Much to his surprise, Issei had seen Yuna, the enigmatic illusionist who seemed to know more about him than he himself did, the previous night. She had crystal blue eyes, so bright that they almost seemed white from certain angles, and her hair was dark and long. She’d shown up at his door, there at his inn in Konoha, and she asked him how Ninshiki was doing. He remained curt and dismissive, saying that it was fine, until the point where she offered to join them. That caught his attention, so he turned toward her with a serious look. ”I don’t have time for any more games. You’ve been trying to keep me from going to Yukigakure all of this time, and now suddenly you want to join my group and help us. What is your game? What do you want from me?” She leaned against his front door and looked back at him with a playful smile. ”I wasn’t lying when I said that I’m from Yukigakure. I wasn’t a shinobi back then, but I grew up there. I had to evacuate the day that Hao burned it all down, and it was the worst day of my life because everything I’d ever known was burned to the ground and my parents and my sister died, too. I came to Iwagakure for refuge, and I was accepted there for a time. That’s when I became a shinobi and started practicing Genjutsu. That’s also when I met you for the first time. You don’t remember me, but I have a photographic memory, and we met in passing one day, when you and your wife came to the flower shop that I used to work at. Years later, I move to Kiri, long after it is rebuilt only to be torn down and rebuilt again after a war, and here you are again, now a shinobi who’s more alone than ever. So, I took an interest in you, and I’ve been watching you for a long time. I knew that one day there would be an opportunity for me to meet you face to face and explain everything, and that day is today. At first, I didn’t want you putting yourself in danger by going to Yuki, because I have, and it’s a frozen wasteland full of poachers and a few Amaterasu flames that will likely never go out. I thought you wouldn’t last two seconds out there...but now, I see that you have potential. And if you and your group are going to go, then I’m coming with you, when that time comes..” Issei took all of this with a grain of salt, still unsure if he could trust her, but he put up a hand seal and used Genjutsu Kai only to find that he wasn’t under a genjutsu at all. ”So this is real, then. And this is who you really are. About time you were honest with me,” he let out a frustrated sigh. Had she really come all that way, to Konoha, just to see him and ask if she could join Ninshiki? Issei almost refused to believe that she had made that much effort, but he gave in within seconds. ”Fine. You can join Ninshiki, but not as a full member. You can be an affiliate of ours, and accompany us on our journey to Yukigakure, on three conditions. First, you stop spying on me. Completely. No exceptions. Second, you work as a spy for me when I need you to. Third, no more lies. If I find out that you lied to me again, I’m going to consider you a threat and I won’t hesitate to kill you.” Yuna seemed startled by the last remark, likely under the impression that Issei wasn’t capable of such a threat. She nodded in acceptance. ”Deal.” Issei gestured towards the door and asked her to move. She complied, and he entered, shutting the door behind him. He lingered there for a moment, waiting until he could hear her footsteps leaving his doorstep, but they never came, so he opened his door again and looked at her blankly. ”Why are you still here?” Yuna’s face gained a lighthearted smile and her eyes glowed with a look that Issei had not seen in years: that of passion and affection and perhaps lust. She bit her lip lightly. Issei took a deep breath and prepared to shut the door, but his arm was not moving as he willed it to and instead he found himself moving towards her slowly, and there they stood, kissing one another, her arms wrapping around his monolithic form and trying to melt him with her maneuvers. It nearly worked, but he pulled himself away and wiped his mouth, not even attempting to hide the look of disgust on his face. He shook his head and went back to close the door. ”Good night, Yuna. We can talk later.” This time around, he heard her walking away, which was a relief. With Yuna, Ninshiki was up to seven members, technically, though Issei didn’t anticipate introducing her to the others until she proved herself trustworthy. He still needed to consider the pros and cons of her being a part of the group. She was a wild card, and not in a good way, either.

