The Book: Chapter 2: Settling In (Patreon)

Ruling by the Book

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2: Settling In

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- Kazuya -

I woke up to a knock on the door. Looking around, I realised that I had fallen asleep in my lab.

“Damn, that last ritual had tired me out more than I was expecting.” I whispered to myself before another knock was heard outside. “Coming. Give me fifteen minutes.” I replied back.

Yesterday night I was using the second round of Ritual to strengthen my Soul.

After reading and researching for a bit, I discovered that strengthening the soul first was the way to go.

There were several reasons for that.

First, the stronger I was, the more materials it took to strengthen me and Soul Strengthening took the most expensive and rare materials. So if I did that last, I would have to spend more money.

Second, increasing the power of the Soul not only provided me with chakra but also gave me resistance to Genjutsu and certain techniques like the Yamanaka’s Mind Transmission Technique and other techniques related to souls to a certain extent. It wasn’t much but something was better than nothing.

Lastly, it was nigh impossible to detect.

Thus making for the safest increase in strength followed by Mind and lastly Body.

I hoped these rituals at least pushed me beyond Chunin Level in chakra and I could start summoning again.

After cleaning everything, I opened the door to find Kuina standing outside. She looked much better today.

Dressed in a kimono, she had a sword at her side as she stood outside my door.

It has been a month since she was summoned by me. At first she was a bit scared but she realised that she was dying in that world and only being summoned here saved her life and thus she slowly regained her calm.

Still, it wasn’t easy for such a young girl to accept the fact that she died.

I had promised her that one day I would help her go back to her world….alive. This had helped her regain hope and decide to work for me.

The condition I had stipulated when summoning her was that I needed someone to protect me. A sword user with great potential.

I never said strength and only potential and thus the one given to me was Kuina. The girl had more potential than Zoro, the guy who would one day go on to become the strongest swordsman in the world….or at least I hope he did.

When watching One Piece, I had always felt bad for Kuina, such great potential exhausted so suddenly.

I had always wondered what would happen if she got the treatment she deserved. Would we see another sword user on the level of Momousagi or maybe even surpassing her?

And now it looks like I could see it for myself.

The best part about summoning someone was that they could still use the powers of their home world, regardless of rules or requirements. The only catch was that they couldn’t teach the powers to others if it required the mechanics of that world to work.

So, in a way, she could still learn Haki and have ridiculous One Piece strength but she might not be able to teach that to anyone.

I might be able to gain those abilities through rituals but that would require me to train like her too, at least until I can go to her world myself and sync my Grimoire to it.

Gaining Kuina was actually quite a boon for me.

She was exceptionally talented in swordsmanship. Even now, she could mow down all the kids we had recruited and even the newbie Samurai under Grandpa. She was quite strong physically and I knew that she could get even stronger over time as long as she trained more.

Her sudden appearance did arouse  doubts, a simple talk with Grandpa made her my personal bodyguard, answerable only to me and thus forbidding anyone to look into her.

Every Daimyo had his own bodyguards trained personally so that they would be loyal to them only.

Kuina was the first of my bodyguards and I had the right to decide what to do with her. Grandpa had agreed to this.

The first thing that I did was teach her basic chakra exercise. While the people I summon are attuned to this world by the Grimoire’s power, they still need to learn the skills from scratch. 

Samurai of this world used Chakra too although only for reinforcement of their bodies and their blades.

It was still a very useful technique though.

In the last three months, I had written several books about basic shinobi arts like meditation method, chakra control method, basic E and D Rank Jutsus, academy level stuff and stored them in a hidden room built in my Warehouse for her to read.

Although she practised only the skills used by the Samurai, the new power also served to inspire her towards her goal of becoming the strongest swordswoman. I had taken my time to tell her how few of the strongest people in the world were women like Big Mom, Boa Hancock, Yamato and Momousagi. If they could reach there, why couldn’t she?

Safe to say the words lit a flame in her which had previously been doused by the words of her father.

Now she was training with the goal of returning back to her world and defeating Zoro and taking the title of the strongest sword user in the world.

“Did you sleep in your lab?” She asked, looking at me incredulously.

“Hahahaha yes, I was doing some work and fell asleep.”

“Doing one of your shady experiments again?” She asked, her voice a bit lower this time.

“Hey! What do you mean by shady experiments? All of my experiments are for the purpose of helping my people.”

She was still not used to this retainer business and mostly talked to me in her tomboyish way.

I thought it was funny, unfortunately Mira didn’t.

