Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe

"Impossible!" Shibuki surrendered quickly, but when Daniel informed him of the plan to relocate the Waterfall Village, he immediately refused without a second thought. The attachment to one's homeland is universal, and the people of Waterfall Village were no different.

To Shibuki, surrendering and accepting the Akatsuki Nation's rule was a bitter pill to swallow, but resisting would only lead to needless casualties. Though he wasn't afraid of death, he had matured after years as the village chief, realizing that his primary responsibility was the survival of his people.

"This isn't a negotiation; I'm simply informing you." Daniel paid little mind to Shibuki's resistance. The Grass and Bird Villages had initially resisted relocation too, but it didn't change the outcome. The policy of mixed settlement encouraged cultural integration between regions, an idea that quickly won support from Nagato, Konan, and Madara after Daniel presented it.

Forced relocation of the nobility to reduce regional power had a historical precedent; even the first Qin Emperor did it when he conquered Han, relocating many nobles and families to the Qin capital. Uprooted from their power bases, they were weakened significantly.

The relocation plan was simplified by Daniel's use of the Secret Law Gate, which minimized the usual hardships associated with such moves. Entire villages were not uprooted; only a portion of each population was moved to facilitate cultural blending. But Daniel had a personal reason for relocating the entire Waterfall Village population—he wanted the village for himself.

Waterfall Village, with its scenic beauty and secluded environment, was home to the legendary Hero Water tree, making it an ideal base for him in the ninja world.

The village, once thriving outside the waterfall, had gradually retreated behind it after suffering heavy losses in the Great Ninja Wars, leaving only the remnant portion within the waterfall. 

"Do you really think I won't kill you all?" Daniel's chakra surged with intimidating force, quashing the resistance of Shibuki and half the village's ninjas who were prepared to oppose the relocation.

"If only I had Conqueror's Haki," Daniel mused. In the past, his Conqueror's Haki had been the perfect tool for crowd control, instantly incapacitating weak enemies. But without it, he resorted to his Wood Style to bind the dissenters, seizing the Hero Water in the process.

While Shibuki's faction resisted relocation, one elder and several jonin promptly surrendered.

"Gather details on the villagers' needs and submit them to us. We'll ensure you're provided a similar environment." The relocation policy, shaped by feedback from various experts and veterans in Amegakure, took into account the vast, sparsely populated lands of the ninja world. For most villagers, it merely meant starting afresh in a new location, with no substantial change in their way of life.

As someone from a humble background, Daniel was acutely aware of what the lower classes truly needed, in contrast to those who professed noble ideals while exploiting others.

"Looks like a firm stance works better. Trying to negotiate only makes people think they can push back," Daniel sighed. With Shibuki subdued, the relocation of Waterfall Village proceeded smoothly. Many of the villagers were moved to parts of the Land of Rivers recently taken by Kisame's team, where resistance had been minimal, and the feudal lord and his guards had been eliminated.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu and Hidan's advance in the Land of Fire progressed steadily. After eliminating key aristocrats, the resistance weakened, and Akatsuki placed a bounty on the feudal lords of the Five Great Nations, forcing them further into hiding. Hoozuki Castle's spies reported that the Land of Fire's feudal lord was already close to being tracked down.

"Good thing we kept some of the Iwa ninjas with earth-style abilities. Building new homes quickly would've been difficult otherwise," Daniel noted. Survivors from the Iwa, Kiri, and Konoha forces had been put to work as free labor, constructing homes and maintaining infrastructure for Akatsuki Nation. The high-ranking officers of the former Great Villages, like Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, and Ao, remained in Amegakure's prisons.

"This Spirit Transformation Technique… Dan Kato really was a genius. It's a shame for Konoha." Dan's death could largely be blamed on Konoha's leadership. Had he lived, he would have been a prime candidate for the Fourth Hokage position, perhaps even more so than Sakumo or Orochimaru, given his contributions to Konoha's medical system and his relationship with Tsunade.

"Worth examining." For Daniel, soul-related techniques were central, and Dan's Spirit Transformation Technique held considerable value.

"Hero Water… sacrificing life for chakra. Perhaps it could be refined into the first chakra-boosting drug in the ninja world," Daniel mused, setting up his lab in Waterfall Village after the relocation, and even constructing a villa with Wood Style.

"Once this is perfected, it could greatly strengthen the ranks of Amegakure," he thought, planning to use the formula to empower promising young ninjas, including Shion, an up-and-coming female ninja in the village who coincidentally shared her name with the priestess from the Land of Demons.

"The Five Great Villages still cling to hope, especially Cloud Village," Daniel noted with some amusement. Although all five villages had been given a deadline to deliver their reparations, only Cloud Village had refused entirely, reportedly declaring that if Akatsuki wanted reparations, they could come and take them.

