"You look uncomfortable, Lord Yoshihiro," Mabui commented as I sat in my cushy 'throne' in the academy's headmaster office.
I was constantly scratching myself because I was itchy all over.
Correction.
My bones were itchy. It was a terrible feeling.
I couldn't wait to create more of that last pill from yesterday and give it to others as a prank or possibly a form of torture.
When I wasn't scratching myself, I was shaving very thin and tiny flakes off of a block of pure chakra metal with one of my many high-quality weapons.
"I ate something that doesn't quite agree with me," I answered as I looked at Mabui for a short moment.
"Need me to make you something to eat? Something easy to digest?"
"Bring me some broth," I ordered with a dismissing gesture.
Half an hour later, Mabui and Samui looked at me like I was stupid. I just ate broth with metal shavings inside. In some severe cases, that was something they did as torture in Kumo because the metal pieces would pierce the intestines and stomach as they traveled down.
Instead, I sat down cross-legged and concentrated my fire chakra inward. I decided to digest the metal by turning myself into a furnace while it traveled down with some food.
Seeing steam wafting off of me, Samui whispered to Mabui, "Is this some sort of kekkei genkai? He's able to digest metals?"
"This is different from before," Mabui whispered back. "I think… I think he might have created another pill that requires him to do this."
The blonde kunoichi thought about it and then nodded, "Possible. But if his body can take chakra metal as nutrients, how much more powerful can he get? What does his body need it for?"
"Hmm, either nerve pathways or bones. The nerves need to remain flexible, though. So I'm thinking it's the bones. But the itching could mean either," Mabui answered, deep in thought. Samui lifted an eyebrow before muttering, "I sometimes forget how scary insightful you can be. I don't know how he knew, but I get why Yoshihiro asked for you…"
Looking deeply at the other political prisoner from Kumo, Mabui interjected, "You don't believe he has need for you other than your looks?"
"He had you organise all the files, even work on his personal finances. He just treats me like a punching bag for the students and as eye candy to massage his shoulders," Samui mumbled with a bitter frown.
"Lord Yoshihiro taught you his personal taijutsu style since he didn't want you to teach him and his students Kumo-style taijutsu, right?"
Samui nodded.
"And he gave you plenty of his miraculous pills after every lesson you attended?"
Samui nodded again. But she also absentmindedly brought her fingers to her face to feel her clear skin again.
"Then he doesn't treat you like eye candy. Lady Fuen told me that we were getting a pretty similar treatment compared to her and Lady Fuka. Though, I still wish we could inform Kumo not to fight Kiri in the future… these pills… Lord Yoshihiro can elevate any semi-talented shinobi to at least a full class higher. Anybody who should have stayed a chunin their whole life will become a jōnin, every jōnin will join the elite classification in no time. Kiri is on their way to becoming the strongest village in the elemental nations," Mabui mumbled - though if I wasn't in the room she would have probably mentioned that Kumo needed to inform the other villages and form an alliance against us.
"These children he teaches, you've heard about the 'dorm', right?"
Mabui nodded at Samui's question. Fuen and Fuka had told them plenty of what they learned recently. Kaede, Ryuzetsu, and Pakura had been much more reserved around the new women.
Samui continued, "They are all monsters. That Haku kid especially. This taijutsu he taught them is a pretty successful copy of the Uchiha interceptor fist, but it's still so wild and unrestrained. Those elbow strikes and sudden knee kicks are devastating. Every block hurts so much, even from a kid like Haku who infuses his ice kekkei genkai in the taijutsu without problems. And don't get me started on Yoshihiro's clones that leave me battered and bruised at every taijutsu lesson just to show off his ridiculous medical jutsu. And those kids soak up his lessons like they are all geniuses. This Haku the Mizukage just promoted to chunin already has the strength of a jōnin and the brat is what? Eight? When he visited the academy to show off his taijutsu for the kekkei genkai development class… I'm sure Haku could kill me if I hadn't known about all his trump cards beforehand."
"It's the pills. They are all geniuses. He made sure of it," Mabui pointed out with a lost look.
Samui's whisper was even quieter as she leaned closer and asked, "Does Kumo still stand a chance against this?"
Mabui frowned deeply before shaking her head. With difficulty, she whispered back just as quietly, "Lord Raikage would need to see from Lord Yoshihiro's strength the need to involve the other villages… but he won't. We had no idea that Kiri had more than just better ration pills. Those myths we heard of the other pills, the village elders treat it as an intimidation tactic, nothing but a scam. They say nothing so ridiculous could be created only now - we would have known about them for eras if such things existed."
