Chapter 453: Iwa's future

With a sigh, Rei carefully relocated Temari's head out of his lap before he stood up and walked toward the frantic Kurotsuchi who was holding Onoki's unmoving body.

He kneeled beside them and put his hand on Onoki's chest...

Onoki's eyes suddenly opened wide, his heart getting shocked to work again as electricity coursed through his body, wildly shaking him and making him spasm in Kurotsuchi's lap in an abrupt excruciating pain.

At that moment, he wished he stayed dead.

Rei used quite a brutal voltage but... eh, the old man was a Kage. He could take it.

Ten seconds of uncontrollable shaking later, Rei happily withdrew his hand from Onoki's chest with a satisfied smile, causing the old man to quickly gasp for breath.

Rei glanced at Kurotsuchi, receiving a thankful subdued nod from her before she worriedly looked back at Onoki who was finally slowly regaining his wits after being shocked back to the land of the living.

Seeing his granddaughter, Onoki smiled at her, "Ah, Kurotsuchi. I just had the most ridiculous dream where Iwa was taken over and you..." He suddenly stopped, owlishly blinking at the grimacing girl as a realization hit him. "It wasn't a dream, was it?"

Kurotsuchi apologetically smiled and mutely nodded...

Onoki's eyes once again rolled back and his body went limp in her lap.

Rei's smile froze and the corners of his lips started to twitch as he heard the soft giggling of Temari, Pakura, and Konan behind his back. They were apparently having great fun at his expense.

"Alright. We can do this all day, old man. I have time." Rei muttered under his nose as his eyebrows twitched and his lips morphed into a vindictive smile. Raising his hand, lightning chakra crackled in between his fingers...

Needless to say, Onoki got another ten-second body shake free of cost and once again woke up with a painful gasp and wide eyes.

"Will I have to wake you up again?" Rei asked with a twitching left eye, staring Onoki directly into his eyes.

Onoki understood the underlying threat in his words and with a tearful expression he slightly shook his head, "No, no more."

"Good." Rei nodded with a huff and turned around, walking back towards the three chuckling women.

...

It took ages for Kurotsuchi to explain to Onoki what happened in Iwagakure during his absence, and once he understood the gist of it, he stubbornly glared at Pakura through the rest of the explanation.

Thankfully, despite Pakura's smug grin, the former Tsuchikage could control his impulses enough to not start a fight he had no way of finishing.

Rei could see a smidge of grudging respect directed at Pakura in his gaze, though.

To be honest, Pakura was now the very first Kage who managed to conquer another major hidden village. An achievement that will write her name into the history for a very, very long time no doubt.

Only when the conversation reached the point where Kurotsuchi swore herself to Rei as his personal kunoichi did Onoki's glare swap targets, becoming even more heated as he willed Rei's death with his eyes.

Rei decided that giving the man an eye smile was a good way to lower the tension.

Alas, despite it always working for one unnamed masked ninja, Rei was no Kakashi and his eye smile worked exactly as Kakashi intended when he first invented the thing. It just pissed Onoki even more.

Only the recent memory of being brought to life by being shocked half-to-death stopped Onoki from trying to strangle Rei. Yozora or not, Onoki didn't know him. Unlike Pakura, Rei did not have an iron-clad reputation in the Elemental Nations. Somebody as strong as Onoki did not see a reason to fear an unknown like him.

It was exactly due to this kind of misguided courage that Onoki tried to argue Kurotsuchi's new life situation.

"You already took Iwa from me. Why do you need Kurotsuchi also?" Onoki gritted his teeth and clenched his fists to control his increasing temper.

Rei could have answered this in numerous ways, many of which would be ridiculing and would have served only to fan the flames between them but that would have been counterproductive.

He didn't take Kurotsuchi in because he liked her or something as asinine as wanting her to join his 'harem'. He had enough to do with his time with his current count of women vying for his attention. There was no need to add another to the equation.

He had different plans for Kurotsuchi.