The other four Great Villages, aware of Cloud Village's defiance, hesitated, hoping to see Akatsuki's response before taking further action. 

"Interested in taking a trip?" Daniel asked, interrupting Nagato's preparations to confront Cloud Village by inviting Madara to join him.

"Foolish upstarts," Madara muttered with disdain but ultimately agreed.

"The terrain really is formidable," Daniel noted as they reached Cloud Village, whose defenses made it highly resistant to attacks, even from skilled ninjas.

"Specializing in lightning-style techniques, are they? Let's see how they handle a true lightning jutsu." Hovering above the village, Daniel released a series of large-scale fire-style jutsu into the sky, triggering an enormous thunderstorm due to the village's natural proclivity for lightning.

The ensuing storm soon drew the attention of Cloud ninjas, who responded with lightning-style attacks aimed at him. But their efforts fell short.

"Lightning Style: Kirin." Borrowing Sasuke's technique, Daniel unleashed a powerful barrage of lightning bolts upon the village, creating a torrent of destruction.

Kirin's effectiveness was situational; in the original series, Sasuke's use of it against Itachi only worked because Itachi held back. But with a fixed target like Cloud Village, the technique had devastating impact.

"Impressive power," Madara remarked, raising his right hand to summon a colossal gravitational force upon the battered village with his Rinnegan ability—Shinra Tensei. 

Cloud Village, already crippled by Kirin, was further flattened, its mountainous terrain reduced to a plateau as the landscape dropped by hundreds of meters.

In terms of sheer power, Madara's Shinra Tensei surpassed Nagato's assault on Konoha, though it covered a smaller area.

"Such power… if only they could have put it to better use." Daniel recorded the destruction, knowing that this demonstration would serve as a clear warning to the other Great Villages.

Finally, after eight meteor impacts, Madara halted, unwilling to continue acting as a "tool." 

Cloud Village was completely obliterated, the mountainous stronghold transformed into a deep valley. Any surviving ninjas would find reconstruction impossible.

"One of the Five Great Villages has been erased." The annihilation was so complete that even if any Cloud ninjas survived, rebuilding the village would be a futile endeavor.

"Damn it! Summon everyone!" The Third Tsuchikage Onoki, upon reading the report detailing Cloud Village's destruction and the image of the eight looming meteors, threw the paper aside. Reluctantly, he began to comply with Akatsuki's terms.

This time, the demands included not only the Book of Seals but also the heads of the Five Great Nations' feudal lords.

Akatsuki's agents had struggled to locate the feudal lords, so involving the four remaining ninja villages added pressure. The message was simple and terrifying: fail to comply, and your village would be next.

The display of eight massive meteors shattered any lingering hopes Onoki and the other holdouts harbored. Madara's Heavenly Obstacle Quaking Star couldn't summon that many meteors at once, but technology made such illusions easy to create.

In other worlds, such mass destruction would trigger protests from human rights organizations, and even in more traditional societies, scholars would decry it. Qin Dynasty general Bai Qi, who executed 400,000 captives, was forever condemned as a butcher by Confucian scholars. But the ninja world harbored no such restraints.

"Konoha has been hit by disaster after disaster. How did they fail to spot all those explosive tags? The Hyuga clan must be blind," Daniel mused.

The destruction of Cloud Village ushered in a period of uneasy peace, with Akatsuki slowly expanding its influence. Meanwhile, Konoha faced a major incident—someone had detonated roughly a quarter of the village.

Though the culprit was soon caught, the damage was extensive. The attack was carried out by a surviving ninja from Hikarigakure, whose village had been destroyed by Konoha long ago. After years spent working undercover in Konoha, he had finally amassed enough explosive tags to wreak havoc on Konoha, unleashing all his accumulated rage in a single, devastating act. Fueled by hatred and vengeance, this rogue ninja had quietly placed explosive tags throughout the village over the years, setting them off in a massive explosion that left Konoha reeling. 

In the original story, Naruto's intervention had prevented this tragedy. However, due to Daniel's influence on the timeline, things had taken a darker turn. Naruto, who was typically the voice of peace, was no longer in Konoha, as he had left with his parents. This absence gave the rogue ninja the perfect opportunity to execute his plan undeterred, resulting in severe casualties and extensive damage to the village infrastructure.

The incident was a stark reminder of the ever-present dangers and grudges that lingered in the ninja world. For Konoha, which was already weakened by the recent conflicts, this attack marked yet another blow to its stability. It underscored the deep-seated resentments festering beneath the surface, carried by those whose homes and lives had been destroyed by the ninja villages in the past.

In the aftermath, the remaining leaders of Konoha scrambled to contain the fallout and rebuild once more, while Akatsuki's presence loomed ever larger over the fractured lands of the ninja world.

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