"At the academy, only the 'dorm' kids know about the pills and they don't talk about it to the others. The rest of the pills are fed to them at the cafeteria," Samui muttered as she looked at the illusory flames dancing around me. "Maybe we could-"
Mabui had put a hand over the blonde's mouth and vehemently shook her head.
"I was there. At the beach when we made landfall. Lord Yoshihiro merely muttered some words and took out the entire battalion! Kumo's elites! Even Killer B was out for the count almost immediately!" Mabui furiously whispered. "He said he'd burn down the Land of Lightning if we betray him. I've felt his chakra, he can do it. It's not worth it!"
Samui gulped down some saliva uneasily. She, too, had felt my chakra during one of our first taijutsu lessons. The one time I didn't use a clone to beat her up so that she could learn the taijutsu I created by using what Kiri taught me and bring in some Muay Thai knowledge from my last life.
It would have never borne fruit just based on my talent as a close quarter combatant, but I wasn't alone and I definitely wasn't the only genius in this village.
A Terumi clan special jōnin who taught me taijutsu ahead of the academy asked me why I tried to strike him with my elbows so often and my answer gave him enlightenment back then. Following that, Pakura, who often sparred with me to stave off her own boredom and later show off taijutsu to the orphans, also helped me build in those few moves and streamline what I did.
It still wasn't anything close to what Might Guy accomplished and I didn't reinvent a millenia old martial art. I didn't reinvent anything. But my school of taijutsu was still a little different. And with no additional defects in the moves, different meant deadly. Until the other villages caught up, they'd be fighting the new Kiri nin at an information disadvantage.
All the while those two chattered, I focused my attention inward. My plan seemed to be working, my stomach did digest the heated chakra metal shavings that I had just gulped down recklessly with the broth. I'd have survived in any case, but I wasn't a fan of the potential pain of the metal just shooting through my bowels like slugs from a pistol. So this change was a good thing.
Over an hour later, I was done digesting the metal and could see my body and chakra work on getting it into my bones in overdrive. Little bits and pieces were moving in uncomfortably big pieces through my arteries and flesh. Thanks to my chakra sensing and superior physique, I could feel it all. And I was worried about blockages at every step of the way.
Eventually, chakra helped these metal pieces to snap into place when they came near my bones. It was as if all the itching I felt on my bones prior to this was because my unusually hard bones formed pores. Pores that were greedily picking up those little metal pieces.
It was sickening.
And hopefully really really beneficial.
—————
"Your assistant tells me you were behaving weird all week," Mei pointed out after she entered my courtyard at the Terumi clan at night.
"Weird how?" I asked as I lazily swirled a few pills around in my hands.
"You sit down cross-legged for four hours a day after eating metal shavings and then you'd heat yourself up enough to show light coming from inside your body."
I chuckled a little before proposing, "I threatened those two that I would annihilate Kumo if they betray my secrets. Tell me where and how you really learned that or if you need me to reduce the great shinobi villages to just four."
"You really can do that, huh?" Mei asked with a small distracted frown.
"I suppose I can. We jinchūriki are the ultimate weapons."
"The nine-tails barely killed one Hokage and weak shinobi before getting sealed. Konoha is still the strongest ninja village," Mei said but was interrupted by me chuckling. Irritated, she asked, "What?"
"I'm sorry, but have you watched Haku?"
"He's strong, all your students are," Mei confirmed, though sullenly.
"I'm worth ten kage-level fighters minimum thanks to my new apparition jutsu. I say 'minimum' generously because I'm very certain that I could kill people like Jiraiya and the current Kazekage in one jutsu," I boasted with a scoff. "Nevermind that Hiruzen isn't getting younger, Danzō's only trump card is his stolen Sharingan. Tsunade rejoined Konoha, but as a mother and medical ninja. Orochimaru defected. Jiraiya is rarely home. White Fang is dead, his son a mere depressed nobody at elite jōnin strength. Akimichi Torifu is retired and rusty."
Seeing that Mei didn't interrupt me, I continued, "The Uchiha are still loyal, but they are getting pushed out more and more. Any kage-level fighter they might have like the old clan-head won't fight me to the death unless Hiruzen appoints his son-in-law Fugaku as the next kage. 'Wicked Eye' Fugaku might be able to last a little longer in a fight against me, but I'd still crush him. So Konoha might have more jōnin than us, but that's only true for another two years at most. Haku's generation will be Kiri's path to becoming the strongest among the five villages even without me here."
"You're awfully sure of your assessment," Mei pressed, but I saw her little smirk.
She was here to fish for more information about me and from me.