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Rei also knew Onoki was stubborn to a fault and he would never accept a half-hearted misdirecting explanation. Not when his granddaughter was involved. Despite his current weak position and battered body, the man still had balls of steel, considering the fighting spirit Rei saw in his eyes.

Killing Onoki would have screwed things up with Kurotsuchi so...

Rei sighed, "I will be honest with you. I want to make Iwa a satellite of Suna and after some training, Kurotsuchi will be put in charge of it."

Hearing that Kurotsuchi's head snapped toward Rei with disbelief written on her face. The second Iwa fell, she thought her dream of leading her village was a moot point. But her master now wanted her to do just that!?

In her teenage naivety, this only increased her subconscious loyalty toward Rei.

The idea sounded ridiculous. Anybody with positive intelligence would instantly say it was stupid because Kurotsuchi will definitely eventually try to rebel.

But Rei had secret weapons. Strict Pakura and no-nonsense Konan.

These two would teach the girl the ropes and Rei had no doubt self-interest would eventually win Kurotsuchi over to his side. And if not? The plan could always be adjusted accordingly.

"Once she is deemed loyal enough, you mean?" Onoki raised his eyebrow and sneered, but there was a barely visible relief in his eyes, and his body slightly relaxed.

Fortunately, Kurotsuchi was not in his field of vision right now or he would probably have another heart attack if he saw her giddy expression due to the news.

"Of course." Rei nodded, "There will also be various fail saves implemented to make sure she won't try to do something shady. You were a Kage. You must have an idea of how these things go." He tiredly sighed. To be honest, this topic was very uncomfortable for Rei.

But... it had to be said.

"We can't leave Iwa as it is now. The village is full of trained killers raised with the idea of the will of rock or whatever bullshit you spout in your corner of the world." Rei dryly remarked, causing Kurotsuchi to frown at his words but Onoki's lips just twitched upwards.

He was a Tsuchikage. He knew it was just propaganda. And yet, it wasn't. It was something that gave the loyal ninjas to push beyond their limits. It was their belief and source of strength.

"If Suna tried to occupy Iwa as it is, they would have lost control of it in five years tops." Rei continued. "The only way is to screen every ninja and slaughter those too loyal for their own good."

Onoki's expression turned grim. He was aware of these problems and he hoped the people in front of him forgot about them.

Even though he came to invade Konoha, he never thought of occupying it or taking it over. Controlling a village full of trained ninjas loyal to it was an exercise in futility.

Onoki was about to open his mouth to try persuading Rei from massacring Iwa's loyal ninjas when Rei spoke again, clearly waiting for this moment, "Or we could simply put in leadership somebody Iwa troops will trust and slowly make them used to the idea of being subordinated to Suna. Propaganda and belief conversion take time, ya know?" He playfully stated and enjoyed the sour expression of Onoki.

Frankly, Rei couldn't fault the old midget. He was talking about destroying the lifetime of his effort but... what could Onoki do? He could only frown and silently seethe while it was going on.

Once the innovations and reforms hit Iwa, most of the people will voluntarily stay under Suna if only because their living standards will drastically improve and their salaries increase.

"You want to destroy my legacy by using my family member." Onoki mumbled.

Rei didn't reply to Onoki's sentence. He could keep trying to persuade him that it was better for the world if the ninja villages united like this but for someone like Onoki, someone who spent his lifetime trying to make Iwa great and other villages weak, it wouldn't have mattered.

Just the idea was a direct offense against everything Onoki had ever fought for.

Kurotsuchi could only helplessly stare between the nonchalant Rei and the sullen Onoki, not knowing what to do to improve the mood, completely lost.

Onoki might have seemed resigned but he was a ninja. Rei knew the midget was already plotting how to use his plan to his advantage to take his village back from its 'oppressors'.

Unfortunately for him, Rei wouldn't let that happen. He finally got Iwa into his grasp... no way was he letting it go. The first chance he got, he intended to put a lot of surveillance seals around it, and give access to them to the loyal Suna ninjas overseeing the village.

No coup was gonna happen. Not on his watch.

After all, nobody said Onoki would be just let free to attempt one after this…

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