"Minds. What are we doing with all these bloodlines? Why do you wish for us to have them marry into us?" Asked a speaker, a rather frail old woman who had been around since almost forever. She had been there for the time that the Rice Nation had first been settled, kept alive by the fact that the Mitsugo had given her Life infused food to eat which naturally meant that she was able to survive for longer, her body slowly degrading over time naturally, but it wouldn't die until a long while away.
She was almost as old as the Minds were, (the original non-subverted ones), her status allowing her to talk to them as equals.
As for their names, they gave them up when they became the Minds, the greatest of responsibilities in the Mitsugo, using their prodigious intellect to guide the Mitsugo as they advanced against the tides of time.
It was therefore with great courage (or so she wanted them to thin) that she asked this, no doubt being prompted by a great deal of clan members (who thought they were important) who wanted to know exactly what was going on and why they were doing this. They already had their own special chakra that was incompatible with that of the other shinobi on the continent, what was the point of taking these bloodlines?
Sure they could be used and activated by their own Chakra, those that had them at birth were tested, the children being natural unions designated by the Minds themselves to ensure that the bloodlines would survive and be bred into the bodies of the Mitsugo proper.
Whether or not they would be melding together all the bloodlines or keeping them separate had not yet been brought up.
The question had to be asked of "why". As in "why were they doing this at all?" Did they not already possess great power with their own bloodline? Did they need more power? They already were capable of holding off any enemies while being much smaller in terms of land due to their population. It was not as if they needed more advantages to stack onto what they already had.
Those of the clan were constantly experimenting with their own Jutsu and new abilities were being discovered every day, only they were rather limited.
The problem being that they simply did not have the chakra to activate some of the effects that they could see on the horizon, effects that were no doubt awesome in some way.
Further, they were being hampered by the fact that they needed to work out the rules on how things worked, sure they could work some of them out, the fact of the matter being that they had no real way to work out the rest without having access to the more powerful spells was a problem.
A very big problem.
But!
They were constantly trying new things and at some point in the future they would be able to totally kick ass because they were amazing like that. Even if it would be harder than they thought it would be.
But back to the original question, the Minds stared at her, their eyes rapidly flickering as they accessed their memories and attempted to find an answer for her. They were more like… machines than people many of the Mitsugo had said and many were keen to agree. Seriously, just how many chattered their teeth when thinking of a particularly difficult problem?
"The Bloodlines will allow for the Mitsugo to become more powerful in the short term as we learn of our own abilities for the long term." The Minds intoned, their voices as one.
The 42 of them inside of the chamber stared down at her, their voices reverberating off the walls.
This was the most heavily defended area in the entirety of Raisu, the little capsule of space that allowed for the Minds to sit, the several rows of seats allowing for all of them to sit close enough together that their mind melds worked (or so they said, it was super creepy as well which was a bonus), the capsule being deep inside of the biggest tree in the City of Rice, itself defended by at least 100 Shinobi every hour of the day.
The delegates were allowed to occasionally meet the Minds, but they did so under heavy guard and with a body in front of each one that they would die first rather than risk the Minds (although the Minds were more than capable on their own truth be told). They could not allow for the Minds to be destroyed, they were the guiding hand of the Mitsugo and without them, Riasu would be nowhere near what it was today.
"The short term? What do you forecast Minds?" She asked, trying to clarify her question. They were indeed like the little toy machines that her great grand children enjoyed playing with, the little toys only accepting certain kinds of direct input and if you deviated then there was nothing that could be done but start again.
"War." Said the Minds, the woman feeling the urge to slap herself on the forehead.
Yes, war. Of course war, the Ninja clans loved their little wars, and they were currently involved in one right now, them sending out teams of shinobi to assist all factions by the order to the Minds. For what reason it was unknown, it being too new for them to gain any insights but the general idea could be guessed at. The Minds wanted the Mitsugo to have experience on the battlefield for future application.
But as to what this future application was… they had no idea and neither did the Minds.
An irritation, wringing answers from the Minds was like trying to wring water from a rock. It was possible but that was because your blood contained water, a natural byproduct of the effort involved with the damned process.
But… if the answer was war, actual war, then they would need to prepare. Asking the Minds as to a list of breeding partners to spread the bloodlines as far as possible would be necessary. Perhaps a minor clan can take administrative control over the bloodline division.
"What war?" Chiho asked, maybe they would be in the mood to elaborate on their bloody answers today. They were already involved in a war, just how much more do they want?
