Chapter 204: Kurama's Coercion and an Address on Behalf of the Hokage! Might Dai's Infinite Eight Gates and the Reanimation Protocol
The Three-Tails and the Six-Tails lifted their heads, staring up at Kurama in absolute, paralyzed disbelief.
Having been captured and placed under passive biological stabilization by Mito Uzumaki while unconscious, the two massive entities had been systematically suppressed by high-density fuinjutsu arrays. Even without specialized containment jars, their physical frames had been compressed down to roughly half the height of an adult human.
The chakra pathways within their bodies were locked down like frozen tundra.
Yet even in this compressed state, their physical mass still noticeably dwarfed the tiny, compact fox perched arrogantly on Mito's shoulder.
The crucial difference, however, was that Kurama was completely unfettered.
He had descended casually from the sky with Mito, moving with unrestricted freedom. It was blindingly obvious he had spent his afternoon strolling leisurely through the village streets, rushing over only after receiving a notification ping from a courier.
"Wait a minute..."
"Why are you running around out in the open?"
"Weren't you captured by Madara Uchiha? Word on the grapevine said you were subsequently intercepted by Hashirama Senju, only to be permanently sealed inside the strongest kunoichi of the Uzumaki clan..."
"We operated under the baseline assumption that you were suffering the absolute worst operational conditions among the nine of us!" Isobu's gravelly voice projected an undeniably human-like bewilderment.
Across the nine Tailed Beasts, Shukaku had historically enjoyed the most favorable deployment parameters, confined merely within a decorative iron kettle at the Temple of the Wind.
Because Sunagakure lacked a designated host to micromanage his day-to-day existence, the interior space within the vessel granted him surprising autonomy.
The rest of the beasts, however, had absorbed nothing but systemic trauma.
Kurama, in particular, was an infamous legend. His clash at the Valley of the End—an engagement where a single Tailed Beast was subjected to a coordinated, simultaneous thrashing by the continent's two apex titans—was documented across every historical ledger. Even the other beasts had downloaded that lore.
Saiken nodded repeatedly, his slug-like antennae twitching:
"Precisely! You were physically pummeled by both the Ghost of the Uchiha and the God of Shinobi!"
"Furthermore, back in the dawn era, you were the student with the worst operational discipline during lectures! You spent half the curriculum sleeping and the other half dozing off... If Shukaku stood before us preaching statecraft, it might carry some credibility, but you?!"
Kurama's face turned pitch black.
After centuries of operational separation, his brothers' emotional intelligence remained as bankrupt as ever!
A single glance verified they hadn't logged an ounce of cognitive growth in half a millennium. They refused to audit market mechanics, held zero interest in learning jutsu architectures, and remained completely bound by their primitive, beastly nature.
"Where in the world are you downloading this fraudulent propaganda?!"
Kurama crossed his front paws over his chest, scoffing with sovereign arrogance:
"Let me educate you: back then, Madara Uchiha practically fell to his knees, begging for my strategic partnership! Without this grand lord providing raw kinetic output, his Susanoo possessed zero capacity to withstand Hashirama's True Several Thousand Hands!"
"I audited his proposal, noted his earnest diplomatic posture, and recognized that his objective was an ideological debate regarding the future of peace, so I graciously leased him a fraction of my chakra..."
Standing beside him, Mito smiled faintly, maintaining absolute, disciplined silence.
However, she flagged a critical data point within Kurama's defensive spin:
The Tailed Beasts shared direct, ancestral roots with the Sage of Six Paths.
Ever since Kurama had been granted clearance to wander the village in his compact form, his daily verbal interactions with the populace had eclipsed the cumulative communication volume of the past thousand years.
When an operative spoke that frequently, operational leaks were inevitable, especially given Kurama's naturally boastful disposition.
Whenever he flexed his seniority before the academy children, fragments of Six Paths lore routinely slipped out. His private tea sessions with Mito suffered identical disclosures.
Initially, Mito had dismissed the claims as standard fox bravado.
Yet observing the reflexive, unforced reactions of Isobu and Saiken, the statistical credibility of the claim scaled exponentially.
The Sage of Six Paths was an empirical, historical reality?
Furthermore, he personally managed the early-development pedagogy of the nine beasts?
Mito archived the data in her mental registry.
Hiruzen previously queried me regarding the esoteric inscriptions on the Uchiha ancestral monument. The techniques documented there belong to an ancient, primordial framework. Cross-referencing this data, it is entirely plausible that the scripture was bequeathed directly by the Sage...
Detecting that he had nearly breached operational security, Kurama shot aggressive, warning glares at Isobu and Saiken.
The Sage of Six Paths had explicitly briefed them back in the day: Refrain from disclosing our family's internal affairs to the mortal plane.
"Even if we concede that your venture with Madara Uchiha was a voluntary partnership, weren't you physically bound by Hashirama Senju immediately afterward?"
Isobu and Saiken countered in perfect synchronization.
They were entirely convinced Kurama was spinning a massive public relations fraud.
Mito, back me up on this! I'm begging you... Kurama transmitted urgently across their mental link, while maintaining an unyielding, righteous facade on the surface:
"Bound? Your lack of strategic vision is laughably pathetic! I was exposed to the First Hokage's Will of Fire, audited his ideological framework, and found it profoundly compelling!"