Issei had read up on the summoning technique thoroughly, trying to get a flawless understanding of the jutsu in order to be able to execute it just as flawlessly. He didn't want to make any mistakes, because what he was about to do would be his biggest "diplomacy" mission yet. Forming a summoning contract was a complex process, beginning with use of the summoning jutsu, which was a basic space-time ninjutsu, in order to transport the user to a place where they could bond with potential summons. Now, summons were practically mythical creatures, all of uncanny intellect and sometimes inhuman strength and size, others capable of learning Senjutsu, even, which was how most shinobi who pursued sage arts learned them. Issei wasn't one of those shinobi, and he had no interest in becoming a sage, especially considering the risks it posed to shinobi who were unable to handle nature chakra. No, his goal had been established back when Yuna had revealed to him that he had a natural affinity towards birds. Since then, following his mastery of fūinjutsu, his inability to control his kekkei genkai, and his unwillingness to submit himself to his ancestor's curse mark, he wanted to pursue a new form of power in these unimaginable creatures. Summoning was an art form that no one in his family, nor any of his peers, had known, so he was going into the process blind, save for the studying that he committed himself to before doing anything of importance. Issei knew that the first use of the summoning technique without a contract established took the user to a place based on such a natural affinity toward an animal, and since he had an affinity towards birds, he knew that that would be the contract he would form. He just didn't know what kind of birds, or how he would convince them to aid him, or what to expect when he arrived in a faraway place as an alien. It was to be an experience unlike any other he'd had, and despite the hesitation that was to be expected in such a situation, his increased heart rate and the single drop of sweat that ran down his forehead was not from fear. He was more excited than ever.

Without any further ado, the Kiri-nin went forward with it fearlessly, biting his thumb just hard enough to draw blood. He pressed his open palm against the ground, there in the grassy meadow in the forests of Hi no Kuni, and watched as sigils expended from it in every direction. His chakra flowed around him wildly, and he felt a pressure building in his body as well as a pull, like something was trying to drag him. He accepted it, hoping that wherever he ended up, he would be able to befriend those who ruled over it. He thought of the friendships he'd built during this project that he had dedicated his whole heart to: Kayn, Shinako, Kuno, Teru, Rogue. Across the entire southern stretch of the continent, they were scattered, with different backgrounds and skills and personalities, all united by a similar goal. That, in itself, was an amazing accomplishment. Everything was going dark and he felt his surroundings moving so quickly that he started to feel faint. Who was next?

“Nanase-sama. There is an intruder, a shinobi. I have him under my sleeping genjutsu. What would you like me to do with him?”

”Ahh...this is the first time we’ve had an intruder here since we occupied Seikaiju. I figured this day would come. What are his intentions? Is he under the impression that I am a Sage?”

“I’m not sure. As soon as he arrived he collapsed from exhaustion, and I put him under a genjutsu to ensure that he didn’t get back up. He didn’t have time to say anything.”

“Hmm. Well, I suppose you can let him go. If he wants to learn Senjutsu, tell him that we cannot help him. If he’s come to attack us, then...do what you do best. Finish it fast, be merciless, and we’ll have a small meal on our hands.”

