Chapter 89.2- One Thousand Hands

“Now, moving on, is that all? Just a quiet acquiescence?” I asked.

“As the winning party, we can either elect to have them send one of theirs here to sign a treaty, or we can go to their village to do it there. Do you have a preference?” Shika asked. Considering when Kumo came into the village in canon, they had tried to kidnap the Hyuga hieress,it was probably a good idea not to have them anywhere close to here. But then on the other hand, having them make the journey would make them the supplicants— which they were.

If I made the journey over there, then it seemed like I was overly desperate for the deal. But then again, that would mean they would have me in their village. With how the hiraishin worked, the second I was inside their village, Kumo was basically never going to be a threat again. Now when I could just teleport to the middle of their village on a whim once I managed to place enough seals around. Of course, it was customary to send a Jounin or whatever, but there were no rules against sending Kage, and thanks to hiraishin, I could be there and back in a day or two.

The decision was made then.

“I’ll have us make the journey” I said. Uraume lifted an eyebrow, while Shika just nodded, not even questioning it. I guess I did enough strange things that she could just ignore this one as a quirk of me being me.

“Alright then. Now to the matter of…”

—

“So what do you want me to find out?” Inoken asked. We stood before the unconscious prisoner, deep in the bowels of T&I, and I was finally getting the free time necessary to look into the ex-Tsuchikage’s mind and whatnot.

“I’m mostly just interested in finding out how the Tsuchikage’s lightweight boulder jutsu worked.” I said.

“That is awfully specific”

“Should that not mean you have an easier time?” I asked.

“The mind walk is far from perfect. Even after breaking down most of her defenses, she still has an impressive level of natural resistance.” He said.

“But you can manage it?”

“But I can probably manage it.” He agreed, stepping forward and running through a long set of hand seals before placing his hands on either side of her head and then placing his own forehead against hers.

I turned to the side, seeing the crowd of fresh-faced Yamanaka kids watching us. Apparently this was a right of passage in the clan. Because it was definitely a good idea to indoctrinate children by showing them how their powers could be used to breach the privacy of others. And somehow, no one in the clan felt like having them in the bowels of T&I was a tad bit too much. Beyond enemy shinobi, there were dangers here I wouldn’t want any child of mine seeing. But these weren’t mine. And beyond being their Kage, I had little do do with any of them. They weren’t my business. And if this was the same program that had birthed Inoken, then who was I to question it.

I tried to avoid tapping my foot against the ground or showing any sign of impatience as the minutes ticked on and on. And then the children who had been whispering to themselves while watching the mind walk seemed to turn to me as one. One of the lot, just as blonde and blue-eyed as the rest and near impossible to tell apart from any of the children next to him walked forward.