She was training her in manners and etiquette befitting the retinue of the future Flower Daimyo. However when we were alone, she reverted back to her normal ways.

She just rolled her eyes at my words.

“Anyways, you were late for breakfast so Mira-sama sent me to get you. In case you forgot, Daimyo-sama is going to be visiting the Land of Medicine for business matters. You don’t want to make him late.”

“Oh! I completely forgot about it. Gimme fifteen minutes, I will be ready.”

“Hurry up.”

Rushing back to my room, I quickly took a bath and arrived at Grandpa’s room.

“Kazu-kun, did you sleep while working yesterday? That won’t do, you know. You need to take care of your health too. If you become sick, it will only delay you in your work.”

“....I will take care, Grandpa.”

“Kuina-kun. You should watch over him. If he doesn’t follow my instructions, be sure to inform me when I return.”

“Yes, Daimyo-sama.”

My lips twitched at her prompt answer.

“Now, I heard that you were collecting herbs and medicines. Do you have anything you want me to get from the Land of Medicines?” He asked.

“Oh, yes. I have already prepared the list. I will have someone send it to you. Although doubtful, it would be great if we could get fresh plants and seeds so that we could grow those medicines here too.”

I mean sure I could summon them to me too but that’s not viable for large scale uses.

“I doubt they would do that. Most of their income depends on the exports of those medicines.” He shook his head.

“Well too bad, I guess.”

“Anyways, I have heard that your farming methods are quite a success. Although not ripe, we are expecting almost double the amount of produce from your lands compared to our best records yet. If things work out as we are predicting, then after the war, I would like to use this method for all our lands. It would be a boon for our people.”

He then looked at Mira and Kuina and the older woman took Kuina and left the room, leaving the two of us alone.

“I know you have some secrets, Kazu-kun.” My heart froze at his words but he continued. “but….I won’t ask you about them. You are my blood and I trust you and your reasons for hiding them.” He then hesitated before continuing. “These are troubled times, Kazu-kun. Please take care of yourself. While I  couldn’t be prouder of your achievements, I am also worried about the attention it would attract to you. You are the only family I have.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat I didn’t know I had while he continued.

“Our land has still not completely recovered from the last war. In terms of power, we are the weakest nations in our area, a position we share with the Land of Stairs and possessing treasure is a crime in such times. Keep this in mind.”

“I will.” I nodded hurriedly.

“Good. I will be back in two weeks at most. Take care of everything till then. If you need anything, you can ask Mira.”

I nodded.

We talked about a few more things and finally excused ourselves to go on our own way.

His words also confirmed the fact that the war was getting messier everyday.

It was only a matter of time before it came to our door.

I will have to hurry up the rituals. I already have some mastery of the Chakra Suppression Technique now. I have been practising it nonstop for the last three months.

I think I can carry on with the rituals now.

With this in mind, I directly went to Kensho.

“Your Highness?”

“We want those three genins today.” I directly broached the subject without any nonsense.

“I see, when would you need them?”

“An hour before midnight.”

He didn’t show any expression but agreed. “Where should I bring them?”

“To our new warehouse.”

“Very well. They will be there.” He agreed.

This time he didn’t ask for anything either.

“Kuina.”

“Yes?”

“Would you spar with Kensho? He is one of our strongest Samurai. You might learn something from him.”

“Oh….I….does Kensho-san have any problems with it?”

“No Miss. I would be glad to accompany you to a fight. I have heard a lot about your skill with the blade, it would be an honour to see it with my own eyes.”

“Great. Then the two of you go ahead and spar while we go and work on some projects of ours.” I clapped my hands and smiled.

Without giving them any chances, I returned to the warehouse and started to prepare for the night’s big ritual.

__________________________________x___________________________________

Kensho arrived right on time.

Behind him were three people, dragged along. Their hands and feet were in chains and handcuffs and they could hardly move.

Not that they had the energy for that.

He came and bowed in front of me. “Here is what you requested, Your Highness.”

I nodded. “Where are they from? What are their crimes?”

“They were from Amegakure. They had left their village and started working as bandits in our Lands, pillaging villages, murdering and raping. They were also involved in human trafficking.”

“How were they captured?”

“Lord Daimyo hired Shinobi to have them captured.”

“Just them?”

“No. Their leader was a Chunin Shinobi and there were several normal bandits in their group too.”

I nodded. “Very well.” No need to show them any mercy then.

“Their chakra has been sealed and they are dosed with medicines to keep them powerless. They won’t be able to use any strength for the next twelve hours.”

