Chapter 45
TSUNADE SENJU
The Senju Princess had seen much in her life. She had traversed the world for years and experienced much during that time.
Yet, the enormity of what she had just witnessed in the mind of Kushina Uzumaki was beyond anything she could have fathomed.
She had, of course, known of a bijuu's ability to converse, yet she had thought of them neither as full of intelligence nor as individualistic. She had always considered them to be an aberrant concentration of chakra that had gained consciousness.
Her entire understanding of the bijuu had been shattered in a single hour. Now, as she faced their young daimyo once more, a burning question consumed her- what else had he hidden from her all these years?
And more importantly, how the hell did he know all this?
Even now, after nearly shattering her mind, he sat content and at ease, sipping his tea as if he had not just conversed and bargained with the strongest bijuu, calling it by a name it had somewhat recognized.
"How?" she gasped as her mind failed to understand how he could know all this.
"How what?" he retorted, and she scoffed angrily.
"Do not play games with me! How the hell could you know that, know the secrets of a bijuu, secrets that even I am not privy to, yet somehow a boy decade younger than me, a civilian with no connection to the shinobi world, is!" she retorted.
"What do you wish for me to say?" he asked, and she gritted her teeth.
"The truth, I would have the truth."
"And if you find it inadequate," he retorted, and she was taken aback by his words as he put down his cup and stared into her eyes.
"For sometimes, the truth is not enough. People desire more, wish for more, expect more," he answered, her lips thinned as she replied.
"I would have it nonetheless—the truth and no lies. Please, have you not come to trust me yet, even after all these years?" she implored, and she saw him contemplate. She saw his mind race as he looked into her eyes.
"So be it then," he said with a sigh as her heart skipped a beat in anticipation of the reveal.
"There was a time when I was young, I had a very specific name in the populace," he began as he looked out the window.
"They called me an 'oni' a demon in human form. An escapee from the world beyond, a lost soul," he finished, and she did know of those rumours. They had prompted her first visit to his lands and set off everything that had followed.
And as the implication behind those words dawned on her, she stilled as a chill passed down her spine. Being a medic and shinobi, Tsunade believed little in religion. She was a cynic even when it came to matters of God or Gods.
Whatever deity resided up in the heavens, she had long given up on it since the day it was taken from her family.
"Let us just say those rumors weren't that far from the truth," he finished, and she stilled as she processed those words.
"It comes to me in dreams, or it all did. Though most of it only ever clicked together later, as I realized just what it was that I was seeing," he finished as he looked down and sighed.
"What did you see?" she asked again, and his lips thinned as he looked into her eyes and answered, his words sending a chill down her spine.
"A war unlike any, a danger that could unravel the whole world as we know it."
0000
MIYUKI KATSUGAWA
Being back in the palace she had called home all her life was special, especially as she now wore the same crown her own mother had once worn—the Crown of the Empress.
She was now the Empress, her revenge for the killing of her brothers now complete as the Lord Mahiro and his sons were hung for treason, their lands cut up and divided for other lords. The Mahiro family had been ended in all but name for only the previous daimyo's concubine remained childless and unable to continue the line.
Yet now, as she looked at the woman kneeling down below her, she felt little of the hate that had once simmered in her heart. The arrogant woman had been reduced to bones and skin as she glared at her with hateful eyes.
She felt only pity now, pity for the state she was in. Akihito had left her fate in her hands, allowing her to dispense whatever she saw fit, as he focused on more important matters.
"Do you know why I have summoned you here?" she called, and the woman bowed her head.
"I am unaware why the Empress has summoned this humble serva..."
"Do not pretend, Lady Mio," she cut in before the older woman could finish.
"There is no need for pretenses anymore," she spoke strongly as the older woman gritted her teeth.
"YOU!" she snarled, her chest heaved as a very familiar face stepped out from the side. It was Lady Chiba, the daimyo's only concubine.
She had been approached by the lady infront and a particular other faction, to bring down herself, so that Lady Chiba may replace her as Empress and sway the Emperor in his various decisions.
"I am already aware of your crimes," she added as the older woman's glare shifted from herself to Lady Chiba, who smirked as she raised a fan to cover herself.
From what she had come to understand of the woman, she cared little for Miyuki. She deferred to her, yet Lady Chiba's true loyalty lay only with Akihito, which was strange.
