Pre-Chapter A/N:I think at this point, we just have to accept that I will inevitably show up with two chapters a week. As for when those chapters show up, I think it's best I not make any particular promises. If you haven't already, I recommend turning on notifications for my stuff so you can see when new stuff drops right as it drops. More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
"Okay, so what are the final numbers?" I asked the gathered room shortly after having woken up from my forced nap. Turns out Kurama's chakra could place a strain on my body if I used too much of it without my own chakra to balance it out. I knew my compatibility with the nine-tails was not as good as Kushina's or Mito's even had been, but this was unexpected, to say the least.
"Sixty-two dead. Four hundred and thirteen injured to various degrees. Perhaps seventy million ryo in damages, not including the cost of rebuilding this tower when the time comes," Shikahime listed out. I nodded. That was bad, but not disastrous.
"Shinobi casualties?"
"Three deaths and forty injured," she said. Okay, that was good. No meaningful loss to our fighting strength at least.
"Good. Now can someone tell me how the fuck this happened?" I questioned, tone turning harsh. How the fuck had Chiyo done this?
"A mixture of vulnerabilities in the existing defense structure. Your Granduncle ordered the barriers and security measures to be relaxed so civilians could enjoy free ingress and egress. He did it at the end of the First War to stoke growth and aid Konoha's recovery. Sandaime-sama ordered the security measures heightened in the lead-up to this war. However, your orders to relax the security after the fall of Iwa saw us return to your Granduncle's systems," Reiji was the first to speak.
"These measures, among other things, made it so that the civilians could come in from the other towns, head to the market and civilian district unmolested and sell their goods. Objectively speaking, they are good for the village's economy, and without them, we would have a harder job securing supply of several key goods. However, the shinobi districts in the village have more stringent security measures, and that explains how the village managed to come out of this with only damage to the civilian areas," Shikahime explained.
"And the tower?" I asked.
"We are still investigating that, but from what we have been able to find out, there are no traces of the same kind of explosives that were used in the other areas."
"So she used something else here?"
"Yes. Something that would probably have had an easier time fooling our security than literal canisters laden with seals."
"And we know for sure that that was what she used for the civilian areas?"
"Yes."
"The question then becomes how. Sure, our security was at less than full strength, but we still have measures to prevent shinobi gaining entry through that entrance, don't we?"
"We have suspicions as to how she managed it. We think she used one of those human puppets of hers. That she turned a civilian into one of her puppets, and the lack of a developed chakra network saw us overlook them," Uraume said.
"Any evidence of this?"
"There is a man at the hospital right now who bears similar symptoms to human puppets she left after her death. The same empty eyes, the lack of motion, the inability to do anything but breathe. We have forwarded the man over to the medical corps for evaluation," she said.
"Kagame?" I called.
"The symptoms are consistent. I am holding off on cutting him open for the time being until someone from the seal corps can be dispatched to make sure the body is not trapped like the last one," she said.
"Reiji?"
"We are fully occupied implementing the new barrier around the whole village. I should be able to free someone up in a week or so," he said.
"Unacceptable. Kagame, I will look into it by your side," I said. She nodded. Okay, that was a small win at least.
"And the Raikage?"
"The body resists most forms of damage. Even attempting to cut it open with the chakra scalpel just gets thin slices in the skin too small to do anything with, and which close up in a matter of minutes," she said. Of course, that insane durability would be a thing even while mentally incapacitated.
"Then how did Chiyo do it?" I asked.
"What?"
"I asked how Chiyo did it. You said the human puppetry technique relies on two implantations. One in the head, and one in the chest. How would she have opened his body up to make the implantations?" I asked.
"I haven't the faintest. Perhaps some sort of poison, from what we know of her specializations," she said.
"Look into it, then."
"Now, is that all?" I asked, turning to the rest of the meeting.
"Accounts have asked me to confirm just how much of the repairs shall come out of the treasury and how much shall be postponed until further incomes."
"No, fix everything. Let the village return to its full glory. Approve whatever it takes to see it done," I said. Shika nodded, making a note of her scroll.
"Now that that is concluded, we can move on to the next subject matter—revenge," I said.
"Revenge?" Toshiro echoed the word.
"Indeed. Suna might not have ordered Chiyo to do this, but they harbored her. They platformed her and allied with her. Suna must suffer for this to set an example for all the other villages. If you attack Konoha then it must be met with equal or greater force," I said to nods from all around the room.