"Compared to Madara's hardline militarism, I ultimately endorsed Hashirama's long-term vision. Therefore, I formally integrated into Konohagakure as a foundational stakeholder!"
Isobu and Saiken exchanged glances of profound cognitive dissonance.
What kind of three-way corporate traitor is this?!
You signed contracts with the Sage of Six Paths, the Uchiha, and the Senju consecutively?!
"Then why were you subsequently incarcerated inside a biological host?" Isobu grumbled in his deep, stony voice.
As a turtle, his cognitive processing was stubbornly linear; he refused to let a logical contradiction slide without cross-examination.
Saiken wore a mocking, slimy smirk, waiting to watch Kurama's narrative collapse.
Kurama's slitted eyes darted rapidly:
"This merely validates your absolute lack of business literacy! For an intellectually constrained turtle, failing to decompile my strategy is entirely expected!"
"What were the core tenets laid down during the dawn era?"
"Shinobi and Tailed Beasts must forge cooperative partnerships, pooling their respective competencies to construct market peace! Consequently, I entered an active joint venture with Mito, specifically engineered to overcome the biological limitations inherent to Tailed Beasts: mastering micro-scale chakra shape transformation!"
Kurama brought his tiny paws together.
A high-density burst of crimson chakra manifested, sculpting itself with micro-surgical precision into two miniature, hyper-realistic fists. The constructs descended simultaneously, delivering sharp, disciplinary raps to the craniums of Isobu and Saiken, leaving an intricate, glowing fuinjutsu brand upon their brows.
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails froze in sheer terror.
Heaven help us!
This savage fox abandoned brute-force brawling and actually mastered advanced chakra shape transformation and fuinjutsu deployment?!
Naturally, this was an operational sleight of hand.
While Kurama had refined his chakra control under Mito's daily tutelage, channeling active sealing formulas through external chakra constructs exceeded his current technical ceiling.
Mito was covertly managing the jutsu architecture from behind.
Mito, deploy another one!
Give me another display! Kurama basked in the stunned, reverent expressions of his brothers, urgently whispering across the telepathic link:
I execute daily patrols across the commercial district! I have earned this operational expense!
Mito chuckled inwardly.
She had observed that ever since Kurama condensed his mass into this juvenile, compact fox form, his psychological temperament had grown remarkably endearing.
He was significantly easier to manage than his colossal, fanged adult state, rarely brandishing his claws in blind rage.
Tailed Beasts were truly bizarre, volatile entities.
"Very well, very well..." Mito murmured soothingly, indulging the fox like a fond grandmother managing an eager toddler. "You have performed with distinction!"
Kurama's brow furrowed briefly. Mito's tone carries far too much maternal indulgence... Am I being treated like an unranked academy recruit?
Yet before he could decompile the psychological slight, a dense, familiar chakra surged through his internal network. Kurama instantly slapped his paws together, adopting the rigid posture of a master casting hand seals.
A volley of blazing, red-gold chakra chains erupted from his spine, screeching through the air like living serpents!
Uzumaki Bloodline Limit: Adamantine Sealing Chains—Tailed Beast Chakra Simulation Matrix!
"What is your assessment now?!"
Even though Kurama was privately startled by the kinetic density of the display, he threw his head back and laughed with booming, vindictive triumph:
"The sealing bloodline limit of the Uzumaki clan! Given your provincial isolation, you may lack advanced tactical education, but surely you have cataloged its signature in the bingo books?!"
Isobu and Saiken completely abandoned their argumentative posture, staring at Kurama with dropped jaws.
By the Sage...
He legitimately mastered it!
It turned out the continental rumors were pure, fabricated slander. Kurama hadn't been violently suppressed by Hashirama and Madara; both titans had actively petitioned for his corporate backing! And after running an exhaustive audit, the fox had simply selected Konoha as the optimal market partner!
Isobu marveled inwardly.
He had always assumed Shukaku—who naturally possessed rudimentary sealing patterns—was the most intellectually refined student in their cohort. Yet auditing the current board, Kurama had completely out-scaled the tanuki in technical literacy.
Saiken was equally flabbergasted.
Back in the ancestral days, the Sage of Six Paths had repeatedly scolded Kurama to pay attention during technical seminars, but the fox had sneered with unbridled arrogance, insisting his raw mass made jutsu architecture completely redundant.
Yet the moment he entered the mortal market, the fox had secretly hit the books!
He had spent centuries executing covert study sessions behind everyone's backs!
Isobu and Saiken exchanged a look, suddenly questioning their memories. Perhaps Kurama hadn't been sleeping through those ancient lectures after all; his fox ears had likely been twitching, soaking up every theoretical algorithm like a sponge!
"Audit your own metrics..."
Kurama indulged in the intoxicating high of his brothers' awe, shaking his head with theatrical disappointment:
"Centuries have elapsed, yet your developmental curves remain entirely flat! It grieves my heart to witness such stagnation!"
Mito fought to keep her lips from curling into a grin.
In his compact form, Kurama's pomposity was genuinely charming.
