Pre-Chapter A/N:Bit of a late upload. Had five days in one yesterday, so please accept my apologies. More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio. Experimenting with two chapters a week, we'll see how long I can keep this up for.
"Have Uraume Hyuga, Shikahime Nara, Uzume Uchiha, Toshiro Takehada, and Inoken Yamanaka brought before me at once," I ordered the first shinobi I saw upon poking my head outside my tent. The man turned to me, seeming unsure if I was speaking to him, before he noticed that I kept staring at him and my eyes did not move. He took a step backward first. What was that about? And then he knelt. Huh?
"At once, Hokage-sama," he said and body-flickered away. My eyes tracked his movements, and if I didn't know better, I would have thought he was being chased by something. I turned to look at the rest of the shinobi about, only to notice none of them were meeting my eyes, and the vast majority of them were trying to disappear as quickly as they could. What was that about? I wondered.
Hmph, I shrugged and headed back inside. I'd ask Uraume later. She was the one with her finger on the pulse of the gossip and whatnot. It took only about three minutes for the names I had requested to be arrayed in front of me.
"You were right," I said, and the shock on their faces was a sight for the ages. Well, of course it was. I wasn't one to admit to being wrong often. And that was because I rarely was. But Kurama was right. Chiyo was the one I wanted. And as long as Suna did not try to hide her from me when the time came, then they could continue their pitiful existence for a while.
"Don't celebrate yet. When Chiyo shows her face again, I will skin it myself and none of you will interfere."
"We wouldn't dream of it."
"Good. Now, how goes the process of finding the civilians?"
"The Aburame are still searching, but our next plan is for Inoken to interrogate the Tsuchikage with his mind-walk."
"Onoki's wife, yes?"
"Yes."
"Then that shall not be necessary. Take me to her, and she will talk," I said.
"No need. We brought her to you instead," Inoken replied, taking out a scroll from his pocket.
"Excellent. Unseal her then."
He gave a wary look at the surroundings before spreading the scroll and tapping the center. There she was, the interim Tsuchikage. In all her glory—or lack thereof. I had no idea how the people of Iwa had allowed a non-shinobi to rule them, even if it was only for a short period of time.
"Wake her up, please," I said. Shikahime moved to unseal what I suspected were some chains. I lifted a hand to restrain her. This would be a civilized conversation, at the very least. There wasn't much of a point in restraining her, was there?
"I think you might be operating under a misconception," Uraume said. She probably didn't think there was any room for civility.
"Be that as it may, my will be done," I said and gestured for Inoken to proceed. He whipped out a syringe, stuck it in her neck, and then tapped her forehead.
I didn't have my Byakugan active, so it was difficult to tell when she would become conscious. I listened for any change in breathing or motion and heard nothing. Nothing, at least, until she sprang up faster than most, with a kunai from her sleeves aimed at my throat. She froze mid-step, her shadow leading back to Shikahime. How interesting.
"I never knew civilians could move so fast. Is that some sort of samurai training?" I asked, peering closer and activating my Byakugan.
"That is what I was trying to tell you. From what we can tell, she hails from the black ops of their black ops. The Anbu within Anbu, if you would. The civilian story was a cover-up, one planted so thoroughly and cleverly that even our spies bought it, hook, line, and sinker," Uraume said. With my Byakugan, I could see a fully developed chakra network that matched up to Uraume's words perfectly. Easily as much chakra as I would expect from a combat-focused Jounin, and all the signs of training in chakra use.
"How fascinating. Well, release her, Shika. We can speak now," I said.
Shika gave me a doubtful look. What was it with my own shinobi doubting my orders? Still, she unclasped her hands, deactivating the shadow possession, and the second she did so, the kunai shot from the woman's hand like a missile honed for my neck. I caught it mid-air, and before she could take a third step, I pressed down with my chakra.
She stopped dead. For all her training, Jounin was still Jounin. And I hadn't been Jounin-level in years.
"I hoped we would be civilized, Tsuchikage-dono," I said.
"I am sure we can still be. Sit, and we will talk. You might want to go out with a bang here, die by my hands just like your husband, but I ask you, what will that achieve? You could do so much more for your people. Your son lies in my custody." At the last sentence, I could tell I had her. So I pulled back my chakra.
She stayed still, staring daggers at me while she clenched her fist. I wondered what she had in her mind now—she probably wished she was stronger so she could kill me. Sadly, she wasn't. And so she wouldn't even be coming close.
"What do you want?" she ground the words out, tasting every one and hating it.
"Terms of peace," I said, not even offended at the way she immediately barked out a laugh.
