that Yagura wasn't dead, and annoyance that she was tricked so thoroughly.
"Alright, I'll take your advice and not say a word to anyone, not even myself in the mirror."
Mei stepped forward, in Kakashi's face with a deathly serious expression.
"But you'll have to stick around and chat with me to make up for it."
Kakashi nodded, watching as the scary expression melted off her face in an instant, replaced by a smirk.
"Then let us go, let me show you the village."
Mei waited for Kakashi before she guided him through all the streets and showed him everything she could think of.
- Chapter End -
Another chapter. This one is quite a bit smaller, but I felt it needed to be posted immediately.