"Still clinging to the delusional fantasy that massive biological bulk and crude Tailed Beast Balls guarantee kinetic dominance..."
"Reviewing the continental bingo books today, I can casually draft a roster of over a dozen active shinobi capable of single-handedly neutralizing your operations!"
"What was the foundational thesis of Ninshu? Mutual comprehension! Bilateral synergy! It mandated that we integrate into an aligned, high-trust organization, extending mutual support to secure collective survival!"
Kurama delivered his sermon with grave, solemn weight:
"Now audit your own operational records! One hiding like a coward in a mountain ravine, the other crawling through oceanic mud, completely devoid of career ambition! You allowed yourselves to be subjugated by a third-rate executive like the Third Mizukage for decades, thoroughly liquidating the institutional dignity of the Tailed Beast brand!"
"Now, audit my positioning..."
"I formally integrated into Konohagakure, actively engineering the Will of Fire infrastructure..."
"If a hostile faction dares stage a provocation against my desk today, do you comprehend the volume of kinetic force I can mobilize to crush them?!" Kurama flexed his corporate capital with absolute swagger.
Isobu and Saiken leaned in, their voices thick with reverent awe: "How much?"
"The unified military juggernaut of Konohagakure deploys at my call, because I am a recognized executive of this village, operating under the full legal protections of the Will of Fire!"
Kurama smirked, ticking off assets on his claws:
"Wood Release! The Mangekyou Sharingan! The Adamantine Sealing Chains! The Byakugan! The Dead Bone Pulse!"
"Apex medical infrastructure! Deep-space aerospace cruiser fleets! The Three Great Sage Regions!"
With every asset Kurama listed, Isobu and Saiken felt their cognitive balance tilt further into absolute paralysis.
Such overwhelming institutional equity?!
"And the Hokage himself!"
"Let me brief you on a classified development: I am currently scheduled for formal inauguration as an official member of the Konoha High Commission! Do you comprehend the executive authority a High Commissioner wields?"
Kurama leaned in, whispering with conspiratorial weight:
"It means I sit directly across the mahogany table from the Hokage during executive summits! My strategic counsel must be formally logged and reviewed by the high command! You two retain sensory memory of the Hokage, don't you?"
In that singular instant, Isobu and Saiken's minds flashed back to the catastrophic engagement that had neutralized them.
A towering, muscular titan encased in midnight-black heavy plate armor. He had shattered the Third Mizukage's physical frame with two casual punches, seized both of their colossal craniums with bare hands, and slammed their skulls together like percussion cymbals with kinetic force exceeding the Five-Tails...
They had barely escaped total chakra dispersion.
"You maintain direct operational rapport with the Hokage?!"
"Naturally! We routinely share meals, debate statecraft, and review policy over bowls of ramen. The man is my personal colleague!"
Kurama spoke with animated grandeur, waving his paws. Reunited with his old kin, his social bandwidth had expanded completely, mirroring the ancient days when they lounged around the Sage of Six Paths trading stories.
"Let me establish this baseline: within Konoha's sovereign jurisdiction, so long as you adhere to compliance regulations, submitting a petition through my desk resolves any operational dispute..."
Isobu and Saiken looked upon Kurama with unfiltered, absolute reverence.
They had spent centuries assuming Kurama was suffering the most catastrophic deployment on the continent. Yet the cunning fox had quietly monopolized the most lucrative corporate venture in the world without extending a single branch of capital to his brothers!
"Then..."
"What about our status?"
Isobu and Saiken queried with extreme, timid caution: "We were actively deployed against the Hokage in live combat... Does that liability..."
"I have already negotiated an administrative waiver for your portfolio."
"Hardwire this into your awareness: I am a Konoha High Commissioner. My executive signature carries monumental weight within the administration! I can vouch for your institutional loyalty. Furthermore, I have audited your combat logs; you were operating under involuntary neurological hijacking by the Third Mizukage..."
Kurama waved his paw with magnanimous dismissal.
In bureaucratic reality, Kurama had not yet secured formal appointment to the High Commission. Hiruzen's directive merely stated that if Kurama successfully facilitated the surrender and recruitment of the Three-Tails and Six-Tails, he would be awarded the hereditary, constitutional title of "Divine Guardian of the Leaf."
Yet Kurama had intuitively unlocked a classic corporate maneuver:
Preemptively borrowing against his future executive title to artificially inflate his diplomatic leverage when negotiating terms with Isobu and Saiken.
Once the recruitment was finalized, the administrative loophole would be patched organically, and his promotion would be confirmed.
While it stretched compliance boundaries slightly, active wartime operations operated under executive flexibility.
Moreover, Mito's silence signaled tacit administrative approval.
Isobu and Saiken's eyes flared with intense, desperate interest.
Observing the dynamic, Mito mused internally:
Kurama's administrative growth is staggering. It appears Hiruzen's counsel regarding continuous political education yields immense dividends even for a Tailed Beast.
Had Kurama commanded this level of diplomatic eloquence when clashing with Hashirama back in the day, he might never have been sealed within her vessel in the first place.
Between a wild Tailed Beast and Hashirama Senju, determining which entity was easier to manipulate was a genuine toss-up.