Issei was face down in what seemed to be a nest that was far larger than he was. When he came to, he got to his feet and realized that the only things around him were the blue sky and a number of branches. He looked down to see the clouds far beneath him, which was a frightening realization. It was a wonder he could even breathe, being up that high. He backed away from the edge of the nest, moving towards the center and sitting down before rubbing his eyes furiously. A large figure was in the branch just above him, and it spoke to him in a booming voice. “That was one powerful space-time ninjutsu. We specifically moved to this domain to avoid humankind, and even went as far as to occupy the highest tree in the furthest stretches of this planet, yet here you are, though a bit winded, I see.” This statement loosened Issei up a bit, as he felt a bit proud that he had been able to get there. He still couldn’t see the figure clearly, since it was directly above him and partially obscured by the branch it sat upon, but the hoarse and scratchy tone of the figure’s voice, a few visible tail feathers, and the nest that Issei was in all confirmed that it was an avian creature, at the very least. “Why have you come here, human? Do you have a death wish, perhaps? It has been far too long since I’ve eaten anything like you.” Issei got to his feet, and the figure flapped its wings to catch a breeze, lowering itself into the massive nest and landing just in front of the Special Jounin of Kirigakure no Sato. Issei took in his new acquaintance in awe; an unimaginably large vulture, with snow-white feathers and a bald head. Its two piercing red eyes seemed to hurt Issei just by maintaining eye contact, and he resisted the urge to wince. ”M-my name is Issei Momochi. I discovered that I have what is referred to as a ‘natural affinity’ towards your species, and so I have come to establish a summoning contract. I want to arrange...a mutually beneficial agreement.” The vulture didn’t seem impressed, its oversized talons scraping the bottom of the nest as it took a few steps closer to Issei. It bent down, its beak growing close enough to Issei’s head that he feared he was going to be eaten. Instead, he felt a hot breath blow down on him as the vulture exhaled and straightened its posture out once more. ”Is that so? Well. The matriarch of our flock does not want you here. None of us want you here. So, consider this my warning. Use your summoning jutsu to return home. If you don’t leave, I’ll run out of patience and kill you where you stand.” And there was the ultimatum. Issei wasn’t going to leave, obviously; he had come with a purpose and so if he had to fight to prove himself, then so be it. The problem was, the summoning jutsu had exhausted him, since he’d never used a space-time ninjutsu prior to that, and it had taken its toll. He wasn’t in top fighting shape, nor would he have been able to use the jutsu again to leave so soon, either, so he didn’t have any options. He looked back at the vulture and grinned. ”Strict orders to kill me if I don’t leave? Or is that just your way of saying you like me?” The vulture flapped its wings and the wind blew Issei’s hair back, and then he suddenly found himself overcome with an intense sense of fear unlike any other he’d experienced before. He scrambled to his feet and ran back to the edge of the nest, nearly jumping out of it to his death but stopping himself just before he did and turning back to face the bird. He felt as though he was going to die at any second, and he was struggling to keep his composure, a foreign feeling to someone who was as impassive and fixed as he tended to be. ”What’s going on? What are you doing to me?” The bird continued to glare at him without any reaction in response to his frightened questions. Issei understood that something was amiss, and he knew he had to try and talk his way out of this as best he could.

”Please, don’t kill me. I can help you.”

”And what could I possibly want from a weak, cowering human like yourself?”

”Food. Power. Money. Anything you want. Please.” In the midst of his begging, he started to focus chakra in order to transform his skeleton to prepare to defend himself, but nothing was happening, and that only increased his dread exponentially. ”I can’t use my chakra…” And then, the fear slowly started to subside, as Issei felt his senses come back to him. He looked up at the vulture, half in confusion and half in awe. ”A genjutsu…? It was flawless.” Death was what Issei wanted to avoid at all costs, and it was thus the perfect thing to use against him. He took a mental note that genjutsu users could take advantage of this weakness, like the vulture just had, and thus to be wary of them. He imagined Yuna briefly before the vulture’s raspy voice brought him back to reality.

”My name is Shigui. I’m not sure if you’re an idiot or a genius in disguise just quite yet. Yes, a genjutsu. Corpses are my version of ‘food’. I have all the power that I’d ever need, far more than anything you could offer me. And your money has no value in any domain outside that of humans. What do you want a contract for? To steal our power to use as our own? To reduce us to slaves, subject to your will? I will not willingly submit myself to something as degrading as that.”

”I don’t want to enslave you, I’m not trying to use you. I have a bond with you. That’s how I got here, against all odds. And I need your help. I want to be allies.”

Shigui took a very long pause, contemplating what such an alliance would imply. He’d spent a majority of his life in a desert, and since moving to Seikaiju, both he and all of the other vultures had felt more isolated than ever, accompanied only by their empress and their small group of peers, with nothing to entertain them, and in Shigui’s case, nothing to quench his thirst for blood, nor make him feel something different. He was not about to pass up an opportunity to go see what the other side  was like, because though Issei was not the first human he’d encountered, he’d never been immersed in their world before. He reluctantly bowed to Issei, though he spoke up immediately so Issei didn’t get the impression that he was trying to be polite. ”I’ll spare your life. Get on my back. I’ll take you to the empress, but the final decision on whether we form a contract with you or not is hers and hers alone. Even if I disagree with her decision, I do not have the authority to be able to try and convince her otherwise.” Issei was dumbfounded that his pleading had actually worked, Shigui could tell. “Well? Hurry up before I change my mind and drop you out of this tree. I’ll have you know, Seikaiju is over 6.2 kilometers high…” Issei nodded and mounted Shigui, holding onto the downy white feathers that covered his back. His wings spread and he took flight, sending a rush through Issei unlike any other. They swooped down for a moment only to pick up speed, and then they soared higher yet, moving towards a hole in the tree further up. Shigui landed on a thinner perch that led directly into the hole; surrounding branches had been visibly altered, bent, and carved into ornate shapes to signify the opulence and status of the empress. Issei dismounted and started to walk ahead, passing through the entrance and taking in the magnificent sanctuary around him. This area of the tree had been hollowed out and turned into a massive resting place specifically catered to the empress, who sat in the center of the hollow. She groomed herself silently as Issei walked in, and even from far away, it was clear that she was many times larger than Issei, and  larger Shigui, too. By the time he was standing close to her and she unfurled her wings, he estimated her height to be near 24 meters tall or so. She looked at him blankly for a moment before looking at Shigui, who had lagged behind and was still near the entrance. “Shigui? Explain yourself. I told you to tell the human to leave or turn him into dinner, not to bring him to me.”

