In the face of absolute power, any scheme is useless. So-called stratagems only work when the gap in strength isn't too large, or in contests strictly between people.
What if it's between a person and a monster—or a god?
In Mei Terumi, Ao, and Chojuro's eyes, Meruem at this moment was no different from a god.
From a position of absolute advantage, Meruem agreed to let Mei and the others send three to duel him one-on-one, fighting until they were truly convinced. If they lost, they had to surrender; if they won, they'd be allowed to leave.
Originally, the three to take the field were to be Mei Terumi, Ao, and Chojuro—the three strongest left among Kirigakure's last resistance force.
Don't be fooled by Chojuro's mere sixteen years and extremely timid, unreliable demeanor. He was, in the original, the most trusted by the Fourth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, and would become the Sixth Mizukage. His talent and strength were not to be underestimated—at such a young age he'd already reached elite jonin level.
Mei needed no introduction—the strongest among the resistance. Ao was a veteran elite jonin and a bearer of the Byakugan.
Unfortunately, Ao couldn't muster the slightest will to fight Meruem—in other words, he'd been frightened out of his wits. Before Meruem, he completely lost the ability to battle. Helpless, Mei had to send another unknown jonin, and the result was predictable—Meruem one-shot him in a single move.
Next was Chojuro. His double-handed blade, Hiramekarei, was like a child's toy before Meruem. Even allowing Chojuro to hack at will, not a single mark appeared on Meruem.
Neither forceful taijutsu nor Water Release could do the slightest thing to Meruem. With no options left, he could only concede.
Lastly, Mei took the field. Her Lava Release and Boil Release not only had no effect, the opponent somehow learned them on the spot, and the Lava and Boil he released were even stronger than her original versions.
No way around it—Mei lost the final match as well. Per the agreement, the remaining resistance had to surrender. Some refused and tried to renege, so Meruem didn't humor them—he ordered their annihilation. Against the Chimera Ant army, a handful of jonin and chunin were just a plate of appetizers—one clash, and they were gone.
Meruem was only interested in absorbing Kirigakure's human forces; it wasn't necessary—he simply found it interesting. But if anyone spoiled his fun, then they would be erased.
At that, all the resistance were either killed or surrendered. The entire Kirigakure—and the entire Land of Water—fell under the Chimera Ants' banner. One of the Five Great Villages, Kirigakure now belonged to Meruem.
Don't be fooled by the Land of Water being islands—its population isn't small. It's one of the Five Great Nations, after all, and the surrounding islands also held many people.
A full lockdown and slow digestion of the Land of Water's territory would sustain the Chimera Ant army's development for quite some time.
It wasn't that the Chimera Ants lacked the ability to fight the other four great nations—they simply knew the right path was to fully consolidate and digest what they occupied.
Kirigakure's regular forces might be gone, but there were still small local resistance groups. They simply couldn't unite or escape under the Chimera Ants' complete maritime blockade.
Once the entire Land of Water was fully chimera-antilized, they wouldn't fear facing the other four nations and the entire shinobi world's Allied Shinobi Forces head-on. That includes Obito's one hundred thousand White Zetsu.
Speaking of Obito, one must mention Akatsuki. Though Akatsuki's manpower was small, their intelligence network was extraordinarily strong.
While the other Five Great Villages noticed nothing amiss in the Land of Water, Akatsuki quickly did.
But what did the Land of Water's situation have to do with them? They weren't the allies of justice. As long as it didn't interfere with their Tailed Beast capture plan two years later, it was fine.
"Obito, a large number of unknown monsters have appeared in the Land of Water. For some reason, my spore clones are detected as soon as they enter that land. And those guys are all very strong." In a shadowed corner of the Land of Rain, White Zetsu, shaped like a pitcher plant, spoke.
In truth, Black Zetsu didn't want to tell Obito and the other Akatsuki members about this, but now wasn't the time to reveal himself. Besides, it wasn't some great secret—Obito would learn of it sooner or later.
"I see. Keep watching the Land of Water and report to me immediately if anything happens." Obito, behind the ugly orange spiral mask, spoke. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
The Uchiha who escaped back then had grown—now even Obito wasn't his match. If only he'd cut the grass and pulled up the roots. It was all because of that so-called Chimera Ant—just who was he?
