"Special souls?"
"People with a kekkei genkai or a special chakra constitution. Give me their souls after they die."
Mei Terumi drew in a sharp breath.
He was practically demanding that she regularly sacrifice Kirigakure's elite shinobi.
"You can refuse." Liuyu spread his hands. "Then watch Kirigakure rot away completely in the Bloody Mist, and watch the comrades you cherish die one by one.
Or accept my terms, and trade a few sacrifices for the future of the entire village."
"The choice is yours, Mei Terumi."
Late at night, in the Mizukage's Office.
Yagura still sat in his chair, his eyes vacant, like a statue.
Uchiha Ryūha pushed the door open and entered, with Obito following silently behind him.
The atmosphere between them was worlds apart from their "confrontation" earlier that day.
"Thanks for your hard work." Liuyu sat down on the sofa.
"It is my honor to serve you, Teacher," Obito said respectfully, dropping to one knee.
Liuyu looked at Yagura-or rather, at the being inside him.
"Isobu, I know you can hear me."
Yagura's body trembled slightly. A struggling gleam of emerald light flashed in his eyes, but emptiness soon replaced it.
"Being suppressed by genjutsu doesn't feel good, does it?" Liuyu took a crystal emitting an ominous purple-black glow from his clothes-
It was a failed product of Orochimaru's research into Hashirama cells: an inferior, unstable, unfinished Hōgyoku.
"I'll give you a chance."
He walked up to Yagura and pressed the unfinished Hōgyoku into his chest.
No-to be precise, he pressed it into the Three-Tails' sealed space.
"Eat it, and then-"
"Be reborn."
"ROOOAR-!!!"
An agonized, inhuman roar erupted from within Yagura.
Yagura's body began convulsing violently. Cracks spread across his skin, and purple-black light seeped through them.
Those were signs of hollowfication.
The Hōgyoku's power