You're right Mut, I just keep putting Itachi at 13 for some reason.

jing, the real trick would be to murder enough people to get the country to submit but leave their military forces intact. Laying waste to the village is neat and all but I assume the Akatsuki would want to rule something besides smoldering piles of rubble in this scenario.

They could just start killing village leaders. Or, honestly, just show up and declare themselves the rulers of Konoha. Who the fuck is gonna challenge all nine of them?