"A great war is coming Clan head, the world is to undergo a great tribulation in the future." They said.
Riiiiight.
Chiho knew that they were smart, knew that they had the ability to analyze dozens of streams of data to get an answer that would make anyone else jealous at their abilities, able to from tiny disparate little sets of data to gain answers to questions that had not even been asked yet. She knew this. All of the Mitsugo knew this, or at least the ones that knew about the Minds knew this… which was all of them.
They also knew that the Minds were given to hyperbole, as in they were unable to control themselves and often predicted things that were technically correct, but also practically very wrong.
Like their prediction that the Great Shinobi war would change absolutely everything, rather what had happened was a stalemate. Or that Isobu would be the greatest pal ever… which he was… in a way. He was also an amazing amount of work to keep happy, them needing an ever present supply train of food to keep him entertained.
Or maybe when they predicted that the shinobi were going to invade Raisu in numbers so great that they would blot out the sky, only for there to be barely 100 ninja in total… from all the clans combined.
In short, to understand what it was that Minds said one had to decide just how much of it was an exaggeration and how much of it was not. A war would be coming… just how big of one it was… well, that was another issue entirely.
Sometimes Chiho considered abdicating and maybe putting someone else in charge, that way she could maintain her sanity in the face of… whatever it was the Minds were. They were all sort of normal going in, then they did their weird gestalt thing and became a single entity that was just this side of insane. When they wanted to that is, jumping over the fence of sanity was something they were annoyingly fond of.
She heaved out a sigh and prepared to get on with it, they needed to have the Mitsugo prepare for whatever this was that was coming. Tribulation? That could mean anything.
It was lucky that they weren't the kind that gave out riddles because that would have likely incited a revolt of some kind. They weren't helpful enough to put up with that much insanity.
As for the bloodlines… something.
Oh right.
"What about the current war that we are currently waging?" She asked.
"War? What war we are not waging a war. We are merely assisting our customers keep their territory." They said, smirking.
She sighed and got back to business.
"What should we do regarding the bloodlines that we have collected?" She asked.
"Integrate them into the Mitsugo. Do not mix more than 3." They said, a tone of humour evident.
How they knew not to mix more than 3 was something she was going to ignore for now.
Questions answered Chiho bowed to the Minds and walked out of the chamber, her mind buzzing with what she needed to do. The damned things had given her more work, as if trying to manage an entire bloody nation wasn't enough.
She was the Clan leader, she was the Daimyo, she was the Kage, she was the bloody everything.
It was a good thing that she had several sets of triplets to run through the paperwork for her, but even then some days were just like trying to swim through the bloody sheets (because of the papercuts).
Waving at the guards and touching their minds through the Gestalt, all the better to ensure that they knew that it was indeed her, that they knew that she was the greatest thing to have ever existed.
Shaking head slightly at their offer to walk her back to her office, Chiho walked instead to the main level, or at least what she considered to be the main level.
It was after all the namesake of the Nation, the rice fields on level 5, where they also had the various child care facilities to look after the children while the parents went off and did their thing. The children would not be truly alone, they were all Mitsugo children and could take comfort in that they were amongst family. Even if said family was more often than not a triplet… who tended to rub off on others the wrong way, their combined mental gestalt was often very confusing to those that were involved and not of the clan, they didn't know what they were missing.
It was here that she went in order that she could enjoy a moment of solitude as she gazed over the rice paddies and the occasional clan member that was watering the various different fields, making sure they all grew properly.
It certainly looked the best when things were all green, just before they ripened for harvest, the time that if she ignored the vast leaves and walls made from branches and trunks that marked the sections, that she could pretend she was in a field somewhere that none of this mattered and she didn't need to worry about all of the things that constituted the running of the Raisu, the Mitsugo and talking to the Minds.
There was a slight breeze that ran through the on a constant basis, one that was designed into the city by some of their triplets at its inception, a way for the heat to rise up and dissipate out carefully designed vents.
It also sucked in cooler air from the top, bathing them in it so that nobody would melt to death while they were inside of a giant wooden cylinder… that was only ever growing larger as the population increased. She had been worried for a second about the clan growing weak from the marriages outside of the clan, but then she remembered their clan's bloodline, the one that allowed for them to produce a truly absurd amount of children as a matter of course.
Which reminded her, did their bloodline count as part of the 3?
A brief groan and she was walking back to the Minds, dammit. That was why she had to have a prepared questions list and then escape once she asked them or she would be going back and forth for the entire day.
