Now that he thought about it, he was reborn into one of the better bodies he could have in that world and in that era. Not only was it the body of one of the strongest shinobi ever, but it was also at its prime. That alone was beneficial, but his previous knowledge of it and the events to come only made his rise easier.
Hanzo of the Salamander. That was a name that had gone mostly ignored for him during his previous life, as normally the focus was in the main characters or those closer to the main cast. However, he had now learned to really appreciate such a figure, as he had been reborn into his body.
By that point, he couldn't even remember how he died or whatever happened to him to end up reincarnating in what he thought was a fictional world back in his own reality. The only memories remaining of his previous life were his name and everything he knew about Naruto, as anything else progressively became irrelevant to him.
He now sat on the throne he earned through unfair, yet unrivalled power and knowledge.
He viewed the gorgeous landscape of his new capital, a city in the middle of his new empire that was built in his honor after winning the Third Shinobi World War, which himself started. The palace he lived in was bigger than even the old castles of the Daimyo, who once were the richest men in the known world.
The giant doors of the throne room opened, as two men wearing black cloaks entered. With spiky orange hair and straight red hair respectively, the two younger men walked the way marked by the red carpet that extended from the door to the throne. The great wooden pillars of the castle were at both sides of the carpet, and were at least thrice the size of the cloaked men.
As they approached the throne, the two men bowed, to show respect. Their eyes remaining closed, and their stance being impeccable. The throne in front of them was made of gold and jade, some of the fanciest materials the continent had to offer. Something worthy of the man who sat on it.
A blonde man, wearing a purple flak jacket, as well as the traditional dark blue jumpsuit underneath. Everything, under a short cape that reached slightly over his waist. He merely stared at the younger men, waiting for them to communicate whatever they needed to.
The silence was enough for the pair to understand the message, and stood straight once again, with a firm stance. The one to speak was the young man of the spiky orange hair.
"My lord, the invasion of Kirigakure has been successful. General Kandachi has asked for your presence at the village, to not only be declared officially as the ruler of those lands, but he also assures there's important details that may be of interest." He explained, not raising his voice more than he needed to, which surprised his partner.
"Good," replied the man as he tied his long hair into a tail. "I shall be there, begin the preparations."
"Immediately, sir." Said the red-haired one, bowing once again.
The man who sat on the throne was not yet used to so much bowing, so he was bothered by it at times. He merely nodded back at them, who then turned around.
He sighed.
Kirigakure had been reduced to almost ruins. Its once great walls, worthy of one of the Five Great Elemental Nations, has been taken down with sheer force, and completely destroyed in the process. At the time of the arrival, some streets were still covered in smoke due to the fire that raged on, even several days after the fall.
The emperor was unsurprised, however, as he had seen worse. He now was wearing his iconic gas mask, the one he was mostly known for. He was being escorted by the cloaked men that had delivered the message some days prior, as well as a blue-haired woman wearing a similar black cloak. Usually, he was in no need of guards, but he was starting to like it, especially for the more intimidating aura it gave him.
As they arrived at the gates of the village, it was nearly unrecognizable. Once big gates, now barely a bunch of debris. There, his right hand man was already waiting for him. It had been a while since they had seen each other, more specifically since the campaign for Kiri had begun. But then again, the two shook hands as they usually did. This treatment was special for General Kandachi, as no one else would be allowed to shake hands like an equal.
"Once again you have proven your worth as a genius tactician, Kandachi, my utmost congratulations on your overwhelming success." Pronounced the emperor, as the other man bowed in a show of gratitude.
The renowned general had a burn scar on the right side of his forehead, one he was proud of. He wore the same uniform as the emperor, except for the iconic gas mask and the cape. "I am honoured to receive such compliments from your majesty, the emperor."
"And what is it that is of such importance for me to see, general?" Asked the man of the gas mask.
"Ah, yes," he turned around and beckoned the shinobi that just arrived to follow him. "We have successfully captured the Mizukage, jinchuuriki of the three-tails."
The group was taken through the barely identifiable streets of the destroyed city. Among the debris, many corpses were visible, of men, women and children. The emperor mostly ignored them, not even bothering to look down at the floor, as he already knew what he would find.
After some minutes of walking, they reached one of the few buildings that had resisted the destructive invasion. It was an old temple, but now it had been repurposed as a prison for the shinobi captured in battle.
The doors of the temple were heavily guarded by several shinobi. They all took a step away and bowed at the emperor as he arrived, of course, while general Kandachi opened the recently installed metallic doors.
Just as it started to rain, the doors closed behind the guards of the emperor, its sound startling the cloaked trio. The emperor ignored them and continued following the general, leaving the younger shinobi behind.
