"Alliance" with Suna

Back in Konoha, Shiki was listening to Tsunade's official announcement on how things were settled between us and Suna. Soul contracts were provided by him so that the Suna elders wouldn't b able to back out of the deal so everything was set in stone.

Suna would be like a self managed subsidiary of Konoha like Shiki was ultimately planning to make all hidden villages subsidiaries to the one he was going to found. It was a sort of test run to see how things would go and since Tsunade, a person he could trust fully was in charge, he could be assured he wouldn't be doublecrossed in any way.

Several konoha Shinobi, handpicked by Tsunade, Shizune and Shiki would be sent to keep watch on Sunagakure as well as to escort the former prisoners of war back to their village. Although Shiki had no plans of moving village yet, he was going to be a part of the escort team to both, "deepen relations" with Tema-chough-Suna and to establish a hidden and official residence there as well.

As they moved along on the road, Shiki approached Temari.

"Hey, my desert fairy! How are you doing? All things considered."

She seemed very surprised at his attitude and was at a loss for words.

"What's wrong? Mad at me for capturing you and your brothers?" Shii asked.

"What about you!? How can you still flirt with me so casually after I was a part of an attack on your village!?" Temari asked in a loud voice.

"In my humble opinion . . . The absolute failure of the poorly conceived attack and the cost your village is paying and will pay, are more than enough to make us square, besides . . . You're so damn fine!" Shiki explained.

Temari was between blushing furiously at the flirty comment or ashamed for her village's colossal failure or even angry at Shiki for mocking Suna about their decision making. Still, she couldn't honestly fault him for being right and her shame would be best kept to herself so she settled for showing a positive reaction of flirty shyness to his comment on her beauty.

But then came a voice from the side. That of a person assigned to Suna and an individual quite close to Shiki.

"Flirting with the enemy Shiki?" Uzuki Yugao asked with a reproaching tone. Even though she was not engaged to Gekko Hayate like in the original series, she was still close friends with her former instructor who was one of the casualties of the Crush.

"Now, Now Yugao-nee! No need to get jealous. We're all "allies" now and besides . . . When will we have our promised match? You've been avoiding it with the excuse of continuous work but you can't run forever!" Shiki countered.

Yugao would never admit it but she was indeed a bit jealous that Shiki was flirting with another girl despite Yugao herself being close by next to him. She knew she had begun to develop feeling of a romantic nature for her former student that left her feeling complicated. She still remembered when he was nothing but a teasing little boy full of talent but was sure he could beat her now.

This only made her remember the deal she casually made about considering being his if he managed to beat her in a sword fight. Never had she though Shiki would arrive at this stage so quickly and not only that, also remember that silly deal and wanting her to make good on it.

Still, she couldn't yet admit even to herself she had fallen for a thirteen year old and their match would make her unable to escape her feelings so Yugao just kept avoiding it.

"I-I need a while to prepare myself . . ." She started. "After that, I'll find you for the promised match." Yugao declared.

"I'll be looking forward to it . . . And even more to the sweet reward that comes with my victory~" Shiki said, the last part with a teasing tone.

"Reward?" Temari asked from the side, slightly unable to follow the conversation.

First the Konoha kunoichi was adminishing Shiki for being nice to her which made her feel bad for both doing something that justified such a sentiment and for simply accepting Shiki's goodwill after what she had done. But afterwards, they both started talking about something personal, making her realize they were actually close.

Irrational as it may be, Temari was even a bit jealous over the fact Shiki was so close to a beautiful and mature kunoichi like Yugao . . . If only she knew the extent of Shiki's female "friends", it might give her a stroke!

Back to the conversation at hand, the Shiki who knew no shame was going to explain the deal he had with Yugao and their relationship but the person in question sealed his mouth and told him not be sharing that around carelessly.

Respecting her wishes, Shiki made an apologetic expression to Temari and said out loud.

"Fine, fine! It can be our little secret~!" In a suggestive tone, raising the eyebrows of surrounding shinobi from both villages and making Temari furrow her own.

Yugao just gave him an accusing stare but said nothing else.