And when she had been approached, being considered naive and greedy, as the Lords and Lady Mio tried to bribe her and turn her against herself and Akihito, she had come to her, knowing that with the negotiations with Kiri coming up, Akihito was rather busy as he focused on the recovery efforts.
Even right now, the whole Province's administration was being modified to his specifications as his techniques and methods, tested in his own lands, were now adopted for the entire country. Already the projected revenues were massive, and yet money was being spent just as quickly as Akihito established and patronized many research and advancement facilities, hoping for the land of fire to catch up to and then eventually go beyond the more technologically advanced Lightning country.
It was a bold move, along with many of his other actions and decisions. Akihito cared little for the status quo and was moving towards its absolute abolition as he ruled with an Iron fist, and as she had feared, the lords had not taken this lying down.
"You have been found guilty of conspiring against the daimyo and myself, conspiring against people who provide you with heart and shelter in your time of grief," she spoke, and the older woman scoffed.
"I have done nothing wrong except helping to liberate these lands from the scourge that rules over us," and the insult made her nostrils flare.
"Silence!" she spoke as guards brought their blades near her neck. The pity she had felt for the woman was replaced with anger.
"I speak but the truth. How could an up-jumped peasant become the ruler of this land? This a farce. A FARCE!"
"If she utters one more insult against the daimyo, cut off her tongue!" Lady Chiba spoke up from the side, her chilling tone and voice in contrast to the usually bubbly cheer the woman often carried.
The guards and even Lady Chiba turned towards her as she nodded.
"Do as she says!" she supported her call as Lady Mio shut up, realizing that this was no joke.
"I had thought of offering you mercy given the loss you have suffered..."
"I need no mercy from you! You should have died along with your mother, you damned bastard!" and the guards hit her with the blunt end of the spear, forcing her down on all fours.
"AGHH!" she screamed in pain as Miyuki stood up.
It seems she had not changed at all. Then so be it.
"And now you shall get none either. By my order as the Empress, you are to be taken prisoner and put in the Black cells until you have given us the names of your conspirators!" she ordered, and the older woman balked.
"THE BLACK CELLS! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? I AM THE WIFE OF THE LATE DAIMYO! YOU CANNOT PUT ME THERE!" she balked, her face paler than it had been before.
Yet Miyuki remained unbothered by the cries, and sympathetic pleas as she continued.
"AND YOU SHALL BE KEPT THERE UNTIL THE END OF YOUR DAYS!"
0000
Back in Ame, in a country where the skies only ever rained, three people stood deep inside one of the region's taller buildings, contemplating the latest message they had received from the victors of the Third Great Ninja War.
"This cannot be serious. The Land of Fire offers us aid, mediation, and the recognition of our sovereignty and borders," said the orange-haired Ame, clad in a black cloak.
"Indeed, and let us not forget that Konoha is allied with Sunagakure and, if the rumors are true, is also on the cusp of an alliance with Kiri. Hence, of the Five Great nations, three would potentially accept our borders and give us legitimacy," added the purple-haired girl. Her hair is decorated with a paper flower.
"Do you think Hanzo will accept such an offer?" asked the relatively quieter redhead, his forehead adorned by an Ame hitai-ate.
"He should. This goes beyond Akatsuki or Hattori. This is for the betterment of Ame, and if he accepts this offer of mediation, then I plan to sit across the table from him," spoke the orange-haired nin as he smiled.
"This is it, Konan, Nagato. We shall finally have peace in Ame; we shall be a proper country," he said cheerily as the atmosphere in the room eased. The three leaders of Amegakure's Akatsuki smiled until suddenly, the orange-haired nin shouted as he pushed away his red-haired friend Nagato.
"LOOK OUT!" he shouted as he pushed his friend away as the kunai whizzed past his face, cutting him across the cheek. As the two quickly jumped back as the purple-haired Konan bombarded this intruder with a rain of paper-made shuriken.
"NINPO: PAPER SHURIKEN!"
Yet the shuriken were deflected by the intruder who rose out of the ground, his golden slits landing on the three before settling down at the redhead.
"You avoided that. Interesting, this might be quite interesting!" the intruder said as he wet his lips. His golden snake-like eyes focused on Nagato, more specifically, the purple eyes that remained hidden under those red fringes.
"You! I recognize you!" uttered the purple-haired Konan as she gasped in fear, as her face grew pale as she was reminded of a scene from years ago, of a time when they had met their sensei and savior.
"You are Orochimaru. The Snake Sanin."
0000
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