Pre-Chapter A/N: More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
"This is a mistake," I heard Danzo roar in my ears as I watched the girl receive medical treatment from the greatest medic in the world, my cousin.
"Indeed?" I asked, looking over at him with a quirked eyebrow. The not-yet-cripple seemed to be forgetting his place.
"Assuredly. She is an enemy shinobi. We must harvest the Yonbi before she wakes and unleashes the thing on us," he said.
"Yes, and you know this with your mastery in sealing, yes?" I asked, watching his mouth snap shut and his teeth begin to grind.
"I ordered this mission. She is my prisoner to do with as I wish, and I do not wish to see her tossed aside like that. Now get out," I said.
"You will regret this," he said menacingly and then began to walk away.
"Danzo?" I called, and he whirled around in my direction. I was in front of him a second later. By the next, my hand was on his throat and his body was slammed against the wall, spreading a spiderweb of cracks.
"I could kill you right now and you would be nothing but a footnote in history. Do not test me," I threatened.
"You would not dare. To so boldly kill a clan head? The Council would vote you out in hours to save themselves the risk," he scoffed, even as he struggled to breathe through my hold on his neck.
I tilted my head at him and then began to squeeze. He struggled, legs kicking out, hands flailing about and trying to push mine off, his chakra spiking and waning as I interrupted every attempt he made to use ninjutsu with my understanding of the Gentle Fist and connection to his chakra network with my hand around his neck. While I squeezed, I focused and began to apply a seal of my own design. One of my newer creations—something I'd created while I considered the Azula problem.
"Now, anything else to say, Danzo?" I asked after he had futilely struggled for close to a minute. His face had begun to purple and he was silent, too busy struggling for air to say something clever—or stupid, rather.
I released him and he fell to his knees before me, struggling for every breath. I knelt to join him, leaning in closer until my lips were at his ear.
"If the threat of my Flying Thunder God Seal on your person was not enough, then I have placed a second juinjutsu on your person. I could decide to leave it a mystery and let you run afoul of it, but I'd rather just tell you so that when you fail and when it comes, you can see it coming. It's a loyalty seal in the crudest form. Might as well be a slavery brand, to be honest. Think of it like the Hyuga branch family seal. Try to utter any disloyal words, write them, sign them, plan them, and the seal will burn you until it burns through your throat and kills you on the spot," I said, pinning him with my eyes before turning away from him completely, showing my disregard.
"A bit too much, wouldn't you say?" Uraume asked, having watched the entire confrontation in silence.
"Keep an eye on him," I said instead.
"After that? I'd be surprised if he ever even thinks about thinking about double-crossing you."
"Then you don't know Danzo as well as I do. So, an eye on him please," I pressed.
"Done."
"Now, while I do disagree with his means of bringing it up, I also don't completely disagree with the sentiment. What the hell are you doing?" she asked.
"Healing her so I can talk to her."
"Why? Why not just remove the Yonbi and place it in another host? A loyal host."
"Not really that easy. We'd have to screen for compatibility, and with how caustic the Yonbi's chakra is, plus its tendency to impart Lava Release onto its hosts, we'd probably want a host with at least a secondary earth affinity and a primary fire one to prevent full rejection. And then there's the fact that any such host would need months, if not years of training to become mission-ready. In that case, why not take the risk with a ready-made Jinchuriki that has demonstrated a significant level of control?" I asked.
"And what makes you certain that she will fight for us?" Uraume still looked doubtful. The idea of someone fighting against their own village was practically anathema to these people.
"I'm not. But I do think I have a fair shot of convincing her with all that I know about how Jinchuriki are treated in Iwa, and something tells me that she cares more about saving her own hide and getting stronger on her own than she does about something as silly as national pride."
Uraume gave me a strange look at that. "Nothing matters more than national pride to a shinobi."
"We'll see about that."
"At least promise me that you'll be careful. Take precautions to make sure you don't get burned," she said, and I chuckled.
"Was that like a pun because of her—you know, the fire thing?" I asked.
Uraume just sighed and walked out of the room without turning around.
XXXXX- THE TSUCHIKAGE
His grip on the stone he kept on his desk tightened as he received the rest of the report.
"Right now, we've recorded about one hundred and forty-nine fatalities so far with close to two hundred injuries—most of them debilitating and disqualifying them from Iwa's military service," his wife said, and he resisted the urge to crush the stone and show his rage. This was not the time for that. It was his job to be the stone right now, and the stone did not rage. It did not sulk. It stood, stalwart and unbreakable.
