Gathering Power!

Tobi casually genjutsu-ed a lot of Konoha's shinobi scouting around the border between Land of Fire and Land of Lightning. While at it he genjutsu-ed Kumo's ninja to kill Konoha's messenger asking for explanation about the breach into their lands and the death of their shinobi just to add insult to their injury.

Konoha increased vigilance some more, while Kumo sent more shinobi at the border. These little movements are like little stones in one's shoes. Tobi is just trying to accelerate things since it's a little boring.

Meanwhile… in Iwagakure, a blonde haired person riding a clay bird came down right on Tsuchikage's office. Deidara realizes the battlefield is the BEST canvas to showcase his arts! He willingly comes back after Pain agrees.

"Sensei!". Dedaira shouted outside of Tsuchikage's building.

Onoki thought he heard a ghost. As he looked out his office window, his eyes bulged out. This rascal traitorous disciple of his!?

"Deidara! You dare to come back! And you dare call me sensei!? I will kill you! Particle Style-!".

Beams of light shoot across Iwagure. Although he's a traitorous disciple, Onoki reluctantly forgives his treason since Iwa needs combat force and this person is his own disciple. And he knew Deidara wasn't a bad person, he's just a little crazy with his nonsense art.

"Sensei! I need a large amount of explosive clay! You are the Tsuchikage and have money right…".

"... THIS TRAITOROUS DISCIPLE! Did you come back just for these?! PARTICLE STY-".

***

Danzo almost crumpled the report in his hand. Those Kumongrels (Tsuyu taught Danzo this word) are so shameless! The treaty is still literally there on the surface. But it's a small thing and mere provoking so he doesn't put that much thought on it.

He read the report Tsuyu sent over. Orochimaru is killed. Tsunade cured her of homophobia. The Sound 4 captured alive.

Good. At least she's more useful now. Hmph, I guess I have to give it to you then, Tsunade.

Danzo can let a functional Tsunade to sit on Hokage's throne since he acknowledged her status and contribution. Besides, Danzo already had his plans to overshadow Tsunade. She may save a lot on the battlefield. But for Danzo, Konoha will not just survive. But win. 

Tsuyu gave him this confidence; with her bright mind and his power - over the months Root had already grown deeper into territory of Land of Wind and Land of Rock, controlling a good chunk of the black market economy in those lands, with funds constantly adding up from Kumogakure being the biggest funder buying their own ticket to hell.

Danzo wanted to laugh. It felt almost too unreal. Danzo had been scheming for tens of years. But he never had scheming to such a large international scale. It's all possible because of her.

He felt more and more proud of her indirectly with the good reports coming from his subordinates. Rebellions occur in a few smaller villages in Land of Wind already - from starvation, plague and poisoning that's slowly spreading. With the local lords not sparing their money to help their struggle - or they don't have enough money to begin with because food is priced like gold. 

Bribing and seducing companies and tradesmen to form a monopoly to increase their exporting price at the same time in the name of 'more profit' works to disrupt the food supply of that country. He doesn't even have to move many people since these tradesmen are greedy by nature. The local lords didn't bother to regulate them either - that or there's no law or enforcement on regulation of price for export since it's up to the foreign land to buy and the local lords too received more money from business tax done by these greedy people. Everyone in Land of Fire wins.

As for Land of Rock, while it's estimated 6% of Land of Stone's economy is now circulated into its black market - it might not seem much but this is a scary figure when you consider the whole country. With time and once resources are mobilised completely for war, the livelihood of the normal people in that land will deteriorate significantly, and this will cause chain effects. 

If there's a successor to Root, he already considered Tsuyu. If she's old enough he would plant her as the Hokage instead of himself.

"Tsuyu will like my gift…". 

He stood from his seat, planning to go to the Research Department of the newly established subdivision of Aerial Technology Research. This is a part of Konoha's Research Institute under ANBU that's completely legal and has nothing to hide. Except there's dubious source of funding because Danzo is the one who is funding it mostly with who knows where the money that even the Hokage wouldn't have come from.

