IX
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Arc IX Chapter 9
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Tsuyoshi raised an eyebrow, relieved and unsettled at the same time. The mysterious girl was beyond strange. “That's all? You caused this entire ruckus to settle some debt? You beat up my men, you destroyed my door, you crashed my party just for some petty debts?“
Asami smiled and Yuji nodded.
Tsuyoshi blinked. The girl was crazy, insane. “Listen, we could have solved this issue in a more rationale, in a more peaceful manner ...“
“Tsuyoshi, don't understand me wrong. It's true that I arrived to settle some issues, but that's not the only reason I paid you a visit.“ Asami's voice grew ominous, cold, icy. “I desire more, not a matter of debt. I am here for much more, for a vision of a future that might be.“
Yuji offered a blank stare. “What?“ What was she doing? This wasn't part of the plan. This wasn't what they agreed upon.
“Thought so.“ Tsuyoshi narrowed his eyes. The girl ... was interesting. The situation turned more complicated.
Asami opened her arms to greet her newest underling. “It's a simple affair. Nothing serious, really.“
Tsuyoshi listened. He didn't believe her. Her words were sweet like honey, while her intentions weren't.
Asami explained. “I merely desire your cooperation, and when I say you, I mean the syndicates.
Your reputation precedes you, Tsuyoshi. I heard, you are a powerful man in the underworld. You wield considerable influence.
I believe you can act as my representative, and inform the syndicates of my goodwill and my most gracious offer.
The syndicates and I, I hope for a beneficial relationship. We all will profit from close and peaceful relations. After all, neither of us is interested in an open conflict. No need to escalate things, No need for unnecessary bloodshed.
I am sure, an honest entrepreneur like understands, conflict and strife are bad for business. I don't want to see the streets plastered with corpses and covered in blood.“
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Silence. Absolute silence. Only the pouring rain fell in the background.
Everyone stared. A sea of blank stares, of bewilderment, of confusion, greeted her. They didn't believe their ears. Neither
Asami tilted her head and tipped her lips. Did she say anything strange? Not that she remembered.
Tsuyoshi was lost for words. This girl ... He misjudged her; deceived by her youthful appearance and her age. The girl sounded like an actual crime lord herself.
Tsuyoshi pushed his drink aside and sharpened his wits. The girl required his full attention. “I can't follow ...“
Asami grinned. “Oh my, confused, aren't we?“
Tsuyoshi's confidence faltered. Her face, her emotions, her intentions were unreadable, hidden behind a veil of deceit. “Who are you?“
Asami folded her hands and grinned. It was her who held all the cards.
Asami evaded the question. “You are an impatient man, Tsuyoshi. So many questions. So much curiosity. Curiosity doesn't become you. Knowledge is dangerous, knowing too much carries risks.“
Her chakra engulfed the room, a strangulating aura of darkness interwoven with the allure of danger. Her will shall not be defied. Not anymore.
Tsuyoshi gulped. The meaning of her action was clear.
Asami sipped on her juice as her lips were thirsty. The sweet taste of cherry tickled her tongue. Delicious. “My name, my status, are of little concern. The time hasn't come yet to reveal myself, but know that I speak and act on behalf of God himself.
He entrusted me with the village, and it falls to me to enact his divine will.“
Tsuyoshi's eyes widened in realisation. “Pain ...“
Asami nodded.
Tsuyoshi countered with his polite smile on his own. “I guess I don't have much of a choice in this matter, do I?“
You didn't argue with a girl backed by a substantial amount of destructive force. You didn't argue with the will of God.
Asami grinned. Victory was within her grasp, a triumph of gentle words, diplomacy, and friendly coercion over brute force. “I am pleased you understand your position. I predict a fruitful cooperation with this kind of attitude.“
Tsuyoshi offered a wry smile. The girl had him where she wanted. “What does our ... cooperation exactly entail? What do you even want from us?“
“Don't worry, I have much use for your services. I demand your unconditional submission. Henceforth, Amegakure's underworld shall answer to none other than me. You will owe me respect and obedience.“ Asami smiled. Nobody else smiled.
