[Takigakure, Lands of Waterfall]
Takigakure Council Chambers
The air in the crumbling council chamber reeked of mold and desperation. Moonlight seeped through cracked stained-glass windows riddled with occasional imperfections—relics of Takigakure's golden age—casting jagged shadows over seven elders hunched around a warped oak table.
Scrolls detailing crop failures and canceled trade contracts littered the floor.
"We've lost everything", croaked Elder Hoshi, her knuckles bloodied around a vial of Hero Water, "Our glass markets collapsed. Rice imports halted. Even the Land of Waterfalls' daimyo mocks us by hiring Otogakure to guard his silos! Some clans are even talking about the rise of the Fuma and Engetsu clans who joined Otogakure, claiming this a land of bountifulness"
"Day by day, they are gaining territory on the shinobi market. They get more resources, becoming more dominant with each passing day. Did you hear they have begun producing their own shinobi gear? Seals are their specialty, but even kunai and katanas are being mass-produced, giving a headache to the land of iron"
Elder Genji, his face a web of scars from decades of puppetry accidents, slammed a skeletal fist. "We should've razed Oto's marsh the moment their glass flooded the markets. Now their poison chokes us"
"With what army?" snapped Elder Koharu, her voice trembling. "Half our shinobi defected to mercenary work. The organisation of the 'Bloody Waterfall' has gathered over a thousand shinobi, and although the majority are genins, they are gaining more followers by the day. Our forces are too starved to mold chakra. Tansen's death broke us."
A younger elder, Ryo, leaned forward. His eyes glinted with the recklessness of a man who'd swallowed too much Hero Water. "We still have it. The Three-Tails' jinchuriki child. Unleash Isobu. Let Oto drown in tidal waves. Let Isobu be a warning."
"Fool!" Hoshi hissed. "The beast hasn't been tamed since the First Takikage. It'll destroy us first. And at worst, it will be captured by the Otokage. He himself is the perfect jinchuriki, they say. Never once did he lose control, and he even turned his wife into the two-tailed jinchuriki. With their seals, we would just be giving them more power"
Silence thickened. Then, from the shadows behind the elders' chairs, a voice oozed like tar:
"How quaint. The mighty Takigakure—reduced to squabbling over a toddler's tantrum"
Kakuzu stepped into the dim light, his stitch-lined body towering over the table. Earth Grudge Fear tendrils slithered from his sleeves, snatching Hero Water vials from Hoshi's grip. He drank one, his emerald eyes flaring as his wrinkles smoothed.
"You…!" Genji recoiled. "The traitor who fled after failing to kill Hashirama Senju!"
"Failed?" Kakuzu chuckled, crushing the vial. "I survived. Unlike your precious Tansen, who let a Konoha relic skewer him like a boar."
His tendrils lashed out, pinning the elders to their seats. "You need a kage who understands the new currency: chaos. Oto's glass empire thrives because Danzo weaponized peace. So we'll weaponize war."
Ryo spat. "You're a missing nin, researched by all. You even built the 'Bloody Waterfall' organization. Why help us?"
Kakuzu's stitches stretched into a grin. "Do you know the bounty on Danzo's head. It is in the billions. Killing him would solve Takigakure's crisis for the next decades. And your Hero Water… ah, it'll make harvesting his heart so much sweeter"
"Fine...We will let you do what you seek. If you succeed, the Takikage's seat is all yours. If you fail, we will blame it all on the Bloody Waterfall organization. Either way, Takigakure will end up winning"
"Fools", Kakuzu spat, "But it is a fine deal to me. Even if I fail, he will not be able to kill me"
Three Days Later – Kamui Marecage Border
Danzo stood atop Ibuze's cage, watching toxic fog curl around the marsh's bone walls. Yukiko's sensor team had reported chakra spikes in the north—unnatural ones, reeking of Hero Water's saccharine decay. The Sunagakure wind formation, adapted in the Otogakure Sound Formation, could detect even the stealthiest insect, not to mention a monster like Kakuzu, holding a kage-level chakra pool and four elite jonin level hearts.
"Come out, scavenger," Danzo said, katana loose at his side, "I know you've been salivating over my village's price tag"
Kakuzu emerged from the mist, his body grotesquely swollen with stolen hearts. Three-Tails chakra—thin and unstable—crackled around him.
"Clever, stealing a jinchuriki's heart", Danzo mused, "But Isobu's power is a storm even you can't sail"
Kakuzu's eyes flickered. He was even more shocked to see over a thousand shinobi stationed behind him. Seal corps, kenjutsu corps, assassination corps, he had been surrounded, and only noticed it late. The jonins around him started to become afraid
"Kakuzu-sama...This...There are over a hundred jonins, sir! The Otokage and the two-tailed jinchuriki...They...They have the strongest chakra reserves we have ever seen...Even Hiruzen pales in front of them"
Kakuzu laughed: "AHAHA"
His hand flashed, strings of iron piercing through the heart of his own allies.
"I have not come here to wage war, Otokage", Kakuzu explained, "I am here to offer you a deal. Have you heard of the "