All of us are in our apartment right now. Hirogi and Kurari are baking bread. Karari is preparing tea. Sakura, Hinata, Kurotsuchi and I are sitting at the lunch table, discussing what to do with Iwagakure and Kurotsuchi, now that we've conquered Iwa.
I shrug. "We should just annex them outright. The other villages might complain some, but even if they all band together against us we would still win, and they know that."
Hinata shakes her head. "Annexing Iwagakure would disturb the balance between the villages too much. The bigger issue however is the fact that we would constantly have to be wary of sabotage and rebellion."
I sigh. "Yeah, settling in Kurotsuchi as a governor wouldn't fix that issue either. We can just send shadow clones to kill any dissidents, it's not like they have a proper response to us doing that."
Sakura shrugs. "Sasuke brought me more than enough test subjects for me not to care. I'm going to run some more experiments while the two of you decide. See ya."
Sakura promptly gets up and leaves the room. Hinata sighs. "Constantly putting down rebellions would increase tensions. Do you want to constantly have to go to war with everyone?"
I nod, sighing afterwards. "You're right. Serving as a meat grinder for the other villages to send their idiots into would get irritating pretty fast."
Kurotsuchi nervously raises her hand. "You could vassalise Iwagakure instead?"
I stare at her. "Please elaborate."
She gulps and then takes a deep breath. "If you take Iwagakure in as your vassals they would retain enough autonomy that they would be someone else's problem. You can just tax them directly for income, which would also avoid the administrative burden of annexation."
Hinata gives Kurotsuchi an inquisitive look. "Them? Not us?"
Kurotsuchi nods. "I don't consider myself to be of Iwagakure anymore nor do I want to be a part of Iwagakure again. Not after they got me killed for saving their village"
I smile. "Why didn't we think of that? That's a pretty good plan. What do you think, Hinata?"
Hinata sits still, thinking, before giving her reply. "That would solve almost all of our issues. The only problem is that we don't have any real guarantee of the Tsuchikage's loyalty. If we put one of our own it would be identical to annexation, only with less benefits."
Kurotsuchi nods. "I can take care of that issue fairly easily. In theory I am still the Tsuchikage, since a new one was not chosen. I can vouch for some of the candidate's loyalty."
I stretch. "That solves that I guess. You agree with that, Hinata?"
Hinata shrugs. "I tentatively agree. Worst case scenario we just torch Iwagakure in its entirety."
Karari brings me a cup of tea. I take a sip of it. "With that done we should probably go help announce Sakura we're done."
Kurotsuchi nervously gulps, before coughing. "I have a final request, if I may?"
I down the whole tea cup at once and get up. "Yeah sure, what is it?"
Kurotsuchi takes a deep breath. "May I receive the enhancements your shinobi currently have? The way I died… I do not wish to suffer because of my weakness again."
I nod. "Once we've got a cursed seal of our own we'll get you up to speed as well. Until then you're gonna have to wait."
She smiles and gives me a deep bow. "Thank you."
—
Hinata and I enter Sakura's lab. Right now she's staring intently at Anko's released cursed seal, trying to decipher it. I cough to attract her attention. She jolts a bit before she notices us. She immediately grabs Hinata. "Activate your byakugan. I need you to describe to me the seal pattern on this section."
I cough again. "Any progress?"
While Hinata is describing to Sakura in detail the aforementioned section Sakura nods. "It's a really weird seal. We can't reproduce it without the genetic materials of Jugo. We need to capture him if we want to reproduce it."
I nod. "And removing it?"
Sakura shakes her head, having begun writing Hinata's description of the section. "I can't tell if that's possible yet. Making something similar for nature chakra is possible, removing Orochimaru's seals however is much more difficult. There are multiple pieces of his soul sealed inside, each of the seals containing the bits of his soul occupy locations on or inside of vital organs. Removing the seal will be more of a medical procedure than a sealing issue. Since removing one will automatically destroy all of Anko's vital organs."
Yikes. Anko takes a deep breath. "But you can remove those seals without killing me, right?"
Sakura nods. "I just need to find replacements or substitutes for your vital functions. The ones in your brain will need to be removed simultaneously, everything else will be workable. I just need to check for any other traps."
I nod. "Hinata can send shadow clones to scour for wherever Juzo is tucked away. That should not take long considering we can make an infinite amount of them"
Sakura continues writing. "Make sure to get that Karin as well. Having the only other living descendant of Ashura near us won't hurt."
I shrug. "Alright then. Imma go get a bunch of more recruits from the capital. Having more meat shields can't hurt us any."
Sakura absentmindedly nods. "Sure. Bring me something sweet with you okay?"
I smile. "Will do. Love you two~"
Sakura smiles, trying and fails to hide her blush. Hinata does not bother trying to hide her blush. I also blush a bit. Anko starts cackling. "Man, I'm going to have so much fun teasing you all."
Dick.
