57 57: Portal Party

Yuta had expected many things when he heard that he would be meeting Reincarnator #1 soon.

He had, of course, checked her file in Number #4's Group Chat for what little information it contained about her. But he found himself disappointed with the general lack of info.

Heck, even calling her a 'her' at all was merely guesswork based entirely on the sound of her voice.

As the conversation with Pakura had wound down, Reincarnator #11 had spoken up and informed the group that Number #1 was almost there, and that the two of them had already agreed to cooperate with one another.

He wanted to question Number #11 about why she hadn't mentioned being in contact with Number #1 sooner, given that any sort of conversation with the most elusive Reincarnator would make waves amongst the entire Global Chat, but the girl was quiet and shy enough that he felt no need to think too hard about her motives. He'd probably keep it quiet as well, if he were in her place.

Still, that had left his mind free to speculate about what the eldest Reincarnator of Group A would be like. They were at the very least capable of killing a person, given what they'd done to Mishima which put them ahead of many other Reincarnators, most of whom hadn't hadn't yet partaken in any missions that would require the death of an enemy.

Off the top of his head from what little research he'd done into the other Reincarnators, only himself, Ryu, Taichi, Number #7, Number #6, Number #1, and of course Mishima were the members of their Group that had killed anyone. In Group B, he only knew of Number #51, Yosuke and Number #58, Fuyuhiko who had killed anyone, although it was significantly harder to find out about their Group since he couldn't just interrogate them through the Chat system.

Yet despite all his considerations, his mind still wasn't prepared for the truth that pressed down on him when he saw that white-masked person step into the clearing from the sidelines. 

The truth?

He felt vulnerable.

Painfully, frighteningly vulnerable.

He had expected to feel at least a little apprehensive, after all this was the person who killed Mishima, and currently both Yuta and everyone else around him were either too injured to fight, or too exhausted to make use of any powerful techniques. Feeling a little nervous when a strong fighter approaches in peak condition was normal.

But when he met eyes with those darkened holes in the mask he was hit by a wave of nausea and worry that he honestly had never thought he could feel from such a minor change in the status quo.

That change?

He couldn't sense them. 

It was a small thing really, and it honestly hadn't even occurred to him during the heat of combat against Mishima. If he told this to anyone else they'd ask him if he was having a mental breakdown or something. After all, normal civilians and even most shinobi lived their entire lives not being able to sense people. So why was it such a big deal to him that its absence made him feel physically ill?

It was because of habit, really. He'd grown accustomed to using his Oracle System, Prometheus, on everything he saw. Furniture, buildings, civilians, shinobi, everything. He always had at least a bit of information about something popping up in his System Window, often tucked neatly away in the corner of his vision, kind of like a video game HUD.

He used it on everything, even the mighty Third Raikage, and was comforted by the fact that they had no idea he was gathering data on them.

Here? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Worse, he could feel their own gaze practically boring into his soul as they briefly locked eyes with him. He felt exposed, like a stray dog shivering in the rain as the blinding headlights of a heavy vehicle drew rapidly closer.

Yuta's last memory after that point was of a trickle of blood dripping down from his nose and the panicked exclamation of "Bro?!" from Ryu before his eyes rolled back and he passed out on the spot.

- - -

'Hm, looks like Number #12 was more injured than I thought. I guess he must've passed out from the pain? I'll heal him in a moment.' Seija thought to herself as she entered the clearing.

"[You know that is not the reason. I just gained a tiny scrap of experience for resisting the effects of his Oracle System. Also, your Sharingan just activated for a moment.]" Firewall prodded her.

'Maybe~'

"Good evening." She announced her presence to the group.

Their reactions to her appearance were... mixed, to say the least. Besides the unconscious one, there were a number of different expressions among the onlookers. Ryu looked angry that her appearance seemed to cause his sworn brother to pass out, but he made no moves to approach her. There was a surprising amount of practical experience behind those eyes. It seemed like he could tell she was stronger just by looking at her. She was impressed.

Taichi's expression was mostly nervous, but slightly curious too, like he was wondering if he'd ever seen her before somewhere. Seija assumed that he would recognise her outfit within a few moments.

Mimi looked understandably relieved, although she was noticeably put-off by the featureless mask covering Seija's face.

Pakura showed the least open reaction out of all of them, but Seija didn't miss the way that the girl awkwardly fidgeted in place. Seija imagined she would react similarly to the presence of the person who just effortlessly killed the most hated person in her life, if she were in Pakura's position.

It was Taichi who gave the first response.