"You have killed my husband, captured my son, destroyed my village, and now you speak of peace?"
"Exactly. And because I have done those things, when I speak, you will listen because you don't have any choice in the matter."
"I could choose to die. We will only have peace over my dead body."
"Shall we have it over your son's as well? Because I can promise you that I will kill him before I kill you. And after I kill him, I will find your civilians, and then I will slaughter them to the last man. My shinobi can manage that much, I assure you. And if you don't think they can, you can just look at the trench carved into the middle of what was once a great village and see what I can do when pushed. You don't want to push me, Tsuchikage-dono."
"What are your terms?" I wondered how good the dentists in Iwa were. All that tooth grinding couldn't be healthy.
"Iwa is in dire straits, let us be honest. If Kumo did not attack, then someone else would have. Kumo's attack means that your best shinobi are dead, and their lessers—possible replacements—are in my custody. There is no one to teach your academy, your vaults have been plundered by my shinobi, and we have taken our due as spoils of war. To put it succinctly, you are fucked."
"Are those terms? I asked for terms, not to be mocked."
"Indeed. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page before I gave them. Capitulation. My terms are that Iwa shall totally surrender and become a vassal village to Konoha. I will appoint a Governor of my choosing. My shinobi will take charge of your academies, and my people will help you rebuild. Maybe one day we can return it to its former glory."
"You are mad."
"Am I? I don't see how else your village makes it out of this intact."
"Even after the First War, did no one dare make such a request? To turn Iwa into a vassal state? You can threaten me, you can threaten my son, you can threaten every son and daughter of Iwa, and our words would be the same. We will never agree to such," she said with so much vehemence that I was forced to believe her. I really was. And that wasn't a good thing, because there weren't many ways this could end well for them.
"Tell me what terms work for you then." I could see Shikahime barely hold herself back from objecting. Good, at least she had the good sense not to question me now.
"A peace treaty. Iwa will end its state of war with Konohagakure no Sato and will swear not to prosecute or support any war against Konohagakure no Sato unless she is attacked first or provoked. Like you already said, you have emptied our vaults, so consider all reparations already paid in full." I barked a laugh once she finished, not even caring for the indignation that appeared on her face.
"I have my boot on your neck, Tsuchikage-dono. I have your arms and legs broken. You are subject to my every whim and caprice, and you think I will let up with only a piece of paper to show for it?"
"Iwa will never agree to vassalhood. This is the best deal you can get, Hokage. Take it and begone."
"I believe you, Tsuchikage-dono. For good or for ill, I believe you," I told her. The triumph that appeared in her eyes made me chuckle.
"I said I believe you that it is the best deal I can get, but what need have I of a deal when I can impose my will?" And the triumph was gone, replaced by confusion.
"You see, there were only two possibilities when the sun rose today. Either Iwa would cease to be one of the great five and pledge vassalage to Konoha, or Iwa would cease to be. Now that you have convinced me of the former, the latter is the only avenue open to you. I apologize, Tsuchikage-dono. Your people shall not be thanking you for your stubbornness," I said, before gesturing to Inoken. She tried to move, but Shika's shadow held her still while another syringe found its way into her neck.
"But what do we do about the civilians and academy students?"
"Were we able to get their records of forbidden techniques?" I asked.
"They have a seal-protected vault in the Kage's office. We have been able to breach all vaults with the exception of that one so far, and we suspect it has their forbidden and classified techniques," Uraume said.
"Good. I'll take a look at it once we finish here. Toshiro, get our people ready to move out at day's end. Shika, Ino, you know what to do with these," I said, unsealing a mountain of tags from my storage. Explosion tags all made by yours truly to have nearly double the yield of a regular class-five tag. That had been a bitch and a half to figure out, but so worth it.
"You still didn't answer the question, Shori."
"Is it not obvious? Nothing. If they survive what happens to the village, then let them come back and rebuild it. I doubt some civilians and academy students would manage it, but they should feel free to try. Iwa will be gone today, though," I said. Those in the bunkers would be non-combatants, one and all. Even the genin had been drafted to fight off Kumo. So that meant that they were no threat. If they even wanted to rebuild, they would be starting from ground zero. That meant decades at the least before they would become anything even resembling a competent shinobi village, and that was if everything went well, the Daimyo committed full resources, and they stayed disciplined.
Most likely, they would return, take one look at the rubble that remained, and go their separate ways. Iwa was done. It just didn't know it yet.
"Let's get moving, guys. The quicker we get out of this place, the better my mood will be," I said, rising from my desk and moving towards Uraume while the others left.
