The Book: Chapter 1: A New World (Patreon)

Ruling by the Book

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 1: A New World

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- ??? -

I opened my eyes to see a familiar roof, a knock on the door awakening me from my slumber. Not that I had been able to sleep properly.

Three days.

It has been three days since I gained the memories of my past life and to think this messed up world of mine would be even crazier than I had imagined.

As much as I enjoyed watching the anime in my previous life, the reality of this world was just that dire.

There was another knock on the door and this time there was a voice following it.

“Your Highness, it’s time for your breakfast. Please get up.”

“We are awake.” I replied back, causing the knocks to stop while I got up from my bed.

Your Highness.

Three Days ago this was normal for me and yet with this new set of memories, everything seems so strange all of a sudden, as if this world I had lived in all this time had become unknown.

My name is Kazuya Katsuyoshi, the Prince of the Land of Flowers and the next in line for the position of the Daimyo of the Land.

Now, many would think such a position was enviable….but it was anything but that.

The Land of Flowers was not a big country like the Land of Fire or our neighbours, Land of Earth. It was a relatively smaller country between the Land of Earth and separated from the Land of Rain and Land of Wind by the Land of Medicine and Land of Fire by the Land of Stairs.

Although it was a small country, the land was very fertile. Most of the people here were involved in agriculture and had plentiful harvests every year.

This fertility however was both the boon and curse of the land.

Our immediate neighbours, the Land of Earth, had barren and rocky land which was unsuitable for agriculture. This made them the biggest buyers of our food products to feed their people.

But the relationship between us is….like feeding a wild animal to keep it at bay. One day, the animal might have a change of heart and just swallow us up.

It would not even be the first time either.

Last time, almost nine years ago, there was a very bad winter and their crops were destroyed so they invaded us, in an attempt to usurp our country.

It was the timely aid of the Land of Lightning who wanted to prevent the Earth from getting this fertile country and becoming stronger that saved us from being eradicated, although not unscathed.

The war took away large parts of our land as well as the life of the then Daimyo of the country, my father in this life, Lord Kiyoshi Katsuyoshi.

After this, my grandfather had come back as the Daimyo to rule again.

My mother had passed away giving birth to me while the concubines father had taken, did not have any children.

I was the only and eldest child of the family so while other royal families are fretting about the throne, I didn’t have such worries….at least from my family.

Nobles….they were not trustworthy.

My grandpa adored me though, always doing everything to fulfil my wishes since I can remember. He personally oversaw everything I was taught and he even brought me with himself to the court sometimes to teach me how to manage the land.

Sigh….if only things were that simple.

I got up and freshened up.

Normally, I would be assisted by some maid in this but ever since I awakened my memories, I kept them at a distance, fearing that I might slip somewhere and reveal something about myself.

To be honest, I had almost given up hope after recovering the memories of this world…. Almost being the key word here.

I raised my hand and a book appeared in front of me.

It was a hardbound book with crimson red velvet cover and gold and black metal designs on the edges, giving it a more ancient and magical feel.

The book’s presence gave off power which calmed me down even in this dire world.

The Akashic Grimoire.

I did not remember how or when I got this power but only what it was.

The Essence of the Akashic Grimoire gave me this book which basically provided me with several functions.

First was knowledge.

I could assign this book to search for any knowledge, be it Jutsu or Magic or even information on any person and it would do so in a certain period of time. The time depended on the rarity of the knowledge and the strength and secrecy of the person, basically the difficulty to obtain the information. I could then read this knowledge or have the basic form of this knowledge be imprinted on my mind after which I had to practise and gain further mastery over the Skill.

However the information was limited to the world I was in.

Second was power.

It contains rituals which could help me increase the power of my mind, body and soul and even grant me abilities. There were even ways to break my limits in ways unimaginable in many worlds.

Basic rituals were easy to do but the cost would increase the stronger I got as it’s harder to change stronger beings and thus more materials would be required.

These rituals were however only for myself. For others, I would have to study and devise them myself. The Grimoire can only help with that.

Third was the world travel function.

I could, at great cost of energy, travel to other worlds or even open permanent gates to other worlds. These gates however will create bridges between the two worlds which can then be used without my permission, one of the reasons I was not going to do that.

