Ritual Preparations
"You defeated the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama?!"
Third Raikage yelled out loud, and his thick hands grabbed Sato's shoulders with force.
His eyes were wide and he was panting like a bull. Sato's victory news had hit him like a truck.
"Correction, I didn't defeat him. I sneak attacked him."
But Sato didn't have any happiness due to his win. As far as he was concerned, Hashirama wasn't even in the top 3 strongest fighters of this world.
Ten tails Obito, six paths Madara, Hamura, Hagoromo, and Kaguya. Any one of them can easily defeat Hashirama.
And that too not via any sneak attack, but straight hands.
Bang
"What sneak attack?! You are a ninja; a sneak attack is also an attack."
Yet the Third Raikage punched Sato on the head and scolded him. Sneak attacks and thuglike behavior were the fine traditions of the hidden cloud village.
Sato sneak-attacking Hashirama is completely normal; only the winner matters in history.
"Ouch, don't hit me, old man! And by the way, you should stop squeezing Anko's neck; she is about to faint."
Sato rubbed his head and carelessly looked at Anko, who was currently hanging in the air as the Third Raikage held her by the throat.
"Hmm? Oh, I almost forgot about this slimy kunoichi."
Bang
The third Raikage threw Anko to the ground, causing Anko to rapidly breathe while coughing hard.
But neither the Third Raikage nor Sato cared about her. They looked at her with calm eyes.
"Cough Cough"
"Why are you doing this? I wanted to join Hidden Cloud sincerely."
Anko asked angrily while rubbing her sore neck. She didn't think the third Raikage would hold her by the throat as soon as Sato said she came from Konoha.
If she knew this was going to happen, she wouldn't have followed Sato!
"Sincere?? You call yourself sincere!"
The third Raikage widened his eyes, and angrily clenched his fist.
Snap
But before Anko could become history, Sato held the Raikage's hand. Stopping him from killing his new pawn.
"Don't be so hasty old man. Let her know her sins before you sentence her to death."
Sato chuckled and looked down at Anko. He smiled cheerfully and sat down, coming face-to-face with her.
"Anko, do you think I am stupid? Or do you think the hidden cloud is stupid?"
"You said you sincerely wanted to join us? Haha, I won't deny that you do want to join us, but there is a catch."
Sato raised his finger before Anko's eyes, and he shook it back and forth in front of her.
Sato's closeness and his slow movements were making Anko nervous.
"You have a very simple plan."
Sato spoke slowly and heavily; his words were very simple, but they were heavy on Anko, creating psychological pressure on her.
Sato continued on; the deliberate chakra pressure he was putting on Anko was working well, it seems.
"Your plan was very easy to guess."
"At first, you would join us sincerely."
"Then you will ask us for help in killing Orochimaru, who is your old teacher. You were sure we would go after him because I hate him."
Sato said with narrowed eyes, he didn't care for Anko's panic and continued.
"But that's where your sincerity ends. Your plan was to die alongside Orochimaru at the end."
"You wanted to use us for revenge, then smoothly leave for the pure land. You had no plans to continue being loyal to me."
"Did you really think you could use me like this? You think I will be so blind for revenge that I will get manipulated by you?"
"Don't make a laugh."
Sato growled a tiger-like growl. Anko shrank back instinctively.
She was sweating profusely; her ideas were so easily exposed that she was completely caught off guard.
She thought she would have the highest chance of taking revenge on Orochimaru, if she followed Sato.
But it seems her plans to die with her teacher using a suicide jutsu were exposed. She was trapped with no way out.
And when this realization finally hit her, Anko snapped.
"Fine! You win!"
"I wanted to use you for revenge! I am desperate for revenge, okay?!"
"My life has been shit since the day Orochimaru left me in that village. Nobody trusts me; I live in pain all day long."
"My only reason for living is to take revenge on him. I used you because this was my only way."
"Even if you kill me for this I won't regret it. I would die peacefully, knowing I was one step closer to killing that man."
Anko stubbornly raised her head and stared at Sato. She had tears in her eyes, but she looked at Sato's hazy figure regardless.
"Now I understand why Orochimaru didn't take you with him."
Sato suddenly mumbled. And Anko eyes widened at this out of nowhere comment.
"Do you know why he abandoned me? Tell me, please."
Anko wanted to know this so badly. She was completely convinced of Sato's sharp mind. She really wanted to know why her teacher abandoned her.
This incident has been a thorn in her heart for a long time.
Yet nobody told her why she was abandoned. Now Anko wanted to get an answer from the smartest guy she had seen till date.
Sato just chuckled when he heard her beg, he didn't hide but told her the reason directly with a mocking smile.
"It's because you are really stupid."
"You are like a female Naruto, a hot-blooded fool who's too caught up in her emotions to understand basic logic."
Sato's hurtful words made Anko grit her teeth in anger. She wanted to hold Sato by the collar and yell at him, but Sato clicked his tongue in disappointment.
"Don't try to deny it right away; you will only prove me right."
"Think about what I said for a while. Try to use your brains and let me know if you understand anything."
Anko paused when she heard this, but she still felt confused. Sato didn't say anything more and shook his head.
"You can stay in the guest house. Stay here until you understand what I mean."
"Let's go, old man."
Sato got up and left with the third Raikage; he didn't look back and left Anko cleanly.
When they were quite a bit far away, the third Raikage spoke.
"I don't think she will understand what you wanted to say. Keeping her alive seems like a waste."
The third Raikage said to Sato, But Sato shook his head right away.
"No, she is still useful. You will see."
"Anyway, don't talk about her anymore. Is what I want ready?"
Sato asked with barely hidden anticipation in his voice. The Third Raikage laughed for a bit, then nodded happily.
"Yes, the sealing circle is ready, and Yugito is waiting for you in her tailed beast form."
"We have made all the preparations for your tailed beast transformation."
Raikage spoke slowly; he was serious, as they were about to witness a great event.
"If all goes well, you will surpass the gold and silver brothers immediately and will become something never seen before."
"You will become the tenth-tailed beast."
"The first human to completely inherit the power of a tailed beast."