The dark hallway was only given light by torches hanging on the opposite walls of the cells, which previously were rooms for monks. Their doors had been replaced with heavy metallic counterparts, with seals on them to avoid any possible trick the captured shinobi could attempt.
"He is in the last one," said Kandachi, while pointing at the end of the long hallway.
For each door, there was one shinobi. The emperor was glad to see that his high standards for security were maintained even in such precarious conditions. Because even though the temple was still standing, the damages it had were severe and clear.
He received many insults from the prisoners as he walked by their cells, but someone of his position could never bother even turning to give them a look, as that would be a benefit they did not deserve.
Finally, they reached the last two doors, which were guarded by five shinobi, rather than the usual individual guard per door. The jounin that was in charge of the prison stepped forward from the group of five, and made many hand seals before placing his palm over the door, releasing the seal that contained it.
Even with the seal on the door, the Mizukage had been completely tied up. Each limb was tied to a metallic stick in each corner of the room, while his jinchuuriki seal was visible as he was shirtless. The emperor entered the room as he noticed several scars on his torso.
"So he has already been tortured?"
"Yes, my Lord," answered the jounin.
"Has he revealed anything?" Asked this time the general.
"No, sir."
"Then he will, now." Replied the emperor, as he turned back to look at the unconscious kage. "Tell Nagato to come, he might be useful to us in this occasion."
As the jounin left, the general started examining the body of the prisoner.
"Is it for the seal?"
The emperor merely nodded confidently, as he beckoned the general to hurry up with the basic checks. He assumed it was unnecessary, as apparently the tortures had already begun, but he could tolerate a quick symbolic check.
"Okay then, time to wake up, young Kage!" Yelled the general as he slapped the young man several times.
The fourth Mizukage was a short and young man, not the figure you would expect to command one of the great elemental nations. However, he had proven troublesome ever since his rise to power for the other great nations and even his own people. Curiously enough, it was neither of those that led to his fall.
The young man slowly opened his eyes, noticeably weakened, to the image of none other than the emperor himself. Even the likes of the fourth Mizukage would open their eyes in shock at the mere sight of the famous gas mask that also had the symbol of Amegakure. He made his best to keep composure, even then, when his fear was obvious.
"I'm going to be straight-forward," said Kandachi as he grabbed a kunai from one of his many pockets, "tell us what we want to know, and save yourself from an amount of pain you have never experienced before."
The Mizukage only stared at the general with eyes filled with anger and hatred, remaining silent. The general smirked and nailed the kunai on his abdomen, causing the young man to yell in pain.
"I'm feeling quite merciful today, so I'll give you one more chance!" Said Kandachi while grabbing another kunai.
The fourth Mizukage once again remained silent. This time, the general became noticeably more frustrated. He moved to the right and grabbed the hand of the young man. His hand was surprisingly soft for a shinobi.
Kandachi began slowly cutting through his index finger. As blood started to run out of his veins, the man of the burn scar on the forehead asked once again.
But the reply was silence, again.
"Enough, general," interrupted the emperor, stepping closer to the prisoner. "I will take over from here."
And just as the general stepped back, the red-haired guard arrived at the cell. The emperor was satisfied to see him, and beckoned him to get in. And of course, the young man did so with no hesitation.
"Yagura Karatachi, correct?" Asked the man plainly.
"Hanzo of the Salamander." Replied the Mizukage with clear disgust in his tone.
"Correct," replied the emperor, as he put both of his hands together behind his back. "Now, who were, or are, you working for?"
"I am the Fourth Mizukage, I work for nobody." Coldly replied the short, young man.
The blonde man of the long hair shook his head, in disappointment. "Don't you bother lying to me, I already know the answer."
This statement shocked Kandachi, his old friend. And through his reaction, the red-haired shinobi was once again amazed by the man.
"I am merely confirming the information I got. So please, answer with honesty."
"Kill me. It's irrelevant." Was the only thing the Mizukage chose to pronounce.
The emperor sighed. "Then so be it." He turned around. "Nagato, please begin the preparations to release the tailed beast from its current host. Kandachi, come with me in search for a new jinchuuriki."
"I assume you already have an idea of whom the candidate might be, if you asked for the preparations to begin, my emperor."
"Yes I do." Confirmed the monarch as he walked outside of the room, leaving Nagato and the jounin alone with the Mizukage. "In fact, I had assigned the team of the candidates to this invasion, so there must at least be one in this exact place... And now that I remember, how much casualties did we have?"
Kandachi wondered who the candidates were, as he could not remember any unusually good performance during the invasion itself, but the last question distracted him from his thoughts.
"Oh, right. I don't remember the exact number, and we are still counting, but around a hundred, my lord."
