Pre-Chapter A/N: Here we go with another chapter, coming in right on time. Next four chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
"A line on the map works best. If the Otsutsuki are coming like you have shown, then a divided world benefits no one. Madara has Kiri already. I can take Suna and then Kumo before the end of the year. We split the world like that, and have peace between our halves so we can fight the coming enemy," I said. Ishiguri just gave me a look, and Madara, on his end, scoffed. Can't blame a man for trying, no?
"Those wouldn't be halves, boy. You'd have the world, and I'd be sitting on its edge," he said.
"All for the betterment of humanity. I'm sure you can live with that," I said, matching Rinnegan eyes with my own.
"Enough. There will be no conquest. You both still play games like you are the only ones on the playground. There's a bigger badder bully coming to take everyone's lunch. All this infighting serves no one," he said.
"I'll hear what he thinks a fair division of the world would be," I said then.
"You do not seem to have heard me, Cousin. I said no conquest." He said the word cousin like a curse, and pressed down with his chakra on his last sentence. I lifted my hands in the gesture of surrender.
"I'd love to see how you plan on fighting the Otsutsuki without a united planet then."
"Uniting the world need not come on the back of conquest or at the end of a blade. A meeting must be held with all the powers, great and small. They will all be appraised of the Otsutsuki threat and they will all come together to join us in an alliance. That is the only way we face this threat."
"And when they laugh in your face, we go with my plan?" I asked.
"For a human, you have shockingly little faith in humanity," he responded.
"Takes one to hate one, I guess." I shrugged.
"I'll take my chances, thank you. I am confident that everyone can be made to see the necessity. With that in mind, I propose a summit be held in a week's time," he said.
"You'd need at least a month to get everyone together. Probably two more months to figure out a location and convince everyone to attend," I said.
"A month will be fine. The summit will be held here. From what I understand, this land is a reasonable distance from the other villages," he said.
"Not so much Kumo, but they wouldn't attend even if it was in their backyard," I responded. I noted that Ishiguri and I were the ones speaking while Madara and Uzume glared at each other.
"Like I said already, leave that to me. Now when the summit happens, I expect the both of you to lend your voices to mine in convincing the other powers of this world." I shrugged. Madara just stared ahead. The both of us would do what favoured us in the end. That was what it meant to be shinobi.
"One thing though. Are you using the body?" I asked, pointing at the body of the scout that Ishiguri had ended up killing a few seconds after we had all confirmed his nature.
He looked at it and then waved it away.
"You want it?"
"I can have my medics look into it and prepare a report that can be presented to the summit, confirming his alien nature beyond the mere superficial," I said. Black Zetsu leered at me like those red eyes could see through my deception. I allowed none of my true thoughts to show on my face.
"Do you oppose that, Madara-san?"
"Kiri has no facilities on the level to carry out that sort of study. Let the whelp have it," he said, uncaring. Or at least seemingly so.
I leaned back against the stone chair that Ishiguri had lifted from the ground for us to sit upon, not allowing any of the happiness I felt to show on my face. An Otsutsuki body to study would be a boon like few else. Orochimaru had changed the fate of the shinobi world with Hashirama cells. I could only imagine what we could do with Otsutsuki cells.
Even just managing to create partial human-Otsutsuki hybrids would basically ensure that Konoha's dominance would continue forever.
Ishiguri waved his hand and the body rose before floating over to me. Even watching what he did with eyes that could study the flow of chakra at an atomic level did not bring me any closer to copying it. It was telekinesis. True telekinesis in a way that should not have been possible.
He commanded his chakra, and then something happened a distance away. Of course, my attention was split between understanding that and understanding the orbs that floated at his back.
"Before the summit though, I would appreciate if we got the chance to share information. You said those eyes have allowed you and your ancestors to look upon the Otsutsuki homeworld for generations. That must mean you have a lot of information on them," I said.
"What kind of information do you want?" he asked. If I wasn't hearing things, then that was some apprehension in his voice. I wondered why.
"Who are the people we have to worry about? You said Generals and Royals are stronger than the average warriors. How would they compare to someone like me—assuming you got a good look at my fight, of course. And what about you? Are you stronger than the strongest of them?"
He barked a laugh at that.
