At the hideout, as time went by, the members of Akaisen grew more and more worried.
Enma had not told them that the moment they would be summoned out of Kiri, his Shadow Clones would explode.
They thought he was going to escape in a similar fashion, but no, that did not happen.
"We need to go back..."
"No." Izumi, who had her brows furrowed, shook her head and denied Sasuke's suggestion. "Let's wait here. Without him, we can get spotted by Kiri Shinobi, and we don't want to ruin his plan..."
"He might need our help!" The younger Uchiba raised his voice, and she clenched her fists.
"He will be fine, Sasuke. If things go wrong, he has Kushina-sama's seal on his body. He can call her for help." She assured him, and also her own heart.
Once the Team heard her words, they immediately relaxed a little and decided to wait.
Hours went by, and the sky brightened, but Enma did not return, and neither did the Sand Siblings.
Everyone was silent, very silent, and Tokuma kept activating his Byakugan from time to time to check the surroundings.
Late in the morning, when he briefly activated his Byakugan again, he rushed out, and everyone instinctively followed him.
They watched in silence as Enma, carrying a large gourd on his back, leisurely climbed up the mountain, seemingly in no rush, and the Sand Siblings were right behind him.
"Well done, Team..." The Uzumaki brightly smiled and said as soon as he arrived in front of the cave, but Izumi cut him off.
"Next time, we would like to hear the entire plan, Captain," She lightly told him, and everyone nodded their heads to her words.
"Sometimes, sharing things too much can make it very complicated. I had another mission that I needed to complete as well," he informed them, and they looked at him in surprise.
"What mission?" Sasuke frowned.
Enma just smiled at his words and then turned slightly, showing them the gourd.
"Say hello to Sanbi." He smirked and all their eyes were hooked on the black wooden gourd that contained the Three-Tailed Beast.
It was quite a funny sight to now see him and Gaara both carrying gourds on their backs.
"That... stopper..."
"It's just for show," said Enma as he pulled the stopper off, "he can't come out unless I allow him."
Hana relaxed at his words and nodded her head with a bright smile.
"That was fun!" She excitedly said, and everyone smiled.
"Yeah..." The Uzumaki yawned. "I am going to rest for the next two days, and then we are leaving for Nagi Island. We will meet the Fifth Mizukage at the Modoroki Shrine on day 49 from now."
"You met her?" Izumi raised her brow, folding her arms on her chest, and he shook his head.
"Just delivered a message with my Shadow Clone." He walked past them, inside the cave, and then laid down on the wooden bed that Yamato had created for himself.
The former Ambu did not complain though, and everyone else got to work as they prepared their meals, ate, and decided to get some rest as well.
They took turns keeping watch, but Izumi did not sleep one bit for the next 48 hours. She stayed awake, even when she pretended to be asleep, and stayed close to Enma and Sasuke.
When the Uzumaki woke up on the second morning, he audibly sighed as he sensed her condition, and silently signalled her to get some rest, which she finally did.
Tokuma gave him a report, which was only a minute long as they had not encountered any issues whatsoever, and after having his meal, he sat down by Izumi's side and started meditating.
When the Uchiha woke up in the evening, he shared some meat sticks with her, which he had prepared after hunting a wild elk earlier in the afternoon.
"Let's get moving," He ordered once everyone was ready for their journey.
There was a lot of movement around the Main Archipelago, and they had to spend a week avoiding Kiri Shinobi and other people, but they successfully made it out without getting spotted.
And then they spent another week before they arrived at Nagi Island.
Once there, Enma gave his Team a break to train or do whatever they wanted to do, and Tokuma wrote a report to the Hokage in the code that had been assigned for their mission and sent his Hawk summon to deliver it to Konoha.
Sasuke was not the only one who was crazy about training and growing stronger.
Kakashi seemed to be possessed by some demon as he trained harder than anyone with the help of Yamato and Enma.