“Very well. Thank you, Kensho-san. We shall take this matter from here.”

Kensho hesitated for a bit. “Your Highness, they are still Shinobi….”

“It’s fine Kensho-san. We can take care of this. Kuina.”

“Yes?” The girl beside me answered.

“Knock them out and drag them inside.”

“Alright.”

She knocked the three with a hit from her katana’s sheathe and dragged them behind her, following me.

Inside the basement, I had already finished preparing for the ritual.

The circles had been drawn already.

“Place them in the three circles and then you can leave the room.” I told Kuina and she nodded. I noticed that she was a bit nervous, probably understanding what was going to happen.

“Are you feeling pity for them?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. I heard what they have done. In my world, there were similar pirates too. These kinds of people deserve no mercy.” She said with a hint of steel in her voice. I hadn’t seen this attitude of hers yet.

I nodded. “Then, what are you worried about?”

“Are you going to do it yourself?”

“Yes. I need to do this.” I replied, resolutely.

She looked at me and nodded, following orders.

With her gone, I didn’t stop either.

I activated the circle and drew my sword, swinging it and taking down one of the unconscious ninja. The blood from it splattered everywhere, some of it on my face.

Warm.

His blood was warm.

My heart was beating rapidly.

I had felt the entire strike, from the feeling of cutting flesh to the bones and while my new strength made it easy, it didn’t reduce the feelings of disgust I felt from the action.

Quickly pulling looking at the other shinobi, I left this one and headed towards the other, repeating the same thing two more times before going to the centre of the Ritual Circle and sitting inside and began chanting.

The entire room lit up with an eerie red light as the bodies of the three shinobi in the circle started dissolving into a red liquid. The red liquid transformed into characters and slithered through the magic circles on to my body.

Unlike the previous times however, this time I felt pain as if countless ants were biting me throughout my body, even on the insides, even my soul wasn’t spared of the pain.

I gritted my teeth and tried to endure as best as I could.

After what seemed like hours, the pain started to become lesser…. Or maybe I was just becoming numb to it.

When the pain finally stopped and the ritual circle died down, I dragged my body out of the room and collapsed outside.

There was no way I was sleeping in that room now.

Before losing my consciousness, I heard Kuina’s worried voice and then it was all black.

__________________________________x___________________________________

I opened my eyes to see an unfamiliar roof. It took me a moment to realise that this was the room I had in my lab.

The memories of last night came flooding in and I remembered that Kuina had probably carried me here after I had passed out.

And in those memories came the part in which I had killed those three genin ranked shinobi while they were unconscious.

I knew I had to do it. I knew they were scum. I knew that it was my duty to do so to protect my people. And even then, even knowing all this didn’t do anything to assuage the feelings of disgust that welled up in my heart from those memories.

How could people do this on a regular basis? How could they make a profession out of killing? How do they even sleep at night after murdering people?

Several thoughts came in my head as I shook them off.

Perhaps it was the memories of my previous life which was affecting me this way as while it was rare in my previous world, it was a pretty common thing in this world.

I couldn’t let my moral sensibilities of my previous life affect me here or I would be dead meat before I can do anything at all.

This world was a jungle. Here you either eat or get eaten.

If I can’t even take someone’s life, if I lacked even that much resolve then all that was waiting for me was death.

A deep breath helped me calm down and got up to see myself in the mirror.

It felt strange looking at myself.

My brown hair and green eyes were the same but my face looked sharper. It wasn’t childish anymore. Now it was transitioning between a child and a man.

I think I have grown an inch or so. I removed my kimono and hot damn….those abs.

Not to say I had fat on my body or anything due to my regular lessons of swordsmanship but now the muscles on my body were something else entirely.

These were only the visible changes. The main changes were inside.

My chakra had increased almost three fold which was saying something as my chakra has been constantly increasing in the last three months due to training and had increased even further when I did the soul ritual yesterday. 

I don’t know how much Chunin level chakra was but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be far off from that level now.

My mind felt a lot sharper than before.

My senses were sharper too. My eyesight, smell, hearing and even the sense of touch felt far more refined than before. It was an overall improvement.

And it was due to this improvement that I could smell the scent of blood and sweat on my body.

I wanted to test my strength but taking a bath first was necessary so I did just that.

When I finally came out, I saw Kuina standing there worried. Beside her was Kensho and he looked worried as well. “Are you alright, Your Highness.”

“Ah yes. We are sorry, last night was a bit too much for us and we fainted. It seems that we still need to learn a lot.”

