Meet Again?

"Aniki! I want to go there!" Interrupting the adults talking was Sara, who pointed Megumi towards the circus caravan that was present at the center circle.

A large wooden circular platform had been constructed for the people performing at the city center.

Carrying Sara, Megumi walked along stalls, when Seramu spotted her husband among the crowd of people waiting for the show that was about to begin.

"Wait a minute." Seramu excused herself as she pushed through the crowd and reached her husband and whispered to him.

Megumi and Sakura watched as Seramu's husband, Hiroto, first appeared surprised and then angry and then depressed as he nearly fell down onto the floor. But then his eyes met Megumi's.

Megumi felt like he could see actual fires in Hiroto's eyes as they glared at him, but they vanished when Sara waved her hands at him.

Hiroto waved back and shouted 'Come to Dada!' but only Sakura understood his words by reading his lips, both Megumi and Sara had already ignored him as they began to look at the large crates that were being carried onto the backside of the stage backdrop.

The performers were mostly Uzumaki, so Megumi guessed that these people were performing to earn some money for their refugee group that had landed in Roran.

Shinobi were never allowed to kill non shinobi because that would mean commiting a crime against the citizens of the country under Daimyo and would open a can of worms. So all those that escaped the village and had already taken refuge in other villages were left alive not because of kindness but because the rules were such.

Although Megumi knew it wasn't possible to affect the fates of the people that were going to die, it hadn't stopped him from trying.

Even today when he was enjoying the fair with people he was closest to, in his time, Meugmi had searched for any Uzumaki to save.

"What is that Aniki?"

"It's a camel! You haven't seen a camel?"

"No. Mom didn't allow me to go outside the house until I learnt the transformation jutsu."

"Oh, that's alright. Don't worry today we'll see many different animals together!!"

"Yaaayiiiieeee!!!"

"Sara! Come to me!!" Hiroto had arrived beside Megumi and Sakura with Seramu as he extended his hand towards Megumi which earned him nothing.

Sara just clenched Megumi's shirt harder and didn't want to let go.

Megumi just wryly smiled seeing this since he never realized he'd gotten so close to Sara. She seemed like a little sister to him, like Shizune.

"You- You must be the demon king! Unhand my daughter and break whatever genjutsu tricks you've used to keep her to yourself! Give her back to m-" Hiroto was about to shout more but the turning of heads and Sakura's intervention kept him down.

"Shhh! The show's starting." Sakura warned everyone.

The curtains on the circular stage opened revealing a vibrantly dressed group in their quadrant.

"Oh!! Mommy! Look! She is dressed like you!" Sara pointed at the central character standing among the brightly colored group.

"Of course she's dressed like mommy, today's performance is to celebrate the founding of Roran after all." Megumi pointed out.

"Oh!? This happens every year!? Then I want to come here again next year too! With Aniki! Again!" Sara's words made everyone freeze in place but given how involved she was with the performance on the stage, she seemed to have fortunately missed it.

The performance on stage was a 'dance' performance, performed by 'ex-shinobi' of the Uzumaki clan. The central actress wore a dark coloured purple gown that contrasted well with her red hair.

Letting her hands gently glide across the stage while delivering dialogues, the flowy gown exaggerated each movement, giving the audience a feel for grace and elegance.

The performers all used quick short steps to move around which made them look more like floating dolls than anything else.

Each time a rhythmic bell sounded from behind the backstage, the dancers rotated to the next quadrant, this way each part of the audience enjoyed the full story that depicted the founding day and the struggles leading up to it.

'Megi, wouldn't it be nice if we could encourage such traditional things on the Grimoire as well? It would make it all seem more, open? Free? Wonderful?' Sakura spoke to Megumi using their mental connection.

'Sure, we can do that but it'll make us quite hated if we were to decide what to promote or not to.'

'Then how will we promote them?'

'We can just make a regional based section for stuff like this, and whatever becomes popular there we can add to the mainstream.'

'Hmm…alright, I will keep that in mind.'

'By the way, what happened to that project you were working on?'

'I'm about to finish it in another couple of weeks. Why?' Sakura asked, turning to look at Megumi.

'Not-'

Before Megumi could finish his reply a loud crash echoed throughout the city.

Not waiting for anyone to interrupt him, Megumi immediately teleported while leaving Sara to her father who was more than happy to have her back.

Sakura found herself getting dragged along with Megumi as they both appeared on a balcony that viewed the central tower of the Roran palace.

The tower that housed the Ryumyaku vein.

Except... 

"What happened to the tower?" Sakura asked, her eyes widening as she watched a dust cloud rise up at the spot where the tower was.

Well most of the tower since the area that had been wrapped in seals made by the Trio of the best sealmasters Megumi knew was perfectly fine.

"The Ryumyaku vein's safety is all that matters. For now." Megumi said as he immediately began to use his clairvoyance to peer through the dust storm and find out the person who had entered.

"What in the wor-"

Before Megumi could continue his sentence, he had to dodge the blast of a strike that emerged at him from the dust cloud.

THUD CRASH THUD

The fleshy pink cylindrical muscle that flew past Megumi's head landed on the wall behind him and split it in two, dragging back with it one of the pieces as it returned.

"A frog?" Sakura asked as she saw a frog head floating in the dust cloud.