Given Hashirama's soft-hearted nature, had Kurama proclaimed his eternal dedication to the Will of Fire back then, Hashirama likely would have spun in ecstatic circles, treating the fox like an honored guest.
Yet Kurama remained deeply dissatisfied with his brothers' lingering hesitation.
Why are they still deliberating?!
"Hey!"
Kurama barked sharply, his tiny paws slamming down onto the platform:
"Let me establish the absolute bottom line: if you desire to fundamentally elevate your operational conditions as Tailed Beasts, your singular viable roadmap is total integration into Konohagakure!"
"Across the entire continental market, Konoha stands as the sole sovereign entity commanding the ideological framework—the Will of Fire—capable of sustaining genuine, harmonious coexistence between shinobi and Tailed Beasts!"
"Hiruzen Sarutobi is the man who truly inherited the foundational Will of Hashirama Senju."
Kurama's tone dropped into solemn, resonant gravity:
"Furthermore, one can perceive the structural geometry of Ninshu within his statecraft. I command the absolute sensory capacity to detect negative emotion; you are obligated to trust my assessment."
Moments earlier, Kurama had openly mocked the philosophy of Ninshu before the Sage of Six Paths.
Yet when managing his naive, uneducated brothers, Kurama seamlessly weaponized the brand of Ninshu to establish unassailable ideological authority.
Isobu and Saiken flinched in unison.
Why must you shout at maximum volume?!
Every Tailed Beast held verified data confirming that Hashirama Senju was the reincarnation of Asura.
This was not derived from tracking Asura's chakra signatures directly, but because Madara Uchiha's identity as Indra's reincarnation was unmistakable—his psychological volatility and ocular prowess were textbook reproductions.
Once Indra was identified, isolating Asura was a simple process of elimination.
Isobu and Saiken sank into deep cognitive calculation.
Kurama claims the Hokage inherited the legacy of Ninshu, yet simultaneously carries the Will of Hashirama?
Does that not imply he synthesizes the qualities of both the Old Man and Asura?
Isobu cleared his throat hesitantly:
"Regarding that... our sensory data logs indicate that during active combat, his operational profile mirrored Madara Uchiha with terrifying fidelity. His strikes were lethal, uncompromising, and his heavy plate armor was literally embossed with a Susanoo crest..."
Saiken nodded furiously: "Precisely! A Susanoo relief! I cataloged the visual data myself!"
Kurama paused, caught off-guard.
The Hokage, the direct ideological heir to Hashirama, donned battle-armor embossed with a Susanoo crest?
That sounds extraordinarily alarming...
"Ahem..." Kurama recovered smoothly, his eyes narrowing:
"That is entirely expected! This is Konohagakure! The Uchiha, Senju, Uzumaki, and Hyuga operate as integrated shareholders! As the supreme commander of our armed forces, the Hokage is structurally barred from displaying corporate favoritism!"
"He is vastly more equitable... than the Old Man ever was."
Kurama exhaled a soft sigh.
Having spent his off-hours touring the village streets, Kurama was acutely aware that Madara Uchiha's historical status had been completely rehabilitated.
Public bulletin boards and Academy corridors featured exhaustive, highly favorable retrospectives detailing the patriarch's contributions.
Due to Madara's striking aesthetic and theatrical lore, a significant portion of the Academy students held him in immense reverence.
Of course, instructors were under strict administrative orders to highlight the catastrophic risks of ideological extremism, ensuring the youth did not emulate his defection.
Isobu and Saiken froze.
More equitable than the Old Man?
While the Sage of Six Paths had endlessly proclaimed that he permitted Asura and Indra to compete under fair market conditions...
The Tailed Beasts who had witnessed the conflict firsthand knew the Sage had essentially stepped onto the field himself to tip the scales.
Consequently, while the beasts recognized Indra was unhinged and difficult to manage, they held deep sympathy for his endless rebellion.
That grievance was impossible to swallow.
The beasts had historically debated the scenario: had the Sage simply declared Asura his sole corporate heir from day one, Indra—valuing raw authority—might have conceded without instigating a civil war.
Yet the Sage had insisted on preaching fairness while subtly organizing the other Ninshu members and Kurama to execute an administrative blockade against his eldest son...
Had the beasts been subjected to that treatment, they would have detonated in fury as well.
It was the equivalent of holding Indra's head underwater while demanding he issue a formal memorandum stating he was satisfied with the arrangement.
Given Indra's psychology, submission was impossible.
"The Senju and Uchiha coexisting in genuine, institutional harmony?"
Isobu and Saiken exchanged a look.
"Indeed. Allow me to provide a final strategic briefing..."
Kurama lowered his voice, delivering the decisive data point:
"Following the Hokage's total pacification of Kirigakure, he executed zero civilian purges. Instead, he mobilized combined engineering corps from the Mist and the Leaf, working alongside the civilian populace of both nations to methodically reconstruct the infrastructure shattered by the Third Mizukage."
"That data should suffice to validate his character, should it not?"
Isobu and Saiken were thoroughly stunned.
Framed through that lens, his operational conduct mirrored the compassion of Asura and the Sage, while his combat output commanded the terrifying, unyielding lethality of Indra.
