Chapter 58.1- One Thousand Hands

I started the fight in sage mode. There would be no holding back on my end. Not with the Daimyo himself, surrounded by six of his guardians to prevent any runaway attacks, here in the audience to witness the match. The conversation yesterday had been less than effective, with the both of us essentially just going around and around in circles. I explained the nitty gritty of my plan to the Daimyo, and showed him why it was necessary to sacrifice those villages, and he lamented sacrificing the village’s while just asking me to win the wa like I could do so with the stroke of a men.

Our forces were too few to split up for battle, so if we engaged any front, we would have to fully commit to it. The problem was that committing in any single direction would be a mistake as the other villages would just let us fight to our heart’s content while bypassing us and making a straight line for Konoha itself. I explained all that to him, got him to nod that he understood, and then the next second he was asking me to do something about the village being burned. I’d already done the best I could, I explained over and over again. In short, there was no middle ground to be found and he kept me in the office ill midnight arguing on the same things over and over again until Uraume intervened, suggested a recess, and then invited the Daimyo to watch.

“If you’ll be going all out, then so will I” Uzume said as she noticed my body expand as the power of nature energy ran through it. I grew a solid foot in height, my shoulders broadened, and my muscles expanded, nearly ripping through my armour. In contrast, she was still as stone for a second, and when she opened her eyes, they spun until they adopted a very familiar pattern— the mangekyou. I would have condemned her shortsightedness if I couldn’t see the amount of thought that had come into play here. For one, for all she might have allowed her words make it seem like a spur of the moment thing, she had sent Uraume to me last night with he warning that she would use it.

For another, I could not think of any argument for her not to. Spies? If they sent word that we were stronger and scarier than expected, that would just make their employers either delay their attack which gives me more time to prepare, or to attack faster and thus less carefully, giving me room to act on my plan fully. Danzo was a threat, but he was yet to b become the man he was in the anime and if he was, he was no threat. Not since the last time we’d shaken hands. He might be a passable seal journeyman in his own respect, but that hiriashin seal would never be coming off. I just had to trust him to be sensible enough to see the threat for what it was and cease the manoeuvering.