"The Otsutsuki hate us, but they don't respect us. Not as a threat. We can expect that whatever force they dedicate towards the conquest of this planet will be a pittance in comparison to what they can truly bring to bear. Zetsu and I will prepare a more in-depth briefing ahead of the summit. Before then though, all you need to know is that if the Queen herself turns her gaze upon us, the earth will be gone in a blink. Apart from her, the elder Princes Yamashiki and Minashiki are unlikely to appear either. If they did, I would ask that you make your goodbyes to those you love swift. What we are likely to face is one or two of the younger royals and perhaps a few of the generals. In that case, we can win. In the brief, I will detail information about what we have been able to discern both from watching them as well as information that Kaguya herself left behind," he said.
----
We left Rain in silence. Ishiguri kept his gaze on us as we turned to leave. Madara had spurned his offer of a portal back to Kiri, and we had done the same—albeit more politely. It was strange to see someone like Madara forced to accept not being the strongest in the room, but I had no doubt that his mind was awash with ways to remedy that. The Rinnegan was a dangerous tool, after all.
On my end, I could not deny it.
"You know, you can smile, right? Stop fighting it," Uzume said to me when we crossed the village's border. It was sad what Ame had become in the face of the battle of those greater than any who had ever called this place home.
The smile cut my face in two at Uzume's prompting. "You feel it too, don't you?" I asked.
"Since the second he said they'd be coming. That they'd be stronger than us," she said.
"Do you think it's fucked up that the thought of the planet in danger is making us happier than we've been in months?" I asked.
"Not happier. That's not the word I'd use. We have purpose now. We know we aren't at the peak now. We logically knew it, but not in our bodies. But we felt the gap between Ishiguri and us. We felt how strong that scout was and the thought of so many coming that are stronger and better and we know now that there is a new level to reach," she said.
"Do you know how though?" I asked.
"I have to go meet those fucking rabbits. Their Senjutsu is a pain, but I have to learn it now. And you? What are you going to do?" she asked.
"One or two things," I said, giving her a teasing smile.
"Fine. Keep your secrets. You're fine going back to Konoha by yourself, yes?" she asked.
"I'll go look for Minato and the others. They aren't far," I said. I needed to see what of Konoha's had survived.
She nodded and then weaved seals. A rabbit appeared, a small one that to my senses had more chakra crammed in it than anything its size had any right to.
"Ah, yes. The appointed time has come," the bunny said with a wide smile.
"Just reverse summon me," Uzume said, turning her head away. The rabbit was gone a second later.
"Stay safe," she said to me and then leaned forward to plant a kiss on my cheek. I turned, making it a lip to lip kiss for a second, and then she was gone in a puff of smoke. I sighed. That was Uzume handled for now. I had to figure out how to take the next steps and while I had acted like I had a plan when I spoke to Uzume, that could not be farther from the truth. I had one idea. One so far.
And it related to the eyes I carried around in a seal on my person. Izuku's eyes. They were perfectly good. Getting rid of one of my Byakugan in favour of a single Mangekyou Sharingan would probably take my power up by some amount, but lacking a way to turn it into the Rinnegan, I was less than keen on doing that to myself. Ripping out one of my eyes. It felt a step too far. This was not the first time I would consider it, and every time I considered it, I chose not to.
It was not even because of Uzume. She'd given me permission so long ago. But I could not bring myself to do it. I just couldn't.
I floated into the sky and shot forward until I had caught up to the new Ame camp. Good. They'd managed to not just get the Konoha shinobi out, but much of the Ame army.
I walked into the camp, ignoring the way every head turned to look at me. The command tent ripped open from within, and I got my first look at the man. Yaga the Beheader. The stern no-nonsense man who was known for removing heads from subordinates and enemies alike when they displeased him.
The look on his face made it clear that I'd displeased him.
"With all due respect, Butcher. What was that? Ame was mine. Mine. For me and my people. And you just..." he struggled to put it into words. Anyone who looked to the distance could see it. Only the far outskirts of Ame looked to have buildings that still stood. Blocking Madara's blade with Kurama's tails had created a shockwave that spread across much of the village and tore every structure above a certain height down.
"Indeed," I said, and then twisted to walk past him. I did not care to have this conversation now.
He turned with me, stepping to the side as well to block my path. And then a finger was poking into my chest.
"You promised. Is this the value of a promise from the Butcher of Konoha?" he asked with a scowl.
I looked down at the finger poking my chest and quirked a brow.