The Copy Ninja was training his body like how Lee trained under Guy, and he was focusing a lot on his Taijutsu and speed.
Hana too was working hard, feeling that her strength was inadequate compared to everyone else on the Team, and she was extremely grateful when the Uzumaki agreed to help her with her Medical-Nin Training.
He even taught her his own version of the Mystical Palm Technique, and realising how outrageous the requirements for Chakra Control were to use this Medicinal Ninjutsu, which Enma named the Mystical Palms of Life, she focused solely on improving her Chakra Control through various exercises that he gave her.
Shin and Yugao were improving their Kenjutsu, and both being extremely skilled with the sword, had a lot of spars between them.
Torune was focusing on breeding a new type of insect in his body, and he stayed away from everyone as the Jutsus he was practising were all extremely poisonous.
One evening, when everyone returned to the hideout, they saw their Captain making Tokuma practice his Gentle Fist by incorporating Lightning Release in his attacks.
Those who knew how prideful and strict Hyuga Clan was, were surprised at the scene but stayed quiet.
They would never divulge the secrets of their teammate to anyone.
"Do not try to overdo it. Keep it subtle...."
Enma kept instructing him as if he were an expert in Gentle Fist, but by the end of the week, they were amazed at the progress the Hyuga had made.
He was already regarded as the person with the best Byakugan in his Clan after Hyuga Hiashi, being able to cover a radius of 1.6 kilometres with it, but now, he was growing stronger at an alarming rate, which was a testament to how talented he truly was.
Being from the Branch Family, Tokuma lacked the arsenal of the powerful Hyuga Clan Jutus that were only available to the Main Family, but now, after being convinced by Enma, he was creating his own techniques.
The Uzumaki too was focusing on Training his own body, but his exercises were a lot simpler as they only involved pull-ups, push-ups, and long runs. Of course, with heavy weight seals and the Sanbi Gourd, which in itself was two tonnes heavy.
However, most of his time was spent with Gaara and Temari, and the Team did not know what the three of them were doing from dawn till noon every day.
Kankuro, however, spent his days training as well, away from everyone, probably to hide his special Puppet Techniques.
On day 30 after their operation in Kiri, Tokuma's hawk returned with Tsunade's message, and she told them to get back to the village before December 31st.
There was enough time, and they all relaxed and continued with their routines for another nineteen days, and then headed to the Modoroki Shrine.
The Kiri Forces were already on the Island, stationed at the north of the temple, and Enma led his Team and Sand Siblings to the south.
In the morning, after they had taken a good rest, they walked towards the Temple.
Terumi Mei, the Kiri Anbu, and some of her most trusted Shinobi were already present there.
At Enma's signal, Akaisen, and the Sand Siblings appeared in the field, and the Uzumaki landed in front of them, facing the Mizukage.
There was a distance of exactly twenty metres that separated them.
Ao, who was hiding his Byakugan under the eyepatch, furrowed his brows when he saw the Konoha Team that had pulled off that masterful and ridiculous mission, but Mei's eyes stayed on Enma after she had glanced at everyone else.
"The Treaty?" Enma lightly asked, and the Fifth Mizukage smiled at him.
"So, you are the one who defeated Yagura."
"Yes," He nodded his head, but Ao whispered something in her ear.
"My servant believes that you are lying."
"What do you believe?" Enma asked back, and Mei narrowed her eyes at him.
"I believe you. You are the Red Storm's son. Right?"
The Uzumaki nodded his head, and whilst his Team and Sand Siblings tensed up when they saw Mei quickly perform the Hand Seals. Under his signal, they pulled back as well, just like the Kiri forces.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
When the massive cloud of smoke lifted away, Mei was seen standing on top of a Gigantic Panda, who was wearing a hat and carrying a long Bamboo Stick on his back.
Seeing the Panda Summon, who looked terrifyingly strong, the members of Akaisen and the Sand Siblings turned solemn.
They could not understand Mei's intentions.