I am pretty sure Kensho must have noticed the changes in my body but didn’t ask anything. Was it because of Grandpa? He knew I was hiding things too.

“Are you really okay?” Kuina asked too.

“Perfectly. We believe today is the day we have to check on the growth of the fields and decide on the day of harvest?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Good then we will head there after breakfast. Kensho, would you please inform the men and ask them to be ready by afternoon today?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” He bowed.

“Very well then. We believe it’s time for our breakfast. We are starving.”

And indeed I was starving. Was it the changes in my body or something but I felt like I could eat our entire granary out.

Kensho left and Kuina followed me hesitantly.

“You can ask me anything you want, you know.” I asked as I walked towards the palace.

“What….what was that about? How did you….well, become this?”

“Strengthening rituals.”

“Rituals?”

“Magic.”

She scoffed and I looked at her with a frown.

“I brought you here from the verge of death, isn’t that magic enough for you?”

That shut her up.

“So those three people….”

“Are gone. They will never be any danger to us again.” I finished, leaving no room for any further discussion.

She didn’t ask anything else either.

We had a quiet breakfast and the first thing we did was go to the training ground.

“I want to test out my new strength. Accompany me to a spar.”

She nodded.

We used bokken instead of regular swords.

Until now, I had never won against Kuina. Even with my use of Chakra, she was stronger than me….and far more skilled than me too.

Today however was different.

My strikes were heavier. My reactions were faster. My mind was working faster and I could see all her strikers clearer.

Even without using chakra, I was faster, and could take on her blows and defend against her attacks with an advantage of speed. Although I was not used to my new strength and thus my moves were not controlled. She was using all the holes in my attacks to defend and retaliate against me.

The match ended abruptly when I actually used chakra and shattered her bokken.

“What in the world did you do?” She asked, stunned at the attack.

Even I myself was stunned.

“I don’t know.” I answered, looking at the shattered bokken in her hand and the slightly broken one in my hand.

“It was as if someone pushed extra power but no control into you all of a sudden. You were better at fighting before. I think you should get used to this level of power first.”

I nodded at her advice. That was exactly what I wanted to do.

My current strength and potential were enough to train to a Jōnin level if I were to put hard work into it. Obviously such a feat would take time and lots of effort but it could be done. Jōnin were not simple people after all.

Even in the five major villages, among tens of thousands of shinobi, there were only a few hundred Jōnin at best.

In smaller villages, the kage of the village has the same strength as a Jōnin or Elite Jōnin from a major village.

Perhaps my perception of strength has been twisted due to the memories of my previous life where Jōnin were dying left and right.

It wasn’t an invincible level of strength but it wasn’t bad either.

Apart from this, the next ritual would need more and stronger ingredients and getting them would be harder.

I was thinking of getting some new abilities using the next ritual rather than blindly increasing my strength.

Some abilities like Sensing or even some Bloodlines could be the difference between life and death for me.

This level of chakra would be enough to summon materials. There were still many intricacies I didn’t know about the process as why most of the times things were non magical and why sometimes things came out as magical. There was still a lot I needed to learn.

As for people, after summoning Kuina, I discovered something about summoning intelligent creatures.

I could only do so once every month and even then the other side had the right to reject the summoning. If that happens, I would have to wait another month before summoning anything. The only silver lining was that I got back half the energy used in such a case. This limit might increase as I become more familiar with the abilities of the Grimoire.

Sure enough, such a cheat would have some restrictions or at Kage level, I could just make an army in a year.

Moreover, I could only summon a certain number of people depending on my strength after which the chances of successful summoning would be reduced.

It had something to do with how the Grimoire was allowing them to use the abilities of their worlds even if such things might not be possible in this world. And the Grimoire’s strength depended on my strength, thus the limit.

Sigh….so many freaking restrictions.

Apart from this, I had some plans for the energy for summoning others.

I mean I could use the energy of other beings for this and this world has many such sources like the Tailed Beasts and similar creatures. With enough planning, I could make use of those. But that’s a story for later.

For now, I need to focus on what’s in front of me.

After the spar, I cleaned up and left for the fields with Kuina.

There, Kensho had already gathered everyone.

In front of me was the product of the last three and half months of everyone’s work.

The lush fields of rice which swayed with the wind. The production was almost two and half times more in these lands compared to any other.

I looked at the bright faces of all the people who had worked together to make this happen and could see pride in their eyes as they looked at the fields and happiness at their achievement.

“Hello everyone. How have you all been?” I asked, addressing the crowd which erupted into a cacophony of replies.