"I mean, I killed our daimyo and got off scot-free. I killed my way through the Land of Grass and while there are some who suspect me, most think it was Konoha ANBU. I even broke into Hozuki castle without anyone ever finding out," I listed leisurely. "Plus, I spent a decade as an executioner that not only the world, but our village especially feared and loathed. And it turned out I'm a benevolent saint who smuggled all the children out."
"You never explained how Yagura didn't suspect something. There were never any children among the corpses?"
I looked at Mei with interest for a moment. She had never really put any stock in my schemes and held me at an arm's length. Where was this interest coming from?
"Genjutsu, shrinking pills for corpses and complete annihilation through fire jutsu," I answered as I decided to indulge her a little.
"One-hundred thirty-nine children from eleven clans, countless orphans from small families… how did you decide who to save and who to kill?"
"What kind of question is that?"
Mei gained a thoughtful look as she shrugged and justified, "I'm curious. Humor me."
"I saved everyone I could get away with. I killed everyone who looked at me with hatred."
The youthful Mizukage gained a wistful smirk and asked, "Didn't everyone look at you with hatred?"
"Anger and hatred are different. I can help someone angry at the world, at the circumstances or at me. But I can't get rid of hatred. I don't care to try," I replied with an indifferent expression that was supposed to signal to my fiancé that I grew tired of her inquiry. I did indulge her long enough without getting anything back.
My giving mood had its limits and it seemed she caught on.
With an awkward cough into her hand, she stood up. Mei put on her kage hat and ordered, "I have negotiated the beginnings of an alliance with Konoha. An economic alliance… before I learned of your actual worth." I scoffed when she mentioned 'worth'. She gave me a small glare and continued, "Your monetary worth. The delegate from Konoha insisted that our share of missions that Konoha hands our way is traded for… your pills. I want you to look over this proposal and give an estimate for the real worth of your pills."
"You intend to keep the deal alive? You want to give my pills to an enemy village? Did you tell them that I am the alchemist?" I asked as she handed me a scroll with the details of the negotiated deal.
"Alchemist?"
I opened the scroll and replied evenly, "A creator of pills. I know you know that I invented the persona of a 'grandmaster alchemist'. Why bother with such a question?"
"I thought you might elaborate how you came to such a name for the profession?"
I didn't answer and instead looked the proposal over.
"I don't agree to any of this," I declared after some time. "Their demand would take me three days a month to create. I'd sacrifice an hour at most. Plus it has recipes listed that I don't share outside of family. I don't see anything in here regarding my payment either. Do you expect me to just hand these pills over so that Kiri nin can get a few pity missions from Konoha?"
Tsunade had spilled the beans, I thought with a furious glint in my eyes. She dared to tell someone in Konoha about my pills.
"I'll announce the wedding date if you keep this deal alive for a year," Mei stated with gritted teeth.
Pondering her reasons for such a demand and 'sacrifice', I quickly realized that she wanted to accomplish something that was her own brainchild, her own work. Something that she could claim was her doing.
But I was furious about Tsunade's second betrayal and Mei's general attitude towards me didn't help my mood.
"You must think me stupid. You have shown me nothing but contempt our entire lives. All my efforts to show you I was not a coldblooded weapon were met with ridicule. You were lavished with invaluable pills all your life and have not once thanked me or shown any gratitude. I single-handedly elevated Kiri's future by saving and training over a hundred capable shinobi children and you had me sent to the academy for something you thought was a thankless and tedious job far away from your inner circle," I spat with no small amount of scorn tinging my voice. "What need do I have for your hand in marriage? I'm surrounded by beauty. I'm richer than Kiri. I'm stronger than all of you."
Standing up to walk out of the room, I left her with, "You think pity is payment enough for me to work for your deal? An obligation? Ridiculous!"
—————
Four days later, my real body stood at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.
Despite my better judgement, I was about to meet with Akatsuki.
It was still a little less than a decade before the events of the original timeline should have started, so the Akatsuki of now were still very much different from what they will be later.
With news of Yahiko's death, a major turning point in the group's development was about to start. From a small army of resistance fighters and mercenaries fighting for peace, Nagato would now use the Rinnegan to forge the Six Paths of Pain starting with the body of his best friend. And instead of going a route of numbers, Akatsuki would start recruiting a select few S-rank rogue shinobi as they aligned themselves with 'Uchiha Madara'.
"Why are you here, demon?" A shadowy figure asked me mere minutes after I walked into the rain.
"Nice outfit, but the camouflage is terrible. Are you trying to stand out?" I asked with a small smile.