—
I've called some of the jonin for a meeting. There's fifteen of them that are good enough to be worth turning into edo tensei. Once the final jonin arrives inside of the office I nod at them. "Which of you are willing to die for your village? I don't mean this as a hypothetical scenario. Which of you would be willing to die right at this moment for Sakuragakure?"
Eight of them raise their hands resolutely. I nod at them. Making a chakra scalpel allows me to swiftly and painlessly kill them. I give each of them a final chance to back out. None of the eight volunteers do so. I seal their bodies and go back into the central palace. The remaining jonin just stand there looking conflicted, wondering what the hell has just happened. They'll find out soon enough.
Once I reach the dungeons I pick the appropriate people to serve as sacrifices. Soon enough the eight jonin are back, looking somewhat confused. I smile at them. "You are now one of the pillars of our village. I have turned you into edo tensei like myself, immortal undead with infinite chakra."
The boost from the edo tensei has catapulted them from A-Rank threats to low S-Rank, anyone unable to either seal or incapacitate them permanently will lose against them. Immortality and infinite chakra is one hell of a combo. Now they should be able to both defend the village and attack any hostile villages in case anyone gets any smart ideas. I still hold them under minimal control. I can't afford to have edo tensei running around without any control over them.
Now it's time to wait until Hinata's shadow clones find Juzo. Afterwards we'll hunt for Isobu. If he has not been sealed yet then we seal him in Sakura. If he has been sealed then we know that a replacement for the eight tails was found.
-two days later.
It's during lunch that Hinata's clones find Juzo. She smiles. "The mission was a success. The clones are bringing back both Juzo and Karin, they will arrive tomorrow."
Sakura fills her plate with rice and eggs. "Has anything notable happened during it?"
Hinata shakes her head. "Nothing. The outpost could not handle a thousand shadow clones, most of the stationed shinobi were on the level of genin and chunin. No one truly dangerous was present."
I swallow. "That's good news. Sakura, how long is it going to take for you to design those seals?"
Sakura shrugs. "I'll integrate the nature chakra part into our healing seal, the design is basically complete. All that's left is testing it. Making a version to also keep us alive will take longer. Once I'm done analyzing Anko's seal I'll know for sure."
Hinata nods. "Afterwards we will begin hunting Isobu."
I nod. "I'm honestly not sure which option would be worse. Him already being sealed for the ten tails or him not being sealed for it."
Hinata shakes her head. "The ideal scenario would be for it to not be sealed. If Isobu is gone then it means we must prepare to fight Madara as the ten tails jinchuriki as well as Kaguya."
I shudder. "That guy's a freaking nightmare and a half. Kaguya's honestly even worse. Let's just hope Itachi managed to fuck them over."
-two days later.
We're all staring at the stone statue of a man. The good news is that Sakura's plan worked. The bad news is that it will take her about a week to find the correct way of adding in nature chakra.
-Five days later
I look at myself in the mirror. There's a giant ass wing growing from my back. My skin's turned brown while my hair turned white. Overall I look sufficiently edgy.
As soon as Sakura was sure that she had the whole nature chakra part of the seal figured out we had Nagato turn us alive. (We're keeping him in the dungeons for now.). Sakura is adding the cursed seal to Hinata right now. I'm putting off proper power testing until all of us have the seal modified.
Hinata comes into our bedroom. She takes one look at me before she bursts out laughing.
—
We're all done getting the seals modified. Right now we are in our courtyard, testing the modified seal. Hinata's hair hasn't changed, but her skin did turn brown and she grew four more arms. Sakura's skin turned grey instead and she grew a tail.
I begin sparring with Hinata. Where before she was somewhat better than me in Taijutsu I now find myself overwhelmed. Having Six arms to attack with chakra scalpels and the gentle fist has led her to become a Taijutsu monster, even discounting the increase in speed and strength.
A gentle fist hit to my chest blows me away from her. Sakura interrupts our spar. "Your speed and strength have both doubled. How is your control?"
Hinata smiles. "Identical. Since I am mixing my chakra with nature chakra my capacity has also effectively doubled."
I fire off a great fireball into the air, its explosion is probably the equivalent of the bomb we put inside of that one guy way back during the war. I shake my head. "Let's go test ninjutsu outside of the village. Combination jutsu might actually be too destructive to test here."
—
I fire off a great fireball. The clone to my right uses the great breakthrough. The clone to my left uses an earth bullet. The mountain we're looking at gets exploded, with half of its remains on the ground and the other half turning into a minor meteor shower.
Hinata nods. "It was a wise choice to test this outside of the village."
I nod back. "No kidding, that would've fucking devastated it. At least we know we're not going to get caught lacking against Isobu."
Sakura shrugs. "Hopefully we won't. I'll postpone adding the Blessed Seal of Heaven to our shinobi for now. I'll start doing that once we have secured the three tails."
Man, am I glad I convinced her on that name. I nod. "Before we go to fight Isobu I'll remake all of our explosive seals. The only thing that worries me is that we don't have a counter for Obito yet."
