63 Chapter 63- Simple Conquest

Juzo Biwa POV

His mouth agape in shock, he stared up at the sky as the gargantuan, mountain-sized rock plummeted toward the earth.

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He thought of the many Jutsus he could use to destroy it but quickly realized that none of them would be powerful enough. Heck, none would even slow it down for a single second.

That didn't deter him, of course. His fingers danced through hand seals, completing forty-four in a mere second. A giant water dragon surged from the sea to meet the asteroid.

His men followed suit, launching their own attacks. Most were weak, like them, but Kisame once again distinguished himself as his right-hand man by conjuring a giant water shark matching his own water dragon Jutsu.

The attacks splashed against the asteroid, and his heart sank as they only managed to leave a tiny pockmark on the colossal behemoth of death.

'No,' he thought in despair as the asteroid finally crashed into the sea, generating a tsunami large enough to engulf the entire Land of Water.

He could attempt to use the Water Stilling Jutsu to halt the tsunami, but he already knew it would be futile. Even with the aid of all the shinobi under him, they wouldn't be able to stop the wave rushing toward them.

So he gritted his teeth and stared at the figure floating up high in the sky, looking down on every single one of his life's achievements as if it were insignificant.

"Stop that!" he shouted, but the figure, bearing the same eyes as his former Akatsuki leader, merely glanced at him with an expression filled with apathy.

The figure simply shrugged and returned to observing the tsunami hurtling towards them.

"Stop it, please," he uttered through gritted teeth, yet the figure remained unchanged. Heartless bastard.

"Are you really going to let us die like this? What would your Hokage say? Didn't he send you here to ensure our surrender?" he asked, a hint of pleading entering his tone as the tsunami drew nearer, its towering height almost reaching a hundred meters.

"You need to break a few eggs when making an omelet," the figure replied. A seething hatred welled up in his heart toward this guy, along with an equally deep fear.

But the Land of Water was no mere egg, and it wouldn't crack today, not if he had any say in it.

"Very well. We surrender to Konoha," he declared, immediately met with fierce opposition from his subordinates. He silenced them all with a glare.

It was not like he had a choice here. It's either that, or death.

"Do you really?" the figure asked. "Your subordinates don't sound too pleased with your decision. It would be meaningless for me to accept your surrender if they replace you the moment I leave."

The bastard was merely toying with them at this point, while the tsunami loomed ever closer.

He raised his sword, and swiftly decapitated the most vocal of his subordinates.

"Is that enough?" he asked the figure hovering above them. He would have made one last desperate attempt to attack the bastard if he didn't already know how futile it would be.

"Hmm… I suppose it'll suffice for now," Ren Uchiha replied, and with a snap of his fingers, the tsunami settled down. Not just the tsunami, but the entire ocean became still, resembling a perfect mirror of the sky stretching to the horizon.

He tightened his grip on his sword as fear threatened to overwhelm him. It felt like he was reliving that fateful day once again, when the seven of them confronted that Green Bastard from Konoha. Only three had survived the slaughter.

And now, another Konoha bastard stood before him. He feared this one was even stronger than the one they had faced before.

The amount of chakra and chakra control required to summon an asteroid of that magnitude, or to calm the entire sea from horizon to horizon with a snap of his fingers... he didn't even dare to contemplate.

Then the figure stood before him, and he instinctively took a few steps back in fear before realising what he was doing and decided to stand his ground.

The bastard gazed down at him and his group of subordinates with apathetic eyes, as if all their lives meant nothing to him. As if they were nothing but ants, to be spared or squashed at his whim.

"You have a month," Ren said, his gaze pinning him with a terror-inducing intensity. "You and your subordinates will come to Konoha and pledge your allegiance to the Hokage. Fail, and I'll return."

The words resonated like a deafening gong in his mind, and then the figure vanished, as if he had never been there in the first place. He fought against the urge to collapse in relief.

He couldn't afford to do that, not with his subordinates still watching.

"So…" Kisame inquired, stepping forward with his Explosive Blade casually resting on his shoulder. "Are we truly surrendering to Konoha, or shall we retreat into hiding and wage war against them?"

He chuckled at Kisame's words. Finding the idea utterly hilarious. "If you're so keen to see me die, then just use that sword and take my head off, you ugly shark goblin!"

Kisame's eye twitched at the insult, and he glared back. "So, we're simply surrendering? After all the time and effort we put into uniting the Land of Water under our banner?"

"What other choice do we have? If you've a better idea then I'm all ears." He said and Kisame glared back at him for a long moment before he tch'ed and left.