Indeed, not long after Uchiha Musashi led the surviving Uchiha back to Konoha, Obito sought them out. Obito hadn't planned to care about the other Uchiha—their existence didn't affect his plan. But the other side appeared of their own accord, and Obito had no choice but to act. He'd thought that personally going would make it easy.
Unfortunately for him, the Kamui space that had always been unstoppable—save for losing to the Fourth Hokage—failed again against Uchiha Musashi.
Or rather, he was defeated head-on by the other side. Obito now wasn't the endgame superpower—the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki wielding Truth-Seeking Orbs. The only thing he had now was the ability of a single Mangekyo Sharingan; the Rinnegan was still with Nagato.
In terms of raw strength, he was indeed inferior to Uchiha Musashi—whether in taijutsu or ninjutsu. And Musashi's one eye could absorb energy—Uchiha Obito's Kamui space was an energy-laden ability, too.
As was obvious, Obito—still a behind-the-scenes player—was easily defeated by Musashi.
He had no mood to care about the Land of Water and Kirigakure now, even though he'd once lived there and controlled the Third Mizukage.
"Just wait, Uchiha Musashi. In at most two years I'll erase the name 'Uchiha' from this world!"
"You're sure the Three-Tails, Isobu, lives in this lake? Forget it, I'll check myself." After Mei and the others surrendered, Meruem—wanting to test a Tailed Beast's power—had them take him to see the Three-Tails.
As the Three-Tails' location was within the Land of Water, Mei knew the general area. Even without their lead, Meruem could have the Chimera Ant army find it—it would just be more trouble.
If the Three-Tails' strength proved decent, giving it to Uchiha Musashi as a summoning beast wouldn't be a bad choice.
The lake wasn't large—well within the range of Meruem's En.
As one of the nine Tailed Beasts, the Three-Tails was extremely sensitive to life force. When Meruem's En touched it, it also sensed Meruem standing outside the lake.
"Who dares disturb Lord Isobu's rest?!" A monster resembling an alligator turtle, its body covered in hard scales with three long tails behind it, burst out of the lake.
"Though you are indeed a monster, your strength isn't much." Seeing Isobu, Meruem rendered his judgment.
Fine—Isobu's chakra was enormous to an ordinary shinobi. But to Meruem... it really wasn't worth mentioning.
Still, what would such a colossal creature become if modified into a Chimera Ant? A Chimera Ant–ified Tailed Beast? The idea sounded good. Its strength would certainly rise a notch. But would that affect the Ten-Tails' emergence? Forget it—better not do that until after the Ten-Tails appears.
"Arrogant brat! How dare you speak disrespectfully to Lord Isobu! I'll eat you!" One had to wonder if every Tailed Beast had the same arrogant temper. Shukaku was like that, and so was Kurama. Now Isobu was, too. Couldn't it see Meruem's strength exceeded its own? Though Meruem hadn't unleashed his Nen, in sheer perceptiveness it truly fell short of a summoning sage like the White Snake Sage.
Watching the huge monster charge, Meruem remained calm. He knew such a creature couldn't even reach him.
Because today, Youpi had come along.
"How dare you show disrespect to the King!" Without needing Meruem's orders, Youpi spread his wings and rushed up proactively.
Truth be told, with Youpi's beast-like monstrous power and strength, the Three-Tails simply wasn't his match.
It was a complete beatdown. Youpi's iron fists hammered Isobu, making it howl in pain.
Anyone knows: given the same force, the smaller the impact area, the greater the damage. In front of Isobu, Youpi's fists were tiny.
Concentrating on a single point—Isobu simply couldn't take it.
Though Isobu was turtle-like and had a shell, from a human-sized perspective there was still plenty of exposed flesh.
"Damn it—I'll kill you!" Isobu, never before bullied by humans like this, instantly flew into a rage. But compared to Youpi—especially a flying Youpi—its speed was far too slow.
Youpi easily avoided Isobu's claws and water cannons, flew behind it, grabbed its tail that was slapping the water, and gave a mighty heave.
He actually hoisted the massive Isobu into the air. The dissonance was like a fly hoisting a human.
Then he began to spin.
A giant windmill! Isobu's body slammed into the ground—shell first, but Isobu still felt it. Most importantly, in that position it was very hard for Isobu to flip back over.
"Submit or die." Unhurriedly, Meruem walked up to Isobu—and under Isobu's terrified gaze, fully unleashed his Nen.
(End of Chapter)
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