"We'll meet again in three days. I expect everyone to have an idea or two about how we strike at Suna with the least risk," I said.
"And if that will be all, dismissed," I said, and the room emptied itself out almost instantly. Being busy was expected these days. The attack had left everyone with multiple things to do to aid the recovery. Even those who were less than fully involved due to their specializations, like Toshiro, had taken on other duties in the village to help the recovery.
The room emptied until Uzume to my right, and Shikahime to my left were all that remained.
"Yes, Shika?" I asked, seeing her hesitant.
She took out a scroll from her sleeves and bent the knee before placing it on the desk before me.
"What?"
"My resignation, Hokage-sama."
"Resignation? For what? I haven't asked you to resign," I said.
"Yes, Hokage-sama. Perhaps because of the relation we share. But I have failed you. You appointed me to see things like this coming from a mile away," she said.
"No one could have seen that coming. Who would have expected Chiyo to be that kind of madwoman that would stretch her vendetta against me to civilians."
"Yes, but even if that were the case, I should have pushed for an evacuation the second we knew the Kazekage was coming."
"You know as well as I do why we did not order an evacuation immediately."
"It would have been preferable to this. To the losses we have taken," she said.
"And yes. And that was as much my fault as it was. Are you asking me to resign, Shikahime? Is that what this is for?"
"No. Of-of course not. You would make a fantastic Hokage. Quitting because of one mistake is illogical," she said. I gave her a look, and enjoyed the way the flush crept down her face.
"Touché, as you would say."
"Touché indeed," I agreed.
"So are you going to get up now?" I asked.
"You won't accept my resignation?"
"If you feel you are to blame for this, then it means you should be atoning for it with your service, not languishing away in an early retirement. If you think it was your fault that Konoha took this loss, then that should be all the more motivation for you to do better and see to it that it never happens again, and that we rise to higher heights even."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," she said, even if I could tell that there was more she had to say. I nodded. I would look into it at some point in time, but not now.
"Dismissed, Shikahime," I said, and with a body flicker, she was gone. It was just Uzume and I now.
"I didn't expect you to be so harsh with her," Uzume said.
"I'm more than capable of tough love when it is warranted, and that is exactly what Shikahime needed today. She needed someone to give her direction and absolution. I could do the former, but never the latter. The latter has to come from within," I said.
"And have you managed to find it?"
"Absolution? I doubt I ever will," I said, turning and leaving the room. My presence here had caused so many deaths. Most people had no way of knowing if the world would have been better off without them—it was near impossible to tell if you were a net negative or positive in the world.
I could, though. Because I knew what canon had looked like after the second war, and in truth, this was much worse than what had happened there. Not just in Konoha even. My presence here had brought death, suffering, and pain to so many. And sadly, it was going to bring those precise emotions to so many more even despite how guilty I felt about it.
Because one way or another I was going to get my revenge on Suna and cause even more pain and suffering while I did that. Just in the hopes that one day when the dust all cleared and the song finished playing, I would come out having made life better for my people.
"I need your help."
"Generally, when a Grandson visits his Grandmother for the first time in days, he starts with something more polite and fitting— 'how are you Grandmother?', 'does your knee still hurt when you wake up', 'I am sorry for not seeing you in so long'. You know, things like that?" she teased, even saying the words that were clearly intended quotations in a caricature of my voice.
"Apologies, Grandmother," I said.
"How are you, Grandmother? Does your knee still hurt when you wake up? I'm sorry for not seeing you in so long," I said, quoting her and tossing her words back her way. Her stern expression melted into a smile.
"Everything is much better now that I have you here, and no, my knee seems to have gotten much better with time. And apology accepted. Just make sure to come around more often," she said.
"Yes, Grandmother."
"So what brings you here now?"
"A grandson can't visit his Grandmother anymore?" I asked, feigning offense.
"Oh please. Still in those robes? You want something. Tell me what it is."
"I don't know if I should be offended or apologetic about not showing up more," I said.
"Be both. Or neither. Just tell me what it is that you want so I can give it to you, and then we can spend time together without that hanging over our heads," she said next, coughing slightly in the middle of the statement.
"Fine fine, Grandmother. I want to make a self-replicating matrix."
"In what way?" she asked, appearance almost changing as her eyes sharpened and she began to hang on to my every word. She was in seal mistress mode now. The switch-up used to throw me off something fierce when I was younger. Now I just appreciated how she could lock away that critical part of her mind until she needed to use it for something, and then it could appear in full force.