Across a thousand years of documented history, he was the first mortal shinobi to synthesize the virtues of both lineages, earning this level of absolute validation from Kurama.
"I..."
"I formally petition to integrate into Konohagakure..." Isobu finally conceded.
"Agreed! To study... to study this Will of Fire!" Saiken, processing the board slightly faster, adjusted his diplomatic pitch immediately.
"Magnificent!"
Kurama beamed, turning instantly toward Mito: "Mito! Can you assist them in partitioning a fraction of their chakra to synthesize autonomous avatar forms?"
"I must escort them on a comprehensive tour of the village to brief them on municipal regulations! Deploying them without compliance training will inevitably trigger civil infractions, whether in the streets or on the front lines!"
Mito was legitimately astounded.
The fox has completely embodied the persona of a High Commissioner?
He had absorbed the entire framework of regulatory compliance and civic education!
"The protocol requires absolute cooperation from both parties," Mito addressed Isobu and Saiken with a warm, measured smile.
Her Mind's Eye of the Kagura and negative-emotion sensory suite had been active throughout the entire session, ensuring the two beasts harbored zero residual malice or subversive intent.
"Understood!" Isobu and Saiken nodded with absolute obedience.
Mito channeled her chakra, driving the Adamantine Sealing Chains smoothly into their cores.
Leveraging the precise restraint of Uzumaki Fuinjutsu, she stabilized their turbulent chakra pathways, sculpting two compact avatar forms capable of hosting their conscious will.
The technique demanded peerless, surgical mastery; only an operative with Mito's vast sealing reserves and decades of Jinchuriki experience could pull it off.
Moments later, a miniature turtle and a small, translucent slug emerged from the primary masses.
Mito blinked, studying Saiken's compact form as a sudden, lateral thought crossed her mind:
"Saiken, are you familiar with Lady Katsuyu of the Shikkotsu Forest, one of the Three Great Sage Regions?"
"Naturally! During the dawn era, we were close colleagues! We simply haven't interfaced in centuries..." Saiken replied, surprised.
Compressed into his avatar form, he looked remarkably like a smooth, pristine white slug.
Mito's eyes glinted with corporate amusement.
Condensing Tailed Beasts into compact, juvenile avatars was a brilliant psychological technique.
The aesthetic presentation drastically lowered the threat perception of the civilian populace, eradicating visceral terror.
When they eventually manifested their true colossal forms on foreign battlefields, the village would view them not as apocalyptic disasters, but as magnificent, terrifying guardians.
That was the power of first impressions.
Transitioning from primordial monsters into formidable, state-sanctioned mascots.
"Lady Katsuyu maintains a strategic partnership with Konohagakure... Should the operational window present itself, you may schedule a reunion in the village. Her contract-holder is my granddaughter, Tsunade..." Mito smiled serenely.
Saiken was dazed. Does Konoha hold equity in every sovereign power on the continent?!
At that moment, an existential query took root within Saiken's core:
What possible operational calculation led the Third Mizukage to believe launching an unprovoked war against this superpower was a viable strategy?!
A miniature fox, a small slug, and a compact turtle.
Kurama strode down the center of the avenue with his chest puffed out, Isobu and Saiken trailing a respectful half-pace behind his flanks.
Execution confirmed!
Kurama cheered internally, already drafting the cadence he would adopt when addressing the village on behalf of the Hokage.
Broadcasting strictly to the domestic civilian base is insufficient...
I must ensure the frontline corps hear the voice of Commissioner Kurama!
Kurama made his executive resolve. With the Cardio-Pulse network operational, real-time communications linked the command hub directly to the forward outposts.
If the network lacked chakra bandwidth, he held an inexhaustible reserve!
Every operative under the Leaf's banner would understand that he was an authorized, constitutional High Commissioner!
Whether they wielded the Uchiha's Mangekyou, the Senju's physical yield, or the Uzumaki's sealing chains, they would extend him proper institutional reverence, standing as aligned comrades beneath the banner of the Will of Fire!
The compact fox cast a discreet glance over his shoulder.
His two brothers were trailing him obediently, observing Konoha's municipal infrastructure with wide, awestruck eyes.
This environment diverged radically from the paranoia of the Mist.
Passing shinobi offered warm, respectful bows to Kurama, with several civilians offering fresh snacks. Just as Kurama had claimed, his public approval metrics were soaring.
Kurama tossed a dango into his mouth, his slitted eyes flashing with calculated ambition.
As an aspiring High Commissioner, an executive could not operate without a dedicated corporate faction.
Shio Uzumaki carried his chakra signature, and Minato's household was bound to his portfolio through deep operational ties.
Kurama had formally agreed to supply Naruto with baseline chakra to facilitate the early cultivation of the Myriad Seals Body Integration Mark.
Add Isobu and Saiken, their future Jinchuriki hosts, and the subsequent disciples of those hosts...
Kurama's personal factional org chart was locked in.
Beyond the "R&D Faction," the "Anbu Faction," the "Noble Clan Bloc," the "Civilian Faction," the "Medical Division," and the "Diplomatic Corps"...
Konoha's high council had officially welcomed an entirely new political bloc: the "Tailed Beast Faction"!