This world was messed up as it is. I did not need to add other things to fuck it up even more.

On second thought, if all else fails, I could perhaps make a bridge to the Warhammer 40k world or some other death world and fuck off to a third, unrelated world myself.

It will serve my enemies well if they force me into a corner.

Only for the purpose of World Travel, the Grimoire could even gather and store energy on its own. Although it would take a year or so to do it by itself.

Fourth was Summoning.

At the cost of my energy, I could summon any items or people from different worlds.

At the start, I could only be vague about the summons. The more precise I am, the greater the energy needed. Similarly, the stronger or rarer the thing, the stronger I needed to be

They can be summoned from anywhere, even the destroyed world timelines.

Anything with a level of intelligence from simple animals or basic magical constructs to sapient artifacts or people is unable to harm me intentionally or unintentionally by lack of control or instability instead simply becoming inert or subdued enough until I am safely beyond the range of effect. They cannot disobey or subvert any commands I give them. I may also layer commands or set triggers for certain commands to take effect. The Grimoire will not summon items hazardous to me unless expressly told to. The items I summon which need conditions being fulfilled, like me being worthy of them, will automatically work for me or those I give them to.

I could however bypass the energy requirements by using rituals and using outside sources of energy to summon things or even make rituals which would collect the energy from the surroundings for the summonings but those would be painfully long.

Last but not the least.

The Grimoire contains a pocket dimension where I can store the items under stasis. I could even hide there myself with triggers to let me out at a certain time.

The book can provide me an accurate knowledge of the items I store inside, including their actual History and their notable traits.

There were many details about these powers that I have to understand and other powers of the Grimoire will be revealed as I explore it more.

All these abilities will be strengthened depending on my own strength, so all in all, I was the weakest link of this power.

This was especially so in a world like this where ninjas are ever present to take advantage of the slightest lapse in one's attention.

Especially in countries like the Land of Flowers, where there was no Shinobi village. The most we had were a few hundred samurai who managed the security of the entire country.

We were totally dependent on other Shinobi villages for protection.

This was something which needed to be changed and this change has to start from me first.

I walked outside my room where the maid was waiting for me. I recognised her as my grandfather's maid.

“His Majesty is waiting for you in his room for breakfast.” She said with a bow.

“Very well.” l replied and began walking towards my grandfather's room.

Reaching the room, the maid slowly opened the gates and I saw the man sitting in front of the table.

My grandfather, Lord Kazuki Katsuyoshi, was sixty eight years old this year. The white hair and moustache gave him a very wise and dignified feeling.

The feeling was however dispersed as soon as he saw me.

A goofy smile appeared on his face.

“Come and have a seat, Kazu-kun. The soup tastes best when it is hot.”

I smiled and sat down.

“Mira was saying that you have been staying most of the last three days in your room. Is everything alright?” He asked, between his bites.

I paused for a moment.

In the last three days, I had thought of the excuses for my absence as I already knew that grandpa always kept tabs on what I was doing to protect me. This was especially after the death of my father and me being the only heir of the Land of Flowers.

“As you know, I went outside the capital a week ago.” I started and he nodded.

“I heard that the Second Ninja War had started a few months ago.”

“Yes. It is unfortunate but sadly there is nothing we can do about it.”

“I saw how our people were suffering. In the Flower Capital, it might not be that apparent but outside, our people, the finest farmers of all lands, are finding it difficult to buy food and this is just the start. Over time this problem will only increase. Will our people have to beg….why do we have to suffer even when we are not participating in these wars? Our people have barely recovered from the attacks of Iwagakura and the loss of our lands and now this. We honestly work all our lives, do we not deserve peace and safety too?”

These were not just excuses.

Grandpa would catch lies from me immediately. The man had almost brought me up all my life.

That is why the best way to divert the topic is to mix my real feelings with something else. The condition of my people was something which actually pained me to witness.

Grandpa let out a sigh at my words.

“There is a saying Kazu-kun. When Elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers. The Ninja War is between the five Great Shinobi Villages, and most importantly, the Daimyos behind them, the elephants of this land and we are the grass. We do not have enough power to resist their might. If we attract attention, we might get stomped to the ground and be erased. The best we can hope for is this troubled time to pass as quickly as possible so that we can focus on rebuilding.”

