Akashi's Sharingan disappeared, revealing his usual red eyes.
"I have everything I needed," he said after having walked through the ninja's mental plane and getting what he needed.
"His clansmen are hidden in a massive tree deep in an unexplored zone of the land of fire." Akashi said, turning around, "Continue whatever you are doing?"
Contrary to what most people know, a lot of the land of fire, like the other elemental nations, is unexplored or inhabited by wild beasts.
In truth, before the establishment of the ninja villages a most of the elemental nations were wild and unlivable. Things only changed when the village ninjas were established.
They drove away a lot of the Giants' beasts inhabiting the elemental nation, making them safer for humans to settle in.
The old Kuroko, now Daimyo of New Uzushiogakure, was seated on a tatami reviewing an endless stack of paperwork.
"Hello, old man, how are you today?"
Akashi greeted the old man buried in the pile of paperwork.
"Good, you?"
"Ah, not bad," he responded, letting himself fall unceremoniously on the ground beside the old man.
"That behavior is unbecoming for someone of your status. You should sit properly."
Hearing the old man's complaints, Akashi's mouth curled in a sneer.
"Are you trying to make a Hyuga out of me, old man? I have no intention to become as stuffy as those stuck-up guys, no thanks,"
In truth, the old Kuroko didn't really care about Akashi's manners, at least when he was with family; it was just that he was extremely busy and he wanted Akashi to share a little of his misfortune.
Seeing that it didn't work, he let it go.
Akashi took out a medical book and started to read.
"I found the location of the Juzo; they are in a restricted zone of the land of fire. I want to integrate them in the village."
"The Juzo, hein, those guys who lose their minds without any warning! There is no way they will cause damage after damage; there is a reason they were isolated since the Warring States."
"The crazy scientist is looking for a way to fix that problem. He has a few solutions, and he even made a few discoveries on natural energy, and we could also restrain them with our sealing techniques."
The old man let out a sigh
"Still no, we don't have enough manpower."
"Huh?!"
Seeing Akashi's confusion, he explained, "Research, in jutsu, seals, yin and yang, and other domains, trains the recruits of all the clans. Special training for the future anbu, which is nonexistent right now. We also need more medic ninjas, administrators, to manage our business all around the ninja world, can't let it in the hands of those old shit of the underworld, that's a little list of everything we have to do, and even in a clan like ours, where summoning is spread, not everyone has a talent for that, so your new space-time ninjutsu is not for everyone. So, no!"
At the end of his rant, Akashi could only sigh in defeat. There were really a lot of things to do in a village, and for a newly reformed village, there was even more to do..
"One thing that I always wanted to ask is, why don't you and the others use clones to work faster? Seriously, after all those years, none of you can think of something so simple.e,"
"Ouch," He clutched his head where a massive scroll had smacked him.
"You kid! You really think you are the only smart one, huh? Do you think that everyone is a monster like you? Do you have any idea how taxing that jutsu is in chakra, on the body, on the mind? A ninja with Kage level chakra can make only twenty a day before emptying their reserve, and a clone can only last thirty minutes to an hour max, do you expect a kage to be always out of chakra!?"
At the end, Kuroko's face was a little red due to the frustration; he too wanted to use the multiclonage to work, but he quickly realized that it was not possible.
"Ahhhh, why don't I have that kind of trouble?"
"Because you are a little monster, that's why?"
Kuroko replied with a huff.
"Don't call me a monster, that is inbecoming of someone of your status."
Hearing Akashi cite his own words against him bothered him a little, but he quickly calmed down. After all, what he said was true, plus Akashi didn't like it when people called him a monster, even to praise his abilities.
"Sorry about that kid," The elder apologized sincerely
"No problem, " he replied, continuing to read his book
"Can you help me with that paperwork? You are good at that, right? Plus, you can use clones without any trouble."
"No, I am busy," he waved his book before returning to it, leaving Kuroko to sigh dejectedly. He really envied Akashi sometimes.
"What are you reading by the way?" he asked, seeing how focused on the book he was
"Medical books,"
"Didn't you finish with your medical studies? You already can use the mystical palm jutsu,"
"You never finish learning. It's in the brain,"
"What!?"