—
"So this is the vault?" Well, that was a bit of an obvious question, considering it was a large metal door surrounded by large steel walls and buried into the side of a cliff face.
"Clearly," Uzume scoffed. I noticed some burn marks on the steel.
"You already tried breaching it with force and failed?" I asked, stepping closer.
"I didn't fail. Uraume said there was a risk of a failsafe destroying everything if we breached."
"Fair enough. And she was right."
"What?"
"This is an Uzumaki seal. Probably made to order some decades ago," I said, looking at it.
"So yeah, if you had breached by force, then you and the vault would have been sucked into a miniature black hole of sorts," I said after identifying the failsafes. I whistled, impressed. It was good work. Really good work. So good, it was a shame we wouldn't be able to take the whole safe back to Konoha with us.
"So can you get in?" Uraume asked. I scoffed.
"Whoever did this was good. Great, even. But if I needed to bypass it, I can see a few things I'd try. But that's only if I needed to bypass. Like I said, it is an Uzumaki seal. And what Uzumaki seal would deny one of the blood?" I reached up to my mouth with a thumb, biting hard enough to draw blood. I spread it along the surface of the seal and said, "Open sesame." The last bit was entirely for show as the safe's door swung inward, revealing Iwagakure's greatest treasure.
Scrolls upon scrolls upon scrolls. I walked in, scanning with my Byakugan to make sure there were no traps and was unsurprised to find none. That would have been overkill.
"Uraume. Please see to it that these are categorized and packed up as soon as possible," I said while walking deeper. If we had to wait until the end of the day for us to be done with this place, then I might as well spend the time looking through Iwa's best techniques.
There was a whole section dedicated to the Earth Release. I ignored it. I'd find the weighted boulder technique there for sure, but that was a concern for later. The giant scrolls that were almost definitely summoning contracts were far more interesting. I wasn't going to sign any of them, yeah, but they were interesting, at least. Maybe we'd find one for Uzume and see if she couldn't learn some sort of sage mode. That should bring her back up to my level again, and then we'd hone each other even further.
The first one was for moles. I wondered what giant moles would look like. Another for groundhogs, one for badgers. Even one for termites. It was a treasure trove. Signing the right summoning contract could take a shinobi multiple levels up in strength. You could just think of someone like Jiraiya. And then my previously good mood disappeared, snuffed out like a match in the wind.
Because thinking of Jiraiya made me think of Tsunade, and they were both dead. The only one of the Sannin to still be alive was Orochimaru, and even that was touch and go. What would he become in a world without either of his teammates? A greater threat to peace and good conscience? A better man? There was no way to know. And a terrible part of me did not want to find out.
My desire to explore had died a quick death, so I left the vault. There was nothing to keep my interest there, not when so little of it was labeled. So I began to walk the village that was once Iwa. A shocking amount of it was still standing, funny enough. Toshiro and co. would have their work cut out for them in leveling this place. In the middle, I could see my trench, a scar carved into the land itself. If I were a more shallow man, I would go have statues of the Raikage and me doing the seal of confrontation and give it a suitably dramatic name a la the Valley of the End.
I laughed at the thought of it and ignored the way Uzume's eyes turned to me in concern.
"You know you don't need to follow me around, right? I'm fine."
"I'm not following you around," she said instantly, still walking in lockstep with me. I stopped, and she did the same.
"Why did you stop just now, then?"
"Because I wanted to."
"You're a terrible liar," I said, continuing my walk and watching her do the same.
"I don't need help," I said. "I'm not going to break down just because—" I stopped.
"I know," she said, and then she said nothing else.
"I'll kill her, you know? I don't enjoy killing people all that much. It's just a thing. Like drinking water or eating rice. I do it because it is the nature of the world. It's never personal. But her? I'll remove her skin. I'll break open her ribs and expose her innards. I'll have rats eat every part of her and then heal her over and over again. I'll torture her until she begs for death, and then and only then will I kill her. A mercy," I said.
"And that is your right," Uzume just said.
"What? You're not going to tell me I'm being too dramatic? Not going to tell me that focusing on this woman is the worst way to live? That this kind of hatred is like drinking poison and hoping to die?"
"I am an Uchiha. I understand the need to avenge family. I will kill Hanzo of Ame when the time comes. Just as you will kill this Chiyo woman. It is the nature of the world," she said.
"Thank you, Uzume," I said, turning to her with a smile. She returned it, and I felt just a bit lighter.
A/N: Another chapter and then we move on to farther and further. Next six up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)(same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.