Chương 152

"And I will reiterate that if we ever wanted to take the nation down, we would have done it long ago." Rei replied. Fury studied the assembled group for several long seconds. The reports he had received over the past year had contained hundreds of pages of observations, psychological analyses, and surveillance photographs, but paper never truly prepared anyone for standing in front of the people themselves. Okay maybe the one with blonde hair was a bit too hyper but they were children to begin with.

And he was still not okay with children among the ranks. But the way Rei and others carried themselves made him think otherwise, especially Rei. He had seen the least reports about Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura but SHIELD had kept the record of the new people Allied Universal had made identity on. None appeared nervous by his presence. If anything, they looked as though they were simply waiting for the briefing to begin. It was as if they have had this rodeo before.

Rei gestured toward the blonde woman standing at the center of the group.

"Allow me to make proper introductions. This is Lady Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure and the leader of our village, think of her as someone as same level as you, only for our nation. She's the greatest medical specialist our world has produced and the one with the final authority over every operation involving us." Fury's visible eye brow jumped as he didn't expect someone of that stature to be this lady here.

And also a medical expert, and even termed as greatest, which meant she must be really high in the ladder.

"A pleasure."

"The same," Tsunade replied simply. Rei continued without pause.

"This is Jiraiya. Intelligence gathering, infiltration, reconnaissance, and long-range operations are his specialty. If information exists, he's usually the one capable of finding it."

"Don't make me sound that professional."

"Haa.. As long as you know where you are, don't make a fool of us, Jiraya - sama." Rei said.

"Hey what did you think I am?"

"Pervy Sage." Naruto commented.

"Someone with questionable morals.." Sasuke too added.

"Oi!" A few chuckles spread through the group before Rei moved on. Jiraya wanted to protest, but Tsunade's glare made him stop.

"Kakashi Hatake. Elite combat specialist, strategist, and my teacher." Kakashi gave a polite nod.

"Sakura Haruno. My team mate, medical specialist and close-quarters combat expert." Sakura offered a respectful greeting before stepping back.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Fury immediately noticed the young man's composed demeanor.

"My team mate, reconnaissance, precision strikes, and combat." Naruto impatiently pointed toward himself before Rei could continue.

"And I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" Rei sighed.

"Yes... Naruto Uzumaki."

"My team mate, our frontline assault specialist and also the one who makes the most noise and talks a lot."

"Hey I don't talk a lot."

"You do it all the time."

"You are my loudest student ever." A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Heyyy.." Naruto complained but he was happy that Rei had given him a good title. Rei moved to Karin"Karin." She folded her arms.

"Sensor specialist and medical support." Finally, Rei motioned toward the silent red-haired giant standing near the back.

"Jugo." Jugo simply nodded.

"Heavy assault." Fury silently memorized every face. It was immediately obvious why SHIELD's analysts had struggled to classify the group. Each individual seemed to possess a highly specialized role while remaining capable fighters in their own right. Of course these were Fury thoughts, the real situation was much different, and Rei had made it seem that they were very professional, but this was the norm as every village would present themselves the best to sell their services.

They were mercenaries to begin with, so of course they had to be professional.

"And finally..." Rei smiled faintly.

"I'd like you to meet Midori." Before Fury could ask who that was, something small poked its head out from beneath Rei's collar. A jade-green slug leisurely climbed onto his shoulder before looking directly at Fury with bright golden eyes.

"Hello! My name is Midori. It's nice to finally meet you. Rei has spoken about you before..." Midori spoke but Rei stopped her.

"It's alright Midori, you can stop." But Fury was just silent as he was trying to figure out if it was some kind of ventriloquism because he was finding it hard to believe that some slug would have intelligence, let alone talk. How did that biology even work. Maria Hill, standing slightly behind him, also stared for a brief second despite already believing she had accepted the impossible after reading SHIELD's files. She had read the reports, but there was never any mention of this.

"... It talks," Fury finally said. Midori blinked.

"Of course I talk. How else would I introduce myself?" She tilted her head curiously.

"That would be rather rude." Nobody spoke for several seconds. Enhanced humans... Fury could understand. Advanced technology... He had spent years around it. Aliens... He had worked beside Skrulls for decades. A talking slug... Now that was entirely new. Whatever lingering skepticism remained inside him about Rei's people sharing the same biological rules as ordinary humans quietly disappeared. Now he was sure that they were aliens, but were human looking in general.

"What is this?"

"She is my contracted summon. Think of her as my extra help with special ability. Something like an animal tamer." Rei said.

"I am not an animal. You have no knowledge about biology."

"Yeah yeah.." Fury had so many questions but he was tongue-tied. His thoughts had gone awry. That cat was one thing but a talking slug? Damn mothafucka..!!

"I'm also very good at sensing things. And hiding." She immediately flattened herself beneath Rei's jacket collar until only her tiny eyes remained visible.

"Told you." Even Maria found herself suppressing a smile. Fury, meanwhile, simply exhaled slowly. He could think of the talking slug later because there were still dozens of questions he wanted answered, chief among them how these people had arrived on Earth in the first place. SHIELD had investigated every conceivable method of transportation during the past years and found nothing remotely conclusive. And thus he couldn't say anything against it.

And after everything involving the Skrulls, Fury couldn't ignore the irony. He had personally helped bring an entire alien race to Earth decades ago. He of all people had little moral ground to interrogate others simply because they came from somewhere beyond humanity's understanding.

"I've heard a lot of things in this job. An army of trained adults? Sure. But you're telling me even your children have combat experience?" Fury asked.

"Uhh... Kakashi-sensei here participated in war when he was young and supple.." Rei said.

"Supple?" Kakashi's eyebrow rose but he didn't argue against the word. He was naive though.

"I've seen governments make ugly decisions. But a world that puts children on the front lines? That's a level of failure I didn't think I'd have to hear about." Fury replied. Rei just shrugged his shoulders. He himself thought the same but there was nothing he could do, or even time to change.

"Cut the bullshit.. Are we authorized to help?" Tsunade seemed to grow impatient, and this earned a smirk from Fury.

"I won't pretend I agree with the way your people do things. But personal opinions don't win wars. From what I've seen, you're exactly the kind of allies we're going to need when things inevitably go sideways." Fury said. And then stepped aside for them to get into the cars. Soon everyone got inside and Fury subtly sat beside Tsunade and Fury taking the driving seat himself. Rei could see what Fury was trying to do, but he just shook his head.

If this veteran thought he could finesse another veteran, then he was up for a war himself, especially someone who had trauma and recovered from that. Soon they found a huge empty lot and there were multiple aircrafts waiting for them. Karin and Naruto were beyond excited, especially in the smaller ones, since they only flew in big ones where they couldn't move much but it was different now, because once they were in the air, it was freedom for both of them.

Sadly, Tsuande, and Fury were in the same plane and Fury got to see his loudness for the first time.

"Is he that loud always?" Fury asked.

"Oh you have no idea." Tsunade replied.

"You just said that you guys complete stealth missions. You take him with you?" Fury asked.

"No, we don't." It was Sasuke who was listening and replied. Naruto got offended and thus started a verbal spat with Sasuke, which made Fury roll his single eye more. Tsunade didn't give attention to that read the files, and now she got to know who was the thief. Loki.

"Isn't he someone that Rei took down?"

"Yes and that was what we knew, but he seemed to have escaped from Asgard prison." Fury said.

"What kind of bullshit prison is that which allows such a high profile prisoner to let loose?" She was very annoyed.

"Now that is something where we can both share coffee on." Fury replied.