V.1-C.36│World War Begins III│

Mei, Rin and Kurenai all were spending some time together, now that they would have to spend time together due to the nature of what the Third Hokage had said.

Mei would now be a part of Team Kushina, meaning that the four man team that was composed of Obit, Rin, Kurenai and Kushina, would now include Mei as well. If only to serve as a temporary solution to her currently being kind of unemployed.

Team Kushina would have to split up any profit they made even more so than before for their missions, and due to the economy not being that good, it was certainly a blow to their income.

However, it wasn't like they still couldn't get by.

"I don't think we have really properly introduced ourselves to each other, not really anyway." Kurenai said as they were all seated within a restaurant frequented by Kushina, Ichiraku's Ramen.

A startup business that seemed to be doing well enough. "No? Ok then..." Mei said, as Rin and Kurenai did the standard introduction of their own, then it became Mei's turn to say something more.

"Well, my name is Mei Terumi. I like... well, I like spicy food. I dislike things that I cannot taste, and my hobbies include... well, I don't really have any hobbies. Not really. My dream... is to help reform the village, my village, Kirigakure." Mei said as she started to eat her own bowl of spicy ramen.

"Great, since that this is over, I guess we can do something else. We don't really have any other missions we are doing, which is strange..." Rin trailed off at the last bit, thinking over why things have gotten a bit more... dark?

Yeah, dark in a sense that a gloom was lingering within the air. A tension as well, as if there was some big event going to start soon, very soon. "That is fine. What should we do then?" Kurenai asked as she finally finished her own hot meal.

"I suggest that we could do some training together. I have experienced fighting with you two, but I haven't experienced fighting against you two. I think that would be interesting." Mei suggested as she was also finished up, being the last to finish as Rin had finished first.

"That sounds like a good idea." Rin nodded her head, before the three of them would pay for their meal and leave the place, heading towards one of the training grounds.

It would be here that Rin and Kurenai are shown just how they compare to Mei, who has a surprising amount of strength behind her lithe frame. Of course, Rin and Kurenai would not totally just lose to her, given that they have also been trained pretty well enough as well.

Being around Obito and trying to keep up with his physical exercise was something they couldn't do, so they had tried to do. The only person right now that should be a rival to Obito in his pure physical stamina would probably be Kushina.

A close second would be Guy, who has been shown to have a tremendous amount of endurance for a lot of things. Training in particular.

"I think that individually, neither of you can beat me." Mei said as she had just beaten the two of them, one on one.

"She may be right." Rin said to Kurenai, who seemed a little upset that she had lost to the girl, but she wouldn't let this stop her now.

"Fine." Kurenai accepted that the two of them should now engage Mei, as their combined attempts should be able to do something.

Sure enough, it was true that Mei would be defeated by the combined efforts of Rin and Kurenai, but of course none of them would be using more powerful techniques. Nor go at each other with the intent to kill, as this was only meant to be another activity for the three of them to bond with each other.

Who said girls aren't able to do the same as boys? That is fight, and then be friends afterwards.

"It would seem... that I have been beaten." Mei said as she was now on the ground, having collapsed from the exhausting spar she had with the other two girls. Rin and Kurenai were no better, only managing to stay standing a little bit longer.

"Don't worry... I will get strong enough to defeat you myself." Kurenai said with fire in her eyes.

"Sure, sure..." Mei waved her off, and started to laugh, causing a chain reaction that lead to all three girls to also laugh at this situation.

"Wow. Pretty good." A voice spooked the three of them, that is until the three girls realized that it was Kushina.

"Elder sister?" Rin asked as Kushina had come onto the training grounds.

"You guys did good. All of you." Kushina said with a smile on her face, but this faded as she then said. "Things have gotten bad now. Konoha and Iwa are now at war with each other."

"What?" Kurenai gasped, not believing what she heard but at the same time, this was at the back of her mind. The potential for a battlefield that could be the end of herself, or anyone else really, whether that be her current companions, friends, or... 'Obito...' Kurenai thought to herself worriedly.

"Yes. Unfortunate as it is, but it seems like everyone will be getting busy. I am afraid that there may only be some on the job training going on." Kushina said, before adding. "Mikoto will more than likely be assigned on the same deployment as ourselves, meaning that you will be fine to learn from her, Kurenai."

"Rin, for now, you will have to train with what you have. We can begin our search for Tsunade soon enough, and I have a few ideas about where we could start. I do believe that she will stay far away from the warring areas though." Kushina continued.

"That's ok." Rin responded with a calm look on her face, not worried about this fact.

"As for you, miss Mei Terumi, you... You have two bloodline limits, do you not?" Kushina asked.

"I do..." Mei didn't have anyone really to teach her, all of her current abilities and strength is a result of her own determination and path to becoming stronger. Sure, her being a bloodline limit holder may also influence her current strength somewhat as well, but she had developed well enough on her own.

In fact, she had enough potential to even further do so. "Well, I don't know of anyone that could help you with controlling that, but I'm sure that I can think of something. You are a part of our team now, so I have to naturally help you to the best of my abilities as well." Kushina said to the girl.

Mei looked at Kushina a little bit differently now, only thinking that she was just some funny jonin, but it seemed like Kushina has some level of genuine care for her. It was something relatively unexperienced for Mei. "... Thank you." She said.

"No problem." Kushina replied, before looking at the training grounds. "But who said that the three of you could stop training? Don't the three of you know that we will be deployed soon? Get up! And get back to some physical exercise!" Kushina basically forced the three girls to hurry up and get stronger now.