Tsuyoshi nearly suffered a heart attack. “What!?“
Asami giggled. “You see, I am a gentle soul. I detest unnecessary violence.“
Tsuyoshi doubted very much so. The smouldering remnants of his once wall thought otherwise.
Asami elaborated, “I am aware that crime is an ... inevitable fact of life, a plight on society since the dawn of human civilisation, I accept such. The watchful eyes of the law can't be everywhere at once. Where light, there is darkness, but you, my friends, have exceeded any reasonable limits.
The syndicates have grown bold in recent times. You have crossed the line. You have broken the age-old covenant, I give that you give, I do that you do. You take, but give nothing in return.
Your unrestrained greed and avarice threaten the very stability and survival of the village.
That is why I am here, to remind you of your duties and social obligations. Times are changing, and the syndicates will change too. Adapt, or face my judgement. Because your blatant insolence won't be tolerated anymore.“
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Tsuyoshi laughed. “And what do you expect from us?“
“Not much. In fact, I think my terms are quite lenient and forthcoming. Reduce your activities. I want the streets of Amegakure to be safe again, and not full of cutthroats and thugs around every corner. We live in civilised times, the scum of the earth must disappear.
Commerce and industry are suffering because of your constant meddling. Extortion and kidnapping won't get us anywhere.
You cut into Ame's manpower pool. You recruit the young, the desperate, the poor. You even recruit rogue ninja, deserters, traitors, mercenaries, to bolster your ranks. I don't care about their past endeavours, but I want them back. These men are bitterly needed considering the desolate state of Ame's forces.“
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Tsuyoshi sighed. “Your demands are quite ... one-sided, but you leave me with little choice. Times are changing indeed ...
I never thought Pain himself would take an interest in the village. He never bothered before. I never thought Pain would send a little girl, but there you are.
I will relate your message to the syndicates. I can't guarantee, though, that they will listen. They are hard to convince.“
Asami was pleased. “I will see to it, my friend, I will see to it.“
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Cold eyes, frightening look, frightening, frightening ...
I make you an offer you can't decline.
Slightly off topic, but I've been thinking about late-game power-scaling in Naruto and I gotta ask; Is Asami gonna go for major buffs like the rinnegan for example, or are you planning on just keeping her with a mangekyo (assuming you get that far)? Although she is strong enough to compete with major characters now, by the time the war arc starts going, some of the Edo-Tensei and main characters get really powerful, maybe even for Asami.
I am going both routes, her getting more powerful - who says she doesn't train in the background. - and the debuff route. The war arc was laughable when it comes to plot consistency and established in universe rules.
I will reduce the overall power level to a more reasonable level, which includes primarily chakra levels. Chakra reserves will count again, and throwing gigantic jutsus around will have consequences.
Also Edo Tensei will lose its infinite chakra perk. Infinite chakra made no sense to begin with. Energy can't come from nowhere, otherwise we would have a perpetuum mobile. That is beyond absurd.
The chakra level of the summoned will now depend on their level when they were alive and the quality of the living sacrifice.
I will also remove, or reduce, the self-repairing ability of Edo Tensei. They actually need to be careful now as they can be killed normally.
These are major AU changes, but I think they will improve the story.
I like where this is going. As Pain/nagato is going to do better with the village now I wonder how it will affect the canon as nagato is very important to the story without him Madara couldn't resurrect. So if he takes this path more seriously and Asami well stays loyal/kinda loyal to pain this can really change the whole story. Also Author-San Mangekyo sharingans do all have unique abilitys be it 2 in different eyes or the same but different variation like the kamui. Just saying it wont be OP as she still will need to try not to be blind.
Pain/Nagato won't do much as Asami is mostly "borrowing" his name and authority for now as she possesses no power base yet within the village. For the time being, she thus depends on Pain for her little act.
You can probably guess in which direction she is going and what her intention is later on. Especially, when the people around her realise what game she is playing.