I clenched my fists at his words.

Logically, I knew that the words he spoke were the truth.

There was nothing cowardly about his words, just cold hard facts.

If we do resist, we will just get wiped out and then the damage to our land and people would be far more than now.

The entire population of the Land of Flowers is not as much as the combined forces of all these five Hidden Villages so there is nothing we can do.

From my future knowledge, I knew that the Land of Whirlpools would suffer the end due to becoming too strong and becoming a threat in the eyes of the major villages.

Even Konoha did not lift a finger to stop them. Officially they would be stopped by their enemies, unofficially, it is because of the Daimyos.

Those five are connected to each other through marriages and interests.

They can fight each other, start wars for petty reasons but they will not let each other collapse for their shared interests.

For people like them, who never step out of their capitals, the whole world is similar to their capitals.

They have never seen the horrors of wars. In fact, for them, wars just fuel their businesses so they start it every decade or so.

It’s an endless cycle….and something which I wish to break.

“You do not look like you want to accept the answer, Kazu-kun. What are your thoughts about it?”

“Why do we not train our own people? At least enough to protect our own place more?”

“We have our Samurai and training more people requires better resources, medicines, techniques and equipment all of which we lack. While we are protected by our shaky alliance with the Land of Lightning, it is by no means a friendship. It is just a way for them to deny their enemy of a valuable resource which are our fertile lands. We also have to give them tributes for a decade for the help they offered us, two years are still left of that. It is causing another drain on our income. Tell me, with all this, how can we afford to train our people?” He asked calmly.

Grandpa’s method of teaching in such situations is to give me the problem and ask me to find a solution. He would then poke holes in my solution unless he could not anymore and only then he was satisfied with my answer.

According to him, if he gave me the answers directly, I would never learn to think for myself.

We, the Daimyo, need our ability to make decisions just as much as a Kage needs strength and jutsu.

He was correct.

To begin anything, we would first need money.

And how do we get money?

It cannot be something extremely new or people wouldn’t easily shift towards that. We need to do something new within the expertise of our people.

The thing which our people are good at is agriculture. This was something even I was trained in. Grandpa did this to make me understand the life source of our people. 

The thing I remember is that they still use primitive methods of agriculture and the produce was good mainly because of the quality of land.

If I could use modern agricultural methods ….then I could probably increase the production of our crops by several times.

It would not only help us survive the Second Shinobi War more comfortably but also give us the much needed funds.

Sure, I could summon gold too or precious gems but selling many of those could attract the attention of dangerous people and during such troubled times, attention was the last thing we needed.

I looked up at Grandpa resolutely. “I have a plan but I need your help.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Convince me to help you.”

I smiled and began relaying my plan to him.

That day, Grandpa postponed his meetings with other nobles and stayed with me for the rest of the morning, discussing everything about my plan.

“Kazu-kun, I am thoroughly impressed with your plans and convictions for the betterment of our people. I am proud to have a successor like you. I will grant you the command over our personal lands for the next planting season to test your experiments. If we get good results, we will expand the method to the rest of our country.”

“I will not disappoint you, Grandpa.”

“Now, is there anything else you need?”

“I….need three Ninja Prisoners. I heard we have a few of them in our cells.”

He looked surprised at my request so I continued. “Going forward, I will have to make decisions which could bring and will bring deaths, either of our people or of our enemies. I want to experience blood so that I don’t lack the resolve at that time. I don’t want to be like the Daimyos of those five Great Nations who don’t know what war and blood feels like.”

He looked at me seriously and nodded. “Very well. I will grant your request.”

We talked about some normal topics and he left for work after that while I went back to my room.

I finally had a direction and a goal. Now I need to work hard to achieve said goal.

Reaching my room, I locked it and searched for the ritual to make me stronger first.

The ingredients for the first ritual were quite simple.

Just some energy and blood.

This blood could belong to animals or even humans.

I copied the list of ingredients I would need for the following rituals and then I tried something else.

Summoning.

Normal unenhanced humans could also summon things at the cost of their stamina although those things will also have to be normal stuff.