"Uh... Hi there? Man, I can't put my finger on it but I swear I've seen that outfit somewhere before. Anyways... You're Number #1, huh? You've become kind of a celebrity in the Chat these days, you know? What brought you to our corner of the world?" He awkwardly rattled off a number of questions, trying not to sound too unnerved.

Fortunately, Seija had dealt with enough civilian encounters during her time in the Akatsuki that she was already thoroughly used to this kind of scenario.

She turned to face him.

"You don't have to speak like I'm about to bite your head off, Taichi. Please, just try to think of me like any other random Reincarnator. As for why I'm here..."

She gestured to the catgirl behind the barrier.

Mimi looked startled to have suddenly been thrown into the conversation, but managed to find her footing and quickly cleared her throat.

"Ahem, yes, she's here because of me. By pure coincidence her organisation learned of my existence thanks to a request from my hometown to have me captured. She put two and two together and figured out that the Bakeneko they were sent to track down must have been me after I put out my call for help. I've already reserved a slot in the Dungeon raid party for her." She explained to the others.

"Wait, an organisation...?" Taichi asked, looking Seija up and down multiple times before something finally seemed to click.

"Holy shit... Y-You're part of the AKATSUKI! I knew I'd recognised that outfit from somewhere!" He shouted, pointing at her while slowly backing away.

Seija would've raised an eyebrow at him if he could've seen it.

"You really only just noticed my uniform? Also, would you be willing to explain why you're currently backing away from me? I just said I'm not going to bite your head off, didn't I?" 

He spluttered for a moment as he realised how ridiculous he must've looked from the others' perspectives. Even Ryu, who knew exactly what the Akatsuki was, didn't particularly mind it.

"W-Well... You know... It's the Akatsuki! The villains! The big bads! Pain, Kakuzu, Kisame, Zetsu, Madara... All those guys! Why the hell would you join a group like that!?" He questioned her.

She shrugged.

"You do know that the Akatsuki will only devolve into that state if an extremely specific set of plot-related occurrences happen, right? Right now, it is led by Yahiko, Nagato, Konan, and myself. None of those other villains are currently members of the Akatsuki, and - given that other Reincarnators will most likely change the plot at some point - they likely never will. Right now, we're just trying to bring peace to the chaos of the Land of Rain, and maybe one day the world beyond it. That's all." She answered.

The wind dropped out of Taichi's sails as his shoulders slumped.

"Right. Yeah, that uh... makes sense actually." He scratched his head as an embarrassed blush spread across his cheeks. "Sorry, it's been kind of a long day with the whole Mishima situation."

"It's not even noon yet." Pakura pointed out.

"Yeah, well I'm still tired!" He retorted.

Ryu slowly tried to stand up from where he was kneeling next to Yuta in order to get in on the conversation, but Seija held up a hand to stop him.

"You need to stay still for the moment, big guy. That nasty dehydrated burn on your stomach still isn't fully healed yet." She told him.

He nodded.

"Yeah that's kind of what I was going to ask you about. You used some kind of healing technique on Yuta and me during the fight with Mishima. Can you do it again? I'm worried about my bro suddenly passing out like this..." He pointed down at his unconscious friend.

Seija nodded and crossed her hands into a Clone seal.

*Poof*

"That shadow clone can tend to your wounds while I continue this conversation. Speaking of which..."

She turned to Pakura.

"How would you like to join the Akatsuki?" She asked.

Pakura blinked at her.

"What?"

"Our organisation. The Akatsuki. Would you like to join it? I've been speaking with Number #11 over there and I've been considering talking to the other founders about potentially branching out into other nations soon. If you were to join and prove yourself trustworthy, we could help you get back into Sunagakure's good graces and help bring peace to your country. What do you think?"

Pakura was taken aback by the sudden offer. She shifted around on the spot while she thought about it.

"That's... A nice offer and all, but what does it actually mean? That other Reincarnator over there called you a villain. I think I'd like to know what he was talking about first, if you don't mind." She warily answered.

Seija was more than happy to. Since she was going to be recruiting Mimi as well, this conversation would be directed at her as well.

She explained about the Akatsuki's role in the timeline in broad terms. She left out a few minor details here and there, but by and large she got the whole story of the Akatsuki across. From the moment it was founded by Yahiko, all the way to Pain's defeat at the hands of Naruto Uzumaki.

She also noted that Obito would continue to use the name for himself when he declared the Fourth Shinobi World War against the allied nations, but at that point he was pretty much just using the name for himself with nothing of the original organisation remaining.

Ryu and Taichi also occasionally added some points that Seija skipped, too.

In just a few minutes, Pakura and Mimi were both caught up to speed on what they would be getting themselves into should they choose to join.