"That is indeed impressive. The effectiveness of our unstoppable army only gets better under your command, general. You have earned your place." Complimented the emperor, as the two continued to walk around the camps in the city.
Before the general could thank his leader, an explosion interrupted the conversation. A great cloud of white smoke popped out of nowhere, covering a large part of the surrounding space.
From it, emerged a giant panda, which the emperor immediately recognized, as its head was at a taller height than the smoke itself. The village's famous mist already made it hard to see things that were somewhat far away, but the smoke nearly blocked vision completely.
"And there she is, the candidate." He said, right before a giant water dragon was thrown at the panda.
Normally such a jutsu would not impress the emperor, but as it pushed the panda back, and even caused it to fall, his reaction was amplified.
Kandachi was silently watching the battle, as was his old friend, wondering which of the two shinobi was the candidate. This doubt came mainly from the fact that he was unable to properly see both shinobi, and therefore he could not identify the village they were a part of.
But as the general turned his head to his left side to look at his companion, he had vanished. He moved his sight back at the smoke, which had started to dissipate. From it, emerged the masked man, grabbing two girls by the arm with the two of his hands.
One of them wore the hitai-ate with the symbol of Ame, while the other one wore one of Kiri on her waist. The girl from Ame had purple hair, tied up in a way that it resembled an onion, and with the traditional chunin uniform of her village. The girl from Kirigakure was a redhead with long spiky hair, whose intense green eyes were staring furiously at the man that held her.
The emperor threw the girls down to the floor. He remained standing still in front of them.
"Do not attempt anything, you cannot win," he told the redhead girl, in case she wasn't aware of who the man was. "And for you, Ajisai, the time has come."
The girl of the purple hair nodded, and immediately stood up. She was beckoned to follow the man standing behind her, the one of the burn scar on the forehead, and so she did. The remaining girl and the masked man watched the other two head for the repurposed temple.
"I would normally apologize for interrupting a battle like that, but I saved your life." Said the emperor as he finally lost the silhouettes of his subordinates.
The redhead girl jumped and stood up. She made several hand seals while staring at the man, who didn't bother returning the stare. He raised an arm and beckoned her to stop.
"I thought I was clear when I told you not to try anything. Don't you know who I am?"
"I'm going to kill you regardless!" She replied, before releasing mist from her mouth.
Hanzo shook his head, and put his two hands together into the tiger hand seal. "Shunsin no jutsu!"
In under three seconds, he appeared right behind the girl. He made sure to take a deep breath for her to notice, before landing a hit with his open palm on her neck. She fell down to the floor, unconscious.
He sighed. "So impatient, yet promising... Mei, if I remember correctly."
On the horizon, the sun was once again emerging, giving its intense light to the land under it. Such presence from the sun was unusual at the lands of Kiri, so it was taken as a divine sign by the regular shinobi that had just conquered it.
The village remained in ruins, and most of the corpses were still buried underneath the debris, but several men were beginning to be deployed to begin the cleansing of the place, in preparation for the eventual reconstruction.
In what once was the gates of the village, two men stood, admiring the sunrise. One of them wore a gas mask, and the other had a burn scar on his forehead.
"The extraction and transfer of the three-tails was successful, and the Fourth Mizukage, as expected, died in the process." Explained the general, as the sun bathed his face with its light.
"That makes three, curiously enough." The man of the gas mask crossed his arms.
"Ah, yes. I'd forgotten some jinchuuriki escaped from us." Kandachi replied, getting a nod from his old friend.
"It's just a matter of time, however." The emperor moved his right arm upwards and put his hand between his face and the sun. "Those rebels will not last much, especially those in Konoha. They know what they're keeping from us, and that is why we will crush them with all we've got."
"Now that you mention it, my lord. When will you return to Konoha?" Asked the general.
He moved his right hand back to its original place. "Today I will be heading back to the capital, but later this week I will also pay Konoha a visit. I will summon you there when I get there. Since I need to have a certain conversation with the Daimyo, like I had with the one in charge of Iwa."
"Ah, I see..." The general exclaimed, not moving his glance away from the sunrise. "That will surely make you the richest and most powerful man in the world."
The man of the gas mask nodded, before turning around. "I will be taking the new jinchuuriki with me, as well as the kunoichi we captured yesterday. So please, prepare them for our trip later today."
"Immediately, sir."
"As for my official ceremony of coronation for this village, I don't think it will be necessary, given the current state of the country. These lands will be annexed to the empire, however, so make sure to raise the banners."
Author note: I am aware Ajisai shouldnt have been born at this point in time, but I decided to have her and her team be older for convenience basically. This is an AU after all so it gives quite some space for creative freedom.