“Hahahaha alright alright, one by one. Just answer yes and no for now. Are you happy with the results of your hard work?” I asked loudly.

“Yes!” Came the united voice of my people.

“Did you learn something new in these last few months?”

“Yes!”

“This my people, is not a miracle. It’s the product of your own hard work and a bit of my knowledge of crops. “This…. can be done by any of you just as easily. I hope you will use this knowledge and bring prosperity to our land.”

The crowd cheered at my words.

I inspected the land and looked decided on the day of harvest before leaving the people with some more instructions.

While walking back, Kensho and Kuina followed me.

“Alright, out with it. What questions do you have?” I asked, looking at Kensho’s face.

“Your Highness, was it really wise to give away such a magical method to people? Aren’t you afraid that they would leak it to other Lands?”

“Well obviously the method will leak. Whether it leaks today or tomorrow but it will leak for sure. If anything, if it leaks easily, the other lands will not hire shinobi to steal the methods or even our crops. You must understand that when you are not strong enough to protect something, it is better to distribute it at a lower price lest you attract danger.”

They looked at me open mouthed and I continued.

“Moreover, even if they get the method, they will never be able to replicate our results as it relies on the fertilisers, seeds and the land of our people. That’s something they will not get. So all in all, while their production might increase by 15-18%, they will not reach our levels.” I smiled. “So don’t worry. We will not be losing anything.”

“But the best part in all this will be that my people will all have increased produce from next year. They will get a better standard of living and we will have more income in taxes. It’s a win-win for all. Don’t you agree?”

“Yes. Yes, Your Highness is wise.”

“Now then, I want you to focus on training the children we recruited as the Police Force of the Land of Flowers. With these crops, we will have enough funds to support them for a while.”

“I will get right on to it.”

“Great. Kuina, how about you come with me around the city today? I am quite happy with our success and it’s been a while since I have walked around the capital.”

She nodded and followed me.

Kensho followed us and after taking a round around the capital, we returned to the palace. He went for his own work while Kuina and I went to my warehouse.

A month had passed and it was time to summon someone else.

We locked the place as usual and I summoned my Grimoire and got ready for summoning.

My goal was to summon someone who could train my people to protect my land. Summon someone who might die otherwise.

Just like the last time, the lights lit up the place and gathered together to form the figure of a person.

I felt the energy drain from my body but this time it was much more manageable than before I guess my body and soul being stronger helped out.

When the light faded, the entire scene became clear.

In front of us stood a rather tall man with a lean but fit frame. He had a long face with pronounced cheekbones and tear-troughs. His eyes were piercing and narrow while yellow in colour and his short black hair was neatly slicked back with the exception of four bangs over his forehead.

The man gave a feeling of a wild animal, a wolf to be precise.

He just stared at us but didn’t say anything so I opened the conversation.

“May I know your name?” I asked politely.

“Isn’t it good manners to give your own before asking for another person’s name?” He replied in a deep voice.

….

I smiled at his words. “Ahahahaha my apologies. My name is Kazuya Katsuyoshi, the Prince of the Land of Flowers.” He raised his eyebrow at the introduction but I continued before he could ask something. “I assume you know that you are not in your world anymore?” I asked.

He nodded. “Indeed. I was informed of such but I thought I was hallucinating due to my injuries. He looked at his chest. “Which look like they have vanished too. Did you heal me?” He asked.

“It was a product of my power, yes.” I nodded. “May I know your name?”

“My name is Saitō Hajime.”

That made me raise my eyebrows. “The former captain of the third unit of the Shhinsengumi, Saitō Hajime?” I asked curiously.

“You have heard of me? Well obviously, or you wouldn’t have called me here from the verge of death.”

“Eh….that’s not the case. I do have knowledge of several worlds and several people. Consider it a gift from the Gods but I don’t know you personally or summon you here specifically. My request was to summon someone who would have otherwise died and someone who could help me teach my people how to protect our country. You just happened to meet the requirements.” I clarified to not it become a problem later on.

“So I was just a random choice then?” He asked.

I scratched my cheek. “I am sorry if you were called here without your permission. I was made to believe that you all accepted the summoning and only there you were summoned here.”

He nodded. “I did. The other option was death.”

….

Seeing the awkward look on my face, the guy asked more.

“Tell me everything in detail. If I am to work here, I need to know everything I am dealing with. Leave no detail behind.”

“Then please come and have a seat. Also, would you like to take a bath and some food before we start talking?”