Writing her instructions for the other matters onto a sheet of paper, she clicked her fingers and handed it to the shinobi that had appeared in front of her.
This part of it all she could enjoy, being the boss.
Fobbing work off onto someone else.
If only there were no responsibilities that came with it.
Chiho the Clan Head of the Mitsugo, the Kage of the Raisukure, the be all and end all of everything regarding everything was a busy woman. One might even say she was extremely busy.
As in she did a lot of stuff and she didn't have a lot of time to be messing around.
Which was why she was here.
Looking at the Minds inside of their little chamber.
And wondering just what the hell was going on?
Or rather she knew what was going on.
She just wanted to know why.
Why were they selling so much of their food to the different nations?
Why were they trying to establish little clan lands with those weird land-lease agreements that would allow them to farm even more food. It was not as if the already had a ridiculous amount, she knew, she even checked. That had been weird, but with the War raging on, they were selling even more food.
Seriously, they had enough food that they were able to do whatever it was they wanted for almost the next 10 years if they preserved it right.
Just what the hell were the Minds thinking?
"Yes Clan Head, what is it that you wish to ask of us." They said.
"Please explain to me why we are exporting so much food. What do we gain from this? We already have enough money, we already have enough food, what are we producing so much." She asked.
"It is simply little Chiho [and how she hated the way they called her that, we require the nations and villages to be brought underneath our sway, that they will become an extension of our power willingly or not. The world must be brought to heel and we will do it!" The Minds said in their typical hyperbolic fashion.
Which meant that it was now up to her to try and figure out what the hell they were talking about them working out a way to narrow down the question properly without them going all crazy on her again.
"Why must the villages come under our sway?" She asked, looking at the Minds with a gaze that said she thought they were idiots.
They weren't, it just helped to move things along when they felt like they had something to prove. They were incredibly childish for such powerful existences and sometimes she felt that maybe it was just a shinobi thing… something that explained why powerful shinobi were all insane.
"It will ensure the continued existences of the continent and its people. They will soon be attacked by a monster of the greatest proportions. One that will eat and devour the peoples. They call it… War. We must force the compliance of the others in order that we avoid war!" They said.
Which translated to normal speak meant that there was the possibility of War on the horizon and if everyone was… well… made into a subservient of the family, then they would be able to avoid war, or so the Minds thought. It was a rather direct way to view it, and one that meant she would need to once again exercise her own judgement.
Sure she could possibly follow their path, but that generally meant doing things in the most convoluted manner possible.
No. It was best if she just took bits and pieces off their whole plan that had been handed to one of her assistants.
Instead of trying to force them under, it would be best if they just drowned them in debt so they had to listen to them. Not the nicest idea possible but if the Minds wanted to end war as a concept... then that was how they were going to have to play it.
That and… maybe they had missed the war that was already being waged?
Or that being poor never stopped people fighting?
Actually... now that she thought about it...
"Why are you so fixated on world domination?" She asked, feeling curious. She had avoided asking the question before now what with the Minds likely to launch into a tirade of just… ugh… but she was curious and they seemed to base every plan that they came up with off that goal.
"Once we conquer the world! We can conquer the stars!" They said.
One again Chiho marvelled at how brilliant the Minds were… and how pants on head stupid they were at the same time.
Just what the hell did they want the stars for?
No, it was a much better idea if they just… went off and did their own thing without relying on all of this… tomfoolery.
Drown the other nations in debt, increase their own power by doing so and secure trade routes and the like.
Yes, she could do that. It would be slightly more annoying than what she was used to, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be accomplished given some time and effort. By forcing everyone to owe them money, they would be able to soft dictate actions and the like. A much better idea than what the Minds had originally come up with, cut off food and force them to agree to being subservient or starve.
That was terrible on so many levels that Chiho had to make sure she was actually reading the proper document.
At least she was now... she hoped.
Or rather… now that she thought about it, this was far too damn similar to those times they had pulled that shit with the "now you can learn" bullshit by giving her a terrible scenario and seeing how she would cope with it.
As in they were still playing games with her despite the fact that she now ran an entire country and… uuuuugh.
If she could get away with it, she might have just done something she would have regretted. Like… stab them in the face and laugh maniacally for an hour or so.
"Are you insane?" She said after a moment of consideration, condensing years of angst into a single sentence.
"Good to see that your mind is still sharp. We were worried after you came to ask very obvious questions." They said, as if that excused the mental anguish that she had been put through because of those fuckers.
Chiho wondered if anyone would care if the Minds just… vanished.