I placed my hand on the Grimoire and imagined what I wanted to summon, all the details, every specification.

The next moment, a flash of light burst in the room and I felt an intense burst of weakness fill me as I fell to my knees.

That said, there was an item placed in front of me, I felt joy.

Quickly opening the pouch, I saw grains of rice. To be precise, a genetically engineered variety of rice which gives a higher yield than normal rice in this world.

These seeds were called Miracle Seeds in my previous world with several times the increase in production of crops in limited areas paired with suitable methods of growth.

I wanted to summon more but I really didn’t have energy for it.

I really needed to get the ritual done first.

With this in mind, I forced myself to get up and left the room.

The maid outside bowed as soon as I came out.

“His Majesty has asked me to inform you that your request for prisoners has been granted. You can ask Kensho-sama to assist you whenever you wish to do so.”

Kensho was the Samurai assigned to me when I left the palace. His only duty was to protect me. He had a dozen other Samurai under him but he was the strongest among the group.

Grandpa had hired him from the Land of Iron and said that his strength was comparable to a Chunin Ninja.

“Very Well. Clean the cellar for me. I want it devoid of everything except the lights, a bed, a table and a chair. And get these ingredients for me. Inform me when you are done.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” She bowed and took the paper and left while I came back to my room to rest.

The exhaustion from the summoning was really getting to me.

Right now my chakra reserves were lower than an academy student’s which was really not enough. I needed to get stronger first before I could do anything.

___________________________________x__________________________________

I was awakened from my sleep by a knock on my door.

“Yes.”

“Everything has been arranged, your highness.” Mira's voice came from outside.

I got up and left the room, eager for the next part.

As soon as I got out of the room, she bowed to me. “Everything has been arranged as per your orders.”

“Thank you. Please empty the area around the Cellar. I want complete privacy while I am working. I don’t want to be disturbed unless it’s an emergency or an urgent order from Grandpa.”

“Yes Your Highness.”

With that said, I entered the Cellar and locked the door.

In the future, I would need to use Sealing Jutsu and Barrier Jutsu to guard this place if I am conducting experiments here.

Then again, maybe not doing it in the palace is the best idea.

Still, this place was the safest for me for now.

Inside the room, as instructed everything was placed on the table, one of them being the blood of a chicken.

For the ritual, I needed to make a circle.

I used a chalk to draw the outline for it first and then used the blood to draw over it, forming the ritual circle finally.

Standing in the middle of the ritual circle, I summoned the Grimoire and placed my hands on it and chanted.

The circle lit up and I felt a warm surge of energy in my body at the same time.

I could feel my muscles stretch and skin tighten as my bones crackled with power.

Finally after what seemed like forever and yet was barely a minute, the light of the circle faded.

I looked at my hand and clenched my fist before going towards the table and punching at the wooden post nearby.

The punch left a fist mark on the post.

This much from just some chicken’s blood?

Damn….

I don’t know how strong I was in terms of this world but I was surely far beyond my previous self.

Apart from this, the surroundings in the cellar now seemed clearer to me and I could even smell the smell of chicken blood which I couldn’t do earlier.

The biggest gain however was not the physical strength but the energy I could feel flowing through me.

Chakra.

I quickly summoned my Grimoire and searched for the best basic methods of meditating to control chakra and exercises they taught in the ninja world and had them imprinted into my mind.

The knowledge flowed flawlessly into my mind and I decided to give it a try.

Picking up a leaf from the potted plant nearby, I kept it on my head and tried to focus on it. An energy flowed through my body, reaching my head and grabbing or rather sticking on to the leaf. It stayed there for a few more seconds before it fell.

I will need to practise more.

I imprinted some more knowledge onto my head like Swordsmanship, throwing weapons, etc.

Before doing other enhancement rituals, I decided to get used to my strength first. It would be harder to control my strength if I did multiple rituals in succession right now.

The ingredients for the second ritual were also here while the ingredients for the third ritual would need three Shinobi lives, Genin level and thus the request to Grandpa.

With everything done, I cleaned everything up in the Cellar, stored the ingredients in my Grimoire and left.