“I would appreciate that, thanks.”

We brought him out to a new room and gave him time to get refreshed and finally had dinner. After that, we began to talk where I explained the brief history of this world to him along with the current structure of the world.

During this time, I found out something far more interesting that I was hoping for.

This version of Saitō Hajime died due to his injuries against….Makoto Shishio.

Holy Crap! This was the Ruronin Kenshin version of Saitō Hajime. I won the lottery.

“These Shinobi, how strong would you say they are?” He asked, narrowing his eyes.

“The best Swordsman in your world would just be a Chunin and that’s pushing it already.” I replied.

He frowned. “Are you underestimating the swordsmen of my country?”

“Oh no. If anything I am actually respecting their abilities which is why I am putting them up with Chunins. Let me give you an idea about how strong different ranks of Shinobi can be.”

His frown remained but he was willing to listen. Kuina listened on the side too.

Over the next hour I went into the different ranks of Shinobi and their average strengths in detail.

“An Elite Jōnin could take down hundreds of trained Samurai who do not possess any chakra and come back without any scratch. As for the Kage….one Kage could destroy a small country like ours without suffering a single scratch. There are other powers who rival Kages or are even stronger but let’s not talk about them for now. It’s better not to know for now as if they get involved, we would die no matter what. They can destroy and reshape the entire land in their battles.”

By the end of it all, I saw his mouth open and the look of shock marred on his usually composed face.

“I am not looking to go into a war, Saitō-san. I just want my people to have some protection in such troubled times. Also, in case you didn’t know, you have chakra now too. Considering it a more advanced version of Chi. I will give you a method so that you can learn to use it too. It will surely increase your combat power as well.”

He looked to be in thought so I decided to give him more time.

“As you saw, there are plenty of books in my lab about every subject you might need to know about this land. I will give you a week’s time to decide.”

“I decided to accept your offer as soon as I accepted the summoning. I just need to know more about what I am dealing with. I believe you don’t want anyone to know that I don’t belong to this world?”

I shook my head and told him of the things he couldn’t reveal to anyone. I even applied commands on him.

And finally, we left him in the warehouse and informed the guards that he was a guest of mine who will be staying there for sometime.

“Who was that guy?” Kuina asked me as we were heading back to the palace.

“Saitō Hajime is a great swordsman and was in a position similar to the Marines of your world. He worked for the government to protect the people of his country from criminals.” I explained.

“I could tell that he was strong.” She said, looking forward.

I looked at her and shook my head. “While he might be one of the strongest people in his world, in your world….he wouldn’t even be able to stand in the presence of the strongest man. Not just him, even Jōnin level shinobi will lose their consciousness in the presence of the top level pirates. If you want to go back and become the strongest swordswoman in your world….you have a far harder goal than me who is trying to make my country one of the strongest in this world.”

She became quiet and then spoke after some time. “Can you tell me something about my world? I hardly know about anything outside our island.”

“Oh. Alright. First, let’s start from your Island and family itself.” And there I began telling her about the Shimotsuki Family of Wano who had come to East Blue looking to see the outside world and settled there.

By the time we reached the palace, the story was over and we had dinner together.

I generally ate with Grandpa but since he wasn’t home yet, I ate with Kuina today.

Finally, I retired to my room.

I was feeling exhausted after the summoning and could barely hold back anymore.

_________________________________x____________________________________

Grandpa came back two weeks later.

In that time, Saitō had studied everything he could about this world and even developed a backstory for himself. His years of working as a spy for the government were showing.

According to his story, he was a mercenary and bounty hunter who was hired by me as a samurai under my service. Kensho was a bit wary of him but didn’t say anything after a word from me.

Saitō had immediately started working on teaching the kids.

While he was not a master at using Chakra, his speed of learning was very great, being a Chi user himself. Apart from that, his swordsmanship was great and he was a great leader too.

The guy was among the people who established the entire network of police forces in Japan. I hoped he could do something like that here too.

“Okay, I know kids grow fast but isn’t this a bit too fast?” Was the first thing Grandpa said after looking at me.

I smiled. “Welcome back, Grandpa.”

“I heard that you had changed suddenly but just what have you been up to, Kazu-kun?” The shock in his voice was apparent.

“I….did some experiments. Don’t worry. It’s nothing harmful. I have been working on some medicines lately and tried something new.”

“If you want to try something, do that on one of the criminals, not yourself.” He scolded.

“It’s fine, Grandpa. I would never take a risk with my life. I promised you that I would take care of myself, didn’t I?” I assured.