Using technology from Sky Shinobi and reverse engineering technology used by Ancor Vantian for its flight and its main cannon, prototypes of devices much like combinations of wings and jetpacks are made. Tens of chakra guns are made too, but chakra conducting metals and the workmanship into these new tools are expensive and time consuming so these weapons are only for the elites. Besides it wasn't exactly that more effective than the traditional method relative to its cost seeing the Sky Shinobi is all dead so Danzo doesn't care much about these chakra-fueled guns shooting projectiles. Though, there's one gun that's different from the rest.

On an altar with many monitoring devices, a semi-automatic rifle with a bayonet attached at the end - mimicking the SKS self loading carbine system. The body had a cold glint from it, concentrated chakra emanating from its body connected to multiple chakra conducting wires. It's undergoing its second performance test.

Danzo made a huge investment on this mysterious metal with the highest chakra conductivity, with the theory that this metal is the basis of the 7 swords of the hidden mist. He sent his elite Root members to loot, trade, and steal from all over the countries to gather enough.

The radiant nethersteel not only amplifies chakra flow but also records residual chakra memory, meaning weapons made from it can adapt and resonate with the user's chakra. With Fuin Engraving based on the main cannon of Ancor Vantian - it's a mini chakra cannon at this point.

He is just waiting for Tsunade to come into her seat to officially form the Aerial Unit Subdivision of the Konoha's Army 5th Division Special Unit. And he already planned to head this subdivision himself and gain prestige and merit, with Tsuyu being the commander of 1st Company. He wanted to select young people that are more open to learning new combat tactics and techniques; since aerial units are different from standard shinobi. A fresh mind and body would be best as they learn faster.

Thus, he already decided to let some of the young Shimura clansmen into them. The company of 12 would have been made up of 3 squads. Tsuyu would lead one, a privilege he wanted to give to her as trust. As for the other 2 squad leaders, Jonin of Root would be selected. He's thinking of Kaito that is able to use Wind Release and Sound Release, and then Ayame as the other. These two are familiar with Tsuyu as ANBU squadmates.

Just as he's about to leave, he remembered something. He headed to Root's research department and stopped by the Special Research Center. He remembered Project Gozu Tenno.

He entered one of the huge laboratories, only to see various monitoring devices and sealings connected to a sapling of a tree grown from Hashirama cell. The sapling had dark chakra emanating from it. Various designs of fuin shiki are planted on the walls, with various documents and research on Hashirama's cells spread on the tables with various notes on them.

In fact, this sapling is a conduit to another dimension. A spatial fluctuation occurred when they tested Hashirama cells in those days, and eventually this led to this discovery. With various instruments and techniques, it is found that negative chakra and hashirama cells input into the space would give birth to a creature. But the creature would die shortly after its creation without continuous stable infusion of chakra - it needs a host. With results from research they manage to call out to this creature from that dimension for a short amount of time and ascertain its abilities.

Thus Project Gozu Tenno goal is about the creation of a seal, creating a host to connect to the secret space and the creature born from it.

"Danzo-sama!", the head researcher, Tanuki Shigaraki sees Danzo entering and quickly bowed.

"How's the project going?".

"Danzo-sama, it's going well. But the seal has a major problem at the moment that I am currently addressing".

"Explain".

"Ah. Yes… the seal needs a large amount of Hashirama cells to be created. It's just the caster of the seal needs to have the ability to withstand those hashirama cells as they have to contain them in part of the creation. I am still having difficulty over this part… and there is also the issue with the host requirement. Normal people won't be able to withstand it so I am still making adjustments over these parts as well".

Danzo thought for a second. Tsuyu is an Uzumaki. And her body is already strong enough to receive the Cursed Mark, and the Cursed Mark itself strengthens her body over all this time. If there's anyone who could take the seal, it's her. As for the caster…

"The requirement of the caster you say…". Danzo thought about Tenzo, he meant Yamato. But unfortunately Yamato is not in his Root anymore 'thanks' to Hiruzen.

Wait… someone who can withstand Hashirama cells… isn't that himself at the moment? Danzo looks at his bandaged hand, where multiple Sharingans suppressing the Hashirama cells lie there. 

But as a cautious person, he naturally doesn't want to risk his life. So he really needed to see how much risk exactly it had.