”I’m sorry, Nanase-sama. He wishes to forge a contract with us so that he can summon us to his domain and help him in battle.” He was meek and apologetic, which Issei interpreted as fearful of his ruler. Issei turned to this vulture, Nanase, and bowed. ”My name is Issei Momochi, of Kirigakure no Sato. I mean no harm in coming hear, and I’ve come to beg for your assistance.” Nanase analyzed his tone of voice and his attitude carefully. ”Go on. What battle is so vital that we should risk our own lives to help you?”

”I am a world traveler and a historian before anything, but I have secondary duties as a shinobi that I am obligated to, which put me in situations that are dangerous on my own, but with your species’ help, there will be no risk involved. Teamwork increases power exponentially. Furthermore, there is a village that I am trying to find that was destroyed by a rogue Uchiha, years ago. I intend to help rebuild it, but I do not know what lies in its ruins, nor what the Uchiha’s intentions were when he destroyed it, or if he did so alone. I believe you can help me.” There was a long silence where Nanase didn’t say anything more, just stared down at him with such scrutiny that it felt like a weight on his shoulders dragging him to hell. She was brown and had a cluster of white feathers on her head that looked like a crown; her eyes were golden and sparkled in the light.

Finally, the empress spoke up, warming up to the concept of a contract. ”Shigui seems to trust you, if he brought you up here, so I’ll humor this. This ‘contract’...what would you offer us, I wonder? The idea of a human with connections in the world being bound to us by blood and forced to obey me doesn’t sound so bad. Another loyal servant to add to my flock, though one without wings, admittedly.”

”You need to eat, so I assume that you have a group that hunts. This tree is extremely high up and far from any source of food, though. I can help in that aspect; I can send things I summon back with food, corpses, morsels, anything you need that you can’t get from up here. It’ll alleviate your need to send hunting groups so far to gather resources.”

”Hmm, an interesting prospect,” She looked around; two other vultures, much smaller than her or Shigui, were watching this conversation play out, and they seemed suspicious of Issei. ”Who do you plan to take from us when you do need to summon one of us? I certainly will not be doing your dirty work for you, nor will my royal caretakers, nor will my youngest. Who is left?”

”I...I don’t know, yet. I’ve only met you and Shigui, and there are…”

”Nearly one hundred of us, occupying Seikaiju.”

”Yes. So, I intend to find someone here who I can bond with and who trusts me enough to want to help me. I want an ally, not a pawn.” Nanase wasn’t oblivious. She could see how excited Shigui was about all of this, the possibility of something new coming along and changing his monotonous life, but she also knew that he was prideful and stubborn, so she was not going to give him the order to go with Issei, for he needed to make that decision for himself. ”Very well. We will create this contract now, but first. I want you to promise me that you will remain loyal to me and this flock so long as you live. You will be considered one of us, despite our differences. This is an act of charity and generosity from me, so do not take it for granted.”

”Yes, Nanase-sama. I promise that I will remain loyal to you and your flock so long as I live.”