Let me introduce my two brothers to Ichiraku first...
Kurama recalled the friendly merchant who had debated statecraft with him earlier, his tails flicking with mischief.
Dropping two Tailed Beasts onto the counter was guaranteed to give the old man a tactical heart attack!
I look forward to auditing his shock; after all, he is merely a provincial merchant from the border...
Bickering with this grand lord simply because I maintained an accessible public persona... I will let Isobu and Saiken terrorize him slightly, educating the man on the true scope of my contributions to the state!
Kurama strode through the entrance of Ichiraku Ramen.
Yet upon entering, Kurama was frozen by an impossible operational anomaly.
While the avatar of the Sage of Six Paths registered mild surprise at the arrival of Isobu and Saiken, his biological vitals exhibited zero trace of fear.
On the contrary, the old man casually hoisted the slug and the turtle onto the prep counter, tossing them lightly in his palms like mounds of bread dough, chuckling warmly as he played with them.
Wait...
This man is an absolute anomaly!
I instructed Isobu and Saiken to display a fraction of their primordial chakra to intimidate him, yet his bare hands exhibit zero cellular necrosis! He is supposed to be a civilian merchant!
Kurama rubbed his eyes furiously, convinced his visual sensors were malfunctioning.
Did Ichiraku just casually knead away a concentrated burst of Tailed Beast chakra as if dusting flour from a counter?!
How did that make any sense?!
"Haha, do not be deceived by my current appearance; in my youth, I also harbored ambitions of walking the shinobi path..."
The Sage of Six Paths observed his fox's stunned expression, feeling a twinge of mischievous amusement as he gave a firm thumbs-up:
"Do not judge this old man by his apron... In my youth, I was exceptionally formidable!"
Isobu and Saiken were paralyzed with horror.
Just how deep is Konoha's roster of apex monsters?!
Even a secondary co-owner of a ramen stall can effortlessly decompile raw Tailed Beast chakra with his bare hands?!
What kind of terrifying, unhinged village is this?!
A subtle, spectral violet flash rippled through the Sage's eyes.
A localized sensory fog washed over the three beasts, causing their analytical focus to drift, the memory of the chakra anomaly smoothly suppressed into background static.
The three compact beasts lined up along the counter in perfect synchronization: "One beef, one chicken, and one tonkotsu ramen!"
The Sage of Six Paths smiled warmly:
"Coming right up! Allow me to demonstrate the craftsmanship of Konoha's 'Ramen Sage'..."
He threw himself into the preparation.
The daily routine of an ancient deity: prepping ingredients and kneading dough alongside Teuchi at dawn, entertaining the young children of Indra in the afternoon, surrounded by his Tailed Beast offspring at dusk, and auditing Hiruzen Sarutobi's executive briefings at night...
Hagoromo's retired life was delightfully simple, grounded, and tranquil.
Observing that Hiruzen had refused to pillage Kirigakure, dedicating his resources instead to restoring civic order across the Land of Water, the Sage had smiled from the depths of his soul.
The man operated entirely decoupled from the predatory warlords of the modern era; his governance truly embodied the noble virtue of ancient philosophers.
Consequently, the Sage had drafted an executive decision:
Once this theater war concluded, he would audit Hiruzen Sarutobi's cultivation framework, providing slightly more technical guidance than originally budgeted...
A localized technical tip would hardly disrupt the continental balance of power.
And it offered immense psychological satisfaction to an ancient founder.
An executive who genuinely manifested the foundational spirit of Ninshu was entitled to a few proprietary dividends, was he not?
One month later.
The Kumogakure Front Lines.
"Daytime Peacock!"
Operating under the Sixth Gate of View, Might Dai leaped into the upper atmosphere. His fists cleaved the air with violent velocity, the sheer friction igniting localized firestorms that rained down as kinetic shockwaves, annihilating an entrenched squad of Kumogakure ambushers!
"Fall back!"
A Kumogakure Jonin commander's pupils shrank in terror:
"Dodai's tactical intelligence is fundamentally compromised! This asset cannot possibly be deploying the Eight Gates Released Formation; he was maintaining this exact combat configuration three days ago!"
"For the glory of Youth and the Will of Fire, your advance terminates here!"
Enveloped in a roaring, emerald chakra shroud, his muscular framework coiled with terrifying density, Might Dai closed the distance in a fraction of a microsecond, his voice booming like thunder:
"Leaf Strong Whirlwind!"
Before the Cloud Jonin could finalize a hand seal, an apocalyptic low kick shattered his guard, the kinetic force fracturing his tibia into splinters as he was launched through the canopy.
Across this defensive sector, the Kumogakure strike teams had never calculated that Konoha had garrisoned a physical anomaly of this caliber.
Reviewing historical bingo books, Kumogakure held zero records of such an operative; border skirmishes spanning decades contained no matching combat profile.
Dodai had successfully identified the Eight Gates technique.
Yet according to classified operational logs, opening the Sixth Gate inflicted catastrophic metabolic backlash, forcing the user into prolonged physical collapse; consecutive deployments were a physiological impossibility.
Consequently, the Cloud Jonin had engineered this penetration strike based on the baseline assumption that Dai's chassis was completely offline.