***

After statistics and experiment data was showcased by Tanuki, Danzo made up his mind. He takes calculated risks, besides he has insurance…

"I will cast the seal myself. I found a suitable host for it, my disciple, you can say".

"Danzo-sama! It's dangerous! You need to infuse a lot of Hashirama cells into your body while casting the seal!".

"I have my own method". He is willing to sacrifice his life for Tsuyu… well, one of his lives.

***

In a few days, Tsuyu returned to Konoha finally. She makes a stop at Root first, sending those Sound 4, parts of Kimimaro's body and parts of Orochimaru's body for extraction, dissection and research. She still needs to send most of Kimimaro's body and Orochimaru's to ANBU for merit sake and that she needs to keep the appearance of loyalty to Konoha not Root.

A Yamanaka extract their memories, gathering secrets like locations of Orochimaru's hideouts that may contain his researches and different jutsu's they know. The first memory they search is related to Cursed Mark naturally. Secrets of the cursed mark are reverse engineering by taking their tissue sample, forcing them into using their cursed mark and such. Coordinates and locations of the specific experimental base for the Cursed Mark are figured out to hasten the research.

Perhaps, Tsuyu would meet Karin, Jugo and Suigetsu soon…

Because they are living people, extraction is done with ease with intact memories. But it would take time to browse through each memory of their whole lifetime.

Tsuyu left those technicalities to them and doesn't give much thought about whatever happened to those people. She does leave a note on prioritising extracting the jutsu used by Jirobo and Tayuya first; an Earth Release that can even absorb chakra from opponents and sound based genjutsu is truly powerful. She wanted to give the latter to Sakura in case she could use the hidden technique.

***

Training Field 5

"Tsuyu… I… Thank you very much! I don't know how to repay the favor…". Sakura thanked Tsuyu after she found out Tsunade is willing to see her in case she's interested in taking a disciple. She felt in disbelief. To have a chance to be taken in as a disciple of Tsunade… this is almost a golden ticket to success. She just needs to do her best to impress Tsunade. She felt nervous honestly, as if she's going on an interview for her dream job in a highly prestigious company.

"That's lucky of you, Sakura". 

Sasuke commented genuinely. Both Naruto and Sakura had a chance to train under the sannin, while himself… he can only train on his own at the moment. He felt a little down somehow. He almost thought that maybe Orochimaru is supposed to be the one who trains him or something.

"Sasuke, Kakashi sensei would wake up sooner. Tsunade-sama should be checking up on him at the moment. You can continue training with him". Tsuyu saw Sasuke's expression and can see what he's thinking.

"Oh. I see". Sauke almost seemingly doesn't care at this point. Kakashi? He got one shot by Itachi with a literal glance… he felt so unconvinced by him.

Naruto on the other hand feels happy. "Yosh! We can continue doing missions then!".

"Right…missions…". Sasuke wants to throw up at those D rank missions. He hopes Kakashi will have some change of brain once he wakes up.

"Nevermind… Dobe, come and fight me, now". Sasuke challenged Naruto. He wanted to see how much Naruto improved.

"Heh. Bring it on! I will win!".

Tsuyu walks to the side to eat melons, and is quite curious over Sasuke's progress over the two weeks she's gone.

"Sasuke-kun! You can win!", Sakura cheered at the side.

Naruto glared at Sasuke, hateful that Sakura always supports him.

"Sakura-chan! Watch me!".

Naruto gets serious. Kagebunshin no Jutsu!

"Tsk. Is there anything different?", Sasuke sneered. With 3 tomoe-sharingan, he easily and swiftly dodge and counter the clones attack, arriving at the real Naruto. They exchanged blow after blow, Naruto lost easily due to Sasuke's fluid attacks.

"Dobe, use that power of yours. Otherwise you are wasting my time". Sasuke looked chill and relaxed. It's just a warmup. He wants to fight the beastly Naruto with those red chakra once more.

"Bastard…!". Naruto groaned as red chakra flowed. His eyes turned red, his hair spikier, his claws grew sharper.

"I will defeat you!". Flash!

Sasuke's Sharingan spun, and each of Naruto's movements was predicted. Seeing him launching an fist, Sasuke dodge preemptively, and already moves his fist to hit where Naruto's face would have been in the next half a second.

