Shota was being tended by the iryo-nin Ilumi inside a quiet room in the Daimyo's estate. The medical ninja worked carefully but firmly, changing his bandages and applying healing chakra to his wounds. Every touch sent sharp pain through his body, especially around his pierced shoulder.
"Ouch... be gentle, woman!" Shota said as Ilumi tightened the bandages a little too tight, hurting his wound on purpose.
"I am sorry," she replied sweetly, though her eyes showed she was not sorry at all. "I was just thinking about how you lied about a fake S-rank mission given by the Kazekage. Do you know how serious of an offense this is?"
"Oh well, you can complain to the new Anbu corruption department about this. Make sure to tell their leader about this heinous crime. Let us see what he has to say on this... oh right, I am the leader, and my judgement is Shota Aizawa is not guilty," Shota said with a wave of his hand, grinning despite the pain.
Ilumi gave him a flat look. "You are already abusing your new power before you even officially start the division?"
"Perks of the job," Shota replied cheerfully. "Besides, it was for the greater good. If I had told you the truth, you would have tied me to the bed and never let me leave. I had to improvise."
Suddenly Shota screamed in pain. "Ahhhhh, what are you doing, crazy woman?"
"Oh sorry, my kunai might have fallen from my pouch into your wound. I am sorry. Thankfully it did not fall from the pointed side," Ilumi said innocently while pulling the kunai out slowly.
Shota took the warning and immediately shut his mouth. He decided it was better not to tease the person currently in charge of his medical care. Ilumi continued treating him with a satisfied smile, clearly enjoying the small revenge.
After some time, Ilumi asked more seriously, "Did Sasori of the Red Sand really kill the Third Kazekage? And he really made a puppet out of him?"
"Yes. And yes. The puppet even looks like him. It can even use the Magnet Release kekkei genkai. A true art. Do not tell Sasori about it. He would never let me hear the end of it," Shota replied.
"Is it wise to let him back in the village? Would the others even accept him back after the crime he has committed?" she asked with visible fear in her voice.
"Suna needs him. And besides, I think he still likes Suna deep down. I am sure Lady Chiyo would do her best to get him back to the village. I do not think there is anyone more influential in Suna than her," Shota answered confidently.
As he said that, Shota remembered the letter that had come with the scroll containing information about how Elder Daigo had brought the Third Kazekage outside the village where he had collided with Sasori.
Shota had spun the facts in front of the Daimyo in such a way that it seemed Elder Daigo knew where Sasori was and deliberately brought the Kazekage there to fight him. In reality, Sasori had simply been waiting in ambush.
He smiled as he remembered the small letter Sasori had left.
In that letter, Sasori had simply written: "For showing me a good fight, I will be doing you a favour. Here is something that would make it easy for you to bring Elder Daigo down. I did not like Elder Daigo anyway. He had sent me to kill you if you rejected his offer of joining his faction, which I knew you would do, so I went straight to killing. Next time we meet, I am going to kill you. So make sure you are strong enough to survive."
Shota smiled thinking about it. 'Hmm, now the next step would be to get rid of the traitor finally, then get the bounty officially removed off Sasori san, and then to find Sasori nii-san again and hope he does not kill me like he promised, and get him back to the village and make the village accept him.'
'Let us see how the Akatsuki would deal with four S-rank shinobi of Suna at the same time. Suna might become the village with the most S-rank shinobi after Konoha. But Konoha is going to lose quite a few of their S-rank shinobi soon enough, so we might take the lead if no one dies on our side,' he thought with dark amusement.
'And to think that I can have six shinobi all under my command in the new Anbu division. But who should I get in my team? Should I ask Spider-san? It would be fun to become my boss's boss. Let us see how he likes it when I make him sleep less,' Shota thought, imagining Spider's tired face buried in even more paperwork. The idea of giving his former commander orders and forcing him to attend early morning meetings made Shota chuckle quietly.
He could already picture Spider complaining about grey hair and his upcoming marriage while Shota assigned him extra night shifts just for fun.
Two days later, Shota was fit enough to at least run back to the village. He was not completely healed, but he had decided that it would be better to get his remaining injuries treated on the way back.
The journey would give Ilumi time to continue healing him while they traveled. Despite the medical ninja's strong protests, Shota insisted on leaving immediately. He could not afford to stay in the capital any longer.
The new division, the arrest of Elder Daigo, and the pardon for Sasori all needed to be handled as quickly as possible.
--------Author Notes---------
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