"I should kill you here and now. Flay your skin from your bones and send your head back to your village," he threatened. What a shame. I'd thought him the level-headed sort. It seemed like watching his village and by extension dreams fall apart right in front of his eyes was a step too far. I chanced a look around us. Hundreds of shinobi had come out of their tents. They were watching. My students were here as well, but holding themselves back. Them and the Anbu as well. Minato's hand was on the shoulder of one of Uraume's best agents, Toad. And the other Anbu seemed likely to jump in at the slightest chance.
"You shouldn't have done that. Not here," I said, and then I moved. One second, we were standing face to face. The next I was walking past him with the hand that he had pressed into my chest in my grip. The rest of him grunted in pain before he fell to a knee behind me, holding on to the wound.
"It was a clean cut. If you behave yourself, perhaps I'll give it back," I said, and then sealed it away with a puff of chakra smoke. I kept walking to my students only for him to flare his chakra. Fire natured chakra bloomed from his fingers and pressed against the wound, cauterising it.
The fact that he managed not to scream from what had to be mind-breaking levels of pain was impressive. I winked at my students to get them to maintain their present state of non-intervention and then I turned to face Yaga as he turned as well.
"I am a shinobi of Amegakure. I was friend to and student to Hanzo the Salamander. I have my pride. You have committed a great crime today, Butcher. And Ame will not rest until you pay for it. Hanzo would not have anything less of us," he said, and I watched the effect that his words had on the shinobi here as they straightened up, standing a bit taller. He was going to do it. He was actually going to do it.
I moved my chakra in the pre-arranged code, telling Minato and the others to stay out of whatever happened now. This was probably a bad idea. Ishiguri would be pissed if he was watching now. You finish detailing a coming threat and make a plea for the world to begin to prepare itself, and the first thing that one of the people you tell does after the meeting is kill a couple hundred warm bodies that could have been used in defending against that threat. Well, if he minded, he could always pop in again and stop me. Considering he didn't, well, I guess all is fair game.
"The Butcher will learn of the value of the pride of Ame today, men. Let us show him," he said, and then he brought down his one hand. Signalling for them to attack.
"Wait, wait. Before we begin." I lifted my hands to stop them.
Time to steal an idea from one of my favourite IPs of all time. I took out a coin. One Ryo. I flicked it with my thumb in his direction. It landed a few steps in front of him.
"Any last words, Butcher?" he asked.
"When you tire of watching your men die for no reason, you pick up that coin," I said with my widest smirk.
"The man who gives me his head will be rewarded beyond his wildest dreams," he said, and so they came. The first one to come was the first to die. I weaved out of the way of a swipe of a blade with far too many chips in it and tapped his heart as I passed. He fell to the ground, clutching it and screaming in pain. I could have ruptured the organ in one go and given him a quick end, but what was the fun in that? A display like this was meant to put the fear of Kami in these men. And it would.
The second and then the third were already too committed to their charge to abandon it the same way a few of the smarter ones did. I stepped into their guards before they could bring their weapons to bear. One tap to the woman's skull, and one to the man's chest led to two more thuds. One died screaming, the other died silently. The next person to reach me sent a volley of kunai at me as he did so. I tracked each one, weaving my way through them before I snatched one out of the air and nailed him in the forehead, burying it so deep that the blade poked out the other side of his skull and the ring was all that was visible of the kunai from the front.
The others began to back up, retreating even as they encircled me. I spread my arms out, inviting them.
"Kunai," one of the men screamed, and they all responded as one, drawing their kunai and hurling them at me with all their strength.
"Kaiten," I whispered, and then began to spin in the direction my hair grew. The dome of chakra formed gradually and then all at once. It had been so long since I used the technique, but some things just never left you. The weapons hit the dome and were sent flying in random directions, orders of magnitude faster than they'd been thrown. Surrounded as I was, there was no shortage of bodies for the deflected weapons to sink into.
When I slowed to stillness, and looked around, dozens of them lay in various states of misery. Quite a few were just dead. Even more were in pain, just lying with wounds that drew moans from the lot of them.
I turned to Yaga and quirked a brow.
His chakra flared as six of his inner gates shot open one by one, ending in the one in his stomach.
"Keimon: Kai," he snarled as a green aura formed around him.
He shot forward, moving fast enough now that I was forced to treat him as a threat of some significance.
A/N: Otsutsuki arc approaches. On a cheeky little detour on the way there. Next chapter comes on here by Wednesday night. Next four chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.