Pow!

Naruto is punched on the face, spun midair once before dropping on the ground miserably.

"Damn…it…". Naruto groaned in pain.

"Use more of your power…", Sasuke said with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

Naruto looked at Tsuyu, as if wanting her permission.

"Go. I will stop it if you guys go too far". She trusted Sasuke's judgement on wanting to face 1-tail cloaked Naruto.

Naruto tapped into more 9 tails chakra. It gathers to form a cloak around him with 1 tail behind his back.

"Grrr… Sasuke…!".

The pressure from the chakra blows strong air towards Sasuke, but Sasuke doesn't feel scared.

With a hand seal, he unleashed his new jutsu. Small arcs of lightning jump around Sasuke's body, his nerves stimulated and accelerated, his body tissues and muscles enhanced.

LIghtning Release: Lightning Flow Dance! Stage 1!

"Come…! Naruto!", Sasuke's Sharingan flared.

"Gahh!!". Naruto dashed left and right like a shadow, leaving dust and wind behind. But Sasuke's eyes are locked onto him, his eyeballs moving at the same speed.

I can see him…!

Seeing Naruto extending his chakra cloak from his arm into a long range fist, Sasuke rushed in instead of dodging. 

"Sasuke…!", Sakura screamed seeing Sasuke rushing into Naruto's punch. But instead of being hit, Sasuke jumped right on time, dodged it and ran across the chakra limb in a flash with arcs of lightning accompanying him.

Naruto widened his eyes in shock. He launched an attack with his free fist while retracting the other. But Sasuke already predicted it and dashed to the side and dashed in almost inhuman speed.

Naruto not having Sharingan unable to perceive the attack even if his body technically could move at a high speed - an uppercut landed on Naruto's jaw. Just then, Sasuke flashed and kicked Naruto's back sending him up further - using a combo of kicks towards him midair at fast speed ending with a wheel kick towards his abdomen. A streak of lightning flashed as his leg swung, containing the power of lightning chakra.

Lion Barrage!

Naruto is sent hard onto the ground, creating a crater burying him. Any normal person would probably crack their spine…

"Naruto…!", Sakura for once actually worried for Naruto. But Tsuyu wasn't worried in the slightest.

Sizzle… sizzle… 

"Teme…!". Naruto in 1-tail cloak healed at a fast speed, the damage done almost negated entirely. A second tail is about to form… 

Just then Tsuyu flashed right in front of Naruto, slapping a sealing tag onto his face before he lost control. She can predict he's angry. Naruto hasn't acclimatised to using 2 tails worth of chakra yet. It's not suitable.

"Tsu-chan…!". Naruto felt dissatisfied with her.

"The seal widened enough for two tails worth of chakra. Now's not the time to use it for spar. Learn to control yourself with it first".

"I… Fine!", Naruto had to give in to her.

"In fact, you would win against Sasuke in the long run. He won't have enough chakra to outlast you. He had to kill you if he wanted to defeat you completely".

Tsuyu spat bluntly. Sasuke is in deep thought, and he admits this fact. Naruto's healing, chakra and stamina is unreasonable.

Naruto's eyes seemed to lose their edge, realising that sounds about right.

"Yeah…! I would win! Sasuke teme!". Naruto said smugly.

"Yeah. I might call you a punching bag then". Sasuke mocked.

"Teme…!".

Tsuyu shook his head. These brats are a little too obsessive with one upping another. She turned her gaze to Sakura.

"How is your training with Kurenai?".

"Ah? I am doing well!".

"Hm? Sakura-chan! Show me show me!". Naruto heard the conversation and immediately stopped bickering with Sasuke.

"Naruto, watch out okay…!". Sakura smirked, wanting to show off too.

Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!

"Huh… Wh-Wha!! The tree!", Naruto watched in panic as a tree suddenly sprouted on the ground and blinded him. 

"Sakura-chan! How did you learn Wood Release! Suge!". Naruto looks at Sakura in awe, as if seeing the birth of a new God of Shinobi like Hashirama Senju.

"Idiot…", Sasuke muttered in disdain.

"... It's a genjutsu…".

***