The three girls could complain and face her wrath, or they could be silent and do as she says, but still face her grueling training methods. "Come on! There is no time to waste!"

They would go on a spree of physical exercise, further pushing them past their limits and the day, the afternoon would soon enough tick over towards the night. Specifically, sun set.

This is when Obito would show up himself. "Eh... what is going on?" He asked as he saw the three girls, tired, and absolutely exhausted beyond all belief. They were all on the ground, while Kushina was still lively enough to run around said girls.

"Obito! Great, you are here. Look at your teammates. Look at how tired they are. They can do better, right Obito?" Kushina smiled and it looked evil to the three girls now. "Right girls?" She asked them, as they would answer by quickly nodding their heads.

'I don't think I want to know...' Obito thought to himself, but seeing that everything was fine, cared not for their state, as he had been in a similar state himself, and not just on one occasion. "I need some help..." Obito said, getting the attention of everyone here.

"Help!? What do you need help with?" Even though tired, Kurenai got up and asked right away. Rin and Mei got up eventually as well, and Kushina was already listening.

"Um... I have a little problem with a girl."

"Girl!?" Kushina rushed towards Obito, before she grabbed ahold of him and looked into his eyes. "A girl, did you say." She was staring intensely.

"Kushina...?" Obito asked seeing the look in her eyes, but he could also see that he had drawn the three others attention as well.

"Tell me, what is the problem." Kushina narrowed her eyes as she said this, and Obito could've sworn that he started to see Kurama help back Kushina up in this moment, a shadow of the Nine Tail's behind her.

"She has been following me around, and I really don't know what to do about it..." What Obito said seemed to cause all four of the girls here some relief, and the tension in the air dissipated, but that didn't mean it was over just yet. "The girl, her name is Anko Mitarashi, she wants to learn from me...? I can't seem to lose her." Which was strange, because if he did go all out, he could lose her.

It was just that she would seem to have some sort of trick that would enable her to track him down everywhere. He didn't know that Anko had such an ability, or technique to do so, not in his past life's memories anyway. "A stalker...?" Kushina said, before she turned her eyes behind Obito. "Is she the one?"

Kushina gestured behind Obito, towards another area that was dark, and had foliage in the way of their view. "Yes..." Obito nodded his head, already knowing that Kushina was able to sense her.

No one here but Obito and Kushina were sensor types. "You! In the bushes there, come on out!" Kushina called out.

Soon enough, Anko had made her appearance to everyone here. "Hello?" Anko hesitated, a bit intimidated by Kushina's presence, but Anko didn't care about the other three girls.

"Yes, you. What do you want to learn from Obito?" Kushina asked the girl, searching for something.

"Oh! I just think that Obito is cool, and strong. I want to be just as cool and strong." Anko said, truthfully.

"Is that all you want from Obito...?" Kushina was really testing the girl, where the other three, Rin, Mei and Kurenai were also now interested in Anko's answer.

"All I want...?" Anko may have blushed a little there, and even fidgeted a little bit, giving everyone here, except Obito, the answer to that question.

Sighing, Kushina decided that maybe this was enough for the day. "Alright kid. Go back home, it is late." Kushina said, before she also said the same to everyone else.

Before everyone would leave however, Anko would very boldly stake a claim on Obito, again without him really understanding what is going on. "I want Obito to take me home!" Anko declared, already going in for the hug, as she managed to throw herself onto Obito's back.

Seeing this, an ugly look appeared on Kushina's face, and there may have been some other similar looks that appeared on the others as well. "Well... I guess?" Obito was still left unaware.

[]

The Uchiha Stone Tablet, beneath the shrine, was something that Mikoto had gone by herself to look at.

Not that she knows this, but the stone tablet is a monument which was created by Hagoromo Otsutsuki in order to discourage his son's descendants from attempting to recreate the Rinnegan. The tablet can also only be deciphered fully by the Rinnegan, while the Sharingan and Mangekyo Sharingan are able to partially decipher it.

Some time after Hagoromo's death, certain details on the tablet were forged by Black Zetsu as part of its plan to revive Kaguya Otsutsuki.

The tablet eventually fell into the possession of the Uchiha clan, the descendants of Indra Otsutsuki, where it was secretly passed down for generations. After the formation of Konohagakure, the tablet was kept in the underground bunker of the Naka Shrine for decades.

"Let's see here..." Mikoto glanced upon the stone tablet with her Sharingan eyes.

The secrets of the Uchiha were contained within the stone tablet, and it was not something she had ever had a chance to look at up close. At first, there was nothing with just her usual eyes, but she knew that there was something more.

With just the basic Sharingan, she was able to see some secrets of the Uchiha, but she was also able to see the secrets to getting the Mangekyo Sharingan. 'I need something more...' Mikoto transformed her eyes into her own Mangekyo Sharingan, and it looked like a flower with eight leaves.

It almost looked like the sun, but a dark sun within her eyes, a flowery dark sun. These were her Mangekyo Sharingan eyes, and with them she was able to see even more secrets on the stone tablet.

It revealed to her the process of gaining what was known as the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. 'A way...' She thought that this was barbaric and was not something most would do.

To kill someone else and take their eyes was not something that Obito would do, but that didn't mean Mikoto wasn't willing to do this herself. Willing to become 'evil' enough to steal another persons eyes and give it to him.

'But it states that a sibling would be best...' Mikoto didn't have any siblings, and neither did Obito. Meaning that they would both have to find someone within the Uchiha that have the Mangekyo unlocked, and then decide what to do from there.

Narrowing her eyes, Mikoto knew now a possibility she could explore, one that should be the last resort and something that she is more than willing to do.