"No."

"The- WHAT IN THE WORLD!?"

Sakura instantly yelled as the dust cleared and made more of the 'creature' that was currently attacking them.

"I mean, I promised Sara I'd show her a lot of animals today, but this, this isn't what I wished for."

Megumi and Sakura both looked at the absolutely monstrous creature that was in front of them.

It's entire body was composed of heads.

Heads of all sorts of different creatures.

It had a neck as long as a camel's and body as long and slender as a snake.

Attached to everything in every place sprouting either from his slender neck or his slender body were heads of frogs, birds, cats, fishes and even a few humans.

"What have you done." Megumi whispered quietly but to his surprise was picked up by some of the heads.

Turning their rickety eyeballs to look at him, all the heads seemed to speak at once.

""It's you! It's YOU!!""

"What did I do to you that you already regret meeting me!!?" Megumi asked the obvious.

"Regret?" The heads all looked down on Megumi, a mocking smile gracing their faces.

"I do not regret it. I only wish I could've met you a few days later to harvest even more corpses. Now I will have to drop about thirty."

"...?"

"I think that was the first time when a villain explained his plan, I understood nothing."

"Shut up and kill it!" Sakura screamed as she was forced to dodge another slimy tongue flying towards her head to crush it like a watermelon thrown out an observation deck.

Pulling his sword Megumi slashed toward the tongue and chopped it off, but surprisingly neither did the other heads recoil in pain, nor did they acknowledge it.

They all had their eyes shut as if praying.

And before Megumi's widened eyes and Sakura's hanging mouth, the tongue regenerated, instantly.

"What the heck!? That was super speed regeneration! What's going on!?"

"HAHAAHHAHAHAHA!!! Let your puny brains witness the true power of God!" This time it was the single face at the end of the long camer's neck, Mukade's face that spoke while the other heads all still had their eyes closed in worship.

Suddenly Mukae stopped laughing and opened his mouth wide, revealing the long dark ever extending throat he held inside it.

"Rura, hold my hand!"

As soon as Sakura grabbed onto Megumi's extended hand, he wrapped them both in a layer of Infinity. It confused Sakura since she didn't need his protection, at least not to a degree that Megumi would need to reveal his trump card when Hagoromo could also be watching the fight right now.

But soon her thoughts flipped like a switch when a low distant rumbling was heard.

To ordinary people the sound would resemble the rolling of rocks or if loud enough perhaps a landslide.

But to a shinobi it represented a nightmare, a different kind of nightmare.

Sakura began making seals with her remaining hand as she took a deep breath in.

Holding the at most she could Sakura waited for the right moment to release all that she'd taken in.

"Now!" Megumi shouted, catching on to what Sakura was doing.

"Katon: Gouka Mekkyaku."

With the quick release, fiery hot air first exited Sakura's mouth followed by a sea of flames that poured out of her mouth like a never ending waterfall of fire.

On the other end, an entire ocean of buzzing insects emerged out of Mukade's mouth as they collided with Sakura's hot flames and began burning up.

SCREEECCCHHHHHHH*SIZZLEE**SCREREEEEEEEECCCHHHH*

The screeching on burning insects sang like an orchestra as Megumi's brain worked at high speed to figure out what Mukade was planning, while Sakura was working hard to buy time for him.

As soon as Megumi figured everything out his eyes widened once again but he immediately brought them under control and squeezed Sakura's hand, indicating her to stop.

Pouring out all the flames that reigned inside her, Sakura stopped and calmed down, taking deep breaths to cool down her body that felt like it was on fire and began to direct chakra towards healing the bleeding and scorched damages inside.

As soon as Sakura stopped, the insects flew past Sakura and Megumi into the town while Megumi spoke to Sakura using their mental connection.

'I'm sending you ba-'

'No!'

'Listen to me. I'm sending you back to inform Seramu that those insects must be killed at any cost or the entirety of Roran will die.'

'What!?'

'Yes, and then I'll teleport you to the top of the castle, kill any bug that moves. Kill it as quickly as you can, no matter what.'

'Ok.'

'Good luck. You'll need it. And don't get bitten. Whatever happens don't get bitten.'

Sakura nodded seeing the serious look in Megumi's eyes as she was teleported away by Megumi.

"Oh? You figured out my plan? The old fool was underestimating you then." The abomination of a living creature turned to face Megumi with all its faces while it's eyeslagged behind and twisted and turned like a chameleon's.

"Did he say nice things about me?"

"Plenty! Like how valuable you would be as a sacrifice."

"Do you really need to sacrifice me that bad? Haven't you sacrificed enough already?"

"Oh!? You even figured that out? Not afraid of letting him know that you're much more smarter than you let on!?"

"Oh, I'm sure he won't know."

"Oh? How are you so sure?"

"Hard not to fall into a genjutsu when you have so many eyes isn't it." Megumi smirked as he looked directly into the several eyes that were staring at him and his eyes turned into a sharingan.

"NANI!?"

Suddenly Mukade heard Megumi's voice from above himself.

"You know, from where I'm from they say, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I wonder who's the fool now?"

The Megumi with the sharingan vanished into a puff of smoke as the one above Mukade slashed down with all his strength causing a lightning slash to spread out and cut Mukade into two pieces.

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Thank you for reading!

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