It had been months since Akashi returned to New Uzushio, and he had been quite busy.
With the help of his grandfather on the Uchiha side, the negotiation with Nekoba and the ninja cat went well. The distribution of the new weapons is managed by the old woman and her cats through their channel.
The money that they made through that nearly rivals their business with the distribution of the sealing tags, satisfying all parties.
Of course, managing all that was no small matter; they had to establish an office for that.
"What is on the program today?" He asked Karin as he walked through the castle.
"Test for the new seals and tags, meeting with the research team for the development of the new jitsu, a meeting with the elder Kuroko for the review of the management of the new businesses, and a dispute about the relocation of the newest clan that joined Uzushio."
Hearing the list of things to do, Akashi felt the urge to return to bed,
"Why are there so many things to do? It's like the list of things to do gets longer every day,"
Karin smiled at that complaint
"It's because you insist on getting involved in everything, young master," Karin responded
"I have enough clones for that, so why shouldn't I get involved?" he responded
"Because you are going to bitch about that later!" she murmured under her breath
"What did you say!?"
"I said that using clones is a splendid idea, like you always do, sir. Hehe" Karin replied with a perfectly respectful demeanor
"Humph,"
He snorted while she wiped sweat from her forehead
He was not wrong; the list of things he needed to do was getting longer by the day, but with his clones, he was able to keep up with everything.
"But seriously, you need to slow down, no matter how much of a freak you are, you can't be involved in everything, priority is a thing you know,"
"Hum huh, is there any problem with the clan on the issue of relocation?"
He asked, completely ignoring what Karin had just said
During the last years, using various means, the Uzumaki had brought many people, from ordinary farmers to ninjas clan from all over the Elemental Nations.
Some were brought in for their secret techniques of kekei genkai, and for others, their purpose was their research value.
Contrary to what was shown in the show, there were multiple clans all over the world, not belonging to any villages.
Some of those clans were subordinates to the Daimyos and nobles around the world, some were nomads by choice, some didn't want to be shackled by the villages' systems, and so, one but one thing was certain: the ninja world was still full of ninja and samurai clans that the anime never talked about.
Some of those clans had interesting abilities, and it was those clans that were Akashi and the Uzumaki's wanted.
"Yes, the Yume clan had a little dispute with another clan," she responded,
"Yume! Those are the ones with the ability to create rain, a useful ability, but they are quite weak, right?"
Akashi appeared a little surprised, since there was plenty of room on the island for everyone.
This is nothing really, it's a clan that is used to the nomade life so they are have trouble settling down, this is how it is when peoples with diferents background gets totether their are friction from time to time, The clan leader wants you to know that there is no need for you to get involve, that we will fix that soon,"
"Alright then,"
Minutes later, Akashi and Karin arrived at the research and development team's building. It was a building big enough to accommodate all the equipment used for the research here.
"Arima rescued a town of civilians whose village had been enslaved by bandits; they all agreed to move here," Karin said as they entered
"Why are you telling me that?"
"Because, the head of the bandit group was called a monsters by everyone, he killed multiples teams of ninjas even some from Konoha, at time he is calm and at others he is irracible, cruel, and bloodthirsty killing indiscriminately anything that get close to him, and most inportantly when he lose control his body transformed in something close to an armor, isn't it familiar,"
At Karin's words, Akashi realized why she was acting like that, and a smile appeared on his face. Akashi had a few clans in mind from his canon knowledge that he wanted on his side,
'He must be a clansman of Juzo; we finally found lead.'
Due to their constitution that unconsciously absorbs natural energy, making them lose their sanity, that clan has to live in seclusion.
Throughout the years, the Juzo clan had been seen as monsters, despised and hunted.
But it was also why they attracted Orochimaru's attention in the canon timeline, and Akashi wanted their powers on his side.
'I'm going to make my own curse mark, sorry, Orochimaru,'
"I'm excited to see him, thanks for the info, Karin," Akashi said with a smile as he entered the room full of researchers.
"Good morning, young master," after greeting the researchers in their white coats, another old man approached Akashi as he walked toward the giant of a man who was strapped to an operating table with seals as the researchers were fawning over his constitution.
Arata was an experienced researcher whom the clan rescued from a noble in the land of Earth. He was one of the rare gems in the ninja world in matters of research.
He was no Orochimaru, but it didn't matter. Akashi had the Uzumaki clan backing him; with that, he could recruit whom he wanted or kidnap whom he needed.
"Good morning, old man Arata, how is he!?" Akashi asked, looking at the man who had transformed like Juzo in the manga.
"He has an incredible constitution. I can understand why you are interested in him and his clan, to be able to absorb natural energy and not die from that is already incredible, even if it is unconscious."
"Just the initial data that I collected gave me a lot of ideas to research, a solution that could allow the absorption of natural energy, a way to expel it from the body safely without dying, how to make others transform like he does, and so much more.
My brain is in ebulition, that man is a treasure trove, young master, you need to find the others of his clan as soon as possible."
The old scientist babble on, the manic glint in his eyes told Akashi how much he wanted to start cutting up the man in front of him to find all of his secrets.
"Your eyes are creepy, old man," Karin said, seeing the same manic glint in the reseasher's eyes that Akashi was seeing.
"I will see to it," Akashi said as he started to flip through the papers on the results of the test made of the test subject in front of him
"I'm wondering something," Arata asked
"Go ahead," Akashi replied as he continued to examine the papers with growing admiration, the results were already promising.
"Aren't you afraid of wasting your potential?"
"Hum?!" Akashi stopped looking through the papers for seconds
"What do you mean?" Akashi questioned
"Well, I studied ninjas for a long time; most of the truly strong ones have one specialty, one thing in which they excel at.
This is what makes them really powerful, the ones that tend to dabble in everything end up mastering nothing so, I was wondering why you are doing something so... detrimental to your growth as a ninja."
"You sound like my teacher, it's because I'm a genius," he said nonchalantly
"Cheeky brat," the old man scoffed
"How old do you think I am?" he asked Arata, something he never told him
"I don't know, from your appearance, I would say twelve!"
"I'm not even ten years old yet," Akashi said, and the old researcher's eyes widened in surprise
"So you see, when I tell you that I'm a genius, I am boasting, but this is also true," he said matter-of-factly, and Arata couldn't help but nod.
He was an old man, and well learn at that; he knew that ninjas matured quickly, but Akashi was too smart, too strong, and too big for his age.
'It's monstrous,' he thought in his mind
"That's why I use the shadow clone technique when I need to."
In the past, Akashi wondered why people like the kages didn't use clones to do their work, and the answer is... they are stupid.
"Right! It's smart, you really are a genius,"
'I wonder what kind of monster he will become. Will he reach the level of the famed Hashirama Senju? I hope I will live to see it.'
After he was done with the papers in his hands, he moved toward the ninja strapped to the table as he woke up.
"You crazy fuckers. I'm gonna tear you apart limb by limb,"
Slowly, under the eyes of everyone, the Juzo ninja's body started to change. The monitors turned continuously, recording every change happening. It looked like he was really going to free himself when
"Sharingan,"
With that single murmur, the man fell into a trance and his body transformed back into that of a normal human
"The sharingan is really fascinating, I wonder if I will be able to study it one day," Arata said, looking at Akashi's blood red tomoe with something Akin to greed.
In the midst of his revery, the old researcher shuddered as he felt Karin's murderous gaze on his back, but Akashi's next word saved him
"Maybe one day! Now, silence, I need to focus."
Akashi silenced the room with quiet authority as his tomoe started to spin slowly.
whoosh
In an instant, Akashi found himself in Juzo's head.
"Now, show me where your clanmen are!"