Enma, however, understood Mei's intentions and performed his own hand seals after biting his thumb and drawing blood.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
The massive seal spread on the ground when his palm landed on it, and then covered in a large cloud of smoke, a gigantic red serpent appeared in front of everyone, and Enma was standing on top of its head, now at an eye-level with the fifth Mizukage.
"The Treaty?" He asked again, and Mei smiled at him.
"What if I say that there is no Treaty..."
"I will kill you." The Uzumaki coldly said, and his words froze everyone.
Mei too seemed stunned at his straightforward answer, and then covered her mouth as she started giggling.
"Say, Zaza, what do you think of this kid's threat?" She spoke to her Summon, who was intently looking at the Red Serpent and its summoner.
"Fighting him is undesirable, Mei-sama. That is Garaga whom he has summoned. He's one of the strongest serpents of the Ryuchi Cave, and there are rumours that he possess some very strange ability. If those rumors are true, you will lose your forces."
Garaga laughed at his words, and then sinisterly narrowed his eyes.
"Zaza of the Moyamoya Upland, I have heard about you. The eldest of the Panda Sage. They say you are strong, but how can that be true when you are scared of me?" He chuckled.
"I never said that I am scared of you. If it was Manda, Aoda, or Habu, I might have been hesitant, but you..." Zaza grinned as he reached back and grabbed his Bamboo stick.
"Relax, Garaga, he's scared, so it's a bluff," Enma's voice entered their ears, and the Red Serpent narrowed his eyes.
"Scared of what?"
"He scared that if he engages in a fight with you, I will kill his Summoner." The Uzumaki grinned, and the silence from the Panda Summon weighed heavily on everyone's hearts.
Garaga raged in anger, but wisely stayed his ground as he could sense that his Summoner would be very upset if he acted here against his command.
Mei kept looking at Enma for a while, her lone visible eye gleaming in curiosity and amusement.
She then reached inside her robe and threw two scrolls towards him, which he caught with his white Chakra Chain and handed to Yugao, who opened one and gave the other to Temari. The two Kunoichi read the terms of Treaty out loud for everyone to hear.
"I, Uzumaki Enma, the Captain of Akaisen, hereby accept Kiri's Terms of the Treaty on behalf of the Fifth Hokage, Senju Tsunade," Enma said and took out a scroll which he threw at Mei, and Gaara used his sand to deliver one from Suna to her.
Mei carefully went through both the Terms of Treaty from Konoha and Suna, and nodded her head.
"I, Terumi Mei, the Fifth Mizukage, accept Konoha and Suna's Terms of Treaty."
"I, Gaara of the Sand, accept Kiri's Terms of Treaty on behalf of Suna."
Once the three made their declarations, Mei sent Zaza back home, and Enma sent away Garaga as well.
He and Mei then stepped forward and shook their hands with people at the Modoroki Shrine as their witnesses.
"You are quite a charming young man." Mei playfully leaned close to him and gave him a kiss on his cheek, at the coner of his mouth.
"Thank you." He indifferently said, and then heard her giggle as she stepped back and shook hands with Gaara, who had come over.
"The Swords?"
The Uzumaki took out three scrolls from the Storage Seal on his armband and handed them to her.
Mei did not bother checking them, and after ruffling his red hair, she leaned in and whispered something in his ear, and Tokuma, with his Byakugan saw that she had handed him a scroll.
She then planted another kiss on his cheek and turned around and walked back to her Forces, waving her hand.
"What was that about?" Izumi asked when he and Gaara returned to their side.
"What?"
"The two kisses? The flirting? It was almost like she wanted to snatch you and take you to her bed." She indifferently said, and Enma just shrugged.
"Who knows what she's thinking? Our Mission is now complete, and I have to deliver the Mizukage's Scroll to Tsunade-sama. We will escort the Sand Siblings to the Land of Rivers and then head back to Konoha before December 31st."
"Yes!"