35 Ten Thousand

Author Note: Imagine I actually took the time to write a proper hot spring episode that would be funny.

"Ino your back." Relaxing against the edge of the hot spring Hinata spotted Ino walking in. Hearing Hinata, Kurenai looked over at Ino before speaking. "I thought you were going to miss out. Where have you been?" Ino slowly walked into the hot spring before replying and sitting down. "Nowhere really I was just talking to Rei but he had something to show me."

Perking up Hinata seemed interested as she asked. "Oh? What was it?" Hearing her ask Ino chuckled a bit before thinking. "Well… I think it would be best if you saw it for yourself. It's just on the right side of the building." What Rei had shown her was actually something he promised he would do before he even began building.

To the right side of the building was a large monument he used to replace his parent's graves. When she saw it for the first time she left in awe just by how beautiful everything looked. That paired with how much they talked made her late when it came to getting to the hot spring. "If you say so then I'm sure it is."

Taking her word for it both Hinata and Kurenai had their curiosity sedated. "Well, I can say one thing this hot spring is great. You wouldn't imagine spring would be here of all places." Looking around Ino was actually surprised not to hear the boys on the other side. Usually, in places like this, they would be fooling around making noise.

'Guess even they can appreciate something so calming.' And with that thirty whole minutes passed before everyone got out feeling fully refreshed. Recovering outside of the hot spring area they all had on kimonos that had been prepared in advance. "Man this place feels like a resort. Imagine being able to live here for two years straight. Rei's living the life."

Hearing Kiba state that fact everyone had to agree this place was great. "Oh by the way where did those kids go?" Choji looked around and saw Seiki and Fuyumi were nowhere to be seen. Looking over at Choji, Shikamaru responded. "Apparently they had something to do but they said Rei was in the room down the hall."

With that everyone made their way down the hall until arriving at two sliding doors. Opening both of them they were greeted with a normal-sized room with an elongated table in the center. Seating at one end of the table was Rei who looked like he was expecting them. "I'm assuming you all had a good time?"

Asuma was the first one to step into the room sitting on the opposite end of the table. "Yes, we appreciate the hospitality." Soon everyone else began to sit down as well. "Good though now I'm afraid we're going to have to talk about more urgent matters am I right?" Rei honestly didn't have any ill will towards anyone in the Leaf other than Danzo so he wasn't going to act like a brat and send them away for no good reason.

Instead, he decided it would be best to clear out all of this business now and officially get himself instated. Sighing Asuma was the one who took charge of talking to Rei while everyone else remained rather quiet. "Yes. You see currently your building between the borders of the Land Of Fire and the territory of Takigakure." Keeping an eye on Rei's expression Asuma continued.

"Now this would not be an issue since Takigakure doesn't truly control the land separated from the other nations. Meaning you can build there without having any political issues however you're also slowly entering the territory of the Land Of Fire which is why we're sent here." Rei suddenly showed a look of slight confusion.

"So what you're saying is as long as I only continue construction into the Land behind me then there shouldn't be an issue?" From his take, this was all having to do with the Land Of Fire wanting to avoid him building on their land. However, Asuma suddenly shook his head. "That would be the case if you were a part of one of the five nations."

The Five Nations were what they were because of their individual power. They had the Hokage's that were their main driving force and compared to smaller countries they had a larger military. Those things together along with bringing people into their territory granting them a larger population is what kept them as the main Five.

Kurenai who was sitting off to the side of the table continued for Asuma. "Basically the lack of population is why you and this place can't officially be acknowledged or put on a map. You would need at least a population of over ten thousand to become independent and even then you face the chance of being taken over."

Explaining the situation to Rei they were hoping he would understand that he would either have to join one of the villages or tear this place down. However, Rei didn't speak for a moment before he started giggling. "Wait… So all I have to do is get ten thousand residents to live here and all my issues will be solved?"