"Our academy," one of the councilors moaned, while the others nodded their heads in unison. It was a terrible blow—an atrocity. And by the gods, he felt like a bastard for even thinking it, but it was not the true loss.
"And all our search parties have reported the same thing. Azula is nowhere to be found," she said next, and this time the rock shattered to pieces, never even giving him the chance to push his restraint further.
"She couldn't have just disappeared into thin air, could she?" one of the idiots asked. Like that was not what he saw with his own two eyes. They just disappeared.
"What do our spies have to say about this?" he asked, feeling his voice deepen into a growl at the last bit. Left to him, they would all have lost their jobs by now. What was the point of having spies in all the major villages if they couldn't see something like this coming?
"They have been unable to confirm Kumo's involvement in the attack, but they have sent reports about a rumored jutsu used by the Raikage's secretary that allowed her to send objects all over the world. It seems to be how they solve their supply line problems," she said.
"So just the kind of thing that could be used to evacuate from our village right in the middle?" he asked, thinking.
"Still, we have no conclusive proof that they did it," she said, and he knew what she was doing, but not now, not here.
"We have all the proof we need. Dozens of shinobi saw those headbands. Kumo lost both their jinchuriki to Konoha. It only makes sense that they would strike out for another one. We predicted that they would seek both the Eight and Nine-Tails from Konoha as retribution for their losses, but their decision to take the fourth from us is not far from their usual behaviour," Kitsuchi said, looking none too pleased at the situation as well. Onoki nodded. He was right.
"We need to call everything we have received from our spies in Kumo into question. If they could not get wind of an operation as large as this one, then one only wonders just what else they might have missed," Daisuke said from the side. Onoki nodded again.
"What if they weren't waiting at Frost's border trying to train a new set of troops but instead hatching this operation?" his wife asked, and he wanted to toss his chair out the window next. They had been in a standoff with Kumo, knowing that Konoha would bleed them if they got the chance. Shorirama Senju was a crafty piece of shit, and so the second he was made the Hokage, they knew he would hatch something to punish whoever took the first crack at them. Sure, they would most likely win nonetheless, but then what?
Once Konoha was out of the way, this alliance—if it could ever even have been called that—between them would break. They would face each other then, and that was why they all hesitated to step into the shark's maw. At least that was what he thought they were doing. Except that Kumo had been on the ball. They knew Konoha was practically done with, and instead of wasting time to strike a finishing blow, they came for Iwa next. He smashed his fist into the desk. He should have thought of it first.
"So what do we do now?" one of them asked, and he knew this was the time to come with an answer as the Kage. It was his duty to solve situations like this. To figure out what to do next when the mountain began to crumble beneath their feet.
"The situation is nowhere near as dire as it seems. When it comes to raw manpower, we have more men than both Kumo and Konoha still. We know where Kumo are and can flush them out at any time, but they'd be expecting retaliation if they have any sense about them. No chance those operatives wouldn't have informed Ay by now. No. What we need to do is what Kumo would never expect us to do," he said, pausing to see who would understand his intention first.
"You want to attack Konoha?" his wife asked, looking doubtful.
"Why not? They can set all the traps they want, but we have the men, and I tire of sitting and staring at their village insignia on a map. I want to feel the blood of their people on my own fingers. I want to hear their moans of dismay as I turn their precious monuments and structures to dust. I want Shorirama Senju to beg for his life as I watch it drain from his eyes," he said, squeezing the stone in his grip once more as he felt his blood begin to boil thinking about the village and their arrogance. He would never forget what that man had done to him and his master on that day. He could not wait until he got the chance to do the same to Shorirama Senju.
Hashirama had written them with platitudes and lies, saying he had never sanctioned the actions, but they knew the truth. What kind of Kage would have a shinobi go rogue like that and not punish them? No one. His grandson would pay for that insult now. Onoki was no longer the boy he had once been, and Konoha would burn for it.
"You were the one who told us to wait. To let Kumo go first and bleed their numbers."
"Yes. And now it is undoubted that they are doing the same thing. If we sit here and wait, then Konoha might recover enough to make taking the village a struggle. In that case, it wouldn't matter, because if we don't destroy Konoha, what was the point of this war in the first place?"
"But what if they do what you said? Come at us from behind and…"
"We are Iwa. Kumo and Konoha together don't stand a chance. Besides, Kumo must be expecting our retaliation now. That means they will be slow to move and react when we move for Konoha. If we seize Konoha within a day, then we will have their walls to turn against Kumo, and the threat of Konoha's two tailed beasts under our control should be enough to give them pause," he said, his plan coming together.
