The day after Konan got her new apprentice and spent the dinner introducing Izumi to Rei and his other girls, all hell broke loose.
Suddenly, the other three women also wanted their apprentices. Who wouldn't want a grunt who you can teach how to fill paperwork for you, after all. Sure, using the shadow clones was one alternative but honestly? Having somebody else to deal with it simply felt a lot sweeter!
Only Ringo didn't care to teach anybody as she was quite satisfied with her current daily routine, saying that teaching would reduce her forging time too much. In short, she was far too lazy...
Anyway, this resulted in a fervent look-out for their own apprentices that could eventually take over their departments. Naturally, for such a task, the requirements were quite steep, especially when loyalty was concerned.
Pakura had it quite easy.
She already had Maki who she was grooming to take over her position in the Village on the Other Side. Maki was dedicated and after living years in the Other-Sided village, she fully considered it her home. It was a no-brainer that she would succeed Pakura in due time.
After all, Rei made the Village on the Other Side because having the backing of a whole hidden village or nation was what he needed. To be honest, he really couldn't be bothered ruling over it for more than was strictly necessary.
It was really just a comparison of benefits and effort needed. He put enormous effort into creating it and he indeed got the wanted benefits but in his opinion, it was better to dump the village on somebody else's shoulders. Somebody he trusted. Somebody who was gifted and experienced in the administration of day-to-day running of the village. Somebody like Maki after she finishes her apprenticeship for Pakura and climbs the ranks a bit.
Needless to say, Rei's goal was to become a Daimyo-like existence in the Spring Country. He would have his minister, Mr. Kazehana, who really wanted nothing more but the country to prosper and the civilians to live good lives. With such a good minister, there wasn't much Rei would have to do. And with giving command of the village to Maki... Rei will be free to do his hobbies and spend time with his girls. It was the ultimate dream of any sloth!
Ah, well... all in due time.
Back to Pakura... For the position of Kazekage, Pakura was grooming Temari. Even if Pakura never outright said so, Rei could tell and he actually approved. Gaara was a bit too unstable and young. Plus, people still despised him. Plus, there will be no overconfident, cheeky, exuberant, moronic, and brainwashed Naruto to beat some sense into the guy because of lucking out in their fight. Rei's interference with Naruto basically destroyed that possibility.
There was no real reason to not approve of Pakura choosing Temari for the position. It might have seemed counterproductive since Temari watched Pakura kill her father but surprisingly, the girl held no resentment towards her new mentor. Rei would even go so far as to proclaim that Temari actually felt a bit grateful and resolved to not disappoint.
It was a bit adorable from the Pakura's small desert flower.
Tsunade had an awkward time looking for apprentices.
Rei knew she would have loved taking Shizune in again and bestowing her newfound knowledge upon the woman. But after all these years, Shizune was more loyal to Konoha than Tsunade and that put a final wench in these plans.
That was not even mentioning their slightly messy parting when Tsunade tried to talk Shizune out of marrying Asuma after she gently probed her former apprentice and got the impression Shizune never allowed the guy to flirt and seduce other women during his long stay in the Fire Capital. Alas, Shizune took it wrong the wrong way, and Tsunade didn't have enough patience to show her the light.
In the end, that relationship sailed until Shizune got her head out of her ass... Tsunade's words, not Rei's.
With Shizune out, Tsunade decided to walk the harder path and commit to training Anko to eventually be her replacement.
Poor Anko was incredibly excited when she heard that she would spend the time Naruto was in the academy by training with Tsunade. She was even more excited when Tsunade for the first time showed her the Village on the Other Side. The woman even reaffirmed her loyalty to Rei, informing him that Konoha never really gave her anything so there was not much of a reason to be loyal to that village.
Well, Anko's excitement quickly faded when Tsunade showed the snake charmer the training grounds. For the first time in her life, Anko actually missed Orochimaru's training. Sure, the man was brutal but at least he was not a medical expert! Tsunade simply didn't care how damaged Anko was during the training. She simply fixed her and threw her back into the fray whereas Anko had no choice but to adapt.
If that was not enough, Tsunade then used the threat of an increase in this type of training to 'motivate' Anko to learn medical books, something the snake mistress was starting to hate with a passion. Sure, she loved her poisons and knew about them more than anyone in Konoha but that was that and this was this!
Unfortunately for Anko, Tsunade's goal was to train a medic capable of heading the Medical Department in the Village on the Other Side after she retires. And Tsunade was not taking no for an answer…
Only her determination to once kill Orochimaru gave Anko enough resolve to pull through the training.
Shikaku also proclaimed he will under no circumstances take more time from his already busy schedule to train a successor. But the man also demanded Tsunade trained one, citing her prowess as the reason.
The smart bastard simply wanted to get out of his responsibilities…
But Tsunade decided to be a bit devious and after a brief chat with an excited Chuunin called Kurenai Yuhi, an idea that it would be hilarious if the next Hokage focused on illusions appeared in Tsunade's head.
It would be a long time before Tsunade trusted Kurenai enough to show her the Village on the Other Side and tell the girl the whole truth but she definitely took the girl under her wing and started training her. Not that she told Kurenai what future she envisioned for her. That would come only after she trusted her enough.
The most problematic of the lot was by far Mei.
She decided to take Yugito and Yagura as her apprentices. Not that the two jinchuuriki got any say in the decision. Not even Rei could refuse her when she said, 'But they are already my pets, isn't it only natural to train them to listen?'
What the hell was Rei supposed to answer with such logic acting against him!?
In the end, he simply gave Yugito and Yagura a half-pitying, half-apologetic look before approving of the decision right in front of the two poor sods.
In reality, Mei chose 'her kitty', meaning Yugito, because they got really friendly over the years. As for Yagura, 'the kiddy turtle', as Mei dubbed him because he was still child-sized despite being an adult, Mei picked him because of his ability to transform into full bijuu mode. With her bijuu, Auburn, finally about to mature, Mei was capable of using the bijuu mode to an extent and as such, it would have been nice to have two playmates, no?
.
There really wasn't much Rei could do against such impeccable logic...
He only hoped Mei would not impart her obsession with world-ending Jutsu on her two new victi-, err… apprentices.