Hinata nods. "Perhaps we could overwhelm him with a large amount of edo tensei? If he pulls them into his dimension then he is stuck with them there."
Sakura shrugs. "Wouldn't it be easier to use kotoamatsukami on him?"
I nod. "We try kotoamatsukami. If he has a counter prepared then we just overwhelm him with edo tensei."
-three days later.
We've managed to find Isobu. He is hiding in a lake in Kiri. The three of us are standing at the edge of said lake, unsure whether Isobu is aware of us or not yet. According to Hinata he appears to be sleeping.
Activating the susanoo wakes him up immediately, his gargantuan form rising, depleting half of the lake with its simple absence. All of us open the gates up to the third and activate the blessed seal.
I start rushing towards Isobu and he begins charging a tailed beast bomb. Sakura and Hinata get behind me and my susanoo before that thing blasts them. I don't manage to reach Isobu before he fires that tailed beast bomb right at me.
The susanoo thankfully holds strong, the boost from the seal making it much stronger. Once the attack ends Sakhra and Hinata both jump on the susanoo's shoulders. Upon reaching Isobu I smash into him at full speed, lifting him into the air from the force of the impact.
While in the air he snaps his mouth at the head of my susanoo, a loud screeching noise resulting from his attempt at breaking it.
I shove the fist of the susanoo into his mouth and begin using wood release both inside him and outside, swiftly weakening him. Hinata and Sakura both jump towards his left eye, their speed too fast for Isobu to react now.
When they reach it Hinata quickly forcefully points it at Sakura's eyes. Isobu instantly turns limp. We don't relax just yet.
With Isobu incapacitated sealing him inside of Sakura proves to be trivial. After turning Sakura into a jinchuriki we immediately begin our journey towards home. Two days later we safely reach Sakuragakure and proceed to collapse and fall asleep instantly in our bed, not even bothering to change into pajamas.
-next day.
I get smashed into the ground hard enough to leave a giant crater. Rising up I rush at the three-tail cloaked Sakura immediately, only for her to disappear from my sight and kick my right back into the ground, creating an even larger crater this time.
Hinata thankfully reaches Sakura and begins to try and overwhelm her with taijutsu, keyword being try. Sakura kicks her too fast for her to react and sends her flying horizontally. I roll on my back and raise my hand. "Pause. You win. Being a perfect jinchuriki is fucking broken."
Sakura deactivates the chakra cloak and nods. "We'll need to hunt two other trailed beasts for the two of you. This is too much of an advantage to give up on."
I sigh. "That would literally start another great shinobi war. Since we're already way too strong for everyone else not to band against us. Wasn't that the thing we were trying to avoid?"
Sakura shrugs. "It's worth it for the power of a tailed beast."
I get up. "I guess, you did pretty much just clown on both me and Hinata in a two versus one. What tailed beasts should we go for?"
Hinata finally manages to come back. Sakura thinks for a moment. "We already have Han secured, so all we need to do is transfer his tailed beast into us. I'll try to transfer it into someone else first, since transferring the beast is more complicated than just sealing it. For the second we can go for the seven tails, since it's the most powerful one we can go for."
Hinata nods. "I listened in on your conversation with the byakugan. I agree with stealing the seven tails, but we should probably consult with Kurotsuchi on the politics."
I nod. "Then let's just go ask her now. No need to waste any time."
—
After hearing my explanation the now living and enhanced Kurotsuchi gives me a nod. "Konoha will not attack us. Both Tsunade and the shinobi in Konohagakure are friendly towards the three of you. The other three villages don't have anything to truly be able to threaten us with. Even if they all declared war against us, the edo tensei would still obliterate them."
I shrug. "That's that. Hinata, do you want the four tails or the seven tails?"
She thinks for a bit before replying. "It is better for you to have the seven tails. Whilst more power is certainly appealing you are the best candidate for the seven tails, since the boost from it is multiplicative in nature."
I nod. "Alright then. We'll first get the four tails sealed inside you before we go and kidnap Fuu."
Sakura crosses her arms. "I'll leave figuring out the transfer to some shadow clones. I want to run some tests on Karin now, since we haven't had any time for me to do so until now."
Hinata nods at Sakura. "How long do you believe that will take?"
Sakura makes a so-so gesture with her hand. "Two weeks tops. The main challenge is getting them out of the seal, resealing them into someone else after doing so is child's play."
Kurotsuchi takes a deep breath. "I would also advise to remove Anko's cursed seal before kidnapping the jinchuriki. Since causing an international incident with her present here would sour relations with Konohagakure."
I look at Sakura. She sighs. "It's difficult to know when that will be complete. I have multiple shadow clones constantly working on deciphering what other traps there are in that thing. There's multiple false leads too, Orochimaru was apparently nothing if not paranoid regarding someone tampering with the thing."
I take a deep breath. "Then we just wait until that's done. No one really knows we got Isobu, so we're fine in that department. We can treat this as a sort of mini-vacation."
Hinata smiles. "That is not a bad idea."