Yeah, that's what he thought.

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Minato POV

The Daimyo slouched on his throne, a deep wound on his abdomen staining the pristine furniture with blood. The rest of the castle mirrored the chaos, littered with the bodies of those who had opposed him and his forces. Their resistance had been futile, but he respected their bravery nonetheless.

Standing one's ground in the face of imminent death was no easy feat, yet these people had done just that.

He vowed to ensure they received proper burials and that their families were cared for. It was the least he could do.

However, the Daimyo who had sent them to their futile deaths would not receive the same consideration from him. This decision was not solely driven by moral concerns but also by political necessity.

Allowing the Daimyo's family to live would risk them becoming symbols of resistance against his rule. It was wiser to extinguish any potential future opposition while he still held the upper hand.

He strode through the grand hall, a part of him noting Ren seated to the side, casually munching on an apple. Ignoring his friend, he approached the dying Daimyo.

"Greetings, Daimyo-sama. I am glad to see you in such fine health today," he remarked, delivering the customary greetings but without the bow.

Truly, the Fire Daimyo had brought it all upon himself. All he had to do was maintain friendship with Konoha, and he would have ascended to unprecedented heights, just like all their other allies.

But, he supposed it all worked out well in the end. Without the Daimyo's folly, he would never have had the opportunity to take the necessary steps to unite the entire world and bring about lasting peace.

"Minato…" The Daimyo gasped. "I rue the day… I accepted Hiruzen's offer… to make you… the Fourth Hokage, you treacherous scum!"

He hummed, having already lost interest in the conversation. At the end of the day, the man was but a stepping stone for him. Nothing more.

"Any last words?" he asked, flicking some of the blood off his kunai.

"My family… what will become of them?" the Daimyo managed to inquire before succumbing to a fit of wet coughing, some of his entrails spilling out of his expensive silk robe.

"Your eldest sons will die. Your younger sons will undergo memory erasure before being sent to Konoha to start anew as academy students," he declared his verdict. "Your wives will be buried with you. And your daughters will be sent to a monastery to live out their days as nuns."

The Daimyo emitted another wet cough, a trickle of blood now staining his lips. "I… thank you… for your mercy."

He didn't reply and simply sent a kunai that buried itself in his head.

And so, the final Fire Daimyo of the Land of Fire met his end, making way for the Golden Emperor, Minato Namikaze, ruler of the unified Elemental Nations, and soon, the entire world.

"Well… that was boring," Ren commented from the side, appearing utterly disinterested.

He suppressed a twitch of his lips. This boy. Couldn't he be serious for once? This was an important moment, after all.

"It's not over yet. I still need to display the Daimyo's head to the public, deliver a speech about assuming leadership, and attend numerous meetings where the nobles of the Land of Fire will pledge their allegiance to me."

The next couple of days were going to be very hectic.

"No shinobi village has ever conquered a Major Kingdom in recorded history, let alone all five of them. And he was determined to get it right, lest he mess it all up in the long term.

"Well… I wish you luck with that. But I'll be taking my-"

"You won't be leaving," Mito interjected as she entered the room.

He tried not to stare at the woman who was the wife of the First Hokage. He still had no idea how she survived Kyuubi's extraction, or achieved immortality afterward. But he could freely admit that he was wary of the woman, even if she had an excellent relationship with both Kushina and Naruko.

"And why is that?" Ren inquired, his annoyance evident.

"Because you need to learn how to rule sooner or later," Mito stated as she approached the boy and settled onto his lap. "Besides, our Hokage-sama has an offer for you."

Ren ignored the woman on his lap and turned to him. "Is this another one of your usual silliness, Minato?"

"If you call being offered the largest city in the world a silliness, then perhaps."

Ren's eyebrow shot up in surprise. "You're offering me the fire capital?"

"Yes. I need someone loyal and capable to govern it. Besides, I want to reward you for your invaluable assistance in these campaigns. What better reward than the largest city in the Elemental Nations, along with the surrounding land it commands?"

"You're giving me the Tamikuri Prefecture as well? The fuck am I supposed to do with it?"

"Rule over it," he replied, hoping Ren would grasp the opportunity to develop the skills needed to govern a world-spanning empire one day.

Ren stared at him briefly before shifting his gaze to Mito and rolling his eyes. "Yeah, no. Fuck that. Keep all that headache to yourself."

With those words, Ren disappeared, leaving Mito suspended in the air where she had been sitting on his lap. Huh… how did he accomplish to use Hiraishin and not take the person he was touching?