Yet Dai had met their vanguard operating under the Sixth Gate once more, his vitality radiating at maximum capacity!
He exhibited zero traces of biological fatigue!
"Lightning Release: Thunderstorm!"
Mid-air, the desperate Cloud Jonin channeled his reserves, unleashing his signature high-yield offensive jutsu!
A pillar of concentrated lightning discharged toward Dai at point-blank range. Dai accelerated his velocity, the strike grazing across his left shoulder.
"Such velocity... His displacement metrics nearly rival Lord A..."
The thought flashed through the Jonin's mind as he screamed to his rear: "Break contact! Transmit the intelligence back to headquarters!"
The distant forest canopy swayed violently as the concealed Cloud reserves initiated an emergency tactical retreat.
"Hold your position, Dai."
"Their formation conceals heavy reserve columns. Our mandate is the strategic attrition of their command structure; decapitate their field officers, and their infantry cohesion will disintegrate organically."
Seisui's cold, analytical voice echoed from the Cardio-Pulse transceiver mounted to Dai's chest.
"Understood, Commander Seisui!" Dai bellowed with infectious enthusiasm, catching the plummeting Cloud Jonin and executing a targeted palm strike to rupture the captive's chakra pathways.
To his flank, a retreating Cloud squad collapsed into the mud, shrieking in agony as parasitic Nano-Venom insects consumed their nervous systems.
A Konoha Chunin had fallen in that sector; the debt was settled immediately.
Though Seisui and Dai both operated under the Root division, Seisui served as the Assistant Director managing daily operations, functioning as the de facto commander of Root's active units.
Throughout his deployment, Tobirama's razor-sharp strategic intellect, absolute logistical precision, and natural operational charisma when managing male personnel had thoroughly subjugated the loyalty of Root's eccentric prodigies.
Whenever critical crises erupted, field operatives instinctively routed queries to Seisui's desk rather than pinging Danzo...
He had effectively decoupled his direct disciple from the operational chain of command.
Danzo, however, harbored zero resentment. He viewed the development as the glorious, organic awakening of Lord Tobirama's bloodline leadership.
After the Aburame operatives finalized biological disposal, Dai's squad initiated their scheduled withdrawal.
Throughout the trek, the captured Cloud Jonin stared at Dai's left shoulder with Mounting horror.
The flesh scorched black by high-voltage lightning was regenerating at an observable velocity!
And Dai had deployed zero medical ninjutsu...
No wonder he can sustain consecutive Eight Gates deployments!
His biological hardware is fundamentally compromised!
Arriving at the primary forward base, Seisui was waiting to receive the strike team. He immediately initiated a diagnostic audit: "Dai, report your physical metrics. Avoid forcing the threshold; consecutive deployments of the Eight Gates extract severe systemic wear..."
"Have no fear, Seisui!"
Dai flexed his massive biceps, his teeth gleaming: "My core is practically overflowing with surplus vitality! Whenever my chassis overheats, unsealing the Eight Gates acts as a pressure-release valve!"
The captured Cloud Jonin listened, his jaw dropping in sheer disbelief, forgetting the agony of his shattered limbs.
Is this man even biological?!
Dodai's briefings explicitly stated that the Eight Gates forcibly overdrafted the user's biological lifespan, inflicting catastrophic physiological debt.
Yet this monster deployed the Eight Gates simply to bleed off excess energy!
Seisui nodded in quiet comprehension.
The physiological mechanics were transparent.
The cellular serum engineered from Yamato and Hashirama supplied Dai with inexhaustible biological vitality. Historically, clinical graft failures occurred because an operative's chassis could not regulate the extreme cellular activity, triggering biological collapse.
Yet Dai was an anomaly.
His neutral, affinity-free chakra network paired with his monstrous taijutsu constitution shared a natural baseline compatibility with Hashirama's cells.
Furthermore, the Eight Gates Released Formation actively burned through biological lifespan and cellular mass. Deploying the technique allowed Dai to cleanly discharge the surplus, chaotic vitality generated by the cells, accelerating the symbiotic fusion of both biological frameworks.
He was literally deploying the Eight Gates to burn off excess horsepower.
"Maintain operational discipline regardless. If you flag abnormal biological variance, alert my desk immediately."
Seisui audited the burn wound on Dai's shoulder: "Dai, requisition a medical chakra scroll to sterilize the tissue."
"Unnecessary, Seisui! It will self-repair within the hour..." Dai scratched his head with an earnest grin.
"Compliance is mandatory. Supply-chain quotas are fixed; I currently operate as the Hokage's designated military auditor," Seisui smiled faintly:
"Conserving material assets is a secondary concern. In active wartime operations, any intervention that elevates troop readiness by a single percentile warrants the expenditure!"
"That is the executive directive of Lord Hokage!"
Dai snapped to attention: "Understood!"
Nearby, the bound Cloud Jonin absorbed the interaction, his heart sinking into despair.
Medical chakra scrolls were an asset Kumogakure's intelligence division was monitoring with extreme paranoia.
Throughout this campaign, whenever the Cloud launched an armored breakthrough, Konoha's line-fillers were occasionally pushed to the brink of collapse.