"The book, it's on the brain, after I manage to copy the Kinoe techniques, I noticed that contrary to that, jutsu targets the nerves in the head by infusing chakra in them."
"So?" Kuroko questioned, genuinely intrigued,
"Most illusion targets the chakra pathway. I wonder if I could create a technique using that, cracking the seal in the mind of the root Yamanaka. I realized that their mind-reading techniques are similar."
"By the way, I made a detailed report of everything I got from their brain, from training jutsu of the Yamanaka to the training method of the root and detail of the mission, well, everything that seemed useful,"
"I see. All that seems exactly like the kind of thing that would excite you. You know you are the only kid I've ever met who likes reading and inventing so much."
After a second of hesitation, he took his gaze of his book and asked
"Is it bad?"
"No, I am just fascinated, I never thought about how chakras worked until I was really old and had retired with a family beside me,"
Akashi looked at the fond and melancholic expression on Kuroko's face, which bothered him; he knew that he had lost nearly all his family in the destruction of Uzushiogakure.
Before that event, he had twenty direct family members; now he had only one, and it was Karin.
After reminiscing, he continued, "What I mean is you have an extraordinary way to think, don't lose it."
"Thanks, grandpa, I won't," he mumbled affectionately, pleased to hear those praises from his guardian. They resume their work in a comfortable silence.
'With all the knowledge and advantage that I have, I should be able to reach six path naruto, what justu should I create now?' he thought quietly.
As a transmigrator, Akashi had a different mindset, plus he was basically an adult in a child's body, so he always felt instinctively superior to the people in that world that have a limited mindset. With all his advantages, he always put himself above or at the same level as geniuses like Kakashi or Itashi, even Tobirama Senju.
The results proved that he is indeed right; he could already create and modify seals and jutsu.
...
Land of fire
In a small and isolated cottage, a small seal pulsed on the ground after a few seconds, and a white circle appeared on the ground.
"Poof," in a smoke screams two red-haired men appeared
"Is anyone nearby?" the older one asked the younger
"No, sir."
"Good, let's go deliver the good." With that, they shot off the cottage on the way, their hair changed from red to black.
A few seconds later, a black and white creature emerged from the ground; it was Zetsu.
"You are right, it's really here, as expected of you, we only had to lay in wait for six months to catch them," the white half rambled on
"It really took a lot of effort to discover them," black Zetsu said. He had controlled and monitored the ninja worlds for thousands of years, and it was the first time that it took him so much effort to detect a target.
The Uzumaki had escaped him for more than three years.
"Do you have your spores in the market?"
"Yes, it is full of my spores."
"Good,"
The underworld market is everywhere in the world, sometimes underground, sometimes in caves, and at other times even in castles.
This underworld market was underground quite bid, capable of accommodating a thousand people.
The light was dim, the corridors were narrow, but at nearly every turn, there was a shop.
In those shops, you will find every type of weapon that you need, kunai, shuriken, fans, senbons, swords, explosives tags, and now, even the new tags of the Uzumaki can be found here.
Under disguise, the two Uzumaki enter the underground market.
"Good morning, lord Mizutani. We are here to deliver the new batch of explosive tags as requested."
The two ninjas said respectfully, presenting the scroll containing the weapons to the leader of that station.
"Good, good, good," the corpulent man said, satisfied by the respectful demeanor of the two ninjas as his men inspected the goods.
Once he received a nod of affirmation, a bag of full of million ofryo was brought to the ninjas.
"Thank you for your hospitality, my lord. We will take our leave," they said after counting the money.y
"Send my regard to your master for me," that was done swiftly and without an itch,
"I estimate that we will make about twenty million on this batch."
"Hum, I understand why so many people want them dead, they are a money-making machine, if only I could capture one," The old noble said with an int of regret in his voice.
After they left the station, Zetsu once again emerged from the ground
"Send new to Madara sama,"
"Yes, I want to meet the little ones again. It has been a long time; they must miss me," The white part of Zetsu said.
After failing in eliminating Uzumaki as planned, Madara had realized that he needed a group of loyal followers following his will other than the Zetsu, so he had taken in a few of the orphans that had lost everything due to war and was personally mentoring them, Danzo style.
"Should we attack them, with that amount of money, we will be able to train the recruits better."
"It's not for you to decide."