[Land of Waterfalls, Bloody Waterfall Stronghold]
The mist clinging to the Waterfall's jagged cliffs tasted of iron and rot. Kaonashi Rin stood at the edge of the encampment, her borrowed face, that of Kakuzu, was an interesting disguise.
Behind her, twelve Oto jonins shifted restlessly, their forms warped by the Kaonashi clan's Transformation Art: Hollow Mirage [A], mimicking Kakuzu's ragged mercenaries. Their chakra signatures, meticulously altered using scrolls laced with Hero Water residue, pulsed with the unstable tang of Takigakure's defectors. Their uniforms were battered, injuries faked.
"Remember," Rin murmured, her voice deepened to Kakuzu's gravelly rasp, "hesitation betrays. We are the Bloody Waterfall now"
The Kaonashi clansmen nodded: "HAI"
Like their matriarch, they, too, had completed hundreds of missions under different faces. Imitation was an art. What they were doing, however, was one step further. They would convince themselves that they were part of the bloody waterfall, an unshakable belief that often caused Kaonashi to feel lost.
The stronghold loomed ahead, carved into the weeping stone of a collapsed aqueduct. Sentries clad in rusted forehead protectors patrolled the ridges, their eyes hollow from too much Hero Water and too little hope.
Rin's team moved like shadows, their footsteps silenced by Kaonashi Silent Step [B]—a technique that bent light and sound around their bodies.
At the gates, a hulking shinobi with a serrated chain lashed to his arm barred their path. A jonin, and a strong one, at that. However, he did not even qualify as an elite jonin. By Otogakure's standards, the bloody waterfall was a weak organization, Rin mused.
"Kakuzu-sama?" he growled, squinting at Rin's disguise. "The elders said you were dead. Again"
Rin's borrowed lips split into Kakuzu's trademark stitched grin. "Death's a currency," she sneered, tendrils of Earth Grudge Fear *or rather, a convincing illusion of them*, snaking from her sleeves to snatch the guard's chain. With a flick, the man's wrist snapped.
"I signed a deal with the Otokage. Summon the elders. Now"
The guard crumpled, and the gates creaked open.
The war room stank of mildew and ambition. Five self-styled "Blood Lords" ruled the Bloody Waterfall from a table strewn with stolen Oto glassware and maps pinned by kunai. A wiry woman named Hina, whose eyes glowed faintly blue from Hero Water overdose, leaned forward as Rin entered.
"You're supposed to be rotting in Oto's marsh," Hina spat. "Prove you're Kakuzu. Now."
Rin didn't blink. With a thought, her chakra surged, replicating the exact pitch of Kakuzu's corrupted reserves—a trick honed by dissecting the mercenary's corpse. Her "Earth Grudge Fear" tendrils lashed out, impaling a flickering lantern and dousing the room in darkness. When the light returned, she held Hina's prized tanto to the woman's throat, its edge kissing skin.
"Satisfied?" Rin purred
The Blood Lords exchanged glances. Hina nodded. But Kakuzu was no merciful leader. She gripped her throat further, the tendrils, an imitation she taught herself overnight, blazed in a dark red colour, flames of her own. Hina roared in pain, before an eerie silence replaced her groans. She had been murdered in plain sight.
"Now we can talk", she said knowingly
"Kakuzu...Even if she doubted you...We can't keep killing our own force", an elder complained
Rin's glare made him quiet.
"The guard mentioned a deal", another asked, "May we enquire on its content? The bloody waterfall runs low on cash. Killing Danzo, the Otokage, was supposed to solve our financial issues, but it seems like you failed-"
"I did not fail", Rin spoke, "I merely saw a more opportune trade, one that I could not refuse. Takigakure will be ours. Otogakure is going to use my assassination attempt as leverage to further pressure Takigakure and the land of waterfall's Daimyo. Iwagakure is unlikely to support a neighbour in need, not to mention Konohagakure, which is crippled in debt. Takigakure will have no choice but to fight. Once I offer myself as kage, do you think the elders will refuse?"
The elders nodded, the plan sounding exceedingly sound: "What if Otogakure attack Takigakure for real, then?"
"Then we will have to choose a stance. Join Otogakure, or be killed. However, with the major hidden villages surveilling the conflicts, it is unlikely they attack. Danzo is strong, but he is not strong enough to take on the other major hidden villages", Rin said
'Not yet', she thought inwardly, 'But in a couple of years, once Takigakure is on the brink of collapse? Neither the Hokage nor the Kazekage will intervene. The Kazekage is an ally and an economic partner, whereas the Hokage is too cowardly. This leaves the Raikage, the Tsuchikage and the Mizukage as potential enemies, one that has yet to recover from the previous war, the other that lacks unity in its own village and the third that is too far to commit to such a wild operation. O Danzo-sama...You are really someone...'