"What about Suna?"
"Those cowards? Let them remain in their desert and die there."
"Tsuchikage-sama, Father, I beg you. Give me command over the forces that will take Suna. I will bring you the head of Shorirama Senju and both the Eight and Nine-Tails. I swear it," Kitsuchi said. And Onoki wished he had not spoken. Now he would have to refuse his son here. In front of these grasping snakes and serpents. But to do it in private would be just as damning and much less efficient. Besides, maybe this would be a lesson on not trying to pressure him into action. Maybe he hoped his mother's presence would dissuade Onoki from refusing as he ought.
"One day, you will be ready to fight anyone in the world and walk out the other side. But if you faced Shorirama Senju today, you'd come back in a black scroll," if he even got to come back at all. Shorirama Senju was just the kind of person to keep his son's body as a trophy.
"Besides, conflict with Ay is all but guaranteed. You are strong, boy. But not strong enough to face a Kage. There's a reason there are only five of us in the world."
"So how would we deal with them?" Kitsuchi asked next, brows furrowed.
"I will lead them, of course," he said like it was obvious, and in truth, it was. He'd seen Shorirama fight as a child, and even back then he had all the things that could come together to make a dangerous shinobi. Prodigious chakra control, elemental affinity, taijutsu, and then there were the chakra reserves and fuinjutsu. The only things lacking had been the judgment skills that could only come with experience, and the ability to seamlessly pull disparate skills together to create a coherent fighting style. Two things that had probably come with time, considering the fact that he had killed Han.
"But Tsuchikage-sama, we agreed that after what happened to Lord Second, the Tsuchikage would only be called to the front lines as a last resort. We can't lose you." He scoffed. As if he would die. He was stronger than his Master ever was. And with the things he'd been working on, the world would be in for a nasty surprise.
"This is the last resort. We have lost both our jinchuriki and now stand at a crossroads. This is our last desperate gambit," he said gravely, trying to drive home the seriousness of the situation. Just how dire things were. Either they won here, or they lost everything.
XXXXXX- SHORIRAMA SENJU
"The last time you asked for my help, I had to spend two days in the mind of a bird flying all the way from Iwa here. Might I add that I just arrived two days ago, even," Inoken asked, as he stepped into the room. I gave my old friend a smile and walked forward to hug him. He froze in my grip before he returned it.
"Who are you and what have you done with Shorirama Senju?" Inoken asked with a wary look, clearly taken aback by the hug I'd swallowed him in.
"Just me, Ino. It was worrying when we unsealed you and you didn't wake. Even more worrying when Shika said what happened with the Tsuchikage."
"Yeah, thank you for the help with the mirror though. Would have been harder to make it out of that if Shika hadn't been carrying it with her."
"We should have thought to check it first instead of waiting and leaving you comatose."
"That was probably for the best. If you'd gotten the part of my mind from the mirror into my body without the other two-thirds of my mind in reasonable proximity, things might have snapped," he said next. I nodded. That was fair.
"So do you want to know why I've called you here?"
"I assume it's got something to do with her," he said, tilting his head towards the other occupant of the room—the heavily sedated Yonbi Jinchuriki.
"Precisely. I've got an idea of sorts, so I want to see if we can implement it working together."
XXXX- KUSHINA UZUMAKI
"Stop daydreaming, Pansy!" she screamed as she flew at her big brother with her feet stretched in front of her. He caught her ankle in his hand and tossed her away, but that had been her plan as she used the chance to wrap him in her chains, and the pansy was finally able to break out of his stupor for long enough to jump at big brother with a familiar jutsu whirling in his grip. She felt her big brother's body relax in her grasp for a second, and then next her chains had been shattered into motes of golden light and the pansy's body was folded over around her big brother's fist.
She felt heat bloom into being as Mikoto continued her part of the plan regardless and breathed dozens of fireballs in their Sensei's direction. Her older brother simply turned in that direction and spat a small lake at all the small fireballs. The water covered and swallowed Mikoto's jutsu as she turned to run back into the forest they were training within.
She made it two steps before she was suddenly flying back towards the mud. She landed within it and the mud covered her up to her neck. She could not even begin to move. Kushina bolted forwards—at least she tried to, until she found her feet stuck in place. A second later, she yelped as she fell backwards into a pool of mud.
"That attempt could even almost pass for competent," she heard her big brother's laugh-filled voice a second later.
A/N: Here's the next chapter. Transitional as we spin our way towards the War's inevitable conclusion. Next four up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)(same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.