"A seal matrix that copies itself and spreads from target to target through some medium. If we could do it through the air, that would be ideal, but I doubt that would be possible. Touch, however…" I led.
"I see. What do you want to replicate?" she asked.
"An explosive tag."
"And this is part of your revenge on Suna?" she asked.
"Reiji speaks too freely," I replied, resolving to scold him for that when I got the chance. She scoffed.
"You think I need a spy in your council? I raised you, boy. I know what you will do in any situation even before you do. I knew you would form an attack on Suna because you never liked it when Tsunade took your things when you were younger—you'd always find some way to get her back. The hunger for vengeance runs stronger in you than it did in any one of my children," she said.
"Are you going to help me then?"
"I doubt it would be possible in the way you imagine it working," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"Come." And so we left her bedroom, making our way to the seal room. She spread the scroll on the floor, and bent into a smooth seiza—well, smooth if one ignored the sound of creaking bones. A sound that Grandmother paid no mind to either.
She drew out a seal.
"A self-replicating seal is something like a virus in that it would replicate itself to spread from host to host, yes?" I nodded.
"Now if I form this seal and make it replicate by touch, what do you think will happen?" she asked.
"Just that. It will spread to whoever touches it, and then whoever they touch, and so on, going forever," I replied.
"If only it was so easy," she sighed before drawing another matrix around the seal she had formed. I could recognize the explosive seal, the first one she had drawn. Breaking down the other matrix made it clear that it was exactly what I had asked for—something to allow the seal to replicate itself. She'd done it differently than I had in all my attempts at least.
"Now, place your hand in it," she said.
I gave her a look, but obeyed nonetheless. I placed my hand in the middle, and nothing happened. Nothing at all.
"It failed," I said. Just like all my other attempts had.
"Activate your Byakugan and look at the seal and your hand," she said.
With a flex of my facial muscles, my doujutsu came active. I almost reflexively snatched my hand back when I took a look at the seal. It was trying to spread to my hand. The only issue was that it was not managing to go all that far.
"When I compared the seal you wanted to something like a virus, it wasn't an accident," she said, pausing now and waiting for me to figure it out. This was how Mito educated. She never led you to the river. She'd give you a map, but if you wanted a drink, it was your job to follow it and figure it out.
So that is what I did. I connected the dots and figured it out. It took looking at the whole situation twice and then looking with my Byakugan to see the way the seal interacted with my chakra to figure it out.
"Antibodies," I said in realization.
"Exactly. Remember that your earlier project for turning things to sludge and dissolving them?" she asked.
"Yeah, that never worked with humans."
"Did you ever stop to think why?"
"Because we have chakra."
"But it worked with nature just fine, and you and I know that nature has chakra of its own."
"It didn't work on humans because they had consciousness. Their chakra would resist the seal's alteration and desire to imprint itself on them. Just like a body's antibodies will fight a virus most of the time."
"If that's the case, then it shouldn't be possible for us to mark anyone with a seal at all. And I know I can do that for sure," I said, pushing back at her point.
"Indeed. Now watch this," she said, grabbing a hold of my wrist with her hand. I noticed her chakra surge, and then there was a seal forming along my arm.
"My point exactly."
"Now, I want you to try this again, but this time could you try to prevent me from placing the seal on you?"
"Like not let you touch me?" I asked, snatching my hand out of her grip. She gave me a deadpan look.
"Is that thing between your ears working even less than usual today? I mean prevent the seal, but of course let me touch you," she said, and even as she reached for my hand, I moved it in the other direction.
"Congratulations, you're faster than the woman who popped out your father from her vagina before—"
"Enough, enough. I'm sorry," I said, placing my hand back in her grasp before she could continue.
"Good," she said, and then I felt her chakra begin to invade, but I just made the decision to not allow it, and to my shock, no seal appeared.
"When you aren't paying attention, you only have passive defenses. When you are paying attention, however, your defenses become much stronger. The only way for me to place a seal on you against your will would be for me to overpower your chakra with my own."
"I see. So the seal itself is not strong enough to beat the passive defenses a shinobi would have."
"Exactly," she said.
"So that's a bust."
"Well, we could try something else…" she said, and my eyes lit up like suns as she explained what she had in mind.
A/N: And that's the chapter. Next six up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.