Some time later, after crossing a good bit of desert, the group finally arrived at Sunagakure. An announcement had already been made so nobody was surprised by the arrival. Still, most Suna shinobi looked at the arriving Konoha shinobi with suspicion and resentment despite their village being the one to initiate the hostilities, between allies no less.

Then again, alliances in this world are only as valuable as the piece of paper they're written on and are ignored as soon as a side finds it convenient or profitable which is why despite the tight knit alliance between Uzushio and Konoha, when the former was attacked by the combined forces of the other nations, the latter provided only symbolic assistance which was the same as none at all.

Despite the attitude of the Suna shinobi however, the citizens seemed to have a pretty much neutral position like they didn't care much. This was one of the things Shiki could claim Konoha did better, at least their citizens were far more in tune with the shinobi of the village.

But since the former Kazekage's management led to a rift between the village and the Daimyo, Suna's economy suffered as a result and the citizens who felt the backlash felt discontentment over Rasa's leadership and by extension, over the shinobi that worked for him.

Since Shiki's companies would be providing funding and missions to Suna, their situation would soon improve which will undoubtedly result in a change of opinion towards the current situation of the village in both civilians and shinobi alike, or at least that was the objective.

After they set up in Suna, Shiki convince Temari to take him out on a date through the village. It didn't take too much effort though since she actually wanted to do it as well. She took him to try some Suna specialty dishes and showed SHiki the sights but during the date, they came across a number of genin who approached Temari to talk with her while giving side glances towards Shiki.

"Temari-san! It's great to see you back! We were so worried!" The first one said.

"Uhm! Umh!" The second one echoed with tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Sen, Yome! Thanks it's good to be back!" Temare answered, hugging the two kunoichi.

Sen had brown eyes with black pupils and sandy-brown hair tied in a ponytail with two strands of hair positioned on each side of her face and two braided strands. Pretty tall considering the average height for women of her age in this world, she was quite good looking as well.

Like most shinobi, she wore her forehead protector across her head and a mesh armour bodysuit under a red tube dress with a blue purple belt, fingerless gloves, shin guards, and black shinobi sandals. She also carried two small white fans with fur on them.

Yome on the other hand had a diminutive and child like frame with brown hair tied in two ponytails that curl the further it reaches the ends as well as two blushes on each side of her face and orange eyes with black pupils.

She also wore her forehead protector around her forehead and sleeveless mesh armour under a tan overall top with grey elbow protectors as well as light blue shorts with purple leg warmers and black shinobi sandals.

Another genin by the name of Ameno watched the events with a gentle expression, she seemed much more calm and mature than her peers and Shiki noted her chakra to be much more finely controlled and had the flavor of water affinity and medical ninjutsu.

A young adult looking beauty but still shorter than Sen despite looking more mature, she had long brown hair that frames her face, fair skin and light-brown eyes with eyelashes. She kept her hair in a ponytail with a pink hair-band.

A Suna crest was imprinted on the right side of her white collared and sleeveless outfit with a red violet sash and a brown cord that she wore along with black shorts and two forehead protectors on both her wrists as well as open-toed brown shinobi boots with shoelaces.

"May I have your name?" Shiki asked her.

"Ameno. What is yours?"

"Shiki, Uzumaki Shiki." He introduced himself but then Temari interjected from the side.

"Barely arrived and already hitting on Suna Kunoichi?" She asked.

"Jealous~? I have only asked for her name." Shiki teasingly answered.

"Hmph! And why did you go out of your way to do that? You usually ignore people you're not interested in!" Temari countered with suspicion.

"Wow! You've come to know me quite well considering our short time together! It seems we share a connection no?" Shiki teased, making Temari blush a bit and Sen and Yome as well due to the surprising atmosphere between the two.

"I greeted her because she was a medical-nin like yours truly."

This surprised everyone, Temari included since she had no idea Shiki was a medical-nin. Once they heard how he was in the top three of Konoha which was known worldwide as the home of the most competent medical-nin and that he learned his craft from Tsunade, the best in the world, the shock was even greater and Ameno was now a lot more interested in talking.