___________________________________x__________________________________

Over the night, I summoned several things, mainly genetically engineered seeds of different crops as well as a bit of gold and precious minerals.

The increase in my strength was apparent as what had me exhausted after just one summon, could now be summoned several times before I needed to sleep it off.

The current time was the start of the second great Shinobi War. If I remembered things correctly, the Uzumaki Village and the Land of Whirlpools were destroyed at the end of the second War.

Our Land doesn’t have any ninja villages and while getting Uzumakis to shift here is out of the question, we could still get some of the bloodline to introduce to my people.

But all of that would be a thing for later.

First things first, I needed to deal with the task at hand and that’s exactly where I was going today.

Grandpa worked fast. He had already allocated the lands under me, a large amount of land too, which showed his trust in me as well as several dozen people to work with.

“Alright everyone, gather up around in groups of twelve. There will be eight groups here. Each in charge of one plot of land. Before I start this, let me tell you all, that the one who grows the most crops at the end of this will get a reward from me personally.” Their faces brightened at the mention of the reward. “However, do remember, you can only work honestly on your own land and not interfere with others in any way. If I discover that, I will have to punish the ones involved.” And those faces paled all at once.

I explained the steps to them one by one. I explained to them the Modern Rice Cultivation Method as well as several ways to make organic fertilisers.

Then a suitable group of crops were selected for the crop rotation method of cultivation.

“These methods require a lot of hard work, that I understand but tell me this….when has anything worth high rewards been easy? I will regularly inspect the fields and check on everyone so keep working hard.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

After giving them some more instructions, I left the fields to return to the palace.

“Are you sure these methods will work, Your Highness?” Kensho asked as we were returning back.

“Do you doubt my decisions, Kensho?”

“I dare not.” he bowed.

….

“You seem to have some questions, Kensho. Go on, I will answer them for you.” I said, waving at him.

He looked surprised but spoke nonetheless “This….new method of plantation, if it fails, the Land and the Daimyo’s house will be facing a large loss. Is it wise to do such experiments in times like these, with a war going on between the major nations? Our people are already in trouble as it is. Shouldn’t you play safe first?”

“Desperate times need desperate measures. As you said, the war has just started. Right now, we have the time to experiment for one season. While I am absolutely sure that this method will work, if it doesn’t, there wouldn’t be any problems either as we could just revert to the previous method the next season before the war intensifies. Moreover, when I took this responsibility from his Majesty, I used my own savings as a collateral in case the crops failed. If anything happens, the one suffering the loss will only be me. The labourers will be paid as they were promised. Does that answer your question?”

He nodded and looked at me seriously and then spoke again. “May I ask one more question?”

“Sure.”

“Why? Why are you doing all this? Why risk yourself a loss for all this?”

I looked at the man as if he was an idiot.

“Before I answer your question, could you answer one of mine?” I asked and he nodded so I continued. “You are a samurai sworn to protect me. You would gladly lay down your life for this cause, right?”

He nodded. “Without hesitation”

“Why? Why would you put all your life’s work, training and everything you are for something like that? Why would you risk your life for me?”

“It is my duty.” He answered solemnly.

“Exactly. As the Prince of this country and the next in line for the position of its ruler, it is my duty to do whatever I can for the people of this land. Does that answer your question?”

He bowed deeply. “Yes, Your Highness.”

We walked after that in peace before I spoke, breaking the silence again. “Kensho, I am thinking of continuing my swordsmanship lessons. Would you help me out?”

“I would be honoured, Your Highness.” He said happily.

He used to teach me Swordsmanship as a kid but I gave it up.

Nobles, the Daimyo especially, rarely ever took lessons in Martial Arts. They never needed to.

“Then let’s begin tomorrow.”

- Kazuki Katsuyoshi -

“Report.” He said and Kensho kneeled in front of him.

“His Highness was not under any genjutsu nor was he any impersonator. I was able to enter his room and verify it while he was sleeping. It seems that whatever His Highness has seen outside the capital has had a great impact on him and caused this change in him.” Kensho reported.

He let out a sigh of relief.

Kazuya was the last of his bloodline, his only remaining family alive. He would never forgive himself if he were to lose him.

