The mountainside bloomed upwards as a sphere of fire and ash blew up like a mushroom cloud. Most of the men here were steadfast Shinobis. They didn't fall. Merely stumbled. But that allowed them to see the sheer destruction the Tear caused firsthand. Genins were too busy saving themselves while the others cast jutsus.
Defensive Jutsus had gone up as soon as the shockwave hit. They watched in horror as the fire and ash enveloped the sky. 200 meters from the epicenter there was nothing but ash and glass. Yes the heat had turned the dust solid. A thousand meters in all directions the shockwave had leveled everything in sight.
Beyond that was damage. Extensive damage.
Beyond that stood us.
"You see lord third. If I wanted to sabotage a man like you. I would have used that."
"And just so you all know that it wasn't a fluke."
I hurled another one before the stunned crowd could react. This time they saw properly. The Tear, the distortion, the impact, and most importantly, the Blast.
Even Hiruzen stepped forward and stuttered, "R-Ren, this kind-"
In response my ten warriors and I drew two scrolls each. 22 Scrolls in hand.
He froze mid sentence. His eyes widening.
Not today. I had listened for far too long. Not today.
I said nothing. Neither did anyone else.
The gambit was played and it had been won.
I let them digest and process the horror of what I had just shown.
The jonins present here could kill us. But most of them would fall with us. The blasts were too strong and too dangerous. It was worse, because this was not the random idiots. But the cream of Konoha. And it was held hostage.
"Lord Third, You have your proof. Release my clan that you have wrongfully detained. I love peace. But I will make sure your clan does not have any if you try to pull anything else. You have gone too far this time."
My stance brokered no arguments.
"Lord Third. You have pushed us too far. You were wrong and you know it. Now you have to show us your sincerity. And be truly sincere this time Lord Third. Because I will not go after Konoha. I will go after you and your clan personally. You have been trying to subjugate or destroy my clan for a while now. Seems only fair."
I put no demands forward. Konoha could not defend against 22 Miniature Bijudama. Not out of the blue like that. The Elite Jonins could move fast. But not fast enough to prevent us from activating and throwing them. With that sentence I had officially removed the Uchiha and the Hatake who were already dissatisfied with the Hokage from the equation.
Hiruzen calculated He looked at the destruction, then back at my expression. His face softened.
Before he could speak I raised the scroll higher and shook my head.
No deals this time. Actions or Fight.
He sighed and closed his eyes. He was thinking. Nobody disturbed him. The council wanted to speak. But my stance didn't let them.
They understood that this was a powder keg waiting to explode. And honestly, Sarutobi Hiruzen was the one guy who was the best among them in pacifying situations. He took out his pipe and lit it.
Finally, after full 15 minutes of tense silence. He spoke.
"If I refuse to relent, you will defect, correct?"
"If you give my people back, I will defect with neutral stance. If you try to keep them. I'll defect with a hostile stance."
"To Suna or to Kiri?"
"I haven't contacted anybody yet. But to Iwa most likely. They are always arming, right?"
He took two more puffs. "I have no guarantees of your loyalty. No proofs of your goodwill."
"The Uchiha and the Hyuga gave neither."
This caused some murmuring. I had directly equated the Kurosawa to a great clan. But with the situation as it was, We were equal to the Uchiha and Hyuga. Just like the Uchiha were unmatched in single combat, the Hyuga were unmatched in Reconaissance. We had become unmatched in Large scale destruction. We were as deadly as tailed beasts. Deadlier actually. The rampages, which were the usual modus operandi right now were uncontrolled. Our attacks, although smaller would be strategic.
A fight between any of us three would be mutual destruction. The Uchiha and Hyuga could ambush us or hit us too fast. We could blow their whole clan area with one Tear.
The rule was simple. Accept us as a major clan or let us defect. Hiruzen would never take up arms in this situation. He will either let us go on neutral stance. Or accept us. Fighting us and losing so much was not an option for the weakened Konoha. Especially with national strengths of all nations almost recovering. We were the same kind of thorn the Uchiha had been. Undesirable, but necessary.
"Your people will be released. The Kurosawa will be recognised as one of Konoha's Great clans. You will have 10 votes in the council. You will be issued generous compensation for the physical, emotional and financial damages that have been caused by us to you over the years."
He paused.
"Ending on only compensation for the damages you caused hardly seems fair."
Danzo spoke up "You should be-"
"F..k you!"
He stepped back, stunned silent.
I rerouted my gaze to the Hokage.
"The Fuinjutsu Board gets abolished. In its place you will be instated as the head of the Fuinjutsu Council. Any and all Fuinjutsu in Konoha will be your prerogative. The construction and the laws of the council are left in your hand. The village will fund it initially for three months. After that, the village will expect the tax revenue in the form of tags or money. The exact amounts to be discussed later. "
The village looked to him with various expressions of ridicule, shock and awe. The Kurokami paled. I could see from his face that he wanted to scream and shake the Hokage while yelling "Are you f..king nuts?"
But the elders present here were old players. They knew the stakes and the ironclad rule of this cruel world. Might makes Right.
That was it. He had been generous and sneaky at the same time. It was isolation like the KMPF. But also respect and power. A good deal. This time he hadn't played. The stakes were too high. And I won't ask for more.
"Agreed. But one last thing."
He looked up.
"You will release my clan right now. And when they come here, I will ask them if any of them were experimented on or if their mind was violated. You and I both know they were innocent, Lord Third. But this time, there will be no deal. Anyone who read their minds gets executed. Everyone who experimented on them gets executed. No exceptions."
"Ren do no-"
"Do not f..king tell me not to go to far. You lost that right when you did those experiments anyway. I will be willing to let Danzo off with only severe punishments. And Orochimaru if he was involved. Anyone and Everyone else dies. That is the price of your precious peace."
He stayed silent.
"Agreed,"