"Also Author-San Mangekyo sharingans do all have unique abilitys be it 2 in different eyes or the same but different variation like the kamui. Just saying it wont be OP as she still will need to try not to be blind."
Blindness is no issue, but I could indeed introduce a second ability if you wish so.
@Assurbanipal_II I think it will be good as before the EMS I liked that you used great power at a great cost. Not saying something op like kamui but something unique and still powerful as it's a sharingan probably genjutsu based as the only attacking one I know is ametarasu (and kamui but that's mostly defensive) there are 2 genjutsu mangekyo abilities that we know of the tsukinomi and kotoamatsukami both of which are I think the 3rd and 2nd strongest genjutsu in naruto (behind infinite Tsukinomi ofc). Rambling on a bit but as she has her susanoo (skeletal right now I think) she doesn't need more fire power so I will say a genjutsu will be the best. You can decide if you want to give her armour susanoo a ability like how sasuke can shoot stuff with his blaze release, madara has.. something I think and itachi having a broken AF susanoo. But idc about that as much. Im just glad its impossible for her to get an EMS so she wont be too overpowered. Also not great at grammar as you probably can guess.
@GenZ Her susanoo is actually armoured, but you might have missed that.
Anyway, personally, I am not sure every sharingan gets a unique ability because we have scare evidence outside the main cast. In universe evidence suggests even the contrary.
What was the unique ability of Madara? What was the unique ability of his brother Izuna? We do not know.
In fact, I suspect there are no "unique abilities" and most of them are in reality standard techniques accessible to every sharingan user.
For example, Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi are both considered unique abilities of Itachi, but they aren't. The 3rd Naruto data book lists them explicitly as requirements for susanoo. You can only use susanoo if you have mastered the light of the material real, Amaterasu, and the darkness of the spiritual realm, Tsukiyomi, p.274.
This has far-reaching implications. Every susanoo user must automatically possess amaterasu and Tsukiyomi. Shisui, Madara, they all had it.
The only outliers are Obito and to a certain degreee Shisui, their abilities are "unqiue", but they are the exception, not the rule.
In case of Shisui, you can argue his technique is a derivative of sharingan and its inherent capabilities for powerful genjutsus. Only kamui is extraordinary, in my opinion.
@Assurbanipal_II or we can go with the simple opinion and say the author never thought the story though that much when first creating it (like with Madara being too OP they couldn't reasonably kill him they had to nerf him so he doesn't really use Nagato's abilities which are very op btw.) That's the reason why if you analyse the story its full of plot holes and and ofc major plot armour. The one I still dont understand is why can obito or kakashi use their MS from overusing the hell of it. They basically have a EMS otherwise obito will be too weak if he cant abuse the heck out of kamui.
@GenZ Correct, the story is full of plot holes and try to remove most of them to the best of my abilities by creating my own canon.
So I hope I make sense. I try to go a realistic route that isn't focused on exploits caused by the stupidity of the plot.
@GenZ I agree Kakashi's use of the MS made no sense, but there was an explanation for Obito's use (if I remember correctly). I think the hashirama cells' regenerative effects were used to explain Obito's lack of major backlash when using the MS. Of course, this is just another example of the hashirama cells being used as a band-aid for plot.
@LABmaiL
@LABmaiL ah yes hashirama cells the ultimate BS it shouldn't even effect dojutsu. Also if itachi had hashirama cells would it cure his illness and also give him a pseudo EMS
@GenZ If the plot demands it, why not?
@LABmaiL ... Inconsistency!
@Assurbanipal_II it's why I like fanfiction like these as most people understand what's wrong with the naruto plot. I'm sure the author did to but it was too late to change the story then again like when he introduced Madara. (Unrelated note who is your favourite naruto character Hidan will always be my favourite as he is still underrated with probably the most unique move set. Nagato will be my 2nd)
@GenZ Personally, I like Konan despite her little show time.
@Assurbanipal_II I understand she is quite good as well many great characters like sasori dont get enough screen time.
@GenZ *nod* *nod*