“Sigh….one day you will have to tell me everything.” He sighed as he sat down in his seat and massaged his head.

“I promise. In fact, I was planning to show you something if you got the things I asked you to bring.”

“Yes yes. I got everything you asked for. Do you know how much those things cost? For a moment I thought I would have to ask for a loan from the Medicine guy. I had to use money from my personal stash. You better be grateful.”

“When am I not grateful?” I rolled my eyes.

“And you should be. In fact, I know just the thing you could do to pay me back.” He said with a conspiratorial grin.

“Hah….?”

“Yeah, do you know how many years of my savings I had to spend on everything? Shouldn't you do something for me too?”

I laughed. “Okay, what do you want?”

“First promise me that you will agree.”

“Well, if I don’t know what this is about, how would I know if I could do it? I don’t want to make false promises to you.”

“Hah! Don’t worry. It’s something you could absolutely do.” He said with a snort, which was quite unlike his normal behaviour. Just what was he talking about?

“Alright, I promise.” I nodded.

“Great. Now I can reply back to the Stairs Daimyo and say that you have agreed to the marriage.”

“Agreed to a….what!”

“Marriage. What I want is a great grandson from you.”

“Okay, just hold on for a moment. That’s not what….”

“You promised.”

“I am fifteen.”

“Almost sixteen. Your birthday is next month. It’s the age people can get married in the land.”

“I am too young. I have a lot to do and….” I tried protesting.

“And you could do everything even if you are married. If there is someone you like, for example Kuina-kun, you could also take concubines. She is not going to hold you in your room or anything. And even if she did, it’s not like it would be much different from now….” He whispered the last part.

“I heard that, you know. I totally heard that. Also there is nothing going on between Kuina and me. We are just friends.”

“Hah! Your father said the same thing and then you were born.”

My lips twitched at the sudden change of topic. Still, that is not what I want to talk about right now.

“What? Am I lying?” He replied, stubbornly too.

I let out a sigh. “Can you tell me what brought this on all of a sudden?”

He smiled widely. “Well, do you know I visited the Land of Medicine?”

“To discuss business? They want grains and you wanted to discuss the change in prices due to the war.”

“Well yeah, that was a part of it. But there was another more important reason for going there.” He continued. “It was a gathering of the Daimyos of small countries in the surrounding areas.” Here his face became serious, dropping all the joking manner he had just seconds ago. “Can you guess why?”

“They are getting tense with the movements of the Big Five, aren’t they?” I asked, already sure of the answer.

He nodded. “Yes. We talked about alliances. Only by grouping up could we offer even the slightest resistance against the big five, not militarily maybe but economically at the very least. There we discussed ways to strengthen the bonds between our nations through exchange of resources, technology and finally….marriage. It is after all the oldest ways of building relations.” He finished and gave me a second to understand.

Seeing that I was actually thinking, he continued. “Land of Stairs is the smallest land in the alliance and their strength is similar to our own. Most of their economy is dependent on their Blacksmiths. They share a border with the Land of Fire and that’s why they have been safe mostly as the Land of Fire already has enough fertile land and resources. There is hardly anything they could obtain from a small country filled with mountains like the Land of Stairs. It’s how they have been surviving till now….”

“But now that position is being threatened? I don’t think the Land of Fire will care?”

“They don’t. Ame does.”

“Rain?”

He nodded. “Ame is the centre of war this time and while I understand their pain, they are starting to send their shinobi to smaller nations like Stairs and even Medicines to rob for the resources. In the last attack, almost half of their soldiers died. Even the Stairs Prince died in the attack. The shinobi were working under the guise of bandits so they could never be pinned on Ame but the signs were clear.”

The Land of Rain is a mid-sized country and the Daimyo of that country is merely a figurehead. Hanzo, the Salamander is the actual incharge.

That man is very ambitious. I could totally see him doing such a thing and then I remembered something.

“They are planning to attack us too?” I asked, my eyes widening.

“No, not now. We are the main food suppliers of Earth and we have the alliance of the Lightning. Attacking us would make the two nations come down on them like a pile of rocks, pun intended.” He laughed at the joke, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

These words also made me understand the situation more.

“And thus the Land of Stairs want to make an alliance with us to put Ame at bay? That wouldn’t work, you know. Hanzo is not the kind of man to give up so easily. He would still attack them even if they are our allies and the Earth and Lightning would not lift a finger for our allies. They only do so for us because it has benefits for them.” I retorted.