Pakura slowly nodded after the explanation was over and gave her answer.

"Interesting... So this is where that Konan girl was. Mishima was obsessed with her, you know? Wouldn't stop talking about her for more than a few hours at a time... Anyways, you've been taking steps to push this Akatsuki in the correct direction, right?"

Seija confirmed that she was and Pakura seemed to relax a little more.

"Hm. Alright. I'll come with you, then. Not like I have anywhere else to go, and if what you say is true, it'll be a good place to train my Kekkei Genkai like this Kyusuke friend of yours did. Also..."

She glanced awkwardly at Mimi, who tilted her head when the attention was put on her.

"I do feel at least somewhat responsible for putting her into this situation where she was forced to trap herself or else get enslaved by Mishima. If she's joining you too, I'll be able to make it up to her over time."

Mimi rapidly shook her head and tried to say that she was fine and that she didn't need to do that, but Pakura cut her off.

"It doesn't matter whether or not it all worked out in the end for you, it's about the possibility of what might have happened, and what my body helped to try and do to you. And besides, you're not out of the woods yet; we still need to get you out of this... 'Dungeon', whatever that is."

Seija added herself back into the conversation with that statement.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that, #11. The Dungeon Portal says it contains Chunin-level threats, but what does that mean exactly? Does it mean that the threats would be dangerous for anyone at Chunin-level or weaker, or does it specifically mean that the threats will be exactly as strong as a typical Chunin shinobi? Will the threats themselves be actual Chunin shinobi, even?"

Mimi's ears folded back apologetically.

"Sorry, I don't really know what it means. I don't even know what a Chunin is... Also, why don't we just use our names from now on? I appreciate that you're taking care not to reveal my name to the others by calling me 'Number #11' but I'm honestly so exhausted with hiding stuff all the time. I think I've had enough of that for an entire lifetime by this point..."

Seija supposed that was reasonable. In retrospect, she wouldn't be able to keep her own name a secret for much longer either since she'd been spreading it with her Akatsuki work. Pretty soon, rumors of the Akatsuki and its known members would reach the ears of other Reincarnators and they'd know something was up the instant they realised that the organisation had acquired a fourth founder beyond the original three.

And she agreed with Mimi. She was tired of hiding so many things all the time. She had enough on her plate with all of her bloodlines already.

- - -

As she was about to open her mouth to agree with Mimi, Seija felt something walk into Firewall's passive detection range. Said range had been significantly expanded with Firewall's ascension to Level 3. From 100 meters at Level 1, to 250 at Level 2, it was now up to a whole kilometer at Level 3. If it continued to grow exponentially like this, she wouldn't be surprised to see her System's detection range envelop the whole planet by about Level 6 or 7.

'Firewall, who is that?' She asked, noticing that the figure was highlighted like an Item or a Skill, rather than a Reincarnator. She already knew that Ichiro was still nearby, but this was someone different. In fact, it looked like Ichiro was with them, which made the difference between the two even more clear.

"[That is a System-made character. As far as you and I are aware, the only way to create a character like this is through the use of a Summoning System. Thus, it stands to reason that this person must be a Summon.]"

'Thank you, Firewall.'

She watched through the back of her mind as the figure approached the clearing.

"Hold that thought, #11. I think we should save our official introductions for when the others get here." She said, turning to face the stranger's incoming direction.

"Hm? What others?" Mimi asked.

"One of them is Ichiro, the guy who got his ass kicked by Mishima before anyone else showed up. He looks to have recovered from his injuries already. As for the other one... Well, if I had to guess, they're probably the person who Rumi and Yosuke sent to help you."

Mimi's eyes widened a bit as she suddenly remembered her conversation with Rumi the previous day.

"Oh! Yes, Rumi did say that she was sending someone to help me. It must've slipped my mind after the chaos of the Mishima fiasco. I'll need to thank her later."

The group stood and waited as the sound of voices drew nearer.

"...And when I rightfully called her an old hag after she told us her age, she punched me so hard I hallucinated that I was seeing stars for the next half hour! And Gon had the audacity to act like nothing about that situation was weird! Jeez!" A pouty-sounding voice complained.

Ichiro's voice responded.

"Yeah, but you got stronger, right? Like sure, Bisky was a lot older than she looked and she hated having her age pointed out to her, but she was still one of the most experienced Nen tutors in the world. You gained more from studying under her than you would've learned in years of self-teaching."

A sigh.

"Maaaaan, you too? Tch... Yeah I do owe Biscuit-sensei a lot for the training she gave me and Gon pretty much free-of-charge, but still! A little sympathy for my poor abused skull would be nice for once in my life!"