If it were some imposter or someone trying to control him, he would have done anything and everything in his power to ruin that person….no matter who. Even if it were those big ones, he would at least take a pound of their flesh to the grave with him.

Thankfully, it seems to not be the case.

“What do you think of his actions, Kensho?”

“While I cannot speak of the veracity of his claims, one thing I can say for sure is that His Highness has his mind in the right direction. He seems to genuinely care for his people.”

“So did his father. He will need more than that to survive in this world. Did he ask you about the prisoners?”

“Not yet. He did ask me to resume his swordsmanship lessons though.”

“I see. You have my permission to do so. As long as he doesn’t do anything harmful to himself, let him do it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“You may leave.”

The man left the room and closed the door behind him, finally giving Kazuki to let out a sigh and look at the picture on the wall. “You son is growing up, Kazuma. You would have been so proud to see him like this.” He smiled.

- Kazuya -

My sword clashed with Kensho’s and while he diverted my attack with practised ease, I took a step forward and launched another attack.

Our blades clashed one after another, sending sparks flying everywhere.

After several minutes of fighting, he finally took a step forward and pushed me back and before I could stabilise, I had a sword in front of my eyes.

“You have become a lot stronger than you were before, Your Highness. I believe you might have talent in swordsmanship.” Kensho said while sheathing his katana back into his scabbard.

“Thank you for your lessons.” I did the same and bowed to him.

By now, the manners of a prince were trained into my bones so even the memories I had gained of my previous life could only do so much.

“Where would you put my strength at?” I asked.

He thought for a second before replying. “A trainee samurai or a Shinobi Academy Student in terms of physical powers and a little less in terms of the sword. But considering the fact that you haven’t trained for the last few years, it’s still a great achievement. They have to train for years to get to this power. Compared to them, you can only be called blessed.”

“Hmm, I see.”

So this was just Academy Student level strength.

It seems I have to do the other rituals sooner.

“Kensho, I have a task for you.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“I want you to send some people to find children for me. Between the ages of seven to twelve. Preferably orphans, or those who don’t have any other way of survival. The better the talent, the better for us.”

He didn’t even blink an eye and nodded.

This type of thing was not uncommon in this world.

All forces took in children, especially war orphans and trained them into their forces. Although only a few went as bad as Danzo and his kind.

Samurai were far more honourable than Shinobi in this matter.

They trained the children and gave them education. When they grow up, they could serve for a set period in the army and then either leave or continue.

Even their treatment was far better than Shinobi, although the catch was that they earned less money.

I needed to increase the power of my country to at least face the dangers of some crazy stray shinobi coming in and destroying my country on a whim.

I remember Orochimaru had conquered an entire country on his own and Sasori had destroyed one.

My country was not even strong enough to resist a couple of Elite Jounin, let alone a Kage level.

Even summoning could only let me summon so many people, not to mention, new people suddenly popping up would be found out and we would be under suspicion when that happens later.

The best way is to train some kids from a young age.

I could keep the loyal ones and enhance them with some rituals, teach them some techniques to make a small force to manage peace in the country by the time I start ruling.

As for actual deterrent, those can only be Kage Levels and above.

I had a long way to go until then.

Two weeks had passed since I had introduced the new farming methods and began my swordsmanship training.

While the first ritual increased my strength and physical attributes. It did nothing for my talents. I needed to do something about my mind and soul next.

I had gathered several materials in these two weeks for the rituals.

My plan is to complete all the rituals I can and then start summoning help.

Leaving Kensho to his work, I went back to the Cellar, which I was slowly modifying as my lab.

The place had changed over the last two weeks.

Now the place had cupboards lining the walls, each filled with different types of ingredients. The place looked like a witch’s hideout or a magician’s tower, not that it was much different.

On the other side of the room however, things changed.

They contained books.

Books on Geography, History and several other subjects.

On the wall was a big map of the Elemental Nations with as much detail as was possible.

It was for me to plan my moves.

Today however, I had another purpose.

I began preparing for the next ritual.

This one would increase the power of my mind, and make me smarter overall.

Drawing the Magic Circle was easy. It was more complicated than the last time but still nothing. After everything was done, I placed the required items in different parts of the circle and sat in the middle and began chanting.