He smiled. “Yes. We understand that, that’s why what the Stairs Daimyo is looking for is not a simple marriage alliance but rather a merger of the countries.”

“What?!” This time I shouted for a completely different reason.

“Keep calm. Such a reaction is not suitable for someone of your position.”

“Wait just a moment, I think I just misheard something.” I interrupted. Yeah, that sounds more feasible.

I have been working overnight a lot so I might be mishearing things.

“You didn’t mishear anything. The Stairs guy’s Granddaughter. She is sixteen years old too. Their country is suffering in the war. Food prices are rising. They are being continuously attacked. Even their blacksmiths are being robbed for weapons by Ame and are working in debt. If this continues, which it will, there is a high chance that they will be annexed by Rain. If that happens, their people will not have a good time. If they merge with us however, their people will still keep their rights as their princess will be the new Lady of their Land. It will also allow for a peaceful transition of the future rulers of both the countries to get married.” He finished. “Now you understand why I asked you for this?”

I opened my mouth. Indeed, it was all profit for us. A win-win for both sides.

“I know you want to increase our military power and the Blacksmiths from the Land of Stairs will be a great asset to you. After all, every army needs to be equipped with weapons to function.” He continued.

All his points were valid.

“Would the Land of Fire have any say on this matter if an ally of their enemy suddenly appeared on their borders?”

“Not really. We are not exactly allies of the Lightning or Earth. Both of them are using us to get hands on the grains we produce. Fire knows this. If anything, they could offer us help to deny their enemies support to fight a protracted war.”

“Or they could just conquer us?”

“No. They would never do that. That would directly connect their borders with Earth. They already share a border with the Wind and are fighting a war on that front. This would simply open another front of war for them. That’s a stupid decision. They would never do that.” He replied confidently. I thought and found the decision to be reasonable.

“What about the Earth and Lightning?”

“Earth wouldn’t do anything at this moment for the same reason as Konoha. Lightning, well those greedy bastards would surely demand more ‘protection fees’ from us to ‘protect’ a larger piece of land.” He said with a dark look on his face.

Yeah, that sounded something those muscle heads would do.

“And I have seen the portraits of the Princess. Princess Kasumi is a very pretty girl and from what I have heard, very well mannered and soft spoken too. Her people like her a lot as she always helps out the people of her land personally. She has been doing so since she was a kid.”

“Is that why you are so late? Finding out more about this girl?” I asked, annoyed, although most of my annoyance had faded after his reasoning. “What about the rest of the family of the Stairs Daimyo? Do they agree to this union? How will the distribution of power be done?” I asked.

“The Stairs guy has decided to convene his family and discuss this matter further with them although it will most probably be ordering them. That guy has always been a strict fellow who doesn't like his decisions to be questioned by his people, even his own family. After that he will come here personally for a visit and we will discuss the details of the matter. I didn't get into the details because I didn't know what you would want.”

I didn't say anything for a few minutes and thought about the whole matter. “Can you give me some time to investigate things on my own?”

He nodded. “I have sent some people to investigate too. You can do the same if you want to. Such a huge matter will take some time to be finalised. Alright, you go and rest today. I heard the harvest of your crops is tomorrow.”

I didn't say anything and just nodded, several thoughts in my mind.

Reaching my room, I lay down on my bed and decided on a plan.

While the opportunity to integrate the Land of Stairs within our Land of Flowers was too good, it was exactly this reason which made me hesitate.

It seemed to be too good to be true.

“Just what are these people thinking? Let's find out.”

I summoned my Grimiore.

“Search Daimyo of the Land of Stairs, Shinouske Yasutora.”

An estimated time appeared in my mind.

Two weeks….

Normally the Grimoire could search information about people depending on how strong or important they were and how difficult it would be to get information about them normally.

Then again, he might be the Daimyo of a small country but he was still a Daimyo. I should have expected at least this much.

Info about the likes of Kaguya or the information on how to achieve the Six Paths Sage Mode would take me years at my current level of strength.

Currently, my searches are focused on Chakra Techniques and Jutsu both to get stronger and in preparation to train my own Shinobi one day. 

I haven't been concentrating on people but it seems that I have to.

Let's see what kind of people the Stairs Daimyo and his family are.

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Author’s Note:

Kazuya is getting a hang of things.

Just in case someone hasn’t noticed it already and starts bombing me in the comments about different plots about the anime or movies, Kazuya doesn’t have perfect and complete knowledge of the anime and doesn’t even know about the movies.

I haven’t thought about the Boruto plot but it most likely won’t include those.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.