Yet leveraging the instant-deployment capabilities of these medical scrolls, wounded Leaf operatives stabilized their vitals in seconds, displaying terrifying structural resilience, maintaining perimeter integrity until high-tier strike teams arrived.
The introduction of these scrolls had inflicted immense psychological attrition upon the Cloud.
It was the functional equivalent of granting every frontline operative an auxiliary lifebar.
The resulting divergence in combat morale, and the margin of error it afforded Konoha's tactical units, was fundamentally warping the theater balance.
Yet Konoha's operational security is surprisingly lax...
To conduct strategic debriefs directly before an enemy prisoner without knocking me unconscious?
The Cloud Jonin analyzed the situation: Hmph. Typical Konoha soft-heartedness, preaching their Will of Fire...
At that moment, Seisui turned toward Dai:
"Execute scheduled rest cycles, Dai. Minato has already redeployed to cover your sector. Maintain heightened vigilance over the coming days; intelligence suggests enemy command is preparing a coordinated, high-yield assault."
The Cloud Jonin's heart skipped a beat.
They forecasted the operational timeline?!
In three days, Kumogakure's strategic plan mandated that the A-B combo, Yugito Nii, and Dodai would launch a concentrated, multi-pronged breakthrough against the sector they had calculated as the Leaf's weakest link.
Even if a breakthrough failed, their objective was capturing functional medical chakra scrolls for reverse-engineering...
This Uchiha's cerebral capacity is alarming...
Once Dai cleared the tent, Seisui's crimson three-tomoe Sharingan locked onto the Cloud Jonin: "Chakra density and physical durability clear baseline parameters; a viable biological chassis."
"Chassis?"
"Indeed. You shall summon him, and he shall summon you. I trust you two are professionally acquainted?" Seisui murmured smoothly.
Only now did the Jonin notice another bound Cloud comrade lying paralyzed in the shadows.
Seisui's tomoe spun in hypnotic synchronization, severing their motor controls as his hands formed a classical, ancient seal:
"Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation!"
Ash-grey soil erupted, encasing both operatives as the forbidden protocol initialized.
Serving as mutual biological catalysts, the two Cloud operatives were liquidated and rebooted in rapid succession, their souls intercepted and bound before they could cross the threshold of the Pure Land.
Sigh...
This jutsu disrupts the cosmic balance; deploying it casually is suboptimal, Izuna counseled with grave reluctance from within:
Executing them cleanly would have sufficed. Reanimating a handful of low-tier Jonin chassis yields negligible tactical leverage, while forcing you to partition your active chakra bandwidth to maintain their control matrices... It lacks positive ROI.
"You fail to decompile the tactical synergy," Seisui raised an eyebrow, submerging the two reanimated Cloud chassis into summoning coffins:
"Have you never reviewed the operational parameters linking Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags, the Flying Thunder God, and the Edo Tensei?"
"I audited the Paper Release formulas transmitted from Amegakure, optimizing the explosive tag arrays to allow targeted, high-precision structural demolitions."
"Once I compile an entire battalion of reanimated Cloud Jonin, I will deploy them to execute a decapitation raid on the Third Raikage's command camp..." Seisui smirked.
In truth, he had intended to permanently retire the Edo Tensei in this lifecycle, recognizing its ethical liabilities.
Yet an anonymous shadow operative had taken to deploying the jutsu across the continent while brandishing his historical name!
How could the original inventor permit an imposter to monopolize the tech?
Furthermore, his hands had grown slightly rusty from decades of inactivity; capturing a few Cloud Jonin provided the perfect opportunity to recalibrate his muscle memory.
Observing you wield that face while speaking the exact doctrine of Tobirama Senju is a deeply disorienting experience... Izuna muttered, thoroughly exhausted.
Yet he made peace with it.
Seisui was wielding a three-tomoe Sharingan; he was an authentic member of the clan.
Suddenly.
A distinct, unfamiliar acoustic frequency crackled through the Cardio-Pulse transceiver, carrying an unmistakable flare of orange-red chakra.
"Ahem..."
"This is Konoha High Commissioner Kurama!"
"I am currently broadcasting an official executive address on behalf of Lord Hokage to calibrate frontline morale!"
"First: monumental tactical intelligence! Lord Hokage has completely obliterated the Kirigakure front lines! The Water Daimyo has formally appointed the Hokage as Supreme Commander of National Defense, actively authorizing the pacification of the rogue remnants left by the traitor Kitori!"
"Within a brief operational window, the Mist corps will align with the Will of Fire, integrating directly as auxiliary divisions under Konoha's command!"
"Second: further high-yield dividends! The Three-Tails and the Six-Tails have formally surrendered to the Hokage and myself, completing their official incorporation into our hidden village!"
"Both strategic assets are currently undergoing civic compliance education and target-acquisition training for their Tailed Beast Balls! Should any active theater require high-yield tactical fire support, submit your requisitions directly to my desk!"
Kurama's voice echoed through the transceivers of every Jonin commander and High Commissioner along the perimeter. As the broadcast was patched through local loudspeakers, the entire Konoha battlefront erupted into unbridled, deafening euphoria.
Thunderous cheers shook the heavens!
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