The ritual took a few minutes to start but when it did, the Magic Circle lit up again and this time I could feel the energy from those items crawl up to me and enter my body.

Unlike the last time where my whole body felt warm from inside, this time, I felt sleepy.

My mind was both getting clearer and hazy at the same time.

Before I realised, I had collapsed in the room.

I woke up five hours later and found myself laying on the floor of the room.

It was almost time for dinner so I went back to my room and got cleaned up. I would do the next ritual for the empowerment of the soul at night.

Grandpa was waiting for me in his room.

I greeted him as I sat in front of him.

“How is your work going?” He asked between bites.

“Good for now. The people are picking up new things well.”

“I heard that you have asked for children to train as your retinue?

“Yes. I wanted to increase the number of people under me as well as in our country to help with the security of the country. Our produce is going to be higher. This will obviously attract the eyes of others. We need to start preparing for these things starting now or it will be too late.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you really that confident that your method will work?”

“Absolutely.” I nodded. “Moreover, some of the seeds I have purchased are of a new variety of rice. I heard from the trader that this variety of rice was only found on a different continent. It will be a novelty for the people of other countries.”

“Did you get swindled?” He asked, suspiciously making my lips twitch.

….

“Grandpa, is there a variety of rice on the continent that I don’t know? Didn’t you personally make sure of that?”

“Ah….well I did. So, what’s special about this one?”

Long grain rice was mainly found in the South Asian countries in my old world. They were however not found anywhere in this one.

I had planted those in one part of the field and wanted to see how they were received by the people of this world.

“I am also working on some fertiliser formulas to help grow better crops.”

“Good. As long as you know what you are doing. I am looking forward to tasting the rice grown by you.” He smiled.

I gave him a smile in return.

“Do you need any help from me?” He asked.

“I…” I wanted to ask for a Shinobi to teach my people but stopped myself.

At this point, any shinobi we hire will be a spy so it’s better to avoid them.

“No. It’s fine. I will ask you if I need anything.”

“Good.”

The conversation then shifted to normal things and I left after an hour.

I went straight to prepare for the night’s ritual.

This ritual required several eggs.

Yes. Eggs.

Fertilised Eggs of Birds were required to be sacrificed, a total of seven of them, each one from a different species.

Now, it was normally hard to tell if an egg was fertilised or not but that problem was solved when I stored them in my Grimoire.

I got all the information about them.

So selecting the eggs was quite easy.

The ritual had some requirements like it had to be after the sun sets and in a room with no natural light.

My Cellar provided me with such an environment easily.

The Ritual Circle for the Soul Empowerment Ritual was far more complicated than Body and Mind Empowerment ones.

But then again, soul was a very complicated thing too.

After the preparations were completed, I checked everything twice.

The last step was placing the eggs in their places and sitting in the middle and activating the circle with Chakra.

This time, the reaction was instantaneous.

The ritual circle lit up and almost immediately, I felt myself lose consciousness.

My last thoughts before losing consciousness was being glad that I had the whole night to sleep.

___________________________________x__________________________________

Two months had passed since I did the soul ritual.

The first thing that I noticed right after the ritual was the increase in my chakra.

My chakra capacity had more than doubled with the ritual. Sure it was nothing, merely Genin level and my strength was probably lower than that, but it was obtained without any training and instantly too.

Normal children had to train for several years to get to this level.

This Grimoire is extremely broken.

Other than this, the increase to my mind’s power was also visible. I could think faster, make calculations faster, understand things better and even remember things more easily.

I had to get used to my increased powers. Sometimes things could be disorienting due to my increased capacity because the body was not used to its new powers.

A month of training with Kensho brought me back to my usual control.

The reason I was waiting until now was because I was trying to learn chakra control. First, learning it when I have lower amounts of chakra is easier and second, I needed to learn some technique to mask my chakra because even Kensho was able to feel my increased Chakra later.

I couldn’t allow this to be found out by some other Ninja Villages or I would be kidnapped and the whole Land of Flowers would be doomed.

That’s why the first thing I did was have the Grimoire search for the Chakra Suppression Technique and imprint the basic level in my mind while I practised it. I would do the rituals when I have a decent mastery of the technique.