”Good. Now, what will we be binding this pact with?” Issei realized he had not brought a giant scroll, or anything that could be used as a practical fūinjutsu seal, so he took made a rat hand seal and unsealed his fuma shuriken from his handwraps. It landed in his right hand, and he held it out in display to Nanase. ”I just need some of your blood and we can seal it.” Without hesitating, she scratched herself with her talon, bloodying her feathers a bit, before bringing the talon to Issei’s shuriken and scraping it, leaving a line of blood along the path. Issei sliced his hand with the shuriken, leaving his blood on it as well. He left bloody fingerprints near the center of the shuriken, and wrote his name out in kanji using his own blood underneath the fingerprints:

桃地一清

He made one last hand sign, using his chakra to bind the agreement permanently, and from there he felt a his chakra being pulled out of him and tied to his surroundings, to Nanase, and to the rest of the flock. It was a connection unlike any he’d ever felt before, and its intensity faded after a few seconds. He put his fuma shuriken up on his back, and Nanase nodded toward him. ”Now go choose your companion. For now, I will only allow you to summon one of us. And they must agree to come with you, I do not want you to attempt to summon anyone against their will.”

Exiting the sanctuary, Issei made a sideways glance to Shigui, who was looking down solemnly. When he got back outside, he remembered that he was in an impossibly giant tree and he had no way to navigate it without help from one of the vultures. He turned back to find that Shigui was right behind him, ”So I got my contract. I gotta say, I didn’t think it would be that easy.” Shigui turned his gaze out to the skyline. ”The empress has a stern side, but she has a good heart, and she does want to help you, it seems.” Issei dared move closer to Shigui, and put a hand on the vulture’s feathers, rubbing them gently. ”Do you?” Shigui flapped his wings strongly, sending Issei flying. He passed the edge of the branch and started to plummet towards the clouds. He immediately flipped over, already preparing to use the blood from his hand earlier as a sacrifice to return home. He had accomplished his first goal, and it had filled him with a sense of fearlessness. Even falling hundreds of feet every second towards his death, he was calm, carefully preparing the summoning jutsu. Just before he was about to activate it, a blur swooped from above and wrapped its talons around Issei, carrying him back up towards Seikaiju. ”You’re trying to save me now? How sweet.”

”I had not anticipated how weak and easily movable you were, it was not my intention to blow you out of the tree in the first place. I can still drop you, if you’d like.”

”Don’t feel like you owe me any favors, Shigui. I got what I needed, and I originally thought that you wanted to be the one to join me, but you don’t seem to happy about my contract.” Shigui dropped Issei when they reached another nest, and the pair stood there, two fighters from two different worlds. Whether they would remain separate or they would become a team was left to Shigui, because Issei knew that Shigui was an irreplaceable asset and a strong personality. Shigui just had yet to see Issei’s potential.

”Show me why I should come with you. Show me your power.” Issei sighed. ”You know that there’s no chance for me against you while you’re using Genjutsu.”

”There’s no chance for you regardless. I’m stronger than you. But, if it will make you agree to fight me, I will promise not to use genjutsu.” With his next challenge in front of him, Issei was ready with everything he had. ”Fine. Let’s do it.” The shinobi brought his hands together to form hand seals. Shigui reacted quickly, preparing to flap his wings in order to create a wind to blow Issei off of his feet. Issei slammed his hands onto the surface of the nest and used Narcissus Dance, covering its twigs and branches with a skeletal platform smooth as marble. It reached Shigui faster than Shigui could release his gale, and with no way for his talons to grip its surface, he slipped and fell forward. His large body crashing down onto the bone sent a tremor through the tree’s branch which nearly knock Issei off balance, too, but Issei instead used the momentum to fall forward onto all fours, then used chakra to start pulling the bone from his Narcissus Dance and wrap it around his body, creating an exoskeleton, and he pulled a long replica of a spine from the bone as well that connected to his back to create his tail. By the time Shigui was standing again, Issei was completely geared up, fuma shuriken in hand and coated in bones.

”You can change forms, then. An interesting technique.” Issei didn’t respond; his face was covered by a skeletal mask, anyhow, so there was no point in banter. He charged at Shigui, his tail raised with the pointed end ready to strike. Shigui took flight, dodging Issei’s attack and then swooping in to retaliate. The vulture’s talons wrapped around Issei, tightening their grip until the tips dug into his skin and he started to bleed. They were off, flying far from the nest and putting the world tree behind them. Shigui seemed to be speeding downwards, but Issei wasn’t going to let him get the upper hand so easily. He jammed his shuriken into Shigui’s foot and used the subsequent loosened grip to free himself, wrap his tail around Shigui’s leg, and climb up onto Shigui’s outstretched wing.