Hearing him talk about it was an easy matter Asuma spoke up. "Rei I know you think you have this under control but you're still too young to create an entire country. From what I can tell you don't have any political knowledge and most importantly no matter how strong you are you cant protect an entire country on your own."

Rei was strong Asuma could see that even when they first met. And despite those years passing and his ability to fight off and kill Kabuto along with Orochimaru he didn't believe he was strong enough. That same thought was running through everyone's heads as they looked at Rei who had gone silent for a moment.

"So what exactly happens if I decide not to do either and just keep things how they are?" A slight shiver spiked through the air as Rei asked this question. His tone was the same but there was a hint of a threat hidden beneath it. Taking a breath Asuma told him exactly what would happen.

"Then the Daimyo would have full authority to have you and this place destroyed with the full backing of the Hidden Leaf. I'm sorry." Politics were harsh but in the end, that was the way of the world. Even if Tsunade had no issue with it the Daimyo had the last call when it comes to mobilizing forces when dealing with territorial disputes.

"Three months no actually two months." Rei raised his hand and indicated the numbers with his fingers. Hearing him everyone looked confused as Asuma asked what he meant. "What do you mean by two months?" Rei in turn smiled as he tapped the table. "In two months this place will have over ten thousand residents and will be fully built without crossing any borders."

Everyone stopped moving as they heard Rei's statement. Doing the math in his head even Shikamaru knew it was impossible. Getting ten thousand people to trust a fifteen-year-old boy to run an entire country with no background or political knowledge was insane. "Rei you do understand that even if you do gather that many people you'll have to deal with the military as well right?"

Double-checking and making sure he understood Kurenai truly felt like I wasn't thinking about the situation properly. 'Thanks to this strange Jutsu he uses, they have plenty of resources when it comes to building and what not but that's not enough.' But once again Rei seemed confident as he replied.

"When you report back to Tsunade, tell her to give me two months time. In that time frame I'll meet the quota and if not then the next time anyone comes here this place will be gone." Rei spoke with the utmost seriousness like making a promise which left Asuma and Kurenai with nothing left to say.

"We- Ok… If that's what you want to do then very well deliver the message. But I really hope you thought this through." Sighing, Asuma gave up and Kurenai could only follow his lead. Seeing that Rei turned cheery as if the conversation had not happened. "Alright then! Since it's already late you can stay here tonight and leave tomorrow."

Rei stood up first stretching his arms and legs before glancing over everyone who was still looking at him strangely. 'I guess I can't blame them since they don't know what I have had in store for this place. It's a miracle I got through two years without dealing with this so it's about time I get everything together.'

With Rei preparing to leave so did everyone else feeling different ways about how things went. "Does he really plan to get that many people here in just two months?" Choji looked back at the room as they left and Shikamaru responded to him shaking his head. "It's impossible the world is just too crowded. But we did our mission not our problem anymore."

Continuing to leave the room Ino remained sitting there as she looked at Rei. "Do you really think you can do this? I mean that's a lot of people even big clans like the Hyuga couldn't pull something like this off during the Warring States period." Glancing over Rei could see Ino was honestly concerned.

"Well either I do it and succeed or I'm forced to join one of the Five Nations. I'm sure I can manage either way." Hearing his joke about the situation Ino looked at him. "Fine but seriously if you do need any help let me know. I may not look like it but I'm the heir to the Yamanaka clan. I get you a place for you and those three to stay if it comes down to it."

Listening to her Rei raised a brow. "Well, thanks for showing how much you trust in my ability." Ino rolled her eyes slightly before standing up. "Welp that's all the comforting words I can muster up in one sitting. Just don't do anything stupid…" Leaving the room and following after the others's Rei went into his thoughts.

'Finishing construction, Settling over ten thousand souls along with finding powerful people I can trust to help protect this place. And finally dealing with all the political issues.' Looking down at Ryujin Jakka who was still to his side he couldn't imagine how much the people who made their version of the afterlife had to deal with.

"Welp taking it one step at a time looks like I'm going to have to go soul searching."