Using more chakra also increased my reserves. I had mastered the meditation technique taught in the Ninja Villages and was now on to the Leaf Sticking Technique.

The second round of rituals needed to be done on certain days so I took the opportunity to collect materials for them as well as research how to use these rituals for others as well as what other kinds of rituals are there.

What I found out was that the book had almost everything in terms of rituals. From taking possession of someone’s body to gaining someone’s powers, even innate ones like Kekkei Genkai. There were also ones on increasing one’s charm to modifying one’s body and several different aspects.

I was planning on increasing my charm as it was something useful for a leader.

Apart from this, there were rituals to simply increase chakra reserves as well as the density of chakra, get affinity for Senjutsu, etc.

If I got a decade to develop, I was sure I could make a village comparable to one of the five Great Shinobi Villages.

Several things have happened in these two months. First, in these two months, the crops which they had planted have started growing. Second, the news about the Second Great Shinobi War has increased.

The entire war was started due to economic disparities between nations. They were pushing forward to expand in every direction and this was not just between the five major nations but also Ame.

Despite this being a war between the Five Great Nations, none of it was actually fought on the land of the five. It was all fought on the lands of the smaller nations, leaving them devastated. Over time, they could easily be captured or parts of these lands taken away as ‘protection fees’ by the big five.

Whatever happens, whether we fight or not, we lose.

This is the reality of being weak. The ones who suffer the most from it are the nations who share the borders with two or more Great Nations directly like Rain, Grass and Waterfall.

Things were progressing quicker than I was expecting.

On the plus side, Kensho brought over a hundred children who were orphaned in the war. This was only the first batch as I wasn’t allowed more than them by Grandpa at this point. He said that if I wanted to increase the forces more, I would have to pay for them myself. The most he will help me is give the land he had offered me before.

I would have to think of a new avenue of income.

Sigh….it would have been so easy if it were peace time right now.

The medicine and food Industry could have flourished so easily but now, while the prices of these things were greater, possessing them with no strength to protect them was a sin.

I shook my head concentrating on the work at hand first.

The kids had been given homes in a building which was built just for them. They had several caretakers, staying there.

I would need to get teachers for them.

Kenshou alone was not enough as he was always guarding me and the rest of the Samurai, except those who protected Grandpa directly….were just too weak.

I guess I need to hurry up and do the summonings.

I had another place created outside the palace for my experiments and rituals. This place was surrounded by high walls.

The reason I did this was so that I could do rituals which needed me to be outdoors.

Today, I reached there and entered the room. After checking that no one was spying, I summoned my Grimoire.

It was my first experiment in summoning a living being so it’s better to summon someone relatively weaker at first.

Let’s see what I can summon with mid genin level reserves.

To try things out, I need to be as vague as possible to keep the energy costs lower.

Hmm?

What do I want right now?

I guess I need someone to protect me, a sword user with great potential maybe.

I closed my eyes and placed a hand on my Grimoire and focused on this thought.

Bring someone who would otherwise die to serve as my retainer.

My chakra was syphoned quickly and I felt exhausted suddenly.

Damn, I have regularly been using my chakra to summon stuff but I never felt this exhausted. Was summoning living beings this hard?

I fell to my knees when the summoning was completed and in front of me stood a young girl. She looked even younger than me, around twelve or so years old.

She had short blue hair and black eyes.

The girl looked at me in surprise as I forced myself to get up.

“Hello. My name is Kazuya Katsuyoshi. Could you please introduce yourself?”

“I….my name is….Kuina Shimotsuki.”

….

Wow.

__________________________________x_____________________________________________________________________x___________________________________

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Author’s Note:

What can I say, my muse kicked in and here is the first chapter of the new story.

I wanted to try something in a different world.

Naruto seemed interesting as I was planning to write a Daimyo MC for a long time.

As a result of this, this story began.

The first chapter is just an introductory chapter, a simple explanation of the basic situation of the MC and the workings of his power.

In the coming chapters, we will see his challenges and how he makes plans to deal with these challenges.

Note: This will be a relatively slow story so don't expect kicking Madara and conquering the word in 5 chapters.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.