And then thought that a lot of people would care, they were the Minds and they were the ones who had been assisting in the guidance of their clan since the very beginning.
"Any other questions?" They asked.
Chiho pondered briefly before she asked one that had been bothering her for a while now.
"Why are you so focused on trying to get the cooperation of the other villages and nations?" Chiho asked, her eyebrows preparing to rise up her face depending on what was going to be her answer. She knew it was going to be something strange, just hopefully it would have enough insight that she didn't have to go digging.
"Together the united are more powerful than the sum of their parts." They said, staring down at her from behind their masks.
"And what is it that we have to worry about that requires all of the nations working together?"
"An enemy of enormous size. An enemy that plans to devour the world and sunder it apart once and for all."
Which… meant that they were going to have to fight an enemy of some kind. The enemy was going to be powerful, it was going to in some way be able to destroy the world, or at least be able to enact large scale changes in the world which could then be interpreted as destroying the world. The enemy might not even be massive and just be something that seemed to be massive through its political or social power or something.
Ugh.
This was why she hated the response that the Minds gave her, they were so open ended unless it was something that they were directly requesting that she do. If it wasn't a request then she could deal with it all on her own because of course, that was how things were going to turn out with them in charge.
Ugh.
"What do the Mitsugo need to do to prepare for this threat?" She asked, they probably had some kind of instructions ready for her.
"Continue the current plan, it is enough. This little skirmish that we are going through will end soon enough." They said, as if a continental war was a minor thing. To their insane brains, it probably was.
Which then lent credence to her idea that there wasn't going to be anything that really mattered when it came down to it. It was probably some kind of giant, maybe from another continent that was going to try and intrude and they were going to need to band together to fight them off or something. Something out of some cliche little book.
Chiho sighed and decided that this was enough for today and she was going to head out and maybe sacrifice one of her aides to ask the rest of the questions.
They would emerge out the other side a quivering wreck with their bodies full of unreleased rage and a desire to end all life on the continent.
It was not so bad really… maybe.
"Thank you for your time." Chiho said as she bowed before the Minds and walked out.
"Ask these questions of the Minds. Make sure you get as much detail as possible, ask as many follow up questions as you can." Chiho said, handing off a sheet she had quickly written up to one of her aides, the ones that managed the administrative aspect of her office.
The look on his face was enough to have Chiho snorting, the absolute betrayal, the delicious fear.
He would come out the other side frustrated and irritated and the Minds were going to be the same, dealing with those not used to their quirks always got them in a bad mood.
Revenge was certainly sweet when she didn't have to sink the knife herself.
Chiho allowed herself an unprofessional chuckle as she made her way to the missions office. It was on the ground floor, the one that had actual natural dirt and the like that had been there since the village was founded.
Inside of the main tree trunk was the mission office, an enormous structure that was filled to the brim with various scrolls that were in and of themselves missions. The many different squad pigeon holes all containing a single scroll, the large wooden walls had been hollowed out so that they could store rack after rack of them, each being something that stretched for dozens of meters into the sky, filled with countless scrolls.
They were all grouped by their different "genres" as it were, ones for general purpose domestic work for those who were still getting used to their powers, using their fire and water elements to create steam with which they could clean. Then there were harvesting missions to hunt down the wild animals being cultivated, them being filled with life chakra and as such very very virile and dangerous.
Others still were the combat missions to protect their borders and the like.
Every shinobi that was not filling their quotas of missions for the month could be found here if they wanted extra work as it were. Each one of them ready and able to make extra money to purchase the more luxurious foods that were not included in the ration stamps that each family was given. Things like saffron which were still tediously tedious to harvest by hand, their crops coming from Suna which required certain environments and the like.
The only missions that took them out of the nation were those for the express deliveries of food to those that requested it, each of them heading out to deliver exotic ingredients in time for a banquet and the like, but not willing to pay the standard rate.
It was into this Chiho walked to do her weekly census of all the missions that had been picked, checking to see which ones she was going to need to make mandatory to ensure that they were fulfilled and their obligations as a nation were being completed. They paid more, but had stricter penalties for those that didn't complete them.
Also luxury tokens for extra alcohol rations.
It was a thankless task and when she was done nobody would even know that anything had changed except the quotas had changed tasks from the previous week.
For Chiho it was more work and for something that did a ridiculous amount of work… well, this wasn't really anything new.
She was looking forward to being able to retire that was for sure.
If she couldn't she might just copy the Mind and go rampaging somewhere.