'Ah, I think I recognise that voice. And the people they're talking about, too.' Seija noticed.

And her suspicion was confirmed when the white-haired, blue-eyed form of Killua Zoldyck strolled out from the treeline with his hands behind his head, Ichiro trailing a few steps behind him.

"Oh, hey! Looks like we've got a bit of a welcome party here!"

He squinted at the group before frowning and turning to Ichiro.

"Oi, Ichiro, Rumi and Yosuke said there was a murderer here for me to deal with. I can see a few injured guys there, but I'm not seeing a whole lot of murder going on. What am I missing?" He grumbled.

Ichiro at least had the sense to look embarrassed when he answered.

"Ah, yeah I got a World Message a few minutes ago informing me that Number #15 was killed by Number #1. Sorry I forgot to... why are you looking at me like that?" He innocently asked while Killua tried very, very hard not to grind his teeth or let a vein pop on his forehead.

"Nothing! No reason at all! It's not like I've been looking forward to blowing off some steam after running through rough terrain and multiple battlefields for an entire night. Nooo~ that's totally not it at all~..." Killua sarcastically drawled while very pointedly looking away from Ichiro.

By this point, they were close enough to be within spitting distance of the rest of the group.

Killua sighed and put his hands in his pockets before addressing the onlookers.

"Yo, name's Killua. Yosuke sent me here to help some cat-eared girl get out of a sticky situation. So that's what I'll be doing, despite any misgivings I may have once had about humanoid, cat-eared creatures."

And with that simple introduction he casually walked straight past the whole group and put his hand on the barrier. 

It didn't budge, of course.

"Damn. It's never that easy... Yo, catgirl! How do I get into this thing?" 

"Um... we haven't decided who will be joining the party besides Number #1 yet... I have to invite people in until we have a maximum group of four..." Mimi said.

"Huh? Well what have you all been standing around for?" He clapped his hands, "Alright then, one at a time. Who are you guys, what can you do, and how badly injured or exhausted are you?" Killua announced.

Seija chuckled at his impatience and his effort to take charge of the situation and shrugged.

"Well, nothing else for it then. I'm Reincarnator Number #1, but you can call me Seija. I am skilled in multiple combat styles. And I'm neither injured nor tired. There, does that satisfy you, Killua Zoldyck?" She rattled off smugly.

Killua made a face like he'd just tasted something sour before waving her off.

"I keep forgetting that most of you would already recognise me from my original world. Whatever, even though the explanation of your capabilities wasn't exactly informative, I'm experienced enough to tell just by looking that you're probably the strongest person here anyways, so you can get away with it. As for the rest of you..." He trailed off to let the others introduce themselves one by one.

Eventually, he got to Mimi.

"Yes, um... My name is Mimi. I... I have pretty much zero combat capabilities. But I'm at least quicker than a normal human, and I've got good senses! That's about it..." She shyly admitted to him.

Killua closed his eyes for a moment to mentally sort through the options before coming to his conclusion.

"Alright! Me, Seija, Ichiro and of course Mimi. That's the team." He decided.

The others would've protested, especially Pakura who still wanted to pay off her debt to Mimi, but as the group had listed off their current capabilities one by one, they'd come to the unfortunate conclusion that most of them simply weren't suitable for taking on a Chunin-level Dungeon at the moment.

Pakura had only recovered about ten percent of her chakra since the fight with Mishima. Ryu was totally out of stamina and still partially injured despite the efforts of Seija's shadow clone. Yuta was unconscious, but even if he had been awake, he was even more injured than Ryu was, so he was out anyways.

Also, Killua didn't trust Yuta's illusion power after having it explained to him by Ryu. It reminded him too much of a certain bad experience with his oldest sibling.

And finally, Taichi was in the best shape compared to the rest of the group, but he was still down to about half of his total chakra from using the Body Flicker Jutsu so liberally earlier, and more importantly, he was totally out of usable weapons for his Gate of Babylon to use as ammo. Sure, he could probably load it up with a bunch of kunai and shuriken, but would that really help at all against Chunin-level threats? Killua and Seija certainly didn't think so.

So that left the only three people in any state to fight at that level. Seija, Killua, and Ichiro. Ichiro was kind of pushing it, but Seija vouched that his Devil Fruit power was strong enough to combat most Chunin by itself, so even though his overall capabilities weren't much better than an average Genin, she recommended that Killua bring him too just to round out the team with a full party of four rather than just sending in herself and Killua.

And with that confirmation, Mimi opened her System Menu and sent the invites.