Mito quickly adjusted her position and released an exasperated sigh before turning to him. "Don't worry, the others and I will persuade him to accept this offer."

"I would greatly appreciate that," he replied, watching as Mito also vanished with Hiraishin, leaving him alone in the hall that would signify the beginning of Konoha's conquest.

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Minato Namikaze POV

A month later.

He sat at his office table in Konoha and gazed at the map spread out before him.

He still found it hard to believe just how effortlessly Konoha had seized control of almost the entire Elemental Nations.

He hadn't anticipated encountering much resistance, given the considerable firepower now at Konoha's disposal. But even so, the Daimyos of the smaller nations were practically flocking to Konoha, eagerly submitting to its authority.

What a strange world he now lived in.

"What are you thinking now?" Shikaku asked from the side, his face constantly scowling these days from the heavy workload.

"I'm thinking about just how easy it all seems. The Conquest started just a month ago and we've already taken over about Ninety percent of the Elemental Nations. It almost feels like a dream."

Aside from the Land of Iron, who had given a middle finger to Jiraiya-Sensei, his envoy to them. And a few minor Kingdoms who didn't even warrant the presence of an S-class shinobi to threaten them, almost the entire continent now fell under his rule.

"That's because we've only tackled the easy part thus far. The real challenge lies ahead."

"Actually ruling these lands, huh," he remarked, feeling somewhat daunted by the prospect. No one had ever accomplished this before, and he wasn't sure if he would be up to the task.

"Yes. Most of the Daimyos surrendered to you hoping for peace and prosperity. If you fail to deliver, their dissatisfaction will escalate quickly, and then the real problems will begin."

He nodded in understanding. The destruction of four of the major hidden villages, along with the weakening of their major kingdoms, caused those lands to descend into chaos.

And what effects the major kingdoms definitely affects the minor Kingdoms. So the loss of stability in the major Kingdoms trickled down until the entirety of the Elemental Nations become a chaotic, lawless place.

Now, it was his duty to restore order. And quickly, at that.

Thankfully, he had a large, powerful shinobi army under his direct command, along with a plethora of S-class shinobi he could call upon at any moment.

He tried not to dwell on the fact that more than half of those S-class shinobi were Ren's maids, or the Uchiha shinobi enhanced by him.

It was just another reason on a long list of reasons why he was pushing for Ren to be his successor, despite the boy's great reluctance to the idea of ruling.

"I plan to spend the next half year consolidating my rule over the Elemental Nations, rooting out rogue elements, implementing new laws, and ensuring the well-being of all my people," he said, reclining in his chair. "And then… we'll turn our attention to conquering the Demon Continent."

Shikaku nodded, already looking weary at the prospect of the impending workload. "I just wish that—" Their conversation was abruptly interrupted as Ren suddenly appeared in the office, a severed head dangling from his fingers.

"Please tell me that's not who I think it is," Shikaku said, rubbing his temples with a tired groan.

Ren shrugged as he tossed the head aside. "I threatened the bastard with destroying his entire Kingdom. Gave him a similar demonstration to the one I gave to Juzo Biwa. But the old coot wouldn't budge. 'We are proud and noble Samurai,' he said. 'We would never bow to outsiders.'"

"And you took his head?" Shikaku asked, already dreading the troubles this would cause.

"Nah. It was actually some of his subordinates who gathered together and rebelled against his rule," Ren said, lounging in one of the chairs. "Apparently, just because the Samurai lord had a death wish didn't mean his subordinates wished to die too. Especially when they had families of their own."

"And they presented you with that head?" Shikaku asked, looking somewhat relieved now.

"Yeah." Ren confirmed. "Their delegation from the Land of Iron should arrive here within the next few weeks to pledge their allegiance to you."

"That's… good," he said, aware that the Land of Iron was the last Major Kingdom that resisted his rule. With it now under Konoha's control, almost the entire Elemental Nations were united under him.

Now… the real work begins.

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AN: That's it for this conquest of the Elemental Nations. I considered showing Ren's POV, along with the POV of his wives and other Super Kage-class shinobi, taking over other major and minor Kingdoms. However, that seemed like a foregone conclusion, and I didn't want to prolong the story unnecessarily.

Thankfully, Minato is a smart guy and understands that ruling the entire continent will be more challenging than simply conquering it. He'll utilize his men and resources wisely, so I'm not worried about that. Undoubtedly, he'll face setbacks during his rule, but nothing he can't overcome.

This story only has two more chapters remaining. I'll edit and upload them tomorrow and the day after, and then we can finally start with the Worm world.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter

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Have a nice day.