”Kaze Arashi no Kyū!” A jutsu, no doubt, but when Issei looked up to see what was going on, all he saw was Shigui’s open mouth, facing him. He started climbing faster, stabbing his tail into the bird’s body for support as he scaled it. He didn’t move fast enough, though, and as the jutsu was fully formed, an invisible sphere of wind blasted from the vulture’s mouth, smashing into Issei with such intense force that it shattered his exoskeleton, bruised his torso, and nearly caused his ribcage to collapse. He flew backwards, yelling in response to the excruciating pain, but he caught himself using one of the feathers at the end of Shigui’s left wing. Shigui used his right wing to activate another jutsu. ”Hachiman no Ya…” Black chakra was shot from his wing, taking the shape of long, sharp feathers. Issei dodged a majority of them, but one stabbed deep into his arm, hardening as it did, and another sliced his lower back. Through the pain, he wrapped his tail around the wing, partially to weigh the bird down on one side and partially to make sure he didn’t go plummeting down. They had descended far enough to enter a mass of clouds, obscuring their vision with pillows of white. In the midst of this blind struggle, a glowing orange light emerged. Shigui started flapping his wings, wildly trying to get Issei off of him, but the tail was tied tight enough to deny the bird any potential of escaping. Heat came next, increasing as the light grew. ”Katon: Goryūka no Jutsu!” The clouds were cleared, in a blast of chakra, as flames escaped Issei’s mouth. They elongated and transformed into a dragon, smaller than Shigui still but large enough to at least compete with his might. Shigui started darting in different directions and ascending again in an attempt to dodge the fire dragon, but Issei;s expert chakra control was used to make the dragon chase Shigui. It coiled itself around the bird, lighting clusters of its feathers aflame, until it was face to face with him. They collided, dissipating the dragon and leaving behind third degree burns at the base of Shigui’s beak. He screeched, the sound piercing and painful as it reached Issei’s ears initially, but as it continued, it started to have a hypnotic effect, making Issei feel drowsy. ”No...genjut..su…” Shigui was breathing heavily, now with burns across his face and some patches of his feathers burned away entirely.

”As far as I’m concerned, this fight is over. If we continue at this rate, we’ll both die. Give in to the genjutsu, go to sleep. I’m taking us back to Seikaiju.” Issei smiled softly, glad that he had proven himself, and he rested his eyes.

---

Back at the World Tree, Issei woke up, this time on top of Shigui’s back. His feathers were like soft bedding, though some were missing and some were charred black. ”I’m sorry for burning you. I was focused on winning but I never wanted to hurt you. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

”Ah, don’t worry about it, kid. You’ve got a fighting spirit, just like me. A battle isn’t a battle if someone doesn’t get hurt. So what about your wounds? You holding up alright?”

”I’m actually feeling just fine. No pain whatsoever...in fact, I’m feeling really numb…”

”It’s another genjutsu. My Arrows of Hachiman jutsu, the black feathers. When they struck you, my chakra was forced into your system, and that let me use my Shikigami Yomi genjutsu to make you completely numb after our battle. I already pulled the feather out of your arm, but you were bleeding a lot, and I think I fractured one of your ribs.”

”Haha, I knew it was too good to be true. Release the genjutsu. I can handle the pain.” Shigui complied, and all of the pain hit Issei at once, causing him to tense up and wince. ”Oh yeah, this sucks. I’ll go to the hospital when I get back to Konohagakure.” Issei dismounted the bird, picked up his shuriken from the ground, and sealed it back into his handwraps. He placed his hand on the ground, preparing the summoning jutsu. ”Speaking of which, I’m gonna go now. I’m hoping next time I see you, it will be because I summoned you, Shigui.” Shigui nodded in agreement.

”Yes, you can count on it, Issei. Now get out of here.”

---

The Village Hidden in the Leaves was nice to return to, after being in what felt like another dimension for the day. Issei had returned with a contract and a new friend, so it was a definite victory. Despite all of this, his wounds and his exhaustion made him truly feel sad and homesick for Kirigakure, for the first time since he’d arrived in Konoha. A bit turned around at first, he managed to regain his sense of direction, and he limped to the hospital to admit himself, not bothering to worry about medical bills. He was just glad that he would get a chance to rest, finally, after what felt like the longest day of his life. The thing to remember, at the end of it all, was that hard work and persistence always paid off, and that allies were sometimes the most valuable resource to have.


[ Exit Thread ]

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